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List of Organizations Involved in Exchange Programs with the Soviet Union and Eastern EuropeWednesday, October 01, 1986
The Commission developed this report to help interested persons and organizations participate in exchange programs with the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe: Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. It lists organizations which conduct exchange programs and other contacts with these countries. The parties to the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe declared their intention to expand cooperation in security, economic, humanitarian, information, culture, and education affairs and to respect and put into practice certain basic principles, including those of human rights. The Final Act was signed in Helsinki on August 1, 1975, by 35 heads of state or government, including the United States, Canada, and every state in Europe except Albania. The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) was created as an independent government agency in 1976 to monitor compliance with the Final Act and to encourage U.S. governmental and private programs to expand East-West economic and cultural cooperation and exchange of people and ideas. In the Final Act, the signatories express the view that cultural exchanges and development of relations in education and science contribute to the strengthening of peace, better mutual under standing, and enrichment of the human personality. In the Com mission's view, exchange programs with the Soviet bloc countries break down barriers and lessen distrust. They help Americans learn about the views and goals of these societies. Such programs help expose the peoples of these countries to the values and goals of our pluralistic society. Critical to such programs is that Americans are given the opportunity to tell the Soviets and their allies on a personal level about their concern for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Stockholm Meeting of the Conference on Confidence and Security Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe (CDE)Wednesday, October 01, 1986
In this hearing, which Rep. Steny H. Hoyer presided over, took place on the heels of the Stockholm Meeting of the Conference on Confidence and Security Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe (CDE). Concerning the conference, Chairman D'Amato stated, "This package of confidence- and security-building measures is designed to bring about greater openness with respect to European security and reduce the risk of war." One of the main aspects of this "package" was the first inclusion of provisions for onsite inspection in an East-West agreement. The conference had large implications for the Helsinki process. For instance, one named concern was that security could overshadow human rights. The witness (Ambassador Barry) did say, though, that the conference could, if properly implemented, reduce the risk of war in Europe, contribute to greater security and openness, and lead to improved East-West relations.
Vienna Follow-Up Meeting of the CSCEThursday, September 11, 1986
This hearing focused on the Vienna Meeting and narratives in previous meetings in Belgrade and Madrid. These meetings centered on the U.S.S.R.'s persistent publicity about the true nature of the Soviet system, in particular regarding the role it played in the reversal of the Soviet image in Western Europe in the early 1980's. Due to Soviet improper compliance with OSCE rules and statues, such as detaining Helsinki monitors, the Vienna Meeting focused on strengthening the relevance and effectiveness of the Helsinki process to improve efficacy on progress.
Transcript: Bern Human Contacts Experts Meeting, March 18 and June 18, 1986Tuesday, March 18, 1986
The Commission met, pursuant to notice, in room 428-A, of the Russell Senate Office Building, at 10 a.m., Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato (chairman) and Representative Steny H. Hoyer (co-chairman) presiding. In attendance: Commissioners and Senators Gordon J. Humphrey and Dennis DeConcini; and Commissioner and Representative Don Ritter. Also in attendance: Michael R. Hathaway, staff director, and Mary Sue Hafner, general counsel of the Commission. This hearing took place before the Human Contacts Experts Meeting which was held in Bern, Switzerland beginning on April 15, 1986. Ambassador Michael Novak was head of the U.S. delegation to the Human Contacts Experts Meeting and testified in this hearing regarding U.S. goals for the meeting.
Soviet Violations of the Helsinki Accords in AfghanistanWednesday, December 04, 1985
The Helsinki Commission held its second hearing on Soviet aggression in Afghanistan six years after Soviet invasion in 1979. The witnesses shed light on the deliberate destruction of the people, culture, and way of life in Afghanistan for the Commissioners present, and considered ways to move forward.
Transcripts: Restrictions on Artistic Freedoms in the Soviet Union, October 29, 1985; and the Budapest Cultural Forum, December 11, 1985Tuesday, October 29, 1985
* Public Hearing on Restrictions on Artistic Freedom in the Soviet Union The Commission met, pursuant to notice, in room 210, Cannon House Office Building, at 10 a.m., Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato, chairman, and Representative Steny H. Hoyer, cochairman, presiding. In attendance: Commissioners and Senators John Heinz, Gordon J. Humphrey, and Dennis DeConcini; Commissioners and Representatives Dante B. Fascell, Don Ritter, and Christopher H. Smith. Also in attendance: Michael R. Hathaway, staff director, and Mary Sue Hafner, general counsel of the Commission. This hearing concerned restrictions on creative freedom in the Soviet Union. Public Hearing on the Budapest Cultural Forum The Commission met, pursuant to notice, in room 538, of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 11 a.m., Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato, chairman, and Representative Steny H. Hoyer, cochairman, presiding. In attendance: Senator Malcolm Wallop, Commissioner. Also in attendance: Michael R. Hathaway, staff director, and Mary Sue Hafner, general counsel of the Commission. In this hearing, the Helsinki Commission heard testimony on the most recent international meeting in the Helsinki process, the Budapest Cultural Forum.
THE OTTAWA HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS MEETING AND THE FUTURE OF THE HELSINKI PROCESSTuesday, June 25, 1985
The commissioners gave testimony on the importance of the 35-nation conference which addressed "respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief," The discussion centered on inconsistencies between the rhetoric of the United States on the subject of human rights and its actions. The focus of human rights covered the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and also Afghanistan. In response to human rights violations- recognizing the framework provided by the Helsinki accords- the witnesses discussed constructive measures to concentrate on human rights violations that could be corrected with relative ease and without effecting systemic change within the Soviet Union or the other states in the Soviet sphere.
GAO Report: Helsinki Commission: The First 8 YearsFriday, March 01, 1985
This report, which describes and evaluates the work of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, is in response to Chairman Fascell's request. The report's conclusions: We believe that the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe has helped, through its hearings and reports, to focus public attention and to inform public opinion and has made itself a principal Western source of information on Soviet and East European violations of the Final Act; helped resolve numerous family reunification cases for Eastern victims of Communist repression; played a key role in planning and conducting U.S. Helsinki diplomacy.; and effectively promoted a strong U.S. human rights policy in the East-West dialogue about cooperation, detente, and international security. The Commission has put considerably less emphasis on implementing its second mandate--to monitor and encourage governmental and private programs aimed at expanding East-West economic and cultural cooperation. The Commission's unusual organizational arrangement has worked well, although there were some initial difficulties, and as some observers have pointed out, more orthodox arrangements could also have worked well. Commission-participation in the international conferences has enhanced its ability to carry out its mandate to monitor and report on implementation of the Helsinki accords, and it has increased the ability of the Commission's congressional members to influence U.S. policy in the Helsinki process. Yet it has invited criticism on constitutional grounds relating to the separation of powers because it has, in practice, given executive functions to staff personnel who report to members of Congress. No one we consulted has suggested that this arrangement should be changed with respect to the Helsinki Commission. Some, however, have cautioned against suggestions that such an arrangement might be applied to other areas of U.S. foreign relations.
Documents of the Soviet Groups to Establish Trust Between the US and the USSRTuesday, May 01, 1984
Appeal To The Governments and People of The USSR and The USA: The USSR and the USA have the means to kill in such proportions that would end the history of mankind. A balance of terror cannot be a reliable guarantee of safety in the world. Only trust between peoples can create a firm assurance of the future. Today, when elementary trust between the two nations has been completely lost, the problem of trust has ceased to be simply a question of bilateral relations. This is the question: Will mankind be wiped out by its own destructive capabilities or will it survive? This problem demands immediate action today. It is, however, very obvious that political leaders of both sides are incapable of coming to any sort of agreement about significant arms limitations in the near future . ... to say nothing of genuine disarmament. Due to their political interests and circumstances, politicians find it difficult to be objective on disarmament issues Recognizing this, we do not wish to accuse one side or the other of not wishing to promote the peace process, nor certainly of any aggressive designs for the future. We are convinced of their genuine desire for peace and curtailment of the nuclear threat. However, the search for the path to disarmament has become difficult. We all share an equal responsibility for the future. The active peace movement among citizens of many countries proves that this is understood by millions of people. But our common desire for peace must not be blind It must be perceived and expressed in concrete terms. It must be presented in the context of actual conditions. The world is concerned about its future. Everyone understands that there must be dialogue if the threat is to be removed. The prevailing principles of conducting bilateral dialogue must be changed immediately. We are convinced that the time has come for the public not only to confront decision makers with the issue of disarmament, but to participate in the decision making process with the politicians. We are in favor of quatrapartite dialogue - for dialogue in which average Soviet and American citizens are included on an equal footing with political figures. We favor consistent and, ultimately complete destruction of stockpiles of. nuclear weapons and other forms of mass destruction, and for limitations of conventional weapons. We view the present program for the search for peace as the following: 1. As a first step to abolish the nuclear threat, we appeal to everyone who does not desire the death of his neighbor to submit his own specific proposals on bilateral limitations and cutbacks of weaponry, and, most of all, for the establishment of trust. We call for each such proposal to be forwarded simultaneously to the governments of both countries and to representatives of independent public peace groups. We hope espeially that our call will be heeded by the peoples of the Soviet Union and the United States, whose governments bear the main responsibility for maintaining the safety of the world. 2. We call upon the citizens of both countries to create combined international public groups, based on the principles of independence. Their functions would include: the receipt and analysis of individual proposals on disarmament and promoting trust between nations: the selection of the most interesting and realistic proposals: bringing these proposals to the attention of the respective populations about the possible consequences of the use of nuclear arms, and about all issues concerning disarmament. 3. We appeal to the scientific community, particularly to independent international scientific organizations involved in the campaign for peace, to work on scientific problems directly connected with the preservation of peace. For instance, at the present stage, it is extremely important to develop a unified mathematical method for evaluating the weaponry of the opposing sides. We call upon scientists to create independent research groups to scientifically analyze citizen proposals. 4. We call upon political leaders and the media of both countries to refrain from mutual accustions about intentions to use nuclear weapons for aggressive purposes. We are convinced that such accusations only inflame distrust between the sides and thus make any constructive dialogue impossible. 5. We view as necessary guarantees of the establishment of trust that the USSR and the USA must create conditions for the open exchange of opinions and to inform the publics of both nations on all issues on the process of disarmament. We appeal to the governments of the USSR and the USA to create a special international bulletin (with a governmental guarnatees of distribution in both countries), in which both sides would conduct a dialogue, hold discussions, and would make public reports on the following issues, among others: a. An analysis of disarmament negotiations and the documents of the negotiations b. An exchange of opinions and proposals on possible ways to limit arms, and on disarmament c. An exchange of proposals on the establishment of trust d. An exchange of information on the possible consequences of using nuclear arms. Such a bulletin would provide an opportunity for independent citizens' peace groups to participate in general discussions, publish uncensored materials, especially proposals on disarmament and trust and information on (various) peace movements and the steps they have taken. We appeal to the governments and public opinion of the USSR and the USA since we are convinced that everyone who understands that the future needs to be defended must have a genuine opportunity to defend it! Moscow; June 4, 1982 Batovrin, Sergei Blok, V.R. Fleishgakker, Maria I. Khronopulo, Yu. G. Fleishgakker, V.N. Rozenoer, S.A. Sobkov, I.N. Ostrovskaya, L.A. Krochik, G.M. Kalyuzhny, B.I. (and seventy-four signatures in support) (the appeal is open for signatures.)
Report: The Madrid CSCE Review MeetingWednesday, November 02, 1983
The second follow-up meeting of the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) finally came to a close on September 9, 1983, nearly three years after the deliberations began on November 11, 1980. Burdened throughout by sharply deteriorating East-West relations -- the result of the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the imposition of martial law in Poland and continuing Soviet human rights abuses -- the Madrid Meeting served to focus international attention on Soviet actions which violated the letter and spirit of the Helsinki Final Act. Even the formal closing week of the meeting was overshadowed by yet another Soviet atrocity -- the shooting down of a Korean commercial airliner with the loss of 269 lives. Review meetings like Madrid and its predecessor in Belgrade (October 1977 - March 1978) have a three-fold function: a review of the implementation records of the 35 participating states, the consideration of new proposals to enhance the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and the adoption of a concluding document. The review of implementation at Madrid was frequently heated, at times tempestuous. Continuing East-West tensions over human rights and other issues determined that the consideration of new proposals and the adoption of a concluding document would necessarily be a protracted affair. While it did not take consensus to criticize implementation failures, CSCE procedures require unanimous consent of all 35 signatory states for agreement to a concluding document. The gulf between East and West was such, particularly on the key issues of human rights and military security, that more than two years of negotiations were necessary to produce the compromise concluding document. The length of these negotiations was also heavily conditioned by external events such as Poland and Afghanistan which had a strong negative effect on the proceedings.
Update on Raoul WallenbergWednesday, August 03, 1983
This hearing focused on the disappearance of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, distinguished diplomat who risked his life to help grant protection to Jewish refugees in Hungary during Nazis occupation. Wallenberg's whereabouts became unknown when the Soviets liberated Hungary. Despite Soviet declarations that Mr. Wallenberg died in 1947, many witnesses have contested this claim and have reported that he is in fact in Soviet prison. The Commissioners and the witnesses discussed the U.S. response and what further actions may be needed.
Implementation of the Final Act: Findings and Recommendations Seven Years After HelsinkiMonday, November 01, 1982
This report, including its findings and recommendations, is based upon material compiled during the Commission's continuing study of Final Act implementation -- with special emphasis on the period since the last report in August 1980. The Commission has focused its attention in this report primarily on the compliance records of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies where, with rare exceptions, the level of implementation in many areas continues to be appallingly low. Given the continued armed occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces; the imposition, under heavy Soviet pressures, of martial law in Poland; and the radically increased repression of all forms of dissent in the Soviet Union and many other Warsaw Pact countries, it is clear that compliance with the Final Act has seriously regressed. The Western CSCE states, on the other hand, generally have maintained relatively high standards of implementation in all areas of the Final Act, specifically, in those areas such as human rights where the Eastern record has been a cause of dismay. The Commission, therefore, has directed the bulk of its research to those nations whose records under the Helsinki Accords display the greatest need for improvement. For the CSCE review conference in Madrid, this report will serve as an overview of compliance of the two-year period since the Commission undertook its review in the fall of 1980. For the American public, whose support is essential to continued U.S. participation in the CSCE process, the report provides a current picture of major implementation achievements and shortcomings in the most critical areas - the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
The Assassination Attempt on Pope John Paul IIThursday, September 23, 1982
The subject of this hearing, which Commissioner Millicent Fenwick chaired, was whether or not there was the possibility of complicity, on the part of the Soviet and Bulgarian secret police, to Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca's assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. As per Principle VI of the Helsinki Final Act, signatory nations are to refrain from direct or indirect assistance to terrorist activities. Bulgaria and the Soviet Union were privy to this at the time of the hearing. The hearing utilized witnesses to shed light as to whether or not Bulgaria and the Soviet Union were honoring this commitment in Principle VI, which was not a guarantee, especially because of Mehmet Ali Agca's potential involvement in a Turkish arms ring that Bulgarians supported. The hearing was part and parcel of an "essential" effort to carefully and impartially examine all evidence of possible Soviet and Bulgarian involvement with Agca.
Soviet Involvement in the Polish EconomyThursday, April 01, 1982
Commissioner Dante B. Fascell chaired this hearing, the purpose of which was to review the record of Soviet involvement in the planning, direction, and operation of the Polish economy. Before the time of this hearing, Soviet involvement in the Polish economy had been the source of much speculation. More specifically, Poland's economy was functioning poorly, but it was debated whether the fault of this lay more with Poland itself or more with the U.S.S.R. What was hoped to be achieved in the hearing, then, was to shed light on the issue of how Soviet involvement affected the Polish economy, specifically based on the personal experience of one of Poland's leading economists and a former government official, Ambassador Zdzislaw Rurarz.
Soviet Violation of Helsinki Final Act: Invasion of AfghanistanWednesday, July 22, 1981
Attendees at this hearing, over which Commissioner Dante B. Fascell presided, discussed the December 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union, an invasion that ran counter to international law due to Afghanistan's status as sovereign and independent. The set of agreements that the Soviet Union signed on to in 1975 with 34 other countries (i.e. the Helsinki Final Act) incorporated rights inherent in a country's sovereignty, refraining from the threat or use of force, the rights of peoples to self-determination, and acceptance of international conduct principles. In short, the Soviet Union's invasion and attempted occupation of Afghanistan had struck at the very heart of these principles, and its invasion had severely damaged the international climate and greatly damaged East-West relations.
A Thematic Survey of the Documents of the Moscow Helsinki GroupTuesday, May 12, 1981
The Moscow Public Group to Promote Observance of the Helsinki Accords in the USSR (better known as the Moscow Helsinki Group) announced its formation at a press conference for Western journalists on May 12, 1976. The first statement of the Moscow Helsinki Group publicized the names and addresses of the founding members: Professor Yuri Orlov, Group leader; and founding members Lyudmila Alekseeva, Elena Bonner, Aleksandr Ginzburg, Petro Grigorenko, Malva Landa, Anatoly Marchenko, Vitaly Rubin and Anatoly Shcharansky. (Later, ten other human rights activists joined the Moscow Helsinki Group: Sofya Kalistratova, Ivan Kovalev, Naum Meiman, Yuri Mnyukh, Viktor Nekipelov, Tatiana Osipova, Feliks Serebrov, Vladimir Slepak, Leonard Ternovsky and Yuri Yarym-Agaev.) Believing that human needs and open information are directly related to international security, the Group seeks to inform the CSCE states and public opinion about violations in the USSR of the humanitarian provisions of the Final Act. The Moscow Helsinki Group hopes that the information it provides will be considered at those international meetings (the Belgrade Conference, the Madrid Conference and similar future meetings) which are envisioned in the Final Act, under the section "Followup to the Conference," to examine the fulfillment of obligations under the Helsinki Accords. The Group called itself the Group to Promote the observance of the Helsinki Accords to stress its loyalty to the authorities and its desire to cooperate if they revealed a conscientious attitude towards their Helsinki human rights obligations. The Group members called on other CSCE signatories to create similar citizens groups, since violations of the Final Act human rights provisions are possible in any country.
Fifth Anniversary of the Formation of the Ukrainian Helsinki GroupMonday, February 16, 1981
On November 9, 1976, 10 brave men and women in Kiev organized a citizens' group to examine how the Soviet Government was living up to its Helsinki human rights pledges. Tragically, however, far from greeting this new civic endeavor, the Kremlin, in a savage campaign of official reprisal, singled out the Ukrainian Helsinki Group for especially harsh treatment. By 1981, 30 group activists were in Soviet camps, prisons, and places of exile. The four witnesses at the Helsinki Commission hearing provided expert testimony on Ukraine and the Helsinki process, and their fates gave an insight into the radically different ways in which our Government and that of the Soviet Union reacted to citizen interest in the Helsinki process.
Implementation of the Final Act: Findings and Recommendations Five Years After HelsinkiFriday, August 01, 1980
This report and its findings and recommendations are drawn from material compiled during the Commission's continuing study of Final Act implementation -- with special emphasis on the period since the last report in August 1977. Directed by law to give "particular regard" to the provisions of the Final Act section (Basket III) on Cooperation in Humanitarian and Other Fields, the Commission is: "Further authorized and directed to monitor and encourage the developoment of programs and activities of the United States government and private organizations with a view toward taking advantage of the provisions of the Final Act to expand East-West economic cooperation and a greater interchange of people and ideas between East and West." Guided by its mandate, the Commission has concentrated its attention in this report primarily on the compliance records of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies where, with rare exceptions, the level of implementation in many areas has remained appallingly low and, in some cases, has even regressed. By comparison, Western CSCE states generally have maintained relatively high standards of implementation in all areas of the Final Act and, in particular, in those areas such as human rights where the Eastern record has been most dismal. Therefore, in examining the impact of the Final Act -- actions reflecting compliance with or violations of its articles -- the Commission, in this report, has directed the bulk of its research to those nations whose records under the Helsinki Accords stand the greatest need for improvement.
Review of Implementation of Basket II of the Helsinki Final ActThursday, March 06, 1980
This hearing, which Commissioner Jonathan B. Bingham chaired, was a joint meeting of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. These organizations held this hearing after the establishment of a new strategy by the U.S. in its relations with the Soviet Union. More specifically, the month before this hearing, the CSCE adopted a resolution condemning the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the arrest and exile of Andrei Sakharov as blatant violations of the Helsinki Final Act. Commissioner Millicent Fenwick, who was also one of the sponsors of legislation creating the CSCE, proposed this resolution. Likewise, the resolution called on the signatory states of the Final Act to join in such protest and undertake such sanctions against the former U.S.S.R. as may be available to them. The hearing itself, then, focused on the current status and prospects of U.S. commercial and economic relationships with the U.S.S.R. and Eastern European countries, implementation of Basket II, efforts to promote better implementation, and the impact the Soviet violation of the Helsinki accords in Afghanistan would have on the Madrid Review Session and the CSCE process as a whole.
Profiles: Helsinki MonitorsMonday, December 10, 1979
In May of 1976, a group of Soviet citizens dedicated themselves to promoting compliance by their government with the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Final Act. Collecting and disseminating information on violations of those provisions, these human rights activists thereby expressed their stated conviction that "the issues of humanitarianism and free information have a direct relationship to the problem of international security." Respect for human rights in the USSR, they held, is a precondition for the development of a solid East-West detente. After hearing about the work of the Helsinki Groups on foreign radio broadcasts, many ordinary Soviet citizens began sending the Group information on human rights violations in various areas of the USSR. In this way, the Groups became catalysts, drawing together the disparate strands of Soviet dissent. Group reports reflect these varied concerns: conditions in labor camps and psychiatric hospitals; the problems of religious and ethnic minorities; emigration difficulties; and denials of economic rights. The CSCE Commission translates and compiles these Group documents in its series of "Reports of the Helsinki Accord Monitors in the Soviet Union." Encouraged by the success of the first Helsinki Group in Moscow, other such groups were organized in the Ukraine, Lithuania, Armenia, and Georgia. In Moscow, two allied groups were formed to deal with more specific issues: the Working Commission on the Use of Psychiatry for Political Purposes, and the Christian Committee to Defend the Rights of Believers. In recognition of the sacrifice, dedication, and successful work of all these groups, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe nominated all their members for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 and 1979. During the past two years, other allied groups have emerged: the Initiative Group for the Defense of the Rights of Invalids in the USSR; the Group for the Legal Struggle and Investigation of Facts about the Persecution of Believers in the USSR of the All-Union Church of the Faithful and Free Seventh-Day Adventists; and the Catholic Committee to Defense the Rights of Believers in the USSR. With the addition of these new committees, an even broader spectrum of human rights issues and interests in the Soviet Union is now represented. At the present time, there are 66 men and women in the Helsinki Monitoring Groups in Moscow, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Armenia. Currently, 26 people have joined the Christian, Catholic and Adventist Committees, the Working Con-miission on Psychiatric Abuse and the Initiative Group for Invalids. For this compilation of biographical information on the present members, the Commission is indebted to the following for their assistance: ORGANIZATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS Amnesty International, Bulletin d'Information, Comite pour I'application des accords d'Helsinki en Georgie, Committee for the Defense of Soviet Political Prisoners, ELTA Information Service, Helsinki Guarantees for Ukraine Committee, Keston College, Khronika Press, Lithuanian-American Community of the U.S.A., Inc., Lithuanian Catholic Religious Aid, National Conference on Soviet Jewry, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Smoloskyp, Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, the Ukrainian National Information Service, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, Washington Street Research Center. INDIVIDUALS Mr. Victor Abdalov, Mrs. Lyudmila Alekseeva, Gen. and Mrs. Pyotr Grigorenko, Ms. Dina Kaminskaya, Mr. Ambartsum Khlagatyan, Mr. Michael Meerson, Rev. Aleksandr Shmeiman, Mr. Konstantin Simis, Ms. Veronika Stein, Mr. Valentin Turchin, and Ms. Lydia Voronina, Ms. Yulya Zaks.
Helsinki Commission Announces Briefing on OSCE Field Missions in the Western Balkans
WASHINGTON—The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today announced the following briefing:
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Senate Visitors Center
Room 202
Live Webcast: www.facebook.com/HelsinkiCommission
Since the outbreak of the conflicts associated with Yugoslavia's break-up in the early 1990s, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its field missions have been a central part of the international community's response.
Early OSCE efforts to counter the spillover effects of those conflicts were followed by ongoing assistance in post-conflict recovery and reconciliation. Today, OSCE field missions continue to exist in virtually every country of the region. They encourage the reform and cooperation essential to the long-term stability of the region through activities that broadly support democratic institutions and governance, particularly to strengthen rule of law; programs to promote integration of minority communities, especially Roma, and to counter violent extremism, and more; and regular reporting to the OSCE Secretariat and participating States.
The briefing features three Americans who currently hold, or have recently held, senior positions on the OSCE Missions deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia, reflecting the importance which the United States attaches to having an OSCE presence in countries of concern. Panelists will comment on developments in those countries during their assignment, the efforts undertaken by their respective missions to assist those countries, and the effectiveness of the OSCE as a multilateral tool for enhancing stability and promoting reform.
An OSCE official will also participate on the panel to comment on the organization's field work from the Secretariat perspective, and the challenges not only to OSCE field activity in the Western Balkans but throughout the OSCE region.
The following experts are scheduled to participate:
- Ambassador Jonathan Moore, former Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014-2017)
- Mr. Jeff Goldstein, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje (2016-present)
- Mr. Michael Uyehara, former Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia (2014-2017)
- Ambassador Marcel Peško, Director of the Conflict Prevention Centre, OSCE Secretariat (2015 – present)


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text:
Piano Inspiration2 versions included the full version and a piano loop version;
An inspirational and motivational pop track with rock elements, giving the feeling of driving and moving forward. A long track with plenty of scope for editors to cut in and out.
With acoustic and electric guitar, drums, bass guitar, harmonium, Strawberry Field style flutes, and of course a full grand piano.
Original version is 4:11 long, found at (0:00) – (04:11) on the preview. Piano loop version is 1:33 long, found at (04:11) – (05:44) on the preview


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Not-for-Profit Entities: Mergers and Acquisitions—Including an amendment of FASB Statement No. 142
Why Is the FASB Issuing This Statement and When Is It Effective?
The objective of this Statement is to improve the relevance, representational faithfulness, and comparability of the information that a not-for-profit entity provides in its financial reports about a combination with one or more other not-for-profit entities, businesses, or nonprofit activities. To accomplish that, this Statement establishes principles and requirements for how a not-for-profit entity:
- Determines whether a combination is a merger or an acquisition
- Applies the carryover method in accounting for a merger
- Applies the acquisition method in accounting for an acquisition, including determining which of the combining entities is the acquirer
- Determines what information to disclose to enable users of financial statements to evaluate the nature and financial effects of a merger or an acquisition.
This Statement also improves the relevance, representational faithfulness, and comparability of the information a not-for-profit entity provides about goodwill and other intangible assets after an acquisition by amending FASB Statement No. 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, to make it fully applicable to not-for-profit entities.
This Statement is effective for:
- Mergers for which the merger date is on or after the beginning of an initial reporting period beginning on or after December 15, 2009
- Acquisitions for which the acquisition date is on or after the beginning of the first annual reporting period beginning on or after December 15, 2009.
It may not be applied to mergers or acquisitions before those dates.
Because the following items were not effective for not-for-profit entities upon their initial effective dates, this Statement also provides an effective date for them:
- Statement 142's requirements on subsequent accounting for goodwill and other intangible assets acquired in an acquisition by a not-for-profit entity (Statement 142 refers to assets acquired in a business combination.)
- The amendments that FASB Statement No. 160, Noncontrolling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements, made to Accounting Research Bulletin ARB No. 51, Consolidated Financial Statements, and to other existing pronouncements
- The amendments that FASB Statement No. 141 (revised 2007), Business Combinations, made to existing pronouncements.
A not-for-profit entity shall apply those items prospectively in the first set of initial or annual financial statements for a reporting period beginning on or after December 15, 2009. Application before that date is prohibited.
What Is the Scope of This Statement?
This Statement provides guidance on accounting for a combination of not-for-profit entities, which is a transaction or other event that results in a not-for-profit entity initially recognizing another not-for-profit entity, a business, or a nonprofit activity in its financial statements. This Statement applies to a combination that meets the definition of either a merger of not-for-profit entities or an acquisition by a not-for-profit entity. This Statement does not apply to:
- The formation of a joint venture
- The acquisition of an asset or a group of assets that does not constitute either a business or a nonprofit activity
- A combination between not-for-profit entities, businesses, or nonprofit activities under common control
- A transaction or other event in which a not-for-profit entity obtains control of another entity but does not consolidate that entity, as permitted or required by AICPA Statement of Position 94-3, Reporting of Related Entities by Not-for-Profit Organizations, or AICPA Audit and Accounting Guide, Health Care Organizations.
How Will This Statement Improve Current Accounting Practice?
Until now, not-for-profit entities have accounted for mergers and acquisitions by analogizing to guidance developed for business entities, specifically, APB Opinion No. 16, Business Combinations. FASB Statement No. 141, Business Combinations, replaced Opinion 16 for business entities, and Statement 141 was itself replaced by Statement 141(R). However, the Board excluded not-for-profit entities from the scope of both Statement 141 and Statement 141(R), pending the issuance of guidance developed specifically for them. This Statement provides that guidance, which takes into account the unique features of not-for-profit entities and the combinations in which they engage.
Unique Features of Not-for-Profit Entities and Their Combinations
Combinations by not-for-profit entities and combinations by business entities are similar in many ways. In particular, acquisitions by the two types of entities are sufficiently similar that the same basic accounting method—the acquisition method—is appropriate for both. But not-for-profit entities differ from business entities in some important ways. Thus, this project began by identifying and analyzing differences between not-for-profit entities and business entities and the combinations in which they engage. The Board then considered how the similarities and differences between business entities and not-for-profit entities should affect the financial accounting and reporting requirements for combinations of not-for-profit entities.
One fundamental difference between combinations of not-for-profit entities and combinations involving only businesses has significant financial reporting implications. Because a not-for-profit entity lacks the type of ownership interests that business entities have, negotiations in not-for-profit mergers and acquisitions generally focus on the furtherance for the benefit of the public of the mission, governance, and programs of the entity, rather than on maximizing returns for equity holders. Many mergers and acquisitions by not-for-profit entities do not involve a transfer of consideration. In other words, many mergers and acquisitions by not-for-profit entities are not fair value exchanges but rather are nonreciprocal transfers. That fundamental difference contributed significantly to this Statement's requirement that different accounting methods apply to a merger of not-for-profit entities and an acquisition by a not-for-profit entity. For an acquisition, those combinations result in a contribution of the acquiree's net assets to the acquirer, which this Statement refers to as an inherent contribution received to distinguish it from other contributions received by a not-for-profit entity.
Determining Whether a Combination Is a Merger or an Acquisition
This Statement requires use of the carryover method to account for a merger of not-for-profit entities, which is a combination in which the governing bodies of two or more not-for-profit entities cede control of those entities to create a new not-for-profit entity. In contrast, the acquisition method must be used to account for an acquisition by a not-for-profit entity, which is a combination in which a not-for-profit acquirer obtains control of one or more nonprofit activities or businesses. This Statement also provides implementation guidance on distinguishing between a merger and an acquisition, including illustrations of how that guidance might be applied to hypothetical combinations.
Applying the Carryover Method
Under the carryover method, the combined entity's initial set of financial statements carry forward the assets and liabilities of the combining entities, measured at their carrying amounts in the books of the combining entities at the merger date. An entity applying the carryover method recognizes neither additional assets or liabilities nor changes in the fair value of recognized assets and liabilities not already recognized in the combining entities' financial statements before the merger under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). (Exceptions are made to reflect a consistent method of accounting for the new entity if the merging entities used different methods and to eliminate the effects of intraentity transactions.) This Statement's guidance on applying the carryover method improves on Opinion 16's guidance on applying the pooling method in several ways.
First, in Opinion 16, the measurement date—the date as of which information about the merging entities' assets and liabilities was included in the combined entity's financial statements—was the beginning of the period in which the merger occurred, regardless of the actual date of the merger. The measurement date for a merger in this Statement is the merger date—the date the combination becomes effective. The not-for-profit entity that results from a merger is a new entity and therefore a new reporting entity. An entity's history begins at its inception; a new entity has no previous operations. The guidance on measurement date and related presentation issues in this Statement is consistent with the merged entity's status as a new entity.
This Statement also provides additional guidance for the carryover method. For example, this Statement provides guidance on how to make the classifications and designations that are required to apply other GAAP, such as applying hedge accounting requirements. The new entity is to carry forward into the opening balances in its financial statements the merging entities' classifications and designations unless either:
- The merger results in a modification of a contract in a manner that would change those previous classifications or designations; or
- Reclassifications are necessary to conform accounting policies.
This Statement also specifies minimum disclosures to be made as of the merger date to enable users of the new entity's financial statements to evaluate the nature and financial effect of the merger that resulted in its formation.
Applying the Acquisition Method
The acquisition method in this Statement is the same as the acquisition method described in Statement 141(R), with the addition of guidance on items unique or especially significant to a not-for-profit entity and the elimination of guidance that does not apply to a not-for-profit acquirer. For example, this Statement's guidance on identifying both the acquirer and the acquisition date is in substance the same as the guidance that Statement 141(R) provides on those issues, but this Statement uses different terminology and adds a few details unique to not-for-profit entities.
Recognizing Goodwill or a Contribution Received
The area in which this Statement provides guidance that differs most in substance from that in Statement 141(R) is recognition of goodwill. Unlike business entities, some not-for-profit entities are solely or predominantly supported by contributions and returns on investments. Others are more "businesslike," receiving most, or even all, of their support from fees for services. An example of the former is a soup kitchen; an example of the latter is a not-for-profit hospital that charges fees to cover its costs. In general, the more business-like a not-for-profit entity, the more relevant is information about goodwill acquired to users of the entity's financial statements. This Statement recognizes that information about goodwill may be of limited use to donors in their assessments of whether to provide resources to a not-for-profit entity. Accordingly, this Statement requires an acquirer that expects the operations of the acquiree as part of the combined entity to be predominantly supported by contributions and returns on investments to recognize as a separate charge in its statement of activities the amount that otherwise would be recognized as a goodwill asset as of the acquisition date. Predominantly supported by means that contributions and returns on investments are expected to be significantly more than the total of all other sources of revenues.
As already noted, many acquisitions by not-for-profit entities constitute an inherent contribution received because the acquirer receives net assets without transferring consideration. This Statement requires the acquirer to recognize such a contribution received as a separate credit in its statement of activities on the acquisition date.
Recognizing and Measuring Noncontrolling Interests
This Statement requires that a recognized noncontrolling interest in another entity, whether a business or another not-for-profit entity, be measured at its fair value at the acquisition date. In addition, as noted in discussing effective date, this Statement makes Statement 160's amendments to ARB 51 effective for not-for-profit entities. Many of those amendments deal with accounting for a noncontrolling interest after its acquisition. This Statement also provides guidance on and illustrates presentation of a noncontrolling interest in a not-for-profit entity's financial statements.
Other Provisions of the Acquisition Method That Are Specific to Not-for-Profit Entities
This Statement also provides other guidance on applying the acquisition method in areas that are unique or especially significant for not-for-profit entities. For example, this Statement establishes exceptions to its recognition principle for donor relationships, collections, and conditional promises to give.
This Statement also provides guidance on how to present in the statement of activities and the statement of cash flows various items that are unique to not-for-profit entities, including the immediate charge or credit to the statement of activities for the amount that otherwise would be recognized as goodwill or an inherent contribution received, respectively. For an entity subject to the health care Guide, that guidance indicates whether specific items are to be within the performance indicator.
Like Statement 141(R), this Statement establishes disclosure objectives for an acquisition and requires minimum disclosures needed to meet those objectives. The disclosure objectives are the same as for a business combination, as are many of the minimum disclosures required. But the minimum disclosures are tailored for acquisitions by not-for-profit entities in some areas. For example, this Statement requires disclosure of the amount of collection items acquired that are recognized in the statement of activities as a decrease in the acquirer's net assets rather than as assets in accordance with FASB Statement No. 116, Accounting for Contributions Received and Contributions Made.
How Does This Statement Affect Convergence with International Reporting Standards?
International convergence is not a consideration for financial reporting standards applicable only to not-for-profit entities, like this one. The IASB's standards do not deal explicitly with not-for-profit entities.


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Total Eclipse of the Moon
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Dec. 2, 2011: Waking up before sunrise can be tough to do, especially on a weekend. On Saturday, Dec. 10th, you might be glad you did. A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible in the early morning skies of western Northern America.
The action begins around 4:45 am Pacific Standard Time when the red shadow of Earth first falls across the lunar disk. By 6:05 am Pacific Time, the Moon will be fully engulfed in red light. This event—the last total lunar eclipse until 2014—is visible from the Pacific side of North America, across the entire Pacific Ocean to Asia and Eastern Europe: global visibility map.
For people in the western United States the eclipse is deepest just before local dawn. Face west to see the red Moon sinking into the horizon as the sun rises behind your back. It's a rare way to begin the day.
Not only will the Moon be beautifully red, it will also be inflated by the Moon illusion. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. In fact, a low Moon is no wider than any other Moon (cameras prove it) but the human brain insists otherwise. To observers in the western USA, therefore, the eclipse will appear super-sized.
It might seem puzzling that the Moon turns red when it enters the shadow of the Earth—aren't shadows supposed to be dark? In this case, the delicate layer of dusty air surrounding our planet reddens and redirects the light of the sun, filling the dark behind Earth with a sunset-red glow. The exact hue (anything from bright orange to blood red is possible) depends on the unpredictable state of the atmosphere at the time of the eclipse. As Jack Horkheimer (1938-2010) of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium loved to say, "Only the shadow knows."
Atmospheric scientist Richard Keen of the University of Colorado might know, too. For years he has studied lunar eclipses as a means of monitoring conditions in Earth's upper atmosphere, and he has become skilled at forecasting these events.
"I expect this eclipse to be bright orange, or even copper-colored, with a possible hint of turquoise at the edge," he predicts.
Earth's stratosphere is the key: "During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the moon passes through the stratosphere where it is reddened by scattering," he explains. "If the stratosphere is loaded with dust from volcanic eruptions, the eclipse will be dark; a clear stratosphere, on the other hand, produces a brighter eclipse. At the moment, the stratosphere is mostly clear with little input from recent volcanoes."
That explains the brightness of the eclipse, but what about the "hint of turquoise"?
"Light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer. This can be seen as a soft blue fringe around the red core of Earth's shadow."
Look for the turquoise near the beginning of the eclipse when the edge of Earth's shadow is sweeping across the lunar terrain, he advises.
A bright red, soft turquoise, super-sized lunar eclipse: It's coming on Saturday, Dec. 10th. Wake up and enjoy the show.
Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
|More Information
A Dawn Eclipse of the Moon -- timetables and more information from Sky and Telescope
Dec. 10, 2011, Lunar Eclipse -- NASA home page for this event
The Animated Eclipse -- created by graphic artist Larry Koehn of ShadowandSubstance.com


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It's Nat here with this week's Dare. This week I hope you're ready for a little....
With Halloween just a few days away you still have time to get your spooky vibes going and make a Halloween card or you could use some ghoulish Halloween colours to make a non-Halloween card.... the choice is yours.
Here are some of the creations the design team came up with!
Remember to link us up to your cards - have a spooktacular week!


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picture gallery
Amy's story on how she ended up shooting for FTV is rather interesting and all seemed fine, as she did have the look for the site. Being confirmed as 19 years old, we got things set up so she could come visit from Florida. That is, until she goes to a hairstylist to get her hair done 'better' (though I was quite happy with her hair before) and somehow the stylist screws up, and she ends up cutting her hair super short. So we waited several months until her hair had grown some, at the state you see now... and here she is. She's never done any adult before, and this shoot was a definite warm-up and confidence builder for her. As you see from the start, she is a bit awkward on video, and I had to coach her to talk on camera, with her teasers being somewhat timid, but as she gains confidence, even on the first video you see how she goes from model to a very kinky girl. That black dress and wedges really suits her, and gives her the fashion model look -- and made sense to use on that fancy location, so people really think we're just doing fashion. No matter, we end up getting spotted by angry old ladies, and some guys who were cool with it. When it got down to her fingering herself, it was her initiative when she started stuffing fingers in her ass in doggy. I didn't even bring up any anal penetration. To get four, without lube, just like that... it was crazy... and I realized I may have a potentially extreme girl on my hands (little did I know she would become one of the most extreme girls I've ever shot on FTV). Looking back, the two glass toys double penetrating her full depth seems easy compared to what she does later, even though for most girls that would have been beyond their ability. Some very erotic angles of the penetration, and its just hot to watch this beautiful, leggy girl get so kinky. She also never had done any masturbating with a vibrator, and she was very excited about it -- so I give her the introductory vibrator (Eroscillator). She ends up with two orgasms, and some visible vaginal contractions, but she is a rather quiet girl (since she used to masturbate a lot when she was younger with her parents in the next room). Two angles of the masturbation available for viewing. I was having a hell of a time with lighting though, as the sun would come and go, with patches of cloud randomly making it light/yellow/dark/blue for video. So we move to extreme closeups again, showing off her clit, but she goes right to stretching her vagina open with several fingers, leading to some really massive gaping shots with three fingers in on each side. So we do something fun she wanted to try -- pouring water in her and squirting it out. As she gapes, I fill her up with about 8oz of water, then she squirts it out. She also does the little vaginal 'swimming pool' for her fingers. It only made sense for her to try fisting next, since she is such a gaper. At first, it seemed like it would be difficult, but then it slides in, and not only does she fist, she goes super deep and very hard, from every position possible! It turns into a rather intense fisting session, and her exploring every part of her vagina with her hand. The craziest part was how deep she went, and how she could push her belly up with her hand in there!? She then gapes even wider after being stretched out, even attempting an eight finger gape. No matter what, her vagina snaps right back to being tight and pretty. The day ends with her wearing her yoga outfit, then taking her top and pushing it into her vagina, then doing a slow 'skinny white girl dance' to music. Consider this day one of the shoot a 'warm-up', as it gets even more extreme, with ever-increasing confidence and comfort with the camera.
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A new quantum mechanical-based biosensor designed by a team at University of California, Santa Barbara offers tremendous potential for detecting biomolecules at ultra-low concentrations, from instant point-of-care disease diagnostics, to detection of trace substances for forensics and security.
Kaustav Banerjee, director of the Nanoelectronics Research Lab and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSB, and PhD student Deblina Sarkar have proposed a methodology for beating the fundamental limits of a conventional Field-Effect-Transistor (FET) by designing a Tunnel-FET (T-FET) sensor that is faster and four orders of magnitude more sensitive.
"This study establishes the foundation for a new generation of ultra-sensitive biosensors that expand opportunities for detection of biomolecules at extremely low concentrations," said Samir Mitragotri, professor of Chemical Engineering and director of the Center for Bioengineering at UCSB. "Detection and diagnostics are a key area of bioengineering research at UCSB and this study represents an excellent example of UCSB's multi-faceted competencies in this exciting field."
Biosensors based on conventional FETs have been gaining momentum as a viable technology for the medical, forensic, and security industries since they are cost-effective compared to optical detection procedures. Such biosensors allow for scalability and label-free detection of biomolecules – removing the step and expense of labeling target molecules with fluorescent dye.
The principle behind any FET-based biosensor is similar to the FETs used in digital circuit applications, except that the physical gate is removed and the work of the gate is carried out by charged versions of the biomolecules it intends to detect. For immobilizing these biomolecules, the dielectric surface enclosing the semiconductor is coated with specific receptors, which can bind to the target biomolecules – a process called conjugation.
"The thermionic emission current injection mechanism of conventional FET based biosensors puts fundamental limitations on their maximum sensitivity and minimum detection time," said Banerjee, who conceived the idea in 2009 while studying the design of tunnel-FETs for ultra energy-efficient integrated electronics.
"We overcome these fundamental limitations by making Quantum Physics join hands with Biology" explained Sarkar, the lead author of the paper. "The key concept behind our device is a current injection mechanism that leverages biomolecule conjugation to bend the energy bands in the channel region, leading to the quantum-mechanical phenomenon of band-to-band tunneling. The result is an abrupt increase in current which is instrumental in increasing the sensitivity and reducing the response time of the proposed sensor."
"The abruptness of current increase in an electrical switch is quantified by a parameter called subthreshold swing and the sensitivity of any FET based biosensor increases exponentially as the subthreshold swing decreases. Thus, similar devices such as Impact-ionization- or Nano-electromechanical-FETs are promising for biosensing applications," explained Banerjee. "But since theT-FETs can be easily integrated in the widely available silicon-based semiconductor technology, they can be mass produced in a cost effective manner."
According to the researchers, their T-FET biosensor is expected to have tremendous impact on research in genomics and proteomics, as well as pharmaceutical, clinical and forensic applications – including the growing market of in-vitro and in-vivo diagnostics. Banerjee and Sarkar have filed a patent disclosure for their technology, which the researchers anticipate can be ready for the marketplace in as few as two years.
This story is reprinted from material from UC Santa Barbara, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier. Link to original source.
Researchers have combined molecular gastronomy with biodegradable materials to create environmentally friendly nanocomposite-based sensors.
Researchers have found that their new graphene-based heat pipe is better at cooling electronics and power systems than a copper-based heat pipe.
A new study shows that magnetic graphene can efficiently convert charge to spin current and transfer strong spin-polarization over long distances.


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Until Next Time...
Monday, December 17, 2012
Random Fun
Until Next Time...
7 comments:
- Karen - Quilts...etc. said...
wow that is a big quilt - where did you get a batting large enough for that - or I guess it could have been on a roll - I always buy in individual packages of Quilters Dream as I don't need the big rolls you long armers use :)
- December 17, 2012 at 8:05 AM
- Sally said...
It's great. And the back looks interesting too. Must have quite a challenge to line everything up. Great job from you both.
- December 17, 2012 at 8:25 AM
- Jean(ie) said...
YUM! I'm ogling the ribbon and that beautiful quilt!
- December 17, 2012 at 10:52 AM
- Rosa said...
It`s awesome.Congratulations to you both and Merry Christmas!
- December 17, 2012 at 5:19 PM
- Nedra said...
Love the Kaffe ribbons and the Kaffe quilt. Makes me want to pull out all of my Kaffe fabrics and play.
- December 17, 2012 at 6:20 PM
- Kati from Kati's Quilting said...
You got some yummy goodness there Jackie! I love african fabrics and the Kaffe Fassett ribbons are adorable!
- December 18, 2012 at 10:52 AM
LOVE my Kaffe quilt & you did a great job with tge varigated "bubble" quilting!!! It's gonna feel good to get this quilt off my UFO list and onto my king-size bed - now if I can just get the binding on it before SPRING!!
Thanks again.
- December 18, 2012 at 11:27 AM


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National guidelines state that children and adolescents should accumulate 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day.1 Based on objective physical activity measures, fewer than 50% of children and 10% of adolescents meet these guidelines.2 The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends youth sports as a means of obtaining physical activity as well as social benefits.3 In the United States, an estimated 44 million youth participate in organized sports.4 Youth sports participants include 66% boy players and 34% girl players, with greater sex equity at younger ages and an average length of time in an organized sport program of 5 years.4 Although intensity values in the moderate to vigorous range are obtained while playing common youth sports, it is not clear how much physical activity is provided by youth sports practices, as much of the time may be inactive, such as receiving verbal instruction and waiting for turns.
The limited data show that youth sports contribute 23% to 60% of children's daily MVPA, with the remainder coming from activity during physical education, unstructured play, and recess.5,6 One study showed higher MVPA on sports participation days than non–sports-participation days.6 However, a study using direct observation found that 43% of youth sports practice was spent being inactive.7 Another study that used accelerometers to measure physical activity in after-school programs rather than youth organized sports found that youth were significantly more active during free play than structured activity sessions.8 Organized youth sports place more emphasis on competition than physical activity.3 Thus, it should not be assumed that sports practices are highly active.
The objective of this study was to document the physical activity of youth during organized soccer and baseball/softball practices using accelerometers. Soccer and baseball/softball were chosen because they are common youth sports in the United States and were expected to vary in opportunities for physical activity. A 2009 article9 showed that baseball was the second (15 million) and soccer the third (14.2 million) most played organized sport by North American youth aged 6 and older (after basketball, with 26.2 million children). It was hypothesized that soccer, with an intensity level of 7.0 metabolic equivalents (METs), would provide more MVPA than softball/baseball, at 5.0 METs.10 It was also hypothesized that boys would be more physically active than girls across both sports.
After obtaining approval from institutional review boards, permission was granted by the governing boards of youth sports leagues in San Diego County, California, to speak with coaches and recruit participants. Researchers attended practices to introduce the study, and interested parents and athletes completed consent and assent forms. Players who participated were compensated with a small prize worth $2.
Youth sports programs
The independent community sports leagues served 2 moderate-income cities. The soccer leagues were in Chula Vista, California, where the median household income was $63 095; the population was 26% Hispanic and 59% white; 80.5% had more education than a high school diploma; and 24.8% had more than a bachelor degree.11,12 The soccer league cost $500 per person and was 10 to 11 months in duration. The league was organized into 10 girls' teams and 23 boys' teams, with varying levels of skill across teams. Players practiced twice per week and had weekly games.
The baseball (boys) and softball (girls) leagues were in El Cajon, California, where the median household income was $52 175; residents were 47% Hispanic and 53% white; 80.7% had more education than a high school diploma; and 15.6% had more than a bachelor degree.12 Fees for baseball and softball were $70 to $85 for the season, which ran for 5 months. Leagues had 14 teams with varying skill levels. Players practiced 1 to 2 times per week, with 1 to 2 games per week.
Participants were aged between 7 and 14 years and attended soccer or baseball/softball practices. There were 103 participants who played soccer and 97 who played baseball/softball. Response rates for soccer were 93% and were not collected for baseball/softball. Figure 1 presents distributions of teams by sport, sex, and age group. Participants were recruited from 29 teams. There were 14 soccer teams with 3 to 15 participants from each team (mean [SD], 7.4 [3.8]) and 15 baseball/softball teams with 3 to 12 participants from each team (mean (SD), 6.5 [2.7]). Teams were categorized into age groups of 7 to 10 and 11 to 14 years. Team age category was based on the predominant age group, although 2 teams had participants in both age groups.
Distribution of teams by sport, sex, and age group. There were 3 to 15 participants per team (mean [SD], 6.90 [3.27]).
Demographic Characteristics
Parents completed a survey assessing demographic characteristics, including parents' marital status, education, household size, and income as well as the child's age, racial/ethnic background, height, and weight.
Total Physical Activity
ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers (Pensacola, Florida) were used to objectively measure physical activity, recording in 10-second epochs. Actigraphs have been validated as physical activity measures in numerous studies.13 Trained staff fit an elastic belt with an attached accelerometer snugly around each participant's waist at the beginning of practice and collected it at the end of practice. Practice start and end times were noted so that data collected outside of this time frame could be deleted. Each interval was scored as meeting or not meeting criteria for sedentary, light, moderate, or vigorous physical activity based on age-specific cutoff points.14,15 Sedentary time was less than 100 counts per minute. Moderate and vigorous physical activity (≥3 METs) were combined into 1 variable, MVPA. MeterPlus version 4.0 software (Santech Inc, San Diego, California) was used to clean and score the data (www.meterplussoftware.com). Although there is controversy regarding the cutoff points used to define moderate activity, US Department of Health and Human Services physical activity guidelines1 define the minimum threshold for moderate physical activity as 3 METs for all ages, and numerous large studies have used these cutoff points.16,17
Statistical analysis
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois) was used for analyses. The outcome variable was minutes of physical activity spent in each level of intensity (ie, sedentary, light, moderate, vigorous, and MVPA). Because practice times were highly variable, the percentage of each intensity level during practice (eg, minutes in MVPA divided by total minutes of practice) was used as an additional outcome. For descriptive purposes, participants' average minutes in MVPA and percentage of time spent in MVPA during practice were calculated for each sport and separated by sex and age group. Participants' mean minutes and percentage of practice time for each intensity level were calculated for each sport. Participants were then categorized based on the daily physical activity guideline (60 minutes of MVPA)1 as meeting at least half of the guideline, 30 minutes of MVPA, or meeting the full 60-minute guideline during practice. The percentage of participants who met the guideline was calculated for each sport and separated by sex and age group.
Because participants within teams can be highly interrelated and thus nonindependent (ie, participants within teams could be more alike than participants across teams), mixed effects regression models were conducted.18 The intraclass correlation coefficient, assessing the proportion of variance between teams, was examined. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.68 for minutes in MVPA and 0.60 for percentage of time spent in MVPA, indicating that a high percentage of the variability in MVPA was between teams. The models used were random intercept models with team entered as a random-effect, level 2 variable. Sport, sex, and age group were entered as fixed level 2 variables. Two models were used to investigate the relationships of sport, sex, and age group with MVPA (minutes and percentage). Sport × sex and sport × age interactions were included in both models. Four additional models were used to examine the relationship between sport and physical activity for each intensity level while controlling for sex and age group. The independent variables were binary and were centered on 0 (ie, −0.5 and 0.5) so the intercept would reflect the grand mean of the outcome and avoid colinearity when testing interactions. Unstandardized coefficients are reported and can be interpreted as differences for minutes in MVPA or percentage of practice in MVPA, while all other variables in the model are held constant. When appropriate, square root or log transformations were used for highly skewed distributions. However, regression coefficients, test statistics, and P values for models using transformed dependent variables were similar to those using nontransformed dependent variables. Therefore, to facilitate interpretation, only data from models with nontransformed variables are reported.
Owing to incomplete survey responses, the sample size for demographic questions ranged from 34 to 49 soccer participants and 36 to 50 baseball/softball participants. Among soccer respondents, 17% were white, 77% were Hispanic, and 6% were multiracial. Among baseball/softball respondents, 17% were white, 67% were Hispanic, and 16% reported their race as other. Seventy-three percent of soccer players and 28% of baseball/softball players had at least 1 parent with a college degree. Sixty-eight percent of soccer players and 77% of baseball/softball players had an annual household income of $50 000 or more. Body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) was calculated from the child's parent-reported height and weight. Body mass index percentiles were calculated using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts, and participants were categorized as being underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese.19 For soccer, 12% of participants were underweight, 52% were normal weight, 16% were overweight, and 20% were obese. For baseball/softball, 2% of participants were underweight, 54% were normal weight, 22% were overweight, and 22% were obese.
Practice times ranged from 40 to 130 minutes for soccer and 35 to 217 minutes for baseball/softball. t Tests revealed that practice time did not differ significantly between soccer (mean [SD], 105 [15]) and baseball/softball participants (mean [SD], 102 [41]), boys (mean [SD], 106 [38]), and girls (mean [SD], 100 [21]) or participants aged 7 to 10 (mean [SD], 105 [33]) and those aged 11 to 14 years (mean [SD], 100 [27]).
Mean minutes in MVPA, the percentage of time in MVPA, and the percentage of participants who met at least half the guideline (30 minutes) or the full 60 minutes of MVPA during practice are presented separately for sport × sex (Figure 2) and sport × age group (Figure 3). Soccer participants, boys, and those aged 7 to 10 years were generally more active than their counterparts. Overall, 24% of participants met the 60-minute physical activity guideline during practice, but fewer than 10% of participants aged 11 to 14 years and 2% of softball players met the full 60-minute physical activity guideline.
Mean moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during practice and percentage of participants meeting PA guidelines by sex. Means were calculated at the participant level; error bars represent standard deviation.
Mean moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during practice and percentage of participants meeting PA guidelines by age group. Means were calculated at the participant level; error bars represent standard deviation.
Table 1 presents the relationship of minutes in MVPA and the percentage in MVPA by sport, sex, and age group. Sport, sex, age group, sport × sex interaction, and sport × age group interaction explained 37.7% of the variance between teams in the model predicting minutes in MVPA and 45.8% of the variance between teams in the model predicting percentage of time in MVPA. The mean of the unweighted team means was 45.1 minutes in MVPA and 46.1% in MVPA. Participants who played soccer spent an average of 13.7 more minutes in MVPA and 10.6% more time in MVPA during practice than baseball/softball participants. Boys spent an average of 10.7 more minutes in MVPA and 7.8% more time in MVPA than girls. Participants aged 7 to 10 years spent an average of 7.0 more minutes in MVPA and 5.8% more time in MVPA than participants aged 11 to 14 years. The interaction between sport and sex was marginally significant for percentage of time in MVPA (P = .09). The difference between sports for minutes in MVPA and percentage of time in MVPA was much greater for girls (Δ = 22.2 and Δ = 17.4, respectively) than for boys (Δ = 7.6 and Δ = 6.8, respectively). The difference between sexes for minutes in MVPA and percentage of time in MVPA was much greater for baseball/softball participants (Δ = 17.6 and Δ = 13.0, respectively) than for soccer participants (Δ = 3.0 and Δ = 2.4, respectively; Figure 2).
Results from the 4 models investigating differences between sports for sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous intensity physical activity are presented in Table 2. Minutes in sedentary, light, and MVPA, percentage of time spent sedentary, and percentage of time in MVPA did not differ between sports. There were small but significant differences for percentage in light activity, and large differences in minutes in vigorous activity and percentage of time in vigorous activity between sports. Participants who played baseball/softball spent an average of 6.1% more time in light activity and 5.4% more time in moderate activity than participants who played soccer. Participants who played soccer spent an average of 17.0 more minutes in vigorous activity and 15.9% more time in vigorous activity than baseball/softball participants.
It is expected that one benefit of organized youth sports participation is substantial amounts of physical activity, but fewer than one-fourth of youth in the present study obtained the recommended 60 minutes of MVPA during practice. The findings revealed substantial MVPA differences by sport, sex, and age.
Soccer and baseball/softball were chosen because they are popular with children of both sexes over a wide age range but they vary in activity levels. Thus, differences in activity levels were expected and found. There were particularly large differences between sports in vigorous physical activity (6 METs or more). Soccer players spent about 17 more minutes per practice in vigorous physical activity than baseball/softball players. Consistent with present findings, Katzmarzyk and colleagues'7 study using direct observation found that youth soccer players obtained more vigorous physical activity compared with other sports studied such as basketball and hockey. This is an important finding for 2 reasons. First, vigorous physical activity is relatively rare, with an average of 3 to 10 minutes daily for girls aged 6 to 15 years and 6 to 16 minutes for boys in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study.2 Second, vigorous-intensity physical activity is more strongly related to youth body composition than moderate intensity activities.20,21 Therefore, it appears playing soccer would be more likely to contribute to health benefits generally, and obesity prevention specifically, than playing baseball/softball.
Girls were less active in sports practices than boys by about 11 minutes overall. This is consistent with a similar finding that boys were more active than girls in after-school activity programs.8 Though the sex differences appeared larger for baseball/softball, the sport × sex interaction was only marginally significant. Nevertheless, only 2% of girls obtained 60 or more minutes of MVPA in baseball/softball practice compared with about 32% of boys. A possible explanation for this trend is that coaches included less physical training in girls' softball practices, devoting most of the time to skill building, game play, or other nonactive instruction. Owing to the extensive running inherent in soccer, boys' and girls' MVPA levels were very similar.
Consistent age differences were found, with 11- to 14-year-old players obtaining about 7 fewer minutes of MVPA per practice than 7- to 10-year-olds, with no difference by sport. This finding is unfortunate because the decline in total physical activity is steepest in the teenage years,22 and decreases in activity during sports practice may contribute to this decline. The age differences could be due to the general age decline in physical activity, greater efficiency of motion with age, or more emphasis on skill development during sports practice as competition intensifies. Data collectors in the present study observed the younger children engaging in more extraneous physical activity such as following the ball in soccer and playing side games during softball/baseball practices.
Strengths of the present study included the objective assessment of physical activity during practices of common youth sports; the design allowing for comparisons across sports, sex, and age of players; multiple teams being sampled; and analyses being adjusted for clustering within teams. The teams drew players from moderate-income communities, and the sample was diverse in race/ethnicity and reported body mass index. Weaknesses included the nonrandomized, cross-sectional design, recruitment of teams and players from a single geographic region, limited response to the demographic survey, and assessment of only community leagues that required payment instead of free leagues. Though accelerometers are well-validated measures of youth physical activity,13 they are not sensitive to some activities. For example, intensities of upper-body activities common to baseball/softball such as throwing, catching, and batting would likely be underestimated. Three METs was the lower limit of moderate-intensity physical activity, and other studies have used 4 METs2 or higher,23 reflecting a lack of consensus on definitions. Present definitions resulted in higher estimates of MVPA than if more stringent definitions had been used. Age-specific cutoff points are currently being re-evaluated, and observed age differences in MVPA could be partially explained by the higher accelerometer thresholds for older children.
Millions of youth in the United States and abroad participate in organized sports teams. Youth sports have the potential for large public health effect given the length of the seasons and years of participation. Parents spend substantial amounts of money and time supporting their children's sports participation, youth devote many hours to practices and games, and coaches often volunteer their time for youth development. Though participation in youth sports contributes to overall physical activity,5,6 the present study documented that fewer than one-fourth of youth athletes obtained the recommended 60 minutes of MVPA during sports practices. Thus, organized sports participation is not sufficient to ensure youth meet recommendations on practice days. Baseball/softball players, girls, and older youth (11-14 years) accumulated significantly fewer MVPA minutes and were much less likely to meet guidelines than soccer players, boys, and younger players (7-10 years). Surprisingly, youth sports players were inactive about 30 minutes during the average practice, which is similar to previous findings that youth were inactive 43% of sports practice time.7 Thus, there clearly are opportunities to increase physical activity in youth sports. Based on current findings, it appears that youth sports practices are making a less-than-optimal contribution to the public health goals of increasing physical activity and preventing childhood obesity.1,24,25
The health effects of youth sports could be improved by adopting policies and practices that ensure youth obtain sufficient physical activity during practices: emphasizing participation over competition, sponsoring teams for all skill levels across all ages, ensuring access by lower-income youth with sliding scales for fees, increasing practice frequency, extending short seasons, using pedometers or accelerometers to monitor physical activity periodically during practices, providing coaches strategies to increase physical activity, and supporting youth and parents in obtaining adequate physical activity on nonpractice days. These and other strategies for increasing MVPA during youth sports practice should be evaluated.
Correspondence: James F. Sallis, PhD, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 3900 Fifth Avenue, Ste 310, San Diego, CA 92103 (firstname.lastname@example.com).
Accepted for Publication: September 8, 2010.
Published Online: December 6, 2010. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.252
Author Contributions:Study concept and design: Leek, Carlson, Cain, Henrichon, Rosenberg, Patrick, and Sallis. Acquisition of data: Leek, Cain, and Henrichon. Analysis and interpretation of data: Leek, Carlson, Henrichon, Rosenberg, and Sallis. Drafting of the manuscript: Leek, Carlson, Henrichon, and Sallis. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Leek, Carlson, Cain, Henrichon, Rosenberg, Patrick, and Sallis. Statistical analysis: Carlson, and Rosenberg. Obtained funding: Leek, Henrichon, Patrick, and Sallis. Administrative, technical, and material support: Carlson, Cain, Henrichon, Patrick, and Sallis. Study supervision: Leek, Cain, Rosenberg, Patrick, and Sallis.
Financial Disclosure: None reported.
Funding/Support: This study was supported by a National Institutes of Health Summer Research Grant through the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.
Previous Presentations: This study was presented as 2 posters at the Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the Society of Behavioral Medicine; April 9, 2010; Seattle, Washington.
Leek D, Carlson JA, Cain KL, et al. Physical Activity During Youth Sports Practices. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2011;165(4):294–299. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.252
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Artificial Intelligence Resource Center


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Mar 4, 2012
Dum Aloo Methi Rice
|Dum Aloo Methi Rice
Baby Potatoes - 8
Methi Leaves - 1 cup
Cooked Rice - 4 cups
For Marination:
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Curry Powder - 2 tsp
salt - 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
salt - 2 tsp
black pepper - 1 tsp
ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Red chili - 1
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Clove - 2
cinnamon - 1 stick
cardamon - 1
green chili - 2
Red Onion - 1 medium
Preparatory Steps:
- Boil the Baby potatoes until they are soft. You can pressure cook for up to 1 whistle for medium soft.
- If they are Red potatoes i usually leave the skin, as Potato skin has good nutrition values.
- Separate the Methi leaves from stems, wash and drain them.
- First make slight slits to boiled baby potatoes.
- Take yogurt in wide bowl, mix in Curry Powder, salt and Red Chili Powder. and add the baby potatoes and marinate them for 30 min.
- Take a non stick pan, add Oil. Once the oil is hot, add red chilies, cumin seeds, clove, cinnamon, cardamom.
- After 1 min, Add ginger garlic paste, followed by green chili and chopped onions.
- Saute Onions for 2 min, Add 1 tsp salt and black pepper. then, Add the Methi ( fenugreek) leaves.
- Once the leaves wilted, add the marinated potatoes to the pan. Mix it well until all the spices are well coated.
- Now add the cooked rice to the pan. Add remaining salt and Mix the rice together with vegetables. ( do it gently so that potatoes won't get mashed). Taste and adjust all the seasonings.
- As the Yogurt and Potato softens all the spices, you can serve this rice as it is ( with out any side or Raita).
- If you don't have curry powder handy, you can add 1 tsp of turmeric powder, 1 tsp of coriander powder and 1/2 tsp of cumin powder.
Take care until we meet here again
Ba Bye
6 comments:
Hmmm, I love the flavours and combination, definitely this would be a star in parties.ReplyDelete
wow...I just love all the flavors going in ! rice looks so so delicious dear :-)ReplyDelete
What a cute way to use these cute little potatoes! Somehow i dont feel so guilty for eating potatoes(rich in carbs) if they r in the baby form! this is my menu for tomorrow! :-)ReplyDelete
yummy recipe..Perfectly madeReplyDelete
Love it. Thanks.ReplyDelete
looks so delicious. I love the combinations that you used. first time here and you have nice collection. loved it.ReplyDelete
Thanks for visiting Yum! Yum! Yum!. I really appreciate your time in dropping a note for me. Your comments are truly motivating and feedback allows me to improve more to bring the best.


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Twitter says it has bought 900 patents from IBM (NYSE: IBM) and that the companies have also entered into a cross-license agreement.
Financial terms weren't disclosed.
Twitter said in a November regulatory filing that it received a letter from IBM accusing it of infringing on three of its patents. The letter asked Twitter to take part in settlement negotiations, but Twitter said at that time that it believed it could defend itself against the allegations.
As a relatively new company. San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. holds just a handful of patents. Meanwhile, Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. holds more than 41,000 and received a total of 6,809 last year.
IBM employs some 9,500 people across North Carolina, and its operations here – primarily in RTP – contributed a good percentage of patents to Big Blue each year.
- Tar Heel IBMers deliver 700 patents.
- IBM in RTP has a "master Inventor."
The microblogging service went public last year.
The patents give Twitter gain access to new technology and also helps it build a defense against infringement suits.
The purchase "provides us with greater intellectual property protection and gives us freedom of action to innovate on behalf of all those who use our service," Ben Lee, legal director for Twitter, said in a statement.
Twitter had nine patents and 95 pending applications before its initial public offering in November, far fewer than other leading technology companies. The company said in a regulatory filing that could make it a target for litigation and limit its ability to fight back by asserting its own patents.
"They weren't facing a lot but it's an increasing distraction" for technology companies, said Richard Doherty, research director of Envisioneering Group, a technology assessment consultancy in Seaford, New York. "At some point it becomes just a balancing function to take advantage of warehouses of intellectual property, like at IBM."
Video Delivery
In its letter to Twitter, IBM cited patents relating to a networking technique based on common contacts, a way to show advertisements without interfering with an interactive site, and using interconnected computers to reduce Web traffic. The San Francisco-based company also will probably gain IBM inventions related to things like video compression, Doherty said.
"As Twitter expands and starts delivering video, they need to increase their intellectual property portfolio," he said. "We believe some know-how is going along with the patent transfer, not just patent numbers."
The patents include ones that directly relate to Twitter's business plan. One covers a way to enable compliance with international shipping requirements. Twitter is seeking to get more revenue from retailers and is trying to make it easier for users to shop via its 140-character messages.
Another of the patents is for improved messaging, according to information posted on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.
Others are less clearly connected, such as those a way to prevent damage to semiconductor chips.
IBM Deals
IBM, which has received the most U.S. patents for the past 21 years, has made deals with patent-light technology companies before. The Armonk, New York-based company has sold patents to Google Inc. to aid the Android software maker's battle over smartphone technology. A sale of 750 patents to Facebook Inc. helped the social-networking site settle a lawsuit with Yahoo! Inc.
"It illustrates the value of patented IBM inventions and demonstrates our commitment to openly licensing access to our broad patent portfolio," Ken King, general manager of intellectual property for IBM, said in a statement. "We look forward to a productive relationship with Twitter in the future."
The licensing and sales deals mean IBM has agreements with almost every technology company in business. Its patents generate approximately $1 billion a year in licensing revenue, about 1 percent of its sales last year.
[IBM ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of IBM stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]


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North Dakota Ombudsman - North Dakota Ombudsperson
An Ombudsman or Ombudsperson is a designated neutral facilitator who provides confidential and impartial assistance in resolving grievances and disputes. An Ombudsman investigates complaints, reports findings, and mediates fair settlements between individuals, group of individuals; and institutions or organizations. Also, the North Dakota Ombudsman may serve as an organizational ambassador. The Organizational Ombudsman helps to identify potential areas of conflict, wrongdoing, administrative abuse and provides information on individual and customer rights.
North Dakota Ombudsman Services provides an opportunity for informal discussion of problems and complaints outside formal channels. The North Dakota Ombudsman listens, discusses, answers questions, provides information, and identifies options and strategies for resolving a conflict situation. As a neutral and confidential moderator, the North Dakota Ombudsman serves as a dispute resolution advocate and peacekeeper diplomat.
North Dakota Ombudspersons are employed or work as independent consultants in many North Dakota corporations, North Dakota non-profits, North Dakota state and North Dakota government agencies. The Organizational Ombudsman has a good working knowledge and experience in their expertise field or industry. The North Dakota ombudsman is trained in dispute resolution and understands how to resolve situations before that become harmful confrontations.
Organizations hire North Dakota Ombudsman to improve productivity and working relationships.
- Corporate and Organizational North Dakota Ombudsman serves as a voice-giving mechanism for employees and managers; and as a good-will ambassador to customers and vendors.
- In educational organizations, the North Dakota Ombudsman acts a dispute buffer between faculty, staff, and management providing policy and ethics information.
- In non-profit organizations, the North Dakota Ombudsman protects against abuse, bias, and other improper treatment or unfairness.
- In governmental agencies, the North Dakota Ombudsman oversees the interests of the citizens and the investigation of complaints of improper government activity.
- In healthcare, the North Dakota Ombudsman works in community and client services; and administration of patient rights and complaint resolution.
Please use the North Dakota Ombudsman Directory to find an North Dakota Ombudsperson for your organization to provide good-will to clients, staff, employees and customers.


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ACOPOSmicro drive system
ACOPOSmicro provides drive modules for up to 2 axes for low-power applications. The ACOPOSmicro is designed to control both stepper motors and servo motors.
- Extremely versatile
- Integrated I/O
- Compact design
- Low power loss
- Uniform design for inverter and stepper motor modules
Stepper motor modules
Inverter modules
Power supply modules
Braking resistor
Terminal block sets
Terminal blocks
Cable extensions
Hose clamps
Ever-changing fields of application and the necessity to integrate different types of drives in one machine often create enormous challenges for application developers. Creating projects with B&R Automation Studio makes it possible to handle a wide range of drive concepts using the same tools. This means that flexible drive architectures can be implemented by either combining these concepts together or maintaining their independence from one another.
It is possible to plan for different machine variants as early as the project development phase and to account for separate configurations that use various drive types. This makes it easy to switch from a stepper motor to a power inverter variant (and vice versa) without problems. As a result, machine manufacturers are able to enjoy unprecedented flexibility.
Integrated I/O
In addition to trigger inputs, this system also includes a 24 VDC output. It can be used, for example, to control external brakes in addition to being available for other tasks. If required, additional functionality can be added via optional modules without taking up extra space.
This makes it possible to meet even extraordinary customer-specific requirements. The optional support of many different encoder systems illustrates this product line's high degree of flexibility.
Smallest dimensions
The two-channel variant of this system clearly highlights this module's extremely compact design. The ACOPOSmicro requires an area of less than 50 cm² per axis.
This not only saves space in the control cabinet for applications with multiple axes, but also provides advantages in wiring since the bus and supply voltage connection is only required for every second motor.
Such high power density in such a small space is extremely rare.
Variable rated voltage ranges
To achieve higher torque values at high speeds, the first voltage variant was designed for a nominal voltage of 80 VDC. The ability to withstand overvoltage up to 95 VDC also allows for increases in the DC bus voltage such as those that occur during braking procedures. But the drive can also be used for almost any application in the extra-low voltage range. This means that the ACOPOSmicro product family can be operated up to a voltage of 18 VDC.
For servo and stepper motors
Modules from the ACOPOSmicro product family are used to control up to two motors. Stepper motors from a wide range of 24 to 64 VDC ±25% nominal voltage and up to 10 A (15 A peak) motor current can be connected. For servo motors, continuous current of 8 A and peak current of 15 A are permitted.
The modules are protected against overcurrent, overtemperature and other prohibited operating conditions. Appropriate warnings and error messages are output via the fieldbus.