Following a similar positive initiative launched last year for the General Parliamentary elections, on May 15, 2019 the Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM) published on its website a document enlisting a series of commitments undertaken by digital platforms for the ongoing electoral campaign for the European Parliamentary elections. This second effort shows that, through a successful cooperation with the major stakeholders, the Authority is particularly watchful in promoting the adoptions by online platforms of instruments to implement certain principles, provided by the law for offline media, during the election period.
The paper is the result of discussions entertained in the context of the Technical Roundtable on Pluralism and Online Platforms (instituted by AGCOM in 2017). The platforms’ commitments are divided in 8 categories and touch pretty much all the sensitive topics, from equal access to the prohibition of political propaganda during election day and day before. The undertakings have been discussed considering the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation signed on September 26, 2018.
1. Equal treatment in accessing digital platforms
The online platforms undertake to guarantee equal access to all political actors, similarly to what Law no. 28 of 2000 secures for offline media. It is left to the discretion of platforms the identification of the instruments to be adopted, in compliance with the proportionality principle.
2. Transparency of political propaganda
The online platforms commit to inform users about the electoral nature of the ads and about the identity of the political subject. Certain data and information on the ads, including the explanation of the criteria adopted to profile the user, should be accessible through a hyperlink next to the piece of content, to the extent it is technically possible.
3. Reporting and removing fake contents
4. Fact-checking during the elections
Transparency is of the essence, especially when it comes to electoral campaigns. AGCOM encourages platforms to adopt fact checking mechanisms, engaging organizations which promote participative/cooperative fact-checking, with the purpose of reducing engagement with content that has been identified as false. The platforms should periodically issue reports on such activities.
5. Integrity of services
Platforms undertake to tackle the bots and fake accounts phenomenon, especially concerning accounts of electoral ads, and to inform the Authority about the activities implemented.
6. Messages from Public Administrations
Current Italian legislation allows Public Administrations, during electoral campaigns, to use their channels only to make impersonal, indispensable, and unavoidable communications. This applies also to their social media accounts.
On one hand, AGCOM requests platforms to inform it about infringements to the above prohibition; and, on the other hand, the Authority reserves the right to report any infringements to the platforms. Further, on Public Administrations’ social pages it is forbidden to post electoral ads.
7. Forbidding on-line polls
Under Law no. 28 of 2000, it is forbidden to disclose the outcome of political polls during the 15 days before election day. Platforms commit to deploy tools allowing Authority to report and request removal infringing content.
8. The so-called “Blackout period”
Finally, Italian legislation prohibits political propaganda on election day and on the day before. Although AGCOM is not competent for ascertaining infringements of said prohibition, it considers important to call everyone to turn the attention on these provisions.
Indeed, they are important to guarantee effective protections of the constituents. As such, in the Authority’s opinion, the prohibition applies to all media.
 For a first comment on the 2018 guidelines, see http://www.medialaws.eu/italy-first-attempt-to-selfregulate-the-online-political-propaganda/


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model buildings 2010
Unpainted, Old European church.
Suitable for 10mm and 15mm.
This will make a great master pieces on your wargaing table, ready for your miniatures to battle over
Will fit in well with your model railways and trains, for N gauge scale.
Click on extra to have this painted.

domain: hobby


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One of the things I've seen artisans really struggle with at shows like The Rock & Shop Market is displaying their wares well. Some get it right and many don't. To do it well makes it look effortless but it is anything but. It is an art and is difficult to come up with something that is both . . .
I remember the first Harper's Bazaar I bought when I was a teenager. I was instantly in love with the visual storytelling through photography, the fabrics, the clothes. Many of the imagery was shot by photographers Patrick Demarchelier and Richard Avedon and to say that their work through this . . .
And last but not least, a few of the designers from North Carolina that were represented at the National Stationery Show: I've posted about my friends Joel & Ashley of This Paper Ship before. They are talented illustrators who decided to take the leap into exhibiting at the show this . . .
I'm a big fan of Banquet's striking silhouette prints. The company is run by Sarah Edmonds and Tammy Lawrence in Vancouver. Their booth was a lovely as their products. I was also really taken by Fawnsberg's line of goods. The sister team of Patricia and Rachel Mumau specialize in pretty, . . .
I adored the setup created by the ladies at One Canoe Two. Their booth matched their brand and it felt like being inside a log cabin. I also like the simple and minimalist booth of first time exhibitor Pei Design. Sugarboo Designs had a handsome setup filled with pillows, prints and . . .
Wednesday is the husband and wife team of Jessica and Garett Mayfield. Jessica is a stylist and Garett, a graphic designer. This was their debut show for their stationery line. Coral and Tusk had a sweet booth filled with pretty paper, pillows and adorable stuffed animals. . . .
Arboreal Paper is a stationery company based in Nashville that prints with soy based inks onto recycled papers. Below is some of their pretty gift wrap. I was smitten with the graphic on Studio Olivine's booth. Her letterpress printed cards are gorgeous too. Belle & Union . . .

domain: artistic


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What is a sugar daddy? It’s a rich older person who gives financial help a young girlfriend in need of absolutely adore and a relationship. Both parties profit financially from your set up. While glucose dating is a controversial subject matter, there are some advantages to this relationship. For example, a woman can find a abundant guy to love and become emotionally supportive. A man also can have the opportunity to help a girl out financially.
A sugardaddy relationship is a fun and unusual online dating experience sugar daddy def between two adults. While not traditional dating, sex is normally involved. The first interacting with should be held in public, as you may want to prevent being cat-fished or having an unsafe experience. It is also crucial for you to find a man who’s reputable. Lots of sugar daddies are professional entrepreneurs, which means they have a great deal of funds to extra.
There are plenty of advantages to a sugar daddy marriage. For starters, sugar daddies are generally very rich people who have cherished https://giangiaodh.com/2021/02/11/how-to-behave-within-a-sugar-baby-and-sugardaddy-relationship/ several romantic romances. They usually prefer a romance where they can enjoy allure, intimacy, and companionship with out diminishing their own needs. The sugardaddy has more funds and less obligations to worry about. Given that they’re reliable, they will not squander it on a sugars baby.

domain: sociology


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As the area around Stonehenge is among the world’s most-studied archaeological landscapes, the discovery is all the more unexpected. Having filled naturally over millennia, the
Consider metaphysical thinking as the building up of vessels allowing us to explore the oceans of reality. Their hulls carry the provisions of our accumulated
Stonehenge Revealed: Why Stones Were a “Special Place” http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130621-stonehenge-summer-solstice-archaeology-science/ Posted by KWB wandering among the borderlands of the Ether.

domain: geography


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STATE TIMES NEWS UDHAMPUR: Agitating against the erratic water supply at Udhampur city and surrounding villages. Panthers Party’s activists under the leadership of NPP President and Former MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia on Monday Gheraoed and locked PHE Office. While leading a protest rally against PHE Department, NPP President and former MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia informed that PHE department has completely failed to improve water supply and the people have to be scarce of a drop of water. Mankotia said that 10 days ultimatum was served to the department for improving water supply but the department failed to fulfill its promise. Mankotia termed it as political failure and lack of coordination between officers over the water scarcity problem. Mankotia warned the administration and PHE Deptt if the genuine water supply problem will not be addressed soon they will forced to agitate more strongly. Councillors, Sarpanchs, Panchs, Sr Leaders including scores of Party activists, women wing etc also accompanied Mankotia.
‘Marjaavaan’ release postponed to November 22
Doubted if I will ever act again: Suniel Shetty
Shilpa Shetty to be Punit Balana’s showstopper at LFW
‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ to hit screens on July 31, 2020
Religion and science don’t have to be divorced: Vidya Balan
© 2017 State Times Daily Newspaper

domain: news


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I coach several football and soccer teams each year for several leagues andI order my trophies from these guys every season. I could save money at some of the other places or by ordering online, but I wouldn't get the personal touch they add to each and every trophy. They always do their best to fully personalize each and every order I make with team names, cool fonts and usually some cute clipart on the tropht that relates to either the sport, the team, or usually both. Last season I Ordered for my bears soccer team and was pleased to see each trophy engraved with a cute bear playing soccer. I'll never go anywhere else!
Posted: 5/30/2008 • Link to this review
My child had recently broken her first trophy - so, I took it to Millennium and have it fixed. Expecting to pay for the new base and repairs - they did it for free. Now that's GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE, and a way to build a loyal client base. I will make all future trophy purchases at Millennium.
Posted: 4/05/2007 • Last edited: 1/02/2008 • Link to this review
They have always come through with outstanding service, and never missed a delivery time, even when we gave them short notice. Very creative with their design assistance. They deserve the 1st place trophy!!
Posted: 10/19/2006 • Last edited: 3/13/2008 • Link to this review

domain: sports


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- News by Region
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As part of National Manufacturing Day slated for October 3, 2014, SME Sacramento Valley and Sierra College CACT are encouraging companies to sign up now to host tours and community open houses during the month of October to demonstrate what is made locally, the economic impact and excellent career opportunities. Manufacturers in the Sacramento...
Centro Cocina Mexicana, a Sacramento staple, turns 20 this week and the restaurant is celebrating with a week of specials. Starting today and continuing through Sunday, August 17th, Centro will feature a commemorative anniversary menu and table-side guacamole preparation. In addition to satisfying your appetite, no birthday celebration would be complete without some special...
ROCKLIN - It’s the most anticipated event of the year in Rocklin. Join the Rocklin Chamber as it celebrates the 21st anniversary of Style Magazine’s number one South Placer event, Hot Chili & Cool Cars! This special celebration will be a full day of family fun complete with live music, games, and dozens of booths....
Get your face painted, jump and get dinner at FOOD TRUCK MANIA in McKinley Park. Friday Watch Frozen and swim at DIVE-IN MOVIE NIGHT at Cottage Pool. Friday Dance and play to the tunes of talented musicians during Fairytale Town’ CAT & THE FIDDLE MUSIC FESTIVAL. Saturday, Sunday Take a tour, meet firefighters and...


Are you looking for something fun to do today or over the weekend in Yarmouth, Cape Cod? Our events calendar is loaded with fun happenings including (but not limited to) concerts, festivals, road races and kid’s programs.
Browse our list of Cape Cod events to find your next adventure. You can sort by date and submit a new listing should you know of an upcoming event in Yarmouth, MA that is not already listed.
Hidden away on the north side of Cape Cod at the edge of the Bay, is a salt marsh known as Crowes Pasture, where the ocean tides recede twice a day to reveal intricate patterns on the shifting sands. To Monique and Andy, this recurring cycle of creation and discovery evokes their own musical journey. The duo performs original music and eye-opening covers that reflect a mutual passion, sense of discovery and celebration of life. Their tightly blended vocal harmonies are mixed with an expressive instrumental style that is best described as a banjo-guitar romance. Crowes Pasture’s style of escapist folk transports and connects listeners through universal experiences in their “skillfully crafted, emotional songwriting” (Chris Eastburn, award-winning composer). More than beautiful recordings, Crowes Pasture has an intimacy about their live performances. The romantic clawhammer banjo playing by Monique Byrne and expressive guitar picking by Andy Rogovin are enlivened by their personal chemistry and emotionally expressive vocals. Nick Noble, host of “The Folk Revival” on WICN-FM, has praised the duo for their “lovely harmonies and a passionate approach to musical performance.” With a full tour schedule and new full-length album due out in June 2019, Crowes Pasture is emerging from the sea grass dunes at the “edge of America” to bring listeners across the country together. Opening for Crowes Pasture will be Kim Moberg with Heather Swanson. Complimentary refreshments.


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This cover is for 3rd prize winner of my poetry contest: emmaleficentiments
YOU ARE READING
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Covid updates: Millions of fake N95 masks seized; U.S. investing in variant detection
The coverage on this live blog has ended — for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit CNBC's latest live blog.
The U.S. continues to see a decline in new Covid-19 cases as the Biden administration works to increase the number of Covid vaccine doses shipped to states and retail pharmacies. Since being inaugurated on Jan. 20, President Joe Biden has increased the number of doses shipped weekly to states by 57%. Yet, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said he now expects vaccines to be widely available to the general public by mid-to-late May or early June, a slight delay from his earlier forecast of late March or early April.
Here are some of the biggest developments Wednesday:
- Calls for global 'pandemic treaty' grow as anxiety swells over Covid origins
- Biden administration investing over $1.6 billion to expand testing, sequencing
- CDC warns against travel after investigation into people with contagious variant in Minnesota
- J&J only has a few million vaccine doses ready as it nears U.S. approval
The U.S. is recording at least 80,500 new Covid-19 cases and at least 2,100 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data.
The following data was compiled by Johns Hopkins University:
- Global cases: More than 109.83 million
- Global deaths: At least 2.42 million
- U.S. cases: More than 27.81 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 489,933
Nation's top health officials warn fast-spreading variants could delay nation's control of pandemic
The U.S. needs to rapidly deploy Covid-19 vaccines and ramp up its surveillance before highly contagious variants take hold or the virus mutates again and makes the pandemic even worse, the nation's top health experts warned in a viewpoint published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA.
In the U.S., the level of viral spread in the community needs to be "aggressively decreased" and Americans should postpone travel and avoid crowds to ensure the variants don't continue spreading, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC's Covid incident manager, wrote in the paper.
They added that the U.S. should not only be prepared to address the variants found in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil, but other potential mutations that might arise domestically. A previous CDC study in January warned that the variant found in the U.K., known as B.1.1.7, is likely to become the dominant strain circulating in the U.S. by March.
"Modeling data have illustrated how a more contagious variant, such as B.1.1.7, has the potential to exacerbate the trajectory of the US pandemic and to reverse the present downward trend in new infections and further delay control of the pandemic," the experts said in the paper.
U.S. to pay more than $200 million in WHO membership fees held back by Trump
The U.S. will pay the World Health Organization more than $200 million in membership fees that were halted by the Trump administration, CNBC's Amanda Macias reported.
Trump withheld payments to the WHO after blaming the organization for "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Wednesday the move to pick up deferred payments and to continue membership payments "reflects our renewed commitment to ensuring the WHO has the support it needs to lead the global response to the pandemic even as we work to reform it for the future."
Blinken also called on global officials to be aware of vaccine misinformation and to share any information of the origins of the coronavirus with officials who are investigating the matter.
DHS seizes 11 million fake N95 masks
The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday it seized more than 11 million counterfeit 3M N95 masks that were destined for frontline health-care workers.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a press conference that more raids can be expected over the next few weeks. Criminal charges, he added, are forthcoming. He and other DHS officials declined to provide details, saying it's policy not to comment on an ongoing investigation.
"We are at a vulnerable time, of course, with the pandemic costing so many lives and causing so much harm," Mayorkas said. "And that individuals, criminals exploit our vulnerabilities for a quick buck is something that we will continue to aggressively pursue."
Fake N95 masks have flooded the U.S. market during the pandemic, slipping past investigators and finding their way into hospitals and medical facilities. Mayorkas noted that when frontline health-care workers use fake N95 masks, it puts the whole community at risk as it increases the risk of spread of the coronavirus.
When to take over-the-counter pain medication for vaccine side effects — and other tips
It's safe to take over-the-counter pain medications after getting the Covid vaccine to manage side effects, according to the Centers for Disease Control. However, it's not recommended to pre-treat the symptoms and take a pain medication beforehand.
The concern is that taking pain medications that reduce fevers and inflammation could also dampen your immune system's response to the vaccine. A recent study out of Yale found that giving mice nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aka "NSAIDS") before being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 led to fewer protective antibodies from the virus.
The common side effects for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines include pain and swelling at the injection site and flu-like symptoms including fatigue, headache, fever and chills.
The CDC recommends talking to your doctor about taking ibuprofen, aspirin, antihistamines or acetaminophen to cope with side effects, which can last a few days.
Applying a cool, wet cloth to the spot on your arm where the shot was given can relieve pain, according to the CDC. It's also important to drink lots of fluids if feverish, and wear lightweight clothing to keep comfortable.
New York governor announces more reopenings but warns variants could hinder progress
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a series of planned reopenings amid a decline in Covid-19 cases following the holidays, but said state officials are keeping a close eye on the spread of highly transmissible virus variants that could reverse progress.
Indoor family entertainment centers, like arcades, trampoline parks or laser tag facilities, will be allowed to reopen starting March 26 at 25% capacity with additional precautions, like social distancing, mask wearing and frequent cleaning.
Outdoor amusement parks can reopen on April 9 at 33% capacity with similar requirements, and parents can plan for overnight summer camps to return at some point in June, the Democratic governor said on a call with reporters.
New York has now identified 82 Covid-19 cases with the variant first identified in the United Kingdom, known as B.1.1.7., with an additional 12 cases added since Saturday. Cuomo added that most of those new cases were found in the New York City area.
New Jersey governor extends state's public health emergency
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Twitter that the state will be extending its public health emergency for another 30 days.
The public health emergency mandate gives the governor authority to continue taking executive action to combat the virus. The order also maintains current capacity restrictions for public gatherings as well as indoor and outdoor mask mandates when in public.
New Jersey recorded over 3,000 new Covid cases and 31 virus-related deaths in the past day, according to John Hopkins University data. There are still over 2,000 patients hospitalized with the virus in the state, according to New Jersey's Department of Health.
MGM to resume 24/7 operations at 3 resorts
MGM Resorts will be resuming 24/7 operations in three of its resorts — Mandalay Bay, Park MGM and The Mirage — starting March 3, the company announced Wednesday in a statement.
MGM's resorts have been implementing mid-week closures to accommodate lower demand in entertainment and travel due to the pandemic.
"As we begin to see positive signs around the public's sentiment about traveling, coupled with important progress on the vaccination front and decreasing COVID-19 case numbers, bringing Mandalay Bay, Park MGM and The Mirage back to full-week operations is an important step for us," said MGM Resorts' CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle.
The company also announced the return of some of its live shows later this month.
Biden administration investing over $1.6 billion to expand testing, sequencing
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will invest more than $1.6 billion to increase Covid-19 testing programs in schools and elsewhere and increase genomic sequencing in the United States.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense will invest $650 million to expand testing in K-8 schools and "underserved congregate settings, such as homeless shelters," the White House said.
HHS and DOD will also invest $815 million to increase domestic manufacturing of testing supplies and raw materials that have created shortage issues.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will invest an additional $200 million into its genomic sequencing efforts to help track new variants of the coronavirus in the U.S.
Carole Johnson, the White House's Covid-19 testing coordinator said the funding is meant to increase testing in the short term, but called on Congress to pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion aid package, called the American Rescue Plan, which includes $50 billion in funding for testing.
Scientists push CDC to get serious on airborne spread, improve workplace mask standards
More than a dozen top scientists are pushing the Biden administration to require N95 air filtration masks for employees in risky workplaces and issue air safety standards.
The 13 scientists, which include several who advised President Joe Biden on the pandemic during the transition, called on the administration to acknowledge that the virus is more airborne than previously thought. The group, which includes David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University who led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under Obama, also called on OSHA to issue new standards that require enhanced ventilation in high-risk workplaces.
"CDC guidance and recommendations do not include the control measures necessary for protecting the public and workers from inhalation exposure to SARS-CoV-2," the authors wrote in a letter sent Monday to White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients. The letter was also sent to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical advisor.
J&J only has a few million vaccine doses ready as it nears U.S. approval
Johnson & Johnson has only manufactured "a few million" doses of its single-shot Covid-19 vaccine ahead of its regulatory clearance expected later this month, President Joe Biden's coronavirus czar said.
The administration has learned in the last couple of weeks that J&J will only have a few million doses ready when the vaccine is likely authorized by the FDA, Jeff Zients told reporters during a White House news briefing on the pandemic.
J&J currently has a deal with the U.S. government to supply 100 million doses of its vaccine by the end of June, Zients said. Assuming the vaccine is authorized, the administration will work with J&J to ramp up supply as quickly as possible, he said, adding U.S. officials hope many of those doses will be available in the early months of its rollout.
"We're doing everything we can working with the company to accelerate the delivery schedule," he said.
–Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
Franchising industry expects to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels
The franchising industry is set to make a comeback after the coronavirus pandemic left the future of the industry in question.
A new report shows that the rebound could be successful if Covid is handled efficiently, according to CNBC's Kate Rogers.
The International Franchise Association estimates that more than 26,000 franchised locations will be added this year, which amounts to a rise of 3.5%. The gain should offset last year's setbacks.
The expert group also expects employment in the industry to rise by 10% to about 8.3 million workers.
Last year, the industry's employment fell 11.2% due to pandemic shutdowns and closures. This year's boost is in part due to a rise in the commercial and residential services industry and especially from the quick-service restaurant category.
CDC warns against travel after investigation into people with contagious variant in Minnesota
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking Americans to postpone their travel plans after a newly released investigation found Minnesota residents who were infected with a highly contagious Covid variant had histories of domestic and international travel before displaying symptoms.
The CDC and Minnesota health officials identified eight Covid-19 cases with the variant first identified in the U.K., known as B.1.1.7, between Dec. 18 and Jan. 11. After follow-up investigations, the Minnesota Department of Health found that six of those people had recent travel histories.
Two people had traveled to West Africa and one had traveled to the Dominican Republic two weeks before illness onset. Three additional people had traveled to California two weeks before their illness, where one of them tested positive and quarantined before returning to Minnesota, the CDC found.
So far, there are at least 1,277 Covid-19 cases with the B.1.1.7 variant in 42 states, according to the CDC's most recent data.
Henry Schein CEO on how to make the U.S. vaccine rollout more efficient
Medical supply distributor Henry Schein has a unique view on the pandemic and the recovery. Henry Schein CEO Stanley Bergman joined CNBC's "Squawk Box" to give his insight on how to improve the vaccine rollout in the United States.
Hong Kong Disneyland to reopen Friday
Disney's Hong Kong theme park is set to reopen on Friday.
Hong Kong Disneyland has been closed three times in response to spikes in coronavirus cases in the last year, with the most recent closure going into effect on Dec. 2, 2020.
Like previous reopenings, the park will implement a number of safety precautions including mandatory mask-wearing, social distancing and increased sanitation measures. Attendance at the parks will also be capped in accordance with local government guidance.
The park will be operated five days a week, closing on Tuesday and Thursdays, the company said. All guests will be required to provide their contact information to the park in the event of an outbreak that requires contact tracing.
Currently, only Disney parks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Florida are open. Disneyland Paris and Disneyland in California remain closed indefinitely due to government restrictions. These closures and capacity restrictions have weighed heavy on Disney's bottom line.
The company said the Covid outbreak cost its parks, experiences and products segment around $2.6 billion in lost operating income during the December quarter, the fourth quarter in a row that the company reported this kind of loss. Its revenue for this division fell 53% to $3.58 billion in the fiscal first quarter.
UK to expose volunteers to Covid in world’s first ‘human challenge’ study
The U.K. is set to be the first country to run a Covid-19 "human challenge" study, following approval from the country's clinical trials ethics body.
The first Covid-19 human challenge trial will see up to 90 volunteers, aged 18 to 30 years, exposed to Covid-19 "in a safe and controlled environment to increase understanding of how the virus affects people," the British government said in a statement Wednesday.
Researchers are calling on healthy young people, who are at the lowest risk of complications resulting from coronavirus, to volunteer for the study. Volunteers will be compensated for the time they spend in the study, which is set to begin within a month.
TransferWise's co-founder wants to fight the pandemic
TransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus launched a new venture looking to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
Called Certific, Hinrikus' new company aims to improve the experience of testing for the coronavirus remotely from home. Certific's app verifies users' identities and instructs them on how to take Covid-19 tests with trained doctors at the ready to verify the test result and provide certification.
It's only available for individuals and businesses in the U.K. for now, but Hinrikus hopes to expand it to other countries over time. Certific also plans to integrate vaccine information further down the line. This could pave the way for vaccine passports to prove people have had the vaccine and get them back to work and play.
Russia and China seek to advance their interests abroad via vaccine diplomacy
Russia and China are both seen adopting a transactional approach to one of the world's most in-demand commodities in order to secure foreign policy gains, prompting analysts to warn that the concept of vaccine diplomacy is here to stay.
Agathe Demarais, global forecasting director at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC via telephone that Russia, China, and to a lesser extent India, are betting on providing Covid vaccines to emerging or low-income countries to advance their interests.
"In the past, although it is actually still the case, we saw that China launched the Belt and Road Initiative, we saw that Russia did a number of things especially in the Middle Eastern countries with nuclear power plants, and vaccine diplomacy is a new brick in the whole edifice of their attempt to bolster their global standing," Demarais said.
In total, 26 countries including Argentina, Hungary, Tunisia and Turkmenistan, have authorized Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. China's queue of clients for Covid vaccines includes Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
New York attorney general sues Amazon over Covid-19 safety shortfalls
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Amazon.com over its handling of worker safety issues around the Covid-19 pandemic at two of the retailer's warehouses, Reuters reports.
James on Tuesday charged Amazon with "flagrant disregard" of the steps needed to protect workers from Covid at two of its New York City warehouses — a Staten Island fulfillment center and a Queens distribution center, according to Reuters.
The complaint comes days after Amazon filed its own lawsuit seeking to block the New York AG from regulating its workplace safety response to the pandemic. Amazon said the company operates in an area that is already governed by federal law.
Ahold Delhaize CEO says Covid 'pain' is taking its toll on business
Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller talks with CNBC about the Dutch grocer's full-year 2020 results and the outlook for 2021 amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Calls for global 'pandemic treaty' grow as anxiety swells over Covid origins
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is among several officials proposing a global "pandemic treaty" to ensure more transparency about future pandemics. The call comes amid unease over China's reluctance to share information about the coronavirus outbreak.
The proposed international treaty on pandemics would have countries agree to share data around outbreaks, establish a global pandemic early warning system and build a network of zoonotic disease research hubs looking at how viruses can jump from animals to humans.
The U.K. and the U.S. have voiced concern over the level of access that was afforded to a World Health Organization mission to China, aimed at discovering the origins of the novel coronavirus that first appeared in Wuhan in late 2019.
China has said that it cooperated fully with the WHO team and has also repeatedly stressed that the coronavirus could have originated elsewhere.


Cell phone texting dating
The rise of text in the world of dating is another indication of how much has changed in the way relationships develop.
Young adults are used to being overscheduled and multitasking.
Way before Eve was in the Garden of Eden, there lived in a farm fortress an African Princess, a Princess so beautiful people wondered how such a creature could have any need to defecate.
For long, until one fateful day, man and nature For centuries we have stared up at the mysterious sky and wondered how our Sun and its retinue of planets came into being.
a phone call.•One in four say an hour is the longest acceptable response time to a text to someone you are dating or interested in dating; one in 10 expect a response instantly or within a few minutes.•More men (44%) than women (37%) say mobile devices make it easier to flirt and get acquainted."Texting is kind of an ongoing conversation. Maybe you're talking every day," says Alex Pulda, 27, who works in product research in San Francisco.
"It's not like text conveys a ton of emotion, but you are getting a little more comfortable with each other."A SAFER WAY TO FLIRT Clinical psychologist Beverly Palmer, a professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, has researched flirting and non-verbal behavior.
They've grown up with group activities and are more comfortable in packs. First dates are largely a chemistry check anyway, and to many young adults, the one-on-one time spent on an actual date feels too much like a commitment."If you're sitting down for a dinner date, that's putting way too much time out there for a first date.
Experts say it should be no surprise they're treating their romantic relationships in much the same way — not wanting to invest too much time or effort in case they don't click. You don't know how it's going to go," says Adam Diamond, 29, a movie trailer editor in Los Angeles.
Are you planning to abandon the "safety" of a traditional job to directly market and sell your products or services to The Diamond Level of membership represents the ideal Ezine Articles Expert Author and is the highest level of authorship that can be obtained on Ezine Articles.
Diamond Level Membership is our way of making sure that the ideal Expert Authors stand out.
Hearing someone's voice on the phone is still a key element for a relationship, yet people are increasingly more likely to rely on the relative "safety" of a text for initial contacts as well as keeping in touch as a relationship develops. Although the survey was commissioned by two niche dating websites — Christian and — their members did not participate.
Rather, an independent research firm conducted the survey in May.
The data illustrate just how much mobile technology has altered dating behavior, communication and expectations for romance.


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Of the 72 umbilical cord samples collected for this study, 54 contained at least the minimum of 7 μg RNA required for hybridization (13 did not) and were from infants who survived to 36 weeks postmenstrual age (5 died), and therefore at risk for BPD. All expression data are available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Gene Expression Omnibus repository (GSE8586).
The infants included in this study were slightly more mature than those in the Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn (ELGAN) study [13
] as a whole (Table ). This may explain why they had a higher survival rate and lower incidences of BPD and retinopathy of prematurity.
Clinical outcomes of the ELGAN (n = 1508) study population as compared with the study sample (n = 54)
Infants with and without BPD exhibited minimal differences in maternal characteristics, including cause of delivery, antenatal steroid exposure, race, or histopathologic evidence of chorioamnionitis (Table ). Infants who developed BPD were of lower birth weight and less mature gestational age, required more days of supplemental oxygen and ventilation, and had higher rates of retinopathy of prematurity. They did not differ in sex ratio or rates of patent ductus arteriosus, and had a modestly higher rate of sepsis (Table ).
Baseline characteristics of mothers and placentas related to infant outcomes in terms of BPD
Characteristics of infants in relation to the primary outcome BPD
Unsupervised learning revealed inhomogeneous clustering of the sample by gestational age (27 to 28 weeks versus < 27 weeks; data not shown) and by presence of BPD (BPD versus control; Figure ). Similarly, principal components analysis of the 54 samples across the 54,675 measured transcripts revealed partial overlap of the samples across the two groups (Figure ). Single gene differential gene expression analysis revealed no genes with a q
value (a measure of false discovery rate [FDR] [14
]) below 0.05 or an uncorrected P
value below 10-6
. The high FDR confirmed that the overlap between the two classes of infants was high; therefore, we explored systematic differences in pathways rather than individual genes, as others have done with similarly subtle differences across human samples [15
Figure 1 Unsupervised clustering based on Euclidean distance in expression between samples. Each row corresponds to a gene and each column (labeled at the bottom) corresponds to an infant who subsequently developed bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) or a control (more ...)
Figure 2 Principal component analysis of the samples at birth. The closed circles correspond to infants who did not develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and the open circles to those who did develop BPD. The centroid of the ellipsoid hull for each subgroup (more ...)
The gene pathways most differentially expressed by gestational age category were those related to oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial energy metabolism, and DNA repair (Table ). None of the genes within these pathways by themselves were significantly differentially expressed, but the q
value for the entire set of genes within each pathway (of the more than 600 sets evaluated) was below 0.0001, as calculated using the sigPathway package [16
Differentially expressed gene sets for gestational age under 27 weeks versus 27 to 28 weeks
When the samples were evaluated comparing infants with BPD versus those without BPD, the most differentially expressed gene pathways included the aforementioned bioenergetic pathways, as well as histone acetyltransferase binding activity and chromatin remodeling pathways (Table ). Although the individual genes within these pathways were not significantly differentially expressed, the expression of the entire 'chromatin packaging' pathway relative to the overall transcriptome was highly significantly differentially expressed (Figure ). The ten most differentially expressed genes of those in chromatin remodeling pathways are shown in Figure to illustrate how this finding is only a trend at the individual gene level.
Differentially expressed pathways in infants with BPD versus infants without BPD
Figure 3 Relative expression of DNA packaging gene set relative to the overall transcriptome. The ratio of expression level of each gene in samples of infants that went on to develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) against those who did not is plotted against (more ...)
Figure 4 Box-plots of differential expression of the ten most differentially expressed genes in SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling pathway. Individually, none of these genes reached significance for differential expression, although the pathway was highly significantly (more ...)

domain: biology


text:
Goldfrapp scored Nowhere Boy (an indie UK film about John Lennon’s youth), and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeas scored Where the Wild Things Are. From the article:
Although there’s next to no money to be made in writing for film, and all along the line the musician’s vision is subordinate to that of directors, editors and producers, the chance to be a mere cog in a much larger machine seems to offer welcome relief from the essentially solipsistic nature of songwriting. All that autonomy, freedom of expression and relentless self-analysis can be burdensome.
Depends, I guess, on the kind of songwriter an artist chooses to be. You can be a storyteller who aims to entertain, in which case, film-scoring is kind of a natural complement.
The more personal your style, the more you have to break away from your habits to help tell the story of a film.
And there’s this:
There are no plans to release the Nowhere Boy score because, says Gregory, the music isn’t song-based. “I’m not sure how relevant it is without the film. It’s a lot of long, held notes and plinks on the piano.”
It’s a big challenge to stay out of the way of a scene and still be listenable away from the film. Sometimes it’s good to write the music away from the picture, and then go back arrange to fit the scenes.
Here’s some Goldfrapp:


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The story takes place at a small chicken farm in İzmir, Torbalı, Turkey. The boring lives of the farm’s caretaker Yakup and his younger wife Mediha will collide with the seemingly fun lives of the new assistant Riza and his wise Nurgul in this small and claustrophobic setting and will allow us to see the characters’ inner worlds and cause them to face themselves.
Seagull (Marti in Turkish) is a 2017 Turkish drama film directed by Erkan Tun8ç and sterring Onur Buldu, Sahra Şaş, İrem Sak, Öner Erkan, Ersan Utku Ölmez, Rojhat Özsoy, Myla Asya Çıvgın, Ahmet Burak Bacınoğlu, Levent Aras.
The Seagull (2018)
Directed by: Erkan Tunç
Starring: Onur Buldu, Sahra Şaş, İrem Sak, Öner Erkan, Ersan Utku Ölmez, Rojhat Özsoy, Myla Asya Çıvgın, Ahmet Burak Bacınoğlu, Levent Aras
Sreenplay by: Erkan Tunç
Production Coordinator: Ömür Taş
Cinematography by: Deniz Eyüboğlu Aydın
Film Editing by: Adil Yanık
Costume Designer: Özlem Çakır
Set Decoration by: Soner Koç
Art Direction by: Serkan Özer
Music: Ekin Fil
Distributed by: Mint Motion Pictures
Release Date: March 23, 2018


text:
At My Home Rocks we offer premium brands and pride ourselves on bespoke items. We are the only furniture store in the North West of England offering so many brands under one roof. We have a wide range of accessories and textiles designed and created by our in-house designers made exclusively for us and are not available in any other stores. We sell all kinds of furniture for every room in your home and are constantly updating our store and website to become a one stop shop for all your bedroom interior design,home accessories. A special design service is also offered where our team of experts work towards bringing your dream room into a reality.
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domain: design


text:
101638 | ANCIENT INSPIRED. Marcus Antonius & Cleopatra silver "Denarius."
101638 | ANCIENT INSPIRED. Roman Imperatorial (Czech Republic). Marcus Antonius & Cleopatra silver "Denarius." Issued 2006 for auction 152 by Česká numismatická společnost (ČNS) in Brno (18mm, 3.51 g, 6h). By P. Soušek.
ANTONI • ARMENIA • DEVICTA, bare head of Marcus Antonius right / REGINAE • REGVM • FILIORVM • REGVM • CLEOPATRA, diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra right; ČNS/BRNO to left, prow to lower right. Edge: Plain.
Cf. Crawford 543/1 (for prototype); cf. CRI 345 (same); cf. Sydenham 1210 (same). Choice Mint State. Attractively toned. A great modern representation of this always-desirable ancient issue featuring the famous power couple, Antony & Cleopatra. From a small mintage of just 98 pieces for the firm's 152nd auction in 2006.
Channeling the famous denarius struck in the autumn of 34 B.C. in the years leading up to the Battle of Actium, this re-imagining, issued some 2,040 years later, is a rather faithful execution and serves as an excellent "space-filler." Struck in a quantity of just 98 pieces for ČNS auction 152, it presents the ancient "power couple" of Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), Julius Caesar's right-hand man, and his lover Cleopatra (Kleopatra VII of Egypt), the final link of Ptolemaic rule in the mighty province.
Sorry, this item is no longer available.


text:
Posted 6 years ago
This is another find, it so precious resting little angle on Hand.
There is no chips, is in a great condition. This beautiful Angel is
made by Scioto 1994. What I don't understand is the last numbers,
it could it be 5 out of 2776. any comments are welcome.


text:
Marty T. Gaston, 40, was tried for first-degree murder in the 2008 killing of Larry Antonio Gaither, 20. Today, a jury found Gaston guilty of second-degree murder. The Honorable Richard D. Boner, Superior Court Judge, sentenced Gaston to 240-297 months in prison.
The murder occurred on October 11, 2008, at the home of Gaston’s girlfriend after she and Gaston argued on the telephone. Gaston then showed up at a gathering of her friends and family, entered her home, and dragged her by the hair and neck into an upstairs bedroom. Mr. Gaither, the cousin of the girlfriend, was shot through the arm and chest when he entered the bedroom in an attempt to intervene. Gaither died minutes later.
Gaston fled, but turned himself in to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department the day after the shooting. After the defendant was sentenced, the victim’s mother thanked the prosecutors and stated that she felt that the family had received justice.

domain: law


text:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – As the Senate moves toward repealing the Affordable Care Act, other local lawmakers are reacting to the vote.
Congressman John Yarmuth talked about the country’s healthcare options following the Senate’s vote on Terry Meiners’ WHAS Radio Show Tuesday.
“They've found themselves in a box. In which they've talked about repealing the Affordable Care Act for 7 years but never really thought about what they could replace it with. Now they are finding out what I’ve been saying all along that there really isn't an alternative to the Affordable Care Act except going back to where we were – where insurance companies determined who lived and died.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a repeal and delay bill would increase the number of uninsured by 17 Million in 2018 and increase to 32 Million by 2026.


text:
The Mills Fabrica has invested in Colorifix, a company which has pioneered the first entirely biological process to produce, deposit and fix pigments onto textiles.
With the aim of creating positive social impact for future generations, The Mills Fabrica's focus is on incubating and investing in sustainable businesses and building an international community with like-minded entrepreneurs and strategic partners.
One of the key investments The Mills Fabrica has nurtured is Colorifix, a company that has pioneered the first entirely biological process to produce, deposit and fix pigments onto textiles.
Using a synthetic biology approach, the company offers a radically different solution to incumbent dyeing technologies that entirely cuts out the use of harsh chemistry and leads to huge reductions in energy and water consumption.
Studio: The Mills Fabrica Investment Fund


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Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High-Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia. The ‘Pathways to the Future’ Project investigated Benalla’s current foot and cycle path infrastructure and assessed the community’s needs into the future. The Project enabled the community to develop a set of priorities to improve connectivity of the network and the safety of the community, along with analysing the use of the town’s recreational spaces.
Along Lake Benalla’s tranquil 4.25 kilometre track you will find diverse and picturesque landscapes including exquisitely manicured botanical gardens, remnant river red gum forest, an indigenous community garden and Jaycee Island with its magnificent towering Moreton Bay figs and exotic Bunya Bunya pines. This pathway required a luminaire that would effectively illuminate the pathway at a low mounting height while minimising glare due to the extensive tree coverage.
BEGA 77208 Pole Top Luminaire was selected as it performed incredibly well at these low mounting heights. It also provided us great flexibility in adjusting the mounting angle of the reflector to direct it onto the path where needed due to the changing width of the pathway.


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The Emmy-nominated GLOW alum will lead Lindelof and Tara Hernandez's Peacock drama series exploring faith vs. technology. Gilpin will play a nun who goes to battle against an all-powerful artificially intelligence in what is being billed as an epic battle of biblical and binary proportions. Peacock ordered Mrs. David straight-to-series in May 2021. Hernandez will serve as executive producer on Mrs. Davis, which she is co-writing with Lindelof. Mrs. Davis marks a reunion for Gilpin and Lindelof. She starred in the 2020 film The Hunt, which Lindelof co-wrote.
TOPICS: Betty Gilpin, Peacock, Mrs. Davis, Damon Lindelof, Tara Hernandez, In Development


Updated February 1, 2018
Trumpeter Chris Botti will perform with the NAC Orchestra at next summer's Ottawa Jazz Festival, while pianist Fred Hersch, a Latin big band led by Hilario Durán, vocalist Barbra Lica, and saxophonist Chet Doxas will headline the 2018 Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival.
At the festival's annual general meeting Thursday, executive producer Catherine O'Grady revealed the first few artists booked for the summer festival and announced the winter festival line-up.
The summer 2018 Ottawa Jazz Festival will run from June 21 to July 1. O'Grady said the performers will include trumpeter Chris Botti with the NAC Orchestra (June 21), bluegrass-country vocalist Alison Krauss, and improvising banjo player Béla Fleck with the original Flecktones (June 28). (The Montreal Jazz Festival also announced on the same day that Fleck would perform at that festival.)
On December 7, the Ottawa jazz festival added a further award-winning artist: jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater (June 24), with her new album honouring her home town of Memphis, Alabama.
The 2018 Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival will run from February 8 to 10. It will again be located indoors at La Nouvelle Scène in Lowertown, as it was in 2017 – not at the National Arts Centre, where it had been primarily located from 2012 to 2016.
|More Ottawa Jazz Festival news: Location worries in 2018, after a "scary" 2017|
The festival has announced eleven concerts over three days for the winter festival – one day and one concert shorter than in 2017, but keeping the same general format. In late December, it finished the line-up by announcing the winner of its special project grant, with which a local jazz musician would present a concert which also includes multimedia, spoken word, dance, or visual art, and in January it added another late-evening concert to Thursday.
There will be at least three concerts each night, held alternately in Studio A and the smaller Studio B with their times almost overlapping. A free jazz jam session will be held on the Friday and Saturday evenings in the front entrance area of La Nouvelle Scène, starting at 10:30 p.m. The host band for the jams has not been announced.
Single ticket prices are up from 2017, at $30 instead of $26.50. However, the cost of a full festival pass has been reduced to $150 (from $189 in 2017), and a day pass to $60 (from $70). At the 2017 festival, OttawaJazzScene.ca was told by attendees that some shows were very well attended and others only about one-third full; having essentially a “3 for 2” sale with a day pass may increase attendance for some shows.
Tickets and passes for the Winter Jazz Festival are now on sale. O'Grady told the AGM that passes for the summer festival would go on sale on December 6 at the same price as last year, for a limited time and in limited quantities.
All things jazz at the winter festival, from the avant-garde to vocal jazz to big bands to solo piano
Thursday, February 8, 6 p.m.:The Winter festival opens with composer Pierre-Yves Martel's long-standing chamber jazz group, Quartetski. This group of well-known Montreal avant-garde musicians will provide an improvised interpretation of Mikrokosmos by classical composer Béla Bartók. The Quartetski lineup isn't a typical chamber group, though; it includes electric guitar and bass, synthesizer, violin synthesizer, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone – and turntables!
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.: The European jazz piano trio, Dock in Absolute, released their first self-titled album this May. Their music “pushes boundaries” and combines “different styles of progressive Jazz, classical and rock,” including compositions by pianist Jean Philippe Koch. This Ottawa show is their single North American date, sandwiched among shows across Europe.
Thursday, 9 p.m.: Toronto jazz vocalist Barbra Lica made a considerable splash at JUNOfest this spring showcasing her JUNO-nominated album, I’m Still Learning. At the winter jazzfest, she's returning with the same quintet and playing songs from that album. OttawaJazzScene.ca was impressed with how well Lica connected with the audience at JUNOfest, and with her assured stage presence, her well-crafted original songs, and her perceptive readings of several jazz standards. We'd be surprised if Matt Dusk shows up for this show, though!
Thursday, 10 p.m.: Paolo Angeli's Talea. Angeli is an Italian improvising guitarist, whose music is heavily influenced by the canto a chitarra gallurese e logudorese, old songs in the Sardinian dialects of Gallurese and Logudorese, traditionally accompanied by guitar. He creates a new playlist for each show, based on the circumstances and experiences of that day, from more than four hours of repertoire than can be edited and combined into new pieces.
Friday, February 9, 6 p.m.: Hilario Durán's 16-piece Ottawa Latin Jazz Big Band is stuffed full of accomplished local big band musicians, plus a few from Montreal and Toronto – including young Ottawa-born trumpeter Emily Denison making a rare return to her hometown.
Durán is a Cuban-born pianist and composer who has been at the centre of Toronto's jazz and Latin jazz community for decades, after moving here from Cuba. He formed his Toronto-based Big Band Orchestra in 2005; his album From The Heart, featuring that band with saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, won a Contemporary Jazz JUNO in 2007, and was nominated for a Grammy. He began writing for and playing with major big bands in Cuba in the 1970s, and was Chucho Valdes' chosen successor in Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna.
Friday, 7:30 p.m.: Montreal jazz vocalist Emma Frank combines the shifting tempos of jazz with confessional, intimate songs. She's releasing a new album, Ocean Av, in February; it features American jazz musicians Aaron Parks, Jim Black, Rick Rosato, and Franky Rousseau. Frank has previously appeared at the Toronto and Montreal jazz festivals; she'll follow her Ottawa show with CD release shows in NYC, Boston, and Burlington, Vermont.
Friday, 9 p.m.: Montreal saxophonist and composer Chet Doxas and his cross-border quintet will present his “Rich in Symbols” project. This music is inspired by the art movement of New York City’s Lower East Side between the years 1975-85, including Robert Mapplethorpe and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Doxas composed the pieces by ear while standing in front of his favorite paintings in various NYC museums. During the show, the paintings which inspired the music will be projected behind the ensemble “as the band performs the corresponding 'soundtrack.' ”
Friday, February 9, 10 p.m.: New York City drummer Jim Black will perform from his latest album, The Constant. His piano trio includes bassist Thomas Morgan, and the young Austrian pianist Elias Stemeseder. Morgan received praise from OttawaJazzScene.ca listeners at last summer's Ottawa Jazz Festival for his duo show with guitarist Bill Frisell. Black appeared at the 2016 summer festival in Banda de Los Muertos and Endangered Blood.
Saturday, February 10, 5 p.m.: An intimate concert of piano trio music from three fine Ottawa musicians: pianist Steve Boudreau, double bassist John Geggie, and drummer Michel Delage. The Steve Boudreau Trio recently released its first album, Preludes: The Music of George Gershwin, in a memorable and personal concert at the NAC Fourth Stage. Earlier in the year, they performed several jazz concerts of Canadian music in honour of Canada's 150th.
Saturday, 6 p.m.: The 33z – a group of local jazz musicians with a strong groove focus – return after their 2017 winter jazzfest tribute to Prince. This time they'll play the music of another pop icon, Michael Jackson, in jazz arrangements by Ed Lister and festival programming director Petr Cancura. But the instrumentalists (6) will actually be outnumbered by the vocalists (7) – Kellylee Evans, Rebecca Noelle, Jeff Rogers, Angelique Francis, Lisa Pryce, Debbie Braham, and Lucia Iacovitti-Villeneuve – giving this tribute a very different sound.
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.: Taps and traps: Heather Cornell and Jesse Stewart: Back in 2010, the Ottawa Jazz Festival brought in a quartet led by Toronto musician Andy Milne as one of the acts in a jazz showcase. The highlight of the entire show was tap dancer Heather Cornell, who not only provided the percussion for Milne's quartet, but also added a visual mark on stage. OttawaJazzScene.ca said then: "The combination of Heather Cornell's dancing and Milne's innovative piano was extraordinary, and I hope the festival brings this quartet back for more." They've finally brought back Cornell, in a duo show with boundary-challenging Ottawa percussionist Jesse Stewart, as the winner of this festival's special project grant. The Canadian-born Cornell is now based in NYC, and is a creator of concert tap, and a leader in collaborating with world music and jazz.
Saturday, 9 p.m.: Pianist Fred Hersch will close the festival with a solo show. He was last in Ottawa at the 2013 winter jazzfest, playing with his trio; OttawaJazzScene.ca's review described that show as “a wonderful 90 minutes of fluid, melodic music which grabbed your heart and engaged your mind.” Hersch is a prolific and inventive jazz composer and interpreter, particularly noted for his intimate, beautiful, and individual renderings of jazz standards. Among many awards, he was named in 2016 both the Doris Duke Artist and the Jazz Journalists Association's Jazz Pianist of the Year.
Updated December 25 to add the Taps and Traps special project grant show with Heather Cornell and Jesse Stewart.
Updated January 5 to add Paolo Angeli's show on February 8, which was announced that day.
Updated January 25 to include the Jim Black Trio on February 9, which was announced this week.
Read stories by OttawaJazzScene.ca about previous Ottawa winter jazz festival concerts:
- "Let's play!" Jane Bunnett and Miguel de Armas combine their jazz and Afro-Cuban energy
- Fraser Hollins picks long-time musical friends for his Jazzfest show: Brian Blade, Jon Cowherd, and Joel Miller
- 2016 Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival returns to the festival's jazz and Canadian roots
- Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival Day 2: having fun with jazz
- Jazz Festival Winter series: a February weekend of Canadian jazz (+1)


text:
QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) indicated that payments are held back by suppliers of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) thus raising concerns on the risks to royalty business of the chipmaker. However, CFRA believes that the concerns are overblown and is optimistic about the company’s prospects in the mobile sector.
QUALCOMM has not only delivered better than expected earnings and revenue for the second quarter but also offered outlook for the third quarter that is in line with its tradition. However, CFRA analyst Zino reduced his price target on the company’s shares from $70 to $66 implying more than 20 percent upside potentials from the current levels. The brokerage, however, retained its Buy rating on the stock.
The analyst pointed out that the price objective is reduced based on below peers PE of 14.3X his fiscal year ending September 2018 EPS estimate citing legal issues with iPhone maker, as well as, regulators. He kept his fiscal year 2017 EPS estimate at $4.59 and adjusted next fiscal year EPS view from $4.76 to $4.63.
In a research note to clients, Zino viewed, “We are optimistic about mobile demand in China and globally, earnings potential from the pending NXP Semiconductor deal (NXPI 104 ***), and data center penetration. Despite payments held back by AAPL suppliers and risks to QCOM’s royalty business, we think concerns are overblown.”
While releasing results, QUALCOMM’s CEO, Steve Mollenkopf, stated, “Our performance reflects continued execution of our strategy to lead the mobile industry across a broad set of technologies, including advanced LTE and 5G, and accelerate our growth opportunities beyond mobile into automotive, IoT, security and networking.”
The chipmaker delivered earnings of $1.34 a share on revenue of $6 billion for the second quarter exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.20 a share and $5.89 billion revenue.
At time of writing this, the stock gained 1.6 percent in pre-market on Thursday.

domain: finance


Crystal Palace 1-3 West Ham: Manuel Lanzini and Dimitri Payet leave it late to earn Slaven Bilic's side three points against 10 men
- Unlikely goalscorer Carl Jenkinson gave West Ham the lead against London rivals Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park
- But the on-loan defender quickly went from hero to zero as he was punished for fouling Dwight Gayle in the area
- Midfielder Yohan Cabaye stepped up to equalise for Crystal Palace just minutes after West Ham had gone ahead
- Crystal Palace were dealt a blow at half time when striker Dwight Gayle was sent off for a second bookable offence
- And the hosts ultimately paid the price as West Ham midfielder Manuel Lanzini secured all three points late on
- Dimitri Payet then added insult to injury when he finished in added on time to add gloss to the Hammer's victory
You'd be wise to steer clear of Dwight Gayle for the next day or so.
The Crystal Palace striker cost his team dear with two of the most irrational decisions you are likely to see on a football pitch as West Ham climbed to third.
Having picked up a booking for needlessly going through the back of Dimitri Payet in the 32nd minute, Gayle was sent off for an equally rash tackle on Cheikhou Kouyate just before half-time to leave Palace with 10 men.
Dejected Crystal Palace fans watch on as they see French midfielder Dimitri Payet add West Ham's third goal during Saturday's clash
Payet is mobbed by his West Ham team-mates as their second-half onslaught at Selhurst Park sees them earn all three points late on
PLAYER RATINGS, PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE BY SAMI MOKBEL AT SELHURST PARK ON SATURDAY
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-2-3-1): Hennessey 5; Kelly 7, Dann 7, Hangeland 7, Souare 7; McArthur 6.5 (Jedinak 62, 6.5), Cabaye 7 (Ledley, 6.5); Zaha 5 (Sako 46, 6.5), Puncheon 6.5, Bolasie 6.5; Gayle 3.
Subs not used: McCarthy, Bamford, Campbell, Jedinak, Sako, Delaney, Ledley
Manager: Alan Pardew 7
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Adrian 6.5; Jenkinson 7, Tomkins 7, Collins 7, Cresswell 7; Noble 6.5 (Carroll 63, 7), Kouyate 7; Moses 6.5 (Zarate 74, 7), Lanzini 7.5, Payet 6.5; Sakho 7 (Jelavic 85, 6.5)
Subs not used: Randolph, Carroll, Zarate, Valencia, Obiang, Ogbonna, Jelavic
Manager: Slaven Bilic 7.5
Goals: Jenkinson, Lanzini, Payet
Man of the match: Lanzini
Att: 24,812 Referee: Mark Clattenburg 6.5
Clearly embarrassed, Gayle pulled his shirt over his head as he trudged off. So how must he have felt at full time as two late goals from Manuel Lanzini and Payet secured West Ham victory after a heroic backs-to-the-wall effort from his team-mates?
‘He [Gayle] has to learn from it,’ said manager Alan Pardew.
‘Possibly the enthusiasm got the better of him, I will speak to Dwight. It’s tough to take. He is a young player and wants to do well, he was disappointed.’
Nevertheless, the Palace manager still questioned referee Mark Clattenburg’s decision to give Gayle his marching orders.
‘The first tackle is bad, the second one he missed the ball by a small amount. I think the referee was hasty in giving him the second one,’ insisted Pardew.
‘It means we are down to 10 men and the boy misses one game because of suspension. Does it warrant all that?’
Manuel Lanzini is mobbed by his fellow West Ham team-mates after scoring a late goal against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday
Lanzini (left) is joined by team-mate Andy Carroll (centre) and defender Aaron Cresswell (right) after scoring with just minutes to play
West Ham goalkeeper Adrian celebrates in front of the fans after watching Lanzini score a late goal against 10-man Crystal Palace
Scott Dann does the best to get his body in the way, but there is no stopping Lanzini as he sends West Ham back into the lead late on
Lanzini leaves four men on the deck as he keeps his feet to send West Ham into the lead again against Crystal Palace in south London
Not that the rights or wrongs of Gayle’s red card concerned Slaven Bilic, whose team stormed into the Champions League places with victory at Selhurst Park.
The Hammers had to be patient, though as they toiled to break down Palace until Lanzini hit the winner with two minutes left.
Expectation is soaring at Upton Park; not that Bilic is taking any notice.
‘We have no expectations. The fans do, of course but we cannot stop that,’ said the Croat manager.
‘The only way to stop supporters’ expectation is by losing games and that’s not what we want. Look, our expectation is to stay in the league.
‘It’s still early days, it’s not May yet.’
Bilic’s modesty isn’t fooling anyone, though, as the Hammers stretched their unbeaten run in the Premier League to six games.
Crystal Palace midfielder Yohan Cabaye points to the sky after equalising against London rivals West Ham from the penalty spot
French international midfielder Cabaye draws Crystal Palace level from the penalty spot after ace Dwight Gayle was brought down
West Ham goalkeeper Adrian gets hand to Cabaye's shot but it is not strong enough to deny the Frenchman an equaliser in south London
|Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League|
Yes, they had the a numerical advantage for the majority of the encounter but even when it was 11 versus 11, West Ham were superior.
When they took the lead in the 23rd minute it was slick, Carl Jenkinson cooly slotting past Wayne Hennessey following Victor Moses’ slide-rule pass.
The defender’s joy lasted just 75 seconds, however, as he tripped Gayle in the box following Wilfried Zaha’s flick.
Yohan Cabaye stepped up to slot past Adrian only to be told to retake the penalty after Gayle strode into the area before the France midfielder’s spot-kick.
Cabaye was coolness personified, however, once again firing past Adrian, though the Spaniard got a hand to the second attempt.
It was harsh on the Hammers, yet the blow didn’t bump them off their stride as they continued to play with a swagger.
Payet and Diafra Sakho were both denied by last-ditch Palace defending.
After Gayle’s sending off, Pardew stood in his technical area with arms folded, knowing his side were in for a tough second half.
But they were within touching distance of securing an unlikely point until Lanzini scored in the 88th, followed by Payet’s in injury time.
Defender Carl Jenkinson, who is on loan from Arsenal, soars towards the fans as he grabs the opening goal of the game against Palace
West Ham defender Jenkinson celebrates in front of the fans after opening the scoring at Selhurst Park to give West Ham the advantage
Crystal Palace striker Gayle scythes down West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate in the first half of the clash in south London
Gayle is shown a second yellow card, followed by a red, as Kouyate gets to his feet following the late challenge just before the break
Crystal Palace striker Gayle trudges off the pitch dejected after being sent off during Saturday's London derby again West Ham
Frustrated Crystal Palace defender Dann challenges the decision of the officials following Gayle's red card just before half time
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic gives instructions to his side as he pushes on for all three points on Saturday at Selhurst Park Stadium
Victor Moses (centre) looks to evade the incoming challenge of Martin Kelly (right) as he takes on his former club on Saturday afternoon
West Ham captain Mark Noble (left) looks to pay a pass as Cabaye prepares a tackle in the second half of Saturday's London derby
James Tomkins (left) and Noble (right) remonstrate with referee Mark Clattenburg as the away side search for all three points on Saturday
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Courtney Cahow is an occupational therapist at Children’s Minnesota Maple Grove rehab clinic. Her work focuses on helping kids do the things they need to do every day—playing, engaging with their environment and self-care. As a creative problem-solver, she helps kids achieve the highest level of independence by developing strategies and mechanisms to strengthen the child’s ability to be independent, all in partnership with each child’s family.
Before COVID-19, Courtney didn’t think she would use virtual care. Her profession is hands-on and interactive with kids and their parents—a part of the job she really enjoys and relies on.
As Minnesota governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Health decided to pause many in-person medical services in March 2020, the physical medicine and rehabilitation team at Children’s Minnesota made the decision to quickly move to virtual care. Over the next several weeks, a team of 15 speech, occupational and physical therapists and leaders met daily. They referenced literature from pediatric hospitals around the country and worked as a cross-functional team to develop standards of care for seeing patients virtually.
“When I think back to how fast we worked, how we came together, it really shows Children’s Minnesota’s value of coming together by delivering active change that supports our mission,” Courtney said. “What we created is not just good therapy. Virtual care delivers great results, often as much as in-person sessions. In some cases, better.”
Empowering parents and families for the long-term
For both virtual and in-person sessions, Courtney works closely with parents to develop a personalized treatment plan for their child’s unique needs. What’s different about virtual sessions is that she relies on the parents’ ability to assist with setting up the appointment. Courtney guides the parent to identify the three to four things they are going to focus on in that session. Families follow Courtney’s instruction to bring specific toys that will help them practice specific skills at home. Since she only has one hour a week with each kid, she works hard to ensure the learning carries over to the family, creating a ripple effect of positive, long-term change.
“Carry over in parent education is crucial,” Courtney explained. “Now I can see my patients’ home environments, which can increase the impact of our work. They’re comfortable in their environment and I can see what parents have to work with. Kids are succeeding in this model.”
First virtual care appointment
At first, Courtney was very nervous, wondering if she’d be able to communicate well through video due to the potential loss of nonverbal and contextual cues that are abundant during in-person visits.
Courtney found that it was initially intimidating to develop effective, medically necessary therapy services via virtual health. Her first virtual care appointment was with a family that she already had a great rapport with, which helped put her at ease. When she logged on for this first appointment, her patient was singing songs from “Frozen.”
“He was so excited to see me and show me all of his toys. This was truly amazing because in the clinic, this boy was anxious and wouldn’t touch the toys. I worked with his mom, made small tweaks to their routine.” Now, she receives weekly progress videos showing him trying new foods and working on puzzles. His mom is so excited about how well he’s doing.
“Virtual care has been a great opportunity to offer a different level of support to families. We recognize that all families are different and respect that now more than ever. Some of our patients are higher risk and should not be coming into a clinic setting, others have had changes with routines and parents’ work schedules, which impacts a families’ ability to make it to in-person appointments,” Courtney said. “And for some, it’s an opportunity to empower families in their own environment.”
Courtney’s virtual care appointments have gone well. While the virtual model of care may not work for every kid or every parent, Courtney connects with the rehab telehealth team to continually build on the strong foundation that the department has built. In-person visits are still an option if the virtual care visit wasn’t a good fit.
At first, when Courtney reached out to her patients, the parents had more apprehension than she did: “We’re learning every day together, and I’m grateful for my families to help me grow as a clinician—helping me to meet the needs of my patients. Through all of this, my love for my job has increased. The team has supported me, with cheers and positive comments. We share enthusiasm and tools. We’re growing our practice in ways we haven’t seen before.”
After her experience with seeing patients through virtual care, Courtney’s opinion has changed dramatically. Before she moved to seeing patients virtually, Courtney would have assumed in-person visits were better. Now, she thinks about how virtual care fits within her tool kit and how it can further enhance her practice.

domain: health


Decision-makers, analysts, forecasters, behavioural modellers and a raft of kindred professionals are moving into a new world of data capture and presentation that holds out the possibility for the analysis of movement, living and activity patterns on a scale as yet unprecedented. It is an exciting, but potentially overwhelming, prospect.
From data that is hard won, and expensive to obtain, we are on the brink of creating a vast pool of information sources and models for use in scenarios where existing tools may be ineffective and inflexible as well as costly. For government and business, the benefits are potentially huge – helping with better decision-making and appraisal. In an era of localism and support for neighbourhood planning, we need to adopt approaches that support analysis of the full range of possibilities around how, where and when people wish to move and behave. The creation of such rich evidence bases will impact heavily on investment and development priorities, enabling politicians and policy-makers to make more informed decisions on the back of a much deeper understanding of place and movement.
The amount of data in the world continues to explode. Our ability to analyse large data sets – big data – means that organisations from professional practices to the public sector are faced with a steep data analysis learning curve. Research by McKinsey suggests that leaders in every sector will have to grapple with the implications of big data. 'The increasing volume and detail of information captured by enterprises, the rise of multimedia, social media, and the Internet of Things (IoT) will fuel exponential growth in data for the foreseeable future,' it states.
Significant value can potentially be unlocked from the ability to carry out deep analysis across the spectrum of human movement and behaviour patterns. McKinsey's own research suggests that, in the developed economies of Europe, government administrators could save more than €100 billion in operational efficiency improvements alone by using big data, and that users of services enabled by personal location data could capture €400 billion in consumer surplus.
These opportunities are good news for those whose work involves data and modelling. In future, there will be a shortage of the talent necessary for organisations to take advantage of big data, adds McKinsey. 'By 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills, as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions,' it states.
Of course, the regulatory machine needs to grind through a few gears before big data can be used really effectively. Policies related to privacy, security, intellectual property and liability all need to be addressed in a big data world. Access to data is mission critical, and companies will increasingly need to integrate information from multiple data sources, often from third parties, and the incentives must be in place to enable this, says McKinsey.
This data revolution, coupled with swift advances in digital technologies, is changing the relationship between designers, planners, elected representatives and communities involved in place and movement, says transport consultant and digital media specialist Peter Warman.
Scenario testing tools and ‘games’, 3D visualisation systems, real-time data tracking and collaborative management tools are enabling public debate and discussion to come before, and not after, decision-making relating to transport and urban infrastructure invesments. Good models can help us to maximise investment strategies by highlighting development opportunities thrrough enabling the realisation of true value, so channelling investment into key sites and infrastructure schemes.
A recent report, Machine-to-Machine Communications: Connecting billions of devices, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), outlines the potetial impact of machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the Internet of Things.
According to Rudolf Van der Berg of the OECD’s Science, Technology and Industry Directorate, the internet will soon move from connecting people to connecting things. In 2017, he writes, in OECD-countries, an average family with two teenagers could have 25 things that are connected to the internet: telephones, TV, tablets, printers, sports gear and health devices. Tens of billions of connected devices by 2025 is not farfetched. The combination of the data will allow smart transport, smart cities, smart energy and smart health.
With 60 per cent of the households in OECD countries using broadband and more than 99 per cent of populated areas covered by mobile networks, the world is at the onset of another digital revolution.
Some professional areas are in the front line for a major rethink of capability; issues that will be exploed in full at the Modelling World event in London during July. Take the large-scale, robust models developed to date by the transport modelling profession.
These models – essentially 'simplified' descriptions of a system used to predict and evaluate change – are currently widely used to predict impacts and evaluate options for infrastructure investment and planning. Many such models, suggests a recent paper from the Australian Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Improving Methods for Evaluating The Effects and Value of Transportation System Changes, tend to be biased in various ways that exaggerate the benefits of roadway capacity expansion and undervalue the impacts and benefits of strategies that encourage use of alternative modes.
'Commonly used models tend to undervalue alternative modes and other travel demand management (TDM) solutions. TDM planning requires models that can predict the impacts of various changes, such as improvements in alternative modes, pricing reforms and marketing strategies, ' states the report.
Similarly, some models focus on quantitative factors (travel speed, operating costs and crash rates) and undervalue qualitative factors such as travel convenience, comfort and security. Many models traditionally use travel survey and census data to determine transport demands, establish baseline conditions and identify trends. However, 'the travel surveys they are based on tend to ignore or undercount non-motorised travel, and so undervalue non-motorised transportation improvements for achieving transportation planning objectives.'
Others may ignore the parking and vehicle ownership cost savings that may result when travellers shift from car travel to alternative modes, and many ignore the safety benefits that result from reductions in total vehicle mileage. Integrated transportation and land use models are costly to develop and complex to use, and may be difficult to apply, particularly for the evaluation of smaller-scale projects.
Transport modelling has, says Mott Macdonald's Tom Van Vuren, always attracted professionals from a 'broad church'; making progress through learning from other disciplines (read Tom's article on page xx). But lately, he admits to wondering whether this very positive inclination to knowledge-share may be waning. Have we, he asks, fallen victim to Group Think, whipping ourselves into a frenzy of protecting the status-quo?
Some of the best evolving approaches model the behaviour and needs of individual transport users, or agents, rather than aggregate groups and can do so with data from new sources from location tracking with Bluetooth (see Nick O'Neil's article on page xx), and face recognition. New types of models can, in some cases, more realistically reflect activities such as walking, queuing, shopping and cycling, and the effects of factors such as parking supply and price, public transport quality, waiting time, the quality of the pedestrian environment and local land use accessibility factors.
Recent simulation models are also evolving, now incorporating elements from conventional traffic, economic and land use models and, increasingly, high quality movies that marry pedestrian modelling and 3D visualisations. A partnership between SKM Colin Buchanan and Wagstaffs Design, for example, uniquely brings together data collection, quantitative analysis, modelling and visualisation.
In a decade that sees Governments determined to seek ‘smart growth’, transport and travel systems must focus on improving the user experience, achieving sustainability and contributing to both economic and social growth (see Chris Cooper's article on page xx). Seamlessness requires that resources are used optimally: the convergence of transport infrastructure, operations and systems with the digital world is already changing the way we think about and use transport.
Seamless transport requires the connection of traditional transport systems and networks with other infrastructure and services, such as water, energy and telecommunications – all an essential part of today’s society. Transport infrastructure models will increasingly integrate with wider project lifecycles – another issue that will be explored at Modelling World.
Smart investment in connectivity must strike a balance between providing high-quality service and keeping investment and operational costs low. We need to think in terms of mobility systems rather than modes and modal networks. Modelling such smart growth in all its complexity requires key stakeholders and professionals alike to reflect on current practice.
A final observation from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute report is that modellers should work to stay abreast of current research and improvements. This means looking to create models that take advantage of the data explosion, and that use comprehensive economic evaluation models accounting for all significant impacts, including road and parking facility costs, consumer costs, accidents, pollution emissions, and impacts on land use development patterns.
Localism and engagement
Through crowd-sourced and social media-based information, the public is enabled to become much more directly involved in urban infrastructure decision-making. And, suggests Colin Pooley of Lancaster University, as mobile internet applications and devices become pervasive, ubiquitous, and central to social belonging and cultural participation, the concept of mobility-related environmental and social justice should become more relevant to movement models.
'Modern life is underpinned by intensifying forms of automation, sensing technologies, real-time data gathering and analysis, and surveillance. At various points in the 20th century there were opportunities to produce a transport infrastructure that delivered more socially and environmentally just patterns of everyday mobility, but such opportunities were lost as subsequent decisions reinforced existing mobility inequalities.'
Even the Ford motor company is getting behind smart transport systems. During his keynote address at the 2012 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Ford executive chairman Bill Ford outlined a plan for a ‘joined up mobility’ solution that will help avoid a potential future of what he called 'global gridlock – a never-ending traffic jam that wastes time, energy and resources.'
Ford now envisions 'a future of intelligent vehicles and a smart transportation system that will tie all modes of travel into a single network and payment system. Public and personal transportation will be fully integrated to save time, conserve resources and lower emissions.'
He called for partnership between the automotive, passenger transport and telecommunications industries to create an inter-connected transportation network as part of the solution.
'We need to view the automobile as one element of a transportation ecosystem...a smart system that ties all modes of travel into a single network linking together public and personal transportation. Pedestrian walkways, bicycles, buses, planes, trains, automobiles – everything fully integrated and optimised to save time, conserve resources and lower emissions.'
The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL, is pioneering much of the UK's smart cities research, drawing on cutting edge modelling, complexity, visualisation and computation techniques.
The centre's approach was outlined at a recent CASA event in London. 'Smart cities involve hardware, software, data and ‘orgware’ ...we see these developments mainly in the delivery of services, such as transport services, to urban populations. They provide radically new data sources with respect to routine behaviours, with the potential to provide us with new ideas and new horizons for improving many aspects of urban social and economic life.' CASA researchers are developing tools for online mapping, participation, modelling and tagging that define this new research agenda for research and practice.
Professor Michael Batty, Chair of the CASA Management Board is a widely respected resercher into urban planning and design using mathematical modelling. Back in 2009, Batty wrote that models are being developed as much for their exploratory and discursive value in a wider participatory process of developing robust but contingent knowledge than for their ability to generate good theory.
Over the past years, he has noted the 'revolution in tracking human and other motion in digital form that enables the collection of multiple attributes at the finest of scales of urban observation'. For a long time, he suggests, the city models we have built have tended to see cities as being in equilibrium where change occurs slowly over years and decades, but that this is changing as new data sources providing space and time streams provide us with new views of urban structure and pattern that could well demonstrate that cities are much less stable structures than we have previously perceived.
In 2012, in an editorial in Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Batty summed up some of his ideas on smart cities and big data. In the 1980s, he says, the focus on instrumenting the city using network technologies was
enshrined in the idea of the wired city.
But what has changed is the development of 'ubiquitous devices of comparatively low cost that can be deployed to sense what is happening over very small time scales – seconds and faster – as well as over very fine levels of spatial resolution'. Such devices, he writes, range from purpose-built sensors to individual hand-held devices that are as mobile as those using them provide massive capability to store and transmit data that pertains to movement and activity levels across space and time. 'Some of the most elaborate applications' he adds, 'involve transport.'
There are vast quantities of information, he says, 'much of it of doubtful quality so far but it will improve, associated with social media and networking. 'The idea of integrating much of this diverse data together to add value to our conceptions of how it might be linked to other more traditional data, as well as focusing it on specific ways to make cities more efficient and more equitable, has come to define the smart cities movement.'
Many large-scale IT companies, he notes, see the next great wave of applications related to groups rather than individuals, and these are seen most clearly in how large groups behave with respect to routine activities in cities. 'IBM, Cisco, Siemens, and a host of other companies are investing heavily in systems that can be used to mine traffic and related data which lie at the basis of an improved understanding of how cities function, as well as enabling new methods of improving the efficiency of such systems with respect to their operation and the quality of the experience from the point of view of the traveller. We are just beginning to grasp the nature of `big data', he suggests.
'This kind of data is available continuously and in this sense, it does not only encapsulate routine and relatively stable behaviours but, over sufficiently long periods of time, one can begin to extract changes to the structure and form of the city and the way people behave.'
New data begets new theory, notes Batty. 'Most urban theory, and indeed planning and design fifty years or more ago, was predicated on radical and massive change to city form and structure through instruments such as new towns, large-scale highway building, redevelopment, and public housing schemes. Planning was little concerned with smaller-scale development except its design, for nowhere was the function of the city understood in terms of how small spaces and local movements sustained the city. New data and big data are changing all of this.
'Smart cities and big data may be the hot topics of today, but the implications of how the city is being wired, how it is generating new data, how this data might force new theories and models relevant to our understanding, how we might use our strate gic models and intelligence to plan the city, building on this new understanding – these are all crucial questions to be explored.
Our need to understand how all these dimensions are coalescing, merging, complementing, and substituting for one another has never been more urgent. It constitutes a major challenge for planning and design
in the near future.'


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M for Montreal proves its resilience once again as it unveiled earlier this week the rest of the music program for the professional component of its 16th edition, which will be held online from November 15 to 26 and in person, in Montreal, from November 17 to 19.
Over 20 artists will be performing in Montreal this fall. Joining Backxwash, Beach Body (SK), Bleu Nuit, Choses Sauvages, Magi Merlin, Naya Ali, SLM, Yoo Doo Right and Zoon (ON), previously announced, are Ghost Woman (AB), Gus Englehorn, Hippie Hourrah, Hologramme, Jaywood (MB), Julien Sagot, Laurence-Anne, Nate Husser, Pure Carrière, P’tit Belliveau (NS), Robert Robert, Skiifall, Sophia Bel and Wares (MB).
The Official Selection shows, accessible to PRO badge holders only, will be held in several of the city’s iconic venues, allowing guests to experience the best that Montreal has to offer.
M for Montreal also renews its partnership with Parce Que Films and Pestacle. The renowned production companies will bring part of the Official Selection to life by presenting filmed musical performances, shot in extravagant and psychotronic settings, on a big screen in a darkened room.
M FOR MONTREAL HYBRID PRO BADGES ARE ON SALE UNTIL OCTOBER 31
Professionals from Quebec and elsewhere can purchase accreditation at the regular rate of $350 until October 31. These badges, available in very limited quantities, give access to conferences and panels, to the Official Selection showcases and to both virtual and face-to-face networking sessions organized by M for Montreal. More than 50 international industry players from 10 countries and some 30 Canadian professionals from outside Quebec will take part in the event in Montreal, thanks in particular to the contribution of the co-programming partners of the professional component of M: Marauder (United States), Erased Tapes (UK), Factory 92 (Germany), Ensemble Concert (Europe).
For all the details, go to: https://lepointdevente.com/billets/regulier
M FOR MONTREAL ENHANCES ITS FESTIVAL OFFERING
Following government announcements, M for Montreal has decided to maintain an offer for the general public – The festival’s lineup will be announced on November 3rd.
Hi there! My name is Marie, I am French born and raised, now living in Montreal for 10 years. I work in Marketing by day, and I’ve been doing Concert Photography for over five years now. There’s just something I love about experiencing live music, and capturing memories that will last a lifetime! You can check out more of my work on my website (URL below) or on Instagram: @mariegoestoshows!


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The Manchester boys basketball team got a put back buzzer beater from Koehl Fluke Friday to defeat Peru 58-56.
On the road at the Peru the Squires trailed 17-14 after the first quarter. Chase Fierstos and Koehl Fluke each had a three in the quarter with David McAtee getting two buckets, plus one from Braydon Sewell.
The Squires would out score the Tigers 17-12 in the second quarter to grab a 31-29 halftime lead. McAtee would lead the way with 7 points that included a long ball with Fierstos adding 5. Matthew Pegg added a bucket in the quarter.
Manchester would keep the momentum going in the third, winning the quarter 17-14 to extend their lead to 48-43. Five different players scored in the quarter with Fierstos, Sewell and Fluke doing most of the damage. Keelan Norwood and Mason Hamby each added a bucket.
Peru would find the momentum in the fourth, coming back to tie the score and set up the exciting finish. With just seconds left, Chase Fierstos put up a three that was rebounded and put back in by Koehl Fluke at the buzzer to give the Squires a big 58-56 road win.
Leading the Squires was David McAtee with 15 points. Chase Fierstos added 12, Koehl Fluke 12, Braydon Sewell 8, Keelan Norwood 4, Mason Hamby 3, Mattew Pegg 2.
The Manchester junior varsity defeated Peru 55-51.
Leading Manchester was Brayden Casper with 13 points. Jake Schannep added 9, Braxtin Wilson 7, Kam Lester 6, Levi Hicks 6, Devon Rooney 5, Kane Gable 5, Heath Dierks 4.