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Time is limited and money is tight. How can your practice morph into a new practice model and still ensure that it is paid adequately for patient services?
While fee-for-service reimbursement has been a fairly straightforward business model - the more procedures a physician does, the more money he makes - it is not without its drawbacks. Practices are frustrated and confused when they hear about the annual threat to Medicare reimbursement rates. Both private and public payers are increasingly demanding reporting of quality metrics. And physicians have often been accused of driving up costs by prescribing unnecessary care.
Now, practices are being told that they need to join accountable care organizations (ACOs); merging with hospitals or other physician groups. So what do these changes mean for the future of private practice?
There are many different ideas that have been talked about for reimbursement changes in the future. These include a return to capitation (payment per member, per month - whether or not practices provide service); bundled payment (when services by several providers are paid to one source); and episodic payment (based upon the patient diagnosis - similar to surgery payments but applicable to all disease types).
So how will your practice morph into a new reimbursement/practice model and still ensure that it is paid adequately for services?
First, it is important not to panic. Changes in reimbursement will not occur in 2013 to any great extent. More importantly at this time it is necessary to consider the impact of meaningful use, Stage 1 and Stage 2, PQRS, and e-prescribe incentive payments which will have penalties for noncompliance through reductions in payments from Medicare.
Next, there are many steps that can be taken now to prepare for the future, whichever option is accepted:
• Understand what each reimbursement model means for your practice. Attend educational sessions, read, and learn from any source possible.
• Accept the fact that reimbursement amounts from any fee-for-service source will decrease; many practices have experienced this already and it most likely will get worse.
• Instead of concentrating totally on your revenue cycle, develop a way to understand what it costs your practice to provide services - from a basic office visit to a specialized procedure. This will become very important as options change from fee for service to total payments for a series of services.
• Look into the development of treatment plans for your most common diseases, e.g., diabetes care means quarterly HgbA1C and annual eye and foot exams. Ask yourself "What does it cost our practice to provide this care, and how much reimbursement is necessary to provide this service and maintain our patient population to the standard of care?" This episodic payment option may not cover all associated costs as currently defined.
• Develop a patient satisfaction survey program, which includes not only gathering the data but doing something with it. Medicare and payers may assist in sharing information they have gained from patients over the years.
• Communicate with your payers on what you are doing and how well you are doing it. Transparency and information sharing will assist in preparing for the future.
The key message here is that things will change for your practice. It will require some forward thinking on your part, not panicking today, but becoming aware of and preparing for the future, whatever that may bring.
Owen Dahl, FACHE, CHBC, is a nationally recognized medical practice management consultant and author of "Think Business! Medical Practice Quality, Efficiency, Profits," "The Medical Practice Disaster Planning Workbook," and coauthor of "Lean Six Sigma for the Medical Practice: Improving Profitability by Improving Processes." He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or 281-367-3364.


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'We Had No Idea;' Burglars Apologize, Return Loot After Learning They Robbed Charity
In a gesture police in San Bernardino, Calif., say they have never witnessed before, a group of remorseful burglars who plundered an area nonprofit of their computers and other valuables returned the loot with an apology when they learned it was dedicated to helping victims of sexual violence.
"We had no idea what we were takeing (sic). Here your stuff back. We hope that you guys can continue to make a difference in peoples (sic) lives God Bless," said the burglars in a handwritten note found tucked between the keyboard and screen of a laptop computer that was returned to the Sexual Assault Services Center of San Bernardino.
Executive director of the nonprofit Candy Stallings, said the burglars bypassed the organization's expensive security system on July 31 by clipping phone wires and alarm cables. They then entered several offices in the organization through a crawlspace and looted a number of computers.
"I was just so devastated because six computers had been taken and I mean they're just vital to this operation," Stallings noted in an ABC 7 report.
The devastation, however, did not last long. A few hours after the unfortunate discovery the robbers returned everything they stole with the remorseful apology.
Stalling suspects that a conversation between one of the police officers investigating the case and local area transients could have helped get word out on the street of what had happened and prompted the change of heart.
"He (police) was explaining what our facility does and the services we provide to the community," Stallings said. The nonprofit deliberately does not have a sign in order to protect the privacy of their clients.
"I don't know what to feel," Stallings noted to ABC. "One minute I'm devastated, and the next minute I just thought, 'Wow, this is just incredible.'"
The police who are still trying to crack the crime say a gesture like this was unprecedented.
"In many years and decades of being in law enforcement, I've never seen someone return an item out of guilt," said San Bernardino Police Lt. Paul Williams.
Stallings said she plans on framing the note because: "It's going to continue to tell each and every one of the staff here that do this work that you never know when you're going to touch somebody."
Although the San Bernardino County Sexual Assault Services got back the stolen goods, they will now have to raise $5,000 to cover the cost of the damage done to their alarm system.
They are now seeking to raise $10,000 via a "go fund me" campaign, and as of Friday afternoon had already raised more than half that amount.
Persons interested in donating or helping out can also contact firstname.lastname@example.com or 909-855-8884.
According to a description on their go fund me page: "San Bernardino Sexual Assault Services is a non-profit organization providing free services to survivors of sexual assault and their families."
They offer crisis counseling, a 24-hour Hotline and 24-hour emergency response to those reporting their crime. The organization also provides advocates to survivors who need support throughout court proceedings and community education/prevention programs.

subset: commoncrawl


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It happens every year, and you're right: it's just not fair. After nearly three months of uninterrupted fun, gone are the barbeques, ball games and pool parties that dominated the summer schedule just as Labor Day signals the sudden arrival of the shorter, colder, and more structured days of the school year. But before you cast yourself into the depths of the autumn blues, rest assured that we are working hard to make this year's science lessons a little different and—especially if you like nature and the outdoors—a little more fun!
Below is our third annual "Back-to-School" list of projects recommended to get teachers and students thinking about how to incorporate citizen science in the classroom. Check out our previous installments (2011, 2010) for additional ideas.
Participate in Project BudBurst: The National Ecological Observatory Network invites student citizen scientists to submit their observations of the phenophases (leafing, flowering, fruit ripening) of local grasses, shrubs and trees. This data will be compiled and compared to historical figures to help scientists learn more about the responsiveness of specific plant species to climate change. Their teachers, meanwhile, might consider enrolling in the BudBurst Academy, an online course for K-12 educators providing all the necessary information for implementing Project Budburst and engaging in citizen science in your classroom.
Plan your own BioBlitz: Even (or perhaps especially) if you missed the 2012 BioBlitz co-hosted by the National Park Service and the National Geographic Society, consider planning your own in your own neighborhood or schoolyard. These biodiversity snapshots provide valuable data for analysis of local species and their habitats.
Count some bugs: Don't let those math skills go to waste! SciStarter features several opportunities to count stuff, particularly insects and other creepy crawlies. Just pick your favorite: dragonflies, butterflies, bumble bees, spiders, ants, and worms.
Heads up: So bugs aren't you're thing. No problem. How about some astronomy? You can grow tomatoes to assess the feasibility of long-term space travel; search for the compound that stores solar power and thus solves the world's energy crisis; craft a story about your favorite astronomical bodies; or help astronomers search for and identify new planets and stars!
Be a mapmaker: The U.S. Geological Survey is considering the restoration of The National Map Corps, its volunteer mapping initiative, launching a pilot program in the state of Colorado. Anyone with an Internet connection can update the national map, adding the important man-made structures throughout the community such as hospitals, fire stations, and schools. The USGS could expand the program into other areas in the future if its initial efforts are successful. Come on Colorado!
Photo: NationalService.gov


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The blast may have been caused by a motorist or a workman striking a gas main. Kansas City Blast. Firefighters battle a massive fire Tuesday at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo.
Body found in rubble of Kansas City gas blast
The blast may have been caused by a motorist or a workman striking a gas main.Search crews on Wednesday found a body in the blackened rubble of a Kansas City, Mo., restaurant that was leveled by a gas line explosion that injured 15 people, Kansas City Mayor Sly James told reporters.
A female employee was missing after an earthquake-like blast Tuesday evening at J.J.'s restaurant triggered a massive fire at the Country Club Plaza shopping center.
James did not say whether the victim was a man or a woman. One other employee thought missing was found at St. Luke's Hospital receiving treatment.
Crews looking for possible victims were rushing to clear out heavy debris Wednesday before a major winter storm hits the region.
James said Wednesday morning that authorities can't be sure that every person who may have been at the restaurant had been accounted for.
He said 15 people were injured in the blast and fire. Six are still hospitalized, and nine have been released.
Heavy equipment began arriving before dawn as workers rushed to remove the debris and investigate the cause of the blast because of the expected arrival of the storm, James said. Cadaver dogs were also being used to scour the blackened debris.
"We have a major storm coming in this evening," James said. "We're going to work diligently to get in (to the blast site) to get underneath that weather."
Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi said earlier that the search for victims could take hours.
"I would always fear there are fatalities in a scene like this," Berardi said. "When we got to the scene, we had a fully involved restaurant that had patrons, probably several patrons, inside at the time of incident."
Authorities were still investigating the cause of the blast, which appeared to have engulfed an entire block in the four-alarm blaze that burned for about 90 minutes.
Police spokeswoman Rhonda Flores said while initially the explosion was attributed to a motor vehicle striking a natural gas line, the blast may have been triggered by a piece of heavy equipment disrupting the gas main.
Berardi said investigators would be brought to the site only after the search for possible victims was completed.
Missouri Gas Energy, the utility that supplies the area, said in a statement that "early indications are that a contractor doing underground work struck a natural gas line."
Berardi, however, cautioned that the cause was not yet known. "This investigation needs to be concluded before we want to speculate on any of that," he said.
"Some witnesses have said it might have been a construction worker on a backhoe doing construction in the area," Flores said. "We're still waiting for final word on that."
Berardi said officials don't suspect foul play at this time.
Residents told KCTV they had smelled gas about an hour before the explosion around 6 p.m. and alerted the local utility.
KMBC-TV, citing a man who said he visited the restaurant regularly, reported that firefighters and Missouri Gas Energy representatives had been checking for the source of a gas odor before the explosion. Customers were asked to leave, but several employees stayed behind.
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Wednesday, October 24
Wednesday Dose of Cute: A Peaceful Scene (and The Whole Picture)
11 comments:
Wow!! That is unbelievable!!! I still say you live in a magazine!!!!ReplyDelete
I'm just so glad to see that green green grass for you all.ReplyDelete
Ditto on the green grass! Our grass in the PNW is nearly all green again. Thanks to the power of rain.ReplyDelete
- Julia G10/24/2012 8:06 PM
Awwww, donkeys! How can you resist giving them more treats? And I am so happy to see your pastures getting green again.ReplyDelete
I had your blog on my "favorites" list on my old computer. I'm so happy to have rediscovered you! :) I just love everything about your blog. I hope to get sheep on my own property someday soon. So glad to see that you are still around.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous10/25/2012 6:15 AM
It took just a moment to find Daisy among the sheep.ReplyDelete
They ARE cute! :)ReplyDelete
SO MANY DONKEY NOSES TO CUDDLE WHERE DO I START?ReplyDelete
Glad to see grass in the view :)
love. love. love.ReplyDelete
I love seeing the doggie out there.
- Pat in SoCal10/25/2012 10:06 PM
so happy 'bout the green on the ground...it'll be white soon enoughReplyDelete
You were MISSED! SO glad you're back and hopefully feeling better.ReplyDelete
December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.
Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!
Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.
I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!


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RtAudio is a set of C++ classes that provide a common API (Application Programming Interface) for realtime audio input/output across Linux, Macintosh OS-X and Windows operating systems. RtAudio significantly simplifies the process of interacting with computer audio hardware. It was designed with the following objectives:
RtAudio incorporates the concept of audio streams, which represent audio output (playback) and/or input (recording). Available audio devices and their capabilities can be enumerated and then specified when opening a stream. Where applicable, multiple API support can be compiled and a particular API specified when creating an RtAudio instance. See the API Notes section for information specific to each of the supported audio APIs.
Changes in this release (from 6.0.0) include:
Latest Release (1 August 2023): Version 6.0.1
|©2001-2023 Gary P. Scavone, McGill University. All Rights Reserved.
Maintained by Gary P. Scavone.


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A new material system invented by researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering is continuously "tunable" for transparency and wettability: it repels water or oil to a greater or lesser degree as it becomes more or less transparent. The research team envisions a wide range of tunable, multifunctional adaptive materials that can be designed for applications in textiles, optical systems, and fuel transport.
In the system, described in an article (purchase or subscription only) in Nature Materials, a liquid film both coats and is infused in a substrate made of an elastic, nanoporous material. When the substrate changes shape, for example, by stretching or squeezing it, the size of its pores changes. This, in turn, changes the shape of the liquid surface material. The surface and substrate materials can be adapted to particular applications.
In the proof-of-principle experiments described in the article, the team used porous Teflon mounted on elastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a polymer, for the substrate and the fluid was Dupont's Krytox 103, a perfluoropolyether (PFPE), lead author Xi Yao, postdoctoral fellow at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and at the Wyss Institute, wrote in an email to Design News. Krytox is a family of synthetic lubricants for extreme environments and harsh conditions, such as extreme temperatures, humidity, and reactive chemicals. Typical commercial and industrial uses include lubricants for valves, bearings, motors, and machinery in aerospace, automotive, industrial, and vacuum pump applications.
"Although we used these materials to demonstrate the basic concepts, the requirements are quite flexible," Yao told us. "The substrate can be any porous or textured elastic material, chosen to respond to a variety of stimuli. The liquid can also be varied to suit the application, for example, biocompatibility."
Being able to use a liquid as the top surface material is what allows that surface to be continuously tunable, instead of requiring a specific number of separate, discrete step changes. When the sandwiched material is stretched or bent, the liquid flows within the substrate's pores, which roughens the surface by giving it a more varied topography. This makes it possible to precisely control how fast and where drops of oil or water move.
The drops can even be stopped and started while rolling down a vertical surface, which you can see in the first two videos on this page. Previously, most materials developed to adapt dynamically to changing conditions could only change a single property, and those changes were limited to two states: on or off, for example, either hydrophobic or hydrophilic. This material system can be stimulated via mechanical means in very fine gradations to change both wettability and transparency.
A material system that dynamically responds to those changes in wettability and transparency might be used for a tent that is transparent and repels water during low-light, rainy conditions, or shifts to opaque when the sun is out and there's no rain. Materials with other characteristics such as adhesive or anti-fouling can be fine-tuned to respond to changes in surface roughness. Applications might therefore include oil and gas pipelines that can change the rate of flow depending on external weather conditions and how much fuel is pouring through them. The porous elastic solid could be designed to respond to a number of environmental stimuli, such as light, temperature, pressure, chemicals, or magnetic or electrical fields.
The material system is the next-generation version of the Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS) material platform designed by the senior member of the current research team, Joanna Aizenberg, professor of materials science at Harvard's SEAS and a Wyss Institute core faculty member. Other team members that developed the new material system are L. Mahadevan, professor of applied mathematics at SEAS, professor of organismic and evolutionary biology and professor of physics at Harvard, and a Wyss Institute core faculty member; Yuhang Hu, a Wyss Institute and SEAS postdoctoral fellow; Alison Grinthal, SEAS staff scientist; and Tak-Sing Wong, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research, and the Wyss Institute.
Related posts:
- Fruit Juice Guards Against Aluminum Corrosion
- Self-Healing Gel Could Replace Cartilage
- Water Bugs Inspire Oil-Repellent Coating
- Carbon Nanotubes Reinforce Adhesive
- Reshapeable Plastic Remembers Original Form
- Self-Healing Plastic Changes Color When Damaged
- Process Allows Plastic to Adapt on Demand
- Design Decisions: Choosing the Right Silicone Adhesive
- Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives Dress Wounds
- Multifunction Coatings Apply Harsh Environment Protection
- Modified Packaging Film Protects Machines
- Smart Paint Detects Microscopic Cracks
- Composite Plane Repair Aided by Coating
- Adhesives May Predict Structural Failures in Planes


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Brandeis-Israel Collaborative Research Initiative proposals sought
Funding to help foster lasting collaborations between institutionsBrandeis University has recently received funding from Bronfman Philanthropies for the Brandeis-Israel Collaborative Research Initiative. Proposals for spring semester grants are currently being accepted.
Bronfman Philanthropies oversees a family of charitable foundations in Israel, Canada and the United States.
This initiative will enable the university to provide a number of seed grants to support the initiation of collaborative research projects between Brandeis faculty and faculty at Israeli universities. The ultimate aim is to develop endeavors that result in long-term joint projects of scholarly merit that can attract external funding. Such projects might involve a faculty member, graduate students or post-docs spending a semester or an academic year as visitors at the other institution.
The grants seek to seed not only specific research projects, but enduring institutional partnerships as well. These seed grants are meant to cover research costs for the initial stage of the project, plus travel funds to allow face-to-face meetings of the research teams, in addition to virtual meetings and other forms of communication.
The university plans to award grants this spring and again in the fall semesters of 2012 and 2013. If you are interested in applying for support this spring, please send a proposal outlining:
- Which individuals and institutions would participate
- What activities would be funded by the seed grant
- What you envision as the long-term outcome
- How much funding you are requesting
Please send the proposals to Rick Silberman by Monday, March 12.
Return to the BrandeisNOW homepage
Categories: Humanities and Social Sciences, International Affairs


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DETROIT – Jim Thome hit his 600th home run an inning after he hit No. 599 to help the Minnesota Twins outslug the Detroit Tigers 9-6 on Monday night.
Thome became the eighth major league player to reach 600, hitting a three-run shot off Daniel Schlereth in the seventh inning to give Minnesota a 9-5 lead.
An inning earlier, Thome reached 599 with a two-run homer off Rick Porcello (11-8) that broke a 3-all tie.
Thome received a standing ovation from the Detroit crowd as he rounded the bases after his milestone homer. His achievement overshadowed a solo shot in the first inning by Detroit's Delmon Young, who had been traded from the Twins to the Tigers earlier Monday.
Francisco Liriano (8-9) allowed five runs in six innings. Joe Nathan earned his 10th save.
Both of Thome's homers were hit to the opposite field. When No. 600 cleared the fence in left, Thome raised his right fist as he went around first base, and the crowd in Detroit came to its feet to applaud him.
The Tigers posted a congratulatory message on the scoreboard, and the Twins came out of the dugout to greet him at home plate.
Before Monday's game, Thome hadn't homered since Aug. 4.
Thome's accomplishment capped a memorable day for these AL Central rivals. During the afternoon, the Twins traded Young to the Tigers for a minor league pitcher and a player to be named.
Young homered in his first at-bat for Detroit, and Alex Avila finished a homer shy of the cycle, but the Tigers couldn't overcome an uneven performance on the mound and in the field.
They couldn't handle Thome, either. After Jason Kubel started the sixth with a single, Thome hit a drive off Porcello an estimated 412 feet over the fence in left-center.
Ben Revere added an RBI triple later in the inning — and was thrown out trying for an inside-the-park homer.
Avila hit an RBI triple in the bottom half, then scored on a sacrifice fly, but Thome was just getting started.
Schlereth walked two hitters and struck out two before Thome came to the plate. He took another big cut with his powerful left-handed swing and sent a towering fly to left.
For a moment, it appeared Young might have a chance to make a play on the ball, but he could only watch as his former teammate's hit disappeared over the fence.
NOTES: Minnesota's Denard Span, who has been recovering from a concussion, was scratched from the lineup. ... Young finished 2 for 4.


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02 May 2003 Statement of The National Center for Public Policy Research on Senator Orrin Hatch's Asbestos Proposal
Conservative Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch's decision to introduce a compromise solution to the multi-decade asbestos liability crisis is a positive, possibly breakthrough step.
Working with liberal Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chris Dodd (D-CT), and others, and giving labor unions a place at the table, Hatch has managed to broker a compromise that will have defendant corporations and insurance companies finance a $108 billion asbestos trust fund.
Lawsuits would end. Sick plaintiffs would get benefits without legal fees, lengthy court cases or the need to prove a single defendant caused their illness. A chest x-ray showing asbestos-related disease presented before an asbestos court will trigger compensation. And although corporations will fund the payouts, asbestos-related bankruptcies should cease, as companies will know the extent of their liabilities and be able to plan for them.
The asbestos liability crisis already has costs tens of thousands of Americans their jobs. If the litigation continues, millions more may do so. The Supreme Court has said that Congress must play a role in any master settlement, yet in the last Congress no bill to end the lawsuits was even introduced.
The Hatch proposal is likely to change as it is marked up in committee and considered by the full Senate. But, finally, there is momentum behind a solution to the asbestos crisis.


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The figure 8 knot complement $M$ is the orientable double cover of the Gieseking manifold, which implies that $M$ has a fixed-point free involution. If we think of $M$ with its hyperbolic metric, this involution is an isometry. Is there some way of visualizing this isometry?
I know how to produce one relatively easy to see isometry of $M$. The fundamental group of $M$ is a two generator group. Lift geodesic representatives of a pair of generators to $\mathbb{H}^3$. These geodesics have a mutual perpendicular, and $180^{\circ}$ rotation about that geodesic descends to an involution of $M$. However, this map has fixed points, and I'd like to "see" one that doesn't.


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B.C.'s first ride-hailing app to launch in Tofino, Whistler in February
The Whistle! app will be available in Tofino on Feb.1 and in Whistler Feb. 6.
Algae bloom killing farmed fish on Vancouver Island's West Coast
DFO says four Cermaq Canada salmon farms affected, fish not infectious
B.C. artist designs coin for Royal Canadian Mint
"I was quite blown away that I won it."
Tofino's 'Mushroom Man' wins Top Chef Canada Season 7
Chef Paul Moran of 1909 Kitchen at Tofino Resort + Marina won the $100,000 prize and Top Chef title.
Four stranded by surging seas on a rock off Tofino
Rescue chopper lifts a walker and three boogie boarders to safety after two hours at Long Beach
Warning issued as forecast calls for 20-foot waves in Tofino
Dangerous waves, strong currents and upper-shoreline flooding expected for Tofino-Ucluelet area
Endangered Leatherback Turtle spotted near Vancouver Island
The rare moment was captured by Jeremy Koreski and former Vancouver Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell
VIDEO: Pipeline protest outside Justin Trudeau's B.C. vacation rental
Residents of Tofino voice their opposition to the federal government's Kinder Morgan pipeline purchase
WATCH: Drone footage of humpbacks, orcas, and Vancouver Island's wild Pacific Rim
German tourist captures beauty of Canada's West Coast.
VIDEO: Tree dancing in a Vancouver Island Sitka spruce
Aeriosa Vertical Dance soars with nature.
Could Vancouver Island be the site of a future LNG export facility?
Vancouver-based Steelhead LNG and the Huu-ay-aht First Nation provided an update on the $10 billion development
Vancouver woman, 26, dies after consuming pill cut with cocaine and fentanyl
Grandfather says anyone who takes recreational drugs is playing Russian roulette.


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Woman In White Blazer Holding Tablet Computer
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Vicky Cullen
Vicky Cullen, currently a freelance editor and writer, was in the thick of communications efforts at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for 32 years. She signed on as editor of the institution's employee newsletter in 1973 when Paul Fye was director and assumed growing responsibilities through the terms of succeeding Directors John Steele, Craig Dorman, and Bob Gagosian. She edited Oceanus magazine for a decade, along with many annual reports, outreach newsletters (including Woods Hole Notes and Woods Hole Currents), and a variety of other publications.
As manager of Graphic Services, Cullen assisted the transition from mainframe to desktop graphics, with a side excursion into purchasing typesetting equipment. She initiated the exhibit center on School Street in the 1970s and, more recently, was WHOI liaison for the traveling museum exhibit "Extreme Deep: Mission to the Abyss," featuring deep sea hydrothermal vents and WHOI underwater vehicles. She also wrote and produced publications for the National Science Foundation, Joint Oceanographic Institutions, and The Oceanography Society. Cullen's WHOI swan song was the 186-page Down to the Sea for Science: 75 Years of Ocean Research, Education, and Exploration at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, published in 2005 as part of the institution's 75th anniversary activities, which she managed.
Cullen was born in Kansas, where her father was stationed during World War II. She grew up in Nebraska, earned a bachelor's degree in political science and English at the University of Nebraska, and then went to Northwestern University for a master's degree in journalism. Her extracurricular activities include jewelry-making, crochet, quiltingand she just might set up her looms again, stashed away after she and husband John Waterbury, a WHOI microbiologist, welcomed their second son in 1986.


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Sometimes the better part of valor is to just look your nemesis in the eye and and say game on, WINTER!
While we kept waiting (and waiting) for the weather to follow the calendar here in the Pacific NW, Mother Nature had different plans.
So, inspired by my drafty old house and the need to have a Comfy Cozy refuge from the storm, I started knitting.
After sketching and playing around with a huge swatch, TAURIEL took off…
I needed something simple, quick and lovely –
The design uses worsted wool and #8 (5mm) needles for a peppy gauge that makes that sweater sooner rather than later and features inclusive detailing with a modern but easy, chain-cable motif to keep it interesting.
Best of all? NO SEWING: when you're done, weave in a few ends and WEAR IT!
introducing … Chic Knits TAURIEL
Finished Closed Chest Measurement
34 (36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 48, 52)"
Yarn – Worsted Weight
900 (950, 1010, 1060, 1120, 1190, 1265, 1350) yards
Gauge: 18 sts / 24 rows over 4″ St st
click HERE for more details and to get the pattern….


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Limited English Proficient Workers and the Workforce Investment Act: Challenges and Opportunities
As the U.S. Congress considers reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, policymakers and immigrant advocates are pushing for a variety of changes meant to better help Limited English Proficient (LEP) immigrants access the employment and training services necessary to enter into or advance within the U.S. labor market. With a number of proposals floated to rethink the WIA-funded workforce and adult education systems, the debate highlights the challenges LEP workers face in earning family-sustaining wages and effectively participating in a changing labor market.
Though perhaps little recognized as such, WIA represents one of the most important immigrant integration programs at the federal level both in size and scope, and its reauthorization has key implications for the integration of immigrant workers into the U.S. economy and society more broadly.
Reauthorization — which is likely to fall flat in the current Congress (as it has a number of times since the law technically expired in 2003) but may be taken up by future Congresses — has general support from both sides of the aisle. Stark disagreement remains on how to revamp the system, however, chiefly for reasons having nothing to do with immigrant workers. In the meantime, the employment and training needs of foreign-born workers, which are often different than those for the native born, are quickly changing and states face significant limitations in serving this population through federally funded programs.
There were 23 million immigrants in the U.S. civilian labor force in 2010, accounting for one in six workers ages 16 and older — a figure that has roughly doubled since 1990. Within the immigrant labor force, nearly half speak English less than "very well" (as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau) and are classified as "Limited English Proficient," a language barrier that affects their employability and wage-earning potential. Though the WIA system is the core source of federal support for workforce training, English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction, and other adult education programs, the current design has created barriers for LEP workers seeking workforce services. In particular, misalignment in goals, program services, and performance accountability mechanisms across WIA-funded programs has made it difficult for these workers to obtain the language and work training services they need to advance in the workforce. At the same time, the LEP population continues to grow. In 2000, about 17.8 million U.S. adults, or 8.5 percent of the population, had limited English proficiency. Today, there are roughly 22.5 million LEP adults, accounting for 10 percent of the U.S. adult population and 9 percent of the labor force.
At the time of WIA's passage in 1998, policymakers were focused on "work-first" policies popularized under welfare reform and so emphasized rapid re-employment and the acquisition of short-term skills as core training approaches. Since then, labor force demand for middle-skilled jobs — which require longer-term education and training — has grown. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that one-third of all job openings and nearly half of all new jobs created between 2008 and 2018 will require a postsecondary degree or credential. Nationally, immigrants accounted for 49 percent of workers without a high school degree and 15 percent of college-educated workers ages 25 and older. (Just 11 percent of all U.S.-born adults lack a high school diploma or GED, compared to 32 percent of immigrant adults.) California, for example, ranked first for the highest share of immigrants among low-educated workers (80 percent) and the highest share of immigrants in the college-educated workforce (30 percent). LEP adults ages 18 and older account for 39 percent of all low-skilled workers. In California and Texas, the two states with the largest LEP populations and largest state economies, more than half of low-skilled workers have limited English proficiency (66 percent in California, 53 percent in Texas). Furthermore, 47 percent of LEP adults lack a high school diploma.
Demographic and economic changes have created pressure for states and localities to develop training and education programs to allow workers to upgrade their skills and obtain credentials to fill jobs in high-growth sectors such as health care and information technology. For these opportunities to become available to a significant number of LEP workers, the number of WIA-funded training programs that provide integrated workforce training and English-language instruction would need to be greatly expanded.
This article provides an overview of WIA's structure relating to employment and training services for LEP workers, examines Department of Labor (DOL) data showing the extent to which LEP workers have accessed the system since its inception, and reviews key themes of relevance in the reauthorization debate.
Challenges to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998
WIA's Title I and Title II provide funding for different aspects of workforce training and education. Title I funds employment and training initiatives, and Title II funds adult education and ESL instruction.
Congress has continued to appropriate funds for WIA despite its expiry in 2003. Funding has been on a general decline, however, amid failed attempts to reauthorize the law and growing bipartisan criticism of WIA's structure and implementation. Between fiscal years (FY) 2001 and 2010, funding for employment and training initiatives (Title I) declined 30 percent, according to inflation-adjusted calculations by the National Skills Coalition. In FY 2010 — the latest year for which data are presented below — Congress appropriated $2.97 billion for workforce training programs, which decreased to $2.62 billion in FY 2012. Between FY 2001-10, federal funding for adult education (Title II) declined by about 16 percent, with Congress appropriating $628.2 million for adult education and ESL instruction in FY 2010 and $606.3 million in FY 2012. For LEP workers who require services under both titles to become job ready, the decline in funding has presented challenges to obtaining basic ESL courses, which are often oversubscribed, as well as appropriate training opportunities.
Title I's employment and training system provides funding to states for workforce services for three key populations: adults, youth, and dislocated workers (individuals who have been laid off, fired, or were self-employed but can no longer work because of economic conditions). Dislocated workers are treated as a separate population under Title I because of their more immediate need for employment, compared with the general adult population, which may seek employment and training services to upgrade their skills while current employed. The law allows some flexibility for states and localities to devise strategies to serve these populations, although they must adhere to the same performance accountability and programmatic standards, and funding guidance regardless of their approach. Authority for implementation flows down from DOL's Employment and Training Administration, through governors and state-level workforce investment boards, to local workforce boards, and finally to One Stop Centers that offer services.
State workforce boards are tasked with developing statewide strategic plans for meeting labor market needs for a diversity of workers, while local workforce boards execute these plans at the community area. These local boards select One Stop operators and eligible training providers, coordinate linkages with local economic training and employer organizations, and promote employer involvement in all areas of the local system. Finally, One Stop Centers are the place where workers can receive services to help them upgrade their skills or find employment.
One Stop Center services for adults and dislocated workers are divided into three categories: core, intensive, and training services. Core services are available to all individuals and include self-directed job searching or assistance with filing unemployment claims. Intensive services (as well as training services) require registration and are available to legal residents and include activities such as a skills assessment, career counseling, and short-term pre-vocational services. And training services include occupational skills and on-the-job training, and sessions offered through institutions of higher education and community-based organizations and apprenticeships. Individuals deemed eligible by One Stop Center staff are given training accounts to seek services from local training providers.
Separately, Title II is administered by the Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education and provides funds for adult education, literacy, and ESL classes, targeting individuals 16 years or older without a high school diploma or basic workplace literacy skills. Organizations providing such activities include community colleges, public schools, and community-based organizations.
There is broad consensus among analysts, academics, and policymakers that the legal and administrative structure of the WIA system has created service access hurdles for LEP workers and others with training and education needs. In particular, the mandate that One Stop Centers serve as the single point of access for different federally funded employment, training, and adult education programs has not been met. This is largely due to disincentives One Stop Center staff — and state and local workforce boards trying to show positive performance outcomes — face when deciding what services to refer LEP workers.
Titles I and II have separate performance accountability goals, despite the fact that LEP workers and others require services under both to become job-ready. Performance accountability measures are not aligned across titles, which, critics argue, has created disincentives to serving LEP workers. States are required to negotiate performance levels for Titles I and II with the Departments of Labor and Education separately, despite both sets of services being mandated under WIA to be available through the One Stop system. Critics argue that pressures to meet performance levels enter into states' determinations on how to serve LEP workers. States and in turn their contracted service providers may be sanctioned for not meeting negotiated performance levels, thus creating incentives to direct Title I funds to serve less needy populations — a practice known as "creaming" — at the expense of difficult-to-serve populations, such as LEP workers.
Title I's performance measures emphasize rapid re-employment and improvements in earning — measures of performance difficult for LEP individuals to quickly achieve. Specifically, LEP individuals receiving training may not be able to acquire English skills fast enough to keep pace with the training and get hired for new work, and may also have difficulty retaining employment long enough to be counted as a positive performance outcome. Further, studies have found that One Stop Center staff cognizant of the difficulty LEP individuals have in meeting performance targets may intentionally avoid placing eligible individuals into training as these LEP individuals may not successfully complete the training and thus not be counted as a positive performance outcome. A 2002 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that "states reported that the need to meet these performance levels may lead local staff to focus WIA-funded services on job seekers who are most likely to succeed in their job search…"
Meanwhile, Title II's performance accountability measures emphasize improvements in literacy, including English-language acquisition, as well as placement or retention in postsecondary education, training, or employment. Given the overlapping but separate performance measures in Titles I and II, studies of One Stop Centers have noted confusion about whether to place LEP individuals in Title I or II programs, with the tacit acknowledgement that meeting some Title II goals may be easier than Title I goals. The result is that immigrants may be placed in English language courses without a workforce training component, limiting the potential success in the transition to employment.
LEP Workers' Access to WIA Programs
Data from DOL on enrollment in Title I programs show that the share of LEP workers among all workers receiving training is on the decline. Meanwhile, co-enrollment in Title II programs for LEP adults and dislocated workers has increased in recent years. (The data only highlight the extent to which co-enrollment in ESL or other adult basic education course is occurring for LEP workers.)
Most adults or dislocated workers who access WIA Title I employment and training services only use "core" services, which are typically self-directed and do not require registration. For example, in program year (PY) 2010, about 803,000 adults accessed Title I core services, while 497,000 received intensive or training services. Of all individuals receiving intensive or training services, LEP adults account for a small share despite their over-representation among the low-skilled labor force. LEP adults represented 2 percent of all adults receiving intensive or training services in PY 2010, compared to 9.5 percent in PY 2000 (see Figure 1).
The percent of LEP adults served under Title I was highest in PY 2002, when 14,668 accessed intensive or training services (see Table 1). This population reached a low in numbers served in PY 2007, when 8,400 LEP adults accessed intensive or training services.
Although the scale of the decline has been less dramatic than for LEP adults, dislocated workers with limited English proficiency also have seen a decline in their representation among those receiving intensive or training services.
Figure 1. Share of LEP Population Served in WIA Title 1 Adult or Dislocated Worker Programs with Intensive or Training Services, (%) PY 2000-10
Table 1. Number of LEP Adults Accessing WIA Title I Adult or Dislocated Worker Programs with Intensive or Training Services, PY 2000-10
The share of LEP youth served has changed over time as well. In PY 2000, 16.9 percent of all youth served had limited English proficiency. By comparison in PY 2010, 8.2 percent were LEP. Compared to the adult and dislocated worker programs, the WIA youth program has served relatively high shares of LEP youth over time; however, the number of LEP youth receiving intensive or training services has declined dramatically — from a high of 16,369 in PY 2002 to a low of 8,615 in PY 2005 (see Table 2).
Figure 2. Share of LEP Youth Accessing WIA Title I Programs with Intensive or Training Service, (%), PY 2000-10
Table 2: Number and Share of LEP Youth Accessing WIA Title I Programs with Intensive or Training Service, Program Years 2000-10
Data on co-enrollment with Title II programs (as measured by LEP adults and dislocated workers receiving adult education or ESL classes in combination with Title I training services) indicates that even as the share of LEP individuals receiving Title I services has declined over time, they are increasingly receiving Title I services in concert with adult education or ESL courses. While the quality of this combined training and education is not examined — or whether the two are integrated in a work environment, as many analysts agree is most effective — Figure 3 shows an increasing trend toward co-enrollment. Given existing evidence of the insufficient capacity of the Title II adult education and ESL system to meet instructional demand from LEP individuals, the increase in co-enrollment shows a growing awareness among One Stop Center staff — and the workforce boards that guide them — about the dual employment and language instruction needs of LEP workers. In recent years almost half of all individuals served under Title II programs were enrolled in ESL programs and many such classes in states with high concentrations of immigrant populations consistently reach full registration.
Figure 3. Share of LEP Adults and Dislocated Workers Co-Enrolled in Title II Programs,* (%), PY 2005-10
Current Debate Explored
While WIA reauthorization proposals circulating in Congress differ, they share three common themes and represent some consensus about how to address the systems' challenges: consolidate or better align programs and program funding and goals; establish common performance measures and strategic planning across Titles I and II; and change the role and representation of state and local workforce boards.
Within these themes, the role of LEP individuals and others with multiple barriers to employment (such as low-income individuals) has been hotly contested by public and private stakeholders. The following are changes within the existing proposals before Congress.
Consolidate or better align workforce programs, program funding, and goals. Citing a 2011 GAO report that identified 47 job training programs offered through nine federal agencies, several members of Congress are seeking to streamline WIA to eliminate redundancies. Proposals range from consolidation of programs and funding into a single block grant to give states flexibility to determine how to meet local training, education, and labor market needs, to multiple workforce investment funds being targeted to particular populations. Proponents of consolidation note that fewer funding streams that target broad populations would allow state and local governments to develop innovative approaches to serving their local labor market needs with less administrative burden. Others have argued for better alignment across WIA's Titles I and II to ease training access for different subpopulations (LEP workers, low-income workers, etc.) within adults, dislocated workers, and youth. Lifting current fund restrictions and tying workforce development to educational attainment are among the proposals being suggested to counterbalance calls for consolidation of the system as well as barriers to access under the existing system.
Establish common performance measures and strategic planning. Broad consensus exists about the need to align performance measures across Titles I and II. Calls for unified state plans would jointly report the goals and program approaches of the workforce training and adult education systems. Advocates for improving access for hard-to-serve populations have called for improvements to existing state planning proposals that would require states to detail how specific populations, such as LEP workers, will be served. Many states already include information about how they provide language access to LEP individuals through the One Stop system, but do not provide strategies for effective training and education services. Similarly, while there is consensus about the need to create common performance measures across both programs to eliminate disincentives to serving hard-to-serve populations, disagreement exists about what measures would be effective in demonstrating skills improvements. For example, some proposals include credential attainment within a specific time period as a common performance measure, reflecting the importance of certifications and postsecondary education to job success in the economy. While many welcome this clarification, others argue that interim gains in improved English proficiency or movement toward credential attainment are an important barometer of growth for those who need extra time to improve their skills. While there have also been calls to weight the performance of LEP individuals and other special populations differently, little evidence exists of what statistical models would be appropriate to capture relative performance.
Change the role and representation of state and local workforce boards. State and local workforce boards are comprised of members of the business community, mandatory state agency partners, labor unions, and community organizations. Advocates for greater inclusion of hard-to-serve populations argue that those groups' competing interests may sidetrack WIA's core goal to retrain workers to fill business demand and boost local economies. They point out that empowering the business community to shape local training and education systems will lead to the increased availability of sector partnerships and industry-led collaborations for targeted training. As a result, many proposals call for workforce board membership to be heavily weighted toward the business community. However, community-based organizations and immigrant advocates note that LEP individuals and others with multiple barriers to employment will be left out unless their needs are heard. They note that workforce boards' selection of training providers offered through the One Stop system should include organizations that understand the needs and availability of locally provided training services appropriate for LEP individuals. As well, many have called for increasing flexibility for local boards to award contracts if the board determines that a community or private organization has demonstrated effectiveness in serving individuals with barriers to employment.
Next Steps
As immigrant populations continue to spread to new destinations less equipped than the traditional destination states to provide services for the LEP population — and amid continued uncertainty over when federal and state budgets will rebound — the need to have a more responsive WIA system is likely to become more visible.
The nature of the current WIA reauthorization debate — in addition to the failures of previous attempts at reauthorization — highlights the complications and challenges of revamping the workforce training and adult education systems. While the debate has implications for many groups, LEP individuals — caught between the overlapping, but separate, missions of Titles I and II — stand to gain or lose in particular. Existing structural, funding, and political constraints continue to limit the ability of the system to meet the needs of LEP individuals.
Along the way, states and localities with rich nonprofit and community-based organization networks serving LEP populations have filled in service gaps left by Title I and Title II programs. The inability of the system to scale up to the need of diverse populations will have significant implications for not only these immigrant individuals and their families, but for the economy in general.
Capps, Randy, Michael Fix, and Serena Yi-Ying Lin. 2010. Still an Hourglass? Immigrant Workers in Middle-Skilled Jobs. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. Available online.
Capps, Randy, Michael Fix, Margie McHugh, and Serena Yi-Ying Lin. 2009. Taking Limited English Proficient Adults into Account in the Federal Adult Education Funding Formula. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. Available online.
Center for Asian American Advocacy. 2005. Bridging the Language Gap: An Overview of Workforce Development Issues Facing Limited English Proficient Workers and Strategies to Advocate for More Effective Training Programs. Washington, DC: Center for Asian American Advocacy. Available online.
National Council of State Directors of Adult Education. 2010. Adult Student Waiting List Survey. Washington, DC. Available online.
National Skills Coalition. 2011. Training in Policy Brief: Workforce Investment Act, Title I. Washington, DC. Available online.
Terrazas, Aaron. 2011. The Economic Integration of Immigrants in the United States: Long-and Short-Term Perspectives. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. Available online.
U.S. Census Bureau. 2006 and 2010 American Community Surveys. Accessed from Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and Matthew Sobek. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2010. Available online.
U.S. Department of Labor. Social Policy Research Associates data, 2001-10. Available online.
U.S. Government Accountability Office. 2009. Workforce Investment Act: Labor Has Made Progress in Addressing Areas of Concern, but More Focus Needed on Understanding What Works and What Doesn't. Washington, DC. Available online.


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Do you have bats in your attic, crawl space, bats in the chimney, or walls? Need to get rid of them and you don't know who to call? Wildlife Removal Pros is your licensed and trained bat control experts for all types of wildlife issues. We are a wildlife management company, meaning we do not handle dog or cat calls. We are NWCOA certified, and also Bat Standards Compliant. We have completed various wildlife control trainings and workshops about bat management, and have helped many customers with their bat problems. If you have bats, give us a call today! We can help. KY Wildlife Pros in Central KY is your source for bat control in Lexington Kentucky.
If you have one or more bats in your Lexington KY house do not try to remove them without protective equipment. Bats can carry rabies and other diseases. We are trained and experienced in safe bat removal, after the inspection we perform bat exclusion to have all of the animals removed. A bat inside your living quarters free flying, may be a sign that you have a colony of bats living in your attic, chimney, or walls. In this scenario, the nuisance animal needs to be removed immediately to avoid coming into contact with people or pets. We can come to your home or business and do a thorough inspection of the entire structure and determine if there are bats living there. If bats are found we will take the necessary steps to remove the bats and make sure you do not have the problem again. Once we remove bats from the attic, we also provide bat guano cleanup. We are trained and experienced in bat issues and use a proprietary exclusion method that ensures we get rid of bats for good. We can help you with all your bat problems.
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Lexington Bat Removal
Bat Control For Bats In The Attic
Scientists estimate that over 900 to 1,200 bat species exist worldwide. In fact, bat removal in Lexington is common because bats constitute 20% of the entire mammal population on the planet. North America has its share of bats and the wildlife issues that they cause. More specifically, 45 bat colony species exist across the continent, and many of them are present in Kentucky. In fact, some Kentucky bats include Eptesicus fuscus, Myotis leibii, and Lasiurus cinereus. Ordinarily, if you contact a removal company they refer to them as the Big Brown Bat, Eastern Small-footed Myotis, and the Hoary Bat respectively. The oldest bat fossils discovered by researchers is 32 million years old. No matter the species, a removal specialist for bats in Lexington Kentucky can help you. It is to be noted, Fayette County does not handle nuisance wildlife.
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AFL-CIO's Trumka Calls for Labor Movement Separate from Parties: 'I've Had a Snootful of This Shit!'
The following article first appeared in The Nation magazine. For more great content from the Nation, sign up for their email newsletters here.
Speaking last Tuesday to the National Nurses United conference in Washington, where more than one thousand nurses from across the country rallied to begin the push to replace the politics of setting for less with a unapologetic demands for a new economic agenda, Trumka found a plenty of takers for his agressively progressive message.
"We want an independent labor movement strong enough to return balance to our economy, fairness to our tax system, security to our families and moral and economic standing to our nation," declared Trumka, who in recent months has been repositioning the AFL-CIO as a force that will hold Republicans and Democrats to what he describes as "a simple standard: "Are they helping or hurting working families?"
"We can't simply build the power of any political party or any candidate. For too long we've been left after the election holding a canceled check and asking someone to pay attention to us. No more! No more!" the federation president, a former United Mineworkers union chief, shouted above the cheers of the nurses.
Then he described a scenario all too familiar to union activists: that of trying to get officials who are supposed to be allies of the working Americans to act on their behalf with the same energy that Republicans bring to aiding corporations.
"For too long, we've been left after Election Day holding a canceled check, waving it about—'Remember us? Remember us? Remember us?'—asking someone to pay a little attention to us," recalled Trumka, who like many union leaders was frustrated with the failure of the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and other needed labor law reforms. "Well, I don't know about you, but I've had a snootful of that shit!"
There was no way to misread Trumka's message for Democrats who have strayed on issues ranging from EFCA to trade policy to mounting an absolute defense of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"When it comes to politics, we're looking for real champions of working women and men. And I have a message for some of our "friends." It doesn't matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside—the outcome is the same either way," he explained. "If leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families' interests, working people will not support them. This is where our focus will be—now, in 2012 and beyond."
Trumka chose exactly the right setting in which to deliver that message. The NNU (which also welcomed this writer as a speaker at its gathering) has long advocated for a more miltant stance when it comes to politics, as evidenced this week by the union's mass protest outside the headquarters of the US Chamber of Commerce. As the nurses blocked traffic, NNU executive director Rose Ann DeMoro led the crowd in chanting "Our street!" and then pointing at the Chamber building and shouting "Wall Street!"
That determination to take the fight to Wall Street is at the heart of the NNU's new "Main Street Contract for the American People" that, among other things, demands that elected officials take a "Which Side Are You On?" pledge.
The pledge contrasts Wall Street's push for "tax cuts for the rich and powerful" and "replacing Medicare with vouchers" with a Main Street Contract that seeks:
1. Jobs at living wages to reinvest in America.
2. Equal access to quality, public education.
3. Guaranteed healthcare with a single standard of care.
4. A secure retirement with the ability to retire in dignity.
5. Good housing, and protection from hunger.
6. A safe and healthy environment.
7. The right to collectively organize and bargain.
8. A just taxation system where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.
9. Restoring the promise—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.
As Trumka speaks about that "simple standard" to demand of elected officials, politicians and their parties, he and the rest of the labor movement could find few better places of beginning than that pledge to support the NNU's "Main Street Contract for the American People."


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August Becomes First Month Without Any U.S. Casualties In Iraq
This past month has earned two distinctions in the United States' major war fronts. As we reported Tuesday, August became the deadliest month ever in Afghanistan, but in Iraq the news was positive: August became the first full month without an American casualty since the invasion in 2003.
The New York Timesreports the news comes on the heels of an Iraqi crackdown on Iranian-backed Shiite militias. The paper adds:
The milestone is particularly remarkable because it comes after 14 troops were killed in July, making it the most deadly month for the Americans in three years, and it has occurred amid a frightening campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations from Sunni insurgents that killed hundreds of Iraqis, resurrecting the specter of the worst days of sectarian fighting.
"If you had thought about a month without a death back during the surge in 2007, it would have been pretty hard to imagine because we were losing soldiers every day, dozens a week," said Col. Douglas Crissman, who is in charge of American forces in four provinces of southern Iraq and oversaw a battalion in Anbar Province during the troop increase. "I think this shows how far the Iraqi security forces have come."
As of Aug. 31 at 10 a.m. ET., reports the Pentagon, the number American service members killed remained at 4,408 deaths. In fact, according to icasualties.org, which tracks war deaths, Sgt. Mar Cofield, who was killed in Baghdad on July 17 was the last U.S. casualty.
CNN points outthat for Iraqis, however, the month of August was deadly: It "saw the worst wave of violence to strike the country in months. On August 15, for example, a barrage of attacks across the country killed at least 84 people and wounded more than 200."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Merry Christmas!
December 25, 2006
I wanted to share some Christmas crafts with you. These are the trees I made. They were made on top of Pelligrino bottles. The first one is simply layers and layers of loops of patterned paper. A great way to use up scraps, by the way! These are quilted stockings I made. Each stocking is unique. All of them include photos, beading of some kind, and lots of raw edge applique. Some of them are painted, others have quotes. Take a peek and let me know what you think. Read more →


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Savvy Preview users know they can do some interesting things to PDFs—convert them to black-and-white or sepia tone, increase or decrease their lightness, and more—by selecting File -> Export, then selecting one of the Quartz filters in the resulting dialog box. Reader zpjet is one of those users, but he was never satisfied with results of the Reduce File Size filter (which he'd use when trying to make PDFs small enough to send by e-mail): It made them too small and made the graphics fuzzy.
After a little digging around, he found that these filters are located in the folder /System/Library/Filters, and that they're XML files that are easily edited with TextEdit (or any other text editor). Examining the file for the Reduce File Size filter, he found out why it didn't work for him: Two of the parameters—Compression Quality and ImageSizeMax—were just too low (0.0 and 512, respectively).
So he copied this file to his Desktop, made two copies of it, and then renamed all three: Reduce File Size Good, Reduce File Size Better, and Reduce File Size Best. Then he changed the parameters of each file: 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 for Compression Quality (respectively) and 842, 1684, and 3508 for ImageSizeMax (ditto). (The first is A4-size at 72dpi, the second A4 at 144dpi, and the third A4 at 300dpi).
Finally, he changed the default string for the Name key at the end of each file—which is what displays in the Export menu—to match its file name. He then created a /Library/Filters folder and put all three edited files in it.
Now, when he opens a picture or PDF in Preview, he has the option of four Reduce File Size filters. So, for example, let's say he's starting with a JPEG of a scanned A4 invoice at 300dpi, and that file is 1.6MB in size. When he exports that to PDF format with the standard Reduce File Size filter, the file goes down to 27KB, but it's quite unusable—fuzzy and hard to read. Using the Good filter produces a file that is much easier to read and only slightly fuzzy, and it weighs in at 80KB. A file produced with the Better filter comes out at 420KB and clear; Best is 600KB and almost as good as the original.


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Moron Arrested For Posting Video of His Drive-By Assaults to Instagram
A moronic asshole got arrested today after he posted to Instagram a series of videos of himself terrorizing Philadelphia residents with a pellet gun disguised to look like a handgun.
Twenty-one-year-old Daron Stinson is facing a host of felonies after he "pretended" to rob and shoot at frightened pedestrians with a pellet gun that looked like a handgun. In one video he points his gun at a 51-year-old man salting a sidewalk and demands the man load it in his trunk.
Stinson also posted multiple videos on Instagram of himself shooting the pellet gun as his victims react with terror.
"He considers it funny," Rodney Stinson, his father, told NBC 10. "He does a lot of other things. Nothing with the gun is funny. Nothing. I don't consider it funny."
[h/t The Smoking Gun]


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"The service agreement gives us more freedom and flexibility. We can add or reduce the number of vehicles easily." Torbjörn Persson, Chief Operating Officer, Container terminal
Ports of Stockholm, one of the top five container terminals in Sweden, wanted an upgraded fleet, a better work environment for drivers, and improved fuel consumption. They got all that – and more.
Ports of Stockholm, Container terminal
Stockholm, Sweden
Kalmar fleet
5 Glorias, four always available
While the Stockholm container port is the fourth largest in Sweden, it is also based on a tiny area built on reclaimed land in the middle of the nation's capital, making space a challenge. Also, the port's reachstackers were of different makes, at different stages of their life cycles, mostly old, and under-serviced.
Of the five reachstackers in the fleet, four will have to be operational for things to run smoothly. With Mediterranean Shipping Company, the second biggest container company in the world, as a new customer, it was time for a complete upgrade.
When launching a replacement plan the port management decided to focus on a whole new fleet of reachstackers. Kalmar DRG reachstacker, Gloria, was chosen based on high productivity, driver comfort and ergonomics together with low total cost of ownership (TOC). The delivery includes a service contract that maximises equipment availibity to the agreed level of four units.
The service agreement includes new tyres and the necessary service staff, while the port will cover its costs for fuel, an issue they hope the new Gloria reachstackers will help them address.
Gloria is also more environmentally-friendly and the new cabin will make the drivers' work on the uneven reclaimed land easier.
The Kalmar G generation Gloria reachstacker is fuel efficient – which is important for cost reduction and environmental considerations. With all trucks at the same, early stage of the life cycle, and of the same make, the port using only reachstackers can rest assured that its fleet will be up and running, day in and day out.
Low and predicted TCO over its lifetime makes planning easier and eliminates unpredictable events for the port down the road. If the need arises, they can easily add more reachstackers to the agreement.
Stockholms Hamnar Size: 632 KB


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This look is quite similar to the previous look I have done using the Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia Palette. It's just that I wanted to show how you can bring variation with the colours. Hope you like it. 🙂
Let's start.
Start by priming your eye lids.
Pick up midnight blue eyeshadow with a flat brush
And pack it all over the lid. Do not drag the brush or else you wouldn't get the intensity.
Now pick the blue dahlia colour on a fluffy brush..
and place the blue dahlia shade above the crease.
Stop at two third.
Now pick the sandy beige shade from the palette.
and apply this eye shadow in the inner part of the crease blending it with the blue dahlia eye shaodw.
Like so,
Blend any harsh edges with a fluffy brush.
Now pick the highlight shade on a flat brush. It is not white, it's just a fine blue shimmer.
Just place the blue shimmer on the center of the eye.
Now pick the black eye shadow on a liner brush
Apply the black eye shadow as a liner.
Mix the blue dahlia and the midnight blue eye shadow on a pencil brush.
apply apply on the outer third of the lower lash line.
And white highlighter on the corner corner.
Apply black eye liner or kajal on the waterline.
Curl lashes and apply mascara
And there you have your Blue Dahlia look no 2.
I have applied the Estee Lauder Tender Petal blush on cheeks . It's a pale pink blush that looks great with dark eye makeup. On lips I have Estee Lauder Lip Sheer in Scarlet rose and Estee Lauder Very hollywood gloss just at the center of lips.
Eye Makeup : Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia Palette, Estee Lauder Magnascopic Mascara, MAC Painterly Paint Pot, lotus Kajal
Face : Estee Lauder Tender Petal Blush, Estee Lauder Scarlet rose Lip Sheen, Estee Lauder Very Hollywood Lip gloss, MAC Studio Finish Concealer
Further Readings:
- Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia Eye Makeup Tutorial
- Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia Eye Shadow Palette Preview, Photos, Swatches
- Estee Lauder Pure Color Blue Dahlia Collection Fall 2010
Estee Lauder products sent by brand.


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This appendix describes common problems that you might encounter when using Oracle HTTP Server, and explains how to solve them. It includes the following topics:
Section C.1, "Oracle HTTP Server Unable to Start Due to Port Conflict"
Section C.2, "System Overloaded by Number of httpd Processes"
Section C.3, "Permission Denied When Starting Oracle HTTP Server On a Port Below 1024"
Section C.4, "Oracle HTTP Server May Fail To Start If PM Files Are Not Located Correctly"
Section C.5, "Unsetting PerSetEnv and Removing a Previously Configured PerSetEnv variable in EM Throws an Exception"
Section C.7, "Client IP Address Not Used in a Configuration with Oracle Web Cache"
You can get the following error if Oracle HTTP Server is unable to start due to port conflict:
[VirtualHost: main] (98)Address already in use: make_sock: could not bind to address [::]:7777
Determine what process is already using that port, and then either change the IP:port address of Oracle HTTP Server or the port of the conflicting process.
When too many httpd processes are running on a system, the response time degrades because there are insufficient resources for normal processing.
Lower the value of
MaxClients to a value the machine can accommodate.
You will get the following error if you try to start Oracle HTTP Server on a port below 1024:
[VirtualHost: main] (13)Permission denied: make_sock: could not bind to address [::]:443
Oracle HTTP Server will not start on ports below 1024 because root privileges are needed to bind these ports.
Follow the steps in Section 18.104.22.168, "Starting Oracle HTTP Server on a Privileged Port" to start Oracle HTTP Server on a Privileged Port.
If Oracle HTTP Server is not able to locate Perl module (PM) files in the path defined in the
PERL5LIB variable, Oracle HTTP Server may encounter the following errors, and fail to start:
[error] Can't locate mod_perl.pm in @INC (@INC contains:$ORACLE_HOME/perl/...)
[error] Can't locate Apache::Registry.pm in @INC (@INC contains: $ORACLE_HOME/perl/...)
Check that
/ohs/bin/apachectl is correctly defined in the
PERL5LIB variable. It should point to the path(s) containing the PM files. By default, it points to PM files in the following directories:
ORACLE_HOME/ohs/mod_perl/lib/site_perl/5.10.0 ORACLE_HOME/perl/lib/5.10.0 ORACLE_HOME/perl/lib/site_perl/5.10.0
If you configure mod_perl by using the EM mod_perl configuration page and try to remove a previously configured PerSetEnv variable from the Environment field, this error is thrown:
Failed to invoke operation save on MBean oracle.as.management.mbeans.register:type=component,name=ohs1,instance=webtier _inst7971,Location=AdminServer Apply failed, modify required parameters and save again. Validation of configuration trying to apply failed . . .
To correct this situation:
Close the pop-up error and click Revert.
Remove the PerSetEnv by doing one of the following:
Go to the Advanced Configuration page of EM and modify the mod_perl.conf file directly.
Go to the instance home/config/OHS/component_name/moduleconf/mod_perl.conf and edit the configuration file directly to remove the PerSetEnv value.
Restart OHS.
You can use the following log files to help locate errors:
This log file is necessary for debugging when mod_rewrite is used. The log file produces a detailed analysis of how the rewriting engine transforms requests. The level of detail is controlled by the RewriteLogLevel directive.
See Also:
Rewrite Log in the Apache HTTP Server documentation.
This log file enables you to record the input to and output from the CGI scripts. This should only be used in testing, and not for production servers.
See Also:
Script Log in the Apache HTTP Server documentation.
This log file records overall server problems. Refer to Chapter 7, "Managing Oracle HTTP Server Logs" for details on configuring and viewing error logs.
The UseWebCacheIp directive allows Oracle HTTP Server to use the Client IP address for logging and mod_authz_host access control when the client connects to Oracle HTTP Server through Oracle Web Cache. This feature may be usable with other front-end proxy servers, if the proxy sets the ClientIP request header to the Client IP address. When UseWebCacheIp is not enabled and a client connects to Oracle HTTP Server through Oracle Web Cache or other proxy, the client address used for logging and mod_authz_host access control will be that of Oracle Web Cache or other proxy.
Set UseWebCacheIp to
ON in your
httpd.conf file.
Also, if you do not set UseWebCacheIp to
ON, the address of the host connecting to Oracle HTTP Server will be used for logging and host-based access control. In some cases this will be a proxy instead of the client.
The UseWebCacheIp directive is not available in Oracle HTTP Server versions 220.127.116.11.0 and 188.8.131.52.0.


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One of the biggest stumbling blocks to securing a massive free trade agreement between the United States and Europe is a sharp disagreement on genetically modified foods. Much of the corn, soybean, sugar beets and cotton cultivated in the United States today contains plants whose DNA was manipulated in labs to resist disease and drought, ward off insects and boost the food supply. Though common in the U.S., they are largely banned in the 28-nation European Union. Washington wants Europe to ease restrictions on imports of GMO foods, but the EU is skeptical they are safe. Intense emotions on both sides of the divide make it difficult to separate between strongly held belief and science. Here is a look at key points in the debate.SAFE OR UNSAFE?Most studies show GM foods are safe for human consumption, though it is widely acknowledged that the long-term health effects are unknown. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has generally recognized GM crops as safe and the World Health Organization (WHO) has said no ill health effects have resulted on the international market.Opponents on both sides of the Atlantic say there has been inadequate testing and regulation. They worry that people who eat GM foods may be more prone to allergies or diseases resistant to antibiotics. But they have been hard pressed to show scientific studies to back up those fears.GM foods have been a mainstay in the U.S. for more than a decade. Most of the crops are used for animal feed or in common processed foods such as cookies, cereal, potato chips and salad dressing.Europe largely bans genetically engineered foods and has strict requirements on labeling them. They do allow the import of a number of GM crops such as soy, mostly for animal feed and individual European countries have opted to plant GM crops. Genetically engineered corn is grown in Spain, though it amounts to only a fraction of European farmland.The American Medical Association favors mandatory, pre-market safety testing, something that has not been required by U.S. regulators. The WHO and the U.N. food agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization, say the safety of GM foods must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.CAN GM FOOD HELP COMBAT WORLD HUNGER?By 2050, the world's population is projected to rise to 9 billion from just over 7 billion currently. Proponents of GM foods say they are safe and can boost harvests even in bad conditions by protecting against pests, weeds and drought. This, they argue, will be essential to meeting the needs of a booming population in decades to come and avoiding starvation.However Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists' Food and Environment Program, an advocacy group, said genetic engineering for insect resistance has provided only a modest increase in yields since the 1990s and drought-resistant strains have only modestly reduced losses from drought.Moreover, he said conventional crossbreeding or cross-pollinating different varieties for desirable traits, along with improved farming are getting better results boosting yields at a lower cost. In fact, much of the food Americans eat has been genetically modified by those conventional methods over thousands of years, before genetic engineering came into practice."Overall, genetic engineering does not get nearly the bang for the buck as conventional breeding" and improved agricultural practices, Gurian-Sherman said. UCS advises caution on GM foods and favors labeling, though it acknowledges the risks of genetic engineering have sometimes been exaggerated.Andrea Roberto Sonnino, chief of research at the U.N. food agency, said total food production at present is enough to feed the entire global population. The problem is uneven distribution, leaving 870 million suffering from hunger. He said world food production will need to increase by 60 percent to meet the demands of 9 billion by 2050. This must be achieved by increasing yields, he added, because there is little room to expand cultivated land used for agriculture.GMOs, in some instances, can help if the individual product has been assessed as safe, he said. "It's an opportunity that we cannot just miss."TO LABEL OR NOT TO LABEL?Europe requires all GM food to be labeled unless GM ingredients amount to 0.9 percent or less of the total. The U.S. does not mandate labels on the view that GM food is not materially different than non-modified food. Opponents of labeling say it would scare consumers away from safe foods, giving the appearance that there is something wrong with them.U.S. activists insist consumers should have the right to choose whether to eat GM foods and labeling would offer them that choice, whether the foods are safe or not. They are pushing for labeling at the state and federal level. California voters last year rejected a ballot initiative that would have required GM food labeling. The legislatures of two other U.S. states, Connecticut and Maine, have passed laws to label GM foods and more than 20 states are contemplating labeling.COULD GM FOOD TORPEDO THE TRADE DEAL?Absolutely. The U.S is pressing for the restrictions on importing GM food to be eased but there is no sign that the EU's firm opposition is softening. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said recently that Europe will defend its restrictions in the trade negotiations. Some in the U.S. see the European resistance as just another form of protectionism that promotes domestic products over imported ones.GM foods are not the only seemingly intractable issue standing in the way of a comprehensive free trade agreement. They are part of a broader set of restrictions on both sides related to agriculture and food safety. There are also significant differences on intellectual property and financial regulations, among other thorny issues.
For the latest food news, health tips and recipes, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and YouTube.


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User talk:Gharbeia
|Getting started
|Translation tutorial
|How to start
|See also
|Localisation guidelines
|Translating offline
Welcome to Betawiki!
Hi Gharbeia. Welcome to Betawiki! Please create a user page on which you describe which language(s) you will be working on. If you are going to be an active user here, please also add your name to the languages you will be working on. Before you can use Special:Translate, and Special:Magic, please request translator rights. If you have a wiki where a lot of translations have already been made, you can make an import request. Other useful pages are linked in the translatewiki.net menu that comes with this message.
Once you have started translating, your work will be committed to the standard product every few days. If you want to explicitely request your work to be added, please make a request for commit.
I wish you a productive and pleasant stay. Cheers! Siebrand 23:38, 16 March 2008 (UTC)


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Communicable diseases (including infectious and parasitic diseases) are those diseases capable of being transmitted from one person to another, or from one species to another. In 2000, infectious diseases accounted for 3.6% of all deaths in Australia (4,582 deaths). Influenza and pneumonia accounted for 64% (2,937) of deaths due to communicable disease. Death rates increase with age, and were greater for males than females in most age groups. In 1999--2000, there were 12,859 hospitalisations in Australia with a primary diagnosis of communicable diseases. Influenza and pneumonia were responsible for 20% (2,591) of hospital admissions due to communicable diseases.
HIV and AIDS
In collaboration with the state and territory health authorities and the Commonwealth Government, surveillance for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is conducted by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research. This centre is part of the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales and is funded primarily by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing through the Australian National Council on AIDS, Hepatitis C and Related Diseases.
At 31 December 2001, the cumulative number of HIV cases (since 1985) was 21,725. Also, the cumulative number of AIDS diagnoses was 8,810 (since 1981), and there had been a total of 6,174 deaths attributable to AIDS (table 9.24).
The reduced numbers of new AIDS diagnoses in recent years (table 9.24) has been due to the decline in HIV incidence that took place in the mid 1980s, and the use, since around 1996, of effective combination antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of HIV infection. In Australia, approximately 50% of all people living with HIV infection are receiving antiretroviral treatment. However, the long-term effectiveness of antiretroviral treatment remains unknown, and if treatments begin to fail for a substantial proportion of people, then AIDS incidence could increase again.
Transmission of HIV in Australia continues to be mainly through sexual contact between men (77.6%). A small percentage of diagnosed infections were associated with a history of injecting drug use (4.5%) or heterosexual contact only (10.6%) (table 9.25). Mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection remains rare in Australia.
Children's immunisation
The Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR), which commenced operation on 1 January 1996, aims to provide accurate and comprehensive information about immunisation coverage for all children under the age of seven. The register is administered by the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) on behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and is a key component of initiatives to improve the immunisation status of Australian children.
Immunisation coverage goals for Australia for the year 2000, recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), called for 90% or more coverage of children at two years of age, and near universal coverage of children at school-entry age, against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella and hib (haemophilus influenza type b).
ACIR data indicated that, at 31 March 2002, 90.5% of one year olds and 87.8% of two year olds were fully immunised according to the NHMRC Recommended Immunisation Schedule. State summaries by age group based on ACIR data are published quarterly in Communicable Diseases Intelligence bulletin.


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More news
- PPG partners with Prague Crafts Academy to train the next generation of painters
- Offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust Zuid inaugurated
- UPM selects Brenntag as sole European distributor of its new bio-based MEG
- PPG partners with Dutch university to develop world's first off-road solar car
- Philippine lead paint ban feted in Bonn, Germany
BASF has announced it is investing around €90M to set up a world-scale production plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in China.
The plant will produce high performance resins and electrocoat (e-coat). The start-up of the production line is planned for the second half of 2015. The plant will help to address the increasing demand for high quality coatings solutions in growing industries, notably the automotive industry, in Asia Pacific.
"The continued investment in our infrastructure and capacity demonstrates our strong commitment to supporting our customers' growing business in the automotive market in Asia Pacific, particularly in China," said Peter Fischer, Senior VP, Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific. "With the new plant in place, we will respond to customers even quicker and further enhance our efficiency of logistics and supply of advanced coatings products."
The resin and e-coat plant will be located adjacent to another new BASF automotive coatings plant, which broke ground in early 2013. The close proximity of these two plants will allow for more synergies and efficiency.
Resin is a key intermediate used in the production of various types of coatings. The facility will supply resins with the latest technology to support the company's expanding coatings production and growth plans.
Applying the latest technologies, BASF's plant will also supply CathoGuard 800, an e-coat that is ideally suited for the new standard of integrated coatings application processes and contains less than one percent solvents.
E-coat is a critical coating layer in automotive production, protecting a car's surfaces, edges and cavities from corrosion, as well as being the base for applying subsequent paint layers.