|Stacey Walker (Source: Linn County)|
Addressing realities on the ground became a major challenge almost immediately upon passage of major civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Those laws--particularly the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Housing Act of 1968--achieved breakthroughs that had eluded the civil rights amendments to the U.S. Constitution a century earlier, mainly by including enforcement mechanisms. But it quickly became apparent that middle-class whites, having built wealth and individual capacities with decades of better access to jobs and a variety of government programs, were far better equipped than other groups to deal with the economic changes ahead. One outcome of the marketplace is the winners can use their gains to buy advantages in the next round. Here's how it worked in housing:
Hence the emphasis yesterday on institutional responses to systemic racism and implicit bias rather than the explicit barriers of Dr. King's era. In a panel discussion before the event at which Supervisor Walker spoke, Jasmine Almoayed of the Cedar Rapids economic development office cited the need to facilitate access to resources for new residents; Ruth White, CEO of the Academy of Scholastic and Personal Success, the need for the city to address the housing stratification that directly affects resources for schools; and Rod Dooley, a local pastor as well as executive director of equity for the Cedar Rapids schools, the need for public schools to respond to changes in family structure and racial diversity that affect differentials in achievement and gradation rates.
Karl Cassell, CEO of Perhaps Today! Inc. and formerly director of the civil rights commission, urged his audience at Coe College to become politically involved in the struggle over economic inequality. Young people burdened by debt are understandably afraid to "upset the applecart," said Cassell, but while bearing such burdens are not truly "free to live your life." From the audience, long-time civil rights activist Bernard Clayton added "You may not like politics, but politics likes y'all."
|Karl Cassell (Source: Perhaps Today! Inc)|
Is it fair to assume that the removal of explicit racial barriers leaves nothing to judge between individuals but the content of their characters? The stories told over the course of yesterday point to barriers that remain and that require society-wide efforts to overcome, to life prospects that are dramatically different from birth depending on race and economic circumstance, to the need to reshape institutional and individual perceptions shaped by centuries of injustice before we get to a place where opportunity and justice are truly inclusive.
In this context it's useful to remember advice from another talk at Coe College, by Lauren Garcia of the University of Iowa center for diversity and enrichment. She reminded would-be allies to educate themselves about issues impacting the greater community, to listen before acting, and not to make the issue about themselves. The same advice could be directed at those who hear the whole conversation about these issues as attempts to make them feel guilty. To conclude with a point by Karl Cassell: as difficult as all this is, it's made moreso by economic dislocations that make everyone, even the relatively privileged, feel insecure.
|Lauren Garcia (Source: University of Iowa)|
Her talk at Coe College had a lot of solid advice for would-be allies
|Ellen and Allen Fisher accept the 2018 Percy and Lileah Harris Who is My Neighbor Award|
|Music from Johnson STEAM Academy, directed by Charrisse Martin-Cox|
|Book recommendations at Coe|
LAST YEAR'S MLK DAY POST: "Akwi Nji on Choosing Justice over Comfort," 18 January 2017


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Uche is a University of Hertfordshire graduate, completing her LLB (Hons) Law degree in 2002, after which she went on to complete her BVC at BPP Law School before being called to the bar in 2003. Uche became dual qualified in 2012 following successful completion of the Qualified Lawyer Transfer Test, then admitted as a Solicitor in England and Wales. Highly experienced and specialist immigration solicitor, Uche is qualified under the Law Society’s IAAS as a Senior Caseworker, as well as a registered Level 3 Caseworker under the OISC.
At IAS, Uche deals with all aspects of Immigration including Tier 1, 2, 4 and 5 as well as assisting clients with Licence Applications. She deals with Asylum, Human Rights, EU and Nationality Law in respect of public funded cases and private clients and Advocates on behalf of clients on Appeals/bails at the First Tier Tribunal and Upper Tier Tribunal.
Entrepreneur and Overseas Representative Business Visas – Your Questions Answered
Entrepreneur and Overseas Representative Business Visas – Think ‘Dragon’s Den’ – guidance on minimum investment thresholds, taxation and how to create the perfect business plan for the Home Office.
Designed for innovative foreign nationals looking to stake a claim in new and existing UK markets.
Learn how to make the ideal application that expands your options and puts you in the best possible position to maximise investments.

domain: law


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BerryPredictor: Improving harvest forecasts, yield predictions and crop productivity by monitoring and optimising zonal phytoclimates in covered strawberry production
There is increasing consumer and retailer demand for high-quality UK-grown strawberries, and this will increase further post-BREXIT as retailers favour British produce. Currently, c. 30% of strawberries consumed in the UK are imported (source: Defra), and so there is a great opportunity to displace these, often inferior, imports during the home-grown season and boost the UK economy. However, achieving consistently high yields and quality across variable and challenging growing seasons is difficult, and new growing innovations are needed if UK fruit production is to be optimised to meet market demand, and imports reduced.
There is much variability in plant yield and berry quality over a typical covered table-top production system, but the reasons for this are not fully understood and the magnitude of the effect has not been satisfactorily quantified, and so it cannot be managed or predicted. This variability confounds growers' best efforts to forecast yields to inform marketing strategies, and inaccurate forecasts lead to under-supply or to surpluses, necessitating purchases from outside the UK or fruit destruction, both of which are very costly.
NIAB, and its partners, will develop new soft fruit growing strategies from an improved understanding of how to optimise individual plant performance across the growing area.
We will refine recently-developed fruit harvest and ripening models by incorporating high resolution, satellite-derived weather inputs, and data feeds will be used to inform growers' polytunnel venting strategies to better control growing conditions. Variable ripening rates and yields will be captured using a new app, and algorithms will be developed and embedded in a cloud-based BerryPredictor tool that will enable growers to forecast yields with much greater accuracy and precision than currently possible, across the entire cropping area.
BerryPredictor will also provide POs and UK growers with access to real-time accurate yield prediction profiles for the first time. The majority of the R&D work will be carried out at the NIAB Water Efficient Technologies (WET) Centre, an industry-funded soft fruit precision growing demonstration and KE centre, the remit of which is to showcase the latest innovations in soft fruit growing, and promote the commercialisation of project outputs from our IUK and industry-funded projects.
BGG commercial growers will provide weather data to inform the models, and yield data to ground-truth BerryPredictor. Project outputs will benefit UK growers (yield, premium price, import substitution), POs (better product with enhanced reputation, reliability and improved marketability), supermarkets and consumers (flavoursome, phytonutritious UK-grown fruit) and wider society (sustainable intensification).
Berry Gardens Growers
Environmental Monitoring Solutions
University of Lincoln
University of Reading
December 2019 - November 2022

domain: agronomy


John F. Kennedy Campaign
Scenes were shown of Senator Kennedy returning for the 1960 Democratic National Convention where he was chosen as the Democratic presidential nominee.
People in this video
- Universal-International NewsreelUniversal-International Newsreel
President Kennedy News Conference
President Kennedy delivered a press conference. Four days earlier 1500 Cuban exiles had invaded Cuba at the Bay of…
1962 State Of The Union Address
President Kennedy delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.
John F. Kennedy Assassination
A Universal-International Newsreel was shown of events in John F. Kennedy’s presidency and of events in Dallas, Texas, before…
Reagan Presidential Commercial
In a 1980 campaign ad, Governor Reagan talked about achieving world peace.


Bhubaneswar:24/11/17; Odisha will conduct the Measles Rubella vaccination campaign in January next in line with the National target of Measles elimination and Rubella Control by 2020.
It will be a mass vaccination campaign, the likes of which has never been conducted in the State, and will target children from 9 months to less than 15 years of age. For the campaign to be successful, each district and urban area must achieve a coverage of 100% of its target and a minimum of 95% post coverage evaluation survey, said Pramod Kumar Meherda, secretary health.
The campaign will be of a 5 week period with the 1st two weeks’ sessions will be taken up in all the schools of the State (both Govt. and Private), the next 2 weeks of sessions will be taken up in the community i.e. at the Anganwadi Centers & Health Institutions, and the final week has been kept for carrying out catch up immunization of children who could not be vaccinated during first 4 weeks.


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About this book
This book provides a comprehensive overview of organizational diversity management, intended to help readers implement effective strategies and maximize the value of organizational diversity. Written by experts from a range of disciplines, it presents cutting-edge research and best practices in this field. Further, it addresses the challenges that organizations face in order to successfully manage organizational diversity and presents the application of theoretical concepts. Individual chapters explore topics including workforce diversity, knowledge management, innovation and change, and decision-making.
Providing an invaluable resource for students and researchers in the fields of human resource management, industrial engineering and international business, the book will also benefit human resource managers, engineers and economists.

domain: library


Manor F1 team opt for experience as Dave Ryan appointed new racing director
The owner of Manor F1 team has moved to replace the departing Graeme Lowden with one of the most experienced men in motorsport, Dave Ryan.
The owner of Manor F1 team has moved to replace the departing Graeme Lowden with one of the most experienced men in motorsport, Dave Ryan. He has taken up the post of racing director with immediate effect.
This is a positive move from Manor's owner, Irish entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick. As well as a man who knows every millimetre of F1's back corridors and how things get done in Team Manager level meetings, Ryan also provides credibility for the team in their dealings with Mercedes and Williams. The team will use Mercedes engines next season and a Williams gearbox and back-end.
The departure of John Booth in particular was a source of concern for Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, as he mentioned when it first came to light.
Ryan, 61, is a New Zealander, who was a mechanic for James Hunt during his world championship winning 1976 season and spent most of his career at McLaren before being fired in April 2009 after Lewis Hamilton was caught lying to stewards, following the Australian Grand Prix, apparently having been briefed by Ryan before going in.
In fact there was substantially more to that story than met the eye and Ryan was made the fall guy at a time when management regimes were changing at McLaren and he represented the old guard, which was no longer wanted. He has since been running a team in GT Racing.
Ryan is a strict disciplinarian, so culturally the team will have to change and it will be interesting to see whether there is more investment in the team from the owner or from other investors or sponsors, to enable it to hire more people and grow.
"I'm very excited to be joining the Manor Marussia F1 team at a pivotal time in its development," Ryan said.
"Having spent time with [owner] Stephen [Fitzpatrick], and understood his vision for the future, it is clear he has ensured there is a strong platform from which the team can make big steps forward in the seasons ahead.
"Manor has all the hallmarks of a fiercely competitive racing team, but having grown up in a much more contemporary Formula 1 era, it is a very lean operation with a collaborative culture, which leaves it well placed to contend with the sport's future direction.
"There is clearly a big challenge ahead and a lot of work to do, but I can't wait to meet the wider team and get down to business."The team still needs a team principal and former driver Alex Wurz has been mentioned in that context, although there are doubts about whether he wants to do that job or has other plans.
McLaren out of Q2 in a sad day for Alonso
Rosberg can't explain qualifying form as pole streak extends to five
About this article


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HC disposes of anticipatory bail plea of expelled AIADMK MP's husband, son
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court today disposed of the anticipatory bail petitions of the husband and the son of expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa after the the Tamil Nadu government submitted that police had not filed a case as claimed by the petitioners.
When the advance bail petitions came up before Justice S Vaidyanathan for hearing, Additional Advocate General Mani Shanker said that there no such case had been filed by police at Anna Nagar here.
Apprehending arrest, Lingeswara Thilagam, the husband of the Rajya Sabha MP and their son L Pradeep Raja had filed advance bail petitions before the high court.
They had claimed that police had registered a case under various IPC sections against them.
Justice Vaidyanathan disposed of the petition after recording the statement of AAG that no case is pending before the police as claimed by the petitioners.
On August 1, Sasikala Pushpa was expelled from AIADMK by party supremo Jayalalithaa for 'bringing disrepute to the party', days after she reportedly got into a scuffle with a DMK MP Tiruchi Siva at the Delhi airport.

domain: news


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(Franklin) — Each week during the sports season, HeardCitizen.com brings you a weekly wrap-up of Brave Nation sports including news, notes, a weekly schedule, and the Brave Nation Player of the Week.
Anyone who would like to submit information for the weekly column, a question about anything Brave related, or a nomination for Player of the Week please email firstname.lastname@example.org with either “News and Notes” or “Player of the Week” in the subject line.
NEWS AND NOTES
Girl’s State Basketball Playoffs — The Lady Braves will host the Pepperell Dragons Friday night at 7:00 PM at Heard High School. Admission is $10 which includes the boys game at 8:30 PM.
Boy’s State Basketball Playoffs — The Braves will host the Dade County Wolves at 8:30 PM Friday night at Heard High School immediately following the girl’s playoff game. Admission for the doubleheader is $10 as determined by the GHSA.
Brave Nation Player of the Week
The Brave Nation Player of the Week is senior basketball player Mr. Dekari Brewer.
Dekari’s outstanding performance on both offense and defense last week helped propel the Braves to the school’s first region title since 1960. Dekari scored 15 in the championship win over Callaway.
Congratulations to Dekari for being named this week’s Brave Nation Player of the Week! (Photo: Melanie Boyd/Times-Georgian)
Signing Day — Several Braves will sign collegiate offers next Wednesday morning, February 22 at HHS including Kimberly Harris (Southern Union Basketball), Mike Holmes (Shenandoah University Football), Drew Hopkins (Millsaps College Football), DayVin Troy (University of the Cumberlands Football), and Trey Wiggins (University of West Georgia Football).
Tennis Results — The HHS season kicked on Monday. The Boys defeated Troup 5-0 and the Girls dropped a close one to Troup 2-3. Winners for the boys were Trey Wiggins 8-0, Jackson Templeton 8-0, John Helton 8-2, Hunter Clark 8-2, and Michael Cadwell 8-6. Winners for the girls were Melissa Collins 8-6 and Makayla Red 9-8 in a tie break set.
Thursday, Feb. 16
~ HHS Varsity Baseball @ Troup (5:30 PM)
Friday, Feb. 17
~ Class AA State Girl’s Basketball Playoffs First Round vs. Pepperell @ HHS (7:00 PM)
~ Class AA State Boy’s Basketball Playoffs vs. Dade County @ HHS (8:30 PM)
Saturday, Feb. 18
~ JV Baseball @ Pace Academy (11:00 AM)
~ HHS Varsity Baseball @ Pace Academy (2:00 PM)
Monday, Feb. 20
~ HHS Varsity Baseball vs. Coosa (3:00 PM)
Tuesday, Feb. 21
~ HHS Tennis @ Carrollton (4:00 PM)
~ HHS Tennis vs. Mount Zion (4:00 PM)
~ JV Baseball vs. Troup (5:30 PM)
Thursday, Feb. 23
~ HHS Varsity Baseball vs. Central (5:30 PM)
~ JV Baseball @ Callaway (5:30 PM)


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TeideThis photo was shot on film. Taken by daitita with a Lubitel 166B (available in our Online Shop) loaded with Kodak 100 film in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain. These tags describe this photo: lubitel 166 b, volcán, vulcan, 120, lubitel, teide, and tenerife. Date: 2011-10. Time: Noon. This photo can also be found in the album Teide. Octubre 2011..
50 people like this photo
Liking photos helps us to present the best ones to you and others. 50 people like this photo. 50 people like this photo: emrekskn, jevox, susielomovitz, xerry, vlad1611, mrmostarr, mich, tyler_durden, javihacefotos, weidong, sibila, mylatehope, joyceyjoyce, atria007, oscarrastaman, valennano, primula, robter, funfun, fisheyemary, kleeblatt, simontemplar, soleado, liquorice, isabel_mebarak, rik041, alpaslai, russheath, disney510, 12_12, rudemuinho, oskar73, ryszardl70, stormer, mapix, h3mm1ng1976, lucaro, werriston, molzography, puly, mczoum, trychydts, goatofrocketh, lulomo, sve, baijiu89, grinningcat, fruchtzwerg_hh, fisher-price, and phzhi.
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El Teide- mysterious sleepy volcano of Canary Islands.
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This photo has been submitted to these competitions
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- Espanis Lomocovers Julio - Agosto 2013
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domain: geography


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U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is advocating a tax credit for a Washington, D.C.- based company that would revive an unnamed Buffalo-area plant to manufacture wind turbines.
The D'Arcinoff Group, which leases heavy machinery to the military and commercial clients, could receive a tax credit of more than $1 billion for a plan it says would bring as many as 2,000 jobs to Buffalo. The plan is expected to create 105,000 jobs in six states, 15,000 of them in upstate New York, for at least seven years.
Citing confidentiality agreements, a D'Arcinoff Group spokesman declined to confirm the local plant's role or which site might be selected. He also declined to divulge the tax credit's value, but confirmed it would be worth more than $1 billion.
"As we transition to clean energy," Gillibrand said in a release, "this is an opportunity to build wind turbine components right here in upstate New York. To rebuild and fuel the new economy, we must harness the power of our manufacturing tradition. We can help bring new economic activity to our communities by reviving these former industrial sites."
The precipitous decline in large-scale wind energy projects nationally raises questions about the project's viability. D'Arcinoff Group CEO Michael C. Darcy said that the first 25,000 wind turbines would be installed and operated by the company itself, which would sell the industrial-level energy the turbines generate, rather than the turbines themselves. "For the first 25,000, we'll be our own customer," he said.
"We have our own very large power purchase agreements. There is huge interest in clean energy and tremendous interest for domestic energy."
Gillibrand spokesperson Bethany Lesser noted that the fleeting, and thereby less certain, nature of federal wind energy incentives has driven interest in turbines downward. "Sen. Gillibrand wants to consider making those incentives permanent" to alleviate the anxiety of those who might otherwise invest.
Lesser said Gillibrand believes in the project because "worldwide, there is a need to look at more alternative energy. If you look at what's going on in the Middle East and its effect on the price of oil and (at) the effects of the nuclear disaster in Japan, we need to look at all alternative energy, including wind."
Darcy, acknowledging that many people fear turbines will be loud and obtrusive, said his company prefers unusually remote locations. "There will be very few instances where you'll see a complete plant. Each will be producing components for wind turbines. We have the technology to install turbines where literally no one will be around to care it's installed."
D'Arcinoff Group recently applied with the U.S. Department of Treasury for the investment tax credit, and now Gillibrand is lending her support. It is not clear when the company will know whether it has received approval.
D'Arcinoff Group is a global company that leases heavy machinery such as bulldozers to commercial clients and the military. It entered the energy business after finding its high-powered vessels too costly to power.


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I’m Cavewoman, a lucky woman to have found my perfect match. Always had a history of camping and hiking throughout Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Colorado. Been as high as 14, 309ft and have always loved the woods….that’s when I knew my Indiana heritage wouldn’t give me the playground I needed to cope. So I moved West, into Arizona where I met my caveman. We both share a love for deep pine tree forest, nature and lakes. It wasn’t until I camped with Caveman that I knew what it was like to eat like a KING in the woods! One of our first camping trips, I found myself taking photos not of the beautiful scenery, but of the dutch oven creations! The smells carried over to the campers around us, and I knew no one was going to eat like us! We feasted on everything from double bacon burgers, to eggs/potato/cheese burritos, to steak and chicken pot pie meals better than home cooked on the stove! I fell even more in love with my caveman and our camping trips.
There is nothing we wont try, as long it contains meat and bacon! Even our family and friends that have gone camping with us, still talk about the experiences they had with Caveman and his delicious camping food. We invite you to join us, through our journey in life, in the woods, but most importantly – IN FOOD!

domain: travel


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Israel killed eight Hamas militants Tuesday, firing missiles into the sandy courtyard of a Hamas police station as the Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for a bold strike inside Israel, the first suicide mission in more than a year.
The latest round of violence followed two weeks of anarchy on the Gaza-Egypt border that has heightened Israeli concerns that Islamic militants could use the chaos to infiltrate into Israel to carry out attacks.
The last three weeks have seen a succession of violent events - starting with a Hamas rocket barrage on Israel, then a tightened Israeli economic blockade of the territory, and then a Hamas-engineered border breach with Egypt Jan. 23 that enabled hundreds of thousands of Gazans to break out.
Israeli security chiefs had warned that Palestinian militants used the breach to slip out of Gaza and make their way from Egypt through the porous 150-mile stretch of mostly unsecured Sinai desert that borders Israel.
Monday's suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Dimona, about 35 miles from the border, set off speculation the assailants used just that method to slip into Israel. The attackin a Dimona shopping center killed a 73-year-old Israeli woman.
Shortly after the bombing, two Gaza militant groups said they sent attackers from Gaza, via Egypt. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an offshoot of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group, and a small PLO faction released the alleged bombers' farewell videos, and their two families set up mourning houses.
But Hamas claimed responsibility Tuesday and said the attackers came from the West Bank, not Gaza, an assertion backed by Israeli security officials and Housing Minister Zeev Boim, though Israel made no official announcement.
Israeli troops arrested male relatives of Shadi Zghayer and Mohammed Herbawi, the two men named by Hamas as the bombers.
Palestinian militant Bassel Asmar was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for his role in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in October 2001, and for planting car bombs and explosive devices in a Jerusalem neighborhood. A Jerusalem court sentenced Asmar for murder, attempted murder and belonging to a terror organization.


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Hello Creative Friends,
I recently discovered One True Media, a great easy place to make vidoes like the one I am posting for Valentine's Day above.
There aren't a lot of directions on the site but if you can get your photos or video to one spot on your computer you can probably do this.
Here are the basics:
1. Think of theme or topic you want to highlight or show off and select your photos to support it. Artists, here is a great opportunity to show a montage of your work. The possibilities are absolutely endless.
2. Collect your photos in one place on your computer for convenience. I like to use my desktop and then put them in folder when I am finished. It is good to get more than you think you will need, but you can always upload more later if you need them. You also can delete the ones that didn't make the cut. (See, I am already talking like a film director. You will too!)
3. Go to One True Media. (This is after you have visited there and played around, looked at other people's creations. You can also open one of the sites montages and edit it yourself to see how it works which is great cause you can screw up all you want to and get the feel of how things work.)
4. Find a tab that says: Create. (One of my favorite words.) That page will open and you will see another big green Create button. Click and you will be sent to an upload page. Skip the "Select A Theme" button. You have much more creative contol when you edit everything yourself.
5. Upload your photos from your desktop. Hint: If you hold down the control button while you make your selection with your mouse, you can upload more than one photo file at a time. Repeat the process until you have uploaded all the photos and/or videos you want. Click the the done button.
6. This will take you to the edit console. This is where the fun begins. Immediately OTM (One True Media) shows you what your montage will look like, including music.
7. Depending on how savvy you are with these kinds of things, you can feel your way through to make a great video. Like most computer programs there are more than one way to do things. I naturally did it the slowest way possible the first time around so here are some tips, but you will figure out things your own way. It is kind of hard to mess this up.
- Get your photos in first. Use the numbers under each slide to put them in order or click and drag the cross under the photo.
- Create text slides and move them into place. You can edit how they look and preview until you get them exactly as you like.
- You can add effects till you don't even recognize your photos. Caution: This can become too much and take away from the effectiveness of your message or the look you want. But try it all. It's fun.
- When you open your montage, OTM appoints you a song. Don't like it? Change it. Before you finish, be sure your song is as long as the time it takes to show your creation.
- Once you finish and save your montage, give it a title and go to the Share Button. You can upload it to Youtube, Facebook by following the easy steps. If you want to email it to all your friends, press the easy button. Get the html code from that same page page and embed it to your website or blog. WooHoo!
- BTW, a friend of mine could not access it from her Ipad, so there may be an issue with Apple products. The only bummer I could see.
I have not given you step by step directions. Be brave. Click on everything. Hit Preview and see if you like it, if not, no problem, don't click save or better still find some other way you like better.
Give this a try but just know that it can become addictive. Beware, you may have just discovered another way to be your creative self!

domain: hobby


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Over threefold rise in drug-related internet posts in Hong Kong in 6 years, with growing interest in CBD products, study finds
- Research by Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups shows social media content featuring drugs rose from 927 in 2016 to 3,114 by the end of last year
- Organisation also takes aim at cannabidiols, arguing products using substance could become gateway for youngsters to use other drugs
The number of drug-related social media posts in Hong Kong has more than tripled over the past six years, a study by a local youth group has shown, with internet users also taking a greater interest in cannabidiol (CBD) as authorities eye a ban on the substance.
The study by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, which was released on Thursday, found the number of social media posts featuring drugs had risen from 927 in 2016 to 3,114 by the end of last year. Over the same period, the number of related views rose from about 3.4 million to 7.6 million.
Michael Leung Siu-kei, the officer-in-charge of the federation’s youth crime prevention centre, attributed some of the more recent interest to the Covid-19 pandemic, with many residents using social media more often while confined to their homes.
Content on CBD products also attracted more social media traffic over the course of the pandemic, with the number of related views increasing from 5,707 in 2019 to 11,840 in 2020 and 43,980 in 2021.
“CBD, in particular, has recently been advertised as stress-relief and healthcare products for enticement, lowering the wariness among young people,” said Bob Lee Siu-chui, a supervisor of the federation’s youth crime prevention centre.
One of more than 100 chemical compounds found in marijuana plants, CBD is currently legal in Hong Kong as long as it does not contain traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), another active ingredient found in cannabis that gives users a “high” feeling.
“Some products may contain THC, an easily addictive substance that is regulated by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance,” Lee said, adding that she was worried CBD could become a gateway for young people to use and sell other drugs.
But the city’s law enforcement agencies are currently pushing for CBD to be outlawed within the year and aim to dissuade residents from sampling such products by stressing the illegality of using marijuana.
“Many people have underestimated the risk, and the severity of the damages marijuana can afflict,” Leung said. “There is a trend in Hong Kong that some online users discuss CBD.”
Clinical research on CBD products has found that using such substances lessens anxiety, pain and disorders related to movement and cognition. Some academics have argued, however, the purported benefits could be attributed to a placebo effect.
The federation’s study also found that more than half of all drug-related posts originated on Reddit-like platform LIHKG, followed by Instagram and HKGolden online forum, which accounted for 16 per cent each.
Leung said that social media posts created for the purpose of selling drugs used animated characters, internet memes and hashtags to give a “trendy and chic” impression to promote their products.
Half of all content logged by the study referenced marijuana, while cocaine and methamphetamine featured in 11.6 per cent and 8.4 per cent of posts, respectively.
In a separate survey carried out between last November and this July, the federation interviewed 1,298 people aged between 12 to 24 and found more than one-fifth of respondents believed they were able to control any cravings for drugs.
Some 18 per cent of interviewees also said they felt that taking drugs could relieve feelings of anxiety.
The Security Bureau’s narcotics division said it and other agencies would ask social media platform operators to remove the content if they discovered online material associated with drugs.
The government would seek to ban CBD products in early 2023, a spokesman added.
“The government has taken a firm stance against cannabis and repeatedly stated that the use, cultivation, manufacturing, trafficking...of cannabis and controlled cannabis products are illegal and will remain so,” he said.
“We will continue to educate the public, especially young people, to correctly understand that cannabis is a drug and it is harmful to health.”
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, anyone found to possess or use any of the regulated substances could be fined up to HK$1,000,000 (US$127,390) and imprisoned for a maximum period of seven years.


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Effect of breast feeding on intelligence in children: prospective study, sibling pairs analysis, and meta-analysisBMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38978.699583.55 (Published 02 November 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:945
- Geoff Der, statistician ()1,
- G David Batty, Wellcome fellow1,
- Ian J Deary, professor of differential psychology2
- 1 MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow G12 8RZ
- 2 Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
- Correspondence to: G Der
- Accepted 30 August 2006
Objective To assess the importance of maternal intelligence, and the effect of controlling for it and other important confounders, in the link between breast feeding and children's intelligence.
Design Examination of the effect of breast feeding on cognitive ability and the impact of a range of potential confounders, in particular maternal IQ, within a national database. Additional analyses compared pairs of siblings from the sample who were and were not breast fed. The results are considered in the context of other studies that have also controlled for parental intelligence via meta-analysis.
Setting 1979 US national longitudinal survey of youth.
Subjects Data on 5475 children, the offspring of 3161 mothers in the longitudinal survey.
Main outcome measure IQ in children measured by Peabody individual achievement test.
Results The mother's IQ was more highly predictive of breastfeeding status than were her race, education, age, poverty status, smoking, the home environment, or the child's birth weight or birth order. One standard deviation advantage in maternal IQ more than doubled the odds of breast feeding. Before adjustment, breast feeding was associated with an increase of around 4 points in mental ability. Adjustment for maternal intelligence accounted for most of this effect. When fully adjusted for a range of relevant confounders, the effect was small (0.52) and non-significant (95% confidence interval −0.19 to 1.23). The results of the sibling comparisons and meta-analysis corroborated these findings.
Conclusions Breast feeding has little or no effect on intelligence in children. While breast feeding has many advantages for the child and mother, enhancement of the child's intelligence is unlikely to be among them.
Since 1929 many studies have examined the link between breast feeding and intelligence, most finding higher IQ scores among children who were breast fed.1 The few randomised controlled trials were confined to preterm infants,2–4 whereas studies of individuals born at term were observational in design. Inference from the observational studies is hampered by confounding: there are fundamental differences between mothers who choose to breast feed and those who do not. Studies that do not control adequately for confounders may mistake residual confounding for a real effect of breast feeding.
Many potential confounding variables have been identified, including duration of breast feeding, sex, maternal history of smoking, maternal age, maternal intelligence, maternal education, maternal training, paternal education, race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family size, birth order, birth weight, gestational age, and childhood experiences.5 Those singled out as particularly important include socioeconomic status, maternal education, and birth weight6 or socioeconomic status/parental education and stimulation of the child.7 In contrast, maternal intelligence is relatively overlooked as a potential confounder. This is surprising given the heritability of intelligence8 and the known association of maternal intelligence with both the initiation and duration of breast feeding.9
We examined the relation between breast feeding and intelligence and assessed the role of maternal IQ and other covariates in generating the association. We took both a conventional approach to control for confounders and an alternative approach using sibling comparison analysis. Used recently to assess the benefits of breast feeding,10 this approach has the considerable advantage of controlling for many confounding factors without having to measure them. Any factor that is the same for both members of a pair of siblings is automatically and fully controlled for. Thus, the method implicitly controls for parental intelligence.
We used data from the US national longitudinal survey of youth 1979 (NLSY79).11 This is a population based sample of 12 686 young people (6283 female) aged 14 to 22 when first interviewed in 1979 who were then interviewed annually until 1994 and biennially thereafter. Since 1986 the children of the women in the survey have also been assessed biennially. The database for the children is referred to as the NLSY79 child and young adult sample (“young adult” because some of the children are now of adult age).12 As preterm babies are known to have different nutritional needs13 we excluded children born before the 35th week and those who weighed less than 2500 g at birth. We also excluded those born before 1979, when the survey began.
Children's cognitive ability—The Peabody individual achievement test (PIAT) was administered to children between the ages of 5 and 14 biennially from 1986 to 2002. Children were tested repeatedly if they fell within the age range in test years. We used the PIAT total scores, as well as the individual component scores for mathematics, reading comprehension, and reading recognition. To aid comparison of effect sizes across measures and with the results of other studies, we standardised all outcomes to a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15.
Breast feeding—Women who had had a child since the previous interview were asked whether they breast fed the child at all and, if so, how old the child was when they stopped breast feeding. In most cases this information would have been obtained within a year of the birth. Even so, reports on duration of breast feeding were probably less reliable than reports of whether a child was breast fed or not.
Control variables—We chose control variables on the basis of associations with breast feeding or childhood cognitive development in the survey,1415 other studies of breast feeding and cognitive development,91617 and the most recent reviews of the subject.5–718
Child's environment—The short form of the home observation for measurement of the environment scale (HOME-SF)19 was completed at each assessment, and we used the cognitive stimulation and emotional support subscales.
Child demographics—Sex, age, gestation (weeks), birth weight, and birth order were also used in the models.
Maternal characteristics—Maternal cognitive ability was measured with the armed forces qualification test (AFQT).11 This is derived from the arithmetic reasoning, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, and mathematical knowledge sections of the Armed Services vocational aptitude battery. It was administered in 1980. Level of education was classified as the highest grade completed by the mother at the time of the child's birth. Race was classified as Hispanic, black, or non-Hispanic/non-black. The latter includes white people and others who did not identify themselves as black or Hispanic. Poverty status indicates whether the household income was below the poverty threshold at the birth of the child. We also included the mother's age at the birth of the child plus a binary variable to indicate whether the mother smoked during the pregnancy.
Linkage of the data from the survey with the child and young adult sample resulted in a dataset that contained one or more assessments for each child and one or more children per mother. This can be viewed as a hierarchical structure of assessments nested within children and children nested within mothers. The multiple assessments made on each child are unlikely to be statistically independent, nor are the data for siblings. To accommodate this lack of independence we used random effects models, which have the advantage of being able to use all available assessments for each child and all children, whether they are siblings or not. The statistical background for this use of random effects models is given elsewhere,2021 and tutorial articles showing analyses similar to those conducted here are also available.22–25
All analyses were carried out separately for PIAT total score and the three subscales: mathematics, reading recognition, and reading comprehension. Initial analysis assessed the association between each of the potential confounders and breast feeding. The main analyses estimated the effect of breast feeding on cognitive ability; examined the extent to which each of the confounders, individually, attenuated the effect; and then examined the attenuation of multiple confounders.
To use the random effects models we structured data so that each occasion when measurements were done was a separate record in the data file. Each child then has one or more records depending on the number of PIAT assessments completed. Data that were not assessed repeatedly, or do not change with time, were attached to this record, including, for example, information about the mother, the pregnancy, and the child's birth. Each record was also indexed with some time or occasion variable. We used the child's age at the time of the assessment, centred at 10 years. To control for the correlation between repeated measures and between siblings, the models included random intercepts, random slopes in age (the child's), and intercept-slope covariance, both at the child level and at the level of the mother. Thus there were six random effects in each of the models. All models also included a fixed effect of child's age. The models were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood with proc mixed in SAS version 9.1.
As the sample contained a large number of siblings, it was also well suited to examining the same question with sibling comparison analysis. A simple test of the null hypothesis of no effect of breast feeding can be made by identifying pairs of siblings in which one sibling was breast fed and the other was not, subtracting the PIAT scores of the sibling who was not breast fed from those of the one who was, and testing whether the resulting differences have a mean of zero. The same can be done for sibling pairs that are discordant for duration of breast feeding, subtracting the scores of the sibling with the shorter duration of breast feeding.
We considered the results of both types of analysis in the context of other comparable studies via meta-analysis (comprehensive meta-analysis program version 2.2.020, www.metaanalysis.com). There are no agreed standards of study quality in this area, and the four recent reviews identified all used different criteria, resulting in sets of studies with relatively little overlap.5–718 We included only studies that quantified the effect of breastfeeding status on cognitive ability after controlling for parental intelligence among full term infants. We searched Medline (1966 to January 2006), ISI Web of Knowledge, and the British Library's electronic table of contents for any combination of “breast feeding/breast milk/infant feeding” and “cognitive development/intelligence/intellectual development” and supplemented the results with additional studies identified from the reference lists of the four reviews mentioned and from those of individual studies.
Table 1 shows descriptive statistics for the potential confounders, broken down by breastfeeding status. The association of each of them with breastfeeding status is shown as an odds ratio. Children who were breast fed had mothers with higher IQ and with more education and who were older, less likely to be in poverty or to smoke, and more likely to provide a more stimulating and supportive home environment. Hispanic mothers were less likely to breast feed their children and black mothers much less likely. The children who were breast fed were likely to be heavier at birth and earlier in birth order, although this could be a reflection of family size. There was no difference in gestation or the proportion of male infants who were breast fed.
A one standard deviation advantage in mother's IQ more than doubled of the odds of breast feeding. Mother's education had a similar but slightly weaker effect. As gestation and sex were not significantly associated with breast feeding, they were not included in the remaining analyses. For the analyses of PIAT scores we had full data on 16 744 assessments of 5475 children born to 3161 mothers.
Table 2 shows the effect of breast feeding on the cognitive outcomes, both unadjusted and adjusted individually for each of the confounders. Each row gives the effect of breast feeding on the outcome as a regression coefficient (B) with its standard error and P value, adjusted for the confounder listed. The attenuation of the effect size is shown as a percentage of the unadjusted figure. The unadjusted effects of breast feeding correspond to an advantage for those breast fed of 4.1 to 4.7. These are comparable with effects reported in other studies.5 Adjustment for mother's IQ reduced this advantage by 71% to 75%, and adjustment for mother's education by 34% to 42%. Family poverty, maternal race, maternal age, and HOME stimulation score were important confounders.
Table 3 shows the results of including all the confounders simultaneously. In this case, each row of the table gives the effect of the confounder on the outcome, adjusted for all the others and for the child's age at assessment. The fully adjusted effect of breast feeding averages slightly less than half a point with a range of 0.36 to 0.52. These are small effects, and none is significant even with the large numbers in these analyses. Maternal IQ has the largest independent effect, with maternal education, age, family poverty, HOME stimulation score, and birth order all making independent contributions for most outcomes.
To simulate a study without adjustment for maternal intelligence, but which was otherwise well controlled, we re-ran the models in table 3 omitting maternal IQ. The effects of breast feeding were then at least double those shown in table 3 and all were significant (table 4). Although these effects were still small, they do show that omitting maternal intelligence can seriously overestimate the effect of breast feeding.
Because observational studies use dose-response relation to infer causality26 we repeated the analysis including data only on those who were breast fed and introducing duration of breast feeding in months (defined as four weeks) to the model (table 4). Although the effects for reading comprehension and PIAT total score were significant, all effects were small considering that the median duration of breast feeding is three months and the 95th centile is 14 months. We repeated the analysis dividing those breast fed into quarters of duration of breast feeding and contrasted each of these with those not breast fed (table 4). The results broadly concur with the previous analysis. There were significant differences for the PIAT total score and the maths and reading comprehension subscales, but only for those in the top quarter of duration of breast feeding. There were also some signs of a departure from linearity in the second quarter.
Sibling pairs analysis
There were 332 sibling pairs discordant for breastfeeding status and 545 discordant for duration of breast feeding. Table 5 shows the mean differences between both groups of siblings for PIAT scores. None of them was significantly different from zero. In both cases, we also tested for any differences between the sibling pairs in the confounding factors used in the earlier analysis. None was significant (results not shown), suggesting that the method controls for all those factors and there is no need for further analysis. In short, the sibling pairs analysis concurs with the earlier analysis in offering no support for a cognitive advantage of breast feeding once confounding is taken into account.
Our search yielded 431 references, 73 of which reported original data for full term infants. In 19 reports the analysis explicitly controlled for parental IQ and in one further report10 it implicitly controlled for parental IQ via sibling comparisons. The 19 reports used data from 12 studies because studies that followed children prospectively and assessed them at different ages often repeated the analysis and published the results separately. When the published results did not present the data in a comparable format, we approached the corresponding author directly.
The figure summarises eight of the 12 studies,27–34 together with the results for PIAT total score from our study. We excluded four studies because the data were no longer available in a suitable form,35 “nearly 100% had some breast feeding”36 (T Vik, personal communication), or we could not contact the authors.3738 When a study assessed children at more than one age we chose the oldest age available as childhood measures of cognitive ability increase in reliability with age.39 When more than one measure of ability was assessed we took the more general measure.
The studies with the biggest IQ advantage for breast feeding were those with smaller sample sizes and that controlled for fewer of the important additional confounders—namely, socioeconomic status, maternal education, maternal age, and HOME score. The study with the largest effect had a sample that was socially heterogeneous (D Hay, personal communication) and the next largest one that was “disadvantaged, consisting almost exclusively of members of social classes IV and V.”32 Two studies assessed the children at only 2 years of age when the available measures are “best characterized as indices of mental development, and not IQ.”8
The greatest support for an effect of breast feeding came from the study by Fergusson et al,27 which was based on the previous largest sample and from a birth cohort with an outstanding follow-up rate. It did not, however, control for maternal age, smoking, or the HOME score, and its measure of maternal education contained only the three categories: secondary education only; secondary school qualification; tertiary qualification. The study therefore may not have been adequately controlled, as the authors themselves acknowledge in their conclusion.
In the figure we have ordered the studies by decreasing standard error, and the asymmetric pattern of the effect estimates suggests publication bias. There is significant heterogeneity in their estimates of the effect of breast feeding (Q = 21.07, df = 8, P = 0.007), which is unsurprising given the minimal criteria for inclusion, the differences between the samples studied, and in particular the different numbers of additional covariates controlled for. This is consistent with the results from the longitudinal survey: maternal IQ explains most of the effect of breast feeding, but not all; other important confounders need to be taken into account. To adjust for this difference between studies we used the number of additional confounders in each study as a predictor of the effect of breast feeding in a meta-regression. Because this varies between studies but not within them it is a good candidate for meta-regression.40 Although a count is a somewhat simplistic summary measure, it did account for the heterogeneity (model Q = 7.41, df = 1, P = 0.006; residual Q = 13.66, df = 7, P = 0.058). The estimates (standard errors) were: intercept 3.37 (0.84); slope −0.40 (0.15), which equates to an IQ advantage of 3.37 points in a study controlling for IQ but no other confounders, and 0.16 of a point for a study with IQ and all eight additional confounders. With full control for covariates there is effectively no advantage to breast feeding. This result is not entirely due to the high weighting that this study has in the meta-regression; an unweighted meta-regression yielded an estimated advantage of breast feeding of −0.39 for a fully controlled study (that is, a slight disadvantage).
We analysed the results from the only other study to have used sibling comparisons10 separately and with the corresponding results from this study. (We used the method of Evenhouse and Reilly10 to obtain separate estimates for strict comparability.) The estimated standardised difference in means was 0.025 (SE = 0.041, P = 0.540) for breastfeeding status and 0.040 (0.036, P = 0.271) for duration of breast feeding. Thus, the evidence from the only two sibling pair studies to date, when taken together, offer no support for an advantage of breast feeding.
Most of the observed association between breast feeding and cognitive development is the result of confounding by maternal intelligence. Level of cognitive stimulation at home, mother's educational attainment and age at the birth of the child, child's birth order, and family financial hardship all have independent effects. In fully adjusted analyses, the advantage of breast feeding was small and not significant.
Only a small proportion of the many studies that have shown a positive effect of breast feeding on children's cognitive ability control for maternal intelligence. By omitting this from the fully adjusted models, while leaving in maternal education and the other confounders, we have shown that maternal education is an imperfect surrogate. The effect sizes were at least double and were all significant. Studies that do not control for maternal intelligence will probably give biased results.
Comparison of the results of this study with others that controlled for maternal intelligence shows a pattern familiar in research synthesis, whereby the smaller studies with fewer controls display the largest effects. Our study was about five times the size of the largest previous study.27 Heterogeneity between studies can be accounted for by the number of additional controls. The results lend little support to the hypothesis that breast feeding promotes intelligence in full term infants.
The method of sibling comparisons is well suited to assessing the benefits of breast feeding. In particular, it automatically controls for any confounding factors that are the same for each of the siblings in a pair. Other potential confounders can be incorporated into the analysis by using the within pair differences as predictors of the within pair difference in outcome in an ordinary least squares linear model. The only previous study that has used the method to assess the benefits of breast feeding examined its relation to 15 indicators of physical health, emotional health, and cognitive ability.10 There were apparent benefits of breastfeeding status and duration for around two thirds of the outcomes. All except cognitive ability were non-significant in the sibling comparisons. They used a 10% level for significance, however, and, judged against the more conventional 5% level, the effect for breastfeeding status was not significant and that for duration of breast feeding marginal. The results from the sibling comparisons in our study and the two studies combined provide no support for a beneficial effect of breast feeding.
Wider application of results
The generalisability of the results presented here must be considered carefully. This study and the others included in the meta-analysis are all based on samples from developed countries: United States,103241 Europe,283033 Australia,34 and New Zealand.27 Generalisation of the findings beyond these and similar societies would be unwise. We have also excluded premature and low birthweight infants for whom the effect may be different.
The broader context of breast feeding should also be considered. Evidence showing the many benefits of breast feeding for the child and mother led the World Health Organization and UNICEF to formulate the Innocenti Declaration,42 which includes exclusive breast feeding for 4-6 months as a global goal. Many of these benefits are equally applicable to developed countries.4344 Even if it does not enhance intelligence, breast feeding remains “an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants.”45
What is known already on this topic
Breast feeding has many benefits for both child and mother Breastfed children tend to score higher on intelligence tests There are important differences between mothers who breast feed and those who do not
What this study adds
The apparent effect of breast feeding on intelligence in offspring is accounted for by characteristics of the mother and the home environment The mother's own intelligence plays the largest part in this explanation
We are grateful to Alex Ghys, Dale Hay, and Sandra Jacobson for providing data for the meta-analysis.
Contributors The idea for the paper was generated during discussions between the authors. GD conducted the analysis, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and is guarantor. All authors made substantial contributions to subsequent revisions.
Funding GD is employed by the Medical Research Council. GDB is funded by a Wellcome advanced training fellowship and is also affiliated to the University of Edinburgh, Department of Psychology. ID is the recipient of a Royal Society-Wolfson research merit award.
Competing interests None declared.
Ethical approval Not required.

domain: medical


text:
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If BetterHelp was going to change my mind, they needed to reveal me that they might remain true to what makes treatment work.
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In screening and in conversations with other clients, it became clear to us that the quality of therapy is extremely high. For many individuals, the business will be able to offer you with a broader and more varied set of therapist alternatives than you could fairly access close by in a conventional, in-person setting.
Great, mindful service and a healthy dedication to customer personal privacy are 2 procedures of a business’s respect for its clients. Does it offer devoted customer service professionals who offer timely and reliable help when problems arise?
In a nutshell, is committed to personal privacy, security, and quality– and it shows. The customer service group replies immediately to issues you raise– promising to reply within 24 hr however, in our experience, replying in far less time than that– and responses your questions with the appropriate level of customized care. And the company ensures that its therapists abide by HIPAA regulations and protect your privacy. You can even more protect your privacy using a nickname with your therapist. Considering that does not deal with insurance coverage or employers, there isn’t even a standard level of information-sharing in between such entities, which implies maximum personal privacy for you.
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Interestingly enough, users will find below this question in the kind a highlighted truth: “Therapists on the platform have diverse backgrounds. You’ll be able to ask for a Christian therapist if required”. So, during the intake questionnaire, if you address that your faith is Christian, you will be asked “Would you like to be matched with a Christian-based therapist?”
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If you are presently employed as well as how often you consume alcohol, you will be asked. Other screening concerns towards completion include if you have any issues with intimacy and when the last time you thought about suicide was– if ever.
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I found the questions to be a bit random as I went through the questionnaire. Next, will ask you to rate your sleeping habits and address if you are comfortable with your identity.

domain: psychology


text:
YOU CAN'T SAY THERE WEREN'T REPEATED WARNINGS OVER THE YEARS. IN FACT, WARNINGS AROSE AGAIN JUST LAST MONTH.
AMERICA'S PRINCESS, THE OVER EXPOSED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O, WILL DRAG YOUR CAMPAIGN DOWN IF YOU ARE A DEMOCRAT.
IT'S A LESSON A FEW ARE GETTING BUT MANY CANDIDATES ARE MISSING.
YESTERDAY, NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE, VOTERS SENT THE MESSAGE "WE ARE SO OVER YOU" AS THEY REJECTED BARRY O AND ELECTED REPUBLICANS.
DEMS FACING VOTERS NEXT YEAR BETTER START DRAWING DISTANCE RIGHT NOW BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND THE TOXIC WHITE HOUSE.
VOTERS ARE TRIED OF MR. PRETTY WORDS, TIRED OF HIS VACATIONS, TIRED OF HIS EXCUSE OF 'BLAME THE OTHER GUY,' TIRED OF HIS BROKEN PROMISES AND TIRED OF HIS 'PLANS' THAT NEVER MANAGE TO BENEFIT ANYONE NOT RUNNING A CORPORATION.
A DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN CONFERENCE ALL YESTERDAY AFTERNOON FOUND DEMS FEELING "BETRAYED, DISAPPOINTED, FURIOUS, DISGUSTED, HOPELESS" AND THAT WAS BEFORE THE RESULTS FOR THE TWO RACES CAME IN.
REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS TODAY IN THE MIDST OF HIS MORNING DAY FACIAL ("CUCUMBER MASK, THANKS FOR ASKING"), BARRY O DECLARED HE WAS TIRED OF THE CARPING, "PEOPLE SAY WHY DON'T YOU CREATE JOBS? YOU NEVER CREATE ANY JOBS? UH, HELLO. HERE I AM PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THE MOST UNDERQUALIFIED CANDIDATE EVER AND QUICKLY BECOMING THE MOST UNPOPULAR. THAT I CREATED THIS JOB FOR MYSELF SURELY SHOWS SOME TALENT!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Part of the problem is that veterans have fallen out of public focus, now centered on the economy. Foreclosures. Paychecks.
Leon Panetta: You know, having been OMB director and Chairman of the Budget Committee in the Congress, uh, I have always approached, uh, these issues by saying, 'We've got to put everything on the table. We've got to look at everything.' I think that's the way to do it.
Charlie Rose: From retirement benefits to weapons systems, to weapons systems --
Leon Panetta: To weapon systems --
Charlie Rose: -- to making sure that your priority is having mine resistant vehicles, especially --
Leon Panetta: I --
Charlie Rose: -- something that service men --
Leon Panetta: I --
Charlie Rose: -- have been talking about for years.
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The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Iraq given the dangerous security situation. Civilian air and road travel within Iraq remains dangerous. This Travel Warning replaces the Travel Warning dated April 12, 2011, to update information and to remind U.S. citizens of ongoing security concerns for U.S. citizens in Iraq, including kidnapping and terrorist violence.
Some regions within Iraq have experienced fewer violent incidents than others in recent years, in particular the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR). However, violence and threats against U.S. citizens persist and no region should be considered safe from dangerous conditions. Attacks against military and civilian targets throughout Iraq continue, including in the International (or "Green") Zone (IZ). Methods of attack have included magnetic bombs placed on vehicles; roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs); mortars and rockets; human- and vehicle-borne IEDs, including Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs); mines placed on or concealed near roads; suicide attacks; and shootings. Numerous insurgent groups remain active throughout Iraq. Although Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) operations against these groups continue, attacks against the ISF and U.S. forces persist in many areas of the country. U.S. citizens in Iraq remain at a high risk for kidnapping.
While sectarian and terrorist violence occurs at levels lower than in previous years, it occurs often, particularly in the provinces of Baghdad, Ninewa, Salah ad Din, Anbar, and Diyala.
The security situation in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), which includes the provinces of Sulymaniya, Erbil, and Dohuk, has been more stable relative to the rest of Iraq in recent years, but threats remain. U.S. government personnel in northern Iraq are required to be accompanied by a protective security detail when traveling outside secure facilities. Although there have been significantly fewer terrorist attacks and lower levels of insurgent violence in the IKR than in other parts of Iraq, the security situation throughout the country remains dangerous. Increasingly, many U.S. and third country business people travel throughout much of Iraq; however, they do so under restricted movement conditions and almost always with security advisors and teams.
"Turkey wants predator drones"
"Sometimes he wants to talk racism, sometimes not"
"Barack and Arnove try to dupe"
"2 women, 5 men"
"pride and disgust"
"The color line of Arnove"
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"His latest 'brilliant' idea"


High-resolution optical molecular imaging has become a vital tool for understanding and measuring physiologically
important biometrics on the cellular and subcellular level. In spite of significant recent advances in microscopy,
molecular imaging of most endogenous biomolecular species remains elusive. Directly imaging endogenous
biomolecules without the aid of exogenous tags is highly desirable. We developed pump-probe optical coherence
microscopy (PPOCM) based on our previous success in integrating pump-probe absorption spectroscopy with
optical coherence tomography. A fixed human skin tissue with melanoma was imaged by the PPOCM system. The
preliminary results show that PPOCM can provide better can clear contrast between normal tissue and melanoma
than OCM. This system also can be used to image other chromophores.
The overall goal for this project is the development and study of a quantitative fluorescence sensor for in vivo detection
of β-amyloid (Aβ), the primary protein component of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Toward achieving
that goal a Monte Carlo simulation has been developed to model photon propagation through the human head and a
phantom model of the human head has been built and tested. In both cases a four layer model that included the skin,
skull, fluorescent biosensor, and gray matter was used. A sensitivity study was performed to investigate the influence on
the fluorescent output intensity of changes in concentration of the sensor. The results show that the fluorescent output
intensity is detectable with a reasonable fluorescent sensor concentration and increases nearly linearly with increases in
fluorescent concentration in the sensor. These results imply that the sensor would be detectable through the head using a
reasonable optical system. The overall results are being used to aid in the design of the fluorescent sensor and the
optical system for early detection of AD.
The increasing prevalence of diabetes in the United States has led many to pursue methods for non-invasive glucose detection using various optical approaches such as NIR absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and polarization. Polarization approaches using the aqueous humor as the sensing site have been previously shown to achieve 5 mg/dl accuracy in vitro, however accuracy in vivo has yet to be obtained due to motion induced birefringence changes in the cornea. A dual-wavelength close-looped system was developed to compensate for motion artifact. This method has shown 15 mg/dl accuracy in the presence of birefringence changes in the optical path in vitro similar to those that occur in the cornea -- something previous systems were not capable of doing.
In a continuing effort to develop a noninvasive means of monitoring glucose levels using the aqueous humor of the eye, a dual-wavelength system is developed to show that varying birefringence, similar to what is seen with a moving cornea, can be compensated. In this work, a dual-wavelength, closed-loop system is designed and a model is developed to extract the glucose concentration information. The system and model are tested using various concentrations of glucose in a birefringent test cell subject to motion artifact. The results show that for a static, nonmoving sample, glucose can be predicted to within 10 mg/dl for the entire physiologic range (0 to 600 mg/dl) for either laser wavelength (523 or 635 nm). In the presence of moving birefringence, each individual wavelength produces standard errors on the order of a few thousand mg/dL. However, when the two wavelengths are combined into the developed model, this error is less than 20 mg/dL. The approach shows that multiple wavelengths can be used to drastically reduce the error in the presence of a moving birefringent sample and thus may have the potential to be used to noninvasively monitor glucose levels in vivo in the presence of moving corneal birefringence.