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3M, Gemalto, Morpho (Safran) and Oberthur Technologies create the Secure Identity Alliance
Open, industry-wide association aims to promote Secure Digital Identity Services and convenient interoperable secure eDocuments
St. Paul, Amsterdam and Paris, May 13, 2013–Leading secure eDocuments companies 3M, Gemalto, Morpho (a division of Safran) and Oberthur Technologies announced the formation of the Secure Identity Alliance, a grouping dedicated to developing the usage of government-issued eDocuments (identity, health cards, driving licenses and ePassports in particular) for increased security, and to encourage deployment of secure convenient online services strengthening the privacy of the end-users.
The Secure Identity Alliance's major objectives are to accelerate the transition to smart eDocuments and enable an open, interoperable and efficient roll-out of trusted eGovernment online services by:
- Describing and promoting use cases of convenient value-added eGovernment services,
- Sharing experiences and best practices between industry and governments modernizing their services, in particular towards ensuring the privacy of the end-users' personal information,
- Promoting standardization of relevant and appropriate industry specifications,
- Making recommendations on the most up-to-date means to properly address the governments identity and privacy challenges, including eDocument hardware, software and secure printing technologies, materials and physical security expertise, in order to deliver the level of confidence and assurance needed for the rapid adoption of eServices that can be trusted by citizens,
- Providing consistent reference information on security, identity and privacy challenges in a transparent manner.
Secure Identity Alliance positions itself as a trusted partner for governmental agencies and public entities defining their eDocument approach and implementing associated eGovernment services. Aiming at establishing interoperable systems, and defining and promoting best practices that can be adopted across the world, the Alliance members will be involved in focused workgroups.
Benefits for Governments:
"The Secure Identity Alliance will help us better serve Government entities," says Gareth Thomas, International Business Development Manager, 3M Identity Management. "Together, we will highlight the advantages and encourage the adoption of microprocessor-based eDocuments, and develop added-value online applications that meet citizens' needs today and tomorrow."
Convenience, Privacy and Security:
Frederic Trojani, Senior Vice President of Government Programs at Gemalto, underlines what is at stake: "Electronic identification has become a real catalyst for the rapid adoption of online service. Convenience, privacy protection and security are the three pillars of trust in modern, efficient electronic government services. When properly deployed, these powerful drivers lead to rapid citizen adoption, transforming the agencies' services along the citizens' expectations and providing for measurable effectiveness gains. The Secure Identity Alliance shall be the reference partner for governments looking to offer cutting-edge technology in e-documents and e-services to their citizens".
Jacques Van Zijp, Senior Vice President Business Identity Documents at Morpho (Safran), emphasizes that broad industry coverage through the Alliance's membership base is crucial for success. "Of course, the association is open to additional members from the eDocument industry willing to contribute to the success and roll out of secure eDocuments and associated online services."
Olivier Prestel, Managing Director of the Identity Business Unit at Oberthur Technologies, commenting on the competitive situation among the members, says: "The different companies will support overall industry growth while continuing to compete, to ensure the highest quality and diversity of solutions with differentiated products and services for the benefit of Governments and their citizens."
For more information, visit the Secure Identity Alliance Website: http://www.secureidentityalliance.org, or contact the Alliance by e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com.
About 3M Identity Management
3M Identity Management is a trusted partner and industry leader in delivering end-to-end, innovative security solutions to businesses and governments worldwide—helping to ensure the security of people and documents. With an unmatched mix of leading technologies in biometrics and credentialing as well as expert systems integration and support, 3M helps solve an array of security challenges, including efficient passenger check-in, secure ID and passport document issuance, and hardware and software system solutions for border management. 3M Identity Management technologies are used in over 100 countries around the world.
About 3M
3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in sales, 3M employs 88,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit http://www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.
Connie Thompson
3M Public Relations
Phone: +1 651-733-8914
About Gemalto
Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2012 annual revenues of €2.2 billion and more than 10,000 employees operating out of 83 offices and 13 Research & Development centers, located in 43 countries.
We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. We develop secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services made possible.
Our innovations enable our clients to offer trusted and convenient digital services to billions of individuals. Gemalto thrives with the growing number of people using its solutions to interact with the digital and wireless world.
For more information visit http://www.gemalto.com, http://www.justaskgemalto.com, http://blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter.
About Morpho (Safran)
Morpho, a high-technology company in the Safran group, is one of the world's leading suppliers of identification, detection and e-document solutions. Morpho is specialized in personal rights and flow management applications, in particular based on biometrics, a sector in which it is the world leader, as well as secure terminals and smart cards. Morpho's integrated systems and equipment are deployed worldwide and contribute to the safety and security of transportation, data, people and countries.
For more information: http://www.morpho.com/e-documents http://www.safran-group.com. Follow @MORPHO_NEWS on Twitter
Mareike Neumayer
Tel: 0049 (0) 4347 715 2501
Email: email@example.com
About Oberthur Technologies
Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies: systems development, solutions and services for smart cards (payment cards, SIM cards, access cards, NFC…) and for secure identity documents, traditional and electronic (identity card, passport, health care card). Created in 1984, Oberthur Technologies employs over 6 000 employees. With 50 sales offices across 5 continents, Oberthur Technologies' international network serves clients in 140 countries.
For more information: http://www.oberthur.com
Contacts Oberthur Technologies
Annika Hellgren
Email : email@example.com
Gemalto Media Contacts
Peggy Edoire
Europe, Middle East & Africa
+33 4 42 36 45 40
Nicole Smith
North America
+1 512 758 8921
Ernesto Haikewitsch
Latin America
+55 11 5105 9220
Pierre Lelievre
Asia Pacific
+65 6317 3802


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Innovations in Data - #VSummit21
At the second InterSystems Virtual Summit, learn how to make your organization thrive with healthy data, powerful analytics, and a smart data fabric powered by InterSystems technology. Hear from our experts, world-leading thought leaders, and InterSystems customers from around the globe.
Keynotes | Live Experience Labs | Focus Sessions On-demand
Dates: October 26 – 29, 2021

subset: commoncrawl


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When you use Google Maps to search for a local business you now have the option to 'translate reviews'. This is a really useful feature for those who like to use Google Maps when travelling abroad.
For example, imagine you are in Rome and you want to do what the Romans do and visit a local Pizzeria. You can search for Pizzerias by choosing 'Businesses' from the 'Show search options'. Local Pizzerias will then be tagged on the map and be listed in the sidebar.
At the top of the sidebar there is now an option to 'translate reviews'.
Selecting this option will magically translate the review from Italian to English.
The 'Translate reviews' option also appears in the information window that opens when you click on one of the red map tags.


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President Obama's proposal to increase taxes on those earning more than $1-million may help him persuade U.S. voters that his government is trying to do something to attenuate the increasing trend to which incomes have been concentrated among a very small group of high earners. But as the article notes, this measure is not expected to be an important source of government revenues.
This is also the case for Canada. Even though incomes are increasingly concentrated among high earners, a 'tax on millionaires' is unlikely to generate much new revenue. What follows is very much a back-of-the envelope exercise, but it should provide a rough order of magnitude for the sort of revenues we could expect from a similar proposal in Canada.
According to the most recent data from 2007, the top 0.1 per cent of the distribution earned at least $620,000 a year and received 5.5 per cent of all income. Checking this against data from the Canadian Revenue Agency, this means that 23,549 people earned $52.2-billion -- an average of $2.2-million. In 2007, the threshold above which the top federal tax rate of 29 per cent applied was $121,000.
So let's think of what we could expect from -- say -- increasing the marginal tax rates on incomes above $500,000 a year. Let's also make the assumption that everyone in the top 0.1 per cent would be affected by this measure, and make the -- simplifying, conservative and heroic -- assumption that these taxpayers would claim no deductions from total income.
23,549 people times $500,000 equals $11.8-billion, so the tax would be applied on a base of $52.2 billion – $11.8-billion = $40.4-billion. This means that each percentage point applied to incomes above $500,000 per year would bring in at most $400-million. (Recall that this number assumes that these high earners would claim no deductions).
According to the OECD, the top marginal tax rate in Canada was 46.4 per cent -- this includes a weighted average of the various provincial rates. An additional 10 per cent on high incomes would have given Canada one of the highest top marginal tax rates in the OECD, behind only Denmark and Sweden (although it should be noted that the top rates in these countries kicks in at a lower threshold).
Even if we made another simplifying, conservative and heroic assumption to the effect that high earners would do nothing in the face of these higher tax rates beyond swallowing hard and writing bigger numbers on the cheques they sent to the Receiver-General, this sort of measure would have produced something like an additional $4-billion.
To put this number in context, GST revenues for the fiscal year 2007-08 -- when the GST rate was 6 per cent -- were $30-billion. In other words, one GST point brought in $5-billion.
It may be a good idea to introduce another tax bracket on high earners on the grounds of fairness and equity. But we should be under few illusions about just how effective these measures would be in terms of generating more revenues.


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Floral print Face MaskPLEATED STYLE
This is a Handmade Facemask made with three Layers of Fabric and elastic for behind the ears with adjustable bead so you can adjust to fit comfortably around your ears. It contains two outer layers of cotton Fabric and one inner layer of interface fabric which acts as a filter to help protect against dust and germs. Also, is a picture of the interface fabric that I put inside the mask it helps act as a filter against the germs I've done an aerosol test on them and the aerosol does not pass through the mask!
PLEASE NOTE: I AM NOT MAKING CLAIMS that These will not prevent you from getting sick but they can help you and your family to not touch your face/mouth. Machine washable on delicate cold or hand a wash is recommened. Special orders are available
Adult - 5 3/4 inches tall from nose to chin and 7 3/4 inches from ear to ear(could use for teens as well)
Extra large - 6 1/2 inches from nose to chin and 9 1/2 inches from ear to ear(I WOULD RECOMMEND FOR A BIGGER SIZE FACE)


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Kpure Light Weight Deep Moisture Lotion Vanilla 250ml
Do you know what's fantastic about being a Lightweight? Everything. Only take what you can carry, in all aspects of life.
Lightweight, our new Deep Moisture Lotion is going to be your new best friend. Our first moisturizer in pump form, a little goes a long way like all of our products. Lightweight gives you a full-body option that's light (obviously) and absorbs beautifully on damp or dry skin, so don't overdo it.
Tired of half-empty containers of lotion under the sink that didn't work out? Here comes lightweight to save the day. It's here for you, high vibes you can always count on, like any best friend.
Natural and organic, take unscented for babies or sensitive skin (and noses), our signature vanilla that you love from Drenched or new Coconut/Lime for beachy or cocktail daydreams.
Ingredients: Aqua (Purified Water), Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Emulsifying Wax NF, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Stearic Acid, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract (Calendula Oil), Glycerin, Aloe Barbensis Leaf Extract (Aloe Vera), Silk Amino Acids, Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol (and) Sorbic Acid (Preservative), phthalate and paraben-free fragrance oil
250ml/8oz bottles.


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The U.S. job market didn't get the message it was supposed to slow down. The establishment survey estimated 528,000 new jobs were created last month. Every employment sector experienced growth, although services and government hiring accounted for 87% of new jobs.
Key Points for the Week
- The U.S. economy created 528,000 net new jobs in July, more than doubling expectations for a 250,000 increase.
- Unemployment reached the pre-pandemic low of 3.5% last month, while wages rose 0.5%.
- Earnings are expected to have grown approximately 6.7% in July, but without energy stocks earnings have declined.
A couple pre-pandemic milestones were reached. There are now more people employed in the U.S. than prior to the pandemic. Unemployment also dipped 0.1% and reached the pre-pandemic low of 3.5%. Getting all these people to take jobs didn't come cheap. Private sector wages increased 0.5% in July, which is faster than the economy can sustain without pushing inflation higher.
S&P 500 earnings are expected to rise 6.7%. Energy companies have experienced rapid earnings growth as energy prices have climbed. Without energy growth, S&P 500 earnings would have dropped. The financial sector contributed most to earnings weakness, with approximately 25% of the S&P 500 still to report.
Markets held on to the previous week's gains, while faster growth pressured bonds. The S&P 500 added 0.4% last week. The global MSCI ACWI edged 0.3% higher. The Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index declined 1.0%. The Consumer Price Index leads the list of economic data released this week. Markets will likely focus on core inflation as energy price declines are expected to help rein in July's headline inflation.
Figure 1
Jobs Data Show Underlying Economic Strength
The U.S. employment report indicates the U.S. economy remains strong despite much speculation to the contrary. The economy added 528,000 new jobs last month, according to the establishment survey. Rather than job growth slowing, the survey indicated the economy added the second most new jobs this year. With the gains, the economy has added 3.3 million jobs in 2022 and 1.3 million in the last quarter. The problem may be the economy remains too strong, not too weak.
The underlying data showed the gains were broadly based. Every industry increased employment. Health care and social services, leisure and hospitality and professional and business services all added close to 90,000 jobs. Government hiring, in advance of a new school year, rose 57,000. With the gains, employment reached the level it was before the pandemic, and the unemployment rate fell back to 3.5%, its pre-pandemic low.
One area that hasn't reached previous levels is labor force participation. The overall labor force participation rate fell to 62.1% in July. When only prime-age workers 25-54 are included, that number rises to 80.0%. Prime-age participation is close to the pre-pandemic record but not quite there. Because supply challenges are contributing to inflation, getting people back to work can help fill key roles and cap wage pressures.
Fighting inflation will mean getting wage inflation under control. Prior to the pandemic, aggregate payrolls rose about 5% per year. Increased average hourly earnings accounted for most of the gains, and a significant minority resulted from new jobs being added to the economy. In the last 18 months, yearly payroll increases have averaged around 10%, with gains roughly split evenly between higher earnings and new jobs.
The strong jobs data mean the chief worry has swung from recession back to inflation. As we noted last week, two negative quarters is a popular definition of a recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research uses six primary indicators to determine if the economy is in a recession. Only one of those is negative: real wholesale and retail sales. The nominal level of sales remains strong, but high inflation has pushed that indicator negative. A measure of real income excluding government payments to individuals is neutral. The other four indicators — total employment, employment level, real personal consumption, and industrial production — are all positive.
For inflation to start declining, wage gains will have to slow. Renewed concerns about inflation mean the Federal Reserve may do more than expected. Prior to the jobs data, markets reflected a 66% chance for a 0.50% rate hike in September and a 34% chance of a 0.75% hike. After the jobs data, odds swung to 70% expecting a 0.75% increase and only 30% predicting 0.50%. Strong economic data mean the market expects the Fed to do more to tame inflation.
The CPI report this week will be the next big indicator of current economic conditions. Core inflation excludes food and energy, and many believe that reflects the underlying trend in inflation better than headline data. Headline CPI, which has been higher than the core rate, should be lower than core inflation. In July, energy prices dropped, and that should help temper headline inflation. We will be watching core inflation to see if lower energy prices spilled over into core inflation categories and the rapid inflationary pressures start moving the other way.
Keep in mind it will be more than a month before the next Fed meeting. Another employment and CPI report will be released before then. It also means the Fed's tightening strategy will have another month to work itself into the economy. A rate hike in September seems nearly certain. The level will depend on how future data affect the overall outlook. Expect volatility to remain elevated and more swings between recession and inflation concerns. There is a lot to think about in the current market, and as we've learned the market is almost always worried about something.
This newsletter was written and produced by CWM, LLC. Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly. The views stated in this letter are not necessarily the opinion of any other named entity and should not be construed directly or indirectly as an offer to buy or sell any securities mentioned herein. Due to volatility within the markets mentioned, opinions are subject to change without notice. Information is based on sources believed to be reliable; however, their accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index of 500 stocks designed to measure performance of the broad domestic economy through changes in the aggregate market value of 500 stocks representing all major industries.
The MSCI ACWI captures large- and mid-cap representation across 23 developed markets (DM) and 23 emerging markets (EM) countries*. With 2,480 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the global investable equity opportunity set.
The Bloomberg US Agg Total Return Value Unhedged, also known as "Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index" formerly known as the "Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index", and prior to that, "Lehman Aggregate Bond Index," is a broad-based flagship benchmark that measures the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. The index includes Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, MBS (agency fixed-rate pass-throughs), ABS and CMBS (agency and non-agency).
Compliance Case # 01453039


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Now that we've marked the boundaries of Greater Western New York, the fun really begins. First, we can delineate the counties included. Greater Western New York contains 17 counties. These represent all the counties west of or touching the correct Pre-Emption Line. Those counties are:
● Allegany ● Chautauqua
● Cattaraugus ● Chemung
● Erie ● Genesee
● Livingston ● Monroe
● Niagara ● Ontario
● Orleans ● Seneca
● Schuyler ● Steuben ● Wayne ● Wyoming ● Yates
We should note that Pre-Emption Line marks the western border of both Seneca County (maybe, depending on who owns Seneca Lake) and Chemung County. The Line slices through the counties of Wayne, Yates and Schuyler. As it stands, the eastern borders of Wayne, Seneca, Schuyler and Chemung form a fairly straight line from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania line. OK, maybe it's not quite straight enough to convince an officer you're not unduly influenced, but it's close enough.
What exactly does this constellation of the 17 western-most counties of New York State tell us? I discovered this particular hidden gem while preparing for a January 2004 Continue Reading "A Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts"


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Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn, the youngest member of Congress at age 25, is facing scrutiny of his time in college after reports of allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by BuzzFeed News, The Washington Postand CNN.
Several women say Cawthorn put them in uncomfortable situations, including taking them on drives and making unwanted advances. The three media outlets spoke with former classmates at Patrick Henry College in Virginia.
Cawthorn attended the private Christian school for less than a year in 2016 before dropping out.
Some of the women recounted times when Cawthorn was aggressive, misogynistic or predatory toward them, according to BuzzFeed News.They say Cawthorn, who was 21 at the time, would call them derogatory names in front of others and ask "inappropriate" questions about their sex lives. They also allege he kissed and touched them without their consent.
Women also detailed rides Cawthorn would give them near campus, asking them about their virginity and sexual experiences while they were locked in the car.
"His MO was to take vulnerable women out on these rides with him in the car, and to make advances," Caitlin Coulter, one of Cawthorn's former classmates, told CNNin an interview.
The allegations have been around since he launched his campaign for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District. But they are gaining more attention as Cawthorn moved to Washington, D.C. and has aligned himself with former President Donald Trump's lies about the November election.
Cawthorn has denied the allegations, his office points to a statement the congressman made last fall, "I have never done anything sexually inappropriate in my life."
Also coming under new scrutiny are details around the accident that left Cawthorn paralyzed from the waist down while still a teenager.
Cawthorn has told crowds that his best friend at the time left him for dead after the crash, and that he was declared dead. He also claims he had been accepted to the Naval Academy before the crash, and used that line in his campaign.
The Washington Postspoke with his former best friend, who says he pulled Cawthorn from the wreckage. An accident report obtained by the paper says Cawthorn was "incapacitated," but was not declared dead.
They and CNN also found that during a deposition after the accident, Cawthorn himself said he had been rejected by the Naval Academy before the crash.


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Should You Hire a Real Estate Agent When Homes are Selling So Fast?
The real estate market is still on fire! This has many potential sellers asking themselves if listing their home with a real estate agent is necessary or not, especially when homes are selling so quickly. After all, the home inventory crisis continues to be a relevant theme, especially with buyer demand up by 60%.
While "For Sale By Owner" (FSBO) is still an option for any seller in 2021, it comes with its own set of risks.
Larger Networks Mean More Exposure
When it comes to an FSBO transaction, marketing your home can seem as simple as utilizing your circle of contacts and/or listing your home yourself using a plethora of online listing services such as Zillow, Redfin, and Opendoor. But it is important to know that these resources only stretch so far.
While using your own personal or professional sphere is always an option when selling your property, there is a strong chance that this network will have no large interest in spreading the word about your home. This may cause a smaller pool of potential buyers viewing your home and, therefore, could result in a longer home listing period or even a less desirable sale price.
A huge part of a real estate agent's job is to nurture and expand their past clients, databases, and other agent and real estate agency relationships to better their future closing transactions. At any given moment, a successful agent should be able to notify this extensive list of contacts and create buzz around your newly listed home. Agents can do this through email marketing, social media marketing, the use of a real estate professional's website, and good old-fashioned word of mouth.
Another huge component is access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that a licensed agent or broker is provided. Other agents representing local buyers will heavily use the MLS to notify their clients of potential new properties for sale. Often a fresh list of homes that match your home's features will be pulled and sent to any buyer looking for a place similar to yours.
Using a combination of these resources, your home is constantly receiving the exposure it deserves, ultimately providing a smooth and rewarding sales experience.
The Emotional Side of Selling a Home
When selling your home, it is easy to get emotionally involved. If you love your home and have poured time and energy into it, parting with it may be overwhelmingly difficult for you. A real estate agent is there to help you through this process by providing unbiased professional advice and expertise. Without an agent by your side, your judgment may be clouded by your predisposed opinions.
For example, you may become offended by a lower-than-expected offer or sensitive to what others have to say about your home during the showing process. An agent can deal with any offer by giving a fair counteroffer to the buyer's agent or address negative opinions by redirecting attention to your home's winning qualities.
Essentially, real estate agents will be able to communicate with prospective buyers much more objectively than you would on your own. Agents have a plethora of experience selling homes which means they know how to effectively communicate with buyers by using appropriate language and maintaining an impartial tone.
The Skill Required in Negotiation
Even if you have sales experience, you probably don't have the same specialized experience negotiating the sale of a home. This could lower your chances of succeeding in the negotiation, meaning less money in your pocket. When listing your home, you wish to sell it for as much as possible, and you may think parting with the extra agent commission will help you accomplish just that. On the contrary, in 2018, the typical FSBO home sold for $217,900 compared to $295,000 for agent-assisted home sales.
Not only does your lack of experience hinder you from maximizing your sale value, but you are also more likely to be emotionally invested in the home selling process. This can lead to poor decision-making along the way. Instead of making an emotionally charged response to a potential buyer, an agent will respond with professional delivery. An experienced agent may have negotiated hundreds of home sales, giving them the upper hand in identifying warning signs.
Sellers who sell their home FSBO are also often not familiar with their area's local procedures or market conditions. An experienced real estate agent knows the pulse of the market, which gives them the leverage of knowing which terms are worth negotiating for and which aren't. Local procedures can also be tricky to understand, such as knowing whether the buyer or seller typically pays fees such as the transfer taxes and closing costs.
Paperwork & Legalities
Don't underestimate the amount of paperwork and legality that goes into selling a home. Your real estate agent knows the ins and outs of the transaction, so while they can help you take the emotions out of selling your home and ensure it's marketed properly, they're also going to help you avoid future legal risks.
One of the biggest examples of this is disclosures and whether or not they're done properly. Without the proper documentation, you open yourself up to risk that an experienced agent would avoid. For example, do you need to tell the buyers about pests or leaks in the roof? What about if there was a death on the property? While you may not be 100% sure, your agent will be able to help you through.
This article from Forbes goes a bit more into detail about what disclosures are and the risk associated with not bringing them up the right way.
Real Estate Is A Full-Time Job
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule but generally speaking, most listing agents work in real estate full-time - and by full-time, we mean 24/7, 365 days. That's right. Agents often work atypical hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays. But while great agents are busy providing their clients with full-time value, chances are you, or someone in your household also has a full-time job.
At first, you may feel like you can handle the showings on your own, but realistically you can't rush home from work every time someone wants to see your home. You can't take every midday phone call inquiring about your home because you have your own job-related responsibilities to tend to. You probably won't have the time or the knowledge to properly market your home reaching buyers where their attention is today.
The good news? A full-time agent does all of those tasks and more! They say being a jack of all trades means you're a master of none, which is true in this situation. A great real estate agent knows the industry inside and out, and their sole focus is on you and your home. Most households have a lot on their plate, especially right now. Why would you want to add learning real estate to your plate when you can lean on a seasoned professional to take care of virtually everything for you with minimal stress involved? Even if you're still convinced you can sell your home on your own, the calls and showings are only the beginning of the process. It only gets more complex from there as you move into negotiations, appraisals, and stacks of paperwork.


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Connor (m=76.0 kg) is competing in the state diving championship. He leaves the springboard from a height of 3.00 m above the water surface with a speed of 5.94 m/s in the upward direction.
a. Determine Connor's speed when he strikes the water. b. Connor's body plunges to a depth of 2.15 m below the water surface before stopping. Determine the average force of water resistance experienced by his body.
Get more information on the topic of Work, Energy and Power at The Physics Classroom Tutorial.
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128 US 174 Georgia Railroad Banking Co v. Smith
9 S.Ct. 47
32 L.Ed. 377
SMITH et al.
October 29, 1888.
By an act of the legislature of Georgia, passed December 21, 1833, the plaintiff in error was incorporated under the name of the 'Georgia Railroad Company,' and empowered to construct a 'rail or turnpike road from the city of Augusta,' with branches extending to certain towns in the state, and to be carried beyond those places at the discretion of the company. Laws 1833, p. 256. By an act of the legislature, passed December 18, 1835, certain amendments to the charter were made, and among others one changing its corporate name to 'The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company,' its present designation. The twelfth section of the charter, among other things, declares that 'the said Georgia Railroad Company shall, at all times, have the exclusive right of transportation or conveyance of persons, merchandise, and produce, over the railroad and railroads to be by them constructed, while they see fit to exercise the exclusive right: provided, that the charge of transportation or conveyance shall not exceed fifty cents per hundred pounds on heavy articles, and ten cents per cubic foot on articles of measurement, for every one hundred miles; and five cents per mile for every passenger: provided, always, that the said company may, when they see fit, rent or farm out all or any part of their exclusive right of transportation or conveyance of persons, on the railroad or railroads, with the privilege to any individual or individuals, or other company, and for such term as may be agreed upon, subject to the rates above mentioned. And the said company, in the exercise of their right of carriage or transportation of persons or property, or the persons so taking from the company the right of transportation or conveyance, shall, so far as they act on the same, be regarded as common carriers.' In pursuance of the authority conferred by this section, the company, by a deed bearing date on the 7th of May, 1881, leased to one William M. Wadley, for the term of 99 years, 'all its privileges, general and exclusive,' of transporting persons and property over the lines of railroad owned and controlled by it, to the full extent that it then enjoyed, or was entitled to enjoy, or might thereafter acquire, subject to the obligations and duties imposed by its charter. With these privileges the company also leased to Wadley, for the same term, all its railroads and their branches, 'together with its rights of way, road-beds, depots, stations, warehouses, elevators, workshops, wells, cisterns, water tanks, and other appurtenances.' The lessee on his part covenanted to pay the company, as a consideration for the lease, the sum of $600,000 annually, for the full term of 99 years, in two semi-annual payments; also to pay the taxes on the property and franchises; to return the property on the termination of the lease in as good condition as it was at its date; to keep the railroad and its appurtenances and the means of transportation in first-class condition, and to indemnify the company against any damages, losses, or liabilities in the operation of the roads. This leassee has since died, and in the present case his interests were maintained in the court below by his executor.
On the 14th of October, 1879, the legislature of Georgia passed an act entitled 'An act to provide for the regulation of railroad freight and passenger tariffs in this state, to prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in the rates charged for transportation of passengers and freight, and to prohibit railroad companies, corporations, and lessees in this state from charging other than just and reasonable rates, and to punish the same, and prescribed a mode of procedure and rules of evidence in relation thereto, and to appoint commissioners, and to prescrible their powers and duties in relation to the same.' Laws 1879, p. 125. In pursuance of this act a board was constituted, designated the 'Railroad Commission,' composed of three members, originally consisting of James M. Smith, Campbell Wallace, and Samuel Barnett; but to the place of Samuel Barnett the defendant Leander N. Trammell has succeeded. This commission has prescribed rates for the transportation of freight and persons by railroad companies in the state, which are less than the maximum of rates authorized by the twelfth section of the charter of the company. The act imposes a penalty of not less than one or more than five thousand dollars for every violation of the rules and regulations thus prescribed. The company and the executor of the lessee accordingly filed their bill, in the case before us, in the superior court of Fulton county, Ga., against the railroad commissioners and the attorney general of the state, contending, among other things, that the charter of the company is a contract between it and the state of Georgia, and that by it the company has the right to charge any rates for freight and passengers not exceeding those limited in the twelfth section of its charter, and that the act of October 14, 1879, is in conflict with the clause of the constitution of the United States which prohibits a state from passing any act impairing the obligation of a contract. They pray in their bill that the act may be declared null and void, and inoperative against them, and that the commission may be enjoined from prescribing rates of fare and freight over the railroad of the company and its branches, or in any manner enforcing the provisions of the act against them. To this bill the defendants demurred, on the ground that it disclosed no case entitling the complainants to relief in equity, and that they had an adequate and complete remedy at law. The court sustained the demurrer, and dismissed the bill. On being taken to the supreme court of the state, the decree was affirmed; and to review it the case is brought to this court by the railroad company.
J. B. Cumming and Ed. Baxter, for plaintiff in error.
Clifford Anderson, for defendants in error.
Mr. Justice FIELD, after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.
As appears from the statement of the case, the contention in the court below of the company, the plaintiff in error here, so far as it embraced any federal question, was that the twelfth section of its charter constituted a grant of a right to charge the rates therein named; that it built its road and established its business with this grant as a part of its charter; and that such a grant is a contract between it and the state of Georgia, the obligation of which cannot be impaired by its legislation; and this contention is renewed in this court.
The constitution of Georgia, adopted in December, 1877, vested in the 'general assembly of the state,' the designation given to its legislature, the power to regulate 'railroad freights and passenger tariffs,' so as to prevent unjust discriminations, and require reasonable and just rates; and made it the duty of that body to pass laws from time to time to accomplish this end, and to prohibit, by adequate penalties, the charging of other than such rates. Article 4, § 2, App. Code Ga. 1882. Pursuant to this provision of the constitution, the act of October 14, 1879, was passed, providing for the appointment of three railroad commissioners, and authorizing them to prescribe the rates of fare which railroad companies might charge for the carriage of persons and merchandise within the limits of the state. The act does not extend to interstate railroad transportation. Laws Ga. 1878-79, p. 125. After authorizing the appointment of the three commissioners by the governor, the act declares that any railroad company doing business in the state, after its passage, which shall charge or receive more than a fair and reasonable toll or compensation for the transportation of passengers or freight of any description, or for the use or transportation of any railroad car upon its track or branches, or upon any railroad which it has the right to use, shall be deemed guilty of extortion, and upon conviction thereof shall be subject to certain penalties prescribed. The commissioners appointed are required to make reasonable and just rates of freight and passenger tariffs, to be observed by all railroad companies doing business in the state on their roads, and to provide for each of the companies a schedule of just and reasonable rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight; and the act declares that in suits brought against any of the companies, involving unjust charges or discriminations, such schedule shall be taken in the courts of the state as sufficient evidence that the rates prescribed are just and reasonable. The commissioners are required from time to time, and as often as circumstances may call for it, to change and revise the schedules, and penalties are prescribed for the enforcement of their regulations. The supreme court of the state held, on an application for an injunction in this case, that this delegation of authority by the legislature to the commissioners, to prescribe what shall be reasonable and just rates for the carriage and transportation of persons and property over railroads within its limits, was a proper exercise of its own power to provide protection to its citizens against unjust rates for such transportation, and to prevent unjust discriminations; and that it was expected, not that the legislature would itself make specific regulations as to what should in each case be a proper charge, but that it would simply provide the means by which such rates should be ascertained and enforced.
It has been adjudged by this court in numerous instances that the legislature of a state has the power to prescribe the charges of a railroad company for the carriage of persons and merchandise within its limits, in the absence of any provision in the charter of the company constituting a contract vesting in it authority over those matters, subject to the limitation that the carriage is not required without reward, or upon conditions amounting to the taking of property for public use without just compensation; and that what is done does not amount to a regulation of foreign or interstate commerce. Stone v. Trust Co., 116 U. S. 307, 325, 331, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 334, 388, 1191; Dow v. Beidelman, 125 U. S. 680, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1028. The incorporation of the company, by which numerous parties are permitted to act as a single body for the purposes of its creation, or, as Chief Justice MARSHALL expresses it, by which 'the character and properties of individuality' are bestowed on a collective and changing body of men, (Bank v. Billings, 4 Pet. 514, 562;) the grant to it of special privileges to carry out the object of its incorporation, particularly the authority to exercise the state's right of eminent domain that it may appropriate needed property,—a right which can be exercised only for public purposes; and the obligation assumed by the acceptance of its charter, to transport all persons and merchandise, upon like conditions and upon reasonable rates, affect the property and employment with a public use; and where property is thus affected, the business in which it is used in subject to legislative control. So long as the use continues, the power of regulation remains; and the regulation may extend not merely to provisions for the security of passengers and freight against accidents, and for the convenience of the public, but also to prevent extortion by unreasonable charges, and favoritism by unjust discriminations. This is not a new doctrine, but an old doctrine, always asserted whenever property or business is, by reason of special privileges received from the government, the better to secure the purposes to which the property is dedicated or devoted, affected with a public use. There have been differences of opinion among the judges of this court in some cases as to the circumstances or conditions under which some kinds of property or business may be properly held to be thus affected, as in Munn v. Illinois, 94 U. S. 113, 126, 139, 146; but none as to the doctrine that, when such use exists, the business becomes subject to legislative control in all respects necessary to protect the public against danger, injustice, and oppression. In almost every case which has been before this court, where the power of the state to regulate the rates of charges of railroad companies for the transportation of persons and freight within its jurisdiction has been under consideration, the question discussed has not been the original power of the state over the subject, but whether that power had not been, by stipulations of the charter, or other legislation, amounting to a contract, surrendered to the company, or been in some manner qualified. It is only upon the latter point that there have been differences of opinion.
The question then arises whether there is in the twelfth section of the charter of the plaintiff in error a contract that it may make any charges within the limits there designated. The first clause would seem to have been framed upon the theory, which obtained very generally at the date of the charter, that a railroad was subject, like an ordinary wagon road, to the use of all persons who were able to place the necessary conveyances upon it. It was then generally supposed that, while the company constructing the road was the owner of the road-bed, any one could run cars upon it upon payment of established tolls, and following the regulations prescribed for the management of trains; and some charters granted at that period contained schedules of charges for such use. But this notion has long since been abandoned as impracticable. Railroad Co. v. U. S., 93 U. S. 442, 446-449. The section grants to the company the exclusive right of transportation of persons and merchandise over its road, a right which in another part of the act is limited to 36 years, and then expires unless renewed by the legisture upon such terms as may be prescribed by law and accepted by the company. This period has long since expired, and we are not informed that any renewal of the privilege has been made.
The difficulty attending the construction of the clause following this one arises from the doubt attached to the meaning of the term 'provided.' The general purpose of a proviso, as is well known, is to except the clause covered by it from the general provisions of a statute, or from some provisions of it, or to qualify the operation of the statute in some particular. But it is often used in other senses. It is a common practice in legislative proceedings, on the consideration of bills, for parties desirous of securing amendments to them to precede their proposed amendments with the term 'provided,' so as to declare that, notwithstanding existing provisions, the one thus expressed is to prevail; thus having no greater signification than would be attached to the conjunction 'but' or 'and' in the same place, and simply serving to separate or distinguish the different paragraphs or sentences. Several illustrations are given by counsel of the use of the term in this sense, showing, in such cases, where an amendment has been made, though the provision following often has no relation to what precedes it.
It does not matter, in the present case, whether the term be construed as imposing a condition on the preceding exclusive grant to the company of the privilege of transporting passengers and merchandise over its own roads, or be considered merely as a conjunction to an independent paragraph, declaring a limitation upon the charges which the company may make. If considered as a condition to the enjoyment of the exclusive right designated, then the section only provides that, so long as the maximum of rates specified is not exceeded, the company or its lessee shall have the exclusive right to carry passengers and merchandise over its roads. It contains no stipulation, nor is any implied, as to any future action of the legislature. If the exclusive right remain undisturbed, there can be no just ground of complaint that other limitations than those expressed are placed upon the charges authorized. It would require much clearer language than this to justify us in holding that, notwithstanding any altered conditions of the country in the future, the legislature had, in 1833, contracted that the company might, for all time, charge rates for transportation of persons and property over its line up to the limits there designated. It is conceded that a railroad corporation is a private corporation, though its uses are public, and that a contract embodied in terms in its provisions, or necessarily implied by them, is within the constitutional clause prohibiting legislation impairing the obligation of contracts. If the charter in this way provides that the charges which the company may make for its services in the transportation of persons and property shall be subject only to its own control up to the limit designated, exemption from legislative interference within that limit will be maintained. But to effect this result, the exemption must appear by such clear and unmistakable language that it cannot be reasonably construed consistently with the reservation of the power by the state. There is no such language in the present case. The contention of the plaintiff in error therefore fails, and the judgment must be affirmed.


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Menstrual cramps may alter brain structure
Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM), or menstrual cramps, is the most common gynecological disorder in women of childbearing age. Lower abdominal pain starts with the onset of menstrual flow and this ongoing pain stimulus can cause alterations throughout the nervous system. In a study scheduled for publication in the September issue of PAIN, researchers report abnormal changes in the structure of the brain in PDM patients, whether or not they are in fact experiencing pain.
Lead investigator, Professor Jen-Chuen Hsieh, MD, PhD, Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, commented, "Our results demonstrated that abnormal GM [gray matter] changes were present in PDM patients even in absence of pain. This shows that not only sustained pain but also cyclic occurring menstrual pain can result in longer-lasting central changes. Although the functional consequences remain to be established, these results indicate that the adolescent brain is vulnerable to menstrual pain. Longitudinal studies are needed to probe hormonal interaction, fast-changing adaptation (intra-menstrual cycle) and whether such changes are reversible or not."
32 PDM patients and 32 age- and menstrual-cycle-matched controls participated in the study. MRI scans of each subject were obtained when the PDM patients were not experiencing pain, and maps of gray matter (GM) were created. Both the total GM volume and the GM volume of specific brain areas were determined for both PDM patients and controls.
In these anatomical maps, significant GM volume changes were observed in the PDM patients. Abnormal decreases were found in regions involved in pain transmission, higher level sensory processing, and affect regulation while increases were found in regions involved in pain modulation and in regulation of endocrine function.


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US Likely to Intervene in Syria
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
Intervention is likely, and the United States won't wait as long as it did in Bosnia.
The interventionist liberals of the Obama administration were a doleful bunch last week. It was the 20th anniversary of the siege of Sarajevo, when a Bosnian Serb army battered a city full of civilians with artillery while the United States issued ineffective cries of alarm. The comparison with this year's massacres in Syria was painfully apt.
Now, as then, the United Nations Security Council has asked both sides to stop shooting, to no great effect. Now, as then, the United States and its allies are rejecting the idea of military intervention as too difficult, too risky, too likely to add to the violence instead of ending it.
In Bosnia, it took the United States more than three years and many massacres to decide that diplomatic measures and sanctions weren't enough. But finally, in August 1995, then-President Clinton ordered airstrikes against the Bosnian Serbs; that turned the tide of the war and led to peace negotiations within weeks.
But there's one big difference between the situation in Bosnia and that in Syria: This time, the clock is moving faster.
Although the Obama administration still hopes to avoid military intervention in Syria and is publicly backing a U.N. effort to broker a cease-fire this week, it has also stepped deliberately onto a slippery slope that is likely to lead to more intervention.
Unlike with Bosnia, where the United States and its allies initially sought to be neutral in a civil war, this time the U.S. has already chosen a side: It has called on Syria's dictator, Bashar Assad, to step down, and it has embraced the opposition Syrian National Council.
At a meeting in Istanbul last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced an escalation of U.S. aid to the opposition. In public, she pointed to a doubling of medical and other humanitarian aid, plus the provision of communication equipment. Less publicly, officials confirmed that the new package also includes "non-lethal" help that will go to the Free Syrian Army, the newly formed opposition armed forces, including night-vision goggles and U.S. intelligence information such as early warnings of Syrian troop movements.
And while the United States has decided not to provide weapons to the rebels, it isn't objecting to military funding or arms shipments from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab states that would like to see Assad fall.
In the short term, the administration says it still hopes former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan can arrange a cease-fire, and that Assad will – improbably – decide to step down.
But I couldn't find anyone in the administration last week who believed that outcome was likely. For one thing, Assad believes he's winning; there's no reason for him to surrender now. The best hope seems to be that the government crackdown will become less lethal.
If the pace of the killing slows, that could buy time: time for economic sanctions to undermine the regime, time to cajole Russia to switch sides and help pull the rug out from Assad, but also time for the opposition and its new army to organize themselves into a more effective force.
If those measures fail to bring Assad down, the administration appears divided on how quickly to move toward military intervention. The Pentagon is reluctant to get involved in another war, as the Pentagon usually is. Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, has also weighed in against any post-Libya temptation to "militarize" another problem. Clinton's State Department has sounded the most hawkish notes – in part, perhaps, because it's Clinton who has delivered most of the administration's public declarations that Assad must go.
But even the administration's humanitarian hawks don't think the moment for U.S. or NATO military intervention has arrived yet.
They'd like the U.N. Security Council to give its blessing first, or – if Russia and China continue to resist – at least NATO. They'd like the Syrian opposition to be better organized, with more assurance that military aid wouldn't fall into the hands of radical Islamists. They'd like Turkey to establish safe havens for the opposition along its border with Syria.
Eventually, though, the question of military intervention will change from if to when. The United States is already a little bit pregnant – already committed to helping Assad fall. It's merely looking for the least violent, lowest cost way to get there.
In Bosnia, it took more than three years for the United States to overcome its reservations and resort to military force. But that was a generation ago, when the idea of humanitarian intervention in a civil war was still novel.


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It's that time of year when many of us take a cold, hard look at our lives — and, more important, our vices — to set a goal we believe will make us healthier or happier in the year ahead.
There are 1 billion smokers worldwide, and one resolution in the top 10 each year is the intention to kick the habit for good.
But this goal is the most difficult of all resolutions to keep, with three in five people in the United Kingdom who resolved to quit taking the habit up again by the end of January, according to new data released by the Royal Society of Public Health in the UK.
Of more than 2,000 people surveyed about their resolutions at the end of 2016 by research consultancy Populus, 175 (8%) had chosen to quit smoking, but only 41% of those 175 kept it going until January 31. Just 13% remained smoke-free at the end of the year.
"One of the main challenges of smoking is that it's a chemical addiction," said Duncan Stephenson, director of external affairs at the Royal Society of Public Health. Quitting "takes huge amounts of willpower."
Stephenson was unsurprised by the findings. They're an important reminder that people should not to give up after the first hurdle or slip-up. They can use support services or quitting aids, such as nicotine replacement therapy or e-cigarettes, to improve their chances of success, he said.
"Rather than setting unrealistic goals and making huge changes to lifestyle, we suggest people make small changes using a step-wise approach," he said. "During the new year, lots of people want to reinvent themselves … but people shouldn't set themselves up to fail."
Stephenson likened quitting smoking to the challenge of going on a diet in which people set unrealistic targets by making dramatic — and often short-lived — changes.
"Christmas is one of the most calorific periods of the year, and then you put yourself in a straitjacket when you go on a crash diet," he said. "In most cases, 95% of diets fail."
In the organization's survey, dieting was second from last in terms of resolution success, with 65% of people lasting one month and just 16% making it to the end of the year.
"The most difficult resolutions to keep were the consumptive, addictive behaviors, such as smoking and dieting," said John Norcross, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Scranton and author of the behavior change book "Changeology." Norcross has been exploring resolutions and the factors impacting people's ability to change for more almost 30 years.
"The easiest ones are the realistic, attainable resolutions that can be accomplished permanently in the first three or four weeks," he said.
Be realistic
The most successful resolutions in 2016 were among people who had chosen to improve relationships with friends and family, followed by shaping a healthier work-life balance.
More than 80% of people who resolved to improve relationships reported doing so by the end of January, with 58% having stuck with it to the end of the year. A better work-life balance came in second, with 75% keeping this resolution for one month and 43% still feeling they were doing this at the end of the year.
"It's not so much the topic, it's how realistic the goal is," Norcross said, adding that for the most successful resolution, "it doesn't say 'fix,' it says 'improve' … so they will have a much higher success rate."
The fact that people self-reported their success inevitably brings some bias to the findings, in addition to the fact that people had to recall things from earlier in the year, said Norcross.
But also worth noting is the broadness of the data.
"We don't know how people characterize their success rates. … We don't have a sense of magnitude for improvement," said Norcross, giving the example of playing sports and not knowing whether people played once a week or every few months.
For its next survey, Stephenson said, the Royal Society of Public Health will be asking participants for more detail and will inquire further about what threw people off their resolutions.
Global similarities
These findings are likely to be reflected in other countries, including the United States, Stephenson said, underscoring "some of the challenges individuals face in both changing behavior and maintaining" their resolutions.
A 2017 Marist Institute of Public Opinion resolution poll of more than 400 people in the United States found smoking to be the seventh most popular resolution, chosen by 6% of those polled. The most common resolution was wanting to be a better person (16%), followed by wanting to lose weight.
In earlier studies by Norcross in 2002, the most popular resolutions still related to stopping smoking, weight loss and increasing exercise.
Tips for success
To prepare your mind to succeed in maintaining your resolution, Norcross uses the analogy of learning a new sport or skill. A person doing that is likely to slip up and make mistakes — but they should then learn from those slip-ups.
"Let's say you wanted to learn tennis," he said. "People say they would have to take lessons, it would take some time, and they are likely to make mistakes, and that's right." The same is true when quitting smoking or committing to eating healthier foods.
Successful people know that a slip is not a fall, he said, and relapses are common — and expected. "It's like someone missing a shot in tennis and not playing again. It's really quite silly when you think about it," he said.
But people should be encouraged by the survey numbers, Norcross said, adding that averaging across all resolutions, about 40% of people remain successful at six months. Once there, they are more likely to last the year.
Both Norcross and Stephenson stress that willpower is not enough, not matter how much you may hear otherwise.
"In our studies, people who primarily relied on willpower failed at three times the rate of everyone else," Norcross said, adding that many steps are needed to make a resolution last. "It starts with getting prepared, rewarding yourself, developing a flourishing environment that supports you and creating the behavior."
Stephenson agrees, adding that people should "not be discouraged if they relapse," he said. "It is difficult to maintain behavior change, but if you make small changes, it can have a huge effect."


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Health Behavior and Health Education
theory, research, and practice
theory, research, and practice
Stages of Change
Definition: a construct representing the temporal dimension of phases or steps through which individuals are believed to change (or not change) their behavior.
Stages of Change is best thought of as a cyclical and recycling process where individuals progress in order of stage but can relapse and recycle through stages several times; they may or may not ever reach the last stage.
Processes of Change
Definition: activities or events that people use to progress through stages
Cognitive-affective (experiential) processes:
Behavioral processes:
Decisional Balance: weighing of the pros and cons of changing a behavior
Self-Efficacy: the situation-specific confidence that people can engage in a healthy behavior across different challenging or high-risk situations
Temptation: the intensity of urges to engage in a specific behavior when in difficult or challenging situations


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Bruce McEwen is Alfred E Mirsky professor of neurosciences and behaviour and head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University in New York City. His award-winning research on stress and the brain has been published in Proceedings to the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Neuroscience, and Molecular Psychiatry. He lives in New York.
Stress pervades our lives. We become anxious when we hear of violence, chaos or discord. And, in our relatively secure world, the pace of life and its demands often lead us to feel that there is too much to do in too little time. This disrupts our natural biological rhythms and encourages unhealthy behaviours, such as eating too much of the wrong things, neglecting exercise and missing out on sleep.
Racial and ethnic discrimination, along with lack of educational opportunities and economic advancement take their toll on a large segment of the population in the United States. Incarceration is the rule rather than the exception for some of the most vulnerable. Adverse experiences in infancy and childhood, including poverty, leave a lifelong imprint on the brain and body, and undermine long-term health, increasing the incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, substance abuse, anti-social behaviour and dementia. How does all of this stress 'get under our skin'? What does it do to our brains and our bodies? What can we do about it? And is stress so multifaceted and pervasive that we could have trouble controlling it at all?
The psychologist Jerome Kagan at Harvard University recently complained that the word 'stress' has been used in so many ways as to be almost meaningless; he suggests it's warranted only for the most extreme circumstances or damaging events. But my decades of experience suggest another approach. The insidious power of stress to 'get under the skin' was the focus of a MacArthur Foundation Research Network that I joined more than two decades ago, uniting me with social scientists, physicians and epidemiologists around a common problem: how to measure and evaluate stress from our social and physical environments. Our collaboration, continued under the auspices of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, has shown that stress acts on the body and brain, profoundly influencing health and disease.
Our findings are nuanced, starting with the fact that not all stress is the same. 'Good stress' involves taking a chance on something one wants, like interviewing for a job or school, or giving a talk before strangers, and feeling rewarded when successful. 'Tolerable stress' means that something bad happens, like losing a job or a loved one, but we have the personal resources and support systems to weather the storm. 'Toxic stress' is what Kagan refers to – something so bad that we don't have the personal resources or support systems to navigate it, something that could plunge us into mental or physical ill health and throw us for a loop.
Now let us put these three forms of stress into a biological and behavioural context by invoking 'homeostasis' – the physiological state maintained by the body to keep us alive. It is through homeostasis that we maintain body temperature and pH (alkalinity and acidity) within a narrow range, keep our tissues perfused with oxygen and our cells fed. To maintain this steady state, our body secretes hormones such as adrenalin. Indeed, when we encounter an acute perceived threat – a large, menacing dog, for example – the hypothalamus, at the base of our brain, sets off an alarm system in our body, sending chemical signals to the pituitary gland. The pituitary, in turn, releases ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic hormone) that activates our adrenal glands, next to our kidneys, to release adrenalin and the primary stress hormone, cortisol. Adrenalin increases heart rate, blood pressure and energy supplies; cortisol increases glucose in the blood stream and has many beneficial effects on the immune system and brain, among other organs. In a fight-or-flight situation cortisol moderates immune-system responses, and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes, as well as signalling brain regions that control cognitive function, mood, motivation and fear.
Biochemical mediators such as cortisol and adrenalin help us to adapt – as long as they are turned on in a balanced way when we need them, and then turned off again when the challenge is over. When that does not happen, these 'hormones of stress' can cause unhealthy changes in brain and body – for example, high or low blood pressure, or an accumulation of belly fat. When wear and tear on the body results from imbalance of the 'mediators', we use the term 'allostatic load'. When wear and tear is strongest, we call it allostatic overload, and this is what occurs in toxic stress. An example is when bad health behaviours such as smoking, drinking and loneliness result in hypertension and belly fat, causing coronary artery blockade. In short, the mediators that help us to adapt and maintain our homeostasis to survive can also contribute to the well-known diseases of modern life.
The word stress is often explained as a 'fight-or-flight response'. But what really affects our health and wellbeing are the more subtle, gradual and long-term influences from our social and physical environment – our family and neighbourhood, the demands of a job, shift work and jet lag, sleeping badly, living in an ugly, noisy and polluted environment, being lonely, not getting enough physical activity, eating too much of the wrong foods, smoking, drinking too much alcohol. All these contribute to allostatic load and overload through the same biological mediators that help us to adapt and stay alive.
Even though we now know all this, we often hear that measuring our cortisol levels will tell us if we are stressed. This reflects a misunderstanding at two levels. First, a single measure of cortisol will tell us nothing since cortisol levels go up and down within minutes – and halting this fluctuation impairs ongoing adaptive plasticity within the brain. Moreover, cortisol fluctuates throughout the day, going up in the morning to awaken us and then declining, except for a rise at lunch time, until it falls to low levels in the evening before we go to bed. Flattening this diurnal rhythm is a consequence of sleep deprivation and certain forms of major depression; a flat rhythm not only attenuates a robust, adaptive cortisol stress response but it also promotes obesity and high cholesterol, risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It does so in part by causing the liver to make the ingredients to deposit body fat.
Cortisol is not the 'bad guy': it has a normal physiological role, coordinating the metabolism with activity and sleep
There are several ways to measure cortisol to determine whether the normal daily rhythm has been derailed. We can collect urine overnight or over the day. We can measure cortisol in hair from the forehead, which gives an index of our cortisol production over days. Or we can measure cortisol in our saliva at multiple times during the day, or before, during and after a stressful challenge, such as talking about something personal before a group of strangers. The stressful challenge gives us a picture of the efficiency of our allostasis – marked by turning up our cortisol response when challenged and needed for adaptation to maintain homeostasis, and then turning it off when the stressor is over so as not to produce adverse effects of allostatic load and overload.
Failure to turn on cortisol when needed is bad, leaving the door open for the body's inflammatory response to compensate in an imperfect way. Too much inflammation can kill us as in septic shock. Failure to turn off cortisol after the stress is over produces negative effects too. Among the consequences are an increase of fat production, leading to obesity, diabetes, depression and eventual heart disease – all contributors to allostatic load.
Given our need for a robust cortisol response in the face of stress, the second misunderstanding about cortisol is the notion that it's the 'bad guy'. Rather, cortisol has a normal physiological role; it helps us adapt to stressors and coordinates our metabolism with daily activity and sleep patterns. We would not live very long or well without our cortisol! As my former student Firdaus Dhabhar, now a neuroimmunologist at the University of Miami, found, the early morning rise of cortisol, along with the stress response, activates immune function so that we can fight an infection or repair a wound. Likewise, the normal 'morning awakening' rise of cortisol that helps rouse us and makes us hungry for breakfast enhances the body's response to immunisation if administered in the morning. The body's response is like an orchestra involving many players working in harmony.
If the body functions like an orchestra, the conductor is the brain. It stores memories from bad as well as good experiences, and works with the body to keep us alive by minimising those subtle and long-term influences that cause allostatic load and overload. What we call the 'wisdom of the body' refers back to allostasis, the active process of biological adaptation and its role in maintaining homeostasis. Indeed, the brain is a plastic and vulnerable organ, continually sculpted by experience. It changes its architecture and function as part of allostasis. One recent study shows how the brain architecture of a mother is sculpted during pregnancy as part of the formation of attachment to the child. Other studies show how musicians' brains develop, with greater skill leading to an increased neuron size and enhanced connections between sensory and motor-control regions of the cerebral cortex.
As opposed to motherhood and musicianship, toxic stress can increase anxiety by causing neurons in the amygdala, a brain region controlling anxiety and aggression, to become larger. Mindfulness practices such as meditation can reverse the process and reduce the size of those neurons, along with the stress. And regular physical activity, such as walking every day, causes genesis of new neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region that is essential for daily memory and spatial orientation; and it also improves memory and mood.
We also need to consider where our genes fit in, and understand that they do not rigidly determine our destiny, but rather provide the foundation on which our experiences shape our brains and bodies over the life course via 'epigenetic' mechanisms, which operate 'above the genome' – controlling the expression of genes without changing the genetic code. Epigenetics drives the seamless integration of experiences, both good and bad, acting on our genetic code over our life course. We now understand that epigenetics is the means by which stress acts on the body, the genome, and the brain.
My life's work has helped me to tell the story of stress, starting with the mentors for my dissertation, completed in 1964. These two Rockefeller University scientists, Vincent Allfrey and Alfred Mirsky, taught me the fundamentals of epigenetics in the 1960s, before there was much interest in it, and when epigenetics meant something quite different, namely, the emergence of characteristics as a fertilised egg developed into a living organism. Development from embryo to independence is programmed into each species, but the individual characteristics that emerge are influenced by experience, and that is where the modern use of 'epigenetics' comes from. An example of this is a pair of identical twins with genes that predispose them to schizophrenia or bipolar illness. Even with the same DNA, the probability that one twin will develop the disease when the other twin gets it is only in the range of 30-60 per cent, which leaves plenty of room for experiences and other environmental factors to either prevent or precipitate the disorder.
Allfrey and Mirsky studied proteins called histones, which package and order DNA. Histones can be chemically modified to unwind the double helix, allowing genes to be expressed. Around 1960 , researchers showed that hormones such as cortisol and oestradiol used this mechanism to turn on genes in the uterus and liver, and this became a focus of my work in 1966.
In conditions of toxic stress, the same organs of the body are targeted for damage
Before long, I had changed my focus from the liver to the brain. As with cortisol in the liver, hormones of the adrenals and gonads could alter gene expression in the brain, working synergistically with other biochemical mediators to alter brain structure and function. Because experience itself affected these hormones, experience moulded what was now called the 'epigenetic effects'.
This led to the finding that the adrenal stress hormone cortisol acts epigenetically on a brain structure called the hippocampus, which we now know mediates memory of daily events in space and time and also regulates mood. In other words, the hippocampus is a 'GPS' of the brain, a discovery that in 2014 saw the Nobel Prize awarded jointly to the UK-based neuroscientist John O'Keefe and the Norwegian scientists May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser.
The hippocampus has since become a gateway into learning how sex hormones, metabolic hormones and stress hormones enter the brain, bind to receptors and act epigenetically to positively regulate structure and affect our behaviour. It has also helped us study conditions of toxic stress, when the same hormones and mediators contribute to allostatic overload; when that happens, the organs of the body, including the heart and the brain, are targeted for damage in a toxic storm.
Over the course of decades, my laboratory participated in, and in some cases initiated, these discoveries with the help of some remarkable students, postdoctoral fellows and colleagues. Among them was Ron de Kloet, now a professor at the University of Leiden, who studied the impact of synthetic glucocorticoids, which serve as potent inhibitors of inflammation and immune function, and stimulators of liver glucose metabolism (hence the name 'glucocorticoid'). Cortisol is a natural glucocorticoid, and de Kloet found that synthetic glucocorticoids such as the medication dexamethasone (DEX) are actively excluded from the brain while cortisol gets in. But when a medication is given to quell inflammation, it can shut off the body's ability to make cortisol. Then, when DEX treatment is terminated, the body and brain become deficient in cortisol, causing terrible mood swings and metabolic and immune disruption. After that, de Kloet went on to show, in his own laboratory with his student Hans Reul (now professor at the University of Bristol) that cortisol in the hippocampus binds to two receptor types, called MR and GR, to produce its myriad of important actions in the brain.
Another important advance was made by a student in my laboratory, Robert Sapolsky, now a professor at Stanford and a well-known author of a number of books, who found that, over the lifespan of a rat, the cortisol equivalent in the rat – corticosterone – gradually causes 'wear and tear' on the hippocampus, impairing not only memory and mood but also the ability to shut off the production of its glucocorticoids. This effect is more evident in animals and people who have experienced toxic stress. The 'glucocorticoid-cascade hypothesis of stress and ageing', as it is called, was the basis for the concept of allostatic load and overload. Sapolsky also did seminal work on dominant and subordinate baboons in Africa, and laid the groundwork for how income, education and human social hierarchies impact physical and mental health.
Until we grasped the impact of epigenetics, the brain was regarded as structurally stable in adult life, and the main focus for understanding normal and abnormal brain function was neurochemistry and neuropharmacology. During the 1980s, practitioners relied largely on antidepressants such as Prozac along with an array of antipsychotic medications to help patients heal.
Then in 1988, Elizabeth Gould, now a neuroscientist and professor at Princeton, came to my laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow. She introduced us to an old method hailing from the late 1800s and to Camillo Golgi, an Italian neuroanatomist who won a Nobel Prize for it. The Golgi technique, when done right, allows the investigator to visualise and measure the dendrites (like tree branches) emerging from neurons, and even the spines (sites of synapses, or connection, with other neurons) on those dendrites. Using the Golgi technique, Gould together with the Japanese biological psychiatrist Yoshifumi Watanabe showed that dendrites shrink and spine synapses are lost on hippocampal neurons after chronic stress lasting several weeks. The effect was due, in part, to the actions of glucocorticoids such as cortisol. In contrast, Catherine Woolley (now a professor at Northwestern University) showed that spine synapses come and go during the rat's oestrous cycle (comparable to the human menstrual cycle) because of the fluctuations of the ovarian hormone oestradiol and progesterone.
Remarkably, in both cases, the hormones did not work alone and required, among other mediators, the main neurotransmitter in the brain, glutamate. Thus, circulating hormones not only enter the brain and bind to receptors but also participate with the brain's own neurotransmitters in what we now call 'adaptive plasticity' – structural changes in the brain to enhance our success and survival. Adaptive plasticity underlies behavioural and neurological adaptation to the world. For example, shrinkage of dendrites in the hippocampus protects those neurons from damage by over-stimulation during toxic stress. Cyclic fluctuations of spine synapses during the oestrous (and human menstrual) cycle underlie differences in behaviour, including mood swings. The actions of oestradiol on cognitive function and their absence after the menopause have become the focus of hormone therapy to slow cognitive ageing and prevent Alzheimer's disease, and the work on this topic by my colleague John Morrison, now director of the Primate Research Center at University of California, Davis (some in collaboration with us) has been very influential. Likewise, the contributions by our former postdoctoral fellow Roberta Brinton, now professor at the University of Arizona, have opened new avenues for use of the hormone progesterone as a protective agent for the ageing and damaged brain.
Gould and her students Woolley and Heather Cameron (now principal investigator at the US National Institute of Mental Health) also established that neurons of the dentate gyrus, part of the hippocampus, die and are replaced via the process of neurogenesis, which continues over the entire life course. They found that toxic stress suppresses that neurogenesis, and shrinks the hippocampus, while other laboratories went on to show that physical activity increases neurogenesis not only in young but also in older animals.
Regular physical activity is the most important behaviour that one can do to maintain brain and body health
These revelations about adult brain neurogenesis have huge implications not only because of the recognition that stem, or progenitor, cells might be used to treat brain damage, but also because of their meaning for lifestyle. Regular physical activity increases this neurogenesis in old as well as young people, and improves memory and mood and even enlarges the hippocampus, which tends to shrink in depression and diabetes among other conditions. Within six months to a year, regular aerobic activity such as walking an hour a day five out of seven days a week not only makes the hippocampus larger and improves memory but also improves decision-making by improving blood flow and metabolic function in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region essential for self-regulation of emotions and impulses as well as working memory. Indeed, regular physical activity is the most important behaviour that one can do to maintain brain and body health. And, as a further illustration of brain-body communication, the ability of exercise to stimulate neurogenesis requires that at least two hormones be taken up from the body into the brain. One of them, IGF-1, comes from the liver, and the other, cathepsin B, comes from muscle.
Plasticity of the brain extends to the diurnal cycle of waking and sleeping, and reaches beyond the hippocampus to other brain regions. A former student, Conor Liston, now an assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical School, found that some, but not all, synapses in many parts of the cerebral cortex turn over during the day-night cycle due to the fluctuation of cortisol. Interfering with that cycle at the wrong time of day interferes with motor learning, eg learning to play golf. Considering how many ways we modern humans interfere with our natural day-night rhythm – for example, by turning on a light in the middle of the night – this is a lesson to all of us to give the 'wisdom of the body' a better chance to help us.
Another way that we interfere with the natural cycle is through shift work and jet lag. Our former post-doctoral fellow Ilia Karatsoreos, now an associate professor at Washington State University, found that creating an animal model of shift work caused dendrites in the prefrontal cortex (the brain region that governs our ability to regulate emotions and impulses, as well as working memory) to shrink and the animal to become cognitively rigid when challenged with a memory task that required changing the rules. Moreover, the shift-work animals became fatter and insulin-resistant, signs of pre-diabetes and depressive-like behaviour. Shift work in our own species is associated with greater obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mental-health problems.
The prefrontal cortex also responds to what we can call 'tolerable stress'. During his MD-PhD thesis research, Liston assessed a group of medical students for perceived stress (how much or little they felt in control of their lives). He found that those with the highest perceived stress were slower in doing a cognitive-flexibility test, and also had slower functional connectivity in a brain circuit involving the prefrontal cortex when tested in a fMRI machine. The reason we can call this 'tolerable stress' is that, after a vacation, these impairments disappeared, showing the resilience of the young adult brain. Parallel studies of perceived stress on an animal model allowed Liston to see shrinkage of neuronal dendrites and reduction of synapses in the prefrontal cortex that explained the deficits in cognitive flexibility.
To complete the story of brain plasticity we need to describe how the same stressors cause dendrites to shrink and synapses to be lost in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. The answer comes from Sumantra Chattarji, a professor at India's National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, and his team: dendrites in the basolateral amygdala, the seat of fear and anxiety and strong emotions, grow and become more branched, increasing a sensation of anxiety.
Liston found that dendrites in the orbitofrontal part of the prefrontal cortex also expand, increasing vigilance. In the short term, these changes might be adaptive, because anxiety and vigilance can aid us during dangerous or uncertain times. But if the threat passes and the behavioural state 'gets stuck' and persists along with changes in neural circuitry, such maladaptation requires intervention to open 'windows of plasticity' with a combination of pharmacological and behavioural therapies.
Again, regular physical activity can strengthen both prefrontal cortex and hippocampus control of the amygdala. This means that we are better able to control moods and emotions as well as impulses, and are more efficient in making decisions. Another approach to chronic anxiety is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which has been shown to decrease the amygdala in some. Both MBSR and meditation are gaining in popularity as a way of reducing anxiety and thus reducing perceived stress.
Some of this research also has implications for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Chattarji has found that a single, traumatic stressor can lead to formation of new synapses in the basolateral amygdala after a week or two. The appearance of those new synapses is accompanied by a gradual increase in anxiety. This type of delay is a feature of PTSD. What we have shown with Chattarji is that a timed elevation of cortisol at, or shortly after, a traumatic stressor actually prevents the delayed increase in amygdala synapses. Now there is evidence that low cortisol at the time of trauma – during open-heart surgery or after a traffic accident – is a risk factor, and that rising cortisol during or right after trauma can reduce later PTSD symptoms.
Also, our (and other) research shows that the impact of toxic stress varies across sex. Women are more prone to depression after toxic stress, while men are more likely to respond with antisocial behaviours and acts. We and others find that there are receptors for both oestrogens, androgens and progestins in both the male and female brain that regulate memory, pain, coordinated movement and other critical functions. But thanks to genetically programmed sex differences in our brains, men and women respond differently to stress. These sex differences occur throughout the brain and not just in regions such as the hypothalamus that are involved in reproduction. In fact, new research indicates that, at the molecular and genetic level, male and female responses to stress in the hippocampus can be strikingly different. Sure, studies of men and women's brain activity show that both sexes do many of the same things equally well, but use somewhat different brain circuits to do so – lending some credence to the 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus' hypothesis!
Stress hits us differently depending on our experience early in life. Our former postdoctoral fellow Michael Meaney, now professor at McGill University, has led the way in demonstrating the important role of postnatal maternal care in emotional and cognitive development. Infant rats raised with a nurturing mother develop less emotionality and greater ability to explore novel places and things. Pups raised with an anxious mother who provides inconsistent care show the opposite outcome.
Epigenetics also plays a role. This is clear from studies looking at cross-fostering of infants between good and bad mothers. Switching mothers and pups alters the outcome, pointing to what is now referred to as epigenetic behavioural transmission.
Complementing this, we now know that, even before conception and during life in the womb, paternal and maternal obesity can affect the child. This might involve 'epigenetic' changes of the DNA of the sperm and egg that do not alter the genetic code per se, but, rather, how it is read; parental obesity increases the risk that the child will also become obese. Women who lose weight through gastric bypass surgery prior to conception do not transmit obesity to children, while those who remain obese through gestation put children at higher risk.
We can never reverse the effects of experiences, positive or negative, but we can move on to recovery and redirection
Adverse early life experience involving poverty, abuse and neglect affects how genes are expressed, and determines how well brain regions such as the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex develop and function during childhood into young adulthood. Indeed, the brain is continually changing with experience, which creates memories and alters brain architecture via mechanisms that are facilitated in part by circulating sex, stress and metabolic hormones and chemicals produced by the immune system.
These insights have led to a new view of epigenetic changes over the life course. Epigenetic changes determine trajectories of health and disease and the plasticity of the brain. But they also offer opportunities for changing the trajectory as life goes on.
We can never roll back the clock and reverse the effects of experiences, positive or negative, or the epigenetic change they produce. But we can move through those experiences to recovery and redirection; also, we can develop resilience through epigenetic change. New trajectories can engender compensatory changes in the brain and body over the life course.
This perspective has led to a new field of study, called 'life course health development' (LCHD), spearheaded by Neal Halfon, a researcher and paediatrician at the University of California, Los Angeles. LCHD emphasises the importance of events prior to conception and in the womb because of their ability to generate epigenetic change; for the same reason, LCHD looks to the influence of income, education and abuse.
In synch with this, our increasing knowledge of brain plasticity is giving rise to therapies based on self-regulation. These cognitive techniques, tapping mindfulness, breathing and more, can reduce toxic stress to at least more tolerable stress. Metabolic and cardiovascular health, not to mention memory and mood, can all be enhanced by a healthy diet, positive social interactions, adequate sleep, and regular physical activity. Government policies and business cultures that promote these values are key – whether dealing with housing, transportation, healthcare, education, flexible working hours or vacations, decisions at the top can dramatically impact healthspan of the population throughout life. Healthy behaviours and humanistic policies can 'open a window' of plasticity and allow the wisdom of the body to exert itself. With the windows open, targeted behavioural interventions – for instance, intensive physical therapy for stroke – can shape brain circuits in a more positive direction. Even if one has gotten off to a bad start in life, the trajectory can be changed by understanding how to lower the allostatic load and banish toxic stress.