text:
COVID-19 has upended the lives of children and families across the globe and is impacting efforts to end child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). Actions taken to contain the spread of the pandemic – such as school closures and movement restrictions – are disrupting children's routines and their support systems.
Hundreds of millions of children and adolescents will likely face increasing threats to their safety and well-being, including gender-based violence (GBV), exploitation, abuse and neglect, social exclusion, and/or separation from caregivers and friends. We know from the Ebola outbreaks and from other public health crises that adolescent girls are disproportionally affected by these emergencies. Efforts to stop the Ebola epidemics led to school closures and a loss of education; a decrease in access to reproductive health information and services; a loss of livelihoods and a contraction of social
support networks. These undermine strategies to end FGM and child marriage, and threaten the progress that has been made over the past decade.
The COVID-19 response can draw important lessons from the Ebola epidemics in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
SOCIAL DISTANCING is reducing the provision of social services (health, education and protection) and limiting community gatherings and face-to-face interactions in a bid to slow the spread of the epidemic. But these are key tools in efforts to end child marriage and FGM.
NON-BIOMEDICAL EXPLANATIONS of disease may stigmatize vulnerable groups and lead to the denial of services and care, and to violence against marginalized groups, including witchcraft accusations against children and women
EPIDEMICS ARE DISRUPTORS and can be harnessed for positive social change. During the Ebola crisis, FGM was interrupted in Guinea and Sierra Leone. While FGM resumed after the end of the epidemic, a public health crisis and the disruption it causes could potentially be leveraged to advocate for an end to harmful practices.
NOT ALL HARMFUL PRACTICES HAVE THE SAME EFFECTS. While FGM declined – even if only temporarily – teenage pregnancies increased in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis. This shows that the drivers and inhibitors of FGM and child marriage differ from each other and require issue-specific strategies.
NEW NETWORKS, such as those generated during the Ebola outbreaks, created systems of cooperation that can be reactivated. The lessons learned in communities about epidemic response make them more resilient to other public health crises.
To read the full technical note, please click here


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You've finally found your dream home. It's a gorgeous place with all the space you need, including just the right amount of bathrooms for your entourage of teenagers. It's even located in the ideal neighborhood, close to all your favorite spots. The only downside is that this beautiful house is hiding a secret: water damage.
Upon discovering this information, you may feel like your dreams have been shelved. However, there is some good news. A house that's in need of repairs due to water damage doesn't have to be written off entirely. It may be salvageable. And there are a few things you can do that will determine if it's a smart investment.
3 Things to Do When Buying a Home With Water Damage
If you've fallen in love with a home that has water damage, don't lose hope just yet. It doesn't mean the place is a lost cause. Instead, there are three things you need to do before making the purchase.
- Receive Professional Advice
Many people don't realize that even a small leak can cause a big problem in a home because water damage can spread quickly. Floors, walls, and furniture absorb the water and lead to structural damage, mold, and cosmetic issues if not treated immediately.
In the US, there is no law that requires a buyer or a seller to conduct an inspection when purchasing or selling any home. However, a home inspection will give you a good idea of any problems (water damage included) when you are looking to buy a new home.
An inspector will be able to identify the cause of the water damage and potentially inform you of any posthumous damage like structural problems or mold growth. The inspection will also reveal any cracks in the foundation, leaking pipes, or other issues that may cause a problem down the road.
- Evaluate the Repair Costs Before Committing to the Purchase
After you've had the home thoroughly inspected, you'll know what work needs to be done. If prior water damage is a factor, the Restoration 1 team will be able to provide a full evaluation and estimate for repairing the damage, remediating mold issues, and potentially direct you to the cause of the water damage so this problem never occurs again.
Once you have an estimate, you'll need to factor the repair costs into the price you offer on the home. Because water damage can cause serious issues such as mold and structural problems, this is something that the sellers cannot ignore. You need to make sure you're getting a fair price considering the property restoration costs that you'll incur.
Here's some advice to take into consideration:
Determine the Market Value of the Home: To start, you need to know what the house is worth, so you don't pay over what the house is valued at – especially since there's damage to repair.
Subtract the Cost of Water Damage Restoration: By subtracting the costs of repairs from the home's market value, you'll be left with a reasonable price to present to the sellers. Doing this ensures you'll have the necessary funds to fix the issues with the home.
Consider Dropping the Offering Price a Little Lower: You may want to consider going slightly lower than the aforementioned price because sometimes repairs cost more than expected. This way, you'll have extra wiggle room should any other issues arise.
- Get Good Homeowner's Insurance for Future Coverage
Finally, the next step is to look into getting homeowner's insurance for this property because previous water damage can impact your coverage options. You can reach out to your local insurance agencies for quotes and available policies. You'll need to know if you'd be covered should you notice issues in the future that are related to past water damage.
Unfortunately, some insurance agencies will deem a water-damaged house too risky. You may find that insurance rates are either sky-high or that the agency won't cover you at all. In this instance, it would probably be wise to pass on this particular house.
While you may be tempted to put in an offer on a home right away, following these three tips will help you make the right investment. After all, you don't want to pour your money into a home that simply isn't worth the hassle.
Learn About Our Water Damage Restoration Service
Here at Restoration 1, we're familiar with the mess that water damage can leave behind. Our team is equipped to handle a variety of water-related problems. We can assist in repairing frozen and burst pipes and cleanup for ceilings, walls, basements, and more. We'll also remediate attic and basement mold and black mold in your home.
Contact us today to learn more about our residential, commercial, and industrial services.

subset: commoncrawl


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Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular, partly because of Microsoft muscles behind this situation. Now it is geared to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. Small companies use Small Business manager (which is based on the same technology – Great Plains Dexterity dictionary and runtime), Great Plains Standard on MSDE created small to midsize clients, and then Great Plains serves the rest of the marketplace up to big establishments.
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Most industries have been revolutionized by adopting new technologies. If we talk about the Field Service Industry, there are plenty of advanced software available to manage various field-related tasks of the organizations. Field Service Management has become more comfortable with advanced Field Service Management Software.
A Field Service Organization needs to handle a variety of tasks with proper management. For that reason, a reliable cloud-based FSM Software is required. The developers have been using new technologies and implementing new features to work with the software more efficiently. Field Service Industries have seen a drastic change by adopting new software and technologies. Cloud Computing is everyone's favorite and over 60% of the enterprises have adopted the Cloud-based software. Cloud computing works with Artificial Intelligence to do various tasks accurately and automatically. The Cloud Computing is the future for Field Service Management, and the following reasons prove it!
The Cloud-based Software offers unmatched flexibility, scalability, and reliability for storing and hosting data automatically. The cloud computing eliminates high capital expenses which makes the entire service cost-effective. As per your organization's requirements, the Cloud-based software charges you. The Field Service Management Software providers manage everything, so the organization doesn't need to focus on handling the tasks as everything will be maintained and stored over the cloud.
What is the Cloud-Based Field Service Management Software?
The Cloud is a network of servers which work collaboratively for an organization or industry. If we talk about the Field Service Management Software, the new generation FSM Software started adopting Cloud Computing, and now we have Cloud-based FSM Software. It comes with numerous benefits for the organization to handle a variety of tasks smoothly. It also helps the organization to improve its productivity and workflow.
Cloud-based FSM Software provides more flexibility with secure data storing processes. This allows businesses to keep an eye on various field-related tasks. Monitoring of the staff and other on-field technicians and workers become more comfortable with the software.
With job scheduling, routing, invoicing, etc. a Field Service Management Software handles all kinds of useful tasks expertly. With proper data of the customers, their requirements Field Service Industry can provide reliable and satisfactory services to all of them.
With improved scalability, a Field Service Company and expand its territory with more customer services. They can hire more engineers, technicians, and workers to handle more tasks within the given deadline. If an organization provides reliable services to its customers, they would recommend your name to others which helps you to grow your business.
The Cloud-based software seamlessly updates itself over the server with new features and functions. The software offers plenty of useful tools which can be accessed easily by the on-field technicians and workers. Make sure you understand the basic architecture of the cloud services first, and you will see the desired results.
Moreover, the Cloud-based software allows you to go mobile. You can take the entire organization in your hands. You can move freely and can manage everything well with the use of the Cloud-based software. The advanced cloud-based Field Service Management software comes with a dedicated mobile application. An admin, the staff members, on-field workers and technicians and even customers can make use of the mobile app to do various tasks.
A customer can request for a service to the organization using the mobile app. An admin will receive the request. The software collects all the requests from various customers and sorts them out correctly. The software also assigns tasks to the expert technicians who can handle the tasks effectively. This will give all the technicians freedom of work and they will be able to manage and finish more tasks.
Additionally, with Cloud services, an Admin can connect to different departments quickly. He can view all the data and updates of the assets and services quickly from anywhere. With proper access, technicians can also fetch the right information about the customers to provide on-time satisfactory services. This can have a positive impact on the organization. With better management of the organization and all the departments, you will definitely see the desired growth, and you will achieve your goals in the short time.


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Walking tall
After the Yonge Street tragedy, Cathy Riddell is back on her feet.
A former Paralympian and marathon runner, Cathy never thought that her biggest challenges would be getting out of a chair or putting on a pair of socks – the "little" things she took for granted – until April 23, 2018.
On that sunny afternoon, the 67-year-old, who had lived in Toronto's Willowdale neighbourhood all her life, was walking to the library near Mel Lastman Square when a van suddenly hopped a curb on Yonge Street and charged down the sidewalk. Legally blind since birth, she says she never heard the van coming, nor does she remember being hit.
She was thrown approximately 15 feet (4.5 metres), landing with devastating injuries to her shoulder, spine, pelvis and ribs. She suffered a head trauma and a slew of internal injuries, including a punctured lung. The severity of her injuries kept her confined to a hospital for two months, followed by two years of working to regain her mobility with the help of Sunnybrook's St. John's Rehab.
And that she did.
With intensive multi-disciplinary care and perseverance, Cathy completed a 5-kilometre walk for cancer with her niece and grand-niece just a year and a half after the attack.
Her first mission after leaving the hospital: walking down Yonge Street where the tragedy happened. "I wanted to face my demons," she says. "This is my home. This is my neighbourhood. I'm not going to be scared off by it."
With her most recent surgery to repair her knee completed in February 2020, Cathy knows she still has some recovery ahead of her. "My brother said to me: 'You've got an uphill climb, kid, but I wouldn't bet against you.'"
Cathy graduated from rehab in June 2020. As a gesture of gratitude for the care she received, she made two donations to Sunnybrook's St. John's Rehab, the first to the program's highest priority needs and the second toward a treadmill for the outpatient unit.


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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1
Date:circa 1948-1950
Subject:Linguistics | Anthropology | Folklore | Venezuela--History | Guyana--History | Brazil--History | Suriname--History | French Guiana--History
Extent:19 folders
Description: Several items relating to Carib languages have been identified in the C. F. Voegelin Papers. They are all in Subcollection I. They include extensive correspondence with Douglas MacRae Taylor (regarding his fieldwork and written work on Carib languages, including some stories, translations, and other linguistic materials) in Series I. Correspondence; Voegelin's "Black Carib Morphology" and "Central American Carib II: Morphology of the Verb" (with Douglas MacRae Taylor) in Series III. Works by Voegelin, Subseries III-B: Works Authored by Voegelin; ten files of Taylor's work (including notes, outlines, and essays) on Black Carib, Central American Carib, and Island Carib in Series IV. Works by Others; a Carib file with data on Black, Central American, and Island Carib in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-A: Language Notes; and four folders of unbound Carib texts in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-B: Texts.
Collection:C. F. Voegelin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.68)


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70 Ways To Improve WebHero hosting reviews
The to tags are used to determine HTML headings. The tag must maintain the title describing the content material of a particular page thus just one h1 tag is needed for every site. There could be any range of h2 - h6 tags but they must be extra in order of great importance ().
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The Darkness II Limited Edition Free Download
The Darkness II Free Download PC Game Cracked in Direct Link and Torrent. The Darkness II – An intense first person shooter that delivers a twisted and gripping narrative of tragedy, modern crime drama, and supernatural horror..
Game Overview
Digital Extremes
9 Feb, 2012
Action, Shooter, Horror, Adventure, Nudity
Inspired by the popular comic book series produced by Top Cow Productions, Inc., The Darkness II is an intense first person shooter that delivers a twisted and gripping narrative of tragedy, modern crime drama, and supernatural horror.
Players will be taken down the brutal and personal path of Jackie Estacado, head of a New York crime family and wielder of an ancient and ruthless force of chaos and destruction known as The Darkness.
It's been two years since Jackie Estacado used The Darkness to kill the men responsible for his girlfriend's murder. He's been unable to shake the memory of Jenny's death since bottling up his supernatural power and now The Darkness wants out. A sudden, unprovoked attack by a mysterious organization known as the Brotherhood heralds the start of a full-scale war and opens the door for The Darkness to reemerge, setting Jackie on a journey to hell and worse.
Key Features
4-Player Co-op Campaign – Play as one of four unique characters each capable of wielding weapons infused with Darkness powers.
Quad-Wielding Chaos – Slash, grab, and throw objects and enemies with the Demon Arms while simultaneously firing two weapons, adding a new dimension to the FPS category.
Harness an Unstoppable Power – Master the Demon Arms and summon the powers of The Darkness for even more explosive gameplay.
Kill the Lights – The vicious powers of The Darkness manifest only in the shadows so use the environment to your advantage and watch out for enemies who will use light as a weapon.
Intense and Personal Journey – Experience a dark, twisted and gripping story written exclusively for the game by acclaimed comic book author Paul Jenkins whose credits also include The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, and the original The Darkness game.
All links are interchangeable, you can download different parts on different hosts
Request a game or request re-upload, visit Game Request
If you need help a problem, visit F.A.Q
Link MegaUp.net:
Part 1 – Part 2
Link Openload.co:
Link Go4Up (Multi Links):
Link Rapidgator:
Part 1 – Part 2
Link Google Drive:
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(See instructions if you don't know how to install: Instructions on how to install)
1. Extract/Install.
2. Crack if needed.
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5. (OPTION) Install the update version if they have the future in the link below:
System Requirement
- OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
- Processor: Intel Core 2 @ 2GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
- Memory: 1.5GB RAM
- Hard Disk Space: 10GB
- Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600
- Sound: DirectX Compatible
- Additional: Requires installation of Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable, DirectX and nVidia PhysX version 9.11.1107 (included with download)
- OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
- Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
- Memory: 2GB RAM
- Hard Disk Space: 10GB
- Video Card: 512+ MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX
- Sound: DirectX Compatible
- Additional: Requires installation of Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable, DirectX and nVidia PhysX version 9.11.1107 (included with download)


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Orb finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, becoming the latest Kentucky Derby winner to fail to complete a Triple Crown. So the horse racing industry will limp into the Belmont Stakes next month with nothing on the line except pageantry and faded tradition.
Critics of racing often focus on issues surrounding the treatment of animals. But before those issues can be adequately addressed, the industry must appoint a single leadership figure to standardize rules and regulations covering every facet of the industry — including the horses on which it is built.
This splintered industry, with its many organizations and committees, continues to lack the leadership of a strong central figure.
Despite the spectacle and the tradition of the Triple Crown races, the racing industry is trudging toward an uncertain future. Never has a sport seemed so fiercely determined to spite itself, with factions holding onto power rather than galvanizing the industry.
Perhaps racing is an institution that is too big or simply too ingrained in the American psyche to ever disappear entirely. But racing is rapidly fading from our collective consciousness.
For races other than the Triple Crown events, the public yawns as powerful horses thunder down the homestretches in front of increasingly smaller crowds.
Centralization of power and authority has been suggested — and ignored — for decades.
"There is no ultimate guy to answer to," said Robbie Medina, an assistant to Shug McGaughey, Orb's trainer. Medina has been in the racing business since his graduation from high school in Chicago 22 years ago.
Before Saturday's race, Medina reflected on an industry that had provided him with a good living and a sense of purpose. He sees the sport fading before his eyes. He sees an industry that refuses to pull together, work toward the same goals or simply play by the same rules.
Suspensions in one state are not honored by another. Drug transgressions in one jurisdiction are not violations in another.
"When we're in our car to go to New York, we're playing by a totally different set of rules than we play by in Maryland," Medina said. "You go to Florida, and it's totally different."
Sometimes, he said, the industry seems intent on working against itself. On Friday, Medina noticed that Belmont Park and Pimlico Race Course had races at the same time.
"You mean to tell me you guys can't get together and say, 'We'll run 10 minutes apart'?" Medina said. "It's going to help everyone in the long run; more people can bet."
He added: "I think a lot of tracks seem to have the mentality that they just want to make money; they want to compete and don't care who they mess over. It seems like they're all a bunch of pirates on a ship."
Who would be the best person to serve as this unwieldy industry's first commissioner? A retired politician? A respected trainer? An owner?
"It has to be a man or a woman who has nothing to do with horse racing," Medina said. "Someone who is not going to be tugged at from 10 different places. Someone who is going to have absolute power."
Central leadership provided by a commissioner is not a new idea.
Hank Goldberg, a longtime football and racing analyst, said he had discussed it with horsemen and horsewomen for decades.
"Sonny Werblin told me that more than 50 years ago," Goldberg said, referring to the former Jets owner, who owned racehorses. "We were sitting at Hialeah one day, and we were talking about the sport, and he said racing needed a national commissioner then."
Goldberg said he heard the Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas say the same thing Wednesday.
"He said racing needed a Pete Rozelle, somebody they all could respect even if they didn't agree with him," Goldberg said, referring to the longtime N.F.L. commissioner.
The idea of electing or appointing a commissioner seems simple, but the major stumbling block is finding a committee among racing's many to even identify candidates.
This has been a source of frustration among those who work in racing and of puzzlement among those who parachute in during the Triple Crown races. Racing is a universal industry with no universal view of itself, and apparently no sense of urgency to fashion one.
Goldberg is not hopeful that racing will have a commissioner anytime soon. From the Jockey Club to the Graded Stakes Committee to the Breeders' Cup, racing is made up of powerful, fiercely independent organizations that will resist the authority of a strong central voice.
"I think you're going to see certain tracks give up racing," Goldberg said. "I think the racing product will disappear in some places, and you'll see fewer tracks."
Racing will not be saved by a Triple Crown winner.
The sport must find a way to speak with one voice while it still has a voice worth hearing.


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Setting goals and measuring performance – an investigation into the effectiveness of "Journey to Zero" programs
By Karoly Ban Matei – First published here
Disclaimer: To avoid any potential disclosure of private information the names of the organizations in the study have been changed and their statistical data altered with a multiplier; however the ratios have been maintained.
I have collected the data for organization A with their consent. To say thank you, I have sent them a copy of the report. To my surprise, none of the senior managers did acknowledge receiving it or asked any questions about the results or methodology.
Executive Summary
The goal-setting theory is considered one of the most important management theories, and this essay discusses if setting a goal of zero injuries has produced the expected results.
Journey to Zero (JT0) programs have been promoted and pushed down the supply chain, and, for this reason, the study compares the industry as a whole, one of its major players and a smaller supplier down the supply chain that performs work for the major player.
The most common finding across the study subjects is that, at a first sight, their safety record constantly improved, a fact generally attributable to JT0 programs. However, this data is generally self-reported and the criteria for reporting are set by the organizations themselves, making the validity of the data questionable. For all other industries, a direct correlation between the number of recordable injuries and fatalities exists, with the notable exception of O&G. Since fatality rates are substantially more reliable and using the ratio between recordable injuries and fatalities common to other industries, as well as other available data, it has been concluded that, indeed, the self-reported data is inaccurate. All subjects have under-reported injuries to show an improved safety record.
In summary, it has been shown that JT0 programs are conducive to hiding or ignoring recordable injuries, and the existence of such a program is not correlated to an improved safety record. Additionally, by hiding and ignoring injuries, JT0's are detrimental to continuous learning. A lack of awareness about past their own incident history leads to unrealistic goals.
The O&G industry should abandon JT0 programs and slogans (for more about slogans, please see my article about them here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/drop-safety-slogan-embrace-learning-karoly-ban-matei/ ) and focus on leading indicators and continuous learning. The regulatory body should be reframed, to standardize reporting and incentivize organizations to continuously improve.
While this study focused on the O&G industry and the organizations gravitating around this industry, some findings could be generic to all industries and further study is recommended.
Project Statement
Project topic
From its early inception, the oil and gas (O&G) industry in North America had a poor reputation for health safety and environment, but it went unaddressed for a long time (Total Safety, 2019). With the advent of high volume hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling, steam-assisted gravitational drainage and surface exploitation of oil sands, its importance in the US and Canadian economy grew dramatically, and its health and safety record started to get attention.
To improve its image and record, the O&G employers in Canada organized themselves in the Oil Sands Safety Association, OSSA (Energy Safety Canada as of 2018), and started to promote occupational health and safety training and programs. One of the most important developments was Organization B Energy's "Journey to Zero" a program that all OSSA participants embraced under different names, and which stated that all accidents are preventable. Organizations working in the oil sands had to embrace this philosophy in order to work in the O&G industry.
This seemed to produce results as their injury rate continuously declined in the last 10 years (BLS, 2014; Halliburton, 2019; Organization B,2019), to a level lower than the construction industry. However, according to Witter et al (2015) and BLS (2014), the industry fatality rate is 2.5 times higher than the construction industry and 7 times higher than the general industry.
Organization A, due to its ties with the O&G sector, and a shared belief system developed through years-long cooperation with the major players in the industry, embraced this program under the name "Target Zero" and, according to Organization A's internal injury statistics, its record also seemed to improve.
Purpose of the research
Under the assumption that a goal is a target we hope to reach before too long (Senge et al, 1994), the purpose of the research is to analyze if setting a zero injuries goal is a good leadership practice and if this is conducive to reducing the number and severity of workplace injuries. Based on these findings, the research will provide recommendations for the adoption, rejection or improvement of zero injury programs.
Research methodology
Though originally as a comparative analysis of the oil and gas (O&G) industry and Organization A approach to the JT0 programs, as common with the holistic approach the research shifted to a larger scope (Yin, 2014). The research method is a multiple case study, including the industry, Organization B and Organization A.
Organization B, a large O&G player in Canada, frequently awards work to Organization A, so including Organization B in the study increases the number of cases and supports the case for literal replication (Yin, 2014).
Additionally, the relationships between the industry and a major player (Organization B) and the larger player and Organization A, further supports literal replication with predictable similar results (Yin, 2014), and shows how the JT0 programs, slogans and ideology trickled down the supply chain.
It has been considered that the three replications and the other examples provided in the literature review are sufficient to make the case since the case study is not excessively complex (Yin, 2014) and does not require a precise quantification of the relationships.
Finally, a multi-case study based on literal replication has been selected because, as seen in the literature review, it seems that in recent times researchers and practitioners seem to agree (Yin, 2014) that zero injury programs are not producing the expected results (Quilley, 2018). The case study intends to verify this assumption and uncover why such an ethically positive goal repeatedly and constantly resulted in failure.
Data collection
Each case (Industry, Organization B, Organization A) will be presented separately (Yin, 2014); the tiered approach reveals an interesting aspect: despite these programs being pushed from the top of the supply chain down, data availability, quality and visibility is scarce at the top (industry) and increases towards the bottom (Organization A).
All data used in the case study is secondary data, to minimize the time and resources needed for completion (Vartanian, 2011, cited by Saunders, Lewis & Tornhill, 2016).
Most case data is multiple source longitudinal data available through industry and government statistics, while a limited amount of text data has been collected and compiled from internal databases and newspapers (Saunders, Lewis & Tornhill, 2016).
Industry data:
As the number of players in the Canadian O&G market is relatively small and dominated by US and international shareholders (Shrivastastava & Stefanick, 2015), the secondary quantitative data (compiled) for the O&G industry has been sourced from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, 2017), which is available online. Additional data has been sourced from ISNetWorld (2019a and 2019b), a major statistics and qualification portal used by O&G companies.
Organization B data:
Secondary quantitative (compiled) data for Organization B Energy has been obtained from the following sources:
- Information self-published by Organization B.
- Alberta Labor website (Alberta Labor, 2019) – longitudinal data on the largest Workers Compensation Board (WCB) account Organization B Energy maintained in Alberta.
- Various text data from 2013-2019 local publications.
Organization A data:
Alberta Labor website (Alberta Labor, 2019) – secondary data on the two Workers Compensation Board (WCB) Accounts Organization A maintains in Alberta.
- WCB account summaries (WCB, 2019).
- Internal annual injury statistics (compiled data)
- Third-party audit (Name withheld, 2019).
Literature review
What is Journey to Zero (JT0)
Journey to Zero is an artificial construct, similar in concepts and values with the program with the same name launched by Organization B Energy (Organization B, 2019) and reproduced or adapted by most O&G companies in the US and Canada, that states that all injuries are preventable. Furthermore, contractors working for the O&G companies have to subscribe to this idea and demonstrate a near-perfect safety record to be allowed to bid and win contracts for the O&G companies. The O&G sector has defined safety as the absence of accidents and rates its contractor on lagging indicators. (Barnetson & Foster, 2016). Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy (2015) list zero recordable and lost time injuries as possible organizational goals.
Origins of JT0
It is unclear when the first JT0 program appeared, but Clements (2005) notes that Dollard was discussing the demoralizing effects of zero goals as early as 1939, and more recently Edward Deming analyzed the efficiency of zero-goal practices in his 1986 edition of the Out of the Crisis.
In the O&G industry, JT0 programs appeared in early 2000 and Organization A's first "Target Zero" branded documents appeared circa 2006. The elevation to prominence of the JT0 programs coincides with the poor O&G health and safety performance coming under public scrutiny. Arguably, at least from this perspective, JT0 programs are an offshoot of the corporate social responsibility, these organizations not willing to appear shunning their moral responsibility towards their internal stakeholders, their employees (Gorny, 2014).
The theory and practice of JT0
The theory
Judging by the reducing rate of injuries reported by the O&G companies and several studies (Hinze & Wilson, 2000), it seems that while not reaching zero injuries the JT0 programs are still conducive to safety performance improvement.
Marilatt (2015) points out that the proponents of the zero injuries argue that a zero goal is the only ethically justifiable goal, anything different meaning that companies accept injuring workers as the cost of doing business. From this perspective, a JT0 program is not only justifiable but should be embraced as best practice by all organizations (Roughton, Crowley & Firestone, 1999). In theory, zero injuries seems a great representation for ethical leadership: doing "the best for the greatest number of people", following the "highest principle of duty" and abiding by the golden rule of doing "what you want others to do to you" (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2015).
Robert Krzywicki, global practice leader for employee safety at DuPont Sustainable Solutions (EHS Today, 2013), agrees and says that DuPont, a company of more than 60,000 employees and dozens of plants, has been striving for zero injuries for over 200 years and that some plants have achieved zero for extended periods of time.
Halliburton has its own JT0 program and states on its website (2019) that all unplanned events can be prevented and that there are many areas within Halliburton where this is happening now.
And practice…
While Krzywicki states that some of their plants have reached zero, the reality is that the vast majority of their plants have not, even for short periods of time, despite DuPont's 200 years focus on process improvement, proving that the system is not replicable and zero results are likely a product of chance rather than a system that works (Clemens, 2005). Despite Krzywicki's claim, OSHA placed the organization in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program after the death of 4 employees at one of their Texas plants (OSHA News Release, July 6 2016).
Halliburton, the largest oilfield service company, despite its success claims, has the highest number of severe injuries in its industry group (Soraghan, 2017).
Organization B Energy, another proponent of the JT0 program (Organization B, 2019), appears in Alberta's newspapers frequently with employee and contractor fatalities.
This reality is not only placing a question mark on how success is measured and if zero is achievable, but also sends the message to their contractors that you can have injuries and fatalities and still claim a perfect record if you are creative with your recording.
A major obstacle in determining the success of JT0 programs is the lack of a common industry definition (Diggory, 2017; Simon, 2019). Therefore, each organization is free to define its own programs and success criteria, making any claim that the goal has been reached subjective. Soraghan (2017) points out that until 2015 employers were required to report to OSHA only fatalities and accidents where three or more employees were hospitalized, making most of the workplace injuries opaque to the government and the industry.
The case of under-reporting
Marilatt (2015), Hollnagel, Wears and Braithwaite (2015) as well as Conklin (2012) concede that a zero goal incentivizes employees and employers to underreporting injury data. The problem is so prevalent that Richard E. Fairfax, OSHA's Deputy Assistant Secretary (US Department of Labor, 2012), issued a memorandum to its regional administrators and whistleblowers program managers highlighting the extent and methods used by employers to suppress reporting.
The suppression of the reporting is, among others, conditioned by the fact that in the O&G industry the awarding of contracts is tied to the safety performance. Since past results cannot be changed and performance cannot be improved fast enough to allow the companies to bid, the only way a company can survive is by lying (Johnson, 2012). Deming (2000), speaking about zero targets, said: "Fear invites wrong figures. Bearers of bad news fare badly. To keep his job, anyone may present to his boss only good news ".
Under-reporting is obvious when comparing the self-reported injury rate, which is lower than the general industry, and the fatality rate, which is substantially higher than the general industry (Soragham, 2017; Witter et al, 2015). This statistic anomaly is in conflict with modern interpretations of Heinrich's (1931) accident pyramid, which states that for a given company the number of injuries decreases as the severity increases.
The state of JT0 today
While most O&G companies have policies stating that all injuries are preventable and zero injuries is an achievable target, only 45% of safety professionals and 35 percent of the workforce believe this is realistic (Ivensky, 2016), a view shared also by Sheratt (2014).
Diggory (2017) summarizes the state of JT0 programs considering that (for pipeline industry), zero injuries is rather an abstract concept, more akin to the "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow", a desirable but unlikely outcome. He argues that for zero goals to be achievable, the O&G should be heavily regulated and investigated, similarly to the aviation industry and to openly share all their learning from accident investigations, which is not likely under the North American political climate and the lack of a common framework. No major O&G company has claimed yet they have reached their target (Ivensky, 2016).
According to Herzberg's two-factor theory, workplace safety is a hygiene factor and therefore a sine qua non for employee satisfaction and retention (Noe et al, 2017); Maslow considers security needs among basal needs, just above physiological needs, that if not satisfied would impede the employees attempting to satisfy higher-level needs that are desired and beneficial for the employer (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2015). As such, it comes as no surprise that employers have a vested interest to promote and aspire to an injury-free workplace.
While fatality rates for the O&G industry are certainly high, Wirfs-Brock (2014), Mason et al (2015) and others make the argument that the fatality rate is going down, despite the number of employees increasing during the boom periods. Though that is mathematically true, the variation is insignificant (BLS, 2017). What is lost is that when superimposing the fatality graph (BLS, 2019) and the oil price fluctuation graph (Macrotrends, 2019) we notice that the "best safety record" matches almost perfectly the periods of low oil prices, when employment in the industry decreased dramatically.
This suggests the reduced fatality rate has nothing to do with the JT0 and other safety improvement programs and is strictly correlated to low employment numbers (Klaiber ,2018; Shrivastastava & Stefanick, 2015).
According to the BLS statistics (2017), the non-fatal injury rate of the O&G industry was 1.5, while the same rate for the construction industry was 3.1, statistically making the O&G safer than construction by a factor of 2. However, the BLS statistics (2017) fatal injuries rate for O&G is 12.9, while the construction fatality rate is 9.5, making O&G performance worse by a factor of 1.4.
This anomaly is further accentuated by the fact that, when arranged based on their non-fatal injury rate (Appendix 1), the industries list will be similar to the list resulted from arranging them based on the fatality rate (Appendix 2). This supports Heinrich's (1931) and later researchers' findings that there is a ratio between minor injuries, severe injuries and fatalities.
The O&G is the one notable exception, which is explained by a chronic under-reporting of injuries (Foster & Barnetson, 2016). Using the same ratio of fatalities /injuries as in construction, we can calculate that the real injury rate for the O&G sector is around 4.2, one of the worst among all industries and certainly far from the stated goal, zero.
Furthermore, the real disparity is certainly higher, since there are 21 states where companies report to state agencies, and not to OSHA (Soragham, 2017). Though this is true also for the construction industry, among these 21 states there are some large US O&G producers, such as California, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming (Soragham, 2017).
The ISNetWorld statistics for 2017 (ISN Analytics, 2019a) show a Total Recordable injury Rate (TRIF) for NAICS code 211, O&G extraction, is 0.53, suggesting that zero is achievable. However, the fatality rate is 15.71, even higher than reported by BLS, underscoring the under-reporting problem noted above and the unreliability of self-reported data.
The same database uses different codes for the O&G industry in Canada, making benchmarking impossible. Despite that, we can see the same low TRIF contrasting very high fatality records for some O&G sub-industries (ISN Analytics, 2019b).
Organization B
ISNet data for Organization B is not available – Organization B is one of the over 600 "hiring clients" operating on another similar platform, Avetta. As a "hiring client" they can see small contractors performance and set health and safety qualifications standards for these contractors, but the subcontractors cannot see Organization B's performance.
According to self-reported performance (Organization B, 2019) it seems that the TRIF for the organization is very close to zero, allowing Organization B to claim that JT0 is coming to fruition.
This is contradicted by the Alberta Labor data, which shows a disabling injury rate 3-4 times higher than what Organization B's reported TRIF (Alberta Labor, 2019). The difference has to be in reality even higher, since the disabling injury rate includes only lost time (LTI) and modified work injuries (MWI), but does not include medical aid (MA) injuries, which frequently are the most prevalent type.
The difference between the self-reported LTIF and the LTIF shown on Alberta Labor website (2019) is even higher.
It is also notable that 2016, a year characterized by low oil prices (Macrotrends, 2019), shows also a reduction in the injury rate, further strengthening the conclusion that apparent improvement in safety performance is credited to low employment rates in the O&G industry.
However, as shown below in the Organization A analysis, Alberta Labor, due to the limitations shown above, shows substantially fewer injuries that the WCB record, which is a better representation of the injuries for which an employee had to seek medical attention. For organizations such as Organization B, even that number (not available to third parties) could be gamed, because they have their own on-site medics and employees' injuries do not appear in the public record.
Organization B does not publish any fatality data on its website, but Alberta Labor shows a number of fatalities in 2014. Though later years show no fatalities for Organization B employees, its contractors working on Organization B sites sustained fatalities, supporting Barnetson's (2010) claim that some companies subcontract hazardous work as a means of decreasing their own injury rate at the expense of their contractors. Gaille (2014) determined that 16% of all fatalities in the O&G industry are contractors working on O&G sites not operated by the company that pays them.
Organization A
According to self-reported performance Organization A's TRIF (Organization A, 2019) averages around 1, which is a number good enough to keep the company on the bidder list for most major clients in the O&G industry.
However, for a specific client, Organization A's TRIF was still too high to be allowed to be awarded the contract (Company A, 2019). The client suggested Organization A only reports the injuries related to the scope of work to be executed. By ignoring the injuries from another side of the business, Organization A artificially reduced its injury rate. After doing that, the contract was awarded to Organization A, reinforcing the idea that the industry knows and accepts the manipulation of injury data and plays the "zero injuries" game with full knowledge of the system being gamed by their subcontractors. From this perspective, we can also argue this is a classical example of destructive leadership, where the job got done at the expense of ethics, and the need to get the job done offers the moral justification to tip the scale (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2015).
This shows that JT0 programs, designed to improve safety performance, only make data less accurate (Barnetson, 2010).
Alberta Labor (2019) numbers are aligned with Organization A's internal reporting, or lower, because, as stated above, Alberta Labor only includes in its statistics MWI and LTI. This is obvious from the discrepancy between these numbers and the WCB recorded injuries for Organization A (WCB, 2019), where only one year, 2015, shows an alignment between WCB, Alberta Labor and self-reported data. For all other years researched, it appears that the self-reported injury numbers and rates have been generally halved when compared to WCB numbers, in order to maintain a low TRIF and keep the organization competitive when bidding for contracts. A third party auditor stated that the organization has improperly categorized recordable injuries as non-recordable.
A motivator for not including all the injuries that appear in the WCB record into the self-reported numbers is, for all organizations, not only Organization A, the "perpetuation of the careless worker myth" (Barnetson, 2010) by the Government of Alberta and other regulatory bodies. The organizations feel it would be unjust to lose bidding opportunities because of workers' carelessness, and, as such, accidents that are felt to be the worker's fault are removed from the record. A third-party auditor (2019), in the review of Organization A's incident investigations, concluded that in certain cases employees have been blamed for the accidents, likely explaining the removal of the injury from the records.
The auditor (2019) noted that though Organization A had a target zero goal, no other health and safety corporate goals and supporting programs have been identified, highlighting the major shortcoming of TJ0 programs – most of them are not programs, but mostly a leadership vision unsupported by leverage-able leading indicators. Real programs have not only 'wildly important goals', but also a strategy for execution with leverage-able leading indicators, visible scoreboards and a schedule of accountability (McChesney, Covey and Huling, 2012).
Finally, a quick look at Organization A and Organization B's externally verifiable data shows that there is not a gradual progression towards zero, but that performance varies up or down from one year to another. Fluctuations in oil and gas prices are one explanation for these swings (Klaiber ,2018; Shrivastastava & Stefanick, 2015). The second explanation is that long term zero injury periods seem to be the result of simple randomness and not connected to the JT0 programs (Clemens, 2005).
Conclusions and recommendations
Jimm Pitts of Northrop Grumman stated: "you begin with the end in mind… and then figure it out how to make it happen" (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). It can be argued that the O&G industry always had the intent to achieve zero injuries, but failed to identify the means for doing this.
First, zero is a misleading goal, because: "the absence of something (injuries) is not proof of the existence of something else (safety). Zero does not mean an organization is safe, only that a specific event did not happen (Quilley, 2018), or it has not been reported.
Second, this failure may arise from the employer's skewed frame of reference. Employers, such as Organization A or Organization B, invest in occupational health, expect a return on investment, and equate investments with being safe. Under these conditions, from the organization's perspective, any accident can only be explained by blaming the employee. This ignores any improvements that could be made by the organizations. Alberta's government "Stupid" and "Bloody Lucky" campaigns focus strictly on worker's behaviour (Barnetson, 2010), reinforcing the employer's opinion that only if the employees would be more careful incidents would not happen.
Third, the organization's management is subject to role conflict (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2015). While most organizations state that safety is their first priority, the reality is that management is responsible to shareholders for turning a profit (Noe et al, 2017). Arguably, the more we invest in safety, the safer we are, but also the less profitable, so a cost-benefit approach is often adopted by management (Foster & Barnetson, 2016). In a cost-leading strategy, frequently employed in O&G, controlling the costs, including safety costs, is a path to competitive advantage (Noe et al, 2017).
Finally, zero is not a SMART goal, as defined by Noe et al (2017). Zero is not specific, achieving "0" does not provide any direction on who should do what to get the result. It is not measurable since we can't track our progress toward reaching the goal. It is not achievable since nobody has yet achieved zero injuries for an extended period of time (Ivensky, 2016). It is relevant to the organization, but metrics do not drive performance in employees (Kouzes & Posner, 2007), because safety is a hygiene factor and is not motivating for employees (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2015).
More than anything else it is not timely; without a clear, achievable deadline there is no urgency for the organization or the employees to reach it (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2015). Leaders that are fully aware of the past substantially increase their time horizon for reaching the goal (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). The fact that many organizations do not know or acknowledge their real past performance might be the most important single contributor to management holding the view that JT0 programs will achieve expected results within a short timeframe (Senge et al, 1994).
The most important recommendation of this study can be best summarized by citing Deming (1986): "Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce asking for zero … Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes … belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the workforce". As such, the government and organizations should stop JT0 programs and associated slogans.
Susca (2019), further develops the idea that many accident causes are beyond employees' control, suggesting that organizations focus their energy into identifying organization-wide system weaknesses. This approach should finally put to rest the myth of the "careless worker" and place the onus for employee safety on the organization.
JT0 programs are focused on the end result – zero injuries. This is a lagging indicator and its achievement or failure is confirmed at the end of the reporting period, transforming the organization into a spectator that has no ability to influence the outcome. To become a player, each organization needs to identify, collect and analyze meaningful leading indicators that can be leveraged to achieve lower injuries. This additional data will allow them to react to the variability inherent to work activities before accidents happen (Hollnagel, Wears & Braithwaithe, 2015). Generating, organizing and distributing knowledge is instrumental in becoming a learning organization (Waddell et al, 2017), which is essential for being proactive, and is indicative of better safety performance.
In masculine, individualistic, indulgent and short term oriented societies, such as the US and Canada (Hofstede Insights, 2019, annex 3), employees will hide injuries to conserve perfect performance and be rewarded for it. Organizations should stop rewarding perfect performance and reward proactive reporting to increase the organization's opportunities to learn. Shifting to collective rewards would also increase internal accountability.
Regulatory bodies should standardize the most common leading indicators for the industry and normalize them (such as number of inspections/site, frequency of certification inspections/equipment, number of audits/year, etc) to create equal frames of reference among organizations. These bodies should externally audit these organizations, based on this set standard, make these audits public to be used as selection criteria in bidding processes, to eliminate data manipulation and make evaluations fair and easy.
Linking claims cost to insurance premiums creates incentives for employers to hide or under-report accidents (Barnetson, 2010). To eliminate the incentives for under-reporting, WCB insurance premiums should be set per industry and not based on individual performance, since performance pricing did not result in better performance (Barnetson, 2010).
Regulatory bodies should substantially increase the fines for willful safety violations, to ensure the fine is higher than the cost of compliance, thus enticing employers to comply proactively, not after recording an injury.
All injuries should be investigated with the participation of an external body, such as in aviation (Diggory, 2017), and the accident, findings and effective corrective actions should be published on an industry-wide platform to transform them in explicit knowledge and to help all organizations learn and continuously improve (Noe et al, 2017). Injury databases, such as WCB, Alberta Labor, etc, should be synchronized to eliminate data gaming by employers.
Having a Zero injury goal by itself it is not conducive to better safety performance and in the absence of a substantial leading indicators program, it is likely conducive to a poor safety climate that is inviting the hiding and underreporting of accidents, which can hinder organizational learning and continuous improvement.
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5-seat Volkswagen Tiguan to be reintroduced in India.
With some great tricks in their mind, Volkswagen recently launched the 7-seat Tiguan Allspace 2.0 TSI in India by discontinuing the 5-seater Volkswagen Tiguan.
The recent news reveals that the discontinued 5-seater Volkswagen Tiguan will land on the Indian market later this year. It will get some major updates compared to the outgoing cars and will feature the BS6 norms. In fact, this will be the facelifted 2020 model.
Volkswagen plans to locally assemble the new 5-seater Tiguan in India just to reduce the taxes. The CKD kits will be assembled in the Allspace in Chakan Plant near Pune. The expected price of the Volkswagen Tiguan is Rs 23.26 lakh(ex-showroom).
There will be a visual differentiation between the 5-seater and Allspace variants. The facelifted 5-seater Tiguan will get a revised front profile with new grille revised bumpers and headlight similar changes will be done to the rear profile too. Fresh details on the front profile include a minimalist grille that blends well with the headlight cluster.
However, Volkswagen has not revealed a major difference over the previous Tiguan. With the discontinuation of the diesel version with the replacement of the 5-seater Tiguan, it has come up with 150hp and 1.5 TSI turbo-petrol engine. It also features front-wheel-drive version and 7-speed twin-clutch automatic gearbox
The Upgraded inside feature include a larger touchscreen, a digital cockpit or digital instrument cluster, and is expected to be the first VW car in India to offer connected car tech.
It is expected that the Tiguan may not have a strong start in India, but VW India has some smart tricks up their sleeves to make it work.
Also, see
What's new in 2020 Volkswagen Polo GT TSI?
Volkswagen Discontinued Ameo and Tiguan
Nearly 300 Tata service centers resume operation.
Are you excited about the reintroduction of the 5-seater Volkswagen Tiguan?
Let us know in the comment section below


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In the following steps, you will create a program using the Analog Express VI to collect microphone data for a length of 0.05 second at a rate of 10,000 samples/second. The raw microphone data will be displayed on a graph. The program will then apply a low-pass filter to the raw data to reduce the amplitude of the high frequency noise, thus smoothing out the data set. The filtered data are then analyzed to determine the frequency and amplitude of the tone. The filtering and analysis will be programmed using LabVIEW Signal Analysis Express VIs.
In this exercise, you will
- Create a LabVIEW VI.
- Incorporate LabVIEW Express Analysis functions.
- Use the Execution Highlight feature to study data flow.
- Display data using numeric and graphical indicators.


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Hans Koechler Political and Philosophical Society Sixth Annual Conference The Protection and Promotion of Indigenous Peoples' Rights Sulo Hotel and University of the Philippines Quezon City, Metro Manila, 13-15 December 2008 |
Dr. Hans Koechler delivering the keynote address on "International Justice and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples." |
Pet Moranos, Fulong (Leader) of the Bla-an Tribe (Mindanao), addressing the members of the HKPPS. |
Induction of the new members of the Hans Koechler Political and Philosophical Society by Chairman-President Dr. Fatemah Remedios C. Balbin, left. |
Dr. Hans Koechler (center) and Dr. Fatemah Remedios Balbin, Chairman-President of the HKPPS, at his left, with Prof. Aleli Bawagan of the University of the Philippines (right) and HKPPS members Ms. Brenda Domingo (left) and Prof. McDonald Pascual, second from left. |
Briefing Session and Business Meeting (ctd) at the University of the Philippines (15 December 2008). Dr. Hans Koechler (seated, second from right) with (seated) Lt. General (Rtd) Jaime de los Santos (right), Dr. Fatemah Remedios C. Balbin (third from right), Dr. Abdulhusin M. Kashim, newly appointed President of the HKPPS (second from left), and Ms. Kashim (left). |


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Eight Solar Cell Lithium Ion Battery Charger Version 2 June 18, 2013
The LTC4412 ideal diode from Linear Technology monitors the voltage from the solar cell and the battery. When the voltage from the solar cells is 20mv higher than the battery, the output turns on the p-channel device Q1. In darkness, when the solar cells are no longer producing current, the voltage from the solar panel will be less than the battery. The ideal diode IC A1 will then turn off the transistor Q1, blocking the current path from the battery to the solar panel. In a similar fashion, in darkness, the 2.5 volt reference will drop to a lower voltage, being starved of current from the solar panel, turning off the voltage regulator circuit. The result is that Q2 is turned off hard. With both devices turned off, no current flows into or out from the solar panel. As in the last circuit, the op Amp A2 limits the charging voltage across the lithium ion battery to 4.2v when the solar panel supplies current.
Click on Drawing Below to view PDF version of Schematic
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An accident Monday afternoon on Interstate 90 near Sturgis involved a dozen vehicles and sent 4 drivers to the Sturgis hospital with minor injuries.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol says the incident began about 1:45 when an eastbound semi hit a snowplow and then a guardrail – triggering a chain reaction with 4 other semis, a delivery truck, 3 pickups, and 3 cars.
Charges are pending against the driver of the first semi, who was one of the 4 who suffered minor injuries.
Eastbound I-90 was closed for about 3-½ hours by the accident and cleanup, which included fuel and engine fluids that spilled from multiple vehicles.


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Is your sleeping pattern affecting heart health? Here's how to get better sleep
Poor sleep can lead to harmful habits that harm your heart over time, such as increased stress, a lack of drive to be physically active and improper eating choices. Check out these tips by doctors to get a good night's sleep
Sleep may appear to be such a mundane component of life that it may feel absurd to even discuss it! It can be one of life's most mundane and underappreciated parts. Getting enough sleep, on the other hand, can be a significant challenge for those who have chronic sleep issues and it can have a negative impact on everything else in life.
One may face issues like Insomnia, Sleep apnea, Restless leg syndrome (RLS), Hypersomnia, Circadian rhythm disorders, Parasomnia. High blood pressure and heart disease are connected to insomnia as poor sleep can lead to harmful habits that harm your heart over time such as increased stress, a lack of drive to be physically active and improper eating choices.
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Rakesh Rajpurohit, Consultant Pulmonologist at Jain Multispecialty Hospital shared, "Sleep hygiene also plays an important role in maintaining our health and preventing the development of chronic conditions associated with poor sleep such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. When patients have sleep abnormalities, there is a reduction in a hormone called leptin. This hormone tells us that we are full and not to eat anymore."
According to Dr Sushil Jain, Consultant Pulmonologist at Mumbai's Masina Hospital, "Sleep provides time for the body to restore and recharge, playing a key role in nearly all aspects of physical health. For the heart, insufficient or fragmented sleep can contribute to problems with blood pressure and heighten the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, diabetes, and stroke. Sleep is an essential time for the body to recuperate."
He added, "During the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stages, heart rate slows, blood pressure drops, and breathing stabilizes. These changes reduce stress on the heart, allowing it to recover from strain that occurs during waking hours. Without sufficient nightly sleep, a person doesn't spend enough time in the deep stages of NREM sleep that benefit the heart. The same problem can affect people whose sleep is frequently interrupted. As a result, chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to numerous heart problems."
Elaborating on how sleep is the most important stress buster for all of us, Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni, Consultant, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery [CVTS] at Mumbai's Global Hospital, said, "It is of common knowledge that sleep also induces the rearrangement of memories and experiences. This leads to a caring effect on all organ systems including the heart. Autoregulation of blood pressure happens during the time and minor changes in fluid and electrolyte balance leads to reduction of blood pressure. This also has beneficial changes in the endothelial ling of the blood vessels leading to restitution of the elasticity and other properties."
Asserting that regulation of blood pressure is the most important beneficial effect on the heart contractions with reduced chances of diastolic heart failure, he added, "Hormones like grelin which are important for food cravings and hunger are up regulated in lack of sleep leading to increased frequency of meals at unusual times leading to food cravings and obesity. The carb and fat rich typically consumed in late night or early morning changes the Insulin pattern of secretion leading to predisposition to diabetes. Hence maintaining regular sleep patterns is important to maintain this fine balance."
Echoing the same, Dr Richa Mittal, Consultant, Pulmonary Medicine at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, said, "Sleep is an integral part of a hearty, healthy life. It is the time when our body recharges itself and recuperates from the stress that it suffered during the day. A good night's sleep helps you feeling fresh and alert during the day. Although individual sleep needs may vary, but on an average an adult requires 7 or more hours of sleep per night. The need of a child and adolescents are substantially more, with a teenager requiring 8-10 hours of sleep per day to an infant requiring as long as 12-16 hours per day."
According to her, sleep disorders are caused by "work schedules, our eating habits, day-to-day stressors, a disruptive bedroom environment, and various medical disorders can all prevent us from getting enough sleep. Anything that disrupts the duration, quality or pattern of our sleep and leads to daytime distress such as impairment in memory, cognition, personality changes, getting tired easily or less energetic". However, the good news is that almost all these disorders are treatable and therefore knowing the alarming signs and spreading the awareness becomes all the more important so as to diagnose early.
Common symptoms that we should be aware of
Dr Richa Mittal highlighted that sleep disorders be detected at an early stage and said, "Being aware and careful about the warning symptoms helps us to diagnose the disease in us or our loved ones. There are people who have chronic inadequate sleep and their body and brain struggle daily due to it but they aren't aware of the deficiencies and so disorders in such people is diagnosed only when it's too late and has turned serious."
She listed some of the common symptoms of sleep disorders that we should be aware of. These include -
1. Loud snoring, gasping or choking during sleep (as noticed by the bed partner)
2. Extreme tiredness or sleeping frequently or at inappropriate places (such as watching tv or talking to someone) during the day even after more than 7 hours of sleep a night
3. Perpetually taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep
4. Getting irritated easily, difficulty concentrating at work, frequent attention lapses, trouble thinking clearly or remembering things
5. Waking up several times in the middle of the night and remaining awake, sometimes for hours
6. Waking up too early in the morning
7. An irresistible urge to move your legs, or a tingling or crawling feeling in the legs, particularly at rest, in late evenings or night
8. Suddenly falling asleep during any activity like even while laughing
9. Requiring a stimulant such as caffeine to keep you awake during the day
Important sleep disorders that we should be aware of
1. Sleep apnoea - a breathing disorder which makes you stop breathing for a short period of time during sleep. It happens when your airway gets blocked repeatedly during sleep, causing you to stop breathing for short amounts of time. Sleep apnoea can be caused by certain health problems, such as obesity and heart failure. It affects how much oxygen your body gets while you sleep and increases the risk for many health problems, including high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.
2. Insomnia - being unable to fall or stay asleep. It refers to trouble falling sleep, staying asleep, or both. As many as 1 in 2 adults experiences short-term insomnia at some point and 1 in 10 adults may have long-lasting insomnia. Insomnia is linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. Over time, poor sleep can also lead to unhealthy habits that can hurt your heart, including higher stress levels, less motivation to be physically active, and unhealthy food choices.
3. Hypersomnia - being unable to stay awake during the day
4. Parasomnia - acting in unusual ways while falling asleep, sleeping, or waking from sleep, such as sleep-walking, talking, eating or nightmares
5. Restless leg syndrome - a tingling or prickly sensation in your legs, along with a powerful urge to move them
6. Circadian rhythm disorders - problems with the sleep-wake cycle that makes it difficult for you to sleep and wake at the right times. Going to bed late and getting up late or going to bed early and getting up too early are some of the patterns. It is commonly seen in shift-workers.
Tips to get a good night's sleep
According to Dr Rakesh Rajpurohit, "When leptin levels are low we eat more and exercise less, leading to weight gain, obesity, and ultimately insulin resistance, which is a state of inflammation. This sets up a vicious cycle and increases the risk for cardiovascular events. Eat complex carbohydrates such as whole-wheat toast or a bowl of oatmeal before bed. These foods will trigger the release of the sleepy hormone serotonin, and they don't take long to digest. High-protein foods like steak and chicken can also disrupt sleep because they take a long time to break down, which is a problem at bedtime since your digestion slows down significantly. Avoid spicy foods within three hours of bedtime. Do the same with tomato sauce and other acidic foods if they give you heartburn or indigestion."
Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni advised, "Eat early and light at least 2 hours before bed time, have some stress free time before sleep, keep screen off for at least 45 minutes, reflect on your days achievement for positive vibes and also plan for the next day before sleep, exercise routine as per schedule, gainful employment and extracurricular activities like hobbies add more to the satisfaction and the feeling of completeness or usefulness of the day."
Dr Sushil Jain listed some tips for getting a good night's sleep. They include -
- Create an optimal sleep environment by making sure that your bedroom is comfortable, cool, quiet and dark.
- Think positive. Avoid going to bed with a negative mind set.
- Avoid using your bed for anything other than sleep and intimate relations. Do not watch television, eat, work, or use computers in your bedroom.
- Establish a regular bedtime and a relaxing routine each night by taking a warm bath, listening to soothing music, or reading. Try relaxation exercises, meditation.
- Stop clock watching. Turn the clock around and use only the alarm for waking up. Leave your bedroom if you cannot fall asleep in 20 minutes. Read or engage in a relaxing activity in another room.
- Avoid naps. If you are extremely sleepy, take a nap. But limit naps to less than 30 minutes and no later than 3 p.m.
- Avoid stimulants (coffee, tea, soda/cola, cocoa and chocolate) and heavy meals for at least four hours before bedtime. Light carbohydrate snacks such as milk, yogurt, or crackers may help you fall asleep easier.
- Avoid alcohol and tobacco for at least four hours before bedtime and during the night.
- Exercise regularly, but not within four hours of bedtime if you have trouble sleeping.
- Big dinners make you temporarily drowsy but prolong digestion, which interferes with a good night's sleep. It's best to eat your biggest meal before mid afternoon and have a light evening meal.
- Avoid spicy foods at dinner. Gas-forming foods and hurried eating also cause abdominal discomfort, which in turn interferes with sound sleep.
As per Dr Richa Mittal, "Treatment is tailored as per the disorder but nonpharmacological measures such as regular sleeping schedule, losing extra weight, healthy diet, avoiding caffeine or alcohol and regular exercises or calming activities like Yoga, play a strong role in overall management of these sleep disorders."
These tips and other elements of sleep hygiene can serve as a foundation for better sleep leading to a healthy heart. If there is a suspicion of sleep disorder then that person shall consult their doctor, who will then advice sleep study after the screening tests. Majority of sleep disorders are diagnosed by overnight sleep study (polysomnography) which measures the breathing effort and airflow, blood oxygen level, heart rate and rhythm, duration of the various stages of sleep, body position and movement of the arms/leg during the sleep.


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Moving home or business can seem like a big upheaval. While it may be tempting to move everything on your own, there are plenty of reasons why moving services could help to lighten the load. However, it's also tempting to think that all house moving companies offer the same services.
Whether you're looking for house moving services or an office moving team, there are a few factors you should always be ready to look for. Here's a quick guide on what to expect while shopping around.
Careful and Sensitive Moving Services
Everything you're likely to move is probably sensitive to you. However, if you have fragile items you need to take extra care with, it is a good idea to look for specialist support. For example, some moving services UK homeowners use have specific antique removal options.
That means that any antiques or breakables you'd like to move are given special treatment. Of course, the best house moving services should take care of everything you want to ship across! However, it pays to find a specific antiques moving service if you have the need.
Storage En Route
If you're moving home or business, you may need to store items before you arrive at your new location. In which case, it is also a good idea to look for moving services London customers can tie in with storage. Storage solutions will allow you to lock up your goods at a midway point.
This is especially useful for companies and offices. Sometimes, it is not possible to move all your commercial hardware and furniture into a new office right away. Therefore, do look for a moving house service or office removals team who can keep things secure for you.
Packing and Loading
Not all home and office removals services offer packing as standard! That's because some people prefer to take control of the packing themselves. In a way, it's understandable. However, what happens if you're unsure about your packing skills?
Packing up safely and efficiently can take time and effort. Therefore, in some cases, it may make sense to approach experts to pack and transport for you. A team of home moving specialists may be happy to pack and seal everything up and load for you.
This service is likely to appeal to people who are unable to lift and pack heavy items on their own. However, it is understandable that some may wish to do the packing themselves. It's important to find a packing service which gives you a clear choice!
What Makes a Great Moving Services?
The best moving service is one which will not just give you plenty of moving options. You should look for provable expertise, years of service, and friendly, professional care. Word of mouth and reviews will help, too!
However, the ideal moving team for you is likely to be flexible to your needs. Why not take a look at some of the services our team at Legend Removals has to offer?


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Frequently asked questions
1. What can I do after your training?
- a. You can start an offshore consultancy and employ others. (or)
- b. You can start a training center and train others. (or)
- c. Join a software company as an employee.
2. What courseware materials do you use for training?
3. What topics are covered in your .NET training program?
4. Who are the audiences for your training?
5a. Do you offer placements?
5b. How is this different from placement offers by other institutes?
6. Why should we undertake your .NET training?
7. Who would be the trainers?
8. What is the qualification of the trainers?
- PMP - Project Management Professional from PMI, USA.
- MCP - Microsoft Certified Professional - Since 1998
- MCT - Microsoft Certified Trainer - Since 2005
- MCTS - Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in .NET 4.0
- MCITP - Microsoft Certified IT Professional in SQL Server
- MCSD - Microsoft Certified Solution Developer in older versions of .NET
9. Will the trainers (Felix and Subha) be replaced by other less experienced faculty after students join the course?
10. What is the duration and cost of the course?
11. What certificate would we receive on course completion? Is the certificate recognized and valuable?
12. What other programming courses do you offer apart from .NET?
13. How many students will be there in a batch?
14. How do you think you'd be able to pass on your expertise and not just bookish knowledge?
15. Is there a minimum qualification for your training?
16. I'm in the first year of college. Can I register?
17. I'm a school student. Can I register and develop programs?
18. Will there be practice sessions and theory sessions separately?
19. I have already studied .NET in a different training centre. Can I upgrade my skills?
20. Can I get an experience certificate?
21. Can I write competitive Microsoft exams after completing the course?
22. What do you recommend for freshers and students keenly interested in developing their career in IT?
a. Seek knowledge and be an ardent student of programming. You got to learn from the best and it goes a long way in shaping your career.
b. Understand that learning is not an one time activity. You got to vow to continue learning throughout your life, else you'd be left behind.
c. Pack on some good communication skills. It's the key to secure any job. IT is no different.
d. Showcase programs that follow acceptable industry standards and is verified by a professional to potential employers. Employers would be happy to see that you are very passionate about programming and have taken pains to develop it. This would show that you are committed to your profession. That's a very good sign.
e. Create a blog or a website that helps you showcase your resume and skills.
We work with our students on all of the above and more. We go beyond .NET training and always give more than what we receive.


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While we are unsure of the fate of this pandemic thus far, we should consider that 50 years from now, what we are facing today will be learned and studied by students across the globe.
The digital age has been a major source of documentation since the start of the 20th century. We are given countless articles and news right at our hands through our phones and televisions. Not to mention the unending memes we have come to use as a way to cope with our situation.
We have been so accustomed with all of these technological amenities as a way of documentation. But what happened to the concept of personal journaling, or documenting our own experiences?
During the midst of a crisis, a 14-year-old girl journaled her experience as she was confined in an attic for two years with her family. They were looking to escape the possibility of being sent to a concentration camp. Today, her journal is looked at as an astounding historic documentation as it is filled with some of her revelations about life. She is known as Anne Frank.
Her diary goes to show how much is going on in our homes during this time, and how important it is in history. With what seems like so much time in our hands, there is no better time than right now to begin journaling our experiences at home as we are facing this pandemic.
So especially, on your worst, most discouraging days where you feel unproductive, unmotivated and dispirited, write down your thoughts and feelings, and reflect. Rant to your journal as if it has eyes to read your words with understanding. You just might figure something out.
Not only will personal journaling act as a historic documentation, but I believe that it will allow us to become more considerate of others as we begin to sympathize that they too have their own story, filled with unique yet common struggles as humans.
I must also say that sometimes, the fear of having personal thoughts exploited can be a potential halt in allowing yourselves to fully express your mind. But I encourage you to still find a way. The benefits you can reap are most definitely worth the risk. Fill your journal with some of your most treasured thoughts without any conformity.
"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds" — Marcus Garvey, 1937


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"An opportunity for young people to discuss innovations that will change Africa"
October 25th, 2012African youths converged in Lagos in October for the 4th Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA) conference to discuss how young people can influence sustainable change on the continent. Biodun Awosusi, 26, from Nigeria, reports.
The YALDA conference, billed as an opportunity for young people to discuss innovations that will change Africa, was held between 4th and 7th October 2012 at the Orchid Hotel in Lekki, Lagos.
It was the fourth edition of the conference organised by a youth-led pan-African organization based in Botswana.
Delegates came from about 20 African countries as well as Latvia.
The highpoint of the conference was the Ideas Lab where delegates presented their ideas to panel experts. They received feedback on how to improve their design concepts and gained contacts with prospective investors and volunteers.
Deputy Secretary-General at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mrs Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba; Former Nigerian Health Minister, Prof Adenike Grange; CEO of Total Health Trust, Dr Awosika, Political economist and politician, Prof Pat Utomi; Sahara Energy CEO, Tonye Cole; Founder of Nigeria Network of Non-Governmental Organizations (NNNGO), Mrs Yemisi Ransome Kuti; Ukwori Onuma (LEAP Africa) were some of the experts at the conference.
Stephen Oguntoyinbo (Young Journalists Academy), Biodun Awosusi (Penpreneurs), Olufunbi Falayi (Project 4), Omolade Adeleye (House of Cedar), Kunbi Sesewa, Seun Durojaiye (Vote Guard), Timi Olagunju (SANE), Mani Joseph Muya (USIS-A YALDA), Glory Basio Emmanuel (USIU-A Kenya), Aribisala Pelumi (Agricultural Revolution) and Sheila Siele were among participants who presented their ideas.
Harvard graduate and 2012 conference chairperson Kalaya Okereke asserted that the YALDA conference was intended for participants "not only to gain an understanding of the opportunities in Africa, but to empower them to lead visible, ground-breaking change on the continent".
Sheilla Siele, a student of the United States International University-Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, said she was glad to participate in the conference. Siele expressed appreciation to the organizers and called on African youths, instead of moaning about challenges, to use the knowledge acquired and networks established to bring sustainable development to the continent .
The spokesperson for the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Hon. Omoluabi Adeyeye, said the conference was a worthwhile adventure, adding that YALDA 2012 'created a rare opportunity to learn from different people from different African countries.'
The event was sponsored by brands including First Bank, Petrolex, Muritala Muhammed Foundation, RwanAir, Lagos Business School, and LEAP Africa. Previous editions were held in Egypt, Gabon and Bostwana.
About me:
I am a highly motivated young medical doctor, content developer, youth development expert and social entrepreneur and an alumnus of the inaugural Discovering Young Leaders Program (DYLP 2012) of Commonwealth Youth Programme-Africa. I was a task force member for the Youth Summary of the UNESCO EFA 2012 Report and a postgraduate student of the University of Liverpool, where I am studying International Management of Health Systems.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Articles are published in a spirit of dialogue, respect and understanding. If you disagree, why not submit a response?
To learn more about becoming a Commonwealth Correspondent please visit: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/submit-articles/commonwealthcorrespondents/


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Effective teams can make or break an organization. When they work out, amazing things happen and their contributions can help organizations make tremendous leaps. The flip side of this is the dysfunctional team that gets bogged down, fails to deliver and costs the organization in terms of lost productivity, missed goals and sagging morale.
So, what makes the difference between the two scenarios? In his seminal book, Tools for Team Excellence, Professor Gregory Huszczo outlined seven key components for successful team development.
Those seven key components are:
Clear sense of direction. Team members should have a shared purpose. They should understand the expected outcomes of the team, what their role is how their team's output will contribute to corporate goals.
Talented members. When putting the team together, it's essential to have someone with the vision of what is to be accomplished identify the competencies required to get the job done.
Clear & enticing responsibilities. Everyone should understand what their role is and team members should be aware of whom to go to when they need help; however, role definition shouldn't be so narrowly defined that it eliminates the opportunity to benefit from the multiple talents of a member.
Reasonable & efficient operating procedures. Systems need to be in place to plan, conduct meetings, identify and solve problems, make decisions, give and receive information, evaluate progress and perform tasks. Without these procedures in place dysfunction sets in.
Constructive interpersonal relationships. You also need to have systems to celebrate diversity, handle conflict, provide support and challenge individuals.
Active reinforcement systems. Just as in the larger organization, a team needs to have systems in place to hold members accountable and to reward positive outcomes and behaviors.
Constructive external relationships. No team is an island. Your team will have to work with others in the organization and will be reliant upon organizational resources to accomplish their goals. As a result, good diplomatic relations are required.
When a team becomes high-functioning, its whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Paying attention to these seven key components when establishing a team and throughout the team development life cycle will help ensure its success.
For more insights into how organizations approach hiring, developing and retaining employees, download your free copy of the McQuaig Global Talent Report!