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- Level: AS and A Level
- Subject: English
- Word count: 531
Is Macbeth a Tragic Hero?
Extracts from this document...
Is Macbeth a Tragic Hero? Aristotle defined a tragic hero using a series of points, these points showed what characteristics or situations a tragic hero would define himself/herself by. The first point was 'A Hero whose status means that his downfall will be significant, affecting many people'. We know that Macbeth's downfall will affect the future of Scotland as he is a prominent person in Scotland's society; the King. 'Do we but find the tyrants power tonight, Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight?' This shows the tyrant - Macbeth - holds so much power within his hands. Macbeth also has a good name, 'This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest; you have loved him well;' His climb to power has affected many people as his position heightened. ...read more.
The second of Aristotle's points is 'A tragic hero is one whose suffering reveals essential truths about humanity.' These truths show themselves within Macbeth throughout the play. One of these truths is greed. This develops throughout the play and his want for power gets greater. 'Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor. The greatest is behind.' This shows he thinks the greatest is still to come, showing greed that he expects more to come. Another of these 'essential truths' about humanity is ambition. Macbeth doesn't find his own ambition though, it is pulled out of him by his wife. 'Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.' ...read more.
This is revealing that everyone has desire, but sometimes it only comes out when you need it. We can see that Lady Macbeth brought out this desire in him, but he made it grow. The third of Aristotle's points to define a tragic hero is 'A hero who greatness of character and talent are tragically lost through circumstance.' We can see Macbeth's greatness of character when he comes victorious from war. 'For brave Macbeths - well he deserves that name' The war has shown how courageous and great he is. The circumstance of war, 'noble Macbeth' We have seen him triumphant. Seeing the witches was also a course of circumstance that sees Macbeth ultimately to his downfall. ...read more.
This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Macbeth section.
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Pearl Martin Bruney, son of Daniel David and Elizabeth (Crawford) Bruney: 7 Apr 1896 - 23 Nov 1975.
Anna Hyde Bruney: 5 Sep 1897 - 3 Nov 1978
Contributed on 2/1/14 by grifsysue
Email This Contributor
Record #: 177769
On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Ohio, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 2/1/14 • Approved: 2/1/14 • Last Updated: 8/13/15 • R177769-G177769-S3

subset: commoncrawl


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Dave J Woolley wrote: > > > From: firstname.lastname@example.com [SMTP:firstname.lastname@example.com] > > > > I'm confused regarding the reason why the A element that specifies an > > anchor to a document fragment requires an ending tag. What is the > > purpose of the end tag of an A element when it names an anchor to a > > document fragment? > [DJW:] > It's a consequence of using A for two purposes. The closing > tag cannot be conditional on the attributes. The reason is > possibly lost in time, as I don't know of anything that targets > as having contents. I always place my anchor tags around some significant bit of the text I'm linking to. For instance, when I link to a heading, I put the anchor tags around the heading text. The HTML 4.0 spec does this, too--take a look at the source. Point being, you're linking to some information, not an empty string. This is why HTML is moving away from <a> tags as link targets and using the id attribute of other elements instead--you link to a particular element and its contents.Received on Thursday, 10 May 2001 21:23:41 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Wednesday, 7 January 2015 15:05:57 UTC


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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Europe (excluding the United Kingdom) (02/19/09)
TITLE: Bathsheba and Rapuzel both conceived out of wedlock
By Gregory Kane
In lieu of a response, Herr Runge's frown merely deepened. He closed his Bible and set it to one side: "I think our business here is concluded."
"Please, humour me. I'm curious why you think Goofy and Pluto herald the demise of western civilisation. Maybe you'll convert me to your point of view?"
"I rather doubt that you understand the true meaning of conversion."
"Please, Herr Pastor. Give me something to take back to my superiors."
"Very well," replied the older man. "You are familiar with the works of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm?"
"Yeah, sure. The Grimm brothers: Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, all of that stuff. My kids love the animated movies."
"The Grimms were philologists who researched many of our nation's folk-tales, ancient stories that had been retained only in oral tradition, often in the more obscure dialects. In compiling these stories, they did European culture a tremendous service."
McAllister looked none too discreetly at his watch. If this bumbling old fool wasn't going to sign on the dotted line, he would need to make tracks. "Pardon my obvious ignorance," he sneered, "but what exactly is your point?"
"My point is that your Mr Disney has edited and corrupted these our national treasures, simply to make them commercially palatable to a weak-stomached generation."
McAllister still wasn't sure what the man was ranting on about, but he sensed that he had just been insulted.
"Take Cinderella for example. Did you know that in the original story, the step-sister actually chops off her big toe so that it fits in the glass slipper. Or that in Little Red-Cap, the wolf eats not only the grandmother but the foolish girl as well. Or that in Sleeping Beauty, a great many unsuccessful princes die an agonising death trying to hack through the briar hedge."
"That's disgusting! I don't want my children exposed to that sort of barbarity."
"Exactly, Mr McAllister. And that is precisely what makes these stories so appealing. They are earthy morality tales. They deal with the pain and sorrow of real life, not some sanitised version that leaves no one feeling uncomfortable. Did you know that Rapunzel's brave prince gets her pregnant with twins after she lets him climb up into her high tower?"
Exasperated, the younger man cried out, "Now just one minute, buster. What does any of this garbage have to do with the work of God? All we're asking is that your council of churches give its stamp of approval to our new Bible translation. Our presses are ready to roll. Within six months we can have ten million copies in the hands of men and women up and down Germany. What do you say? Are you with us or not?"
"Tell me, have you read this new translation?"
"Of course I have. Our ministry's used the same model in a dozen European nations."
"Then can you explain to me why David's adultery with Bathsheba is missing?"
"As you've noticed," McAllister conceded, "our version is more of a paraphrase. We've deliberately excluded duplicate passages. In David's case we followed the simpler account in Chronicles."
"And Peter's denial of Christ? Or Solomon's murder of Adonijah? Or Gideon's idol? Or Jephthah's parentage? Or Noah's drunkenness? And you've made Hagar and Ishmael disappear altogether!"
"You have to appreciate our marketing needs, pastor." McAllister hated it when traditionalists pontificated on these minutiae. "Our priority is to make it as easy as possible for the man in the street to understand the Scriptures. These particular passages cast some of God's mighty men in a negative light. So we've culled a few details here and there."
"You've done what Walt Disney did with the Grimm stories. You've sanitised them to make them more palatable."
"Exactly!" McAllister suddenly realised what he had agreed to. "No, I don't mean... Uh, you've gone and confused me..."
"Good day, my foolish friend." Pastor Runge climbed slowly to his feet. "Perhaps you are starting to see the error of your ways— or perhaps not. But here in Germany we will not endorse your mistranslation. We will hold fast to our earthy, uncomfortable Bible."
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Lerista borealis STORR, 1971
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Lerista borealis?
Lerista borealis
We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search:
|Higher Taxa
|Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
|Common Names
|Inland Kimberley Slider
|Lerista borealis STORR 1971
Lerista borealis — COGGER 1983: 172
Lerista borealis — COGGER 2000: 514
Marrunisauria borealis — WELLS 2012: 226
Lerista borealis — WILSON & SWAN 2010
|Australia (Northern Territory, Western Australia)
Type locality: Thompson Spring, 16° 02' S, 128° 57' E, W. A. Map legend:
- Type locality.
- Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.
NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and not in every cases it works well. We are working on it.
|Holotype: WAM R22363
|Type Species: Lerista borealis Storr, 1971 is the type species of the genus Marrunisauria WELLS 2012: 218. WELLS 2012: 47 erected the genus for A. borealis, kalumburu, walkeri. Unfortunately WELLS did not provide a phylogenetic analysis of the genera into which he broke up Lerista, hence we leave the current genus Lerista intact for the time being.
|The specific name borealis is derived from the Latin 'Borealis' meaning Northern, and refers to the distribution of this species within Australia.
|External links
Is it interesting? Share with others:
As link to this species use URL address:
without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.


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A-W-E…S-O-M-E you're awesome, you're awesome, totally!!
Eat awesome!
Ingredients to an awesome breakfast!
You want proof of your awesomeness?
Psalm 139:16 MSG Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day. -keep movin'


text: Fermo to Castelvetrano trains might be a good value for money solution: travelling in Italy by train is often rather cheap and faster than taking a bus indeed Trains leave from Porto S. Giorgio-Fermo and arrive at Castelvetrano every about 6 hours on average. If travelling with Trenitalia, you need to know the Fermo to Castelvetrano train schedule: the first train leaves at 14:16, while the last ride is at 15:26. A Fermo to Castelvetrano train cost about 103.35 €. But how long is the train ride from Fermo to Castelvetrano? Your journey takes about 22 hours on average.


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Atlantis Healthcare
Company Profile
Atlantis Healthcare creates and executes Health Psychology–based treatment adherence programs across a wide range of diseases. Led by the world's largest team of Health Psychology experts, we leverage proven psychological models to understand drivers of nonadherence and create personalized interventions to help patients adhere to prescribed treatment, including lifestyle changes, and better self-manage their condition in the long term.
Services and Offerings
Atlantis Healthcare uses evidence-based -approaches to understand the predictors of adherence and the most effective techniques for behavior change. We develop end-to-end treatment adherence campaigns based in clinical science and guided by academic rigor, including:
• Clinical research to provide in-depth understanding of stakeholder needs
• Strategy development
• Multichannel interventions
• Project management
• Creative communications
n Evaluation/measurement of outcomes
Core Capabilities
We use clinically validated measures of treatment nonadherence to understand which beliefs are driving nonadherent behavior. We then develop interventions, applying specific behavior change techniques to address the individual barriers for each patient to help them change unhelpful beliefs. Our patient support programs deliver a highly personalized experience targeted at each patient's particular concerns, allowing us to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.
Why would any program talk to a patient population in the same way when the barriers to adherence are based on personalized beliefs? Just as beliefs are individual, so must patient support programs be individualized.
Question: What does patient-centricity mean to you and is the industry doing enough to fulfill the needs of patients?
A truly patient-centric approach looks at the individual patient as defined by their needs and belief systems, involves the patient and makes them an active part of the adherence process.
Many companies embrace a one-size-fits-all approach to help patients follow prescribed treatment. But treatment nonadherence is multifactorial. Proven Health Psychology models reveal each person can have a different cause(s) of nonadherence, even patients with the same condition on the same medication.
While some patients forget to take their medication, most make a conscious -decision to not take their medicines as prescribed by their HCP. If the driver of nonadherence for one person is related to fear of side effects, reminders or prizes won't help improve adherence.
Address: 4 Commerce Drive, Cranford, NJ 07016 Phone: 908-988-2351 Website: www.atlantishealthcare.com/us Offices: Australia, Germany, New Zealand (HQ), Spain, UK, US New Business Contact: Jennifer Sigaud, Managing Director firstname.lastname@example.com or 908-988-2360 Year Founded: 1995 Clients: Pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies
Click here to return to main story.


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We don't have answers to all of life's questions, but we can offer you answers on everything Frostival related. If you still have questions after reading through this page, feel free to call us or shoot us an email!
Frequently Asked Questions
Guests found in possession of contraband items will be subject to expulsion from the event.
Smoking is prohibited in ALL entertainment, activity, and game areas. Please be respectful of your fellow Frostival goers.
Illegal Drugs and Alcohol
Illegal drugs and alcohol are prohibited in ALL entertainment, activity, and game areas. Please be respectful of your fellow Frostival goers.
Photography & Videography
Use of cameras is permitted. Entrance onto event premises provides the Frostival with your consent to use event photographs and videos for promotional purposes.
Disorderly Conduct
Guests who fail to abide by Frostival policies, state and federal law are subject to ejection from the event.
Firearms / Weapons
Guests are prohibited from bringing weapons onto event premises.
Lost and Found
Items found before, during, or after an event should be turned into the Fargo-Moorhead CVB booth. Items will then be turned into the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau, logged in and kept at the office for 30 days. Items may be passed to the local authority, donated to charity or disposed of at the discretion of management after 30 days.
Panhandling / Soliciting
Panhandling is not allowed. Only Frostival authorized vendors and sponsors will be permitted in the event areas.


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Tue 21 Aug 2018 09:29:31 PM CDT: This site is about to be upgraded to a new software release. If you are in the process of entering information, please complete it in the next few minutes and then log off, to ensure that you are not interrupted. If you were about to start entering details, please wait until this message is removed. You may continue to browse content on the site during the upgrade if you wish. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Select an Exercise activity and challenge yourself or your team to run, walk, cycle, or more, and raise funds for Alzheimer's care, support and research. The information below is simply a guide. You can do any activity you choose, whether it's an activity you love or an activity loved by someone affected by Alzheimer's. We will be cheering you on and helping you reach your fundraising goal every step of the way.
How to Plan an Aerobics Fundraising Event
- Practice kickboxing, cross-training and more with a day of aerobics! Set an entry fee/donation per class, whether it is a 60-minute barre class or a night club cardio session. Ask others to participate with you or make a donation per calorie burned!
How to Plan an Indoor or Outdoor Cycling Fundraising Event
- Organize a road ride, trail ride or tour, or ask your gym to schedule a special indoor cycling class. Participants can track their mileage and request a donation per mile cycled, or set an entry fee/donation for others to ride with you.
How to Plan a Hiking Fundraising Event
- If you are located near a national park, river or lake, mountain or scenic trail, organize a group outing. Map out your hike using materials from your local venue. Request a donation per mile hiked, and/or provide a guide, water and snacks for participants and create an entry fee/donation donation per participant.
How to Plan a Nustep Fundraising Event
- Create an all-day NuStep relay by asking residents, members, staff and families to sign up for a time period to exercise on the NuStep equipment. Pre-determine a recommended donation per minute of exercise on the machine and play music throughout the day to make the workout fun!
NuStep is fighting Alzheimer's on The Longest Day! Learn more >
How to Plan a Running Fundraising Event
- There are many different ways to fundraise by running. Challenge long-distance runners to a full marathon, or plan shorter races to increase turnout, such as a 10k or 5k. Set up a relay race for younger participants so that all age groups can participate. Set an entry fee/donation or donate by lap or half-mile.
How to Plan a Swimming Fundraising Event
- Whether you race in a lap pool or spend a day at the beach, you can raise dollars by challenging your family and friends to beating a best time or completing the most laps — whatever you choose! Create multiple lanes so that all age groups can participate.
How to Plan a Walking Fundraising Event
- Organize a group walk-a-thon, such as a 10k. Pick a meeting point and an end point. This can be a dog walk, a walk through a historic neighborhood or simply a path through town. Donate per "lap" (whether that is a track lap, city block or other measured distance) or set an entry fee/donation per person for participating.
How to Plan a Yoga Fundraising Event
- Embrace exercise through a peaceful day of focused yoga or Pilates practice. Research local studios or instructors interested in providing a space or locate a public place where you can gather for different levels of practice, from beginner to advanced. Accept donations per class session or ask the instructor to donate their proceeds from the day.
Multiple Activities
How to Plan a fundraiser with Multiple Activities
- Pick this option if you have varied interests, or your friends and family want to do other activities. You can run, knit, and draw on your own, or start an Anywhere Team so your friends and family can do what they love from wherever they are and no one is left out!
Choose another activity/Choose later
- Participants in The Longest Day can fundraise to fuel the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer's Association in any way they choose. If you haven't found an activity yet, don't worry! You can always decide later and start your general fundraising today.


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Note: This is the fifth of a six-part series adapted from a paper Dr. Wright presented for his colleagues at St. Andrews and an earlier paper published in Vox Evangelica. It considers some of the topics he discusses at length in his book Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today. In the last post, Wright reminded us that scripture is not meant to control or crush people, but rather to reveal God's authority as a loving and wise creator and redeemer. In this post, Wright examines what we are supposed to do with scripture—to tell God's story, and to make it our story.
The Bible's Authority
How can scripture be properly used? How can it exercise authority? If God has delegated his authority somehow to this book, what does he want us to do with it? How can we handle this extraordinary treasure, responsibly?
First, we have to let the Bible be the Bible in all its historical oddness and otherness. We have, again and again, not done that. We have, again and again, allowed ourselves to say—I've heard myself say it, over and over again—'What Paul is really getting at here is . . . What Jesus was really meaning in this passage . . .' What has happened then is a translation of something which is beautiful, and fragile, and unique, into something which is commonplace and boring, and something which every Christian in the pew has heard several sermons before.
I am reminded of that amazing line in Schaffer's play Amadeus where Salieri sees on stage Mozart's Figaro, and he says, 'He has taken ordinary people—chambermaids and servants and barbers—and he has made them gods and heroes.' And then Salieri remembers his own operas and he says, 'I have taken gods and heroes—and I have made them ordinary.' God forgive us that we have taken the Bible and have made it ordinary—that we have cut it down to our size. We have reduced it, so that whatever text we preach on it will say basically the same things. This is particularly a problem for second and third-generation movements of which the rather tired and puzzled evangelicalism in many British churches today is a good example. What we are seeing in such preaching is not the authority of scripture at work, but the authority of a tradition or even a mere convention masquerading as the authority of scripture. It has lost the possibility of a critique or inbuilt self-correction coming to it from scripture itself.
In Romans 15, by contrast, Paul says, 'That by patience and encouragement of the scriptures you might have hope' because scripture brings God's order to God's world. That order will forever be breaking in as a new word, recognizably in continuity with words heard from God before, but often in discontinuity even with the very traditions by which those older fresh words were preserved and transmitted. Scripture is the book that assures us that we are the people of God when, again and again, we are tempted to doubt. Scripture is the covenant book, not just in which we look up our pedigree and see where we came from (Abraham and so on), but through which the Spirit assures us that we are his people, and through which he sends us out into the world to tell the Jesus story: that is, the Israel story which has become the Jesus story, which together is God's story for the world.
As we do that in the power of the Spirit, the miracle is that it rings true—people out there in the world know, in this or that fashion, that this strange story which we are telling does in fact run deeper than the world's stories. It does in fact tell them truths which they half-knew and had rather hoped to forget. It is the story which confirms that God had redeemed the world in Jesus Christ. It is the story which breaks open all other world-views and, by so doing, invites men and women, young and old, to see this story as their story. In other words, as we let the Bible be the Bible, God works through us—and it—to do what he intends to do in and for the church and the world.
Living in the Fifth Act
In the church and in the world, then, we have to tell the story. It is not enough to translate scripture into timeless truths. How easy it has been for theologians and preachers to translate the gospels (for instance) into something more like epistles! We must, if anything, assimilate the epistles to the gospels rather than vice versa. I would not actually recommend that, but if you were going to make a mistake that would be the direction to do it in. And as we tell the story—the story of Israel, the story of Jesus, the story of the early church—that itself is an act of worship. That is why, within my tradition, the reading of scripture is not merely ancillary to worship—something to prepare for the sermon—but it is actually, itself, part of the rhythm of worship itself. In reading publicly the story of God the church is praising God for his mighty acts, and is celebrating them, and is celebrating the fact that she is part of that continuous story. That story as we use it in worship reforms our God-view, our world-view—reconstitutes us as the church. The story has to be told as the new covenant story.
This is where my five-act model comes to our help again. The earlier parts of the story are to be told precisely as the earlier parts of the story. We do not read Genesis 1 and 2 as though the world were still like that; we do not read Genesis 3 as though ignorant of Genesis 12, of Exodus, or indeed of the gospels. Nor do we read the gospels us though we were ignorant of the fact that they are written precisely in order to make the transition from Act 4 (Jesus' ministry) to Act 5 (the Church), the Act in which we are now living and in which we are to make our own unique, unscripted and yet obedient, improvisation. This is how we are to be the church, for the world. As we do so, we are calling into question the world's models of authority, as well as the content and direction of that authority.
So, we have to tell the story within the world and the church; because the church is always in danger of getting too like the world. I have already said that this happens in relation to authority; we use the world's authority models instead of the God-given authority models. And scripture demands, in fact, to be read in the context of traditions within the church, precisely in order that it may judge and redeem the traditions of the church. The traditions are second-order stories, the stories that you and I tell about who we are as Christians, which go back through Wesley and Whitefield or through Luther or Aquinas or whoever. These are the stories that form the grid through which we read scripture; we can't do without them, but they need regular checking. And part of my whole argument here is that evangelical traditions needs checking just as well as anybody else's, checking according to scripture itself.
We have, then, to allow the story to challenge our traditions rather than getting rid of them, in order to see where we've come from, and who we are as the people of God in the 21st century: to reshape our traditions honestly and properly. But we must also allow scripture to stretch our reason back into shape. We must allow scripture to teach us how to think straight, because by ourselves we don't; we think bent, we think crooked. Gerard Manley Hopkins said, 'The Holy Spirit over the bent world broods with warm breast and with Ah! bright wings.' Just so, the Spirit broods over us as we read this book, to straighten out our bent thinking; the world-views that have got twisted so that they are like the world's world-views. God wants us to be people, not puppets; to love him with our mind as well as our soul and our strength. And it is scripture that enables us to do that: not by crushing us into an alien mould, but by giving us the fully authoritative four acts, and the start of the fifth, which set us free to become the church afresh in each generation.
Part 6 concludes our series by examining how scripture can maintain and enhance the health of church.
(Originally published in Vox Evangelica, 1991, 21, 7–32. Reproduced by permission of the author.)


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Please start by telling us a little bit about yourself, your blog and your businesses!
Hi! I'm Victoria. I'm 27. I've been married to a sweet Canadian for 2 ½ years and we have a dog named Ranger who will always look like a cute puppy. 2015 is turning out to be a year of transition after 2014, the big shitstorm of crises and unrest. I recently decided that I want to put myself through a lot of stress and mental anguish in order to live out my dreams and be my "authentic self," which is kind of a barfy new-age term, but here's what I mean: I knew deep down for years that what I was doing wasn't what I wanted. I think I went on that path because I felt it was expected of me and because I saw it as an obvious way to escape an awful job. But I regret nothing. I think a lot of people can relate to that; most of us are taught to follow a certain life trajectory to avoid people judging our lives. I have a personal blog, Disaster Poodle, where I discuss a lot of heavy things; my recent stint of grief/depression/anxiety, my experience working through that, and my journey to self-love and a creating a life I enjoy. I try to add a humorous flair so that people aren't turned away by all the scary feelings. There are also a lot of .gifs.
And the business: As of January 2015, I am a professional freelance writer! I don't feel like a fraud saying that anymore because I've actually been paid to write. I'm currently writing for web marketing companies who need content for their clients. I'm working on getting higher paying work in subjects that interest me: women's issues, politics, self-love, inspiration, mental health/psychology, and humor. It's a lot of hard work! But for the first time basically ever, I feel excited about what I'm doing and I know the hard work will pay off.
I met you in college at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, Michigan. Can you tell us what your favorite things are about the city, and what we can expect if we visit someday?
OMG, that feels like it shouldn't be 7 years ago, but it totally is. I found this embarrassing photo of us, ca. 2008, posing with the cast of the play you directed! What is even happening with my bangs.
If you're gonna live in Michigan, you should really live in Grand Rapids. We're "Beer City USA" according to some magazine, we have a lot of excellent restaurants and breweries that serve unique locally-sourced food, and we're the host of the world-famous city-wide art competition, ArtPrize (truth: most of the locals are really sick of that shit). But what really makes this city special for me is my people. I have my chosen family (aka friends) here and I couldn't imagine life without them. To be honest, part of me is itching to leave Michigan in the near future. I suppose I'm going to either need to follow a buddy who moves first or take some of them with me, because I know I need close friends nearby in order to be happiest.
As a freelance writer, do you have any writing tips for fellow bloggers? What are your fave electronics and office supplies to use?
Being a freelance writer is owning a business, owning a business is work, and work is hard. A network is essential; not for business purposes (though that's important, too), but so you can get advice, discuss your insecurities, vent about crappy clients, and get feedback on what you're doing right and wrong in a safe space. There are a lot of networks out there. My favorites are Untamed Writing and Stephanie's Loud Ladies, but there are plenty of others on Facebook, LinkedIn, or even locally through MeetUp. Seriously, working from home can be isolating and you need to talk to people who are going through similar things.
I am obsessed with office supplies. If I ever make the mistake of going into a Staples store, I'm there for at least an hour. My favorite supplies are these bright file folders, this desk organizer, these magical highlighters that I use a million times a day, my passion planner, and a big sturdy box I got with my KitchenAid to set on my desk so I can turn my laptop into a standing desk. I get really achy and numb if I sit for too long, and apparently sitting all day is the worst thing you can do for your body besides throwing yourself off a bridge, according to science. Since I got that KitchenAid in January, I have used it exactly zero times, but I use the box every day. Note: I do not suggest buying a KitchenAid just for the box. Just get one from your in-laws like I did!
What are your other hobbies and passions outside of work and blogging?
I like hanging out with the aforementioned family and chosen family, crafts such as cross-stitch and making useful things out of the shit I have lying around, decorating, organizing anything, and watching a lot of awesome TV shows (that counts as a hobby, right?). I am a passionate intersectional feminist and read about it and other political issues regularly. I volunteer when I can for the
What are your future plans in business and in life?
I have little goals and big goals and very rough plans as of now. Thankfully I have a life coach to help me with these things (that's you, Steph!). My short-term goal is to create a profitable business writing about things I care about. My long-term goal is to educate girls and women on how to love themselves in a world that constantly tells them they shouldn't. To do that takes a lot of breaking down society's standards for what they are: blatant fabrications. Many women have a hard time accepting that the messages they've received their entire lives have been created to deceive them for various reasons. I had a hard time with this, too - that's part of what I discuss on Disaster Poodle - and I want to make it easier for others than it was for me. It's never too late for self-love.
What's your favorite thing about the blogosphere? What's your biggest challenge?
My favorite thing about the blogosphere is the connection with other women. I reconnected with you, became good friends with Fenna, and met a lot of other women who are amazing and driven writers, entrepreneurs, and dreamers. You can never have too many bad-ass women in your life. My biggest challenge with the blogosphere is keeping up with it! There are so many blogs I want to read and connections I want to maintain, I fall behind more than I'd like. Not the worst challenge to have.
What's your personal philosophy or belief system?
This is one of the biggest changes I've gone through recently and I'm constantly exploring it. I think my main philosophy can be summarized by a line from one of my favorite artists, Ben Folds, in his song "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" (lyric change added):
Life is wonderful
Life is beautiful
We're all children of
One big Universe
So you don't have to be a
What's the most important lesson you've ever learned?
You don't have to accept what you've been told, even if people you trust have said it and you've heard it your whole life.
What song do we all need to listen to... right now!?
I go through weird phases of music, and right now it's a bit of a dark one. One of my current fave songs is Dead Man's Bones' "In the Room Where You Sleep." Fun fact about this band for the unawares: Ryan Gosling (yes, the Ryan Gosling - you'll understand how surprising it is when you listen) is one half of it. He and his bandmate realized their mutual love of ghosts and other weird shit and decided to write love songs about them. So what I'm saying is Ryan Gosling and I are basically soulmates.
Loud Ladies is a life coaching program for bloggers and I'm interviewing a different client each month this year. If you're interested in joining the community, you can book a session here!


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Dress up as a Stormtrooper with this Star Wars Stormtrooper Deluxe Large Costume. "There has been an awakening… have you felt it?" Once more the dark side of the Force is at work and helping the cause are the elite Stormtroopers in their white armour and awe-inspiring masks. Who'll dare stand in your way? The soldiers of the Empire have a new look for the return of Star Wars.
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Oh…..I love these trousers! The fit, the style, just everything about them. I wanted a pair of Marlene Dietrich style trousers for some time and then I found this pattern.
The pleasure of sewing for yourself is you can create whatever you wish. I inverted my pleating and added buttons from my grandfather's WW2 uniforms.
These trousers are made using a rather heavy wool for cold winter days and nights.
I made this pair of trousers back in March of 2016. I still love them today and they still look new!


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Which ones exactly are around the 150-250 range that are actually good?
Which ones exactly are around the 150-250 range that are actually good?
I have an older model, don't think they still make that one. My advice is always that for comfort, you should go to a store that sells them so you can feel it.
EDIT: The HD 518 is similar to what I have.
Stay away from the Dr. Dre's. They're good if you just listen to Hip Hop the entire time. They're very bass heavy. I just got the Klipsch Image One headphones. I went to Best Buy on 44th and 5th and they have a bunch of over the ear headphones that you could try out.
Beats are also really uncomfortable. At least the solos are. They hurt my ears after about 30 minutes of use.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, got to test these out at Best But if they have some of the various ones you guys are listing.
Skullcandy Rock Nation Aviator's. Skullcandy's products are fantastic. I only have Agents and those are great. If I was spending $150, I'd get these.
Mine (the Agents) are incredibly sturdy with great build quality. I haven't been around the Rock Nations enough to give you a detailed/extensive opinion.
Bumping this instead of making yet another headphones thread.
So I have a set of Bose earbuds that are comfortable and sound great. I've mentioned to my wife how I wanna get some wireless headphones and she bought me some Bose wireless bluetooth buds for my birthday last week. I was thankful she picked up on the hints but I don't want another pair of buds. I want over the ear headphones but just could never justify the cost of them. Now, I figured she spent the money on these so I may as well exchange them and spend a little more money on what I really want(don't worry she is totally ok with this haha).
I would LOVE the Bose QC35s but $350 for headphones I'll rarely use is crazy to me. I am at a tossup between the Beats Studio Wireless and the Bose Soundlink Wireless headphones. I have read all the negative reviews of the original Beats by Dre Studio headphones and how they're overly bassy and meant for just rap music but I have also read that the newer ones have addressed this issue and significantly improved their sound output. The Bose are supposed to be a perfect balance but I do prefer a little more more bass with my music(rock and metal, think Octane and Lithium on Sirius). I read the extra bass can get a little distorted on the Bose. I am in a total toss up on which to get, I have to get to the store and sample them in person but has anyone in here had experience with both that could provide their experiences and preferences?
Last edited by SaveByRichter35; 08-09-2017 at 08:44 AM.
Don't know anything about wireless headphones but I love Lithium
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Let's Go Rangers!
Well I was able to get to Best Buy yesterday to sample the Bose QC35 and the Soundlink Wireless, and the Beats Studio wireless. I actually like the sounds of the Beats more than the Bose but I'm still torn, everyone says get the Bose. I have a few friends who said they actually sold their Beats to get the Bose but they all said they got the QC35 which I am not spending $350 on. I just don't wanna get the Beats and regret my decision. Not to mention Beats are the trendy ones and I don't typically like to go with the trendy stuff lol.
What are you using them for?
I swear by Sennheiser, but only use them when I'm at the computer or something.
We use Sennheiser here at work and they don't seem to be anything special. Granted, the company definitely cheaped out on our current ones which we got last year. Our prior Sennheisers were much better.
As for what I'd be using them for, just music really. When I mow the lawn or do other yard work, when I run, for travel, etc.


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Individuals Attend McDowell Adult Education Classes To:
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Indiana High School Equivalency Diploma
Official transcripts for an IHSE Diploma and GED are available through Diploma Sender. Click below for more information.


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Al Rostamani Group (UAE)
Al Rostamani Group is a Superbrand.
Founded in 1957, the Al Rostamani Group is one of the largest and oldest, family business conglomerates in the United Arab Emirates, and has grown steadfastly by the guiding principles of Commitment, Care and Vision.
Al Rostamani Trading Company is the sole authorised distributor of Suzuki vehicles and genuine parts in the UAE.
United Diesel is one of the largest distributors of commercial vehicles in the UAE and sole distributor of Renault Trucks, United Diesel Nissan Trucks, Tata Buses and Trucks, Daewoo Trucks, Nissan Forklifts, and Dong Feng Trucks and Buses.
Central Trading Company distributes Michelin Tyres, Federal Tyres, Radar Tyres, Castrol Lubricants, Bluestar Air Conditioners, FB Batteries, Foerch and Akzo Nobel.
Abdulla Al Rostamani Properties operates and manages a portfolio of residential, commercial and industrial properties.
Al Rostamani Pegel is the group's civil contracting arm specialising in high rise mixed use commercial and residential buildings.
Al Rostamani Capital is the group's foray into investment banking, merchant banking and asset management.
Al Rostamani International Exchange is a market leader in currency exchange and international remittance services in the UAE
Dubai International Securities is an authorised broker at the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Financial Markets, providing corporate financing advice with a strong research capability.
Al Rostamani Travel and Holidays is the leading travel services provider specialising in the corporate, leisure, inbound segments and representing world renowned global brands.
Al Rostamani Communications offers cutting edge telecommunications and information technology as a Carrier and Service Provider, providing equipment and solutions for projects requiring system integration for business, institutional and residential customers.
Al Rostamani Global Solutions provides technical solutions with a broad range of capabilities and expertise, offering services from strategy to operations, business technology to business transformation.
Al Rostamani Industries offers engineering services, fabrication of structural steel products, galvanising facilities, and manufactures welded wire mesh.
Emirates Electrical Engineering specialises in turnkey electrical projects, including High Voltage Substations, Distribution Networks, Transmission Lines and Cable Networks.
Al Rostamani Group is governed by three core values: Commitment to its partners and customers; Care towards employees, the pillars of the organisation, and the well-being of the community; and Vision in adopting long-term goals and exploring new opportunities to achieve sustainable, exponential and dynamic growth.
Superbrands: The most respected universal seal of enduring excellence.


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the premier motorcycle service & maintenance center of abu dhabi...
Founded by the Salman brothers & Synergy Investments.
Quality, Experience, and Superior Design Capabilities all under one roof. With over 40 years of combined experience and the latest in Motorcycle Service Tools & Technology, we offer unparalleled services to our valued clients.
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text: Science is your passion. Quality, clarity and reliability are your essentials. Illing offers a wide range of stock products specifically for laboratory environments. Bottles and jars, canisters and fitments are among the many tools you may need to ensure the quality and integrity of the product for which you are responsible. Illing is dedicated to Packaging your Vision.


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In this hands-on activity, learners begin by estimating the size of each planet in our Solar System and Pluto and making each out of playdough or a similar material. Then, learners follow specific instructions to divide a mass of playdough into the... (View More) size of each planet and Pluto and compare the actual modeled sizes to the students' own predictions. This activity requires a large amount of playdough material per group of learners. Three pounds is the minimum amount required for each group. (View Less)
This is an activity about the concept of direct versus indirect sunlight. Learners construct and use a sun angle analyzer to investigate the effect of angle on area illuminated. The fraction of light on each square of the analyzer is then calculated... (View More) and compared. A discussion at the end relates the results to the amount of sunlight falling on different parts of the Earth and the effect this has on temperature and seasons. Reprinted with permission from the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS). (View Less)
This is an activity about the measurement of time. Learners model the rotation of Earth over one day by holding a flashlight for the Sun and a blow up globe, and record their observations. Then, they use those observations to create devices that... (View More) will track time and test their devices outside. This final part of this activity requires access to a sunny outdoor location for an extended period of time so learners can test their time measurement devices. (View Less)
This is an activity about the motion of the Sun, Earth and Moon, specifically rotation and revolution. After identifying what they already know about the Sun, Earth and Moon, learners will observe and manipulate a styrofoam ball model of the Sun,... (View More) Earth, and Moon system. This activity requires a location with an open space approximately ten feet by ten feet in area, and is Activity 9 of a larger resource entitled Eye on the Sky. (View Less)
This is an activity about the motion of the Sun and the Earth, specifically rotation and revolution. After identifying what they already know about the Sun, learners will observe and manipulate a styrofoam ball model of the Sun and Earth. This... (View More) activity requires a location with an open space approximately ten feet by ten feet in area, and is Activity 7 of a larger resource entitled Eye on the Sky. (View Less)
This is an activity to reinforce concepts learned about the Sun, the Sun, Earth, and Moon system and eclipses. Learners will communally discuss their knowledge of these concepts briefly, and will then complete a series of worksheets and writings to... (View More) demonstrate grasp of content. This is Activity 15, the final activity of a larger resouce entitled Eye on the Sky and is meant to follow the preceding 14 activities in the resource. These worksheets and writings would ideally be added to students' portfolios accumulated throughout this suite of lessons and can serve as a summative assessment of student work throughout the lesson suite. (View Less)
This activity, effective outdoors or indoors, demonstrates how insolation is affected by latitude by using a pair of thermometers, each taped to some cardboard, placed outside on a sunny day. A globe can also be used, outdoors or indoors. Students... (View More) learn that seasonal variations in temperature are the result of the heating of the Sun as a function of its peak angle and length of the day. A template for a folded paper structure to explore the effects of the angle of illumination on heating is included. The resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
in this science-based storybook, students learn about seasonal migration of hummingbirds as they are exposed to the scientific process. Students Anita, Simon and Dennis and the rest of Ms. Patel's class research when the hummingbirds have gone and... (View More) when they might return. The book is one of a series in the Elementary GLOBE unit designed to introduce students to the study of Earth system science (ESS). Each book has companion learning activities that complement the science covered in each story. Together, the books form an instructional unit that addresses ESS and related subjects (e.g., weather, water, seasons, soil, and aerosols). The GLOBE Program is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free
This is a resource that explains the rationale behind the multiple time zone divisions in the United States. Learners will work through a problem set to practice calculating the time in one time zone, given the time in another time zone. This is... (View More) activity 9 from the educator guide, Exploring Magnetism: Magnetic Mysteries of the Aurora. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free
In this activity, students engage in long-term systematic observation to learn about the apparent annual motion of the Sun caused by the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Students put a dot on a window where sunlight enters the classroom (or any room... (View More) into which sunlight enters each day) and mark the position of the shadow cast by the dot day by day and throughout the school year. To make a personal connection to the activity, spots marked on a student's birthday can be labeled with the student's name. This activity can be done as a whole class or individual project. Part 1 of this activity involves establishing location, and casual observation over the course of a day. Part 2, involves "daily" (Monday, Wednesday, Friday is fine) marking of Sun-track at a specific time of day over the course of at least a month. This activity should be run for at least a month, but is best as a school-year-long project. The lesson includes a math extension activity to calculate the average daily motion at which the sunbeam shadow moves, as well as background information about the analemma. This activity is the fourth lesson in the Ancient Eyes Look to the Skies curriculum guide. (View Less)
Materials Cost: 1 cent - $1 per group of students


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San Diego Wedding Ceremony Flowers
At House of Stemms, we will decorate your ceremony location, and we will create the floral designs that your bridal party will carry and wear. From corsages, bride's maid bouquets and boutonnieres to aisle runners and altar decorations, we will help you integrate your design themes throughout your event. Our services include: custom floral design for weddings, custom event design, wedding flower consultations, wedding flower arrangements, and personalized attention. Working with brides and event coordinators, House of Stemms can arrange the flowers for your event in all San Diego, California venues.
San Diego Wedding Ceremony Flowers and Decorations
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Calla Lily Wedding Pew Bow
These custom-crafted calla lily pew bows will add elegant touch to your ceremony and your special day. We can customize these to any color/size/style.
Wedding Arch Flower Arrangement
All of our arch flower arrangements can be customized to match bride's bouquet or a wedding package. Our unique designs start at $129.99!


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Aug 22 (Reuters) - Shanghai AtHub Co Ltd :
* Says it appoints BDO China Shu Lin Pan Certified Public Accountants Llp as corporate auditor for 2017
Source text in Chinese: goo.gl/MjRuj5
Further company coverage: (Beijing Headline News)
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
© 2018 Reuters. All Rights Reserved.


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Women Who Hunt
Women Who Hunt captures the inspiration and motivation of female hunters who share a passion for hunting. The hunt is in their blood and they have no apologies. It's an inspiring glimpse into the minds of female hunters and rare opportunity to hear their stories.
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The United States has rushed military aid to Lebanon as it had promised. Two military transport planes landed in Beruit with ammunition and supplies on Friday. It was not known if the planes had flown directly from the U.S. or if they came from U.S. military depots in the Middle East. The Pentagon has promised eight planeloads of military supplies.
But before the U.S. military arrived, a United Emirates plane full of military supplies landed on Thursday night.
The U.S. sped up deliveries of supplies to Lebanon's army to help it fight what is believed to be al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic militants who have barricaded themselves inside a Palestinian refugee camp in the northern Lebanon.
The fighting in the refugee camp broke out after police searching for bank robbers raided suspected Fatah Islam hideouts in Tripoli. That routed out the bank robbery suspects who took refuge in the Palestinian refugee camp because Lebanese authorities are not allowed to enter the camps under a 1969 agreement with Palestinians.
However, the fighting has also caused thousands of Palestinian civilians to flee the camps.
Although the fighting broke out this week, military aid to Lebanon had been agreed upon before that happened, U.S. officials said. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated the Bush administration's support for Lebanon.
"I certainly hope that the Lebanese government will be able to deal with these extremists," Rice said, according to the Associated Press. "It's just another example of extremists in the Middle East who are trying to destabilize democratic governments."


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Understanding how water pollution occurs can help us stop pollution from spreading to our waterways! Visit the STEMLab at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis to learn about one common way that water can become polluted, and examine tools used by scientists who study water pollution.
Check out our web listing for this program at:
The STEMLab located in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis 3000 North Meridian StIndianapolis


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English Bulldog News has started a new program/fundraiser that we are very proud to tell you all about. This program will be the sponsorship of Hospice Bulldogs. These are the bulldogs that almost all potential adopters cannot adopt, due to their medical conditions or age, and have found their fur-ever homes in rescue, where they will be loved and cared for until they go to the rainbow bridge.
Now in steps the 'fur-ever' foster home. These foster mommies and daddies take care of them until they finally go to the rainbow bridge, and give them the home they should have always had. It takes a special foster to care for these hospice bullies, many of them require around the clock care, medications, diapers, and a special diet.
These sweet babies also become a financial strain on the rescue organization, because some of them have many in their care. So we at English Bulldog News thought, "what if the members banned together and helped sponsor some of these dogs?" And the Hospice Sponsorship program was born, starting with Pearl, also known as 'Hula Girl'.
It all started when we saw a fundraiser for hospice English Bulldogs for Christmas. This opened our eyes to these beautiful bullies. Then we read Pearl's story, which was asking for sponsorship. We then found out how much it costs the rescues to keep these dogs in their care every month. And with the help of many members, the Hospice Program was born!
We will be adding more bullies who will need sponsorship, and all you have to do is sign up. Then each month the amount of your monthly donation will be withdrawn out of your paypal account, you need to do nothing. For as little as $5 a month, you can help support Hospice Bulldogs in need. You will also get access to a new board for hospice discussions that can only be seen and posted in by hospice sponsors and an award to display in your award showcase.
Please view this link to see the bulldogs who are in need of sponsorship:
If you are a rescue with non-profit 501c3 status that has a bully who needs sponsorship, please contact email@example.com
It all started with Pearl, who has now moved on to the rainbow bridge but her story will forever be imprinted on this whole program.
Here is Pearl's story (aka Hula Girl):
Pearl's Story
by SoCal BulldogRescue on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 11:09pm
Pearl (aka Hula Girl) came into Rescue from the animal shelter in January 2009. They estimated she was 7 years old. Pearl was crated her whole life and used as a puppy machine. Her legs and elbows did not develop properly since she was crated and was unable to walk. When touched she cried in pain
but that never stopped her tail from wagging! Pearl went directly to our vet for an exam and spay and it was discovered that she had a softball-sized tumor on her ovary. The doctors determined the tumor was cancerous and gave her 4 6 weeks to live.
A dedicated Rescue volunteer took her home for hospice care. Pearl was very sick and took quite a long time to recover. She would try to stand, only to tumble over. But, as the days turned into weeks and then months, Pearl seemed to get stronger and was able to take a few steps. Now, nearly two years later, Pearls tail continues to wag as she returns to a happy life. She needs daily medications and supplements, and requires special prescription food. Please open your heart to this girl and sponsor her so she can live out her days in comfort and happiness she deserves it.


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Residential Sales
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9 West Broadway #111
Boston MA 02127
1st Floor Unit, South Boston Loft
Date Rented: February 1, 2015
Square Footage: 1307 SF±
open floor plan
Contact us about this listing
Onnelly: 617.512.1591
or Kathleen: 617.386.9110
Send listing to a friend
This superb South Boston loft is an ideal creative space for both work + play.
Converted 2 years ago and subsequently renovated, this space is an ideal canvas for open plan living.
The open floor plan accommodates multiple living areas for dining, working, watching TV or just simply relaxing.
11 foot-high ceilings add to this loft's sense of space + light.
The exposed beams and mahogany floors complement the sleek interior design of the loft.
A modern, open kitchen is a natural focal point for entertaining at home.
A long granite counter/workbench serves to separate the kitchen from the main space.
Kitchen features top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances including brands such as Jenn Air and Bosch.
Granite countertops and custom-milled wood cabinetry creates a kitchen workspace as beautiful as it is functional.
A formal dining area naturally adjoins the open kitchen.
Leading-off from the living room is the main bedroom suite.
The bedroom can easily accommodate a king-size bed with side tables.
The bedroom features exposed brick + beams and 2 west-facing windows.
Adjoining the bedroom is a full bathroom ensuite.
Double, twin-door closets flank the entrance hallway to the ensuite bathroom.
A half-wall subway-style tile surround is featured throughout the bathroom.
Bathroom also features tile flooring and a Jacuzzi tub/shower unit with subway-style tile tub surround.
Black granite atop custom-milled wood cabinetry, completes the vanity design within the bathroom.
A twin-door coat closet is conveniently situated next to the bathroom.
Adjacent to the bathroom entrance is an additional walk-in storage closet.
The walk-in closet can be be fitted-out with California Closet built-ins.
Central heat + AC is ducted into both the bedroom suites and throughout the main living space.
Adjacent to the kitchen/dining area is a 2nd full bathroom.
Granite atop custom-milled wood cabinetry, completes the vanity design within the guest bathroom.
Guest bathroom also features a shower stall with tiled stall surround.
The 2nd/guest bathroom conveniently adjoins the kitchen/dining area.
Adjacent to the 2nd/guest bathroom is a guest bedroom/private study.
Currently used as a Baby crib, the 2nd bedroom/guest room serves as an ideal den.
Alternatively, the 2nd bedroom/guest room can serve as the perfect home office.
2 french doors close to give the "den" privacy.
Additional storage and laundry facilities are housed within 2 closets by the entrance to the loft.
The linen/storage closet is a deep walk-in closet complete with laundry facilities.
The laundry closet houses a full-sized stack washer/dryer unit.
An integrated phone, conveniently located by the kitchen, serves as an intercom with the front desk with 24 hour security.
The building is pre-wired for telephone, cable, satellite television and high-speed Internet access.
The entrance to the loft from the 1st floor common area hallway.
Common area hallways are carpeted for noise mitigation.
The distinctive wood paneling adds warmth and elegance to the newly completed lobby.
The lobby provides a dramatic first impression to the residences at Court Square Press.
24 hour concierge/security is a convenient service for residents living at Court Square Press.
Originally constructed in 1906, the Court Square Press Building boasts over 210,000 square feet arranged in a six-story rectangle surrounding an open central courtyard.
The artfully landscaped central courtyard provides an attractive common area.
Other amenities include a newly constructed lobby, a fitness room and adjacent to the Court Square Press building, access to an outdoor plaza + swimming pool, incorporated into the new
Macallen Building
The courtyard's designers - LandWorks Studio, Inc. - have conceived this rendition of what the courtyard will look like once the bamboo is fully grown.
Graphic: Courtesy of
LandWorks Studio, Inc
Residents of both the Court Square Press lofts and the new
Macallen Building
are able to enjoy a 18,000 SF± landscaped terrace of common area outdoor space, atop the deeded parking garage, complete with a 2 lane lap pool.
The recently completed entrance at the corner of Broadway St. + Dorchester Ave. blends modern design and construction with the beautiful turn-of-the-century elements that give the Court Square Press Building its distinctive character.
1 deeded full garage parking space is included in the sale of this unit. It is located adjacent to the Court Square Press building within the new
Macallen Building
Across the street is the Broadway T Station (Red Line), only one stop away from South Station.
The Mass Pike and the Southeast Expressway are just minutes away, as is Logan Airport via the Ted Williams Tunnel.
Square Footage: 1307 SF±
open floor plan
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Exterior view of 9 West Broadway
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Contact us about this listing
Onnelly: 617.512.1591
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Live bird markets (LBMs) act as a network 'hub' and potential reservoir of infection for domestic poultry. They may therefore be responsible for sustaining H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus circulation within the poultry sector, and thus a suitable target for implementing control strategies. We developed a stochastic transmission model to understand how market functioning impacts on the transmission dynamics. We then investigated the potential for rest days—periods during which markets are emptied and disinfected—to modulate the dynamics of H5N1 HPAI within the poultry sector using a stochastic meta-population model. Our results suggest that under plausible parameter scenarios, HPAI H5N1 could be sustained silently within LBMs with the time spent by poultry in markets and the frequency of introduction of new susceptible birds' dominant factors determining sustained silent spread. Compared with interventions applied in farms (i.e. stamping out, vaccination), our model shows that frequent rest days are an effective means to reduce HPAI transmission. Furthermore, our model predicts that full market closure would be only slightly more effective than rest days to reduce transmission. Strategies applied within markets could thus help to control transmission of the disease.
1. Introduction
Since December 2003 outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) affecting domestic poultry have been reported in 50 countries across the world [1]. The virus has also shown potential for cross-species transmission, sporadically infecting humans and other mammals [2]. Both the massive economic losses and the putative pandemic threat make H5N1 HPAI one of the greatest current public health concerns. Although interventions have been implemented, the disease is now considered to be endemic in several countries, especially in southeast Asia and Egypt. The intense measures that have enabled developed countries to eradicate past and ongoing HPAI epidemics are not appropriate in all affected areas. Therefore, locally adapted control strategies need to be designed.
Various risk factors associated with the local characteristics of poultry production in affected countries have been identified as playing a key role in the sustainability of the virus [3,4]. Among them, live bird trade and wet markets are considered to be the main pathways for disease transmission [5] as well as offering conditions for virus amplification, reassortment and cross-species transmission owing to the high density of hosts [6]. From the late 1970s, the abundance and diversity of avian influenza (AI) viruses have been recognized in live bird markets (LBMs) [7]. More recently, surveys have highlighted the diversity and abundance of low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses in East Asian LBMs [8–12]. Moreover, H5N1 viruses have been identified in markets where they circulated silently. Although no outbreak was reported in Vietnam prior to 2003, H5N1 virus was identified in LBMs around Hanoi in 2001 [13,14]. During the H5N1 epidemics which affected Hong Kong in 1997, birds in LBMs were found to be highly infected with the prevalence of the infection in chickens reaching 19.5 per cent [15]. LBMs have also been recognized to be a likely source of infection for domestic poultry flocks: retail marketing of live poultry was implicated as the main source of exposure to infection on chicken farms in Hong Kong during the 2002 H5N1 epidemic [16]. Thus, LBMs may play a key role in the epidemiology of AI viruses [17] and acting as a network 'hub', they may be responsible for sustaining endemic infection within the poultry sector.
Following multiple outbreaks of H5N1 HPAI in Hong Kong between 1997 and 2003, control strategies were implemented across the LBM chain [18–20]. These interventions appear to have been successful as only one outbreak has been notified since 2003 [21]. Among them, rest days, during which markets are emptied and disinfected, have been associated with a significant decrease in the rate of isolation of LPAI viruses in the retail markets [22,23]. Similar observations have been noted in the United States: surveys here highlighted that rest days, frequent cleaning and disinfection are factors decreasing the risk that the market is positive for LPAI [24–26]. These observations suggest that rest days may be effective to reduce the prevalence of AI viruses in LBMs. They also indicate that the level of infection in markets is not simply the result of multiple introductions of infected birds, but the consequence of virus re-circulation and amplification within them.
While it is therefore clear that measures implemented in LBMs and further along the market chain could help to control the spread of the disease, it remains unclear what factors allow lethal H5N1 viruses to circulate without detection in LBMs. It has been assumed that the lack of detection in Hong Kong LBMs in 1997 was owing to cross-reactive cellular immunity induced by an H9N2 virus, which would have protected chickens from H5N1 virus infection [26]. According to these findings, reduction in individual chicken susceptibility would then allow H5N1 viruses to be sustained. However, an alternative explanation could be that the rapid turnover of the chicken population means that transmission in LBMs is never detected because the birds do not remain long enough to show symptoms. Here we use a mathematical model of H5N1 transmission within a LBM system similar to that described in Hong Kong retail LBMs [23], to assess if factors related to the management of poultry can create conditions for silent perpetuation of H5N1 viruses in a population of highly susceptible birds. The model incorporates opening/closing times of the market, cohorts of birds and transmission via direct contact or via environmental contamination from infectious faeces. We then use a stochastic meta-population model that mimics the vertical market flow system in place in Hong Kong to determine the likely impact of strategies implemented within the market chain on the transmission of H5N1 HPAI within poultry sectors if the LBM system was responsible for virus amplification, and to assess which aspects of the system need to be understood and further quantified to determine the success of interventions implemented in LBMs.
2. Methods
Our models are based on the Hong Kong LBM chain. Although this is a unique and well-managed market system compared with others in regions where the disease is probably endemic, this LBM chain is well described in the literature and is thus a good candidate for investigating the potential of LBMs to sustain the disease and to assess the impact of interventions.
2.1. Within-market model
2.1.1. Functioning of the market and management of poultry
A day is divided into two periods: during the first half of the day the market is open and during the second half it is closed. As only chickens are sold in Hong Kong LBMs [23], and because we are most interested in highly susceptible birds, we restrict our analysis to chickens. All birds are assumed to be introduced into the market when it opens, thus we define a cohort as a group of birds introduced simultaneously into the market, and the turn-over period Tr as the maximum time needed for a cohort to be sold. Figure 1a illustrates how the probability that a bird remains in a market evolves as a function of time for a turn over period of 1.5 days.
2.1.2. H5N1 virus transmission process
Within markets, birds pass through three infection states: susceptible (S), infected but not infectious (E) and infectious (I). When birds become infectious, they are first asymptomatic and subsequently develop clinical signs. All birds are assumed to die at the end of the infectious period. The latent and infectious period distributions are given in figure 1c,d. These periods are the sum of a fixed minimum duration and an additional stochastic integer duration generated from a binomial distribution with parameters B(n,p) as specified in table 1.
Infectious birds are assumed to contaminate their environment by releasing faeces at each time step. Faeces infectiousness decreases exponentially with time at a rate Θ. Therefore, during the infectious period of a bird, disease is transmitted directly through contact with susceptible birds and indirectly through the contaminated environment (figure 1b). Transmission continues after the death of the infectious bird via the remaining environmental reservoir. The infectiousness via each route of transmission can therefore be expressed as: 2.1 2.2where Tinf is the infectious period, H is the length of time the faeces remains infectious, β is the per unit time rate of transmission and η the relative rate of transmission from the environmental reservoir compared with β. In equation (2.2), the integral refers to the exponential decay of faeces dropped each day that the bird is infectious, which extends the infectious period in the environment beyond the infectious period of the bird. For a stable population size and an infectious period going to its end without being stopped owing to selling and slaughtering, the basic reproduction number R0 (i.e. expected number of secondary cases following the introduction of a primary case in a susceptible population) is then defined as: 2.3where N0 is the initial number of susceptible birds in the market. We can thus define the environmental contamination ratio ζ as the proportion of infectivity, which is mediated by the environment: 2.4Thus, knowing ζ and R0, we can calculate β and η: 2.5 2.6
The infection process is stochastic and density-dependent. Homogeneous mixing is assumed.
2.1.3. Scenarios
We initially assume a turn-over period of 1.5 days [23] with birds introduced every day. We then adjust β, η and the proportion of introduced birds that are infected to get an average prevalence of infectious birds during open time equal to 19.5 per cent [15], assuming either that (i) virus is not amplified (i.e. β = 0 and η = 0) or that (ii) virus is amplified in the market. We then assess the impact of variations in the frequency of bird introduction into the market and the turn-over period on the prevalence of symptomatic birds and mortality. One thousand iterations are run for each parameter combination. We defined silent spread by the number of chickens showing symptoms or dying. This value would reflect a sufficiently low level of morbidity and mortality, which could be considered normal and attributable to other causes (e.g. stress associated with transport). We could not find threshold values for morbidity and mortality rate in the literature, hence, we assume that the mortality rate on any given time in a day would have to be close to 0 per cent and morbidity lower than 3 per cent for the virus circulation to remain undetected.
2.2. Meta-population model
2.2.1. Structure of the market chain
A vertical market system with a unidirectional flow of poultry comparable to the one in use in Hong Kong is assumed [23]: from farms all poultry are stored in a unique wholesale market before being transferred to regional markets (figure 2). There are no poultry movements directly from farms to regional markets. Each farm rears 5000 broiler chickens with a cycle length of 100 days according to an all-in-all-out system. When a cycle ends, the infectious reservoir, if present, is then assumed to be removed through disinfection. The mortality owing to causes other than HPAI is considered to be negligible. New birds are introduced, and old birds leave the wholesale market simultaneously.
2.2.2. Infection process between populations
Between flocks, the infection can spread by (i) commercial poultry movements across the market chain from farms to the wholesale market, and from the wholesale market to regional markets, or by (ii) indirect contacts between farms, between farms and regional markets, and between regional markets (figure 2).
Thus, the force of infection applied to birds within a farm (or a market) depends on the number of infectious chickens IF (or IM) and the environmental load ψF (or ψM) within this farm (or this market), and the environmental load in other farms and markets. Farms are clustered around each regional market, with each cluster composed of one regional market and Nf farms (table 1). In the simulations presented here, we model a single wholesale market, and 30 clusters composed of the regional market and associated farms. The rates of transmission differ within and between clusters (figure 2): γff, γfm are the rate of transmission between farms, and between farms and markets belonging to the same cluster, respectively. Γff, Γfm and Γmm are the rate of transmission between farms, between farms and markets and between markets belonging to different clusters, respectively.
In farm i in cluster j with susceptible birds at time t, the number of newly infected birds at t + dt is given by a stochastic binomial variable , where is the force of infection (i.e. the rate at which poultry gets infected between t and t + dt) defined by: 2.7
Here is the instantaneous hazard of infection: 2.8
In equation (2.8), the first component is the within-farm infection process, the second the hazard of infection from other farms in the same cluster, the third the hazard of infection from farms in other clusters, the fourth the hazard of infection from the market in the same cluster and the fifth the hazard of infection from markets in other clusters.
Similarly in a regional market i: 2.9with the hazard of infection given by: 2.10
Here the first component is the within-market infection process, the second the hazard of infection from farms in the same cluster, the third from farms in other clusters and the fourth from markets in other clusters.
At the wholesale market, the force of infection is assumed to depend only on within-market infection process.
We assume that and .
Both models were implemented in Berkeley Madonna v. 8.4.14 [28].
2.2.3. Outcomes
We calculate the flock reproduction number r, defined as the expected number of secondary cases (market or farm) per single infected case in a fully susceptible population, using the approach advocated by Diekmann & Heesterbeek [29]. The reproduction number assesses the potential for infection to be sustained: if it is greater than 1, the epidemic will almost always spread, whereas if it is less than 1 the infection is more likely to go extinct. We denote rf and rm to be the flock reproduction number when the market chain has been removed (i.e. markets are no longer infectious), and when the transmission is only mediated by markets (i.e. no farm-to-farm transmission, γff = Γff = 0), respectively. r, rf and rm were calculated using R software v. 2.7.1 [30]. A full expression for r is given in electronic supplementary material, S1.
2.2.4. Parameters
The parameters for the model were derived from the published literature, the grey literature (including for example FAO reports) and from field observations made by the authors. Their assumed values and sources are summarized in table 1. Supplementary information on parameter values are provided in electronic supplementary material, S2. Sensitivity analyses to key parameter assumptions are given in electronic supplementary material, S3.
2.2.5. Scenarios
The flock reproduction number r is assumed initially to be equal to five. The ratio between rf and rm is denoted as f/m, such that if f/m is low, the routes of transmission involving markets are more important than the ones involving only farms (i.e. the main source of infection of farms is markets). By contrast, if f/m is high, the routes of transmission involving markets are less important than the ones involving only farms (i.e. the main source of infection of farms is other farms).
Three scenarios corresponding to three different values of f/m are then considered:
— almost all farm outbreaks are owing to market-to-farm transmission (f/m = 0.05);
— most farm outbreaks are owing to market-to-farm transmission (f/m = 0.5); and
— most farm outbreaks are owing to farm-to-farm transmission (f/m = 2).
Pm is defined as the mean prevalence of infectious birds in market during the open period. For a turn-over period of 1.5 days, Pm will depend only on β and η. We define as the corresponding basic reproduction number in the market assuming the same β and η (i.e. the population size is stable, the infectious period would go to its end, and would not be stopped owing to selling and slaughtering, as defined in §2.1). Three scenarios corresponding to three different values of Pm are then considered:
— market 1: Pm = 19.5%, = 16.8;
— market 2: Pm = 37.8%, = 40; and
— market 3: Pm = 43.1%, = 80.
The impact of the following control strategies on r is assessed:
— Early detection of outbreaks in farms and stamping out: an outbreak is detected if the mortality rate exceeds 1 per cent during two successive 24 h periods, 2 days after which birds are culled out, the farm is emptied and the infectious reservoir is assumed to be removed through disinfection and/or isolation.
— Vaccination in farms: 50 per cent of chickens are vaccinated at the start of each cycle [31]. The vaccine is assumed to be fully protective two weeks after vaccination.
— Rest days in LBMs: rest days are synchronized in the wholesale and regional markets. The day before a rest day (−1 < t < 0), no birds are introduced into the wholesale market, which is disinfected so that the infectious reservoir, if present, is assumed to be removed. When the regional markets are closed (t = −0.5), the remaining birds are slaughtered and the infectious reservoir is assumed to be removed via disinfection. On the rest day (0 < t < 1), the regional markets remain empty. Birds are then re-introduced into the wholesale market at t = 0.5 and these birds move on to regional markets at t = 1.
— LBM closure: the LBM chain is removed from the system and thus transmission occurs only directly between farms.
3. Results
3.1. Within-market model
If the virus is not amplified in the market (i.e. β = 0 and η = 0), to reach a prevalence of infectious birds of 19.5 per cent as measured in Hong Kong [14], we require 24.2 per cent of the birds introduced each day to be infected or infectious for a turn-over period Tr = 1.5 (the time from birds entering to leaving the market). Under such a scenario, the maximum prevalence of symptomatic birds is 10.6 per cent and the cumulative mortality rate reaches 3 per cent during the open period. Thus, in this scenario, we would expect disease to be detectable in the market through screening for clinical signs.
In contrast, if the virus can be amplified in the market, the introduction of a single infected bird followed by the daily introduction of susceptible birds can lead to a prevalence of infectious birds of 19.5 per cent on average during the open period varying from 18.7 to 22 per cent according to the time of day. The prevalence of symptomatic birds throughout the open period however remains lower than 1.8 per cent (figure 3a) and hence HPAI-related mortality is unlikely to be observed in the market. Thus, in this scenario, transmission in the market is very likely to be silent.
For a prevalence of infectious birds of 19.5 per cent and a turn-over period now increased to 2.5 days, the mean prevalence of infectious birds varies within the same range. The peak prevalence of symptomatic birds in this scenario now reaches 4.8 per cent (figure 3c), and the detection of virus circulation owing to observation of sick birds is thus more likely than for Tr = 1.5.
If we instead assume that birds are introduced every 2 days, the dynamics are dramatically modified. On one day out of two, the prevalence of infection varies between 0 and 3.4 per cent for a turnover period Tr = 1.5 days, and between 8 and 10.9 per cent for Tr = 2.5 days. On this day, the prevalence of symptomatic birds remains equal to zero. On the other day, the prevalence of infectious birds has a peak at 52.3 and 37.9 per cent for Tr = 1.5 and 2.5 days, respectively, while the morbidity rate has a peak at 3.5 per cent for Tr = 1.5 days, and at 4.9 per cent for Tr = 2.5 days (figure 3b,d). Thus, under these scenarios we would expect to observe disease signs if the market is observed sufficiently frequently.
For all four scenarios, the overall mortality rate in the market is low and would not be distinguishable from background rates of non-disease-associated mortality, the cumulative mortality over the open period remaining lower than 0.4 per cent.
3.2. Meta-population model
Figure 4 compares the impact of control strategies applied in farms (stamping out and vaccination) with rest days in LBMs on the flock reproduction number r. For f/m = 0.05 (almost all farm outbreaks are owing to market-to-farm transmission), the relation between r and the frequency of rest days is nonlinear (figure 4a,d,g): when the time between two successive rest days is shortened (i.e. the rest days are more frequent), the slope of the curve increases and the additional impact of an increase in the frequency of rest days on r is amplified. However, as f/m is increased (i.e. as farm-to-farm transmission becomes more important), the relationship between r and the frequency of rest days becomes linear and the benefit of more frequent rest days is lost (figure 4c,f,i). As expected, the impact of rest days on the reduction of r is smaller as f/m is increased. Although rest days applied every 10 days in LBMs are enough to reduce r below 1 when f/m = 0.05, they would need to be implemented in combination with stamping out or vaccination to decrease r below this threshold when f/m = 0.5 or 2.
We consider the impact of combined interventions for different epidemiological scenarios. In the first, which we term market 1 we set our model parameters to a market prevalence Pm = 19.5% and a corresponding reproduction number in the market of = 16.8. In this scenario, vaccination plus stamping out will always achieve a reduction of r under its threshold of 1. This strategy is less efficient as f/m increases (i.e. the extent of farm-to-farm transmission increases). For scenarios with prevalence of infectious chickens lower than 19.5 per cent, the impact of rest days, stamping out and vaccination, applied alone or in association, shows similar trends as for a prevalence of 19.5 per cent. We then consider two higher prevalence scenarios: market 2, where Pm = 37.8% and = 40 and market 3, where Pm = 43.1% and = 80. In these scenarios, vaccination shows an opposite pattern: it has a greater impact on r as f/m increases. Compared with rest days, stamping out plus vaccination is less effective when f/m is low: for f/m = 0.05, an equivalent reduction in the reproduction number r to that achieved by stamping out plus vaccination can be achieved with rest days alone implemented every five and three weeks for market 3 and market 2, respectively. In contrast, if farm-to-farm transmission dominates (f/m = 2), then vaccination plus stamping out will be a much more effective policy than frequent rest days or market closure. For all values of f/m and Pm, monthly rest days implemented in combination with stamping out and vaccination could reduce r below its threshold of one.
Market closure appears to be only slightly more effective than weekly rest days. Indeed, in all scenarios in which market closure results in r falling below the threshold value of one, weekly rest days also achieve this reduction. Moreover, as the degree of farm-to-farm transmission (f/m) increases and the relation between r and rest day frequency becomes linear, the difference between r in a system with weekly rest days and r in a system without markets becomes smaller: for f/m = 0.05, this difference is equal to 0.31, for f/m = 0.5 and f/m = 2, this difference is 0.06 and less than 0.01, respectively.
4. Discussion
Our results show that a high prevalence of infection in LBMs could occur if virus is amplified within the market following the introduction of a single infectious bird. For a short turn-over period, our model predicts that infected birds will be sold and slaughtered before showing disease signs or dying of the infection, regardless of the prevalence level. Thus, there is the potential for the virus to circulate silently within the LBM depending only on the relative balance between the time a bird remains in the market system and the duration of asymptomatic shedding. Furthermore, in such a system, most infectious birds will be slaughtered before dying from the disease, and a high proportion of infected birds will be slaughtered even before becoming infectious. This shortens the average infectious period. To maintain high virus prevalence, a high rate of transmission is thus required, and both the contact rate and the susceptibility of birds must be high. Therefore, cross-immunity, which reduces bird susceptibility and virus shedding, would not necessarily create conditions for HPAI endemicity in LBMs at high prevalence level, contrary to the hypothesis proposed by Seo & Webster [27].
In several surveys in which H5N1 viruses were detected in LBMs, the virus isolation rate was much less than in Hong Kong in 1997 [8,13,18,32]. This may be owing to issues related to sampling and conservation methods, to recent introduction of the virus or to major differences in market structure and functioning. In the model and parameters presented here, the market setting is very favourable for virus amplification: the market is open every day and all day long, bird density is high, new birds are introduced every day and the turn-over period is 1.5 days. This kind of setting might not be encountered frequently in developing countries. Therefore, in less favourable settings, the prevalence of infectious birds could be expected to be lower than that observed in Hong Kong, and sustainability of the virus circulation might even be questionable. Indeed, Egyptian and Vietnamese village markets are only open a few days in a month (Egypt, G. Fournié, 2007; Vietnam, G. Fournié, 2009, personal observation). In Cambodian markets, birds remain just a few hours in, the turn-over period being lower than the latent period [33]. Thus, these LBMs would not be able to sustain the disease, and their level of infection would be the direct result of the introduction of infected birds. The prevalence of infectious birds would therefore be low and a large number of birds would need to be sampled to detect the virus. However, because of environmental contamination, markets may remain infectious for a few days even if infectious birds have spent just a few hours in the market. In this case, sampling of the environment may be more suitable than individual bird sampling. Therefore, further research on the structure and the functioning of LBMs in regions where the disease is endemic is needed. Collecting information on the LBM features we identified and integrating them to this model will help to identify markets and market systems that are likely to sustain silent virus circulation as well as to define appropriate surveillance strategies within these markets.
The results from our meta-population model show that rest days implemented in LBMs can have a strong impact on disease dynamics within the poultry sector. Depending on the characteristics of the system, especially the relative importance of transmission routes involving markets compared with those involving farms only, rest days can be more effective than control strategies applied in farms to reduce disease transmission. Moreover, as rest days will target other transmission routes, their effect acts in synergy with stamping out and vaccination. However, if vaccination coverage and efficacy is sufficient to interrupt transmission and hence prevent the disease from becoming endemic in markets, this strategy would lead to a drastic reduction in market infectivity. Thus, vaccination could be highly efficient where market-to-farm transmission is high. For scenarios in which most transmission occurs from market-to-farm (low values of f/m), the impact of rest days on r is amplified as the time between two successive rest days decreases. In fact, if rest days are implemented sufficiently frequently, virus amplification can be halted in the market before it reaches endemic levels and as a result, the infectivity from the market to other flocks will be drastically reduced.
To date, models aiming at assessing the impact of interventions on HPAI transmission in domestic poultry have focused on farm-to-farm contact patterns. Indeed, these models focused on poultry production systems, which were generally in developed countries including the UK [34–37] and the Netherlands [38], where there is limited live bird trading. Therefore, in these models, strategies applied in farms (early detection and stamping out, vaccination) have a much greater impact on transmission. However, in systems where live bird trading is well developed, this route of transmission needs to be taken into account to avoid overestimating the impact of measures implemented on farms. Moreover, the effectiveness in the field and the cost-effectiveness of these interventions still need to be evaluated. Effectiveness of stamping out to reduce transmission mainly relies on the early report of the disease by farmers. Failing to implement expensive incentive policies leads to late detection of outbreaks and under-reporting, as observed in Egypt [39,40]. In developing countries, optimum vaccination coverage might be difficult to achieve owing to practical and cost-benefit problems [41]. Even if sufficient levels of vaccination are achieved, this can result in decreased clinical signs and longer infectious periods resulting in less intense but prolonged outbreak waves, as observed in Vietnam [42]. Thus, interventions applied in LBMs may be more cost-effective than the ones applied in farms. However, the relative weight of transmission routes whether involving LBMs or not will be key to determine which interventions are best-suited to local circumstances and at which levels they should be applied.
Compared with weekly rest days, the benefit of permanent market closure seems to be limited: the relative reduction in market infectivity provided by weekly rest days compared to a setting without rest days is much higher than the relative reduction in market infectivity provided by market closure compared with weekly rest days. Instead, this measure could have some strong unintended effects on the structure of the live bird trade chain. Indeed, in societies where this habit is culturally well entrenched, and where this activity ensures the livelihood of many stakeholders, such a ban may not stop this activity [6,43], but it may change the structure of the market chain, which would then be more difficult to control. The rationale behind the banning of LBMs, as it has been implemented in some countries (e.g. Egypt [44], Vietnam [45]), should thus be put into question.
The Hong Kong market system is unique; it is highly structured and homogeneous, yet most countries where H5N1 is a recurrent problem have a heterogeneous poultry sector and a much more complex market chain. The impact of control strategies implemented in LBMs could thus vary. Moreover, further issues could be encountered when implementing these interventions in the field. The structure of the market itself (e.g. floor type, multiple entries) can make disinfection programmes difficult to implement and the flow of traders difficult to control. The number of LBMs is very large in some countries and it would be unrealistic to attempt rest days and disinfection in all of them. Rather, the most at-risk and suitable markets would need to be identified and these hygienic measures adapted to local contexts. Therefore, including further data on the different market systems in AI-affected countries within model parameters could help to elucidate the potential impact of rest days as well as to define their optimal frequency in terms of their impact on circulating HPAI virus.
G.F. thanks support from the Bloomsbury consortium. A.C.G. acknowledges support from the UK Medical Research Council. The authors thank Do Huu Dung for providing information on control strategies implemented in Vietnam, and the referees for their useful suggestions.
- Received September 19, 2010.
- Accepted November 10, 2010.
- This Journal is © 2010 The Royal Society


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