text:
Since 2012 Coursera has been transforming lives through learning and is also redefining higher education by providing global access to content and credentials from the world's top universities. When new CEO Jeff Maggioncalda took the reins last year, I felt compelled to find out more about what attracted him to the company and how he would continue Coursera's legacy of transforming lives through learning.
We discussed how technology is transforming careers, training, and entire industries as we enter the digital transformation of everything. At a time where Coursera was approaching a unicorn valuation, I wanted to learn more about how we can all reskill and re-invent ourselves along with what the future holds for Coursera.
Neil: Can you tell me more about the story behind Coursera?
Jeff: The company was started by a couple of Stanford professors in computer science, Daphne Kohler and Andrew Ng. Andrew was one of the very famous machine learning people who became a bit of a celebrity in AI circles and together they were teaching courses at Stanford.
There was a lot of demand, and there's oversubscription of the courses, not all the students could fit. So they said, we should put these courses online and make this available to more people. Well, 100,000 students showed up from around the world, and they said, you know, there's a real demand for learning now.
However, it's important to remember that back then, the cloud wasn't really super available, low-cost bandwidth, low-cost storage, low-cost computing power was all relatively new. Coursera was launched to create a platform where the top universities in the world can publish courses to anyone who might want to learn about almost anything.
The company has certainly evolved, but our job at Coursera is still to transform lives through learning.
Neil: What is that make Coursera unique from other Ed-tech solutions out there at the moment?
Jeff: I think one of the things that really makes it unique is it's an open platform, so it's available to anybody in the world, and we just crested $30 million learners, over half of whom are not in North America. So it really is a global learning platform.
The 2000 courses that are available come from the top universities in the world in North America, Europe, and Asia. I think we have some of the best content. We have more learners than anybody, and then recently we've done a couple of things that have continued to expand our mission of trying to provide a world-class education to everybody.
We also launched Coursera for business after we saw a lot of companies saying the world's changing very quickly. The nature of jobs and their business along with the rising expectations of their customers was becoming a big wakeup call.
They were facing new competition and an evolving supply chain that were all being transformed by data and technology. Business leaders were faced with the problem that their people didn't have all the skills they needed. They came to us asking, can I use Coursera at my company to educate my employees?
So we started selling Coursera into businesses, and in the first year, we have been hired by over 500 companies, including over 20 of the fortune 500. We have been helping them to transform the talent within their companies using this cutting edge, a teaching platform and this top quality content from our partners.
Outside of that, we have had our first graduating class of MBA students at the University of Illinois who have taken a fully accredited MBA, entirely online on Coursera. They are now issuing MBA's full exact duplicates of the MBA for $20,000 that you can do at your own pace, and it's available to anyone in the world, and you don't have to go on campus.
Neil: I love how the story behind Coursera is not just around technology or Ed-tech, but around 2 Stanford professors on a mission to provide access to quality education to anyone and anywhere. Can you expand on that core belief that took you to where you're today?
Jeff: In the beginning, with Daphne and Andrew, it was we're professors, a lot of people want to take the courses we're teaching. It's these types of skills are going to be more critical in the future. We want to teach at scale.
I think what has evolved is a more significant and more profound challenge that the world is facing. Coursera has opened up and expanded to attack, and it's the nature of change. The world is changing so fast and in a lot of this is because of technology.
Technology is changing the way people communicate, and it is changing the nature of jobs. A lot of reports are talking about artificial intelligence and robotics, eliminating jobs and creating new jobs in this way.
So I think technology has been one of the big things that have been changing faster and faster and frankly globalization has as well. We're able to utilize workforces that are global in nature. It's changing jobs around the globe and exploiting labor markets that didn't have a lot of economic opportunities, it creates a lot of dislocation and creates opportunity.
However it also creates a lot of dislocation, and in order to keep up and not be left behind, almost every adult in the world will need to learn for the rest of their lives. Coursera was set up to solve what I think is one of the most significant problems in the world, which is how do you help people keep up in a world that is changing so quickly?
Neil: Now we're entering the digital transformation and technology will remove traditional roles, we need to remember that it will also create a whole new range of jobs. Its how do we educate and bring the staff along for the ride isn't it?
Jeff: Yeah, absolutely, and I point around Coursera for business, it's possible to conceive of a world where an employer says, Hey, I'm going to need new skills. My current employees don't have them. I'll fire them and hire a bunch of other people already have those skills.
There is such a rapid change in the skills that are being needed in the number of people that have them, that companies cannot hire, fire and hire the way out of the problem. They're going to have to re-educate their people and I think it's one of the reasons why Coursera for business is growing so rapidly is I think companies have realized to stay competitive, they can't just bring in all new employees.
Whereas existing employees are often left thinking, where do I take these classes? How can I afford to do this? How do I make time for this in a world where I have children, and I have a job, and I've got a busy life. In my opinion, the idea of very low cost, self-paced learning at work, often paid for by your employer is a model of what the future will look like for adult learning.
Neil: If we have to look at the broader employment landscape, how do you see that rise of massive open online courses helping or improving training for businesses? I mean, do you think it goes beyond the data protection and health and safety courses that everybody dreads?
Jeff: I do. Certainly, compliance training has been an excellent business for many e-learning companies, and one of the reasons is people have to take it. They're forced to take these classes, and frequently the companies make time to take the course, and the quality is not always really high because they know they've got a captive audience who's compelled to do it, but I do think it goes far beyond compliance.
I think that kind of compulsory learning is shifting. Not Shifting that will always be there, but it is becoming more and more required to learn not just about compliance but about data, about statistics, about the way that you might do digital marketing, about the way that supply chains work, or even ways to use social media in business with your employees or with your customers.
There's a lot that needs to be learned beyond compliance that I think companies are realizing is becoming mission critical because their competition is changing quickly and their customers are changing quickly. If you have a business where your competition is changing fast, your customers are changing, and if you're not, you have a problem.
I think that massively open courses that go from classes all the way up to credentials like degrees will be a relevant part of the workplace. Learning experiences go way beyond compliance.
My conversation with Jeff taught me that none of us have an excuse not to learn a new skill or obtain a new qualification. Especially now we don't even have to leave our homes to get a degree. With 28 million learners around the world, 150 plus university partners and more and over 2000 courses, it seems that every day is a school day.
If you would like to hear the full conversation with Jeff Maggioncalda, you can listen to the podcast episode below.


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How 3-D Printing Can Save on Your Company's Tax Bill
By Tracy Szwec
3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is one of the hottest topics in manufacturing today. After all, this technology is solving many problems, and it could actually be quite cost-effective for some organizations. In some cases, it is possible that additive manufacturing could be labeled as research and development. Anyone who follows tax law will quickly realize that obtaining the R&D classification quickly makes for some interesting tax ramifications.
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Innovative Approach to the Design of Profile Extrusion Dies
SPE Plastics Research Online
Today, due to the continual emergence of new and sophisticated products, profile extrusion faces new challenges that are motivating the adoption of innovative design methods. The major problem in designing a profile extrusion die (typically used, for example, in manufacturing decking, medical catheters, and electronics) is how to achieve an even flow distribution owing to the complex rheology of the materials employed and the intricate, sometimes counterintuitive flow phenomena occurring inside the flow channels.
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Trends in Failure of Synthetic Polymers and Human Biopolymers
SPE Plastics Research Online
Some trends in failure are due to errors of design or bad judgment (plastics) or unwise life conditions (human biopolymers). An encouraging trend for human biopolymers is synthetic polymers designed as replacements for damaged biopolymers (electrical polymers for nerves, and targeted drug delivery). Environmental, recycling and health effects on failure are a strong recent trend in polymer failure.
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Application-Based Plastics Selection (How properties, performance, and cost determine the optimal plastic for any application)
Pioneering Post-Carpet Recycled Nylons
Plastics Engineering
EcoLon, a brand of Wellman Engineering Resins, is a unique nylon compound produced via Wellman's patented process of turning post-carpet recycled (PCR) fiber into nylon resin, and then into high-quality and consistent nylon compounds used in some of the most demanding applications in automotive and other industries. The company's compounding history goes back 50 years to the mid-1960s, when it pioneered the use of post-industrial recycled nylon from both nylon resin plants and carpet manufacturing facilities.
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Distributors, producers and designers of physical testing instruments for the paint, coating and related industries, such as automotive, aerospace, specialty chemical, petroleum, plastics, pharmaceutical and food. We provide quality control instruments used in laboratory and field for testing and measurement.
Recycling Makes 3-D Printing Even Cheaper
Laboratory Equipment
Buying plastic filament for 3-D printing can be expensive, says Joshua Pearce, the lead researcher in the Open Sustainability Technology group at Michigan Technological University. Pearce and his students have whittled the cost of printing to 10 cents per kilogram – down from $30 per kilogram. They made this leap by recycling plastic that had already been printed, using a recyclebot and plastic resin codes developed by the team.
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PVC Gets a Spotlight at NPE for its Role in Saving Lives
Plastics News
"Ripped from the headlines" is a phrase more associated with prime time television than trade shows. But it does apply to a special exhibit at NPE 2015. As international concerns about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa rose to fever pitch last fall, plastics companies large and small stepped up with donations and ramped up production of personal protective equipment.
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Entrepeneur Plans to Produce World's 1st Hemp Plastic Skateboard
Recently, Ganjapreneur had the chance to connect with Brian Westphal, an entrepreneur looking to innovate and spread awareness in the industrial hemp sector. Westphal's company, Lotus Boards, is working to produce the world's first hemp-plastic skateboard. The company's goal, as stated on their website, is "to create awareness for the adoption of Industrial Hemp and Bio-Based alternatives with every ride."
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Water Content by Karl Fischer
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This Mind-Blowing New 3-D Printing Technique is Inspired by 'Terminator 2'
The Washington Post
In an iconic scene in the movie "Terminator 2," the robotic villain T-1000 rises fully formed from a puddle of metallic goo. The newest innovation in 3-D printing looks pretty similar, and that's no mistake: Its creators were inspired by that very scene. The company Carbon3D came out of two years of stealth mode recenlty with a simultaneous TED Talk and Science paper publication.
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Prosthetics Makers See New Technology Adding to a Strong Market
Plastics News
Emerging prosthetics technology, from advanced robotics to the blade-runner Flex-Foot Cheetah design made famous by Oscar Pistorius, is driving revenue at a handful of small businesses in the city. While many patients can't afford the most cutting-edge technology, demand for prosthetics is growing — and promising techniques from the 3-D printing industry may make them more affordable. The niche is just beginning to attract the interest of New York-based 3-D printer specialists who hope to one day offer custom products at lower costs.
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Carbon Fiber Projected to Go Mainstream in Automobiles by 2025
Body Shop Business
Lux Research is reporting that carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) will be widely adopted by automakers for automotive lightweighting by 2025. This is the result, the company states, of technology being developed at a faster-than-expected pace. Advances are already underway in fiber, resin and composite part production that will lead to a $6 billion market for automotive CFRPs in 2020, more than double Lux's earlier projection.
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These Tiny Bubbles May Save the Planet
There are two ways to cut down on our greenhouse-gas emissions: Reduce the amount we make or limit how much of what we make actually gets into the atmosphere. It's the second solution that researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory want to tackle with cute caviar-sized bubbles that can absorb carbon dioxide. The polymer bubbles are filled with the entirely pedestrian ingredient of baking soda, long known to absorb carbon dioxide, but it's the bubbles themselves that are the breakthrough.
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Hoses for High Static Applications
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Cellulose Acetate as a Tunable Bio-Based Engineered Material
Plastics Engineering
Cellulose acetate (CA) is one of the oldest plastics, with an application history dating back over 100 years. Recent drivers towards an engineered bio-based material that can be used in demanding applications have caused revitalization in CA product development. This paper illustrates the ability to fine-tune mechanical and thermal properties through plasticizer selection. A case study is also presented where CA can be used to enhance the bio-content of petro-based plastics such as polypropylene (PP) while improving performance of the final blend.
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New Research into 3-D Printed Small Molecules Could Enable Customized Chemistry
Researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have synthesized small molecules using a simple technique, thus removing a key hurdle that restricted the investigation of a class of compounds providing great potential in the field of medicine and technology. The research team headed by Martin Burke, used a single automated method for the synthesis of 14 different groups of small molecules from a universal set of building blocks.
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Italian Companies to Generate Bioplastic from Potatoes
Two Italian companies recently announced plans to process potato byproducts into plastic materials. The agreement between biotech firm Bio-on and potato products company Pizzoli aims to produce 2,000 tons of bioplastics annually with the hope of doubling that capacity in the future. The companies said they hope their new industrial facility will serve the country's food sector "with zero environmental impact."
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USAF and TRI Develop New Abrasion-Resistant Coating for Fighter Aircraft
Air Force Technology
The US Air Force (USAF) and Texas Research Institute (TRI) have developed a high-temperature, abrasion-resistant coating product that can directly improve the reliability and maintainability of the air force weapon systems, including the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The Proteckt high-temperature coating has been developed with funding from the air force's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program.
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Fast Heat's NEW CableXChecker™ Hot Runner Cable Testing System Ensures Proper Connectivity
The CableXChecker is an easy-to-use diagnostic tool for your hot runner cables and connectors. Configurated for both heater and thermocouple and custom built to your specific wiring diagram, this must-have unit tests for continuity and identifies where shorts and miswired zones are located in ONE minute.
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Amazing 3-D Printer Produces Objects up to 100 Times Faster
Nature World Report
3-D printing – the process by which objects are made by layering thousands of sheets of material over one another - is a promising field of technology. The only problem is that it's an incredibly slow process, which has to date limited its manufacturing applications. Now, a startup called Carbon3D has created a printer that can do in minutes what other devices do in hours (or even days) - anywhere from 25 to 100 times faster.
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Engine Cover Molded from Polyurethane Integral Foam in Single Shot
Plastics Today
BASF has now developed a flexible polyurethane (PU) integral foam that can be used to produce lightweight engine coverings using a single-shot process. The so-called soft cover, made from Elastofoam I 4603, is manufactured by Austrian company Polytec Car Styling and fitted as standard in various car models with petrol engines made by Volvo. The sound-absorbing material for the flexible visible part is characterized by a low and also resistant to thermal aging up to 150°C according to BASF.
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Amcor's Lightweight Hot-Fill PET Bottle Wins WorldStar Packaging Award
Plastics Today
Amcor Rigid Plastics, one of the leading global manufacturers of rigid plastic packaging for the food, beverage, spirits, personal/home care and health care industries, has been recognized by the WorldStar 2015 Packaging Awards Competition, the global packaging industry's most prestigious award competition sponsored by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO). Amcor captured a beverage award for the development of the industry's lightest heat-set polyethylene terephthalate (PET) container, designed exclusively for a leading beverage supplier.
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Color and Appearance Control for Plastics
The Datacolor 45G, 45/0 handheld spectrophotometer with class leading repeatability, provides simultaneous control of both color appearance and gloss for plastics.
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MECO's EP Type-3, for dryers, extruder-compounders, and reactors where solvents and other chemicals are present. Where extensive thermal shaft growth and/or pressure-vacuum cycles are present.
Whistle for N.C.A.A. Tournament Is Instrumental to the Game
The New York Times
For the first time, the whistle — not a scoreboard operator on the sideline — will automatically stop the game clock during the N.C.A.A tournament, through a Precision Time System carried by every on-court official. Ron Foxcroft, a former N.C.A.A. referee who lives in Ontario, Canada, knows just about everything there is to know about the whistle. He invented it. He knows how it works (three chambers, no pea) and how many are produced (11,000 a day).
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me too and i unistall the game and install again but nothing fix,again shop is closed
Desktop solution doesn't help.
- repairing game files - didn't work
- uninstalling and reinstalling game - didn't work
- acctually reintalled my entire system: fresh copies of operating system (win10) and game - didn't work (finally now I've realized that it's not tecnical but account related problem)
I can't play the game from my MAIN device: shop close, arena options grayed out, no coins from quests (coins adds up only when i reconnect after playing from another device). Logging into game from
ANY OTHER DEVICE BUT MY MAIN ONE (mobile app, freind's computer, ipad ect.) works without a problem with all game options avalible.
My account with blizzard is on 100% (email Verified, authenticator attached, phone number verified). I opened a ticket with support: it's been open for more than 48h now but besides ticket id confirmation iv'e got no reply.
I've been playing hearthstone since beta and i've never had any issue. I can't interact with coins at all from my main device (laptop) since latest patch and apperently i'm not the only one. u need to adress this
Thanks Blizz found this page a couple days ago
which is what you are directing us to.
Didn't work at all.
Scan didn't see anything and reinstall didn't make any changes.
Also did you mean to direct us to a page 6 days old.
Win 10 x64
It's pretty disappointing to wait an entire week for a response on this topic just for it to be a generic answer refering to a post that doesn't adress this issue at all.
This is clearly a unique problem that came up with the update from 05/12 and it breaks a big portion of the game for those effected by it.
I hope this issue gets more attention than it appears to get. For me personally, arena is the only mode that keeps me playing the game and keeping an interest in it.
I have the same problem since last update. Both me and my boyfriend cannot access either the arena or the shop! i tried all the solutions blizzard recomments and nothing works. It has been almost a week!
I'm getting pretty dissapointed with the whole thing…clearly many people have the same problem and clearly there is no way of fixing it by ourselves.So please, at least stop suggesting solutions that dont work and maybe its time to actually look into it.
Yeah…I had problems only with shop being closed and now I cannot enter shop and arena also…wtf?!
I have win 10 and both arena and shop are disabled!
Hi Rejuvithorn,
Sorry, as you can see, your 'fix' options don't work. Could you please provide us with some real support instead of copy and pasting links from the US - this clearly doesn't work.
My shop hasn't been working for at least 4 days and I am losing out on content. I am unable to purchase anything, use the arena, get the free Nemsy hero that you advertised. You need to do something about this. The player disappointment is evident from the posts in this article.
my shop is closed for 5 days and no one from support team help us.i have windows 10 in europe region .i try everything and nothing work.just disappointment from blizzard
I didn't have any problems with the shop since the latest update is released, but today I've got the problem - shop is closed.
Game files restoration from battle net client didn't solve the problem.
Didn't try reinstalling the game yet because don't have time for that now, planning to try it later, but I see a lot of comments telling that this also doesn't solve the problem.
Windows 10, Europe.
Please help.
P.S. I see a lot of comments here and I suppose that many other players could have the same problem, but not everyone will go to the forum to write a comment, so please don't consider that this is not a major problem.
P.P.S. Just got the shop opened, didnt do anything for that from my side.
fix your game blizzard . sucks playing this game shop is been closed for more than a week now
Enough blizzard is enough !! I deleted the game, installed it again, the result is still the same. Take care of your game. Since the last patch, I could not get into the arena, nor could I enter the shop.
Update: My store is working again - finally. I hope the same applies to you all.
That's great to hear Simkin.
It should be fixed for everyone who updates to 17.2.2 now, should that not be the case can you tell us your Operating System with the Shop Issue?
Working for me again, too. Glad to see the issue fixed in a reasonable time.
Well it's about time! …I mean…Thank you
This is still a problem for me. Anyone else? I made a ticket, and they can't do anything. Hecking annoying.
The problem is back for me, Hearthstone is patched to 188.8.131.52510, can't click on shop or purchase arena tickets. Any solution?
now store closed in my desktop and mobile device ( ios and android ) for more than 48h. I fixed the game, delete and redownload, can't help.


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Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit: President Mamnoon Hussain unveils a five-point roadmap to achieve durable peace in the region
Islamabad, June 10, 2018 (PPI-OT): President Mamnoon Hussain Saturday unveiled at Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit a five-point roadmap to achieve durable peace, development and stability in the region through enhanced connectivity, shared prosperity, trade and people to people contacts. He was addressing the plenary session of the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization held here at Qingdao International Conference Centre which was attended by heads of states of eight member countries and observer states and representatives from international organizations.
Spelling out the roadmap of priorities, the president said trust building was pivotal to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region, besides helping generate economic activity and enhance regional trade. He viewed that the development projects should not be viewed though a myopic geopolitical angle. He said the countries should wholeheartedly support all regional development and connectivity projects including the Belt and Road Initiative and its flagship project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
By resolutely following the guiding principles of Shanghai Spirit of shared development and prosperity, the SCO countries should strive to alleviate poverty, support weaker economies of the region and combat terrorism and extremism. SCO Development Bank and Fund could contribute to this endeavour, he added. President Mamnoon told the summit that SCO Business Council would help promote business-to-business contacts in various sectors. Similarly, they should explore the possibility of introducing a SCO visa regime for businessmen, he added.
Moreover, the president said the SCO states should initiate special programs for skill development of youth and take concrete steps for promoting meaningful people-to-people contacts especially among the youth. He told the international gathering that the improvement of law and order situation in Pakistan over the past few years had provided a secure environment for investment and business. Contrary to the global economic trends, he said, Pakistan's economy had achieved great economic successes resulting in energy production and highest GDP growth rate of last decade this year. He said the international financial institutions had noted this positive performance. Similarly, our agriculture and services sectors has shown robust growth.
Pakistan has been ranked first in the region and fifth at the global level as a destination for private investment in infrastructure development. President Mamnoon told the summit that peace and stability in Afghanistan was a shared concern of SCO member states. "We believe this is only possible through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. The reactivation of SCO's Contact Group of Afghanistan is a welcome step," he remarked. For its best, Pakistan would continue to lend full support for promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. He said Pakistan had welcomed President Ghani's announcement of ceasefire and initiative of unconditional offer for peace talks to the Taliban. "I am pleased to inform that Pakistan has embarked on a bilateral Action Plan for Peace, Security and Stability with Afghanistan.
We hope that these efforts will bear fruits and contribute to peace in Afghanistan," the president said. He said the SCO's regional Anti-terrorism structure was an expression of their concerns on extremism and terrorism and Pakistan was ready to share its experiences of successful counter terrorism campaign with SCO states. Highlighting the issue of drug trafficking, the president believed that the adoption of the decisions on this issue at today's summit was a great achievement and its implementation would contribute to our efforts to control the menace of illicit drugs in the region.
Thanking the Chinese people, government and President Xi Jinping for organizing the multi-purpose summit, the president said in order to mark this momentous occasion, Pakistan had issued a special commemorative postage stamp. He said SCO occupied a unique place among international organizations established for regional security and prosperity. "Within a short span, it has become a platform for exemplary inter-state and people-to-people cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, regional security, connectivity and sustainable development," the president commented.
He said Pakistan had been successful in meeting the Memorandum of Obligations to SCO in a timely manner. He said Pakistan's strategic location, access to the Indian Ocean and huge consumer market has further enhanced these opportunities. "Our success has been bolstered by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, participation in Central Asian regional connectivity projects like TAPI and CASA 1000 and the upward trajectory in our growth rate will continue," he remarked. Besides adopting the "Vision 2025" which sets framework for progress in all sectors of the economy, the president said the government was developing nine industrial zones in different areas of Pakistan to enhance industrial productivity and provide economic stability.
He said in the past few years democratic institutions and values had strengthened in Pakistan. "These days the nation is in electoral process. We hope that completion of this process will further enhance political and economic stability which will have a positive impact on the region," he said.He believed that the historically rich SCO nations would stand shoulder to shoulder against contemporary global challenges and Pakistan would continue to play its role for regional peace and prosperity.
For more information, contact:
Principal Information Officer,
Press Information Department (PID)
Tel: +92-51-9252323, +92-51-9252324
Fax: +92-51-9252325, +92-51-9252326
Email: email@example.com
Website: www.pid.gov.pk
Category: Official News, Press Information Department


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An Expert's Perspective on HIV Drug Resistance
Treatment for HIV has progressed so much since the 1980s that patients can now live a normal life.
But there isn't an easy fix with medication, and HIV drug resistance is one of the greatest challenges of treating the virus. Dr. Silvania Ng explains why.
1. Q: How has HIV treatment evolved and progressed since the 1980s?
A: In the 1980s and early 1990s, HIV was a very grim diagnosis. Treatment options were limited, and HIV almost certainly led to AIDS, and eventually, death. The first HIV drug, or antiretroviral treatment (ART), Zidovudine (AZT) was a nucleoside analog reverse-transcriptase inhibitor or (NRTI). While AZT was somewhat effective in keeping the virus from replicating, severe side effects and limited efficacy forced researchers to find a better solution. Researchers discovered that the virus was able to mutate, and become resistant to this single therapy.
The mid-1990s were the golden age of HIV medication. A new class of antiretrovirals, protease inhibitors (PIs), were more effective, and slightly better tolerated than AZT -- though they still came with their share of side effects. The greatest benefit of PIs though was that there were now enough HIV medications to allow for combination therapy, or treating the virus with multiple medications at once. That, researchers figured out, was key to keeping the virus from developing drug resistance. By the early 2000s, ART therapies were more effective and had fewer side effects, but patients were still having to take three pills a day -- which changed in 2006.
Today, the three drug regimens can be found in a single pill, making it easier for patients to adhere to their treatment plan. Now, as long as you take your ART every day as prescribed, you can expect to live a long and healthy life.
2. Q: What is HIV drug resistance?
A: Currently, there's no way to completely eradicate HIV from your system, but successful ART will be able to keep the virus from replicating. In other words, the virus is still there, but is in a dormant state.
When left untreated, HIV replicates extremely rapidly, attacking CD4 cells in the process. Just as you would make mistakes if you were drawing the same symbol over and over again very quickly, HIV makes mistakes when copying itself. These mistakes, or mutations, can sometimes be resistant to HIV medications, allowing the virus to continue destroying your immune system.
You may have acquired drug resistance, meaning the HIV transmitted to you already contained drug resistant mutations, or you may develop drug resistance.
The most common way HIV develops drug resistance is if you don't take your medication properly. If the virus notices an absence of drugs in your system, which it most definitely will, it will immediately begin to replicate. The worst part is, once your virus becomes resistant to the medication you're on, that medication will never be effective again in treating your HIV.
3. Q: What are signs of HIV drug resistance?
A: Fevers, sweats and weight loss are visible physical signs that your HIV medication may have stopped working --
whether because your virus has developed drug resistance, or another reason. A test from your HIV provider will tell you for sure. Your blood work will show if your viral load, the amount of HIV in your system, is detectable -- and if it is indeed detectable when it previously wasn't on your medication, then your virus has likely developed resistance to the medication you've been taking.
To find out whether your virus has mutated to cause the resistance, your doctor will most likely administer a genotype test. If the virus has indeed mutated, you'll need to be switched to a medication that will work against the mutated version.
4. Q: What are treatment options after HIV drug resistance?
A: The good news is we have more treatment options for HIV now than ever before. The bad news? They're not unlimited. However, if drug resistance is detected early, it's usually easily managed by stopping the ineffective ART, and starting a new combination. Only in extremely rare cases will the virus be resistant to every type of available medication. This would only happen after several different ART regimens have failed. So, while we do have options if your virus develops resistance to your medication, it's extremely important to take your medication every day -- because if your virus keeps developing resistance due to poor adherence, we're eventually going to run out of options for you.
5. Q: How can HIV drug resistance be prevented?
A: The number one way to prevent HIV drug resistance is taking your medication every single day exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Since the virus replicates so mercilessly, you simply cannot forget or miss a dose. If you do happen to miss taking a pill, immediate communication with you doctor is critical. He or she will need to check your viral load and may have to start you on a new drug regimen as soon as possible.
Also, if another physician you're seeing prescribes a medication for a different condition, or even changes the dose, make sure to relay that information to your HIV provider. While drug-drug interaction is rare, it is also a possible cause of treatment failure. And finally, never miss a doctor's appointment -- monitoring the condition every three to six months is key to ensuring a long and healthy life.


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Benefits of Working with a VA
Aiding small business owners, entrepreneurs, and your teams in many, if not all of your projects or tasks.
Backup for when you or your team are not available. Going on vacation or out of town for a conference and won't be available for email? No problem as we can check your email account daily to respond to urgent requests. At the same time, we can delete the junk/spam, sort and file non-urgent emails according to importance, reducing the amount of work waiting upon your return to the office. We can also check your voicemails, transcribe them, and provide a full report categorized by order of importance when you return. If urgent situations arise, we can return calls on your behalf.
Customer relationships are the most essential piece of any business and cultivating those relationships are of the utmost importance. We help foster those relationships by representing you as the company's assistant and nurturing those relationships through follow-ups and being available to customers when they have questions or concerns.
Delegation is important for the small business owner/entrepreneur. Knowing what to delegate and learning to do it effectively, will save you time and money. Delegate tasks you don't like doing or don't know how to do so you can focus on the tasks that will generate more money.
Executive level support and a highly qualified, trained team of professionals at your side.
Flexibility is an essential word in the vocabulary of every small business owner/entrepreneur. Partnering with a virtual assistant frees up your time, allowing you to focus on more pressing or demanding tasks on your plate as well as giving you more time to spend with family or in leisure activities.
Guiding you … the business owners/entrepreneurs and your teams through processes and procedures to create systems and strategies that work.
Helping you to achieve a healthier work – life balance. We realize you started your own business so you could do things your way and have all the things you wanted in life. We also realize you may not have anticipated the business to be so demanding of your time. Take the next step and partner with a virtual assistant that will provide the freedom and flexibility you always dreamed of as a business owner or entrepreneur.
Innovative, out of box thinking will help your business move into the future. We are always seeking new and pioneering ways to create better systems and strategies.
Just-In-Time (JIT) is a term used to describe a manufacturing system in which materials and components are delivered immediately before they are required, in order to increase efficiency, reduce waste and minimize storage costs. Similar to our virtual assistant services, we are here when you need us … Just-In-Time, to manage your projects and reduce overhead by eliminating the need for in-house staff.
Knowledgeable – As business owners ourselves we are always learning new skills and staying abreast of the latest technologies and business practices through courses, self-training, experience, and research.
Leadership is knowing what's worth doing. A leader has the ability to identify what's best for everyone. An effective leader is intelligent, adjustable, assertive, and conscientious, open to experience, honest, and has great business and personal ethics and morals. A leader is a good follower also; taking directions and criticism well, and is willing to admit when they are wrong. A good leader should also be a good manager. We highly value strong leadership abilities among our team members as well as the ability to follow and manage.
Mutual company – while we might not be a legal member or partner in your business, we will treat it as if we are. Your business is just as important to us as ours.
Non-disclosure agreement is signed by all clients and team members of Rhonda's Virtual Office, LLC in order to ensure your confidential information remains confidential.
Operating a business can become challenging and overwhelming when the projects begin to pile up. We help to smooth out this process by leading you and your team through each phase of the project and seeing it through to completion.
Partnering with a virtual assistant provides small business owners/entrepreneurs with professional services without hiring and training new staff, providing benefits, or purchasing additional equipment.
Questionnaires – Are you getting feedback from your clients? If not, let us help you create questionnaires, surveys, and collect the data for you. We can also receive feedback via our conversations with your customers and make note of any compliments, complaints, concerns, or suggestions which will also aid in creating better customer relationships and quality services or products.
Representative for your company that is professional, quick, sharp, and savvy. Not only will we represent you to your customers, but we can represent you to the rest of your business world as well (outside contacts: sales, freelancers, other professionals) to get your projects or goals met.
Supporting you and your team when needed. You may not need an in-house assistant or it may not fit in with your working arrangement. We are the perfect fit for this scenario, quickly and easily filling the gap for your business. We provide the same services as an in-house assistant but with more flexibility and with an eye to your needs and your budget.
Teachers and teachable – we can provide training on new skills when needed and we are of course, very teachable ourselves. Often, we are asked how to do something and we can either schedule a one-on-one with you or we can create a short training video(s).
Uptime is the time period when a computer or other machinery is operational and available for use. Let me ask you … what does the uptime of your business look like? Are you fully operational or are you so busy things are slipping through the cracks? If you find yourself in this position, then your business' uptime may be suffering, therefore so is your cash flow, customer relationships, and even more. Increase your ROI, cash flow, improve customer relationships and create a better uptime for your business.
Virtual support for you and your business means projects and tasks are accomplished on time and on budget.
Working together with you to create an environment that is conducive for productivity and creativity.
X-efficiency is the ability to produce maximum output at the lowest cost and as quickly as possible. We work with you to increase output in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
Your way … we will work with you to learn your habits, ideas, sensitivities and preferred methods of communications, and work with you to make you feel comfortable. At times, we may make suggestions or recommendations to improve our working relationship and hope you will keep an open mind. Our ultimate goal is for you, our client, to feel comfortable and we will work closely with you to ensure that you do.
Zip Code – It doesn't matter your location, we work with people throughout the United States.
Rhonda Holscher
Latest posts by Rhonda Holscher (see all)
- Top 5 Barriers to Delegation - January 1, 2017
- October 2016 – 63rd Edition - September 30, 2016
- September 2016 – 62nd Edition - August 31, 2016


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Ignite is the oldest eNeRGy group for young people age 14-18+. We meet on Friday evenings at Matt & Jo's house.
The aim for Ignite is to learn more about God, take time studying the Bible, look at who God really is and the plan He has for all of our futures. We aim to have a more chilled atmosphere where we can pray for each other, talk about what is happening in our lives and use the time to build on our relationships within the group. We try to encourage the young people to be ready for what the future may be, whether it's employment or going to uni/college, so they can go out into the world as contagious Christians. Ignite's aim is to promote living Christian lives in the world but not of the world.
This term we are looking at:-
Once a year we organise a Youth weekend away in October. Recently we have started visiting Chepstow for a weekend of Bible studies and development, with an added extra of just having time to chill with each other. We usually book up for Soul Survivor each summer.
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Online Course Design Guidelines
The following guidelines provide a roadmap for instructors during the course design process or as a "self-evaluation" tool to assist instructors in revision of an existing online course using the rubric and suggested examples. This research-informed framework highlights key components essential to a high quality learning experience for students.
Items marked with ** are recommended in all fully online courses at the University of Toronto.
The full Course Design Checklist in PDF format is available for download or may be browsed by guideline topic area:
- Learner Support and Resources
- Course Overview and Introduction
- Instructional Design
- Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning
- Online Organization and Design
- Accessibility and Universal Design
These guidelines are based on the work of California State University's Quality Online Learning & Teaching, Instructor (Self) and Peer-Review Course Assessment Instrument a resource that has been adapted for use at the University of Toronto with the permission of CSU.
Duzer, Joan Ann. (2003) Instructional Design Tips for Online Instruction. Humboldt State University and CSU, Chico.
Graham, Charles. "Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses." Technology source (Chapel Hill, N.C.) (2001)
California State University's Quality Online Learning & Teaching, Instructor (Self) and Peer-Review Course Assessment Instrument.
USC Chico's Rubric for Online Instruction
Sloan-C Effective Practices


text: Sheila and I have checked in to Sarah Cannon Research Inst and are in my treatment room, here for the next ~7 hours. With the thrust of a thousand prayers, we now have begun the journey to CLL recovery. The next month will be busy with lots of visits and labs but I am now taking the ipi145 investigational drug.


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Archives: Events
Events for June 16, 2020
Events Search and Views Navigation
All Day
Kids Summer Coloring Contest
Butterfly Wonderland invites kids ages 6-17 to participate in its Summer Coloring Contest to celebrate Butterfly Education & Awareness Day. The winning entry will receive a $50 Visa Gift Card! Follow these steps to enter: • Choose one of four coloring pages to download below. • Use crayons, colored pencils, or markers to color the … ContinuedFind out more »


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What a difference a day makes! It is absolutely terrible outside today.
High winds and freezing rain beating against the windows....
The windows on the front of our house are totally covered in a even layer
of pebbly ice. It's days like this that remind me that we do live on a large rock
in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.....and it is January after-all.
Nothing to do but get hubby to light a nice fire in the fireplace
and brew up a big mug of peppermint tea!!
(Notice that awesome mug-----quickly became my new "all time favorite",
from our precious little granddaughter for Christmas.)


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Derek Jeter treated fans to some batting practice before a sore ankle sent him home early.
Derek Jeter treated fans to some batting practice before a sore ankle sent him home early.
Domonic Brown hit his sixth homer of the spring, Kyle Kendrick threw six impressive innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Yankees 4-1 Tuesday.
Those who came to see Jeter play his first road game of the spring left disappointed because the Yankees captain was scratched from New York's lineup for "precautionary" reasons because of stiffness in his surgically repaired left ankle. He said he's day to day.
"I'm not concerned because I was told this was going to happen," Jeter said, adding he would've played if it were a regular-season game. "From everything I've been told by the doctors, it's normal."
Manager Joe Girardi told reporters afterward that Jeter went back to Tampa to see a doctor.
"I haven't heard anything," Girardi said. "We'll find out what we're dealing with and go from there."
Jeter broke his left ankle in Game 1 of the ALCS against Detroit. The 13-time All-Star shortstop played in his first spring game on March 9 and is 3 for 11 so far.
"It's just stiff but it's not in the part that I broke; it's around it," Jeter said. "I was told I'm going to feel it around the ankle because I was in a boot for so long. It takes time to strengthen. It's normal, just have to deal with it and move on."
The 38-year-old Jeter led the American League with 216 hits and batted .316 with 15 homers and 58 RBIs last year. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Tuesday morning Jeter might begin the season as a designated hitter against Boston if the Red Sox start a left-handed pitcher.
"When you're dealing with a rehab coming back from injury, you're going to have some ups and downs," Girardi said. "Very seldom do you come back from a rehab and it goes completely smooth. It's really went well up until this point. We've had a lot a lot of good days."
Kendrick allowed one unearned run and two hits, striking out three.
"He was aggressive. He looked like he wanted to pitch," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "He mixed his pitches, changed speeds. His location was good."
Brown's torrid hitting this spring has all-but-officially assured himself a starting spot in the outfield. Brown is hitting .397.
Ryan Howard hit his fifth homer of the spring, continuing his comeback after playing less than half the season in 2012 following surgery to repair a torn Achilles' tendon.
Yankees lefty Boone Logan, who had been out with an elbow injury, struck out two in a scoreless inning in his first appearance this spring. New York starter Adam Warren allowed two runs and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings.
"That's what I was expecting to do," Logan said. "I wanted to go out and get the job done."
The Yankees have been beset by injuries this spring.
Third baseman Alex Rodriguez is expected to be sidelined until at least the All-Star break following hip surgery on Jan. 16. Center fielder Curtis Granderson broke his arm in his first exhibition at-bat and is out until May. First baseman Mark Teixeira has a partially torn tendon sheath in his right wrist and could miss up to two months of the regular season.
"I believe in the guys we're going to put on the field." Girardi said. "I believe we're still talented, even though we've got injuries to deal with and you find a way to get it done."
Phillies RHP Roy Halladay said he's lost about 10 pounds in two days because of a stomach virus that cut his Sunday start short after one inning. Halladay still expects to be ready to pitch in the first series vs. Atlanta. ... The Phillies reassigned RHP Rodrigo Lopez to minor-league camp and are down to 35 players. ... Jimmy Rollins singled in his first at-bat with the Phillies since returning from the World Baseball Classic with Team U.S. ... Yankees RHP Joba Chamberlain retired the only batter he faced, striking out Michael Young looking to end the fourth


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Category: Precision Ag
Precision Agriculture: What is it?
If we look at the title of the article, all of you will come to an answer.
Updating Technology: A Valuable Assessment
As we sorted through some of the out-of-date technology, we really got to assess how far agriculture application technology has come and what it takes for it to be successful.
The Drone wars over?
Ben Johnson makes some good points in his opinion article, "The Agricultural Drone War is Over And They Lost," about the shortcomings of drones in the agricultural marketplace.
Failure to Communicate
...the problem was they took the blue gate down in 1970. Needless to say, I didn't find the field.
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A swath of the U.S. from Oregon to South Carolina was drawing a crowd Sunday in anticipation of the nation's first coast-to-coast, total solar eclipse in almost a century.
But just about everyone will be an astronomer for about two minutes on Monday.
Millions of Americans are traveling to the "path of totality." That's the path where the moon will completely cover the sun, and it will first reach the United States in the area of Salem, Ore., and sweep through a myriad of cities and towns on its way to Charleston.
Those peering at the sky from outside the golden path will see a partial eclipse as the moon covers part of the sun's disk.
South Carolina was expecting as many as 2 million visitors to watch the eclipse. It's the prime location for folks along the Eastern Seaboard, home to more than 100 million Americans. Charleston is the last big city that will see the total eclipse.
A Sunday flight from Washington to Charleston was packed with eclipse tourists. Chelsey Barrett of Greenbelt, Md., was traveling with a large family contingent. However, because of the gloomy forecast, they decided to make the three-hour drive to Greenville for a hopefully clear view.
Beach towns such as Edisto Beach, located about an hour southwest of Charleston, were seeing a boom in business. A group of friends from Maryland rented a house there for the week just to watch the eclipse.
"When we learned of the solar eclipse, the middle-age nerds among us were giddy with excitement," said Allison Leaver of Silver Spring, Md. "We couldn't wait for a trip to the beach together and the joy of inflicting true experiential learning on our nine teenagers.
"They're almost as thrilled as we are to be making the pilgrimage south for two minutes of total darkness," Leaver said.
Jenny Kelly, also of Silver Spring, said: "It's a long way to drive for two minutes of astronomical awesomeness."
Weiser, Idaho, was celebrating its lofty status on the "path of totality" with an eclipse festival. Patrick Nauman, festival chairman, said he expected 60,000 visitors for the event. He said he's met people from New York, Maryland and even France.
"It's pretty awesome that they chose to come to Weiser," Nauman said. "It was pretty incredible to visit with them."
Bostonian Rob Mathis, 29, was spending a long weekend in Nashville with three friends. They were planning on watching the eclipse from the "Love and Unity Under One Sun" festival in North Nashville.
"The reason I wanted to be in a city is it's not just me being excited," Mathis said. "It's everyone around me being excited."
Nebraska was expecting more than 500,000 would-be astronomers from around the world for the two-minute solar extravaganza, the Omaha World-Herald reported. That's a big number for a state with fewer than 2 million residents.
Minneapolis residents Paul and Edie Auguston have been hunkering down in a campground near Alliance, Neb., since Thursday. Paul Auguston sheepishly admitted to the World-Herald that the couple expected a big crowd days in advance of the brief but historic spectacle.
"We thought there'd already be people here, and it was awful to find out that we were the nerdiest of the nerds," he said.
In Oregon, the Western-themed town of Sisters had been excited about the eclipse. Located on the edge of the path of totality, Sisters residents expected to be packed with visitors this weekend for the big event Monday. A wildfire put an end to that, shutting down nearby highways and prompting evacuations.
"A lot of people worked hard to get prepared for the eclipse and a few days ago there was excitement in the air," said Sisters resident Kristan Collins, watching the fire from the edge of town. "But now that's turned to a little bit of soberness."
Contributing: Mike Reicher, The Tennessean, Natalie Shaver, KTVB in Idaho; Zach Urness, Salem, Ore., Statesman Journal


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Gates open at 4 pm - Racing Starts approx. 5.45 pm.
Any-one night ticket Bundle offers you 10 Any-one Night tickets for the 2019/2020 season.
Attend any one night of the Western Springs Speedway 2019/2020 season. This is an open GA ticket applicable to any single event during the season.
Benefits of this bundle include:
- 10x Any-one Night individual tickets
- Entry straight through the gate no need to queue
- Share your passes with friends, family or sponsors
Pre Season Bundles include an early entry pass (1 x per full price bundle, extra entry passes can be purchased for $20.00, purchased via Springs office).
No pit gate access. Tickets can be used at all other entry points.
Tickets cannot be resold.
The pre-season bundles are only available to purchase up until 30th October 2019 at 9am.
Senior/Student/Disabilty pre-season bundles only available from the Springs Office - you must show your ID, Gold Card etc.
We look forward to seeing you at any one night of the Western Springs Speedway


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News Agencies | Updated on: 11 February 2017, 5:45 IST
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ plea seeking a CBI probe into the sensational rape and murder of a Dalit woman in nearby Perumbavoor in April 2016.
Rejecting the pleas filed by the father of the woman and her friends, Justice Sunil Thomas said there were no circumstances available in the case warranting a CBI probe.
Also read: SIT files chargesheet against accused in Jisha murder case
Jisha murder case: Human rights activist alleges Congress leader's involvement in murderThe SIT of Kerala Police has filed the charge sheet in a court here in the rape-cum-murder case.
The charge sheet, submitted in the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court, has named Ameerul Islam, a native of Assam who was arrested in June, as the lone accused in the case and charged him with offences, including rape and murder.


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A reading of the PMI, or Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, being above 50 is an indication of the expansion of the manufacturing economy. A below 50 reading means the economy is shrinking. In March, the PMI rose from 51.1 to 52.4.
The PMI of the electronics sector also registered an increase in March, from 48.2 to 49.0. Overall operating conditions in the private sector firms saw a small improvement in the first quarter of 2016, thanks to stronger domestic demand. This drove growth of new orders to the year's fastest pace. Preproduction industries increased as an effect of the increasing purchasing activity.
Experts believe that the strengthening euro to the sterling helped with growth, but panellists specified that the source of new business mostly came from the United Kingdom.
For the first time in five months, new export orders decreased. However, finished goods holdings slumped even bigger in March than they did in August of 2015. All orders were fulfilled right from stocks.
A survey revealed that overall growth of US manufacturing slowed in the first quarter, highlighting weakness in the sector. The survey was taken across employment, new orders, output, stock and delivery times. Fast expansion did not help to lift output growth, and there was little change in workforce numbers.
Little demand is the reason behind slow growth and falling prices. Different firms are forced to compete, regardless of profit margins. Price trends also affected growth. Imported raw materials became costlier thanks to drops in oil and commodity prices, balanced with a weaker rupee. Input prices are also in an eight-month low with inflationary pressure.
(header img via wired.com)


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U.S. and Taliban officials privy to the talks said they will seek to finalise a schedule to withdraw foreign troops in return for a Taliban commitment to keep militant groups from using the country as a base to attack the United States and its allies.
Saturday's talks will be led by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan, who has held six rounds of talks with the Taliban in Qatar's capital of Doha since October.
"There is a genuine sense of expectation on both sides," said a senior U.S. official, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to media. "It's a make-or-break moment.
The pace of talks between the U.S. and Taliban has sped up as Afghanistan heads for presidential elections on Sept. 28.
"This is one of the crucial meetings," a senior Taliban leader in Qatar said, on condition of anonymity.
"If we fail to find any solution to the Afghan conflict then we would like to negotiate with the elected representatives of the American people."
On a trip to Kabul this week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was close to finishing a draft agreement with the militants on counter-terrorism assurances, and he hoped a peace pact could be reached by Sept. 1.
About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some U.S. forces carry out counter-terrorism operations.
The Taliban, who control or contest half the country, more than at any time since they were ousted by the U.S. invasion in 2001, do not support the election process.
They want to form an interim government, but Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and leaders of opposition political parties have rejected the demand.
Ghani, who has been sidelined from the talks, hopes the seventh round will open the door for an intra-Afghan meeting.
Germany, a key ally of the United States in Afghanistan, is trying to organize a meeting of the Taliban and civilian representatives.
Some Afghan officials fear the United States and the Taliban will strike a deal allowing the U.S. to leave the country, leaving government forces to battle on alone.
On Friday, the Afghan defence ministry said a senior Taliban governor was killed in an airstrike in the eastern province of Logar, and a commander was killed in clashes with Afghan security forces in northern Balkh province.
The Taliban dismissed the report about the death of the Logar governor as government propaganda, however.
© 2010 Ahram Online.


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Artwork description:
Manilla is part of the JTC Wols series - 100 Limited Edition Prints.
Printed at 1440 dpi, with 8 passes, using an Epson HDR 10-colour pigment ink system.
Printed on Hahnemuhle Photorag 308gsm. An archival quality heavy-duty matt paper made of 100% cotton rag with a natural white tone and superb black saturation.
Signed sticker with embossed seal on the reverse side confirming edition number and date (see image for close up detail of reverse side sticker).
Baiir logo and title on the front (see image for close up detail).
Posted in a tube and shipped complete with signed certificate of guarantee (see image for close up detail of certificate with embossed silver foil).
Gallery / archival quality giclée fine art print.
The process for a typical piece in this series starts with a simple, hard edge, vector illustration, created on an Apple Mac in Adobe Illustrator. This illustration is then printed onto a 5mm foamex panel using a high resolution digital printer.
The foamex panel is then worked up using traditional methods, such as acrylic paint, brushes, palette knife etc. The result is then passed back into the computer, by stitching together high resolution digital photographs of the foamex panel.
The piece then continues to be developed in a digital format, bringing in more hard edge vector, or manipulated bitmaps.
This digital / traditional discussion can be repeated many times, making multiple passes in and out of the computer.
The overall effect of the process becomes a type of syllogistic argument, one part being the digital, the other the traditional. The traditional methods are a less controlled, emotional response, they're impulsive, instinctive and intuitive. The digital methods provide absolute control, they're strategic, timed, calm and deliberate.
This diametric approach pretty much sums up my work, you'll always find two means or values that make up the whole.
I'm always happy to talk about my work, or send you more detail images if you require. Please get in touch if you have any questions!
Manilla (2016)
Digital Art (Giclée) by Baiir
- Digital Art (Giclée) on Paper
- From a limited edition of 100
- Size: 16.54 x 16.54 x 0.08 in (unframed) / 12.01 x 12.01 in (actual image size)
- Signed and numbered certificate of authenticity
- Style: Abstract
- Subject: Abstract and non-figurative
This artwork is sold by Baiir from United Kingdom


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One of the challenges in reviewing games is remaining objective. If this isn't the first Samurai Warriors: Katana review you've read, you may already know what I'm talking about. When a person buys a game they enter into the world with a different perception than a game reviewer. A game player doesn't have a checklist of things they are looking for, nor do they necessarily go in with the express purpose of comparing the game to previous titles as well as its contemporaries.
This title has been panned by and large by every game review site out there, and so I thought I'd try spending some more time with it as I have enjoyed, even with their faults, the previous Samurai Warriors titles. This look into the game compares it both to other Wii titles and previous iterations, and I'm going to state this right now: this game does not earn the callous derision it's garnered from the general game review industry. It isn't a top shelf game by any means, but it doesn't fall into the worthless category either.
The visual representation brought forth in Samurai Warriors: Katana is one of the the least impressive parts of the game. Other than no flicker and decent draw distances, the graphics are no different than the PS2/XBOX predecessors. That being said, if you compare it to other Wii games it falls into the middle of the pack, and the grading reflects that tilt.
Since this is a first-person perspective all the animation you see is enemies, and they are as generic as they come. There is occasionally a wardrobe change to suit a `which ninja ran past` minigame, otherwise you face generic hordes of enemies. There are no facial animations at all, even during dialog. The textures aren't any different from level to level, and since the cast in this game has been scaled back from previous versions, these elements really help to bring down immersion.
Katana also overlays names, health bars, target boxes and weak points on targets, and although looking at screenshots makes it stand out, it is critical for gameplay and once you've been acclimatized to it those elements fade into the background.
The sounds of Samurai Warriors: Katana are better than the visuals, but not by much. The combat noise is the same as the previous iterations so I couldn't honestly tell you if it is new recordings or just reheated leftovers. They are still serviceable, but at this point I really wish that they had made the effort to bring some more variety.
What I can say with certainty is that the voice work is not only typically poor, but it's also surpisingly light. You rarely hear dialog; you will however hear at least one sound byte from named characters everytime they address you. This grated quickly, and I eventually switched to japanese tracks just so I didn't have to suffer through poorly voiced english catch-phrases.
Music comes last as it is no different than any other KOEI game (to date). Hard guitars mixed with traditional japanese music taken straight from the previous iterations. Since the game is on rails (for the most part) the music cues should be bang on; I found that sometimes they would prematurely start, which gives you a bit of warning.
Wii games, more often than not, only pay lip service to the waggle controls. You can sit back on the couch and barely move to get the most out of a Wii the game; Katana however, requires the edge of your seat. They were kind enough to give you A and B buttons for the most frequent attacks so you aren't fatigued by the time you've finished the second level. I found myself enjoying the control scheme.
The eight weapons are distinctly different, and I felt like I was using the weapon that they gave me. With exception to blades and boomarang, this is the basic control scheme: hit A for light attack, waggle the wiimote for heavy attack, waggle the nunchuk to trigger berserk (a.k.a. musou) and then madly waggle wiimote to execute a flurry of attacks. You can use c to lock the target pointer to a particular spot, and Z to block. The heavy attack motions are different for each weapon, so with a spear you would stab as opposed to the up, down and side slashes of the katana. You hit B to either fire the cannon, bow or rifle. Each of the three have their strengths and weaknesses.
The advanced weapon types are vastly different, and show off the strength of the game. The blades, basically a bladed yo-yo, are very unique and are hard to master, but if you do it is very effective. Sadly the weapon appears late into the game, and as such I was left with only brief moments of gaming bliss with it. The boomarang was by and far the most effective use of combat controls, and I loved using it when I wasn`t playing a level where I'd need to protect people (as I've discovered they are very effective at killing villagers). These two weapons are a good reason to play longer; they should have been given to the players earlier on.
There are a number of mini-game controls that do well, and an equal amount that counter those. The running is something that required me to really move, whereas the dodge-the-falling-rock controls were frustrating. The free roaming levels were my favorite, and I was alright with using the nunchuk thumbstick to walk and turn.
It would be an accurate statement to say that the the gameplay in Samurai Warriors: Katana is basically a series of scripted combat screens seasoned with a variety of minigames. It more closely resembles the coin-op shooter games such as Virtua Cop and House of the Dead than it does the other games of the series. There is very little in directional control, and although this may frustrate hard-core fans of the series, it really is a good platform.
The gameplay is solid, but by no means is it spectacular. Faults such as poor turning/movement control in the arrow challenge, rock dodging, as well as the often used "stop the charging forces" mini-game where you defend 2 or more paths and need to stop every soldier left me a little frustrated. Also, since the over-the-top dialog sections could not be skipped it meant that if you ended up with failure you had to go through all of it over again.
The multiplayer gameplay is limited, and thrown in as a "head-to-head" score challenge rather than offering coop play (which could have easily been done ala Virtua Cop style).
On the upside, there is an RPG element to your character; although you are faceless, you do have skills that can be upgraded and enhanced by purchasing upgrades, equipping special weapons and items. All of this carries over as you progress through the different stories.
The value in the previous games relied on unlocking officers and offering different storylines and parallel experiences. When it comes to the characters of Samurai Warriors, you only get to see them and not play them. As a faceless soldier under the various storylines you really don't get to connect with them. There is a total of 5 storylines (one is locked). Should you complete every mission with a high enough rank it unlocks the final storyline. Since there is weapon and item drops, the obsessive-compelsive may find value in playing harder difficulties to get higher level items.
Omega Force saw fit to offer the multiplayer portion which was, for me, uncompelling. It was really just a set of scoreboard challenges, and I felt that this was where this game fell down. Wii systems have been widely adopted as the multiplayer-in-the-livingroom system; not having something that could accomodate that element was sad.
The challenge mode is a little more fun; you go through a lighthearted set of challenges that throw random tasks (defeat X number of baddies in 10/30/60 seconds, don't get hit for 15 sec, defeat X officer in 60 sec, and so on) to complete the map and gain extra money.


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Research Experience for Undergraduates
There is a nice program for undergraduates here in the US that is called REU: Research Experience for Undergraduates.
Within this framework the Planet Four team here in Boulder, CO was fortunate to receive funding support by the United Arabic Emirates for one of these undergraduate positions for this summer.
Working with us was Shahad Badri, and the project we came up with for her was to look at blotch data from Planet Four. Our hypothesis was that it should be relatively straight forward and provide us with insights on jet eruption physics alone, because no wind was involved in depositing the jet deposits.
As usual, the reality turned out to be more complicated than our naive thinking, so we are still digesting the results of plotting blotch area and blotch eccentricities over the time of the Martian year (= Ls = Solar Longitude), but we wanted to show you the nice poster that Shahad came up with at the end of the summer project.
As in any exciting science project, the analysis created more questions than we had before. We will need to juxtapose these results with geometrical parameters of the fans, to see where we maybe have transitions between fans and blotches due to ground winds, shifting deposits around, making blotches look more fan-like.
Thanks to Shahad for her diligent work over this summer!
Building the NASA Citizen Science Community Meeting
Greeting from Tucson Arizona. I'm here with Planet Four PI Candy Hansen at the Building the NASA Citizen Science Community Meeting. The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers engaged in successful citizen science projects, citizen science experts and platforms supporting citizen science projects (including representatives from Zooniverse), the NASA Science Mission Directorate, and researchers interested in applying citizen science to their research problems.
I gave an invited talk (my slides are included below) highlighting science results and the success of Planet Four and advertising Planet Four: Terrains and Planet Four: Ridges. It's exciting that people in the planetary and astronomical community see Planet Four as a successful project. That is in large part due to the contributions of the Planet Four volunteer community. It was great to talk about Planet Four's first paper and also mention the science team is working on three other publications right now based on the first fan and blotch catalog.
Can I Lend a Hand? Co-operation between AI and Martian Scientists
Today we have a guest post from Dr Eriita Jones and Professor Mark McDonnell. Eriita is a Planetary and Space Scientist, Research Fellow at the School of IT and Mathematical Sciences, University of South Australia, and an ECR member of the National Committee for Space and Radio Science. Her primary research areas are (i) the remote detection and characterisation of subsurface water environments on Mars and Earth, and (ii) quantifying the habitability of other planetary bodies. She is particularly interested in new computational data analysis techniques and in assessing the benefits of machine learning for space science. Mark McDonnell leads the Computational Learning Systems Laboratory at University of South Australia. He has published over 100 research articles in the fields of machine learning, computational neuroscience, and statistical physics. Mark has worked extensively with industry partners to deliver applied machine learning solutions in areas such as precision agriculture, recycling, and sports analytics. His research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning and neurobiological learning.
Artificial intelligence may get some bad press, but there are of course many tasks with which AI can provide tremendous benefit to human beings. One of the tasks that AI can be utilised for is called 'image segmentation', which is the process of automatically dividing an image into objects or categories so that every pixel in the image receives an associated label (e.g. car, dog, tree). This is essentially what the Planet Four citizen scientists are doing when they manually outline the boundaries to fans and blotches in polar springtime imagery from Mars. Just like a human being, in order to learn a new skill a machine needs to be taught (or 'trained') in the task it is being asked to perform. For state-of-the-art automated image segmentation, this training requires large amounts of data in the form of images with the categories of interest clearly labelled. In 2018, researchers at the Computational Learning Systems Laboratory at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia, realised that large amounts of labelled imagery was exactly what the citizen scientists on the Planet Four project were generating. That was the start of a collaboration with the Planet Four Science Team. We wondered – could we teach an algorithm to automatically detect fans and blotches in Martian imagery? How well could a machine learn these complex features? And could the algorithm provide information which would assist the scientists in their study of these Martian phenomena?
The machine learning algorithms used here are examples of deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN's) which generally perform very strongly on image segmentation problems. The algorithms are fed thousands of labelled fan and blotch images produced by the Planet 4 citizen scientists. After lots of exposure to what fans and blotches look like at different locations, years, solar longitudes, and resolutions, the algorithms become able to generalize from their experiences and apply their learning to new situations – in this case, unlabelled images that they have never seen before. In order to assess how well the machine learning techniques are performing, the algorithms are given a test. They are asked to predict where the boundaries of the fans and blotches are in some labelled images – but the algorithms are not shown the labels and have never seen those images before. We can then compare the machine's predictions with the 'correct answers' – the manual labels drawn by citizen scientists. We compare with another method as well– a more traditional and less complex image classifier that does not employ machine learning. The figures below shows the output on a subset of one HiRISE image.
We are busily working on validating the output of the machine learning algorithms on a large number of images, but we can already see ways in which they can be very useful. Although the algorithms might not always find every fan or blotch in an image, they are very good at deciding whether there is at least one feature present. In other words, they do a good job at sorting out the images which have a fan or blotch, from those that have no fans or blotches at all. This is a very useful way of streamlining the presentation of images to the Planet Four Zooniverse platform – for example, instead of having to click through 'featureless' images the Planet FourTeam in future may wish to make sure that every image that appears will have a fan or blotch in it for labelling. Additionally, by automatically predicting the presence of fans and blotches in new images the algorithms provide early information on feature number and density that can allow the Planet Four team to be more selective in which images have the highest priority for manual labelling.
Could machine learning one day put citizen scientists out of a job? We don't think this is very likely. The algorithms may eventually learn to perform very well on new images if those images are similar enough to ones they have seen before. But if they are shown an image that is very different (e.g with unusual lighting conditions, strange background terrain, or uncharacteristic fans and blotches), it is likely that the machine won't be quite as good at segmentation as a well-trained human eye. So don't worry citizen scientists, AI is just here to lend a hand – thanks for all the fabulous data, and stay turned for an exciting update in a few months!
A Sneak Peek at the Future of Planet Four
The science team is working on migrating Planet Four to the Zooniverse's more modern project builder (or panoptes) platform. This is a slow process because things are different in how the newer Zooniverse platform displays images and also we want to take the lessons we've learned over the past 6 years and use it to make the web interface even better. We thought we'd share some screen shots from our work-in-progress prototype.
The next stage will be getting some images on the site and beta testing the changes we want to make and seeing how well these tweaks do compared to the current Planet Four website/classification interface. This might take a few months, but we're working hard to have this ready before the end of the year.
In the meantime, we have new images on the original Planet Four website that we are hoping to get classified before the older Zooniverse platform that runs the current Planet Four site is officially retired. We're trying to make the push in April to get these new images classified. If you can spare a few minutes to classify an image or two on the main Planet Four site, we'd appreciate it.
Exploring Interannual Variability in Manhattan: New Results and New Images on Planet Four
Today we have a post by Candy Hansen, principal investigator (PI) of Planet Four and Planet Four: Terrains. Candy also serves as the Deputy Principal Investigator for HiRISE (the camera providing the images of spiders, fans, and blotches seen on the original Planet Four project). Additionally she is a member of the science team for the Juno mission to Jupiter. She is responsible for the development and operation of JunoCam, an outreach camera that involves the public in planning images of Jupiter.
We have discovered something very interesting in the number and size of the fans that show up on the south polar seasonal cap every spring, that you are measuring. It turns out that in springs following both global and regional type A dust storms we see a lot more fans than normal for that time of year. This picture compares sub-images from 7 Martian years taken in "Manhattan" at solar longitude 195-197. The position of Mars in its orbit is the solar longitude ("Ls"), and southern spring begins at Ls 180 when the sun crosses the equator and heads south. Mars years 29, 30 and 33 have visibly more fans. There was a global dust storm in Mars Year (MY) 28 that started in early summer. Intense Type A storms, which are regional and centered at high southern latitudes, took place in MY29 and MY32. It looks like the spring after these storms have large numbers of seasonal fans.
Although the visual impression is powerful when these images are compared we can go beyond that now, thanks to the Planet Four fan catalog that your work has populated. We can quantify the differences. We used the MY29 an MY 30 catalog that we've published this year in our first paper, and also newly generated catalogs for Manhattan for MY 28, MY31, MY 32. Instead of just saying "there are a lot more fans" we can say "there are over twice as many fans" in MY29 and MY30 compared to MY28, 31 and 32. We do that by querying the catalog – an example is shown below. The plot below shows numbers of fans as a function of time in the spring and we can compare 5 years at Ls 195. I had the pleasure of presenting this (your!) work at the 2019 Lunar and Planetary Science conference last week in Houston, Texas.
To confirm that Type A storms are playing a significant role in the composition of the seasonal ice sheet that produces the carbon dioxide jets that bring up the dust and dirt that create the seasonal fans and blotches, we need to look at the number of seasonal fans and the area covered in MY33. We only have classifications for Seasons 1-5 of the HiRISE seasonal monitoring campaign (MY28-32). This brings me to my request: We would really like to have Planet Four measurements for MY33. We have uploaded the images, so it is ready for you to process. We would like to thank you in advance for your generosity with your time. Once those measurements are in we will be ready to write our next paper documenting these findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. As you know we have published one paper already and two more are in progress. This is a significant result, and we could not have done this without all of you.
Help classify the new images of Manhattan today at http://www.planetfour.org.
6 Earth Years of Planet Four
Happy Birthday Planet Four. This month marks 6 years of Planet Four. We couldn't do any of this without the Planet Four volunteer community. Thank you for all of your help and contributions. We hope you're celebrating with a slice of cake or a serving of Mars pie. The team is really excited for what's to come next. We're working hard on follow-up papers to the first fan and blotch catalog release. We're also starting preparations to move the project to the Zooniverse's newer Project Builder Platform. We'll keep you posted on all of these efforts right here on the blog. Lots more to come in 2019!
Planet Four Talk at the Division for Planetary Sciences
Greetings from Knoxville, Tennessee. Earlier this morning, I presented our first catalog and early results from comparing the fan directions over two Mars years at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Science meeting. Here's my slides.
Planet Four paper accepted!
Dear fellow Planet-Four-ians,
It is my great pleasure to announce that the Icarus journal has accepted our paper "Planet Four: Probing Springtime Winds on Mars by Mapping the Southern Polar CO2 Jet Deposits" for publication!
The edits requested by the reviewers were minor, we addressed what we thought was appropriate for the already huge scope this paper tries to encompass and the editors agreed to our submitted revision. I have also updated the arXiv preprint version with that submitted revision and it is now available in its final "content" form here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.10341. We publicly acknowledge everyone who contributed to the classifications that went into this paper and gave us their permission to use their name on the page https://www.planetfour.org/authors.
We now have entered the phase of typesetting the article where the formatting towards the style of the journal is happening and things like placement of figures is being decided on.
Next in line of activities for Planet Four is waiting for the selection of NASA's Solar System Workings proposals, where we submitted in spring to receive funding for a deeper exploitation of the results of Planet Four and to use it to guide the creation of a geophysical model of CO2 jets. We expect that the selections are made in the first half of September, according to recent information we have received.
Fingers crossed that we can continue further together on this exciting venture!
Tag an image or two at https://planetfour.org !
(Southern) Spring is Coming!
Southern Spring is coming to Mars very soon. May 22nd marks the official start of Spring at the Martian South Pole. We've been busy reducing the most recent sets of classifications from Planet Four: Terrains looking for new spider locales to target when the HiRISE and CaSSIS seasonal campaign starts. The CaSSIS camera is a recent addition to Mars, aboard the European ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). It takes slightly higher resolution images than the CTX, whose images we show on the Planet Four: Terrains website. CaSSIS is designed for stereo imaging which is key for measuring depths and heights of features. Also unlike CTX, CaSSIS is equipped with several filters so color images can be made. Even with the addition of CaSSIS, the decade old HiRISE remains the highest resolution imager (~30 cm/pixel) in action around the Red Planet.
The PI of Planet Four: Terrains, Candy Hansen is a member of the HiRISE and CaSSIS science teams , and can ask for images to be potentially taken of the Solar Polar region if we find something interesting worthy of followup observations. We've asked for a few additional candidate spider locations (plotted below between -70 and -75 degrees latitude) outside of the South Polar Layered Deposits to be imaged if the observations can be squeezed into these cameras' packed schedules. If confirmed in the higher resolution images, these will be the furthest spider identifications from the South Pole. Fingers crossed we'll get some more detailed images of these places over the coming months.
Thanks for all your help. We plan to have new images on the Planet Four: Terrains site by the start of Southern Spring, so stay tuned!
First publication submitted!
We have finally submitted our first paper for the original Planet Four project to the Icarus journal where it is now officially "Under Review"!
(Above figure is one of the paper where we demonstrate one of the reduction steps to identify noise and create averaged clustered markings. I think it demonstrates well the power of our chosen methodology.)
Thank you to everyone to stay with us for so long without seeing any published results, but I think when you will see the work and care that we put into it, you will understand why it took us so long. One of the reasons was, as we possible mentioned before on this blog, that our Zooniverse project is actually one of the most difficult ones, where we ask all of you to precisely mark objects in the data presented to you. This required a spatial clustering pipeline with a long evaluation and fine-tuning phase.
Which brings me to the point of "see[ing] the work": we have now managed to have the submitted preprint published on the well known arxiv.org preprint server and you can get your hands on a copy right now! Just click on this link and you will be sent to the arXiv page for our preprint:
Enjoy the (long!) read and don't shy away to put any questions you have in the comments section below!