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[pdf version is here].
Keynote Presentations |
Sub-pj per Operation Scalable Computing – the Next Challenge
Luca Benini (ETHZ, Switzerland)
Abstract: The "internet of everything" envisions trillions of connected objects loaded with high-bandwidth sensors requiring massive amounts of local signal processing, fusion, pattern extraction and classification. From the computational viewpoint, the challenge is formidable and can be addressed only by pushing computing fabrics toward massive parallelism and brain-like energy efficiency levels. CMOS technology can still take us a long way toward this vision. Our recent results with the PULP (parallel ultra-low power) open computing platform demonstrate that pj/OP (GOPS/mW) computational efficiency is within reach in today's 28nm CMOS FDSOI technology. In this talk, I will look at the next 1000x of energy efficiency improvement, which will require heterogeneous 3D integration, mixed-signal, approximate processing and non-Von-Neumann architectures for scalable acceleration.
Luca Benini is the chair of digital Circuits and Systems at D-ITET ETHZ. He has served as Chief Architect for the Platform2012/STHORM project in STmicroelectronics, Grenoble in the period 2009-2013. He is also Professor of Electronics at the University of Bologna and has held visiting and consulting researcher positions at EPFL, IMEC, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Stanford University. Dr. Benini's research interests are in energy-efficient digital systems with special emphasis on ultra-low-power System-on-Chip design. He is also active in the area of smart sensors and sensor networks for consumer, biomedical and ambient intelligence applications. On these topics, he has published more than 700 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences, four books and several book chapters. He has been general chair of the Design Automation and Test in Europe Conference, of the Network on Chip Symposium and of the International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the Academia Europaea.
Cool Techniques for Hot Chips
Mateo Valero (Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain)
Abstract: Some decades ago, computer architecture techniques were focused on maximizing performance by means of exploiting Instruction Level Parallelism (pipelining, VLIW, superscalar or out-of-order execution) or Data Level Parallelism (vector instructions). Power efficiency was not the main priority in those designs, although some of these techniques demonstrated a lot of potential in terms of energy efficiency. Nowadays, the situation has dramatically changed: maximizing the performance per energy ratio is as important as increasing performance itself. In this talk, we will revisit some computer architecture ideas and explain how are they being used in the context of the RoMoL project, which proposes the concept of Runtime-Aware Architecture (RAA) as its fundamental contribution. In RAA's the parallel runtime layer drives the design of new hardware components, which leads to increased performance and reduced power consumption.
Mateo Valero, http://www.bsc.es/cv-mateo/, obtained his Telecommunication Engineering Degree from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) in 1974 and his Ph.D. in Telecommunications from the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) in 1980. He is a professor in the Computer Architecture Department at UPC, in Barcelona. His research interests focuses on high performance architectures. He has published approximately 700 papers, has served in the organization of more than 300 International Conferences and he has given more than 400 invited talks. He is the director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, the National Centre of Supercomputing in Spain.
Dr. Valero has been honoured with several awards. Among them, the Eckert-Mauchly Award 2007 by the IEEE and ACM; Seymour Cray Award 2015 by IEEE; Harry Goode Award 2009 by IEEE: ACM Distinguished Service Award 2012; Euro-Par Achievement Award 2015; the Spanish National Julio Rey Pastor award, in recognition of research in Mathematics; the Spanish National Award "Leonardo Torres Quevedo" that recognizes research in engineering; the "King Jaime I" in basic research given by Generalitat Valenciana; the Research Award by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation and the "Aragón Award" 2008 given by the Government of Aragón. He has been named Honorary Doctor by the University of Chalmers, by the University of Belgrade, by the Universities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Zaragoza, Complutense de Madrid, Cantabria and Granada in Spain and by the University of Veracruz in Mexico. "Hall of the Fame" member of the ICT European Program (selected as one of the 25 most influents European researchers in IT during the period 1983-2008. Lyon, November 2008)
In December 1994, Professor Valero became a founding member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Engineering. In 2005 he was elected Correspondant Academic of the Spanish Royal Academy of Science, in 2006 member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Doctors, in 2008 member of the Academia Europaea and in 2012 Correspondant Academic of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, Fellow of the ACM and an Intel Distinguished Research Fellow.
In 1998 he won a "Favourite Son" Award of his home town, Alfamén (Zaragoza) and in 2006, his native town of Alfamén named their Public College after him.
New Frontiers in Computing
Michael McCool (Intel, USA)
Abstract: Recently some exciting changes have taken place in computing. I will be presenting an update on Intel's involvement in these developments. First, powerful many-core graphics accelerators continue to be integrated into Intel desktop and mobile processors. The latest Gen 9 graphics cores in Intel's 6th generation (Skylake) processors have some interesting new capabilities, especially around their ability to share data with the CPU cores on the same chip. Their performance is also scaling extremely rapidly with each generation, so much so that they have become interesting targets for non-graphics computations. Secondly, Intel recently closed an acquisition of Altera. Altera FPGAs bring a set of new opportunities in computing with are complementary to Intel's traditional strengths. FPGAs can and are being used for acceleration, but also have unique capabilities to support hard real-time computing and flexible hardware interfaces. They are also capable of accelerating computations at lower power levels than alternative approaches. The key challenge with FPGAs is making the programming model approachable to traditional software developers. Third, Intel's Xeon Phi architecture continues to evolve and find new applications. I will survey some of the opportunities and issues with this architecture. Massively parallel and vectorised programming is the key to taking advantage of the Intel Xeon Phi architecture. I will review some of the parallel programming models that have developed for it. Fourth, Intel has been pushing down further into low power, lightweight processors to enable the Internet of Things, but there are many challenges to be overcome in the programming model before the IoT can reach its full potential. Fifth, I will talk about the requirements for an emerging new class of computing platforms: robots. Finally, to wrap up, I will discuss neuromorphic computing and its potential for dramatically transforming computing.
Michael McCool , Intel Principal Engineer, has degrees in Computer Engineering (University of Waterloo, BASc) and Computer Science (University of Toronto, M.Sc. and PhD.) with specializations in mathematics (BASc) and biomedical engineering (MSc) as well as computer graphics and parallel computing (MSc, PhD). He has research and application experience in the areas of data mining, computer graphics (specifically sampling, rasterization, path rendering, texture hardware, antialiasing, shading, illumination, function approximation, compression, and visualization), medical imaging, signal and image processing, financial analysis, and parallel languages and programming platforms. In order to commercialize research work into many-core computing platforms done while he was an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, in 2004 he co-founded RapidMind, which in 2009 was acquired by Intel. Currently he is a software architect with Intel working on programming models for both parallel computing on the one hand, and embedded systems (including internet-enabled embedded systems) on the other. In addition to his university teaching, he has presented numerous tutorials at Eurographics, SIGGRAPH, and SC on graphics and/or parallel computing, and has co-authored three books. The most recent book, Structured Parallel Programming, was co-authored with James Reinders and Arch Robison. It presents a pattern-based approach to parallel programming using a large number of examples in Intel Cilk Plus and Intel Threading Building Blocks. Most recently, he is collaborating with the Intel Edison team on the development of suitable programming model that combines low-level high-performance device control with sophisticated internet capabilities.
Modality of CMOS Image Sensor Competition
Teruo Hirayama (Sony, Japan)
Abstract: The CMOS image sensor is currently dominant on the image sensor market. However, until the early 2000s, CCD was mainly used in video cameras and digital still cameras, because its image quality was superior to that of the CMOS image sensor. Through development of improved technology and utilization of its benefits including original high-speed, low power consumption, and digital output, the CMOS image sensor has been widely used in smart phones and replaced CCD as the main image sensor on the market in the late 2000s. In addition to video cameras, digital still cameras, and smartphones, use of CMOS image sensor has spread to such areas as security-monitoring, in-vehicles, and medical. In these fields, it needs to utilize photon information such as infrared light, distance, polarization, etc., which have not been used very much for video cameras or digital still cameras. I will describe the key points to expand the image sensor market, including how the CMOS image sensor replaced CCD.
Teruo Hirayama received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan in 1981 and joined the Sony Corporation the same year. He started in the research division of the semiconductor group, where he worked on SRAM, CMOS LSI, and then developed a stacked wide band DRAM on a LOGIC chip. He joined the image sensor division in 2002 where he developed a back-illuminated CMOS image sensor and a stacked image sensor, which were launched onto the market in 2009 and 2012, respectively. He became senior general manager of the semiconductor technology development division in 2010 and was responsible for the development of semiconductor devices. He became Corporate Executive in June 2013 and was appointed as president of the device and material R&D group on April 1, 2014, where he is currently responsible for R&D of displays, batteries, and adding material to semiconductor devices.
Power Optimization Leveraging FPGA and Voltage Regulator Chip Co-Design
Ashraf Lotfi (Intel, USA)
Abstract: This talk will discuss areas of power savings that can be attained by considering the design of a voltage regulator (VR) concurrently with its FPGA loads. By knowing the power state of an FPGA in time and temperature one can communicate vital information to specially designed VRs where degrees of freedom can be leveraged to reduce the total power consumption seen by the power source driving the point-of-load VR delivering power to the FPGA. Areas of optimization and co-design include: (a) VR design techniques such as VR accuracy, reduction of IR drop and splitting VRs into smaller sections that can also act as power gates; or (b) VR control algorithm techniques that allow for computation of optimum operating points, particularly at full power and high temperature states as well as possibilities for future implementation of dynamic power savings.
Ashraf Lotfi is Intel Fellow and CTO of PSG's Power Products Business Unit. He joined Altera in 2013 upon leading Enpirion to its acquisition by Altera as its Founder and CEO. Prior to founding Enpirion, he was Director of the power management research department at Bell Laboratories where he led the development of advanced high frequency power technologies applied to the telecom dc-dc power product lines of AT&T.
The Multiscale Dataflow Computing Chip
Oskar Mencer (Imperial College London and
Maxeler Technologies, UK)
Abstract: Multiscale Dataflow Computing consists of a core architecture as well as a design process for splitting computing into a control-plane and data-plane, similar to software defined networking[1]. Currently, Maxeler's dataflow computers are running on top of large amounts of DRAM connected via FPGA chips, yielding a 20-50x speed advantage[2] over top end microprocessors. To achieve a further 10-20x in performance, Maxeler is designing a Dataflow computing chip capable of maximizing performance per cubic foot of datacenter space as well as maximizing performance per Watt (and performance per power supply). Over the years, Maxeler has shown a wide range of applications running very efficiently on dataflow computers, such as Seismic Imaging, Monte Carlo simulations, video encoding, Quantum Chromodynamics, (financial) transaction processing, SNORT, climate modelling, CFD, and machine learning. The vast infrastructure and collection of applications will form the basis for deployment in the Cloud as well as a justification to build a completely new kind of computing device. For a gallery of applications see http://appgallery.maxeler.com
[1] www.openspl.org
[2] M. J. Flynn, O. Mencer, V. Milutinovic, G. Rakocevic, P. Stenstrom, R. Trobec, M. Valero: "Moving from Petaflops to Petadata", Communications of the ACM, May 2013
Oskar Mencer got a B.Sc (Summa Cum Laude) from the Technion in Israel, a skiing teacher diploma from Austria, and a PhD from Stanford University. During his studies, Oskar was a HIVIPS researcher at Hitachi Central Research Laboratories in Kokubunji where Oskar learned about the importance of power supplies for supercomputers. After his studies, Dr Mencer joined the Computing Sciences Center of Bell Labs in Murray Hill and later in 2003 founded Maxeler Technologies. In 2006 Oskar gave a keynote titled "Computing with FPGAs" at the CoolChips conference in Yokohama, in 2011 JP Morgan deployed the first Maxeler supercomputer in Finance, and on Dec 28, 2015, Intel bought Altera. Inbetween, Professor Mencer was a Consulting Professor in Geophysics at Stanford University and has been on the faculty of the Department of Computing at Imperial College London since 2001. Oskar's work at Imperial won two Best Paper Awards, an Imperial College Research Excellence Award in 2007 and a Special Award from Com.sult in 2012 for "revolutionising the world of computers". In addition to computers, Oskar likes Tables Tennis and plays in the 2nd division of the Central London Table Tennis league.
Invited Presentations |
NanoBridge-based FPGA in Harsh Environments
Makoto Miyamura (NEC, Japan)
Abstract: High-temperature operations are essential in harsh environments for the control units of robot, automobile, spacecraft and so on. Further advancement of computing power for the accurate control of these apparatus is also an increasing demand. As a solution for such applications, specific microcontrollers have been adopted. They offer a good programmability and high reliability, but in turn, it has a limited performance in real-time and low-power processing. We have developed a novel non-volatile and small-footprint switching element, called NanoBridge (NB). The NB is a via-like (i.e., inter-metal layer) switching element with low capacitance. Due to its endurance against high temperature, noise, and radiation, NB-based FPGA is suitable for the control units in harsh environments. The advantage of the low-voltage and intermittent operation also allow NB-FPGA to be used as power efficient off-loader for widely spreading IoT devices.
Makoto Miyamura received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electronic Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 2000 and 2002, respectively. After joining NEC Corporation, Japan, he worked on the research of the random variability in highly-scaled MOSFETs and low power CMOS process with high-k gate dielectric. From 2008 to 2009, he was a visiting researcher at Stanford University, CA. He is currently with the Green Platform Research Laboratories in NEC and his research project is concerned with the resistive change device and its application such as FPGA.
Panel Discussion |
Topics: "Computing and Communication Evolution for IoT Innovations"
Organizer and Moderator:
Hiroaki Nishi (Keio University, Japan)
Abstract: "Internet of Things" connects everything to provide new services. These new services confront severe requirements represented by the fact that systems handle the real world. Moreover, ubiquitous IoT devices generate a tremendous amount of data. This data concentration also makes it difficult to accomplish the requirements. Thus, future computing and communication systems have to face this difficulty. Now, computing and communication evolution is truly desired. This panel session discusses what kinds of computing and communication evolution are desired and expected and how to achieve them.
Special Sessions (invited lectures) |
Inter/Intra-Chip Optical Networks
Jiang Xu (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
Abstract: The performance and energy efficiency of a computing system is determined not only by its processors, memories, storage, and peripherals but also how efficiently they communicate with each other. As new applications continuously require more communication bandwidth, metallic interconnects gradually become the bottlenecks of computing systems due to their high power consumption, limited bandwidth, and signal integrity issues. Optical interconnect networks based on silicon photonic devices can potentially offer ultra-high bandwidth, low power, and low latency to address in-rack, inter-chip, and intra-chip communication challenges. Silicon-based photonic devices, such as optical waveguides and microresonators, have been demonstrated in CMOS-compatible fabrication processes and can be used to build low-cost inter/intra-chip optical networks. This talk will discuss the opportunities and challenges of this emerging technology and present our recent findings.
Jiang Xu received his Ph.D. degree from Princeton University. and discovered the First Generation Dilemma in platform-based SoC design methodologies. He was a Research Associate at NEC Laboratories America, NJ, from 2003 to 2005 and working on Network-on-Chip designs and implementations. He joined a startup company, Sandbridge Technologies, NY, from 2005 to 2007 and worked on the development and implementation of two generations of NoC-based ultra-low power Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip for mobile platforms. Dr. Xu established OPTICS (Optical/Photonic Technology for Interconnected Computing System) Lab, Mobile Computing System Lab, and Xilinx-HKUST Joint Lab at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He currently serves as the Area Editor of NoC, SoC, and GPU for ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems and Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems. He served on the steering committees, organizing committees, and technical program committees of many international conferences, including DAC, ICCAD, CASES, ICCD, EMSOFT, CODES+ISSS, NOCS, RTCSA, ASP-DAC, etc. Dr. Xu is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and was an ACM Distinguished Speaker. He authored and coauthored more than 90 book chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences. He and his students received Best Paper Award from IEEE Computer Society Annual Symposium on VLSI in 2009, and Best Poster Award from AMD Technical Forum and Exhibition in 2010. He coauthored a book titled Algorithms, Architecture and System-on-Chip Design for Wireless Applications (Cambridge University Press). His research areas include network-on-chip, multiprocessor system-on-chip, optical interconnect, embedded system, computer architecture, low-power VLSI design, and HW/SW codesign.
Architectural Approaches to using STT-RAM for Low-Power Caches
Kiyoung Choi (Seoul National University)
Abstract: Spin-Transfer Torque RAM (STT-RAM), a non-volatile magnetoresistive memory, is getting much attention these days due to its excellent characteristics. In particular, there are attempts to use it for on-chip caches since it is fast enough, scalable, and easily integrated into a CMOS chip. This talk presents various architectural approaches to using STT-RAM for on-chip caches. In particular, it presents various techniques to alleviate the overhead in writing data into the STT-RAM and thus reduce power consumption without degrading the system performance. The approaches target instruction caches, data caches, as well as unified last-level caches in single core or multi-core architectures.
Kiyoung Choi is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University. Before he joined Seoul National University, he had worked for Cadence Design Systems from 1989 to 1991. He received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, all in EE, from Seoul National University, KAIST, and Stanford University, respectively. He also worked for LG (Gold Star at that time) from 1978 to 1983. His main research areas include computer-aided electronic systems design and computer architecture, and his current research interests are in manycore architecture, stochastic computing, and machine learning.


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US Airways appears to be next in line to charge for onboard pillows and blankets, according to Today in the Sky. The airline plans to take complimentary pillows and blankets off its planes, and is simply waiting to select a vendor to provide a for-purchase option.
Following last week's news that JetBlue is eliminating free pillows and blankets and replacing them with an upgraded product for purchase, I expected a great deal of outrage to pour forth from readers. I know JetBlue's move irritated me, for a number of reasons. To my surprise, however, most people were glad to see the end of those reused airplane blankets and pillows, and pledged to purchase JetBlue's $7 set, which is the passenger's to keep.
So if US Airways' scheme is similar, and the new blankets and pillows are an improvement over the old, I imagine people will similarly be receptive to the idea. Does this mean we finally have a fee worth paying? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think.
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subset: commoncrawl


text: All the stones and covered tea saucers from my show at Craftland in Providence Rhode Island sold except these four. The money was donated to Doctors without Borders for their work in Haiti. These stones returned home and I have listed them in my etsy shop today. The money obtained from their sale will be donated to relief efforts in Chile.


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Most people are familiar with blogs and blogging. Blogs are online journals or diaries where you can write about things that interest you or just write about your life. It's mostly a personal endeavor more in line with social media material, but also serves the purpose of promoting business ideas and commercial marketing. Read on to find tips to make your running a blog experience more enjoyable for yourself and your audience.
Don't go overboard with SEO keywords, extra plugins, advertising, or pictures. This will only cause you to get flagged by search engines and make it harder to find you. Write in a natural manner which is enjoyable to read.
Making comments on other blogs can be very helpful in attracting visitors to your blog. If you have a Google Reader account, create a folder for blogs in your niche that provide high-quality content. Comment on them on a regular basis whenever you want to say something.
Be careful to never copy content from anywhere. Plagiarism is a serious ethical offense, and the reputation you are working so hard to establish can easily be marred if you engage in it. To be successful with your blog it's not important to be a trained writer, but you must be passionate about your topic.
As you develop your blog, think about buying a domain name of your own instead of utilizing free sites. It is fairly inexpensive to purchase your own name, and it will give you a more professional appearance. Including your business's name or some other memorable phrase in your title will make it easier to remember.
The blogs that are popular and most well done grab the attention of readers. By applying the tips laid out here, you will learn to be a conscientious, interesting blogger who can attract more readers. You can either blog for pleasure or for money. With dedication and passion, your blog has a much greater chance of success.


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Go behind the scenes of our Players team with Engineering Manager and amazing-beard-owner: Carlos! Get a taste of life at The Workshop with Carlos and his team of software engineers who obsess over delivering the best ecosystem for our gaming platform, handling millions of active players with a substantial tech stack…
- Java
- Spring
- Angular
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- RabbitMQ
- Kafka
- ElasticSearch
- Cassandra
Join Carlos as he answers our quick-fire questions:
- What does he love most about his role?
- How does his team face its challenges?
- And why does he think it's such a great place to work?
Watch the video to find out!
Carlos and the team have some upcoming challenges like big data integration and security improvements, so if you like what you see, why not join us?
Check out the Players team roles here and get in touch!


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Mehdi Shiva, University of Oxford
In Afghanistan, about 11 million people – 35% of the population – are struggling to get access to decent food. The years of conflict have played a part, and a bad harvest has helped to drive up food prices, but much of the problem relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures introduced to deal with it. Nearly 4 million people are one step away from famine.
Afghanistan reported its first COVID-19 case in February 2020. The government brought in containment measures, introduced screening at border crossings, quarantined infected people and banned public gatherings. It imposed a countrywide lockdown the following month, including closing workplaces, and subsequently extended it twice. In other words, it responded similarly to many wealthier countries. Yet the results have been noticeably more painful.
Border closures, panic buying and disrupted planting all contributed to severe food shortages and the rise in prices. Together with job losses and reduced household income as restrictions weakened the economy and hampered trade, it pushed thousands of Afghan families into poverty. This threatens to reverse social development gains made over the past decade, such as reduced infant mortality.
I recently co-authored a study into how COVID responses affected different countries. Our findings question whether low-income countries were right to restrict economic activity to the same extent as more developed ones. In future, they might be better pursuing COVID policies that save as many lives but have lower economic costs.
Containment contrasts
Containment has lowered COVID-19 fatality rates significantly across the globe. It has slowed transmission, giving national health services time to prepare for people with serious symptoms, while still being able to care for non-COVID patients. However, these benefits vary by a country's income level. By our calculations, similar measures were almost twice as effective at cutting deaths in rich countries than poor ones. There are similar findings from another study about the effect of containment on infection rates.
One reason for this variation is that hospitals in poorer countries were already overstretched before COVID, and their ability to increase the provision of healthcare was limited. For example, a World Health Organization survey of 47 African countries in May 2020 revealed on average nine intensive care unit beds per 1 million people, compared with about 2,000 to 11,000 per 1 million in EU countries.
Social distancing has also been difficult in many poor countries because they don't have the resources to enforce such restrictions. And most people need to go out of their house for basic needs, pandemic or not. For example, 90% of people in Afghanistan do not enjoy simultaneous access to electricity, clean water and good sanitation.
Workplace closures
When it comes to shutting workplaces, our results are particularly interesting. We used econometric modelling to compare the effects in different countries of workplace closures that were full, partial and recommended as opposed to mandatory.
In high-income and middle-income countries, full closures were associated with the highest reduction in fatalities (we did not weigh the economic costs and benefits). This was in line with academic predictions published at the beginning of the pandemic. On the other hand, full workplace closures in low-income countries were no more effective at reducing COVID fatalities than the alternatives that we considered. Why would this be?
Again, lack of resources such as policing has made it hard for these countries to enforce the rules. Blanket workplace closures also assume that households can tolerate the economic and psychological pressures that quickly arise, but many in developing countries cannot. Workers prevented from working have not been cushioned by unemployment benefits, government furlough schemes or cash grants for food.
Weaker healthcare is also part of the equation. Clearing the streets by using workplace closures – albeit with only partial success – may reduce the spread of the virus. But it will convert less well into fewer fatalities unless the health system can treat people effectively.
You therefore have a policy that is undermined from within by a combination of poor enforcement and a strong incentive for workers to ignore the rules, and from the outside by a health system that is too weak to make the most of any benefits. Yet as the case of Afghanistan suggests, low-income countries are still likely to pay a hefty economic price for workplace closures even if they are not particularly successful.
The targeted approach
So what could developing countries do instead of full workplace closures? Many development specialists make a compelling case for using a more targeted approach to closing workplaces. This would involve tailoring measures for local conditions rather than blindly emulating the full closures in high-income countries.
For example, a study from 2020 suggested that instead of a comprehensive lockdown in India, a better strategy might have been to allow young adults to work while older members of households were insulated and cared for by their families. This would have reduced the economic damage from lockdown while still protecting those who needed it the most.
Another targeted approach might be to close only labour-intensive workplaces, potentially imposing a temporary tax on workplaces that stay open to help compensate workers subject to closures. Such options would be worth considering in India right now.
Clearly, mass vaccination roll-outs in low-income nations are also an essential part of the answer. We have seen a huge disparity so far, with wealthy countries vaccinating one person every second while the majority of the poorest nations are yet to give a single dose. As things stand, most poor nations will not achieve mass COVID immunisation before 2024. Unless this is brought forward, a smarter approach to shutting down economies will not be able to deliver results.
Mehdi Shiva, Economist, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


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Cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and Africa bear rich fruits
In recent years, cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and Africa, both with a long history and a splendid civilization, have played an essential role in promoting exchanges, mutual learning, and harmonious co-existence between the civilizations of the two sides, bringing the two peoples closer to each other and providing rich cultural nourishment for China-Africa cooperation.
Thanks to a China-funded project named "Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages (or "Wan Cun Tong" in Chinese)," residents of a remote village in Wakiso district, Uganda, which used to have a poor TV signal, can now watch digital satellite TV programs with clear pictures for free.
Children in a village located in a suburb of Bouake city, Cote d'Ivoire, watch Chinese martial arts, or Kung Fu, movie on television. The village got access to digital satellite television signal thanks to a project named "Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages (or "Wan Cun Tong" in Chinese)", which was funded by Chinese government and undertaken by Chinese companies. (Photo/Courtesy of StarTimes)
Besides people's homes, local clinics, primary schools, and other public areas have also been covered by digital satellite TV signals. While enriching villagers' cultural life, the project undertaken by Chinese companies also provides technical support for schools in remote education.
So far, the project has been carried out in more than 20 African countries, under which digital TV sets have been installed in 10,000 villages.
In addition, China has also assisted with and implemented cooperation projects for radio and TV centers in Seychelles, Comoros, Tanzania, and Mauritius. Relevant projects have improved the capacity of local broadcasting systems and played important roles in local cultural communication.
Chinese people and African people share the aspiration of making their homelands beautiful places where people can live in harmony with nature. As a result, they have worked together to pursue green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable development and protect the lush mountains and lucid waters as well as living beings.
In Kenya's Nairobi National Park, wild animals such as giraffes, antelopes, and rhinos are often seen foraging or strolling. At the same time, advanced trains pass the park along the Chinese-built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), which makes traveling easier for the locals.
Young people in Ghana learn high value-added Chinese techniques for weaving furniture with bamboo and rattan at a China-aided training program. (Photo/Website of China International Development Cooperation Agency)
Upholding the idea of harmonious coexistence between human and nature, a basic principle of sustainable development, Chinese constructors of the railway have, based on extensive investigations and research into the living habits and migration routes of local wild animals, built 14 wildlife crossings for large animals and 79 bridges along the route.
The clear height of all the wildlife crossings is above 6.5 meters so giraffes can pass without lowering heads.
The constructors of the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR have also paid great attention to protecting the vegetation of the Mombasa Mangrove Wetland Park. They have tried to ensure the normal growth of the mangroves through multiple measures, including building detours and installing pipe culverts in advance.
Covering an area of more than 2,000 square kilometers, the Mana Pools National Park and the Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas in Zimbabwe, which have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a single natural World Heritage site, are inhabited by various wild animals, including elephants, lions, leopards, hippos, and crocodiles. They were also one of the famous bushmeat hunting areas in Africa and used to be disturbed by armed poachers.
Chinese and Zimbabwean anti-poaching volunteers conduct an aerial patrol on a delta-wing powered hang glider at Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. (Photo/Courtesy of Peaceland Foundation)
Since 2015, Peaceland Foundation, a Beijing-based non-profit organization, has sent six batches of Chinese anti-poaching volunteers to the World Heritage site. These volunteers have brought advanced devices with them, such as delta-wing powered hang gliders, rubber dinghies, and night-vision devices, and led local rangers in conducting aerial and water patrol with such devices, significantly improving the application of sci-tech in and the effectiveness of anti-poaching efforts of the locality.
Because of the joint efforts of relevant Chinese and African teams, poaching in the World Heritage site had almost been eradicated by 2019.
Next year, Chinese anti-poaching volunteers will go to Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania to carry out new tasks for animal protection and tackling climate change.
Related Stories
- China-Africa cooperation in new era
- China's COVID-19 vaccine aid to Africa to travel long distance, outpace virus: FM
- Africa says China's vaccine pledge timely
- China, Africa to renew ties with sincere friendship, equality
- China, Africa pledge to step up cooperation
- China, Africa pledge to strengthen cooperation on tackling climate change
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Bristol Commercial Vehicles Enthusiasts
XOI2506 in World War 3
was acquired by Quietus Productions in 2005 for use in the filming of "Children of Men", a gritty story set in a grim war-torn future. Its appearance was completely transformed from the attractive lines of its Alexander (Belfast) bodywork to armoured prisoner transportation vehicle. The two photos below show the before and after condition of the RELL6G. After filming 2506 was eventually sold to a private owner in Norfolk for conversion to a mobile home, but this was never completed and it was sold to preservationists for spares use at Wythall Bus Museum.
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Three in 10 single parents 'have skipped meals due to rising prices'
Around three in 10 (31%) single-parent households have skipped meals due to rising food prices, according to Which?
This is around double the proportion of parents in couples (15%) and 14% of people across the consumer group's survey generally.
One 43-year-old woman from the North West of England told researchers: "I can't do anything other than pay bills and can barely feed my children some weeks. I walk around the supermarket adding up what I can spend."
And a 34-year-old parent from Scotland said: "I'm not eating properly so that I have enough money to feed and clothe my kids and still have enough to put in my electricity meter."
Which? said statistics indicate single-parent and retired households tend to spend a greater proportion of their budgets on food, energy and fuel, which have all seen large price hikes during the cost-of-living crisis.
Its consumer insight tracker research found parents – especially single ones – are particularly likely to have made financial adjustments due to the rising cost of living.
Nearly eight in 10 (79%) single parents and three-quarters (74%) of couples with children surveyed said they had made at least one financial adjustment – such as cutting back on essentials, selling items or dipping into savings – in the previous month to cover essential spending. This compares with six in 10 (62%) among everyone surveyed.
Nearly a fifth (19%) of single-parent households and one in seven (14%) couples with children said they had missed or defaulted on a vital payment in the previous month – such as a mortgage, rent, credit card or bill payment.
Pensioners were the least likely to have missed a payment. However, the single pensioners surveyed were more than twice as likely to report a missed payment (2.6%) than pensioner couples (1%).
The consumer champion's research also found that one in seven (15%) parents would struggle to pay an unexpected but necessary bill of £300 and that they are also the household type most likely to rely on food banks.
One in 10 (8%) of single parents and 5% of parents in couples surveyed said they had used a food bank in the previous two months. This compares with 3% of those surveyed overall.
An unpaid carer from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in his 50s, told Which?: "I used to come home with four or five bags but now it's three bags. I'm paying the same price for less products – even with the special offers. Meat is very expensive now. I think Sunday lunch will be a thing of the past.
"I sometimes go without eating as I prioritise food for my son. I've lost a lot of weight since April."
Which? said businesses have an important role to play in helping consumers during the cost-of-living crisis.
As part of its affordable food for all campaign, the consumer group has published a plan, setting out specific steps supermarkets can take around clear and transparent pricing, improving the availability of affordable food ranges and targeted promotions for customers who need them most.
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: "Our research has found that families across the UK are struggling with the rising cost of living – with single parents most likely to be skipping meals or turning to food banks to make ends meet.
"As food prices continue to increase, it is crucial that everyone is able to access affordable food that is healthy for themselves and their families.
"While the Government has a crucial role to play, supermarkets can also play their part in helping their customers navigate the tough months ahead."
More than 4,100 people were surveyed across the UK for the Which? research.
Published: by Radio NewsHub


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Insulation Entry Kit
Pipe Mounted Insulation Entry Kit
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David Edward Blewett, age 20 of Waterford, died Monday, July 11, 2011, as the result of a car accident in Waterford Township. He was born on December 7, 1990, the son of Brian Edward Blewett and Tammie Renea Clawson Ruckman, both of Waterford.
David graduated from Fort LeBoeuf High School in 2009, and had worked for NAPA Auto Parts, and most recently as a technician at Davis Auto Service in Waterford. David enjoyed hunting and archery, 4-wheeling with his truck, and having a good time with his friends. He will always be remembered for his great sense of humor, and for all the fun times he made with those who loved him. Many would agree that David had a special way of making his friends laugh.
He was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, David and Maxine Clawson, and his great-grandparents, Harry and Virginia Ruckman and Dorras Blewett.
Along with his parents, David is survived by his step-parents, Tina Blewett and Harry Ruckman IV, and his six step-siblings: Harry Ruckman V, Elliott Ruckman, Hunter Ruckman, Ashley Nicholson, Tyler Szklenski, and Kaitlyn Szklenski. He is also survived by his grandparents: Ginger Ruckman of Fairview, Frank and Carol Blewett of Lake Elsinore, CA, Vern and Jean Flook of Waterford, and Harry III and Cheryl Ruckman of Waterford; as well as several aunts, uncles, and cousins.
David's girlfriend, Savana Stephens, also died in Monday's car accident, and calling hours will be observed for both of them on Thursday from 2-5 and 7-9 p.m. at the Van Matre Funeral Home, 105 Walnut Street, Waterford. A funeral service for David will be held at the funeral home on Friday at 10:00 a.m. with Pastor Andy Kerr of McLane Church officiating. Burial will follow at Waterford Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the family.


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Summary of sermon by Erlo Stegen, 19 Apr 2015
1Pet 1:5-13
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
God's word is marvelous. It reveals to us the inexpressible marvels of heaven. As a child I thought what a privilege the disciples had to be physically present with the Lord. They heard Jesus speaking about the mysteries of heaven, and saw His miracles. But now we experience the blessing that Jesus mentioned to Thomas, 'blessed are those who believe though not having seen' (John 20:29). We also now have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit with us continually. And we can experience Jesus Himself indwelling us, so our privilege is much greater!
In verse 8 we read, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory".
There was a Muslim woman all the way from Iran who visited us here. She shared her testimony. She had a very ill child and she prayed to Allah to heal her child, but he didn't get better. Then she prayed in Jesus' name and the child got well. Then she searched about Jesus in a dictionary and decided that she was going to serve Him from then on. As she walked in her town she saw two men whom she instinctively knew were Christians and she stared at them as though they were angels. She watched them closely to see how they conducted themselves. Eventually she came here to KwaSizabantu and shared her testimony with us. To her Christians were like angels.
How do people perceive you? Is Jesus more than just a name to you? Do you experience Him as our text says with joy unspeakable and full of glory? Do you know this joy which is eternal? We read of Moses that he chose the suffering with the children of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25). The world's joy is like a bubble which glistens so beautifully in the sun but when you touch it it pops and all its beauty is gone. The pleasures of sin is just an illusion, like a mirage in the desert.
In verse 10 we read, "of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you"
The prophets prophesied about our Saviour, His suffering, death and resurrection and the great joy afterwards and enquired what it meant, but it was hid from them. God hid it from them only to be revealed at the proper time when Jesus came.
His suffering wasn't just the physical suffering He experienced, but also the suffering because of your and my sin. But He saw the result of His suffering, that many would be made righteous, and was satisfied (Is 53:11). He saw you and me. Even on the Cross He cried, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?' It was because of your and my sin that God the Father forsook Him!
If we do not turn to Him after all that He had done our condemnation will be worse than the heathen that never heard. We read how the angels rejoiced and spoke together glorifying God (Luke 2:14), when He was born. Imagine the great rejoicing in Heaven when He ascended again to heaven. What do the angels see in you?
Can the Father in Heaven say that He doesn't regret the work His Son had done for you? Can God and the angels see the glory of Jesus in your life? If you are not touched and changed by this, it's a tragedy.
May the glory of the Lord be seen in you.


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Micron has this week introduced its new 5210 ION SSD specifically designed for data centres and based on QLC NAND Flash. Offering users the world's first quad-level cell (QLC) SSD, the Micron 5210 ION "delivers the speed needed at the right price to unshackle read-intensive workloads from the slow performance of HDDs".
"Turn analysis into action like never before with the Micron 5210 ION SSD. The Micron 5210 SSD delivers the speed needed at the right price to unshackle read-intensive workloads from the slow performance of HDDs. Real-time analytics, big data, media streaming, block and object stores, and data "lake" queries that feed artificial intelligence and machine learning can all benefit from your ability to deliver insights and intelligence at the speed of now with the Micron 5210 SSD."
"The robust adoption of the Micron 5210 SSD since launching two years ago is indicative of the rise of QLC technology in the data center," said Roger Peene, vice president of marketing for Storage Business Unit at Micron. "We are proud of the role we have played in driving adoption of the emerging QLC data center category, providing customers with benefits ranging from more speed and lower latencies to significant power savings and competitive economics."
Features of the new Micron 5210 ION Data-center SSD :
– QLC firmware innovations- An industry first, Micron's latest QLC custom firmware helps remove QLC endurance concerns and workload limitations, enabling QLC SSDs to reliably replace HDDs in general-purpose servers and storage.
– 960 GB SKU- Micron's new 960 GB SKU (now generally available) satisfies strong customer demand to replace 900 GB to 1.2 TB 10K HDDs with cost-competitive SATA QLC SSDs.
– OEM qualifications- The Micron 5210 is now qualified by most major server OEMs, providing end customers numerous supply chain options and confidence that the 5210 has been stringently tested.
– VMware vSAN-certified- The Micron 5210 is newly certified on VMware vSAN and one of the most cost-effective ways to move to all-flash vSAN.
Source : Micron
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Gayathri Raghuram's twitter account has been suspended!
For the past few days, we have seen Gayathri Raghuram tweeting angry tweets after her conflict with Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan. The actress and choreographer who is a huge supporter of BJP have been posting tweets alleging that Thirumavalavan's men had been harassing her assistant via phone calls.
Gayathri had also challenged them and posted a tweet asking them to come and meet her in Marina on 27th November. She had posted some controversial views of him meeting Sri Lankan president recently. Now Gayathri's twitter account which had 3.64 lakhs followers has been suspended following a complaint given by the IT Wing of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal party.


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the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
"The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself."
— Karl Marx
Oct 7, 2002
On September 28, the largest peace demonstration since the Gulf War, and perhaps even since Vietnam, took place in London. There were 140,000 demonstrators according to the police, and over 300,000 according to the organizers. An unusual fact is that there were also 60 government representatives from the Labor Party who chose to disassociate themselves from Prime Minister Tony Blair by supporting this demonstration. It's an indication they're worried about the attitudes of the population.
Blair certainly has tried to convince the British population to change its opinion. Months ago he announced he had "incontestable proof" of the danger Saddam Hussein represented to the world in general and to Great Britain in particular. This obviously didn't have the effect Blair wanted. Public opinion polls show that more than 75% of the population is now opposed to the war rhetoric of Blair against Iraq, and that this opposition has been increasing.
Finally on Tuesday, September 24, with a big media splash, Blair released his 50-page document that supposedly gave "incontestable proof."The massive British demonstration four days later shows that a significant part of the population wasn't fooled by this latest propaganda stunt.
Demonstrations against war in Iraq have also taken place in the U.S. Although much smaller than the one in London, such demonstrations show there is a part of the U.S. population that has the reflex to oppose the wars which have been so disastrous for the working class and for large parts of the whole population.


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Due to community and performer concerns about the new coronavirus, City of Parramatta Council is postponing its Lunar New Year celebrations that were set to take place on Friday 7th February. We'll update you when a new date has been set.
Parramatta's Lunar New Year celebration is a great few hours for the whole family! It showcases the beautiful and colourful traditions of South East Asian culture, with plenty of food, performances, free activities and a fireworks finale. Lunar New Year is an annual community festival to mark the New Year in the Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean Calendars, which starts this year on 25th January.
What's On Offer at Parramatta's Lunar New Year Celebration
Experience traditional and contemporary performances on the main stage, including:
- Sydney Yun Yee Tong Dragon and Lion Dance
- Internationally-renowned Nanjan and Pan Korean Percussion group who are set to bring Korea's traditional performing arts to life on stage
- Midnight Pool Party with a fusion of electro, dance and hip hop music
- Singers Yoni Yen and Clarissa Mei
- Fan dancing
- Kung Fu demonstrations
- Sydney Youth Dragon and Association Lion Dance Troupe
- Sydney Garden Shire Chinese Folk and Art Group
- Dancekool.
2Lunar Land Workshops
The family fun Lunar Land is back with new workshops and free activities for everyone. We recommend getting there early as you may need to put your name down for some activities beforehand.
- Drum-making
- Chinese calligraphy
- K-Pop and hip-hop
Enjoy delicious food and drinks from across Asia including rainbow dumplings from Mr Wangs, Filipino Firepops, Tsuru Food Truck, The Ginger Tiger, Korean BBQ and more. Sweeten it all up with dessert from fan favourites Koi Dessert Bar, Mix Mix Co, and TEBU Sugarcane.
Plus don't miss our exclusive Asian-inspired Lunar New Year cocktails in the Lunar Lounge, brought to you by What On Tap.
4Firecracker Finale
To top it off, there will be a special firecracker finale with music, light and dance at 9.30pm in front of Town Hall.
Important Information and Tips
- We recommend going early to make it easier to get food and join in the activities. This is a popular event and lines can be very long for food and activities.
- There will be firecrackers set off at 9:30pm in front of Town Hall. These can be quite scary/ unsettling for little ones.
- There are toilets at Centenary Square near the water fountains, as well as port-a-loos towards the station.
- There's a water refill station between the water fountains and the toilets.
- The water fountains in Centenary Square will be on.
- There are a number of nearby car parks, including City Centre Secure Parking, Westfield Parramatta and Eat Street Secure Car Park.
Finding Parramatta's Lunar New Year Celebrations
Parramatta's Lunar New Year Celebrations, hosted by City of Parramatta Council, are held in Centenary Square, which is located on Church Street between Macquarie and Darcey Streets.
- Public transport: Centenary Square is only a few minutes walk away from the Parramatta transport interchange and Westfield Parramatta.
- Parking: The nearest car parks are the City Centre Secure Parking and Westfield Parramatta. Eat Street Secure Car Park is also an easy walk away.
Other Lunar New Year Events and Activities
If you're not able to make the Parramatta Lunar New Year celebration, here are about 10 other local ones to attend.
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Do you like Injustice: Gods Among Us, but aren't super big on Superman? It's okay, a lot of people aren't, but you might want to at least know some of the backstory behind one of Kal-El's most formidable opponents – General Zod.
The official Injustice YouTube channel recently uploaded a new trailer that goes into the history behind General Zod, or at least the history as told in the Injustice universe. Those who have only seen the latest Man of Steel film will find his origin story to be a little different.
If you want to see how Zod plays, check out his first gameplay trailer that was revealed last week.
It should also be noted that the Injustice DLC that's already available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the title is finally available for the Wii U version as well.


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The ACSD-51204 patch fixes the issue where the product does not return back in stock after creating the credit memo. This patch is available when the Quality Patches Tool (QPT) 1.1.32 is installed. The patch ID is ACSD-51204. Please note that the issue was fixed in Adobe Commerce 2.4.7.
The patch is created for Adobe Commerce version:
Compatible with Adobe Commerce versions:
The patch might become applicable to other versions with new Quality Patches Tool releases. To check if the patch is compatible with your Adobe Commerce version, update the magento/quality-patches
package to the latest version and check the compatibility on the Quality Patches Tool: Search for patches page. Use the patch ID as a search keyword to locate the patch.
The sold-out product does not return back in stock after creating the credit memo.
Steps to reproduce:
Expected results:
The salable quantity of the product has to return to 10.
Actual results:
The salable quantity of the product is left as 0.
To apply individual patches, use the following links depending on your deployment method:
To learn more about Quality Patches Tool, refer to:
For info about other patches available in QPT, refer to Quality Patches Tool: Search for patches in the Quality Patches Tool guide.


text: Air Force cadets undergo "gender inclusive" training, told to avoid words "mom," "dad." Tyrants in China, N Korea, Russia, Iran must be trembling in fear of these woke airmen. Only risk is that our enemies will hurt themselves falling off chairs laughing. Weakening our military is not a side effect of wokeism, it is the intended effect.


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- This event has passed.
Beer University
January 8, 2020 @ 7:00 pm
What's the difference between an ale and a lager? A Stout and an IPA? You'll learn that and a whole lot more at Beer University. This month's class is all about Beer Styles. And who better to learn from than well known beer author and adjunct professor, Marty Nachel? Marty's classes are fun and informative. Not only that, but for just $15, you get the class and a 14 oz Signature draft to enjoy while you learn. Send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com, call 630-229-6030, or stop in to reserve your spot. Space is limited.


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Our Services
GPI Builders is a full-service general contractor, bringing over 10 years of proven expertise to home renovation. We're skilled in complete remodels including kitchens and baths, and home additions built from the ground up. We pride ourselves on providing exceptional service with top-quality work and attention to detail. We partner with clients every step of the way from planning to finishing. We manage the heavy lifting – so you don't have to worry. We are the house builders that you can trust!
Our list of services include:
- Custom Home Build
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Our design professionals are equipped to help you determine the products and design that work best for your project. We offer detailed 3D designs to help you visualize your new space.
2. We Handle the Heavy Stuff
Our team is ready to take on all of the necessary paperwork and permits, while we work side-by-side with you to pick out the best quality materials and perfect the design on your project.
3. Construction
Our crew gets to work, turning years of experience into quality craftsmanship. We're here to build.
Interior Design Services
Our interior designers are experts in creating your space to match your personal taste. Ask us how.
Energy Efficiency
All it takes is one faulty window or bad insulation to drain your wallet. No matter your budget, there are many options to help you fix inefficiencies in your home, save money and help the environment.


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Birds of Australia KC 10yr Anniversary Plate 20cm
Regular price
or make 4 interest-free payments of $2.50 fortnightly with More info
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Maxwell & Williams collaboration with artist Katherine Castle, these plates from the collection feature beautiful illustrations adapted from original oil paintings. A celebration of their partnership with this beloved Australian artist, this range makes a wonderful gift for any occasion.
- Designed in Australia by Katherine Castle
- 20cm coupe plate
- Fine bone china
- Matching mugs & tea towels
- Dishwasher and microwave safe


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FIGO Africa Regional Kigali Congress 2020
The evening of 15th December marked the end of our first ever Hybrid Congress. In collaboration with the African Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (AFOG) and the Rwanda Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RSOG), we held our FIGO Africa Regional Kigali Congress, Virtual Event with a Hub in Kigali, for those who live locally to attend, with registrants able to participate virtually from anywhere in the world.
Over two and a half days from 13th to 15th December, the Congress brought together more than 1,100 health professionals and specialists in the fields of gynaecology, obstetrics and women's health from 74 countries.
Explore our Kigali 2020 content
Using the links below, you can read our summary blog, access the Platform Portal (available to all registrants for at least 6 months after the event), and find out more about our next event – the 2021 FIGO World Congress.
Please get in touch with our Events team if you have any queries.


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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan schools face the twin difficulties of adapting to deliver instruction in different ways while budgets squeeze tighter. Unfortunately, exaggerated talking points that are circulating in the media distort the real challenges now facing the state's educators.
A June 18 Detroit Free Press editorial urges readers to support a federal bailout of Michigan school districts, based on shortfalls in tax collections caused by drastic responses to the pandemic. Never mind that any future aid coming from D.C. ought to benefit students regardless of what type of school they attend, not just conventional districts. Before officials can determine the amount of relief different schools may need, an honest accounting is in order.
State officials now expect school aid revenue to fall $1.25 billion short of what they expected last year. The Free Press deduces that districts will experience a $750 per-pupil cut in state funds. The precise size of the reduction is still unknown, but even accepting this number, the hyperbolic claims touted in the editorial fall flat.
The Free Press quotes an intermediate school district superintendent to lay out the desperate terms of its case. According to Wayne RESA's Randy Liepa: "If you have a 10,000-student district, you would lose $7.5 million. That's 75 to 100 teachers. A 10,000-student school district has maybe 350 classrooms, so if you look at just teachers, you're going to lose about a quarter of your teaching staff."
That scenario doesn't add up, especially if one recognizes that local school boards can target budget cuts aside from classroom instructors. But the claim is deeply flawed in other ways, too.
Conveniently, there is a 10,000-student district in Wayne County. Wayne-Westland Community Schools gets the $8,111 minimum foundation allowance along with most other Michigan districts, up from last year's rate of $7,871. In 2019, Wayne-Westland received about $79 million in state and local funds through its foundation allowance.
But contrary to what the Free Press conveyed, that allowance only reflects the minimum guaranteed by the state. Wayne-Westland brought in an extra $50 million in local, state and federal funds. As a result, the district spent about $13,000 per student on operating costs. Adjusted for inflation, its per-pupil spending power grew significantly from 2014 to 2019, putting it slightly ahead of pre-recession levels.
The anticipated $7.5 million cut would make up about 6% of the district's budget, a significant but not devastating reduction. In pleading for Congress to intervene, the Free Press neglected to mention the extra federal aid districts already receive through the CARES Act. With Wayne-Westland's portion of this money, officials should only expect a $460 per pupil reduction, if the $1.25 billion state shortfall happens.
The CARES Act made a big difference for some districts. The nearby Detroit Public Schools Community District took in an outsized $85 million share of CARES money, enabling the state's largest district to avoid budget cuts and layoffs entirely.
Not all budget cuts have to be applied to classroom instructors, either. Local school boards, having discretion over budget changes, could propose laying off teachers as their sole priority, while preserving all other expenditures. Wayne-Westland spends about $67 million on instructional salaries and benefits, a figure that includes both teachers and classroom aides. Taking away $4.6 million would yield a 7% reduction, or about 50 of the district's 700 full-time teachers.
In 2019, though, the district spent about 50% of its budget on items other than instructional salaries and benefits. Applying cuts proportionally would result in the loss of only about two dozen teachers, a far cry from the figure touted by the ISD superintendent in the Free Press.
The loss of state revenue from the pandemic would not have the same impact on all local budgets. To understand how classrooms might be affected requires a clear, complete picture of a district's funding sources and how it currently spends money. Simplistic solutions based on distorted financial projections will not help meet schools' actual needs.
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.
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Property For Sale Margate,Australia
For sale by real estate agent - Margate
4 bed Property for sale
4 beds Villa Margate, Queensland
Check latest exchange rates
ForSale SqFt Area 3Baths 4Beds
Detached VillaMargateQueenslandThis fabulous detached villa for sale in Australia is a two storey home located close to the sea in the town of Margate just north of Brisbane in Queensland. The villa was built in 2009 and is set in 525 sqm of landscaped gardens which are fully fenced and feature a solar powered security front gate, a concrete decorated driveway, lock-up shed and a double lock up garage.This pristinely presented home has a double sized entry door with blue gum timber flooring on the main floor areas, tiled bathrooms while the bedrooms and lounges are carpeted. It is a home built of timber frame with double size brick outside walls, steel colourbond roof, solar power, solar hot water with power back up and two water tanks, 5,000 litre connected to the toilets and 2,000 litre for gardens. On the ground level there is a lounge/TV room, a large open plan kitchen fitted with European appliances and a walk-in pantry, a second lounge/family room with dining area and a sunken formal dining room that opens onto the back patio; this room could be used as a games room or home cinema. Also on this floor is a master bedroom with en-suite and walk-in wardrobe, a guest bathroom and laundry with outside clothesline. The villa has 414 sqm of living space with two balconies that have wonderful sea views. This is an excellent opportunity to buy a family home with garage in Australia with the potential for rental of between 700 and 800 dollars per week!!
0.3 Km from Beach
0.15 Km from Bus station-Margate
30 Km from City Centre
25 Km from CountrySide
4 Km from Golf Course
4 Km from Train station-Kipparing
20 Km from Brisbane Airport, Australia


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Brand New Highly Polished Gold Tone Tie Clip Slide Bar!
Important! : Our Tie clips/slide bars are individually hand polished to smooth, glossy finish and feature mirror like surface!
- Strong alloy tie clip/slide bar, Gold tone!
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Cinema Lessons: Halloween
We are navigating a particularly terrifying moment in history. The largest assassination attempt in the long and storied history of the country will shadow Halloween 2018. Without a doubt, a filmmaker is already spinning these real-life nightmares into cinematic expression. I wanted to take a look back at the warnings and lessons left by the great horror films of the past.
Halloween weekend is the perfect time for movies. Buy a bag of Halloween candy, your favorite humans, and gather around for an ancient tradition. Giant shadows cast on the walls tell tales of a bygone era. Horror movies are filled with life lessons passed down from one generation to the next. No lesson is harder learned than those that scare.
1. Halloween (1978)
Director: John Carpenter
DP: Dean Cundey
I've been obsessively listening to the eight-part podcast, "Halloween Unmasked." It is hosted by the very talented Amy Nicholson. In the show, Nicholson interviews John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, the original "Shape" himself, Nick Castle, and many of the other brilliant minds who made Halloween a reality. One of the things that stuck out to me, was how consumed the American populace was with serial killers at the time.
Halloween took the fears of the public consciousness and pitted them against a nearly defenseless babysitter. As the physically imposing Michael makes his way down the unsuspecting suburban street, the reality that monsters don't come from swamps or outer space, they are the unknown neighbor became staunchly real.
My father, often tells me about the first time he saw Halloween. Waiting outside a single theater movie house, the audience shrieked in horror over and over again, as he waited in line for the next screening. Everyone outside the theater knew they were in for a wild ride before they even took their seats. Quality horror changes the landscape of what we believe is terrifying. Before "Halloween," dead villains did not stand back up.
Halloween comes at a bisecting point in cinematic horror history. Early monsters of American cinema like Dracula, the 50-foot woman, and the pod people didn't need a reason to be villainous. A faith-based nation could easily believe in pure evil. In the 1980's the cold war brought around a new kind of villain. Patriots of foreign countries, vengeful incinerated janitors, and eventually scheming high school students were humans who had been turned evil. Their crimes were driven by a human desire. Michael is a human, but he behaves like a monster. No discernable conscious thought except to kill.
Michael is both a relic of a bygone age and a beacon of light for the next generation of filmmakers. What was Carpenter's message to the people? Well, Halloween Unmasked doesn't give us a lot of answers on this. Mostly, Carpenter needed to make a movie, that would earn money, and he had a very short amount of time to do it. But, looking back, I think Halloween asked us to question where evil comes from and to be prepared to fend it off. Watching Laurie walks down the street with her friends, no one would describe her as a fighter. She didn't yet have to be a fighter. But, when her back was against the wall, Laurie pulled out all of the stops and defeated evil in its tracks.
2. Scream (1996)
Director: Wes Craven
DP: Mark Irwin
There are only a handful of films that can make our sides hurt from laughing one minute, and leave us shrieking in fear the next. Fewer still are willing to kill off one of the biggest actresses of the day. Craven wasn't afraid to do any of it.
With Ghost Face, a new creature haunted our nightmares. This time it wasn't a serial killer or the government, but a bunch of bored high school students. Preempting the conversation on school violence, Scream let us peer into the mind of jealous and vindictive students.
Inspired by the Gainesville Ripper, Ghost Face, used his victims like a game of Clue. The two boys responsible for the murder, lead their victims in a spiraling circle so that they spend most of their time pointing fingers at one another. The lesson here is good reporting and fact-checking our essential. Yes, Sidney is the hero, but she couldn't have done it without reporter gal-pal Gale following the story.
Like the Babysitters Club met Jason at Camp Crystal Lake, Scream is sexy, vibrant, and shocking. It's rare to see killers take such childlike glee in their killing. Michael Mayers was soulless, these boys moved without a heart. Scream set a new president for how death can be used for shock. It is the perfect Halloween sleepover movie.
3. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Director: Roman Polanski
DP: William A. Fraker
It is continuously shocking to me that a predator could have directed one of the most chilling feminist horror films of all time. Yet, Rosemary's Baby is, to this day, a horrifying film about the fears of carrying a child. In movies, babies are typically a joyous surprise or a reuniting gift to floundering relationships.
Polanski, with the help of writer Ira Levin, plundered the depths of growing a parasite directly beneath the human heart. A lack of bodily autonomy after a simple visit to the doctor is absolutely chilling. The familial, good intentioned take over of the home is actually a hostile destruction of a safe space.
Finally, the reveal of 9 months of hard work is horrific. While everyone celebrates around the grieving mother her world is falling apart. Every step of pregnancy is fraught with danger, add a twist of the devil and Rosemary's Baby personifies the terror of early motherhood.
4. Aliens (1986)
Director: James Cameron
DP: Derek Vanlint
So far this list has been riddled with serial killers and demons. Truly the stuff of nightmares. But in man versus wild is a primal fear. One where the only thing that matters is survival. Cameron tapped into this primal fear in Aliens. The only sequel to appear on this list, I prefer the original Alien, but I admire the hell out of what Cameron crafted in his take.
Less a psychological exploration of the trial of motherhood wrapped in a monster movie, Aliens took a horror film and injected it with an action film. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) isn't a woman trying to survive, she's a survivor preparing to kill.
A civilian, bunked with loudmouth marines, Ripley has to convince everyone there's danger around the corner. She is old, at least in her eighties, she's a woman, and she's been labeled hysterical. That's a lot to overcome, but then she also has to protect this surrogate daughter she finds along the way.
The lesson here is two-fold. First, listen to the disenfranchised. Trust the experiences they have lived through. It was foolish not to bring an army instead of a platoon. The second lesson, despite what Gordon Gekko was preaching, is that greed is death. Burke wanted to make a lot of money off of a tragedy. He put dozens of lives on the line for a cash payout. He ended up paying the ultimate price himself.
5. The Babadook (2014)
Director: Jennifer Kent
DP: Radek Ladczuk
Kent's Babadook is one of the first horror films of the new millennium that I believe will still be considered terrifying in a hundred years. Like Nosferatu the creature is haunting. They are designed to look as if they walked right out of a Grimm fairytale. The set design and costumes are simplistic. These characters could exist in any decade and thrive.
In the hand full of horror films about motherhood, most are about protecting the child. Parenthood, after all, is mostly about making sure a child rises through adolescence mentally and physically unharmed. Mothers are expected to relinquish their pain and focus all of their energy on their children.
In the Babadook, Kent expertly examines how draining and ultimately dangerous that line of thinking can be for the child. When Amelia (Essie Davis), ignores her grief and the demon that follows, the demon begins to attack her child. Grief quickly turns to anger, which evolves slowly and painfully to depression.
Amelia's pain is palpable. She is exhausted by it and it shows in her clothes, in her shaking voice, and mood swings. Her behavior has driven away everyone who wants to help, except a kindly old neighbor who recently suffered her own loss. It takes everything Amelia has to fight her monster back. But she can't kill her monster. Before registering at a casino, it would be a good idea to know what to expect from it. The full list of online casino reviews on our website will help you with that question.
Kent teaches her audience a valuable lesson. Trauma and depression don't disappear after a hard-won battle. Amelia keeps her monster in the basement. Her son helps her pick the food to satiate the being, but only Amelia can face the Babadook and feed it. It is still a labor to care for her personal demon, but it's no longer draining Amelia. By the end of the film, she is dressing as if she cares about herself. She's repaired her relationship with her son. There is life after trauma.


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Chamblee, GA – When a tooth is badly decayed or becomes infected, it might still be saved by performing a root canal treatment. This is a complex and decisive process to save the tooth, so it is necessary for it to be performed by a professional with extensive experience in this type of treatment. For many families in Chamblee, GA and the neighboring areas, Yi-Tsu Cheng, D.D.S. & Associates is the dental office for excellence when it comes to endodontic treatment. This office has served its community for over 30 years, building an impeccable track record and long-lasting relationships with many families in the area in helping them fulfill their dental needs.
Root canals, wisdom teeth removal, and dental implants are just some of the surgical procedures for which Yi-Tsu Cheng, D.D.S. & Associates have become #1 in the field. The office is designed to provide a pleasant experience and is fully equipped with state-of-the-art technology assisting the doctors in creating a less stressful environment for their patients. Dr. Yi-Tsu Cheng D.D.S and her associates Dr. Vy Do, Dr. Hosam Abochhab, and Dr. Vinh Duong have many years of professional experience in the different areas of Chamblee dental care including general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, surgical dentistry, and Botox.
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Media Contact
Company Name: Yi-Tsu Cheng, D.D.S. & Associates
Contact Person: Dr. Yi-Tsu Cheng
Email: Send Email
Phone: (770) 457-3671
Address:5008 Buford Hwy NE Ste. B
City: Chamblee
State: Georgia
Country: United States
Website: https://chengdds.com/


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Sure, you saw the list of restaurants for Lollapalooza's Chow Town elsewhere, a hot media exclusive straight from the Armani-suited muckety-mucks in the corporate management of the mega-festival. But rock and roll isn't about the suits, man. It's about the music and the people and the food that the people make. So we're not waiting for The Man to tell us what we can say about Lollapalooza and Chow Town. Between now and when the festival starts on August 3, we're going to talk to as many of the people making the food as we can, starting with the guys making hamburgers, of which there are three this year: Edzo's, Kuma's and M Burger. We stopped by Edzo's in Evanston and put the question to owner Eddie Lakin: why is yours going to be the best burger at Lollapalooza? And how are you going to adapt your burger shop to the demands of a festival with 300,000 people at it? His answers, including a two minute video, are below.
Eddie isn't planning on doing anything different from what he does normally— "You can't premake anything; you've got to grill them all by hand." He plans to grill about 4000 to 5000 fresh-ground patties a day— "I hope we're going to get into a place with higher capacity, and we'll have a guy grinding beef at one in the morning for the next day." He's not just being thrown into it with no help, though; Merlin Verrier, Graham Elliot's operations manager, has provided support including a guy who Eddie describes as "the guy you call when you say you need 14 more outlets and he says no problem. He knows how to pull anything together, so I'm not just standing there trying to figure it out with no clue." Still, he says he's glad not to be the only hamburger stand in Chow Town— "I'm glad Kuma's and M Burger will be there. There's no way to know what it will be like until you actually do it, so if we totally fall apart, you'll still be able to get a burger."
Eddie has more (and funnier) things to say in our video below. We hope to give Kuma's and M Burger equal time to talk about why they're going to be the best burger in Chow Town in future installments of The Battle of the Buns. Because The Man can't stop The Grub, man.


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672 play times
The long awaited sequel to Stick City is finally here! This time around you are tasked with beating up other stickmen on top of rooftops in this futuristic city. Avoid flying cars as you jump from building to building punching others to steal their money. Try to survive for as long as possible in this epic online stickman fighting game.
How to play: Arrow keys to move, Spacebar to punch or use touch pad controls to move and punch. Collect as much money as possible while fighting against other stickmen.


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- Weight: 7.40 lbs
- 60th Anniversary Limited Edition
- sideways Vibrola captures that early 60s vibe
- Gibson Custom Shop Historic Collection
From Gibson:
1961 brought some big changes to the Gibson Les Paul™, most notably a sleek, all-new, double-cutaway, all-mahogany body design that would later be renamed the SG™. This Gibson Custom Shop model recreates those cherished originals, complete with a Sideways Vibrola, a side-pull action vibrato that is similar to those found on models from the early 1960s. It also has a bound Authentic '61 Thin Profile mahogany neck, Kluson® tuners, an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic™ bridge, two Custombucker pickups, CTS® vintage-taper pots, and Black Beauty capacitors.
- Body Shape: SG
- Body Material: 1-Piece Solid Mahogany
- Weight Relief: None
- Finish: Nitrocellulose Lacquer (VOS)
- Material: Solid Mahogany
- Profile: Authentic '61 Thin Profile
- Scale Length: 24.75"
- Fingerboard Material: Indian Rosewood, Cream Binding
- Fingerboard Radius: 12"
- Number Of Frets: 22
- Frets: Authentic Medium-Jumbo
- Nut Material: Nylon
- Nut Width: 1.687"
- End of Board Width: 2.24"
- Inlays: Aged Cellulose Nitrate Trapezoid
- Joint: Long Tenon, Hide Glue Fit
- Finish: Aged Nickel
- Tuner Plating: Nickel
- Bridge: ABR-1
- Saddle Material: Nickel-plated Brass
- Tailpiece: Lightweight Aluminum Stop Bar
- Tuning Machines: Kluson Reissue Double Ring
- Pickguard: 1961 Long Guard
- TrussRod: Authentic 1950s No-Tube
- Truss Rod Cover: Authentic Stepped 2-Ply "Les Paul"
- Control Knobs: Black Top Hats with Silver Inserts
- Switch Tip: Cream
- Switchwasher: True Historic Black
- Control Covers: 60th Anniversary SG Backplate
- Strap Buttons: 2 - Aluminum
- Mounting Rings: M69 Cellulose Acetate Butyrate
- Pickup Covers: Authentic Profile Nickel Silver
- Neck Pickup: Custombucker
- Bridge Pickup: Custombucker
- Controls: 2 Volume, 2 Tone, 500K CTS Potentiometers, Hand-Wired Harness with Black Beauty Capacitors
- Pickup Selector: 3-Way Switchcraft
- Output Jack: 1/4" Switchcraft
- Strings Gauge: .010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046
- Case: Brown/Pink Lifton Reissue 5-Latch Case
- Accessories: Certificate of Authenticity


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Toilet Design Templates
Sustainability Issue 7
By looking at the range of users' needs, VivaCity2020 were able to identify a number of common requirements linked by different disabilities and needs. This led to a selection of design templates for accessible and inclusive toilets which built on recommendations from a wide range of British Standards. These Design Templates should be used in conjunction with the Inclusive Toilet Hierarchy.
With such a wide spectrum of needs and requirements within accessible toilets, many users found that the minimum provision was often less than adequate. With such a variety of needs it became clear that there is no ideal provision, but that a mix must be provided to ensure local demand can be met.
- Ambulant Cubicle*: this cubicle is provided in larger standard toilet facilities
- Unisex Corner Accessible Cubicle*
- Peninsular Accessible Cubicle*: this facility is generally only suitable for situations where assisted toileting is required.
- Ambulant Plus Cubicle (jpeg): developed by the research team for use by people who require more space
- Universal Cubicle (jpeg): this is the Centre for Accessible Environment's (CAE) recommended cubicle which meets the basic standards of accessibility when there is only capacity for one toilet compartment.
- Accessible Plus Cubicle (jpeg): this toilet compartment is recommended by PAMIS, which is an organisation campaigning for adult changing facilities with space for up to two caregivers
- Family Cubicle (jpeg): developed by the research team for use by people and families who required more space.
* These layouts are widely available and therefore are not reproduced here.


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We are trying to raise enough funds to buy our son a hugabike .Ben's now 13 and has a congenital heart condition he has had several corrective operations the last being two years ago ,Now that Ben is back on his feet and feeling well he wants to start joining in with the family activities but due to his autism this hinders him greatly ,We have tried to get Ben to learn to ride a bike got him a trike as we thought this would be the easiest and safest option all round but he can't get to grips with peddling the correct way .So after hours and hours of trying to coach him we have given up with that one ,we have looked at several other options none of them are suitable or safe enough for him .Last month after having to once again explain to Ben why he couldn't go out with me and his brother I again searched. The internet and came across the perfect solution it is a tandem bike called. A Hugabike. The cost of this is a whopping £3500 and your help in achieving this would be so very much appreciated..... Thank you Jon and Cath
Guys here is the link www.hugbike.it


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Structurally Dynamic Cellular Automata
Andrew Ilachinski
Paul Halpern
Institute for Theoretical Physics, SUNY at Stony Brook,
Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
A new kind of cellular automaton (CA) model is introduced in which binary value-configurations and the (conventionally quiescent) underlying topological structure are dynamically coupled. Topology alterations are defined by local transition rules analogous to the value functions studied in conventional CA models defined on fixed lattices. Preliminary investigation reveals a rich spectrum of evolutionary behavior, including growth, decay, periodicity, and a relaxation to dynamic states with a stable effective dimensionality. The model offers a unique arena in which to study the emergence of true geometric self-organization and may provide the simplest approach to modeling the dynamics of the many different varieties of random cellular structures found in nature.