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Train / Work / Live – First Minister of Wales launches major new GP recruitment campaign
A major new campaign to promote Wales as an excellent place for doctors, including GPs, and their families, to train, work and live has been launched by First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones.
- First Minister to mark 50th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster
- Cabinet Secretary says strong Welsh budget for housing will help provide 20,000 homes
- Train / Work / Live – First Minister of Wales launches major new GP recruitment campaign
Section highlightLand Transaction Tax
Land Transaction Tax will replace UK Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales.
Draft Budget 2017-18 »
The amount of funding allocated to Welsh Government Main Expenditure Groups (MEGs) for 2017-18 is £15bn.Learn more »
- Statistics & Research
Municipal waste management
Municipal waste is waste, recycling, and bulky items collected by local authorities from homes and businesses.
The overarching waste strategy Towards Zero Waste sets the the following targets for municipal waste collected by local authorities:
- a minimum of 70% of waste being reused, recycled or composted by 2024/25
- a maximum of 30% energy being created from waste by 2024/25
- a maximum of 5% of waste being landfilled by 2024/25
- Wales to achieve zero waste by 2050.
The recycling targets become law from April 2012 under the Waste (Wales) Measure 2010. The first statutory target is to reuse, recycle or compost 52% of municipal waste collected by local authorities in 2012-13. The next target is 58% in 2015/16.
The Landfill Allowances Scheme (Wales) Regulations 2004 (The LAS regulations) came into force in Wales on 1 October 2004, to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) going to landfill sites.
Every 3 months Local Authorities enter their data onto WasteDataFlow (external link) to report on recycling, re-use, composting and disposal activities. We report provisional results for Local Authorities in Wales through the Quarterly release which is designed to give an early indication of trends.
Read the latest waste statistics.
More information on municipal waste management statistics in England is available on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website (external link).
More information on municipal waste management statistics in Northern Ireland is available on the Northern Ireland Environment Agency website (external link).
More information on municipal waste management statistics in Scotland is available on the Scotland Environment Protection Agency website (external link)

domain: politics


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This spicy vegan chili burger. Barbecue material.
We're always suckers for orange creamsicles.
This three pea salad with green tea dressing. So green!
These oatmeal almond double chocolate bars look so worth it.
We're making these jerk tofu pineapple skewers at our next cookout.
Give us all the cherry and lime margaritas.
This lemon basil and blueberry bruschetta looks life changing.
This raw vanilla fudge looks so easy and tasty.
These Mediterranean millet salad wraps are the perfect summer lunch.
What recipes are you loving this week?

domain: food


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We are really excited to introduce NEW Design Team member…
As a mum to two teenage boys, crafting has been both my therapy and escape, my bit of time out for myself to immerse myself in the colourful creative world of messy painted backgrounds and beautiful stamped and coloured images. My mindful messy moments of joy!
Gill is on our TV SAMPLES TEAM!
Follow Gill on instagram: @sansom.g
Gill’s gorgeous cards and mixed media projects with fabulous inky backgrounds really caught our eye ♡
Gill made her fantastic background with acrylic paints and tissue paper then added more texture by randomly stamping our GRUNGE TONES stamps using rose, yellow and green inks. Next Gill added more interest by inking through our WORDS OF SUPPORT stencil. To create the gorgeous flowers Gill used our DAISY DAISY stencil as a template, painted the petals with white acrylic paint, then coated them with Starlights metallic paint in ‘clotted cream’. The centres were painted to co-ordinate with the bright oranges and yellows in the background, and gold paint was stippled to create the stamen. The grungy butterflies from our WINGS OF CHANGE set were stamped with Versafine Clair ink onto smooshed inky backgrounds made with ‘scattered straw’ and ‘worn lipstick’ distress oxide inks. The sentiments were stamped and then clear embossed, and Gill finished by hand drawing doodled frames around the sentiments and canvas edges using a black fine liner pen.
Welcome to the team Gill! We are really excited to work with you!
We will be back tomorrow with some fabulous new inspiration from Ericka.
See you then!
Helen + Mark xx

domain: hobby


JETKO 1.9" CR Tires
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The CONQUEROR features an aggressive and open tread pattern with each tread block containing multiple Sipes for incredible tread flex. The highly detailed connected tread on the sidewall of the CONQUEROR extends out for unmatched side-hilling performance. you know it provides performance you can depend on.
The ADVENTURER has many design features that helps to improve stability and control at speed, with a great contact patch. Excellent lateral bite - incredible stickiness - exceptional traction. If you are serious about scale competition, this is a tire that should not be overlooked.


La Jolla parks and beaches group opts to become nonprofit
By Dave Schwab
Staff WriterThe Parks & Beaches Subcommittee voted 6-2 last week to seek 501(c)(3) nonprofit status when it detaches from La Jolla Town Council.
For the past several months, the advisory group has been working with the city Park & Recreation Department to lay the groundwork to get a special-use permit to manage many of La Jolla’s coastal parks, excluding the La Jolla Rec Center and those in La Jolla Shores.
About a year ago the city informed the town council that membership-dues driven organizations like it are no longer allowed to manage public parks. The city told the council its park’s subcommittee would need to reconstitute with a different organizational structure in order to continue park management.
Whether or not that new organizational structure should be in a form able to handle money has became a bone of contention among Parks & Beaches Subcommittee members.
Subcommittee member Jack Holzman maintains seeking nonprofit status is unnecessary and frought with peril.
“Bringing money of some significance into an all-volunteer group like this will change the nature of this committee,” he warned. “We’d be opening ourselves to a great deal of work and trouble, and we haven’t even formed an organization yet. We should stick to what we’re supposed to do: advise the city.”
“The city has no money to help us,” disagreed subcommittee member Sally Miller. “We can fundraise (with nonprofit status). It’s very important to be able to fundraise.”
Concurring with Holzman, colleague Carl Lind said, “Making this change (to nonprofit) you’re talking about a huge undertaking with unforeseen complications. Maintaining the status quo is a lot easier and a lot less trouble.”
Subcommitter members Patrick Ahern and Joe LaCava sided with the majority on the nonprofit issue.
“The city is encouraging us to become a nonprofit,” said Ahern. “It might encourage more donations. We could also expand our functions by starting to do more.”
“This will help our organization grow up,” said LaCava. “Hopefully we’ll now be able to speak directly to the city.”
In an e-mail, City Park and Recreation Director Stacey LoMedico said staff has been working with La Jolla Town Council’s Parks & Beaches Subcommittee on the process required for it to be recognized as an advisory committee, noting “becoming a tax-exempt organization is an important first step in this process and we will continue to work with the group as they move forward.”
In other matters, the subcommittee voted 6-1-1 to a approve a proposal by La Jolla Historical Society to host the La Jolla Motor Car Classic in Scripps Park on April 3, 2011. But the subcommittee opposed the Society’s suggestion that sidewalks in Scripps Park be used to convey antique autos to a VIP section, noting new use guidelines for the park call for 6-foot setbacks to be observed along all park pathways.


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The American Petro l eum Institute (API) reported a surprising 4.2 million barrels of crude oil inventory for the week ending February 22, and came under the analysts' expectations that predicted that crude oil inventories would build with 2,842 million barrels.
Last week, API reported a crude oil building of 1.26 million barrels. One day later, EIA reported a larger 3.7 million barrels.
The oil price movements were pretty bland Tuesday before the data release, with the WTI benchmark trading essentially flat on the day at $ 55.48, while the Brent benchmark trading up $ 0.37 (+ 0.57%) at $ 65.28 pm. 14:25. Both benchmarks were trading down a few dollars a barrel week a week.
(Click to enlarge)
API one this week reported a tie in gasoline for the weekend of February 22 in the amount of 3.8 million barrels. Analysts estimated a gasoline holding of 1,686 million barrels a week.
The US crude oil production, as estimated by the Energy Management Administration, showed that the production for the week ending February 15 – the latest available information – averaged 12 million barrels per day. Day – Another high for the United States, who breaks another psychological barrier.
Distillate inventories rose this week by 400,000 barrels compared to an expected draft of 1,951 million barrels.
Crude oil stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma facility increased by 2.0 million barrels a week.
US Energy Information Administration report on crude oil inventories to be published on Wednesday at. 10:30. EST.
At 16:39 EST, WTI traded at $ 55.63 and Brent traded at $ 65.49.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
Several tops are read from Oilprice.com:

domain: news


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For Christmas I purchased 9 Ready to Learn jumbo stamp pads for my 3 grandchildren. They arrived quickly, excellent quality and a great price. Will shop again!
More Testimonials »
Heavy Duty Stack Cutters
Premium Guillotine with Laser Guide
Premium Rolling Trimmers


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Write a poem about an animate and inanimate object falling in love with each other. Write a poem that incorporates your message about this product or service. A Travel Journal When you travel, write about your surroundings. And they can be an easy way to put down your thoughts onto paperwithout the boundaries of structure and form in your regular writing.
Students receive personalized feedback on assignments from their instructor, as well as responses from classmates on discussion board forums and peer reviews. An autobiography is pretty much essential in some political fields.
For more information, please contact Chad Vogler with your specific questions. Conversation, firm deadlines, and feedback help keep you writing and improving your work throughout the class. Make a specific commitment for a month. Outline the problem, the solution, and exactly how you came to that solution.
What is the secret hidden in the picture. You will learn how to structure chapters or essays, how to incorporate research into personal writing, how to develop character, how to use descriptive language effectively, and more.
For example, tell yourself that for this month you can make an entry every day or every other day or perhaps on weekends or on Mondays and Fridays. We allow for alternative mentoring structures.
Have kids spread out the notes from their chosen pile in order. Choose one aspect of the natural world that you feel has something to teach you. Write the job description in your journal. You decide to return it. Look at the last 10 poems you have written. If I could describe the place I am sitting to a set designer for a movie or play, here is what I would say: Add a sustaining metaphor or an apt simile.
Use these creative writing prompts to help get the ideas flowing and to help develop your work. Write a poem about the moment when you lose a necessary piece that is needed to make something electronic work.
It takes practice to learn how to do this. Write this commitment down in your journal and then keep your entries going for another month.
Her second book, Dancing at Halftime: You might want to start the month off with an entry that describes why you created the system you did and why you bought the notebooks and pens or pencils or made the files or why you committed the particular amount of time that you did.
Write a poem about that landscape. Beyond these bare requirements it has the same responsibility as the novel or the short story: As a literary genre, a memoir from the French: Write a poem about the way a specific room changes throughout a year.
Write each of the five words on a scrap of paper and put the scraps in a bowl or hat. The idea is to pick one that seems challenging and just start writing. Suspense Write in any form poetry, drama, short story, nonfiction, memoir, etc.
A Memoir is… I just saw the Wikipedia entry on memoir. Have the child put these title notes on top of the appropriate piles. A variety of writing styles will open up the possibilities for the child writer. Write a poem either about the experience or the topic.
Focus on a particular area of interest. Pay attention to the ending lines. Hollars is the author of several books, most recently From the Mouths of Dogs: With writing, with everything. Enter your email address: Take pen and paper and answer it with clear, assertive statements.
Return to Creative Nonfiction · Print/Mobile-Friendly Version. Keeping a journal is one of the best tools to practice trusting your writing and to make sure you keep writing. You can keep a journal in a cheap or an expensive notebook, on scraps of paper dropped into a box, in computer files or in letter form.
Creative Nonfiction Nonfiction—pieces that spring from the real world—is everywhere. Magazines, newspapers, books, blogs, websites. And nonfiction has grown more diverse and creative than ever, embracing all styles from straight to zany to lyrical, encompassing every topic imaginable from schoolyard memories to a trek in Nepal to the creation of the universe.
Nonfiction. Whether it’s an experience found in your kitchen or halfway around the world, whether it’s an idea you can’t forget or a conversation with a fascinating person, sometimes the. Creative non-fiction is also known as literary journalism. It's the art of telling a true story as if it were fiction, using scenes, shifting viewpoints, dialogue and well-rendered prose.
The books "Black Hawk Down" and "All The President's Men" are examples of creative non-fiction. Tell your story, better.
Creative Nonfiction's online classes give you the opportunity to learn in a small classroom environment on your own time. Write at night, on your lunch break even in your underwear. All you need is an Internet connection and a little motivation. Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives.
Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as academic or technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not written to entertain based on writing style.Creative nonfiction topics to write about

domain: artistic


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Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy, Deepika Padukone, Kajol, Karan Johar and Ritesh Deshmukh on the sets of NDTV show with Raveena at Yashraj, Mumbai held on 8th March, 2012.
Deepika Karan Raveena and Ritesh
Deepika Padukone and Raveena Tandon
Karan Johar Kajol and Raveena Tandon
Ritesh Karan Raveena and Shankar Ehsan Loy
Shankar Ehsaan Loy with Raveena Deepika and Karan


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Set in the far future of the DC Universe Shazam has taken its final form – and it’s the perfect ending to its story. The publisher’s epic DC one million Crossover event, first released in 1998, introduced fans to the 853rd Century DC Universe. Readers were introduced to future versions of DC staples like Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash, while each book in the series also released a “One Millionth” special edition. in the The Power of Shazam #1,000,000the character’s journey comes full circle.
DC one million, led by Grant Morrison, transported fans to the 853rd century when most DC titles theoretically hit their 1,000,000. issue would publish. The aforementioned futuristic versions of Superman and Wonder Woman were members of the Justice Legion Alpha, the greatest heroes of the 853rd Century. The transition began when the Justice Legion traveled back to the present to honor their predecessors. Of course, disaster struck when the immortal Vandal Savage allied with Solaris, the Tyrant Sun, to destroy the Justice Legion once and for all. Heroes of both eras successfully stopped the villains and inflicted his final defeat on Solaris. While the Justice Legion and Justice League dealt with Savage and Solaris, other heroes began to stir again in the 853rd Century – including Shazam.
The Power of Shazam #1,000,000 – by Jerry Ordway – opened on the Rock of Eternity, which was cut off from the rest of reality for many years. Sutra, a young woman, accidentally accesses the rock via interdimensional travel. There she finds an old man sitting on Shazam’s throne who bears a strong resemblance to the wizard who gave Billy Batson his powers. When she returns to her homeland, she tells her son Tan to guard the gate while she goes to town. Prospero, a merchant, notices Tan and becomes curious about what he is guarding. Prospero enters the gate, Tan follows him. When they arrive at the Rock of Eternity, they awaken the “Wizard” and the readers learn that this is Billy Batson, who has taken on the role of the Guardian of the Rock of Eternity. Prospero wants to turn the rock into a tourist attraction, and as the gate becomes known, there is a rush to find it. Sutra is trampled on in the chaos, leaving Tan an orphan. Taking pity on Tan, Billy grants him the power of Shazam, creating a champion for a new era.
Shazam comes full circle
The issue ends with Billy and the newly empowered Tan flying off, ready to begin a new chapter in Shazam’s legacy. It’s really fitting that Billy takes on the wizard’s mantle. The wizard Shazam took Billy off the streets, gave him his powers – and a purpose too. The events of this issue saw Tan become an orphan like Billy who, seeing something of himself in the boy, passed on his powers. With Billy, the Wizard helped nurture a heroic legacy that spans the ages and reverberates into the 853rd century. Now, in that distant era, Billy has come full circle, becoming the mentor he once needed and using lifetimes of heroism to help train humanity’s next great champion of magic.
Billy Batson is a child character, and it’s unlikely he’ll ever really grow up in DC’s ongoing continuity — at least not permanently. However, The Power of Shazam #1,000,000 showed the perfect adulthood for the character, passed on the lineage he had gifted himself after centuries of saving the day, and while bringing his story full circle, embraced the mythical nature of his powers and origins.
Next up: DC’s Shazam reveals the real-life villain every new hero must face

domain: literature


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Nestled among the pistols and camouflage costumes on display last weekend at the Gun, Knife and Military Show in Orlando's Expo Centre were knives noteworthy more for their craftsmanship than their deadliness.
Some were small enough to carry in a pocket, their blades folded into smooth ivory sheathes. Others were big, bad survival knives like those Sylvester Stallone carried in two movies, First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II.
The hand-carved, one-of-a-kind knives were the most impressive objects among the books, jewelry, badges, banners, dried foods, blowguns, darts, tomahawks, shoulder holsters, pistols and rifles on display at the show, which was co-sponsored by Orlando businessman J.A. Patterson and the Central Florida Wildlife Association.
Many of the knives showed the intricate craftsmanship and detailed design of a renaissance dagger or the interlacement on a Celtic manuscript page. The show's knifemakers said that although they work freehand and dream up their patterns as they go along, they are inspired by past styles.
Lance Kelly, 56, an Edgewater artisan, for the past 10 years has decorated the blades and handles of knives; 15 years before that he began carving designs on pistols. His interest in the craft began when he was a child, Kelly said. He couldn't afford the fancy guns he admired, so he worked with his simple tools -- a burin and a hammer and chisel -- until he learned to make the fancy guns himself.
Another master carver and member of the Knifemakers' Guild Inc., Jimmy Lile, 52, of Russellville, Ark., left his contracting business to become a full-time knifemaker in 1969. Like his friend Kelly, his interest began when
he was a boy learning to whittle and win at mumbletypeg, a game played with a two-bladed knife.
When the guild was formed in 1970, there were 11 members, Lile said. Now, there are nearly 300 members, but fewer than 100 of them work at their craft full time.
Prices vary widely on custom knives. One of his smaller, less ornate models might cost as little as $150, Lile said. Most of his knives are far more expensive, however, with the cost of each based partly on materials and partly on the time it takes to make the knife. His most pricey example to date sits in a safe deposit box, unseen by anyone, he said.
The knife's blade is richly incised and its handle is a carved ivory eagle, Lile said. It's inlaid with gold and the eagle's eyes are yellow diamonds, he said. The cost? About $13,500 without the diamonds. That high price tag is a sign of how respected and popular his craft is becoming, Lile said.
"I've seen it grow from a handful of dabblers to quite a few artists," Lile said. "Some are learning by apprenticing to other knifemakers and some are studying it in schools. But most of us just learned it on our own."


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- Personal Finance»
- Income & Making Money
Linkbee: A Short Guide to a Link Shortening Service
Linkbee is a company that offers a link shortening service. “Link Shortening” is a process where you take links, and make them physically shorter. Let’s say you find this topical “lolcat” picture that you want to share with all of your friends via Twitter. Now, Twitter has a 140 character limit, which can be a problem with long URLs. Take the following lolcat pictures:
http://www.librarian.net/talks/masslib/lolcat.jpg has 49 characters in it’s URL.
http://www.funnyphotos.net.au/images/lolcat-i-question-the-general-assumption-that-feli1.jpg has a whopping 92 characters.
When you can only use 140 characters… 92 on just a link is way too many. So Linkbee offers a service to shorten these links. How they do this, is that they make a new URL, that links to the original URL.
And here was where I going to post examples of link shortening (complete with some Linkbee options) but Hubpages decided that if I used more than one link, it would have too many affiliate links. Since this is a guide to a site that's about making a passive income... I don't see how I can give a thourough guide without giving examples of the service I'm supposed to be describeing. Eh, oh well. Let's continue...
So http://www.funnyphotos.net.au/images/lolcat-i-question-the-general-assumption-that-feli1.jpg (Which had 92 characters)
Becomes: http://linkbee.com/lolcatgrammer with 32 characters
And so forth. Every Linkbee link is always 35 characters or less, making it a great resource to share websites with long addresses through twitter (or any other service that has a character limit or charges you per character used). There are other “link shortening” services besides Linkbee, but Linkbee offers something that not all link shortening companies provide: money for people who make links.
That’s right; you can make money with Linkbee. It’s very simple to do and only requires a short amount of time to make the links. First, you have to sign up with Linkbee (if you don’t want to make money, you don’t have to sign up). Once you have signed up, you need to click “create link”. Then type in the URL that you want to link to, pick an advertising option, and then rename the link to something shorter. And that’s it. Each link takes a few seconds to make.
For the advertising part, you have three options: None,
Banner, and Interstitial. “None” means
that there won’t be an advertisement (and you won’t make money on it). “Banner” means that there will be an extra
banner on the page that wouldn’t normally be there. “Interstitial” means that before Linkbee
brings you to the page that you want, it will show an advertisement first, and
then bring you to the page that you want.
Since “Interstitial” ads are the most annoying, you will make the most
if you choose that option (but it’s practically the same as a “Banner” ad). Incidentally, the one example I posted showed how the "Interstitial" ad works (before you judge, I picked the "interstitial" ad out of the three because I figured that would be the one that people might not what it was).
Sounds great right? It’s not. Linkbee pays by CPM impressions. “CPM impression” means: for every 1000 times an ad is shown (the ads do not need to be clicked on). For every thousand impressions (times shown), you will make between 25 cents to 2 dollars (it changes depending on where you live, though most people will make $1). So… every 1000 times someone clicks on your links, you will make a dollar. Unless you have a lot of friends or fans, you won’t make a lot of money. To make matters worse, Linkbee gets a cut of the money that you make (which is understandable since they’re the ones who are providing the actual service). Their cut: 50%. So for every 1000 impressions, you’re only actually making 50 cents or so. Ouch. In order to make a decent amount of money, you need to have at least a couple of extremely popular links, because each click will net you a few hundredths of a cent, AKA a few ten-thousandths of a dollar.
But hey, if you need the link shortened anyway… why not? You don’t make a lot of money, but it’s not as if you’re putting any time or effort into it. But if you do want to make money with Linkbee, you should know about their referral program.
Linkbee offers an odd reward for referrals. You don’t get paid when you refer someone. Instead, you earn a percentage of the money that is generated from that person. What’s odd about this, is that the money you earn doesn’t come out of the pocket of your friend, but instead comes from Linkbee’s pocket. For every person that you refer, you will earn 15% of the profit. Your Friend will still earn 50% of the money generated from the links, you will earn 15%, and Linkbee will only earn 35% (instead of 50%). What’s even stranger is that you’ll make money from the people that your Friend refers (you’ll earn 10%). Now, Someone earns 50%, your Friend earns 15%, you earn 10%, and Linkbee earns 25%. And this keeps going… for up to 5 levels. So-And-So would earn 50%, SomeGuy would earn 15%, Whatsherface would earn 10%, Someone earns 5%, your Friend earns 5%, you earn 5%, and Linkbee earns 10%. It’s basically a pyramid scheme, but without the money loss. Every time someone in this chain makes a link, you earn something from it. The more people under you in the pyramid, the more you’ll make. Unfortunately, unless you’re famous, this is the only way you can make decent money with Linkbee.
Another problem with Linkbee is the speed in which they pay people. It can take Linkbee up to four weeks to send you money once you’ve requested it. So don’t expect to get the money that took so much time to earn in a speedy fashion.
All-in-all, Linkbee isn’t bad for a passive income… if only because it doesn’t take any effort to make the links. If you need to make links shorter, and don’t want to do it for free, this is a way to do it. While there is kind of a pyramid scheme involved in this… this is, in now way whatsoever, a get rich quick scheme. Unless you have access to a lot of people who are willing to click on your links or have a lot of people working under you, you’ll be lucky to make pennies a day. But it’s pennies you didn’t have before, and you didn’t have to work to get them. You have to decide for yourself if it’s really worth your time. That argument could go either way.
If you want to sign up for Linkbee, feel free to use my referral link:
(remove the number at the end if you don’t want to count as someone that I
referred. But since you won’t lose money
if I referred you, why would you?) (In a related note, if you would like to make me your referrer and you have already signed up for Linkbee, go to "My Account", then "Change Referrer", and put "50125" in the box.)
Anyway… Good luck, and happy linking.

domain: finance


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Electron impact ionisation of molecular clusters and spatially oriented molecules
(University of Canterbury. Chemistry, 1995)
A pulsed supersonic molecular beam apparatus has been used to determine the appearance energies of the cluster ions (CO₂)n+ (2≤n≤4), (N₂O)n+ (2≤n≤4), (NH₃)nNH⁺₄ (0≤n≤7) and the cluster ion fragments (N₂O.O)⁺ and (N₂O.NO)⁺ ...


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Sommers B. ObamaCare’s 2014 report card? preaching patience — to supporters and opponents. Harvard Public Health Review. Spring 2014;1.
The first open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act has come and gone. One might be tempted to ask, “How has the law done so far?” — if only that question hadn’t already been asked ad nauseum since the first week of open enrollment in October 2013. As a researcher whose primary interests are insurance coverage and access to care (and as an advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), I have frequently been asked this question – by students, by friends and family, and by reporters. Consider this my response.
The early answers offered by pundits and politicians in the fall, when the federal Marketplace (healthcare.gov) wasn’t working, were far too damning. Phrases like a “train wreck” and a “disaster” evinced little sense of the difference between the website’s function and the law’s long-term ability to sign people up for coverage. [1. Norman, B. “Shutdown over, Congress turns to Obamacare ‘train wreck.‘” Politico, 17 October 2013.]
But similarly, the more recent media coverage – proclaiming President Obama’s “victory lap” at reaching 8 million in Marketplace enrollment [2. Dwyer, D. “President Obama Takes Victory Lap After Health Care Sign-Ups Top 7 Million.” ABC News, 1 April 2014.] – is premature and mistakenly focuses on just one fairly limited metric of the law’s performance. Given the tremendously contentious political environment that surrounds the ACA and a round-the-clock controversy-obsessed media, it is not surprising that the dialogue has played out in this polarized fashion. But, nonetheless, it is shallow and ultimately unhelpful in gauging such a far-reaching policy.
So what should we be focusing on in evaluating the early impact of the ACA? The initial coverage numbers in the Marketplace are indeed useful and show that the early website woes did not sabotage the law’s open enrollment period. But this widely discussed “8 million” number is not the most relevant metric to assess even the law’s impact on coverage. Why? Because the ACA, like the U.S. healthcare system itself, takes a patchwork approach to expanding health insurance. While the Marketplaces are the most novel portion of the ACA – and the feature most directly associated with “ObamaCare” in the popular conception – it is not the law’s only means of expanding coverage. Moreover, if one is particularly interested in the law’s potential impact on public health and on health disparities (by race, ethnicity, and income, among other dimensions), then the Marketplaces aren’t even the most important part of the coverage expansion.
Over the next several years, 10-20 million individuals are expected to sign up for expanded Medicaid coverage[3. Elmendorf DW. Estimates for the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act Updated for the Recent Supreme Court Decision. Washington DC: Congressional Budget Office; 2012. ] [4. Sommers BD, Swartz K, Epstein A. Policy makers should prepare for major uncertainties in medicaid enrollment, costs, and needs for physicians under health reform. Health Aff (Millwood) 2011;30:2186-93.] exactly how many will depend heavily on how many of the nearly two dozen states thus far refusing the ACA Medicaid expansion change their minds. [5. Status of State Action on the Medicaid Expansion Decision, 2014. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014.]Meanwhile, several million low-income adults and children who were already eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled will benefit from the greater public awareness and streamlined application process to obtain coverage. [6. Sommers BD, Epstein AM. Why states are so miffed about Medicaid–economics, politics, and the “woodwork effect”. N Engl J Med 2011;365:100-2.] Why have these numbers have been relegated to second billing in the ACA discussion? The answer is a mixture of data availability and politics. On the first point, early estimates on the Medicaid expansion are more difficult to interpret than the Marketplace figures, in part because they do not differentiate new versus previously-eligible enrollees, and some states have not even been able to distinguish between renewals of existing Medicaid coverage versus new applicants. On the second point, opponents of the ACA were eager last fall to discuss the Marketplace enrollment numbers because they seemed so low; by March, the tide had turned but the media’s focus was already squarely on the Marketplace figures. Moreover, some supporters of the law may be reluctant to draw attention to public insurance expansion, which is less attractive to moderates than the law’s use of private insurance in the Marketplaces.
But we should not underestimate the critical impact of the Medicaid expansion. Individuals living below the poverty level are at the highest risk for lacking health insurance and comprise nearly 40% of the U.S.’s uninsured population. [7. Kaiser. Five Facts about the Uninsured Population. Washington, DC: Kaiser Family Foundation; 2012.] The Medicaid expansion disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities, [8. Decker SL, Kostova D, Kenney GM, Long SK. Health status, risk factors, and medical conditions among persons enrolled in Medicaid vs uninsured low-income adults potentially eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Jama 2013;309:2579-86.] and, given the well-documented connection between socioeconomic status and health,[9. Geronimus AT, Bound J, Waidmann TA, Hillemeier MM, Burns PB. Excess mortality among blacks and whites in the United States. N Engl J Med 1996;335:1552-8.] expanded Medicaid likely will reach a greater number of people with unmet health care needs than will the private coverage expansions.
Medicaid is not the only story missing from most of the ACA-related headlines. How the law impacts employer-sponsored health insurance is a key question, since this remains the most common source of coverage in the U.S. for adults under 65. [10. DeNavas-Walt C, Proctor B, Smith J. Income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States: 2010. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau; 2011.] While the existence of the Marketplaces may erode some employers’ incentive to offer coverage, the Massachusetts experience – which was the model for the ACA – demonstrated that employer coverage actually went up, as the individual mandate led many workers to request (and ultimately accept) offers of employer insurance.[11. Kolstad JT, Kowalski AE. The Impact of Health Care Reform on Hospital and Preventive Care: Evidence from Massachusetts. Journal of Public Economics 2012;96:909-29.] Early evidence from one survey in 2014 suggests that similar gains in employer coverage under the ACA may already be underway, but corroboration from other sources is still necessary. [12. Carman KG, Eibner C. Changes in Health Insurance Enrollment Since 2013: Evidence from the RAND Health Reform Opinion Study. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 2014.] Finally, some higher-income uninsured people who were not eligible for subsidies may have purchased private coverage directly from insurers, made possible by the ACA’s elimination of pre-existing condition exclusions, as well as the added incentive created by the individual mandate.
Putting these different strands together, the question about the ACA that is the most relevant initial benchmark is what has been its impact on the number of people without any health insurance. The most reliable statistics on the number of uninsured Americans come from government surveys, which take 6-18 months to release their results. However, early returns from other sources – rapid turnaround surveys designed to study the ACA in particular – do provide suggestive evidence that the ACA is indeed reducing the ranks of the uninsured. Three different surveys, using different methods and questions, have all reported a dip in the percentage of adults without health insurance through March 2014, with estimates of the total number gaining coverage ranging from 5 to 9 million.[12. Carman KG, Eibner C. Changes in Health Insurance Enrollment Since 2013: Evidence from the RAND Health Reform Opinion Study. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 2014.] [13. Long SK, Kenney GM, Zuckerman S, et al. QuickTake: Number of Uninsured Adults Falls by 5.4 Million since 2013. Washington, DC: Urban Institute; 2014.] [14. Levy J. In U.S., Uninsured Rate Lowest Since 2008: Gallup Corporation; 2014 7 April 2014.]
But even with these promising results, there are several reasons that the ongoing rush to judge the ACA should be tempered with patience. First, this is just the initial year of the law’s Marketplace and Medicaid expansion, and tens of millions of Americans remain uninsured. Large government programs – especially those that require detailed eligibility determinations and voluntary applications – take several years to reach their full enrollment.[15. Sommers BD, Kenney GM, Epstein AM. New evidence on the affordable care act: coverage impacts of early medicaid expansions. Health Aff (Millwood) 2014;33:78-87.] [16. Sommers BD, Kronick R, Finegold K, Po R, Schwartz K, Glied S. Understanding Participation Rates in Medicaid: Implications for the Affordable Care Act. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ASPE). ; 2012.] In 2020, it is highly unlikely that we will still be discussing the initial 2013-2014 open enrollment period. Second, insurance coverage – while a critical measure of equity and access in any health care system – is itself only a first step to improving the lives of Americans and fostering the law’s public health goals.
Numerous challenges stand between getting people to sign up for health insurance and experiencing positive public health outcomes. Such challenges include having adequate provider capacity especially in safety net settings, [17. Decker SL. In 2011 nearly one-third of physicians said they would not accept new Medicaid patients, but rising fees may help. Health Aff (Millwood) 2012;31:1673-9.] [18. Decker SL. Two-thirds of primary care physicians accepted new Medicaid patients in 2011–12: a baseline to measure future acceptance rates. Health Aff (Millwood) 2013;32:1183-7.] continuity of coverage over time, [19. Sommers BD, Rosenbaum S. Issues in health reform: how changes in eligibility may move millions back and forth between medicaid and insurance exchanges. Health Aff (Millwood) 2011;30:228-36.] and teaching newly-insured individuals how to use their coverage to navigate a complicated system. [20. Allen H, Wright BJ, Baicker K. New medicaid enrollees in Oregon report health care successes and challenges. Health Aff (Millwood) 2014;33:292-9. ] However, there are reasons to be optimistic. While politicians debate the relative merits of different types of coverage, the research evidence is fairly clear that any health insurance – including Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance through an employer or otherwise – is preferable in terms of financial protection, access to care, and probably health (though this is the most controversial of these findings). Research conducted by several Harvard professors, including me, have reported a variety of benefits to low-income adults of gaining Medicaid,[21. Sommers BD, Baicker K, Epstein AM. Mortality and access to care among adults after state Medicaid expansions. N Engl J Med 2012;367:1025-34. ][22. Baicker K, Taubman S, Allen H, et al. The Oregon Experiment – Effects of Medicaid on Clinical Outcomes. N Engl J Med 2013;368:1713-22. ] [23. Finkelstein A, Taubman S, Wright BJ, et al. The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year. Quarterly Journal of Economics 2012;127:1057-106. ] including better self-reported health, better mental health, fewer cost-related barriers to care, and more preventive care, with one study also showing a significant decline in mortality. [21. Sommers BD, Baicker K, Epstein AM. Mortality and access to care among adults after state Medicaid expansions. N Engl J Med 2012;367:1025-34. ] More generally, evidence on the Massachusetts health reform of 2006 showed strong positive effects on these same outcomes of access, health, and mortality. [9. Geronimus AT, Bound J, Waidmann TA, Hillemeier MM, Burns PB. Excess mortality among blacks and whites in the United States. N Engl J Med 1996;335:1552-8.] [24. Long SK, Masi PB. Access and affordability: an update on health reform in Massachusetts, fall 2008. Health Aff (Millwood) 2009;28:w578-87.] [25. Long SK, Stockley K, Dahlen H. Massachusetts health reforms: uninsurance remains low, self-reported health status improves as state prepares to tackle costs. Health Aff (Millwood) 2012;31:444-51.] [26. PJ VDW, Zaslavsky AM, Ayanian JZ. Improvements in health status after massachusetts health care reform. Milbank Q 2013;91:663-89.] [27. Sommers BD, Long S, Baicker K. Changes in Mortality After Massachusetts Health Care Reform: A Quasi-experimental Study. Ann. Intern Med 2014;160(9):585-593.] Thus, we have much to gain from expanding coverage under the ACA – but we are still far from being able to assess these more important downstream impacts of the law.
Taking all of this into account – the multiple coverage sources, early declines in the uninsured rate, and exciting opportunities but significant challenges ahead in the areas of access to care and public health, what grade do I give the ACA so far? My report card reads, “Incomplete. But off to a promising start.”

domain: medical


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Les Flûtes de Salon Artists
Admired for her rich tone and fluid technique throughout the instrument’s range flutist Julia Barnett is an active performer and teacher in Southern California. As a soloist, she has performed with the San Diego Symphony, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, and the UCLA Symphony. Her chamber experiences includes work with ensembles such as the LA Grand Ensemble, Spirati Woodwind Quintet, Coastal Winds. She has performed with orchestral ensembles including the LA Dream Orchestra, the La Grange Symphony, and is currently a member of the Midland/Odessa Symphony and Chorale as well as the Billings Symphony. She recently completed her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in flute performance at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she studied with Sheridon Stokes. For her Master of Music, Dr. Barnett studied with Christina Jennings at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and attended Rice University for her Bachelors Degree under the tutelage of Leone Buyse.
Cindy Anne Broz
Cindy Anne Broz is an active freelance flutist, piccoloist, and pedagogue residing in Temecula, California. Ms. Broz holds a degree in flute performance from the University of Utah where she studied with Erich Graf, Principal Flute and Michael Vance, Piccolo of the Utah Symphony. During her high school and college years, Cindy was a performing attendee at the Hidden Valley Summer Flute Seminars in Carmel, California where she performed for Julius Baker in masterclass. She studied with notable teachers Julius Baker and Claude Monteux. She has performed with the San Diego Symphony, California Consort Chamber Orchestra, Salt Lake Chamber Orchestra, Ballet West Symphony Orchestra, Salt Lake Opera Company Orchestra, Philadelphia Opera North Orchestra, and in festival orchestras throughout the U.S. and abroad. Ms. Broz is an active member of the National Flute Association (NFA). She currently serves on the board of the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia. Additionally, she serves on several NFA committees and regularly adjudicates flute and piccolo competitions for this organization. Cindy is a founding member of the chamber ensembles, Flûtes de Salon and The WindSong Consort. She also plays flute and piccolo with the Pacific Lyric Opera Company. Cindy (with pianist Charles Abramovic) will be releasing a CD of works for flute and piano by Eric Ewazen and Daniel Dorff on the Albany label (2019). A advocate of new music, Ms. Broz has commissioned works by composers Eric Ewazen, Daniel Dorff, Samuel Zyman, Amanda Harberg (co-commission organized by Cobus Du Toit), Jim Stephenson (commission consort organized by Jennifer Gunn). For further information, visit www.cindyannebroz.com.
Tracy Goodwin leads an active career in both teaching and performing. She is currently teaching music at elementary schools in La Jolla and Pacific Beach, and she also has an active private teaching studio. Some of her previous educator highlights include her positions as Band Director at the San Francisco Day School and the Flute Instructor at the American Indian Public Charter School. Ms. Goodwin received her Professional Studies Diploma and BM from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Tim Day (Principal Flutist of the San Francisco Symphony); and also did work for her MM at UCSB where she studied with renowned flute soloist/educator, Jill Felber. While living in the Bay Area, Ms. Goodwin was fortunate to have had the opportunity to perform in concert with amazing musical talents such as rock legend Sting, renowned mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, and trumpeter Chris Botti. Tracy serves on the board of the San Diego Flute Guild, and performs regularly with the La Jolla Symphony.
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Alina Freiman Steele (M.M.) moved to San Diego in 2015 from New York City, where she was an active performer with groups such as Camerata NY, Greenwich Village Orchestra, Doctor’s Orchestral Society, Brooklyn Symphony, and Utopia Opera. A member of the MTAC Music Teachers' Association of California, she is also on the Board of Directors for the San Diego Flute Guild. Very fortunate to have studied with some of the most highly regarded flutists of our time, her principal flute teachers have included Linda Chesis, Mary Stolper, and Robert Dick. Alina continues to be an active performer in chamber and orchestral settings, and enjoys teaching flute and directing the San Diego Flute Academy. Alina is also a sought-after sound engineer. She specializes in post production audio for video and her work has been heard on Showtime, HBO, CBS, CBS Sports Network, and ESPN. In addition to sound design, mixing, and original music composition, she has recorded audio for many celebrities for radio and television.
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Journal of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 246105, 15 pages
Transition Parameters for Doubly Ionized Lanthanum
Department of Physics, Sakarya University, 54187 Sakarya, Turkey
Received 6 July 2012; Accepted 8 August 2012
Academic Editor: Alan Migdall
Copyright © 2012 Betül Karaçoban and Leyla Özdemir. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The transition parameters such as the wavelengths, weighted oscillator strengths, and transition probabilities (or rates) for the nd , nd , np , and ng electric dipole (E1) transitions of doubly ionized lanthanum (La III, ) have been calculated using the relativistic Hartree-Fock (HFR) method. In this method, configuration interaction and relativistic effects have been included in the computations combined with a least squares fitting of the Hamiltonian eigenvalues to the observed energy levels. We have compared the results obtained from this work with the previously available calculations and experiments in literature. We have also reported new transitions with the weighted transition probabilities greater than or equal to 105.
The radiative properties of the lanthanides and their ions have been rather little considered. This can be explained by the fact that these atoms or ions are characterized by complex electronic structures with an unfilled 4f subshell, which makes the calculations very difficult, and that the laboratory analyses are still extremely fragmentary or even missing for many ions. Owing to the importance of rare earth elements in astrophysics, especially in relation to nucleosynthesis and star formation (notably the lanthanides in chemically peculiar (CP) stars) , there is a growing need for accurate spectroscopic data, that is, wavelengths, radiative transition rates, oscillator strengths, branching fractions, radiative lifetimes, hyperfine structure, and isotope shift data for lanthanide atoms and ions.
The lanthanum atom is the first member of the rare earth elements. Doubly ionized lanthanum (La III) is characterized by a simple atomic structure with core [Xe] and only one outer electron. There is substantial spectroscopic literature concerning La III, though less than the neutral or singly ionized species. The available theoretical and experimental works on energy levels, radiative lifetimes, and transition parameters for La III can be found in the literature [1–3, 5, 6, 8–13]. These works were reported in our previous work in detail .
Up till now the wavelengths, oscillator strengths, and transition probabilities available for La III were obtained by experimental, semiempirical, or pure theoretical approaches. Sixty-five spectral lines of La III in the 2000–12000 Å interval were reported by Odabasi . Sugar and Kaufman  observed forty-five La III spectral lines in the interval from 700 to 2000 Å. Johansson and Litzén  recorded wavelengths of 5d–4f lines of La III. Relativistic single-configuration Hartree-Fock oscillator strengths for 6s–6p transitions in La III were reported by Migdalek and Baylis . Migdalek and Wyrozumska  have calculated oscillator strengths obtained using the relativistic model-potential approach in there different versions: a model-potential without valence-core electron exchange but with core-polarization included (RMP + CP), with semiclassical exchange and core-polarization (RMP + SCE + CP), and with empirically adjusted exchange and core-polarization (RMP + EX + CP) for the 6s–6p, 5d–6p, 5d–4f, 5d–5f, 5d–6f, 6p–6d, and 6p–7d transition arrays. The single-configuration relativistic Hartree-Fock ionization potentials of La III were computed by Migdalek and Bojara . Biémont et al.  have performed oscillator strengths and transition probabilities in La III by relativistic Hartree-Fock method with core-polarization.
Our aim here is to determine the transition parameters, such as the wavelengths, oscillator strengths, and transition probabilities, for electric dipole transitions () in La III (). These calculations have been performed by using code  developed Cowan for relativistic Hartree-Fock (HFR)  calculations. This code considers the correlation effects and relativistic corrections. These effects contribute importantly to the physical and chemical properties of atoms or ions, especially lanthanides. The ground-state level of doubly ionized lanthanum is [Xe] 5d 2D3/2. We have taken into account 5p6nd, 5p6ng (), 5p6ns (), 5p56s6p, 5p56s4f, 5p55d6p, 5p6nf (), 5p6np (), 5p54, and 5p56p2 configurations outside the core [Cd], and nd, ng (), ns (), nf (), and np () configurations outside the core [Xe] in La III. The configuration sets that we used have been denoted by A and B, respectively, and are given in tables and text. We presented the energies, the Landé g-factors, and the lifetimes for nd, ng (), ns (), nf (), and np () excited levels of La III . In addition, we have reported various atomic structure calculations such as energy levels, transition energies, hyperfine structure, lifetimes, and electric dipole transitions for some lanthanides (La I−III, Lu I−III, and Yb I−III) [17–27].
2. Calculation Method
An electromagnetic transition between two states is characterized by the angular momentum and the parity of the corresponding photon. If the emitted or absorbed photon has angular momentum and parity then, the transition is an electric multipole transition (). However, if the photon has parity the transition is a magnetic multipole transition ().
According to HFR method , the total transition probability from a state to all states levels of is given by and absorption oscillator strength is given by where, has units of kaysers (cm−1) and is the electric dipole line strength in atomic units of . The strongest transition rate (or probability) is electric dipole () radiation. For this reason, the transitions are understood as being “allowed”, whereas high-order transitions are understood as being “forbidden”.
In HFR method, for an electron atom of nuclear charge , the Hamiltonian is expanded as in atomic units, with the distance of the th electron from the nucleus and . is the spin-orbit term, with being the fine structure constant and the mean potential field due to the nucleus and other electrons.
In this method, one calculates single-configuration radial functions for a spherically symmetrised atom (center-of-gravity energy of the configuration) based on Hartree-Fock method. The radial wave functions are also used to obtain the atom’s total energy () including approximate relativistic and correlation energy corrections. Relativistic terms in the potential function give approximate relativistic corrections to the radial functions, as well as improved relativistic energy corrections in heavy atoms. In addition, a correlation term is included to make the potential function more negative, thereby helping to bind negative ions. These radial functions are also used to calculate Coulomb integrals and and spin-orbit integrals . After radial functions have been obtained based on Hartree-Fock model, the wave function of the sublevel of a level labeled is expressed in terms of basis states by the formula
If determinant wave functions are used for the atom, the total binding energy is given by where is the kinetic energy, is the electron-nuclear Coulomb energy, and is the Coulomb interaction energy between electrons and averaged over all possible magnetic quantum numbers.
In this method, relativistic corrections have been limited to calculations to the mass-velocity and the Darwin corrections by using the relativistic correction to total binding energy. The total binding energy can be given in by formulas , , and in .
3. Results and Discussion
We calculated the radiative parameters (wavelengths, oscillator strengths, and transition probabilities) for electric dipole () transitions in La III () using HFR code . We have taken into account 5p6nd, 5p6ng (), 5p6ns (), 5p56s6p, 5p56s4f, 5p55d6p, 5p6nf (), 5p6np (), 5p54, and 5p56p2 configurations outside the core [Cd] for calculation A, and nd, ng (), ns (), nf (), and np () configurations outside the core [Xe] for calculation B. Table 1 shows the wavelengths, (in Å); the weighted oscillator strengths, gf; the weighted transition rates (or probabilities), (in ), for nd ()–nf (), nd ()–np (), np ()–ns (), and ng ()–nf () electric dipole () transitions. The data obtained are too much. For this reason, we have here presented just a part of the results. The comparing values for these exist in literature. Therefore, it is also made a comparison with other calculations and experiments in Table 1. We have also reported the wavelengths, the weighted oscillator strengths, and the weighted transition probabilities that are greater than or equal to 105 for some new transitions (680 Å ≤ λ ≤ 8600 Å) in Table 2. References for other comparison values are indicated below the tables with a lowercase superscript; odd-parity states are indicated by the superscript “”.
Electron correlation effects and relativistic effects play an important role in the spectra of heavy elements. To accurately predict the radiative atomic properties for heavy atoms such as La III, complex configuration interactions and relativistic effects must be considered simultaneously. Although Cowan’s approach is based on Schrödinger’s equation, it includes the most important relativistic effects like mass-velocity corrections and Darwin contributions. Also, for complex atoms, it is important to allow for spin-orbit interaction, which represents the magnetic interaction energy between electron’s spin magnetic moment and the magnetic field that the electron sees due to its orbital motion through the electric field of the nucleus. These contributions are considered as perturbations. Thus, to solve the Schrödinger equation with this Hamiltonian, we define a new angular momentum operator in an intermediate coupling scheme.
In calculations, the eigenvalues of Hamiltonian were optimized to the observed energy levels via a least-squares fitting procedure using experimentally determined energy levels, specifically all of the levels from the NIST compilation . The scaling factors of the Slater parameters ( and ) and of configuration interaction integrals (), not optimized in the least-squares fitting, were chosen equal to 0.85, while the spin-orbit parameters were left at their initial values. This low value of the scaling factors has been suggested by Cowan for neutral heavy elements [15, 16].
We obtained 7785 and 4278 possible transitions between odd- and even-parity levels in the calculations A and B, respectively. The results obtained are in excellent agreement with those of other works except some transitions. For some transitions, although the agreement is less in the weighted oscillator strengths and the weighted transition probabilities, it is very good in the wavelengths. Most of results related to low-lying levels obtained from this work are in agreement with literature [1–6]. The differences between our HFR results and other works for and have been found in the 0–10% range for the transitions np ()–ns (), nd (), in the 0.5–9% range for the transitions nd ()–nf (), np (), and in the 1.5–20% range for the transitions nf ()–nd (), ng (). But the agreement is less in the weighted oscillator strengths and the weighted transition probabilities for 5d and 4f transitions. In fact, except the transitions 6p 23/2–9d 2D3/2, 5d 2D3/2–9p 21/2, 4f 27/2–5g 2G7/2, 4f 27/2–6g 2G7/2, and 4f 25/2–8g 2G7/2,9/2, we found the values 1.064 (in calculation A) and 1.078 (in calculation B) for the mean ratio (this work)/ . Except the transitions 5d–9p, 4f–7g, 8g, 8s–9p, and 4f–6d, we found also the values 1.084 (in calculation A) and 1.126 (in calculation B) for the mean ratio (this work)/ . The transition results obtained from the calculation A agree with other works. This calculation includes core correlation (including excitation from 5p shell in core). These results obtained from HFR calculations may be better in case that the increasing number of configurations including the excitations from core. It is noted that there are no exist the works, especially experimental, on La III recently in available literature. A detailed comparison needs new experimental works. Most of our results are excellent in agreement, expect the transition results to 4f and 5d levels (for and results), generally. It is well known that these levels interact strongly with core.
In conclusion, the main purpose of this paper was to perform HFR calculations for obtaining the description of La III spectrum. Accurate atomic structure data is an essential ingredient for a wide range of research fields. Areas from plasma research applications in nuclear fusion to lighting research, as well as astrophysics and cosmology, depend on such data. In spectrum synthesis works, particularly for CP stars, accurate data for transition probabilities (rates) and oscillator strengths for lanthanide atoms are needed to establish reliable abundances for these species. The agreement is excellent, especially for wavelengths, when our HFR results are compared with other available works in literature for the radiative transitions for La III. So, we may mention that new results presented in Table 2 for the transitions between some highly levels in this work are also reliable. There are a few experimental or theoretical radiative transition data for La III in literature. Consequently, we hope that our results, especially the new results in Table 2, which are obtained using the HFR method will be useful for research fields, technological applications, and other works in the future for La III spectra.
The authors are very grateful to the anonymous reviewer for stimulating comments and valuable suggestions, which resulted in improvements to this paper.
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- R. D. Cowan, The Theory of Atomic Structure and Spectra, California, USA, 1981.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Energies and lifetimes for some excited levels in La I,” Acta Physica Polonica A, vol. 113, no. 6, pp. 1609–1618, 2008.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Electric dipole transitions for La I (),” Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, vol. 109, no. 11, pp. 1968–1985, 2008.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “The hyperfine structure calculations of some excited levels for (139)La I,” Acta Physica Polonica A, vol. 115, no. 5, pp. 864–872, 2009.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Transition energies of neutral and singly ionized lanthanum,” Indian Journal of Physics, vol. 84, no. 3, pp. 223–230, 2010.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Electric dipole transitions for Lu I (),” Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 635–648, 2011.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Energies and Landé factors for some excited levels in Lu I (),” Central European Journal of Physics, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 800–806, 2011.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Energies, Landé factors, and lifetimes for some excited levels of neutral ytterbium (),” Acta Physica Polonica A, vol. 119, no. 3, pp. 342–353, 2011.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Electric dipole transitions for neutral ytterbium (),” Journal of the Korean Physical Society, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 417–428, 2011.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Transition energies of ytterbium (),” Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A, vol. 66, pp. 543–551, 2011.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “The level structure of atomic lutetium (): a relativistic Hartree-Fock calculation,” Indian Journal of Physics, vol. 85, no. 5, pp. 683–702, 2011.
- B. Karaçoban and L. Özdemir, “Transition energies of lutetium,” Chinese Journal of Physics, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 40–49, 2012.
- NIST, http://www.nist.gov/pml/data/asd.cfm.


text:
Visited Polland Hopia at Mayon Street and i saw a lot of freshly cooked hopias coming out from the oven! Photo above is their delicious hopia hapon!
I also tried their hopia monggo! This is one of my favorites. I really love the taste of this one. I highly recommend this hopia coz it made me close my eyes in awe when i was eating it.. it's so good...
They also have these delicious mooncakes! They come in different flavors as well.
It was quite an experience.I love hopia! I hopia-like-it too as well! :D


text:
Findex Inc: Business description, financial summary, 3yr and interim financials, key statistics/ratios and historical ratio analysis.
This report is essential reading for any serious investor, providing comprehensive financial information on a company's perfo...
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Quantitative analyses of financial statements (Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Sources of Capital), extensive ratio table...
Will Findex Inc Perform for Long-Term Investors?
Will Findex Inc Deliver Long-Term Returns?
Opportunity Calls for Findex Inc Investors
Will Findex Inc Perform Long Term?

domain: economics


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Milk yield and quality of crossbred dairy cows fed with different levels of vetch (Vicia dasycarpa) hay and concentrate on a basal diet of fresh cut napier grass (Penissetium purpureum)
This study was conducted to examine the effect of different levels of vetch hay (Vicia dasycarpa) supplementation on feed intake, milk yield and milk composition of 50:50 Boran-Freisian crossbred dairy cows fed a basal diet of napier grass (Penissetium purpureum). Five crossbred dairy cows at an early stage of lactation with average milk yield of 6 – 8 liters/cow/day and body weight of 390 ±15 kg (mean±STD) were arranged in a 5*5 latin square design. In the first 4 treatments, napier grass was fed ad libitum as basal diet, while in T5 (the control diet) native hay was the basal diet. In treatment 1, 2 and 3 vetch hay was supplemented at 20% (2.4 kg), 30% (3.6 kg) and 40% (4.8 kg) replacement of the total daily DM intake, respectively. In T4 and T5 concentrate mix (55% wheat bran, 43% noug seed cake (Gizotia abysinica) and 2% salt) was supplemented at the rate of 0.5 kg per liter of milk produced. Total dry matter intake differed among treatments in the order of T4>T3=T5>T2>T1. Milk yield was greater for concentrate supplemented treatments compared with the vetch supplemented ones, and was similar (P>0.05) among the different level of vetch supplemented groups. Milk fat and protein were not affected (P>0.05) by treatments. In general this study indicated that optimum milk production (8.81 liter/cow/day) can be obtained with the use of napier grass supplemented with 2.4 kg/cow/day vetch hay dry matter.

domain: agronomy


Westchase District’s largest ever capital improvement project is underway on Walnut Bend Lane. Workers are rebuilding nearly 6,000 feet of the roadway between Westpark Drive and Westheimer Road. The project scope includes some features that everyone will see and enjoy including enhanced sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, dedicated bike lanes, custom bus shelters, bike racks and extensive landscaping. But some of the most impressive improvements are the ones you won’t see.
Walnut Bend Lane was built in the mid-1970s. Some years ago, Westchase District considered resurfacing the street to address failing concrete, shifting panels and uneven sidewalks. “Once we delved into the project, engineers discovered larger issues with underground water and sewer lines in dire need of repairs,” said Irma Sanchez, Westchase District’s vice president of projects.
Any roadway built two and three decades ago doesn’t meet current criteria, which means the engineers designing the project start at ground zero. “You only get one chance to tear up the road and make it right,” said Ricky Gonzalez, of the engineering firm Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam (LAN), which designed the new roadway.
“These retrofit projects tend to be really challenging,” added Matt Manges, LAN’s project leader, stormwater. “First we try to understand the historic issues. Is there a history of flooding? Are there resident complaints. Are there City of Houston issues? We want to resolve historical issues and bring it up to current design standards.”
Through all the recent “rain events,” businesses and apartment communities along Walnut Bend had not reported any structural flooding. But engineers knew they had an opportunity to reduce the flood risk along the roadway.
Unlike a new greenfield development, where a detention pond would be built to accommodate runoff, Walnut Bend is being re-built using existing right-of-way. “When you’re not expanding the roadway, you have to make do with what you have. You can’t take the problem and send it somewhere else,” said Manges.
“You have to get the water into the inlets and get it quickly off the roadway,” said Gonzalez. “You have to store it somewhere while the water in the channel recedes. We can’t store it on the ground, so we store it underground. It’s called underground storage or inline detention.”
The secret is underground
Manges and his fellow engineers at LAN used sophisticated hydraulic modeling software to analyze current conditions and evaluate future rain and drainage conditions. They recommended the installation of reinforced concrete pipes. These giant concrete pipes, ranging in size from 18-inches by 60-inches to 10-feet by 6-feet, are buried underground. They’re designed to hold the water until it can be drained into the appropriate channel.
A lot goes into the analysis and modeling to make sure there is no adverse effect downstream, said Manges. “You take out the old pipe, put in the new bigger pipe and put in a restrictor at the downstream end so you don’t send that problem somewhere else. You can’t send more water downstream than you were before.”
Right now, underground utilities are being moved to make way for the new reinforced concrete pipe. For the team at Westchase District-based LAN, it’s rewarding to see their plans moving into the construction phase. Approximately eight LAN engineers, CAD drafters and constructability review professionals worked 18 months to design the project.
Gonzalez is most excited about the new pavement and the mobility improvements. “When the concrete paving is installed correctly, it should last 50 years. Plus, we’re adding bike lanes and wider sidewalks. We’re replacing driveways, utilities, everything. The quality of life on Walnut Bend will be drastically improved,” said Gonzalez.
The District’s 380 Program with the City of Houston covers about $4.4 million of the $20 million project. Houston Public Works has contributed another $4.6 million and funding from the Federal Highway Administration covers the rest of the project. The Texas Department of Transportation is overseeing the construction process, which is expected to be complete in the summer of 2021.


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Biographical Sketch – Franklyn G. Prendergast, 1997
Dr. Franklyn G. Prendergast, M.D., Ph.D. has focused his career on three important areas of research: the structure, dynamics, and function of protein, biochemistry, and biophysics of bioluminescence, and the biophysics of lipid-protein interactions.
Prendergast was born in 1945 in Linstead Jamaica and graduated with Honors from the University of the West Indies. He then earned a BA 1st. Class at Oxford University. After Oxford, he entered the Ph.D. program in Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota where he worked on the physical and chemical properties of Aequorea forsalea. He has earned many honors reflecting his outstanding contributions to science and has published 120 papers and abstracts. He won a Nuffield Fellowship and was a Rhodes Scholar in 1969. He was awarded a Minnesota Heart Postdoctoral Fellowship from 1975-1977, an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, and was a Searle Foundation Fellow 1980-83. He is the Edmond and Marion Guggenheim Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the University of West Indies in 1991, Mayo Distinguished Investigator in 1988, awarded a D.Sc. (In honoris causa) from Purdue University in 1994 and Mayo Distinguished Lecture in Medical Sciences 1994.
Prendergast began his career at the Mayo as an instructor in 1975 and was appointed to the faculty as an Assistant Professor in Pharmacology at the Mayo Medical School in 1977 and became a Full Professor in 1986 in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and in Pharmacology at the Mayo Medical School. In addition to his research responsibilities, he has served on numerous committees at the Mayo Clinic and at the NIH. He is currently the Director of the Mayo Cancer Center.
About the Author:
Ashanti Edwards is ASCB's Director of Professional Development.

domain: biology


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The problem of accessibility to conventional ventilators, especially for health facilities that are limited due to resources is the reason behind Dayo Olakulehin the innovation of the D-box ventilator.
Dayo Olakulehin is a medical doctor whose focus on solving tomorrow’s problems today with the use of innovative and entrepreneurial thinking, leadership development, makes him outstanding.
The genesis of the D-box ventilator was traced to an awful experience Dayo had at the hospital. He said, “I had manually ventilated a 5-year-old boy for four hours and at about 2 am, I fell asleep, only to be awakened by the boy’s father.
“If the child had continued without ventilation for longer than four minutes, it could have resulted in irreversible brain damage. “This experience was common among hospital staff at LUTH and other medical facilities. It was after one of such incidents the idea for an alternative ventilation method came to my mind”
The innovative Dayo went in search of the development of his newly found idea- D-box. It cost him three years after that experience, to develop the D-box.
An appropriate description of Dr Dayo’s D-box is an improvement of CPR.
“What we used to have is that a doctor manually compressed the CPR bag. What we have done is to move that job to the D-box.” It simply brings eas and speed to doctors duties. It allows doctors to pay attention to other critical needs of the patient
Dayo was soon faced with challenges. Firstly, the medical doctor wasn’t a biomedical engineer and secondly, he needed to raise funds to execute his proposed idea. He said, “I knew having the idea was not sufficient, I needed to find a way to make it a reality. I knew nothing about business, patenting or developing innovations.
“I went online looking for help, and I found a course on Healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship. This course taught me how to develop a patent. I approached a number of medical device companies and found out it was a lot easier to sell a product than to sell an idea.”
As days rolled into months, the persistent Dayo got patent for his innovation.
D- the box is portable, cheaper and easier to handle. While the big teaching hospitals have 5-6 units of ventilators that are electricity-dependent and sensitive, the D-box can work on battery power for 8-12 hours. It’s an amazing breakthrough in the medical world.


The best Side of FN FAL
A cannon isn't really technically a machine gun, because it fires 1 round at a time. But shooters can shoot anything at the massive Sandy Shoot, including homemade bowling ball launchers.
The KRISS Vector series is actually a family members of weapons based mostly upon the dad or mum submachine gun in 45 ACP caliber design and style designed by KRISS United states of america. They use an unconventional delayed blowback program coupled with in-line to cut back perceived recoil and muzzle climb.
The Heckler and Koch submachine gun, MP-five, is One of the more famous and huge-unfold firearms of its course produced considering the fact that the next Entire world War. Its improvement began circa 1964 under the organization designation HK MP-fifty four, or just HK fifty four. In 1966, German law enforcement and Border Guard adopted the HK fifty four as the MP-five, and it had been at first obtainable in two types - MP-5 with a fixed butt inventory and MP-5A1 that has a retractable butt inventory. Some yrs later HK marginally upgraded the look of MP-five, replacing the sights (from flip-up open notch rear and blade front to drum-variety diopter rear and hooded post front) and the muzzle (replacing The 2-slot muzzle compensator towards the a few-lug QD silencer mount without having compensator). Other improvements made as time passes anxious the Journals (early form Publications ended up of straight box form, latter - of curved box variety for improved dependability).
It is black and very warm inside the Sunlight. It can be got an adjustable inventory, which Dianne Feinstein continues to be endeavoring to ban For some time.
The MP5 is Among the most commonly made use of submachine guns on the globe, getting been adopted by 40 nations and various military, law enforcement, intelligence, and safety businesses.
Thoroughly computerized firearms using pistol-calibre ammunition are referred to as machine pistols or submachine guns largely on the basis of sizing; All those using shotgun cartridges are nearly always known as automated shotguns. The phrase personalized protection weapon (PDW) is usually applied to weapons firing dedicated armor-piercing rounds which might if not be thought to be machine pistols or SMGs, but it is not notably strongly outlined and has Traditionally been employed to describe A selection of weapons from ordinary SMGs to compact assault rifles.
The only difference between the MPL and MPK was in barrel and barrel shroud lengths, otherwise both equally guns ended up comparable. The MPL and MPK were utilized by some German police forces, more info and only one substantial export sale was to the Mexican navy. Production of the MPL/MPK had been ceased in 1987.
Given that 1999, HK33 has actually been also created less than license in Turkey. The HK33 is still in production in Germany by HK, and also served as being a platform for further more developments, which include G-41 assault rifle and HK53 compact assault rifle (acknowledged by HK as submachine gun).
In weapons wherever the round seats and fires concurrently, mechanical timing is essential for operator basic safety, to forestall the round from firing prior to it can be seated correctly. Machine guns are controlled by a number of mechanical sears. Whenever a sear is in place, it efficiently stops the bolt sooner or later in its range of movement.
Comprehensive-size HK33s is usually equipped with bayonet or underbarrel 40mm grenade launchers, HK79A1, also produced by Heckler & Koch. Entire-length HK33 rifles also can launch rifle grenades from mixed muzzle compensator/flash hider.
Bits and parts in the fish monster are scattered in the wash, and I notice I missed looking at it explode.
The Heritage Guild is the ideal place to your subsequent corporate celebration or social occasion. Our situations are all-inclusive with knowledgeable personnel to make certain that your event is Harmless & enjoyable! Our new Occasions and Training Middle is currently open up with the capability to internet hosting 100+ particular person outings!
The Z70b is in the majority of factors much like website the Z62, but it surely makes use of a more standard safety / hearth selector swap earlier mentioned the cause guard, includes a conventional trigger, as well as contains a journal capture of a different type.
As far better products became available adhering to the initial Entire world War, light-weight machine guns became a lot more commonly moveable; types like the Bren light-weight machine gun replaced bulky predecessors similar to the Lewis gun during the squad guidance weapon position, while the fashionable division concerning medium machine guns just like the M1919 Browning machine gun and large machine guns such as the Browning M2 turned clearer.


- The federal government through two agencies would be making sufficient electricity available to Nigerians in various communities
- The agencies are the Niger Delta Power Holding Company and the Rural Electrification Agency
- According to the vice president the initiative would be rolled out in the six regions of Nigeria
To improve the accessibility of electricity to all Nigerians across the country, the Federal Government through the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is implementing the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP)’s Solar Power Naija programme.
The programme will provide electricity access to five million households, serving about 25 million Nigerians in rural areas and under-served urban communities nationwide.
According to vice president Yemi Osinbajo who flagged off the initiative in Jangefe community, the rollout will continue across the six geopolitical zones in Edo, Lagos, Adamawa, Anambra, Kebbi, and Plateau.
Recently, Jangefe, a small community in Roni local government area (in the Kazaure Emirate) of Jigawa State, was the location for the commencement of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led solar power scheme.
With the launch of scheme, the community will get 1,000 solar home systems connections for its about 5,000 population.
Other solar companies are also in the pipeline for the Solar Power Naija facility to continue the march to five million connections during the life of this administration, the vice president said.
From Jangefe, the scheme will then go to the entire 36 states and the FCT covering 25million Nigerians in the end.
This will further improve access to electricity nationwide, especially as available statistics (World Bank 2020 report) indicate that 97 million people, or 47 percent of Nigeria’s population do not get electricity from the national grid.
The commencement of the ESP Solar Power Naija programme marks a significant leap from what, in the past decade, had seemed like an impossible task of expanding electricity access, especially to rural communities.
At the end of the implementation of the scheme, the two agencies which would lead other private sector partners would have provided electricity access to 25 million Nigerians across the country.
It would also create over 250,000 jobs in solar power assembling, servicing, maintenance, and payment systems.
According to the Solar Power Naija implementation blueprint, the agency will drive the implementation while private companies will install and manage the home systems, drawing funding from a low-cost loan facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Through a World Bank and REA programme called the Nigerian Electrification Program (NEP), each connection under the Solar Power Naija programme will receive a 20% rebate for the developer.
This will make room for the rates charged to consumers to be reduced by the same amount.
On the role of REA in the implementation process, Osinbajo said that structures have been put in place to make the connections costs affordable for all.
"The programme incorporates several innovative solutions to increase affordability for the citizens while also providing sufficient comfort to investors and financiers alike."
Addressing journalists on the sideline of the flag-off event at Jangefe community in Jigawa state, the managing director of the NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, said 20,000 units are already being enjoyed by communities in Nigeria.
Ugbo said 500 jobs have also been created from the initiative.
“It is an economic programme of government as well. What that means is that it is beyond providing electricity. We have job creation as part of the benefits of this scheme.
Recently, many Nigerians have commended the federal government's effort to channel electricity generation and distribution in the country to solar sources.
For some Nigerians, the move by the federal government will increase local content in the off-grid value chain.
These Nigerians said this will facilitate the growth of the local manufacturing industry, while the use of local content will be incentivized.
See tweets below:
Some other Nigerians also praised the vice president for his efforts in ensuring the citizens of the country have access to better electricity choices unlike in the past.
Some other Nigerians already involved in solar installation and its process have also shown interest and made inquiries on how they can be part of the project.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government had promised that it had no plans to increase the electricity tariffs.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said it is totally committed to alleviating the plight of poor Nigerians rather than increasing it.
According to the NERC chairman, James Momoh, electricity distribution companies can only increase tariffs after citizens have been consulted.
In other news, VP Osinbajo had said that Nigerians are willing to pay for electricity considering the epileptic power supply suffered by citizens for a long period of time.
The vice president also said that such acceptance from Nigerians would be dependant on the quality of services delivered by the distribution companies to various communities and homes.
He encouraged the DISCOS to focus on delivering better and constant electricity to citizens across the country.


ASP.NET 2.0 Tips and Tricks27 Apr 2007
Some cool tips and tricks posted on Dan Wahlin’s blog.
ASP.NET 2.0 is an awesome framework for developing Web applications. If you’ve worked with it for awhile then that’s no secret. It offers some great new features that you can implement with a minimal amount of code. I wanted to start a list of some of the most simple (yet cool) things you could do with it that required little or no C#/VB.NET code. If you have other suggestions add a comment and I’ll update the list if the suggestion is a simple task that can be applied easily.
You can find the original post here.


text:
Set #De Uns Tempos Ai ! Vol.2 Promo Mix DJ Jofley Moura RWR RRG
This track was tagged with the following keywords: House, House, electro house.
These are the meta information of this upload:
Listen to all music and sounds of Jofley Moura and follow this user by signing in for free.

domain: entertainment


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Henry, a shy and talented artist, moonlights as a security guard at a museum and loses his heart to a beautiful, melancholy woman in a painting. As his obsession grows, he finds a kindred soul who helps him in his search for happiness. On Christmas Eve, Henry dares to take a chance on love and fulfill his dream.
Publisher: Plato Publishing
~Top 100 Best Seasonal Romance and Best Christmas-themed Books on Goodreads~
"SHORT, SWEET & STUNNING!" - By the GreatReads!
"Captivating Christmas Choice!" - By The Kindle Book Review
"Grab this short story and curl up in your favorite chair ... This will be one of your best Christmas presents to yourself ever." - By Leiah "So, I Read This Book Today . . ."


text:
Premium Aristech Acrylic with BioLok™
Arctic Spas offers the premium continuous cast acrylic featuring Bio-Lok microbe shield. Bio-Lok surfaces are naturally impervious to microbes, without the need of added chemicals. The non-porous nature of Bio-Lok acrylic defends against the penetration and growth of microorganisms on its surface. The surface is easy to clean, durable, and does not contain any anti-microbial chemicals, pesticides or similar additives.
View all of the available acrylic colors in the pictures to the right and select your favorite color when you submit a spa model for a quote.
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domain: chemistry


text:
Funding available, during a one-year period, CPAR Uganda will identify, train and mentor 14 young people (13 women and 1 man) to become innovators who are able to produce community theatre interventions (drama, poetic recitals, dance, storytelling, music, puppetry, fine art, etc.) and audio-visual content (radio, television, community film, social media and ICT generally) on sexual and gender-based violence in greater northern Uganda.
This we will do with the intention to nurture and to skill the 14 young innovators to do theatre and media induced participatory action research on sexual and gender-based violence. This, in order to enable them, together with others in their communities, to participatorily identify problems, to propose solutions and dramatize them so as to stimulate further analysis; leading to community ownership and which should trigger positive attitude change of all participants and consequently spur follow-up action against sexual and gender-based violence in their region, greater northern Uganda.
CPAR Uganda’s strategy is to use the tradition of Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of the Oppressed”, to gain access to communities in greater northern Uganda through trained young innovators of those communities. Whereas, the focus in this intervention is sexual and gender-based violence, the skills-set the beneficiary young innovators will gain from this intervention is transferrable to other issues as well. De facto, by the end of this intervention, the direct beneficiaries CPAR Uganda trained and mentored will possess life skills-sets.
In partnership with Mr. Philip Luswata (MA Film Studies, BA Drama; Dip. Music Dance and Drama) a renowned Ugandan, veteran playwright, actor, director and lecturer, the author of the play ‘Shame on Your Hand’, CPAR Uganda will introduce to and skill 14 young innovators on the application of popular theatre conventions in originating and causing public conversations on sexual and gender-based violence and other issues relating to the protection and empowerment of women and girls in greater northern Uganda.
One such major issue, case in point, is the need to strengthen and to protect land use rights of women and girls under customary tenure and therefore food sovereignty for communities in greater northern Uganda.
As can be deduced from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) survey findings, in greater northern Uganda there are many women and girls’ stories that are silent, and yet when told, they may touch others with similar experiences and offer strength. The major thrust of the ‘Shame on Your Hand’ theatre and interactive media intervention is a call to women to talk. It is a candid conversation among Uganda women that is at times painful and deep; while effectively exploiting humour to sustain interest and to guarantee retention of key messages.
CPAR Uganda intends to use the structure presented by the play as an entry point into discussions with the auditioned young women on issues often veiled by girls and women due to gender inscribed prejudices. The same tried and tested structure will be exploited towards skilling young innovators of greater northern Uganda to use popular theatre and media conventions to develop and to perform enter-educate material based on the lived experiences of women and girl victims of sexual and gender based-violence in their region. And to ignite community dialogue in their region and in Uganda, as a whole.
The cast of 14 young innovators, through a professional and an interactive rehearsal process, will be trained and mentored to produce a musical dance theatre production on sexual and gender-based violence – a greater northern Uganda version of ‘Shame on Your Hand’. That cast will be nurtured to professionally rehearse pre-public performance; and to perform their version of the play at least 18 times for commercial audiences of at least 200 people each in the six sub-regions – at least three activations in each sub-region (one for the general public and two for local high schools); thus, directly reaching at least 3,600 people in the region.
Through hands-on experiential learning, CPAR Uganda will nurture the cast of 14 young innovators to adopt the tradition of speaking out and speaking up against sexual and gender-based violence in their region. The 14 young innovators will be nurtured and encouraged to function as proactive community citizen journalists within their respective communities.
And through their activism, by the end of the intervention period, CPAR Uganda’s target is that at least 325 women and girl victims of sexual and gender-based violence will be in contact with the 13 women cast members and that at least 25 men against sexual and gender-based violence are in contact with the male cast member proactively facilitating appropriate help for women and girl victims.
Success of this intervention will be:
- At least 30 percent of the women and girl victims in contact with the 13 female cast members are persuaded to speak out and up against their experiences of sexual and gender-based violence.
- At least 175 women and girls of greater northern Uganda who are victims of sexual and gender-based violence (13 cast members and 162 victims in contact with cast members) will have begun healing, speaking out and speaking up against sexual and gender-based violence.
- At least 90 percent of female cast members and at least 30 percent of women and girl victims in contact with cast members feel that their standing in society has improved after they spoke out and up against sexual and gender-based violence. Including, if relevant, successfully asserting and maintaining their land use rights of their community’s land under customary tenure; and on which land they voluntarily produce food for own family consumption and derive livelihoods.

domain: sociology