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Secretary Locke, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt to Discuss Next Steps in Cybersecurity U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard A. Schmidt are in Stanford, Calif., today at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research to discuss the Obama administration’s efforts to enhance online security and privacy and next steps in meeting the challenges of a growing cyber world, with local industry and academic leaders in Silicon Valley. The public and private sectors have critical roles to play in creating a system that allows people to complete online transactions with greater confidence that their personal information is safe. Through its forthcoming National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), the administration aims to support private-sector cybersecurity innovations by focusing on establishing identity solutions and privacy-enhancing technologies that will make the online environment more secure and convenient for users and consumers. E-commerce worldwide is estimated at $10 trillion of business online annually. Release | Remarks | Video | FAQ

Secretary Locke, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt to Discuss Next Steps in Cybersecurity U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard A. Schmidt are in Stanford, Calif., today at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research to discuss the Obama administration’s efforts to enhance online security and privacy and next steps in meeting

STATE OF NEW YORK 25 BEAVER STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10004 NOTE: WITHDRAWN EFFECTIVE JANUARY 29, 2007 |Circular Letter No. 10 (2000) March 10, 2000 |TO:||All Licensed Insurers| |RE:||Electronic Fraud Reporting System| |The Insurance Department has established an electronic system for reporting of incidents of suspected insurance fraud. The purpose of Circular Letter No. 10 is to inform the insurance industry how the system operates and to encourage insurers to take advantage of this innovative method of fraud Using the IBM Global Network, insurers can access the Departments internal system, complete the report form electronically and immediately transmit the information to the Frauds Bureau. The new system has a number of features that will enhance the investigation of suspected fraud. For example, the form appears on several data-entry screens, rather than a one-page paper form, permitting insurers to provide more thorough and complete information on each case. In addition, each screen includes instructions for reporting the information correctly. The system also allows an insurer to view a list of fraud allegations previously transmitted electronically by that insurer. Information of this type provides an opportunity for insurers to track their reporting patterns and trends. In addition, insurers can use the system to monitor the number of incidents of suspected insurance fraud they report each year and provide that information to the Department as required by Regulation. Once the information has been transmitted, the screen provides valuable cross references. Such cross references include all other reports in the Frauds Bureau database that share information with the report just transmitted, e.g., the same name and/or address of the suspect, the vehicle identification number (VIN) in cases of auto insurance fraud, or other matching data. Insurers can also access the details contained in these cross reference reports and will be given the name and telephone number of a contact person at any other company on the cross reference list. In order to participate in this new reporting system, insurers must provide the following information via email to [email protected]: Once we have received this information, insurers will receive email instructions for accessing the electronic reporting system. Very truly yours,

STATE OF NEW YORK 25 BEAVER STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10004 NOTE: WITHDRAWN EFFECTIVE JANUARY 29, 2007 |Circular Letter No. 10 (2000) March 10, 2000 |TO:||All Licensed Insurers| |RE:||Electronic Fraud Reporting System| |The Insurance Department has established an electronic system for reporting of incidents of suspected insurance fraud. The purpose of Circular Letter No. 10 is to inform the insura

Democratic Governance and Urban Governance The thinking process launched by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on urban governance draws upon the concept of democratic governance that our country endeavours to promote and on the support that it provides for decentralisation processes aimed at setting up institutions that are closer to their citizens. This concept is at the heart of France’s governance strategy, adopted by the Interministerial Committee on International Cooperation and Development (CICID), on 5 December 2006. Defining governance as a process, it reasserts the central role of individuals in development policies, as beneficiaries of and players in development. The principles of France’s strategy focus in particular on capacity-building, interaction between various fields - social, economic, political, administrative - and between various players and territorial levels, in the public action elaboration processes; they apply in particular to urban issues. Urban governance, inspired by the concept of democratic governance, goes beyond mere urban administration and management. It takes into account the ever-increasing number of players who aspire to more participation in defining and negotiating urban projects. To this end, it consists of adopting action and decision-making procedures that are more partnership-based and more interactive. Its ambition is to foster, within a process that integrates all players, sustainable urban planning and development for cities where access to essential services, transport and employment contribute to fighting poverty and level off inequalities. The aim is to build social unity in the cities and re-establish consistency between territories. This approach, in which initiative for new projects can come from any of the players, gives value to inhabitant participation, in particular those of shantytowns that demand recognition for the economic potential of the informal sector, security for their land rights, and financial integration, in identifying innovative solutions for improving their living conditions. Indeed, experience shows that the participation and negotiation processes contribute not only to the efficacy of public policies and, thereby, poverty reduction, but also the legitimacy and trust placed in public authorities. The urban planning and development approaches then become exercises in learning local governance and institutional strengthening. Within this setting, French Cooperation support the organisation and strengthening of civil society’s capacities as regards designing and implementing urban policies, through education, training and information.

Democratic Governance and Urban Governance The thinking process launched by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on urban governance draws upon the concept of democratic governance that our country endeavours to promote and on the support that it provides for decentralisation processes aimed at setting up institutions that are closer to their citizens. This concept is at the heart of Franc

Euronews - Jason 2 to monitor global climate changes Sea levels are rising everywhere, but in some areas they are rising quicker than others, bringing increased dangers of flooding. A new satellite - Jason 2 - has been launched to continue work to monitor the situation, providing valuable information for scientists trying to understand how ocean levels fit into the climate change puzzle. EuroNews is a key medium for delivering international information with a European point of view and in a choice of 7 languages. Broadcast in 121 countries worldwide, EuroNews reaches 190 million households in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and North and Latin America via cable, digital satellite and through terrestrial channels. * first airing: Friday 13:45

Euronews - Jason 2 to monitor global climate changes Sea levels are rising everywhere, but in some areas they are rising quicker than others, bringing increased dangers of flooding. A new satellite - Jason 2 - has been launched to continue work to monitor the situation, providing valuable information for scientists trying to understand how ocean levels fit into the climate change puzzle. EuroNews

- Canadian CANDAC Program - Meteorological Services Canada - Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet) - International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISSCP) - International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) - Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study (ASCOS) - Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) - Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS) Did you know... - Arctic climate is influenced by both the ocean and large land masses, as well as the extreme solar radiation found at high latitudes.

- Canadian CANDAC Program - Meteorological Services Canada - Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet) - International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISSCP) - International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) - Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study (ASCOS) - Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) - Cooperative Arctic Data and

Why we're good partners: The FBI is a strong contributor to community partnerships because, as a federal agency with national and international reach, we bring our own special resources, intelligence, and expertise to the table. For example: - Our investigations—often partnered in task forces with your local police, sheriffs, and other law enforcement agencies—into gangs, terrorism, drug trafficking, civil rights, fugitives, cyber crimes, and other crimes keep us on the leading edge of knowing what dangers threaten your community. - Our partnerships with local companies and institutions to protect locally against economic espionage and acts of terrorism. - Our assistance to victims of crimes in your area provides a lifeline to people who have been hurt. - Our statistical research of Crime in the U.S. tracks crime incidence and trends in your geographical location. - Our research and expertise in special areas help defend against specific community problems: issues like missing and exploited children, school shootings, and violence in the workplace. How we use our resources to make a difference in your community: To use our expertise and our resources in proactive ways to protect communities, families, and children, we partner in the following FBI and other national programs: 1. Infragard: information sharing between private industry and government on critical national infrastructures. 2. Counterintelligence Strategic Partnerships, our counterintelligence protection program: information sharing between private industry, academic, and government on national threats and warnings. 3. Minority organizations, to include NAACP, the League of United Latin-American Citizens, the FBI Arab, Muslim and Sikh Advisory Council, and many local organizations. 4. Family-centered organizations, to include Boys and Girls Clubs of America, National Family Partnership and the Red Ribbon Campaign, the Race Against Drugs, and many local organizations. In the end, it's all about people-to-people. We'd like you to know about the very human aspect of our programs. We have community outreach coordinators in each of our 56 field offices who: - Arrange and staff Adopt-a-School programs that put volunteer agents and staff members inside classrooms to mentor and tutor "at risk" kids. - Arrange and staff Citizens' Academies that bring community leaders into the field office to learn firsthand about FBI operations and programs. - Meet with local educators, minority groups, and organizations to talk about what the FBI can do with them and for them. - Serve on committees and boards for businesses, schools, community groups, social and health services. - And, as often as not, find themselves at sports matches at the end of the day cheering on their Adopt-a-School team.

Why we're good partners: The FBI is a strong contributor to community partnerships because, as a federal agency with national and international reach, we bring our own special resources, intelligence, and expertise to the table. For example: - Our investigations—often partnered in task forces with your local police, sheriffs, and other law enforcement agencies—into gangs, terrorism, drug trafficki

A small amount of pressure in everyday life can be good for you; it can give you motivation and help you perform better. However, too much pressure or prolonged stress can be very damaging for both the body and mind. We all react to stress differently and some people may have a higher threshold than others. When we become stressed we invoke the ‘fight or flight' response which causes our bodies to release chemicals including cortisol, adrenaline and nor-adrenaline which give us the resources we need to either fight for our lives or run away very fast. There are many different symptoms of stress, the most common are: - Feeling Tired - Difficulty Concentrating - Frequent Crying - Chest Pain - Difficulty Sleeping There are many different causes of stress, the most common being: - Money matters - Job Issues - Family Problems - Moving House There are many different treatments available for stress. As with all illnesses, it is advisable to seek diagnosis from a medical professional. A couple of stress busters to try…this one takes 30 seconds…. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your tummy, take two deep breaths, trying to keep the hand on your chest still and pushing out the hand on your belly. This one takes 3 to 4 minutes… Sit relaxed in a chair with steady tidal breathing, close your eyes and focus on what you can hear. Firstly focus on what you can hear outside the room, then focus on what you can hear inside the room, and then focus on the sound of your own breathing. Listen for a minute or two then slowly bring yourself back by hearing what is happening inside the room, then outside the room, then all around you. Relaxation is a skill, which needs to be practised regularly to be effective. Positive Mental Wellbeing (including Stress management) It's easy to think that mental health issues don't concern us, but in fact a quarter of us will have problems with our mental wellbeing at some time in our lives. There is evidence to show that maintaining good levels of mental well-being can help keep you healthy and well physically and mentally. Scientists looking at a wealth of international evidence have concluded that there are five ways to keep well: Five steps to mental wellbeing Evidence suggests there are five steps we can all take to improve our mental wellbeing. If you approach them with an open mind and try them, you can judge the results yourself. Connect - Be Active - Keep Learning - Give to others - Take notice For further ideas how to follow these steps please follow the link below: Useful contacts & Further Information Gloucestershire Self-Harm Helpline is a telephone support service for people affected by self-harm: 0808 801 0606 http://www.rethink.org/ People needing support with emotional health issues should contact their GP, or the local “Let’s Talk” service (provided by the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust) which provides a range of free support for stress, anxiety and depression. To contact “Let’s Talk”, call 0800 073 2200 or visit www.talk2gether.nhs.uk. 2gether NHS Foundation Trust has also developed a mobile mood diary for the iPhone. It is a confidential, discrete and portable tool aimed at helping people to monitor their mood and by doing so, help know themselves better. It also provides top tips to good wellbeing and based on the individual’s responses, appropriate access to self-help information through Let’s Talk our local Improving Access to Psychological Therapy service. The application is available through iTunes. provide confidential emotional support 24/7 to those experiencing despair, distress or suicidal feelings. They can be contacted on 08457 90 90 90, or by email: [email protected] http://www.samaritans.org/ is a Gloucestershire Charity. They support individuals, families, and communities with concerns about mental health, alcohol or drugs. Help is provided to enable people to build their self-esteem and confidence, so that they can take more control of their lives, become more independent and realise their potential. If you just want to talk to someone now, we recommend you call 0845 8638323 http://www.independencetrust.co.uk/home-page.aspx If you are concerned about a family member, colleague or friend, please encourage them to contact their GP, or one of the local support services available like Let’s Talk, the Samaritans or Independence Trust.

A small amount of pressure in everyday life can be good for you; it can give you motivation and help you perform better. However, too much pressure or prolonged stress can be very damaging for both the body and mind. We all react to stress differently and some people may have a higher threshold than others. When we become stressed we invoke the ‘fight or flight' response which causes our bodies to

AAAS Session:Beyond E=mc²: Unveiling the Early Universe with High-Intensity Accelerators Subatomic processes in the early universe determined the matter content and the initial evolution of the universe. Yet many questions remain about those crucial first moments. The observations of dark matter, dark energy, and neutrino masses tell us that new physics exists beyond the standard model of particles and their interactions. But even the most powerful particle colliders cannot recreate the mass and energy scales that existed shortly after the Big Bang. Fortunately, particles and forces that exist at high energies subtly contribute to low-energy physics phenomena through quantum effects. Low-energy experiments repeatedly pointed to the existence of new particles and forces long before they were produced by particle colliders. Examples include the W and Z bosons, the charm quark, the top quark, and the not-yet-observed Higgs boson. This symposium will summarize the indirect searches for new physics with current and future high-intensity particle accelerators in the United States, Switzerland, and Japan. Using these innovative machines, physicists produce incredibly large samples of muons, B mesons, and neutrinos to look for effects predicted by theories beyond the standard model. They look for the transitions of, for example, muons into electrons, B mesons into their own antiparticles, and muon neutrinos into electron neutrinos. These low-energy processes are particularly sensitive to contributions from high-energy processes that have eluded detection so far. Beyond E=mc²: Rare Particle Decays Speaker: Craig Dukes, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Quantum effects in particle interactions can indicate physics phenomena at energies far higher than those of even the most powerful particle colliders. Low energy measurements, for example, pointed to the existence of the W and Z bosons, carriers of the electroweak force, many years before these particles were produced in proton-antiproton collisions at CERN. To find signs of new forces predicted by Supersymmetry and other theoretical models, rare particle decay experiments are looking for parts-per-trillion effects in the decays of long-lived subatomic particles such as muons and kaons, and parts-per-quintillion experiments are being planned. Searches for New Subatomic Phenomena Using B Factories Speaker: Gregory Dubois-Felsmann, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA Decays of B mesons, composite particles that contain a bottom quark, exhibit a matter-antimatter asymmetry that is spectacularly well described by the standard model. Yet this asymmetry is not sufficient to explain the dominance of matter in our universe. Theories that go beyond the standard model predict that new physics should lead to subtle effects in the decay of B mesons. Using high-intensity particle beams at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the Japanese laboratory KEK, scientists have produced and analyzed billions of B meson decays, as well as comparable samples of charmed particles and tau leptons, enabling tests of the standard model with great precision and many searches for signs of the presence of new physics. The Role of Neutrinos in the Evolution of the Universe Speaker: Boris Kayser, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL Are neutrinos, one of the two most abundant types of particles in the universe, the reason we exist? The interaction of neutrinos with other particles may hold the key to explaining the evolution of the early universe. Leptogenesis, which involves additional, heavy neutrinos predicted by some theoretical models, could be the reason why our universe is made of matter while antimatter disappeared after the big bang. Using high-intensity, man-made neutrino sources, experimenters now have the means to understand the dramatic quantum behavior of neutrinos and can measure their rare interactions with other particles. Experiments in the United States, Europe and Asia could find evidence for the critical role that neutrinos played in determining the matter content of the universe.

AAAS Session:Beyond E=mc²: Unveiling the Early Universe with High-Intensity Accelerators Subatomic processes in the early universe determined the matter content and the initial evolution of the universe. Yet many questions remain about those crucial first moments. The observations of dark matter, dark energy, and neutrino masses tell us that new physics exists beyond the standard model of particle

COLDTREE was a multi-disciplinary EU funded programme which aimed to produce techniques and tools to improve nursery practice and logistics. It was a first step towards the development of molecular diagnostic tests for cost efficient reforestation and nursery logistics. For lifting and indoor storage of forest tree seedlings, it is of vital importance to be able to determine the peak physiological condition. The COLDTREE project, which was co-funded by the EC, aimed at unraveling the molecular mechanisms involved in winter hardening in woody plants as a first step towards the development of tools for rapid and reliable determination of the physiological condition of these seedlings. We used cDNA microarrays as a tool to monitor expressional changes in response to temperature and day length triggers. Participants included molecular biologists, ecophysiologists, commercial tree nurseries and software engineers. - To identify genes and molecular pathways involved in the onset and release of winter hardiness and dormancy in woody species using cDNA microarrays and to postulate a conceptual model describing the molecular events underlying these processes - To select a set of key genes, of which the expression patterns can be used to describe the various stages of dormancy and hardiness - To evaluate the merits of these key genes as molecular diagnostic tool for nursery practice and improved forestation. Funders and partners The European Union - Framework Programme FP5, and institutes of the countries involved funded this programme. Partners in the project included research groups from the Netherlands, UK, Denmark and Sweden. Forest Research involvement Forest Research was the co-ordinator for the UK work in the COLDTREE programme. We investigated dormancy and cold tolerance in pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Beech (Fagus sylvatica), using ecophysiological assessment techniques, over three years, both in the field and under controlled environment conditions. We extracted gene material (RNA) for analysis by colleagues in the Netherlands, and tested ‘target gene’ technology in our lab, using RT_PCR. Programme was completed during 2005. Dr Mike Perks Northern Research Station Midlothian EH25 9SY Tel: 0131 445 2176 Fax: 0131 445 5124 EU contract details Co-ordinator: Dr Monique van Wordragen, Agricultural Research Department Agrotechnological Research Institute, PO-box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Contract: QLRT-2000-00135, Quality of Life & Management of Living Resources, FP5.

COLDTREE was a multi-disciplinary EU funded programme which aimed to produce techniques and tools to improve nursery practice and logistics. It was a first step towards the development of molecular diagnostic tests for cost efficient reforestation and nursery logistics. For lifting and indoor storage of forest tree seedlings, it is of vital importance to be able to determine the peak physiological

Environmental Managment Systems Training6/18/2010 [PDF version] [EMS Institute] June 18, 2010 The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is pleased to offer its third round of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) training and assistance for public transportation agencies. FTA is offering this opportunity to eight to ten (8-10) providers of public transportation to receive assistance in implementing EMS. Public and private entities that have integrated EMS into their operations report improved compliance with environmental regulations and enhanced support of environmental stewardship objectives. EMS affects every aspect of an organization’s current and planned operations and produces environmental benefits such as energy conservation, efficient water use, vehicle emission reduction, materials recycling, and management of hazardous materials. Organizations with EMS often report cost savings over time, improved bond ratings, reduced insurance premiums, and better community relations. FTA’s training is designed to help agencies develop and implement EMS, using the 14001 Standard of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (http://www.iso.com/). The 14001 Standard is a toolbox of management techniques to minimize harm to the environment. The 14001 Standard will serve as the basis of the EMS training, although it will be at the discretion of the agency whether to pursue ISO certification. FTA will assemble a final report that includes the participating transit agencies’ case studies and will also assess training results. The program will extend over a period of two years. FTA will provide assistance in the form of training workshops, on-site technical support visits, electronic materials and resources, and consultation. Participant agencies will be responsible for their staffs’ travel and accommodation costs for the workshops. FTA will again employ the services of the Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), located in Roanoke, Virginia. The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Virginia Tech as a Public Entity Environmental Management System Resource Center (PEER Center), http://www.peercenter.net/, specifically designed to aid local, county, and state entities that are considering implementing EMS. Virginia Tech’s history working with FTA makes its program uniquely designed to meet the needs of transit agencies. Application instructions and a brochure (www.cota.vt.edu/ems/fta) describing the training in detail are attached. You may learn more about FTA’s EMS training at www.fta.dot.gov/EMS. We are excited about continuing to partner with transit agencies in this environmental stewardship opportunity. I hope that you will consider having your agency participate in this EMS program. If you have any questions, please contact Antoinette Quagliata in the Office of Planning and Environment at (202) 366-4265 or [email protected]. Transit organizations interested in applying for this program should submit a letter of application by July 14, 2010 to: Federal Transit Administration Office of Planning and Environment 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, East 45-339 Washington, DC 20590 This letter should be signed by the head of the public transportation organization and contain the following information: 1) A brief description of the transit organization and its responsibilities. 2) The name of a top management representative who will have the responsibility and the authority for ensuring that the Environmental Management Systems (EMS) is developed based on the program provided above. This person should be available to travel and participate in workshops with other transit participants over the life of the project. 3) A clear assurance that top management in the organization will provide the necessary visibility, staff time, and other resources necessary to successfully develop and implement the EMS through an EMS implementation team. Ongoing top management support is the most critical factor for ensuring a successful and sustainable EMS, and FTA is requesting that a top management representative attend EMS Worshop 1 in Roanoke along with their four-member minimum EMS team. FTA will use a number of criteria to select participants, including: # Organizational commitment by transit agency leadership to EMS implementation; # Geographical diversity; # Previous environmental experiences; and # Environmental challenges from operations and/or pending capital projects. Note that only eight to ten transit agencies will be selected to participate with preference given to those that have not previously participated in FTA’s EMS training and assistance. Once all applications are received, FTA will conduct follow-up interviews with applicants meeting the aforementioned criteria to discuss the information contained in the letter of application in more detail and to obtain any other necessary information. FTA may consult with the contractor before final decisions are made. These final decisions will occur by August 2010, after which the contractor will work with each participant to schedule a site visit and the first program workshop in February 2011.

Environmental Managment Systems Training6/18/2010 [PDF version] [EMS Institute] June 18, 2010 The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is pleased to offer its third round of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) training and assistance for public transportation agencies. FTA is offering this opportunity to eight to ten (8-10) providers of public transportation to receive assistance in implementin

Submission Number: 00048 Received: 11/22/2010 7:59:24 AM Agency: Federal Trade Commission Initiative: Statement of Policy Regarding Communications in Connection with Collection of a Decedent’s Debt; Project No. P104806 Attachments: No Attachments A debt is a debt whether the debtor is alive or not. History tells us that the net result of the accumulated unpaid debt gets spread to those who pay their bills regardless of the industry or entity. What does the IRS do? Perhaps the answer is already in place.

Submission Number: 00048 Received: 11/22/2010 7:59:24 AM Agency: Federal Trade Commission Initiative: Statement of Policy Regarding Communications in Connection with Collection of a Decedent’s Debt; Project No. P104806 Attachments: No Attachments A debt is a debt whether the debtor is alive or not. History tells us that the net result of the accumulated unpaid debt gets spread to those who pay the

The Federal Executive Institute (FEI) helps senior government leaders improve the performance of their organizations. FEI offers the Leadership for a Democratic Society program, custom programs designed specifically for individual agencies, and interagency courses. FEI’s programs are designed to help executives perform effectively as the top leaders of the American civil service. As leaders with responsibility for running the agencies that defend, protect, regulate, and support our nation and its citizens, and for working effectively with each Presidential Administration and its political appointees, Federal executives are unique among managers. Performance is not measured by “bottom line” numbers or market indicators. Stewardship of the public trust requires a clear understanding of the basic values that support the democratic process and literacy in the fundamental documents that express those belief systems. The U.S. Constitution is FEI’s overarching theme and compass in blending the diverse talents, needs, perspectives, and professional goals of participants, their agencies, and the citizens they serve. FEI fosters executives who excel in a 21st century world but remain connected to the Constitutional principles forged in the 18th century. Federal leaders join both worlds at FEI. Through FEI programs, Senior Executive Service and GS-15 executives learn to:

The Federal Executive Institute (FEI) helps senior government leaders improve the performance of their organizations. FEI offers the Leadership for a Democratic Society program, custom programs designed specifically for individual agencies, and interagency courses. FEI’s programs are designed to help executives perform effectively as the top leaders of the American civil service. As leaders with r

Questions about Removing Firearms “The risk of suicide is five times greater if a firearm is in the house, even if the firearm is locked up.” A lethal weapon available to a person in the depths of despair can end a life in an instant! Removing lethal means from the environment of a vulnerable person can save a life. Suicidal feelings are not permanent, they come and go. If the means is not immediately available to a suicidal person, chances are they will not attempt by another method, especially if they get connected to helping resources. Because about half of all suicides in Maine are completed with a firearm, this information is provided to help safely remove firearms from the environment of someone you are concerned about. Who Can Help Dispose Of A Firearm? - First, call your local police department, sheriff or the state police. - Identify yourself and explain your concern. - Ask for the Officer on Duty and arrange with the Officer a time and location for him/her to pick up the firearm. - Do not bring the firearm to the police department, unless told to by the Officer on Duty. Does The Firearm Need To Be Ready To Go In A Certain Way? - If you know how to safely unload the firearm, unload it. - If you do not know how to unload the firearm, tell the Officer before he/she arrives to pick it up. - If the Officer asks you to bring the firearm to the police station, explain who will bring it, what the person looks like and the time the person will arrive. What Happens To The Firearm? - The gun owner and the Officer will complete some paperwork. - The police department will safely store the firearm. - If desired, the firearm will be returned at a later date at the request of the owner. What If The Gun Owner Does Not Want To Involve Law Enforcement in the Disposal of the Firearm? - Remove the firearm from the house and store it elsewhere where it cannot be accessed by the person at risk. - Lock the unloaded firearm in a gun safe or storage box. Trigger locks are sold in sporting goods stores and where firearms are sold. Some police departments offer free locks. Be sure the keys and storage box combinations are kept away from the person at risk. - Do not place the firearm in a bank safe deposit box. Most states have laws that prohibit carrying a weapon into federally insured buildings such as banks. - Sell the firearm following the appropriate legal guidelines. What if a Family Member of a Suicidal Person has to Carry a Firearm as Part of his/her Job? - Remove all the firearms from the environment except the one required for work. The person responsible for the firearm must keep it in his/her possession. - Remember: Using locking devices or locked storage does not guarantee absolute safety, but does present a barrier to an impulsive act. For More Information on Suicide Prevention: - If you are concerned about a loved one or friend, call the Statewide Crisis Hotline at 1-888-568-1112. - To learn about Maine’s Suicide Prevention Program, go to our website at: www.maine.gov/suicide - To receive materials, call the Statewide Information and Resource Center at 1-800-499-0027 or email [email protected]. Updated November 2011

Questions about Removing Firearms “The risk of suicide is five times greater if a firearm is in the house, even if the firearm is locked up.” A lethal weapon available to a person in the depths of despair can end a life in an instant! Removing lethal means from the environment of a vulnerable person can save a life. Suicidal feelings are not permanent, they come and go. If the means is not immedia

Learn the names of all the medications you are taking and why they were prescribed. Make sure to follow your health care provider's directions and take the medicine exactly as prescribed. Be sure that your health care provider is aware of all the medications which you are taking. Don't forget to include over the counter medications and dietary supplements such as vitamins and herbs. Be sure to inform health care providers about allergies or reactions to any medications or foods you have experienced. Carry a record of all your current medications and supplements including dosages and times to be taken. A copy of Patient Medication Card is provided for you by the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors. Never share your prescription medications or take medications prescribed for someone else. Be sure to check expiration dates on all medications, and supplements, and discard those that have expired. Use child-proof caps when needed and remember to keep all medications out of the reach of children. Take all of your medications and supplements with you to your annual exam. It's a great opportunity for your health care provider to update your record as well as evaluate for possible drug interactions. If your health care provider prescribes a new medication there are several things to think of: Make sure you tell your provider about any allergies to medication you may have, including the type of reaction that occurred. Be sure you can read the prescription. If you can't read it, the pharmacist might not be able to either. Learn the brand name as well as the generic name of the drug. Ask your provider to write down the purpose of the medication. Ask for written information about the new medication. Ask how much the medication costs and whether your medical plan will pay for it. Discuss potential side effects and what to do if they occur. Does the new medication replace a medication you are currently taking? When should it be taken and for how long? How long does it take for it to work? What is the best time to take it? Should you avoid certain foods, activities, alcohol or the sun while taking this medication? What happens if you miss a dose? How do you store it? In the refrigerator or at room temperature? If the medication is a liquid how do you measure it? When you receive a new prescription in the mail or at the pharmacy, check both the label and the medication itself. If it doesn't sound or look familiar, don't take it until you speak with your health care provider or pharmacist. Seek immediate medical help if you experience itching, swelling or difficulty breathing after taking a new medication. When your health care provider orders a new medication or discontinues an old one, don't forget to update your personal medication record. Acknowledgement: Agency for Health Research and Quality. This information is provided by the Betsy Lehman for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction within the Department of Public Health.

Learn the names of all the medications you are taking and why they were prescribed. Make sure to follow your health care provider's directions and take the medicine exactly as prescribed. Be sure that your health care provider is aware of all the medications which you are taking. Don't forget to include over the counter medications and dietary supplements such as vitamins and herbs. Be sure to inf

Indigenous Community Festivals - Minister for Education. Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations - Minister for Social Inclusion - Deputy Prime Minister The Australian Government provides $3.05 million annually under the Community Festivals for Education Engagement program. This funding supports events that encourage school attendance, retention and healthy lifestyles for all young Australians, in particular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in regional, rural and remote communities. 14 Community Festivals will be held across the country in 2009 and events will each run for two or more days. Their aim is to encourage students to attend school regularly, to complete year 12 and to pursue further educational and employment opportunities. The events promote a minimum school attendance rate of 85 per cent. The events also promote a greater understanding of contemporary and traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Activities will include access to role models and workshops on the creative and performing arts with the emphasis on literacy, numeracy, confidence building, teamwork, health and wellbeing, sustainability and tolerance. There will also be information and advice on health matters, careers and educational opportunities. The Australian Government is committed to closing the gaps in educational achievement, employment opportunities and life expectancy faced by Indigenous Australians.

Indigenous Community Festivals - Minister for Education. Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations - Minister for Social Inclusion - Deputy Prime Minister The Australian Government provides $3.05 million annually under the Community Festivals for Education Engagement program. This funding supports events that encourage school attendance, retention and healthy lifestyles for all young Austral

The X-48B Blended Wing Body It looks like a huge bird perched atop three utility poles inside a massive NASA wind tunnel -- a 21-foot-wingspan prototype of what may be the shape of some airplanes to come. The airplane is the X-48B, an advanced concept, fuel-efficient blended wing body or BWB. It's called a blended wing body because it looks more like a modified triangular-shaped wing than the traditional aircraft, which is a tube and wing with a tail. The eight-and-a-half percent scale prototype is being tested in the Langley Full-Scale Tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Boeing Phantom Works' advanced research and development unit has partnered with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to explore and confirm the structural, aerodynamic and operational advantages of the blended wing body design. "The biggest difference between this aircraft and the traditional tube and wing aircraft is that this does not have a tail," said Dan Vicroy, senior research engineer at NASA Langley. "The whole reason you have a tail is for stability and control. So what we want to do with this wind tunnel test is to look at how different multiple control surfaces can be used to control this particular vehicle." The team has produced two high-tech prototypes of the BWB, built to Boeing specifications by Cranfield Aerospace in England, for wind tunnel and flight-testing. The Air Force has designated the vehicles as the "X-48B" based on its interest in the design's potential as a multi-role, long-range, high-capacity military aircraft. X-48B Ship No. 1 is the wind tunnel test model. After testing is finished it will be shipped to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to act as a backup for a second X-48B prototype. Ship No. 2 is scheduled to be used in remotely-piloted flight testing later this year at Dryden. "The X-48B prototypes have been dynamically scaled to represent a much larger aircraft and are being used to demonstrate that a BWB is as controllable and safe during takeoff, approach and landing as a conventional military transport airplane," said Norm Princen, chief engineer for the X-48B program at Boeing Phantom Works. One advantage Boeing engineers say the concept has over conventional aircract is that it's about 30 percent more fuel efficient than an airplane of similar size that carries the same payload. "We believe the BWB concept has the potential to cost effectively fill many roles required by the Air Force, such as tanking, weapons carriage, and command and control," said Captain Scott Bjorge, AFRL’s X-48B program manager. Industry says a blended wing body military aircraft could be in service within 10 to 15 years, if testing and program funding go well. NASA Langley Research Center

The X-48B Blended Wing Body It looks like a huge bird perched atop three utility poles inside a massive NASA wind tunnel -- a 21-foot-wingspan prototype of what may be the shape of some airplanes to come. The airplane is the X-48B, an advanced concept, fuel-efficient blended wing body or BWB. It's called a blended wing body because it looks more like a modified triangular-shaped wing than the trad

Before having bone marrow tests, a doctor, nurse, or physician assistant will explain the testing process and procedure and answer questions you might have. Let your health care team know: Before the tests, you may be given medicine to help you relax. This medicine makes you sleepy, so you likely won't be able to drive after the test. Thus, your health care team may advise you to arrange a ride home. The NHLBI updates Health Topics articles on a biennial cycle based on a thorough review of research findings and new literature. The articles also are updated as needed if important new research is published. The date on each Health Topics article reflects when the content was originally posted or last revised.

Before having bone marrow tests, a doctor, nurse, or physician assistant will explain the testing process and procedure and answer questions you might have. Let your health care team know: Before the tests, you may be given medicine to help you relax. This medicine makes you sleepy, so you likely won't be able to drive after the test. Thus, your health care team may advise you to arrange a ride ho

BMI app helps measure health risk – 3 Narrator: This is NIH Health Matters. I’m Joe Balintfy. Using a BMI or Body Mass Index measurement, is a way of assessing weight and health risks. Karen Donato, a coordinator of overweight and obesity research applications at the NIH explains. Donato: Although BMI can be used for most men and women, it does have some limits in that it can overestimate body fat in athletes or others who have a lot of muscle, or it can also underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost muscle. Narrator: In general, a higher BMI means higher risk for obesity-related diseases such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. For details, visit www.nhlbi.nih.gov. Health Matters is produced by the NIH, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About NIH Radio NIH Radio offers free audio news programs from the National Institutes of Health, your reliable source for health information. All NIH Radio content is in the public domain and can be used without charge or restriction provided that it is not used to misrepresent our agency nor used to suggest we endorse any private organization, product, or service. NIH Radio is a service of the Office of Communications & Public Liaison.

BMI app helps measure health risk – 3 Narrator: This is NIH Health Matters. I’m Joe Balintfy. Using a BMI or Body Mass Index measurement, is a way of assessing weight and health risks. Karen Donato, a coordinator of overweight and obesity research applications at the NIH explains. Donato: Although BMI can be used for most men and women, it does have some limits in that it can overestimate body fat

News and Multimedia from 2007 Featuring DSIR - Hurricane Katrina Survivors Lack Access to Mental Health Services - Science Update December 17, 2007 The majority of Hurricane Katrina survivors who developed mental disorders after the disaster are not receiving the mental health services they need, and many who were receiving mental health care prior to the hurricane were not able to continue with treatment, according to an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print December 17, 2007, in the American Journal of Psychiatry. - Behavioral Program May Stabilize Stress Hormone Patterns in Foster Children - Science Update November 30, 2007 An intervention designed to enhance family interaction and improve foster parenting skills may benefit young foster children who had experienced extreme neglect or maltreatment in early life. - Preschoolers with Three or More Coexisting Disorders Show No Response to ADHD Medication Treatment - Press Release November 05, 2007 Preschoolers who are diagnosed with ADHD are not likely to respond to treatment with the stimulant methylphenidate, regardless of dosage, if they also have three or more coexisting disorders, according to a recent analysis of data from the Preschoolers with ADHD Treatment Study (PATS). - Depressed Adolescents Respond Best to Combination Treatment - Press Release October 01, 2007 A combination of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication appears to be the most effective treatment for adolescents with major depressive disorder—more than medication alone or psychotherapy alone, according to results from a major clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). - Workplace Depression Screening, Outreach and Enhanced Treatment Improves Productivity, Lowers Employer Costs - Press Release September 26, 2007 Enhanced and systematic efforts to identify and treat depression in the workplace significantly improves employee health and productivity, likely leading to lower costs overall for the employer, according to a study published September 26, 2007, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). - New Collaboration Evaluates Effectiveness of Mental Illness Educational Project - Science Update September 19, 2007 Two new grants funded by NIMH will examine the effectiveness of educational materials designed to teach young people about mental illnesses and reduce the stigma associated with them. - Newly Funded Center Dedicated to Mental Health Research for Asian Americans - Science Update September 19, 2007 Science Update September 19, 2007 Newly Funded Center Dedicated to Mental Health Research for Asian Americans A new, five-year, NIMH-funded project will establish a national center to study mental health issues affecting Asian Americans. - Drops in SSRI prescription rates may coincide with increases in youth suicides - Science Update September 19, 2007 A 2004 spike in suicide rates may have coincided with a drop in antidepressant prescriptions for youth, following warnings from U.S and European regulatory agencies that the medications might trigger suicidal thoughts. - Family Involvement and Focused Intervention May be Key to Helping Teens with Bulimia - Science Update September 17, 2007 Family-based treatment for adolescent bulimia nervosa (FBT-BN) is more effective than an individual-based therapy called supportive psychotherapy (SPT) in helping teens overcome bulimia according to an NIMH-funded study. - Global Survey Reveals Significant Gap in Meeting World's Mental Health Care Needs - Press Release September 06, 2007 Mental disorders rank among the top ten illnesses causing disability—more than 37 percent worldwide—with depression being the leading cause of disability among people ages 15 and older, according to the Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors published in 2006. - New Research to Help Youth with Mental Disorders Transition to Adulthood - Science Update September 05, 2007 As young people with mental health disorders transition from adolescence to adulthood, they frequently face new and difficult challenges such as the loss of state-issued benefits like Medicaid and foster care, or loss of family-based insurance coverage. - Studies Refine Understanding of Treatments for Bipolar Disorder - Science Update September 01, 2007 Two new studies provide additional details on best practices for treating people with bipolar disorder, a sometimes debilitating illness marked by severe mood swings between depression and mania. - Behavioral Interventions Effective for Preschoolers with ADHD - Science Update August 15, 2007 Two types of early interventions designed to reduce symptoms of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschoolers may be effective alternatives or additions to medication treatment, according to a recent NIMH-funded study. - Improvement Following ADHD Treatment Sustained in Most Children - Press Release July 20, 2007 Most children treated in a variety of ways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement after three years in a major follow-up study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). - New Research to Study Program that Improves Police Interactions with Mentally Ill - Science Update July 12, 2007 A new grant funded by NIMH will examine the effectiveness and utility of a program designed to improve police interactions with people who have mental disorders - Violence in Schizophrenia Patients More Likely Among Those with Childhood Conduct Problems - Press Release July 02, 2007 Some people with schizophrenia who become violent may do so for reasons unrelated to their current illness, according to a new study analyzing data from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE). - New Study Will Examine Effects of Excluding Anti-anxiety Medications in Medicare Part D Coverage - Science Update June 22, 2007 A new research grant funded by NIMH will examine the costs and benefits of excluding a commonly prescribed class of anti-anxiety medications—benzodiazepines—from coverage in the new Medicare Part D program. Medicare Part D, the prescription drug coverage plan for people insured by Medicare, went into effect in January 2006. - Antipsychotic Medications for Schizophrenia on Equal Footing in Improving Patients’ Thinking Skills - Science Update June 04, 2007 Patients with schizophrenia taking antipsychotic medications experience a small improvement in thinking and reasoning skills (neurocognition), but no one medication appears to be better than the others in improving these skills during the first two crucial months of treatment, according to the latest results from the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE). - NIMH Funds Research for Early Intervention in Childhood Bipolar Disorder - Science Update June 04, 2007 NIMH recently approved funding to test the effectiveness of an early intervention in children at high risk for developing bipolar disorder. - In Second Try to Treat Depression, Cognitive Therapy Generally As Effective As Medication - Science Update May 01, 2007 Switching to or adding cognitive therapy (CT) after a first unsuccessful attempt at treating depression with an antidepressant medication is generally as effective as switching to or adding another medication, but remission may take longer to achieve - Benefits of Antidepressants May Outweigh Risks for Kids - Science Update April 17, 2007 The benefits of antidepressant medications likely outweigh their risks to children and adolescents with major depression and anxiety disorders, according to a new comprehensive review of pediatric trials conducted between 1988 and 2006. The study, partially funded by NIMH, was published in the April 18, 2007, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. - Intensive Psychotherapy More Effective Than Brief Therapy for Treating Bipolar Depression - Press Release April 02, 2007 Patients taking medications to treat bipolar disorder are more likely to get well faster and stay well if they receive intensive psychotherapy, according to results from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD), funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). - Study Sheds Light on Medication Treatment Options for Bipolar Disorder - Press Release March 28, 2007 For depressed people with bipolar disorder who are taking a mood stabilizer, adding an antidepressant medication is no more effective than a placebo (sugar pill), according to results published online on March 28, 2007 in the New England Journal of Medicine. - Global Use of ADHD Medications Rises Dramatically - Science Update March 06, 2007 Global use of medications that treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) nearly tripled from 1993 to 2003, and spending on the drugs rose nine-fold, according to a study co-funded by NIMH and published in the March/April 2007 issue of Health Affairs. - New Details in Schizophrenia Treatment Trial Emerge - Press Release March 01, 2007 Two new studies from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) provide more insights into comparing treatment options, and to what extent antipsychotic medications help people with schizophrenia learn social, interpersonal and community living skills. - Autism Research Efforts Highlighted in Biological Psychiatry Special Issue - Science Update February 06, 2007 The February 15, 2007 special issue of Biological Psychiatry is dedicated to recent advances in autism research, including many studies funded by the Institute. - Adult Treatment and Preventive Intervention Research Branch - Child and Adolescent Treatment and Preventive Intervention Research Branch - Services Research and Clinical Epidemiology Branch - Office of Research Training and Career Development - Ethics of Mental Disorders Research Program - Clinical Trials Operations and Biostatistics Unit (CTOB) - Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs

News and Multimedia from 2007 Featuring DSIR - Hurricane Katrina Survivors Lack Access to Mental Health Services - Science Update December 17, 2007 The majority of Hurricane Katrina survivors who developed mental disorders after the disaster are not receiving the mental health services they need, and many who were receiving mental health care prior to the hurricane were not able to continue with t

Our stories portray how the Structural Fire Management Program provides national leadership to reduce the impacts of fire on human health and safety, facilities and historical and cultural resources. Return to main structural fire stories page. Fire Suppression System Wins Engineering Excellence Award A new fire suppression system at Charles Pinckney National Historic Site won an award for engineering excellence in 2012. The American Council of Engineering Companies of South Carolina awarded the fire suppression system’s three-part design team with an engineering excellence award in the category of small projects. The award went to DWG, Inc., the engineering partner on the project, supported by Watson Tate Savory Liollio, architects, and Alutiiq, LLC., the contractor. The National Park Service provided a basic scope of work from which the three firms executed planning, design, and construction functions. “This fire suppression system is a major improvement to visitor safety and resource protection,” said Superintendent Tim Stone. “It provides protection not only to our visitors and employees, but also to the historic structure itself and the artifacts and documents on exhibit inside.” Since acquiring the property and house in 1990, the National Park Service has preserved the last remaining 28 acres of Charles Pinckney’s Snee Farm plantation as Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Pinckney (1757-1824) was a principal author and signer of the United States Constitution. Today the house serves as the park’s visitor center, museum and staff office. Although constructed around 1828 to replace Pinckney’s original Snee Farm house, the structure is an important example of the “Lowcountry Cottage” architectural style. The National Park Service challenged the design team to install a modern fire suppression system in the 19th century structure, which would provide for the safety of the public without damaging the house’s historic fabric or distracting from the period characteristics of the Lowcountry Cottage. The design team met the challenge, installing dry pipe sprinkler heads, fire alarms, light sensors and smoke detectors strategically throughout the house so as to be inconspicuous to the public, maintain complete functionality and use sensitive routing to ensure that historic fabric was not damaged during installation.

Our stories portray how the Structural Fire Management Program provides national leadership to reduce the impacts of fire on human health and safety, facilities and historical and cultural resources. Return to main structural fire stories page. Fire Suppression System Wins Engineering Excellence Award A new fire suppression system at Charles Pinckney National Historic Site won an award for enginee

Through a generous donation of private funds, the National Park Service made a survey of the United States portion of the Great Lakes shoreline during 1957 and 1958. The objective was to determine what natural lakeshore areas still remained which were worthy of preservation for their scenic, natural or other recreational values. The over-all situation along the Great Lakes shoreline is discussed in the report, Our Fourth Shore. This is a supplement to that report and herein describes the individual shoreline areas suitable for preservation. Last Updated: 27-Jun-2007

Through a generous donation of private funds, the National Park Service made a survey of the United States portion of the Great Lakes shoreline during 1957 and 1958. The objective was to determine what natural lakeshore areas still remained which were worthy of preservation for their scenic, natural or other recreational values. The over-all situation along the Great Lakes shoreline is discussed i

Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings Growing up around a fur trading post on the Missouri River, the town of Fort Benton became the hub of traffic moving westward to the goldfields of Idaho and Montana. At the head of steamboat navigation on the Missouri, it was the eastern terminus of the Mullan Road. Between 1869 and 1881 it was also the site of a military post. In 1847 Alexander Culbertson of the American Fur Co. established the fur trading post that was first known as Fort Lewis but 3 years later was renamed Fort Benton. It soon became the foremost establishment in Montana, but the fur trade was rapidly declining. After the arrival in 1859 of the Chippewa, a stern-wheeler, the first steamboat to penetrate that far up the Missouri, the post became a trade-transportation center and a town grew up next to it. Following the 1862 gold strike in Montana, Indian hostilities closed many overland routes, particularly the convenient Bozeman Trail. Prospectors sailed up the Missouri by steamboat to Fort Benton and then pushed overland to Bannack, Virginia City, Helena, and other mining camps. Sometimes as many as 30 to 40 steamboats were docked at the riverfront. Ox teams and mule pack trains carried food and other supplies, which St. Louis and Portland merchants keenly competed to furnish, to settlements in Idaho, Montana, and Canada. Much of this commerce, as well as emigrants en route to the Pacific Northwest, passed over the Mullan Road, a military road running westward from Fort Benton, Mont., to Fort Walla Walla, Wash. Constructed in 1859-62 under the supervision of Lt. John Mullan, it was the first wagon road over the northern Rockies. The town of Fort Benton remained a major transportation center until the arrival of the railroads in the region in the 1880's. In 1869 the U.S. Army had leased and occupied the trading post from the American Fur Co., but by 1874 most of the troops were living in town. The one-company post served mainly as a supply depot for Forts Shaw and Ellis, Mont., and in 1881 the garrison was transferred to Fort Shaw. All that remains of the early fort are a blockhouse and a portion of the adobe walls, located in a city park overlooking the Missouri River on the eastern edge of the lousiness district. Nearby is the privately owned Fort Benton Museum, which contains historical exhibits. The riverfront. where steamboats once docked, is little changed. Several brick and stone commercial buildings of 19th-century vintage give a historic flavor to the town. NHL Designation: 11/05/61 Last Updated: 19-Aug-2005

Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings Growing up around a fur trading post on the Missouri River, the town of Fort Benton became the hub of traffic moving westward to the goldfields of Idaho and Montana. At the head of steamboat navigation on the Missouri, it was the eastern terminus of the Mullan Road. Between 1869 and 1881 it was also the site of a military post. In 1847 Alexander Culbertson of

Photo by Stephen Zacharias/Flickr (Creative Commons) A mural in Winnipeg, Canada, October 2009 The recent arrest of President Obama's half-uncle, who is being held by immigration officials for lack of legal status, casts light on a facet of the immigration story that is little-discussed but extremely commonplace: the prevalence of mixed-status families. Onyango Obama, the 67-year-old half-brother of Obama's late father, was arrested last week near Boston on suspicion of drunk driving. According to reports, he failed to comply with a deportation order almost 20 years ago, and has lived under the radar since. He is the second Obama relative in recent years to make headlines for being undocumented; his sister Zeituni Onyango, whose story was leaked to the media shortly before the 2008 election, also faced deportation before she was granted asylum last year. This particular family of Kenyan immigrants is noteworthy, of course, because it is the president's extended family. But their situation is hardly unique. It's a given in many immigrant families that someone - a parent, and aunt or uncle, a cousin - is undocumented, and having relatives in the United States is not enough to allow them to legalize, nor is marriage to a U.S. citizen. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated in 2009 that there were 8.8 million people living in families of mixed immigration status in the United States. Pew's definition of mixed-status families was limited to families with unauthorized immigrants and their U.S. citizen children, making for a conservative estimate. From that report: The number of people in mixed-status families has grown in concert with the increasing unauthorized immigrant population. The 8.8 million people in these families are a slight majority (53%) of the nation’s 16.6 million unauthorized immigrants and their family members. This share has hovered between 50% and 53% since 2003. The share of children of unauthorized immigrants who are in mixed-status families has increased, though. In 2008, the 4.5 million children in mixed-status families represented 82% of the 5.5 million children of unauthorized immigrants—an increase from 76% in the 2003–05 period. Looked at another way, 3.8 million unauthorized immigrants are parents of children who are U.S. citizens. Mixed-status nuclear families are at the center of the debate over escalating deportations, as undocumented parents are sent away from their U.S.-born children, forced to decide between taking the children with them, leaving them with relatives here, or returning illegally. Even more common are mixed-status extended families. More than a decade ago, researchers with The Urban Institute examined the prevalence of the mixed-status phenomenon and the legal and policy reasons at its root. From the introduction: ...mixed-status families are themselves complex: they may be made up of any combination of legal immigrants, undocumented immigrants, and naturalized citizens. Their composition also changes frequently, as undocumented family members legalize their status and legal immigrants naturalize. The number, complexity, and fluidity of these mixed immigration status families complicate the design and implementation of the already complicated arenas of immigration and immigrant policy. Onyango Obama arrived legally as a student in the 1960s, according to reports, but at some point fell out of status. The Boston Globe reported that he remained in the country after he was ordered deported in 1992. Zeituni Onyango's story is different in that she applied for political asylum after her arrival in 2000, was denied, but remained in the U.S. without status. In immigrant families, these stories are commonplace. So common that they extend all the way to the White House.

Photo by Stephen Zacharias/Flickr (Creative Commons) A mural in Winnipeg, Canada, October 2009 The recent arrest of President Obama's half-uncle, who is being held by immigration officials for lack of legal status, casts light on a facet of the immigration story that is little-discussed but extremely commonplace: the prevalence of mixed-status families. Onyango Obama, the 67-year-old half-brother

These "mission assignments" for students, available in English and Spanish, give detailed instructions for each activity as well as more advanced challenges, related NASA facts and safety guidelines. Educator Guides offer lesson plans, background information, and instructional procedures. About the Video: NASA astronauts Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Kjell Lindgren and astronaut trainer Yamil Garcia share an activity that helps you develop strong muscles and bones, which astronauts need for life in space. How could you perform a physical activity that would strengthen your muscles and bones in both your upper and lower body? Strong muscles and bones are important to overall health. They are necessary for performing chores and tasks at home, at school, or while playing. When lifting an object off the floor, pushing up out of bed, or bending to see under an object, you use upper and lower body strength. Physical activities such as these will help keep muscles and bones strong! Crew Member Mission:

These "mission assignments" for students, available in English and Spanish, give detailed instructions for each activity as well as more advanced challenges, related NASA facts and safety guidelines. Educator Guides offer lesson plans, background information, and instructional procedures. About the Video: NASA astronauts Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Kjell Lindgren and astronaut trainer Yamil Ga

Basic Biology II The therapeutic promise of stem cell biology lies in its potential for cell replacement therapies in diseases where an essential cell type of the patient malfunctions or degenerates. This is particularly evident in diseases of the nervous system where cells largely lose their ability to proliferate and thus regenerate after embryonic differentiation. Devastating neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), are characterized by a progressive paralysis caused by motor neuron death and currently have no cure. Strategies for replacing specific neuronal cell types with cells derived from human embryonic stem (hES) cells will require understanding the genetic programs that control hES cell differentiation. These rapidly dividing pluripotent cells undergo a major transition in gene expression to become neuronal progenitor cells (NPC), while maintaining their proliferative ability. Another drastic change in gene expression program occurs as NP cells differentiate into neurons, where cell division has stopped. A great deal of important work is describing the DNA level changes that control gene expression in ES cells and during their transition to NPC and neurons. However, the production of a protein product from a gene is controlled at each step in the gene expression pathway where the DNA gene is first transcribed into RNA and the RNA then translated into protein. An important RNA level regulatory step in this pathway is the processing of the primary RNA transcript from the gene into an mRNA that can be translated into protein. One part of this processing is the pre-mRNA splicing reaction, where alternative splicing patterns in the pre-mRNA determine the structure of the final protein product of most human genes. Little is known about how this step in the gene expression pathway is regulated in ES cells or during their differentiation. Yet ALS and SMA can both be caused by the loss of components of the splicing machinery and a great deal of work is examining how splicing might be disrupted in mature neurons of ALS and SMA patients. In this study, we will examine how two important splicing regulators, the polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB) and its neuronal homolog nPTB, affect splicing in normal ES and NP cells. We will characterize the programs of regulation controlled by these proteins. In particular, we will focus on those parts of the PTB regulated splicing program that affect cell proliferation and the ability of ES and NP cells to self renew. From this work, we will advance our understanding of how ES cells differentiate into neurons and how pre-mRNA splicing controls cell function in normal development and in disease. Statement of Benefit to California: Neurological diseases affect millions of patients in California and elsewhere. For example, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is one of the most common genetic causes of infant death and has no effective treatment. SMA and other neurological diseases are caused by errors in the cellular process of pre-mRNA splicing. One promising strategy for neurological treatments is in cell replacement therapies using hES and iPS cells as source material for regenerating normal neurons in place of those lost to the disease. Another therapeutic strategy for SMA is in drugs that alter the splicing process to improve its efficiency in diseased cells. This project will examine the splicing process in normal hES cells and how it is regulated when these cells differentiate into neuronal progenitor cells and neurons. This will provide essential information on the biology of stem cells needed to move towards various therapeutic applications. The project will also provide a system for drug discovery in the new field of splicing targeted therapeutics. This work will help California to continue to lead in these areas of basic research, as well as provide the state with a head start in biotechnology and pharmaceutical development for the practical application of these discoveries. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This proposal focuses on alternative splicing, a regulatory step in the production of protein from RNA, and its role in human embryonic stem cell (hESC) differentiation into neurons. Alternative splicing affects the expression of the majority of human genes and is particularly prevalent in the nervous system. The applicant proposes to comprehensively profile alternative splicing in hESCs as they differentiate into neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and neurons, while focusing on a splicing regulator, polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB), and its neuronal homolog, nPTB. In Aim 1, the applicant will use novel technologies to profile genome-wide alternative splicing in hESCs, NPCs and differentiated neurons and map the genome-wide RNA binding of PTB and nPTB. In Aim 2, the applicant proposes to identify specific RNA targets of PTB and nPTB and confirm their regulation by these proteins. Finally, in Aim 3, the applicant proposes to characterize the function of these identified RNA targets in hESC and NPC proliferation and differentiation. The reviewers agreed that this proposal addresses an interesting and important question in stem cell biology. They noted that the experiments are mostly descriptive in nature and so the proposal’s significance is difficult to assess, as it will depend on the results obtained. Nevertheless, reviewers were confident that the project would generate large amounts of high-quality data that could have a major impact on the field of regenerative medicine. They found aspects of the proposal to be innovative, particularly the use of novel technologies and the focus on PTB and nPTB. However, reviewers noted that at least two papers have examined alternative splicing in hESCs, including an important study published recently by Salomonis, et al. which was not cited by the applicant. One reviewer felt that the proposal would be more innovative if it examined hESC differentiation into different neuronal subtypes and analyzed the roles of PTB and nPTB in these later cell fate decisions. Reviewers found the research plan to be well-considered and feasible. They appreciated the use of cutting-edge sequencing technologies and felt the applicant makes a good case for their advantages over hybridization-based array technologies. However, reviewers found the preliminary data sparse and couldn’t determine whether they described experiments in cells of mouse or human origin. They also raised a few concerns about the experimental design. They noted that progress in Aim 2 will be highly dependent on Aim 1 and alternative approaches are not discussed. With regard to Aim 2, reviewers cautioned that, given previously published data in mouse ESCs, knockdown of PTB may have profound effects on cell viability and/or differentiation, making it difficult to use this technique to verify PTB-regulated exons. A final concern with any such ambitious, genome-wide approach is the difficulty of data prioritization and validation of targets. However, reviewers noted that the applicant addresses this issue and they were satisfied with the proposed strategy. The reviewers described the PI as an internationally recognized expert in the field of alternative splicing with an outstanding publication record. They did note that the relative lack of hESC expertise on the research team could be a challenge. A number of collaborators are named in the application but there are no accompanying letters of support. Still, reviewers were confident that the PI and research team have the resources and expertise to complete the proposed studies. Overall, reviewers felt that this proposal is likely to produce important new information about hESC biology and neuronal differentiation. They raised some minor concerns about the experimental design but were confident in the ability of the outstanding PI and research team to generate large amounts of high-quality data that will benefit the field. - Ali Brivanlou

Basic Biology II The therapeutic promise of stem cell biology lies in its potential for cell replacement therapies in diseases where an essential cell type of the patient malfunctions or degenerates. This is particularly evident in diseases of the nervous system where cells largely lose their ability to proliferate and thus regenerate after embryonic differentiation. Devastating neurodegenerative

National Institute on Drug Abuse Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse Plasma Virus Load Evaluation in Relation to Disease Progression in HIV-Infected Children Savita Pahwa and colleagues at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York, observed that high levels of HIV RNA (measured retrospectively by nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay) in infancy is associated with increased mortality, although no correlation was observed between levels of cellular HIV DNA and plasma HIV RNA. Tetali, S., Bakshi, S., Than, S., Pahwa, S., Abrams, E., Romano, J., and Pahwa, S. G. Plasma Virus Load Evaluation in Relation to Disease Progression in HIV-Infected Children. AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses, 14(7), pp. 571-577, 1998. Direct Comparison of Time to AIDS and Infectious Disease Death Between HIV Seroconverter IDUs in Italy and the U.S.: Results from the ALIVE and ISS Studies The rate of HIV disease progression was compared in two cohorts: one a U.S. cohort of active polysubstance injectors (ALIVE) and the other an Italian cohort of predominantly opiate injectors (ISS). Data from the two cohorts were combined and the seroconversion date was estimated as the midpoint between the last negative and first positive HIV test. Time to AIDS or infectious disease death was calculated, adjusting for age at seroconversion, gender, and year of seroconversion. Of the 1003 IDUs, 226 progressed to AIDS and 146 died after AIDS diagnosis or from an infectious disease. Although the univariate analysis suggested possible differences for progression to AIDS or to infectious disease death between cohorts, multivariate analyses which adjusted for age showed no significant differences by cohort, gender, race, or time of seroconversion. The median time to AIDS for 25 year old persons in ALIVE was 12.3 years vs. 11.8 years in the ISS; for 35 year old persons the median time to AIDS 8.5 and 8.2 years, respectively. These estimates were similar to those for non-IDUs observed in the ISS and for homosexual men in a large U.S. cohort study. These results confirm the importance of accounting for age in considering the incubation period for HIV infection. Despite differences in drug use characteristics, the similar median times to AIDS, for each age, between the two cohorts of IDUs and between the IDUs and the non-IDUs, suggest a negligible effect of active injection drug use on HIV progression. Pezzotti, P., Galai, N., Vlahov, D., Rezza, G., Lyles, C.M., and Astemborski, J. Direct Comparison of Time to AIDS and Infectious Disease Death between HIV Seroconverter IDUs in Italy and the U.S.: Results from the ALIVE and ISS Studies. J Acqir mmune Defic Syndr Hum Retrovirol 20, pp. 275-282, 1999. HIV Among Trauma Patients in New York City The Cornell University Medical College investigators, Tardiff and his colleagues conducted a descriptive survey to determine the HIV seroprevalence rates in relation to the demographic characteristics of victims, cause of death, and toxicology findings in a sample of victims of violence and accidents who presented to emergency departments before death. The survey was conducted in 5 boroughs of New York City (population, 7.3 million). Persons 15 years of age and older injured by intentional violence or accidents (excluding drug overdoses, falls, and suicides) who presented to hospitals, died and were sent to the medical examiner were included. Plasma and sera were analyzed for HIV and cocaine and its metabolites. Logistic regression and other appropriate statistical tests analyzed the data. Among the 1,242 subjects in the sample, 90 (7.2%) had positive findings: male patients (8%) having higher rates of HIV than females (3.4%). Among the various age groups, HIV rates were 20.8%, 9.6% and 8.1% among patients 35-44, 45-54, and 25-34-year age groups, respectively. Further, HIV rates among victims of homicides, accidents, and motor vehicle crashes were 8.2%, 10.5%, and 4%, respectively. Patients with positive results for cocaine (16.3%) were more likely than those with negative results (5.8%) to be HIV positive. Logistic regression analyses found that only age and positive cocaine results, not sex race, were related to increased risk of HIV infection. The investigators concluded that the rate of HIV infection among victims of fatal trauma was significant, especially in those with evidence of cocaine use. The results further emphasize the need for use of universal precautions in the care of trauma patients. Tardiff, K., Marzuk, P., Leon, A.C., Hirsch, C.S., Portera, L., and Hartwell, N. Human Immunodeficiency Virus Among Trauma Patients in New York City. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 32, pp. 151-154, 1998. Effects of Chronic Opioid Dependence and HIV-1 Infection on Pattern Shift Visual Evoked Potentials Bauer (University of Connecticut) examined the effects of opioid dependence, alone and in combination with asymptomatic HIV-1 infection, on the transmission of visual information from the retina to occipital cortex via measurements of the pattern shift visual evoked potential (PSVEP). For this purpose, three groups of patients were evaluated, including patients characterized by: (1) a past history (2-4 months abstinent) of DSM-IIIR opioid dependence (i.e., in partial remission); (2) a recent history (7 days abstinent) of opioid dependence with ongoing methadone maintenance; and (3) a recent history of opioid dependence, ongoing methadone maintenance, and asymptomatic HIV-1 infection. A group of healthy, non-drug-dependent volunteers was also evaluated. The data analysis revealed no PSVEP differences between patients with a past history of opioid dependence and healthy volunteers. There were also no PSVEP differences between methadone-maintained patients with or without HIV-1 infection. Collectively, however, the two methadone maintenance groups exhibited significant delays in the N75 and P100 components of the PSVEP relative to the other two groups. The delay in N75 latency was strongly correlated with self-reported years of heroin abuse, but not with years of cocaine, alcohol, or other drug abuse. The nonsignificant trend toward delayed N75 latencies among asymptomatic HIV-1 seropositive drug abusers is better explained by their greater exposure to the neurotoxic effects of heroin than by coincident HIV-1 infection. Bauer, L.O. Effects of Chronic Opioid Dependence and HIV-1 Infection on Pattern Shift Visual Evoked Potentials. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 50, pp. 147-155, 1998. Viable, Proliferating HIV-1 Recovered From Syringes in Excess of Four Weeks Later Using a microculture assay to detect viable virus in volumes of blood typical of those commonly found inside used syringes, and modeling the worse-case scenario, researchers determined the duration of survival of HIV-1 in syringes typically used by injectors of illicit drugs. They recovered viable, proliferating HIV-1 from syringes that have been maintained at room temperature for periods in excess of four weeks. The percentage of syringes with viable virus varied with the volume of residual blood and the titer of HIV-1 in the blood. Syringes with detachable needles were found to harbor more blood between their plunger and base, indicating that they may be riskier for HIV transmission than syringes with needles that do not detach. The likelihood of encountering a potentially infectious syringe decreased with time but remained finite for an extended period. The researchers suggest that, in the absence of bleach, postinjection flushing with clean water may lessen chances of HIV transmission. Abdala, N., Stephens, P.C., Griffith, B.P., and Heimer, R. Survival of HIV-1 in Syringes. J AIDS Hum Retroviol, 20, pp. 73-80, 1999. Researchers Examine Use of Syringe Exchange and Incidence of Viral Hepatitis Infections Using data from a cohort study among Seattle IDUs, researchers assessed whether participation in a syringe exchange program was associated with incidence of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) infection. Susceptible IDUs included 187 who were seronegative for HCV and 460 who were seronegative for HBV between June 1994 and January 1996. They were followed for seroconversion one year later. There were 39 HCV infections and 46 HBV infections, and no apparent protective effect against either HBV or HCV from participation in the syringe exchange. The authors hypothesize that changes in the injecting behaviors of IDUs using the syringe exchange may account for these findings. For example, needle exchange programs typically attract drug injectors who practice high risk behaviors for transmission of blood-borne infections such as more frequent injections and sharing of needles and syringes. At the same time, lower risk IDUs who don't use an exchange can get sterile syringes from pharmacies and other sources. If exchange users are at higher risk for transmission of hepatitis, this may explain why the rates of infection are higher than expected and similar to non-exchange users who may be at a lower risk of infection. Hagan, H., McGough J.P., Thiede, H., Weiss, N.S., et al. Syringe Exchange and Risk of Infection with Hepatitis B and C Viruses. Am J Epidemiol, 149 (3), pp. 203-213, 1999. Very Recent and New Injectors in NYC Have Very High Risks of Acquiring the HIV Infection This paper examines HIV risk behavior and HIV infection among new initiates into illicit drug injection in New York City. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted of IDUs recruited from a large detoxification treatment program (n=2489) and a street store-front research site (n=2630) in New York City from 1990 through 1996. The interviews covered demographics, drug use history, and HIV risk behavior; serum samples were also collected for HIV testing. Subjects were categorized into two groups of newer injectors: very recent initiates (just began injecting to 3 years of injecting) and recent initiates (injecting 4 to 6 years); and long-term injectors (injecting more than or at least 7 years). Of the 5119 study subjects, 954 (19%) were newer injectors, all of whom had begun injecting after knowledge about AIDS had become widespread among IDUs in the City. New injectors were more likely to be female and white than long-term injectors, and new injectors were more likely to have begun injecting at an older age (median age at first injection for very recent initiates, 27 years; median age at first injection for recent initiates, 25 years; these compare to the median age at first injection for long-term injectors, 17 years). Newer injectors generally matched long-term injectors in frequencies of HIV risk behavior. No significant differences were found among these groups on four measures of injection risk behavior. HIV infection was substantial among the newer injectors: HIV prevalence was 11% among very recent initiates and 18% among recent initiates. Among new injectors, African Americans, Hispanics, females, and men who had sex with men were more likely to be infected. New injectors appear to have adopted the reduced risk injection practices of long-term injectors in the City. HIV infection among new injectors, however, must still be considered a major public health problem in New York City. Des Jarlais, D.C., Friedman, S.R., Perlis, T., Chapman, T.F., et al. Risk Behavior and HIV Infection Among New Drug Injectors in the Era of AIDS in New York City. J AIDS and Human Retrovirol, 20(1), pp. 67-72, 1999. Study Finds Expanded Number, Size, and Scope of Syringe Exchange Programs in the U.S. In November 1996, researchers surveyed 101 syringe exchange programs (SEPs) and conducted telephone interviews with SEP program directors in the U.S. Data were collected on the number of syringes exchanged, SEP program operations, legal status, and services offered. The findings were compared with those of a similar survey conducted in 1994. Of the 101 SEPs contacted, 87 (86%) responded. Almost all that did not respond were small and/or "underground" (operating in states that have no prescription law and formal support from local officials). The 87 SEPs that responded operated in 71 cities in 28 states and one territory; 44 were in four states (California, New York, Connecticut, and Washington). About 14 million syringes were exchanged by the SEPs in 1996, compared to 8 million syringes by 55 SEPs in 1994. Program size was directly related to the provision of services other than syringe exchange. All 87 SEPs provided IDUs with information about safer injection techniques and/or use of bleach to disinfect injection equipment; 84 provided referrals to clients to substance abuse treatment programs, information about safer use of condoms to prevent sexual risks for HIV and other STDs; and 70 offered education about STD prevention. Just over half (46) of the SEPs were legal, 20 (23%) were illegal but tolerated, and 21 (24%) were illegal/underground. Legal programs were more likely to offer on-site HIV counseling and testing and tuberculosis testing than were other programs, and to have a steady source of funds and adequate staffing. Secondary exchange was reported as a widespread and important way to distribute sterile syringes to IDUs unable to obtain them directly from the SEP. SEPs have expanded in size, geographic distribution, numbers of syringes exchanged, and types of services offered since 1994. These changes have occurred with support from local and state governments and/or from contributions of organizations, private citizens, and volunteers, but without funding from the U.S. government. Paone, D., Clark, J., Qiuhu, S., Purchase, D., and Des Jarlais, D.C. Syringe Exchange in the United States, 1996: A National Profile. Am J Public Health, 89(1), pp. 43-46, 1999. Psychoactive Drug Use Does Not Appear to Have Important Effects on the Course of HIV Early in the history of the AIDS epidemic there was clear evidence of differences in the outcomes of HIV infection between injecting drug users and men who have sex with men. There were also some indications that high levels of nonsterile drug injection equipment may increase the progression of the HIV infection. Recent epidemiologic studies indicate no differences in rates of progression to AIDS among drug injectors, men who have sex with men, or persons infected through heterosexual contact. In vitro and animal studies suggest that the effects of different psychoactive drugs on HIV infection may be negative, positive, or mixed, and that the effects of a psychoactive drug on immune functioning may differ among acute administration, chronic administration, or cessation of chronic administration. Although the current epidemiologic data do not provide support for the hypothesis that psychoactive drug use will have any important effects on the course of HIV infection, possible interactions between psychoactive drugs and antiviral medications and medication adherence issues among drug users are important and promising areas for AIDS research. Des Jarlais, D.C. Psychoactive Drug Use and Progression of HIV Infection. J AIDS and Human Retrovirol, 20(3), pp. 272-274, 1999. Gender Differences in an Impoverished Minority Population Gender differences among impoverished minority females (n = 205; 87% African-American, 13% Latina) and males (n = 203; 89% African-American, 11% Latino) were examined using associations among latent variables representing stress, self-esteem, avoidant and active coping strategies, and health outcomes of depression, escapist drug use, and sexual risk behaviors. Subjects were selected from individuals participating in a community-based educational AIDS prevention program in 9 homeless shelters and 11 residential drug recovery programs in Los Angeles. Among both men and women, drug use and depression were positively related to each other. A large and significant relationship between stress and sexual risk behaviors among women was not evidenced for men. In multiple group latent means comparison models, women reported significantly more stress, depression, and avoidant coping styles than men. In predictive path models, an avoidant coping style predicted escapist drug use among men whereas greater stress predicted escapist drug use among women. Greater stress, and lower self-esteem predicted depression in both groups. Greater stress and less active coping predicted more sexual risk behaviors for women. No predictor construct in this model was significantly associated with elevated sexual risk behavior among the men. These results suggest gender-specific leverage points for AIDS-risk reduction interventions. Stein, J.A., and Nyamathi, A. Gender Differences in Relationships Among Stress, Coping, and Health Risk Behaviors in Impoverished Populations. Personality and Individual Differences, 26, pp. 145-157, 1999. Higher Levels of HIV Risk Behaviors Found in IDUs Who Use Crack vs. Those Who Don't The baseline characteristics and HIV risk behaviors were compared in two groups of out-of-treatment IDUs in South Philadelphia, one of 366 IDUs who concurrently smoked crack (smoking IDUs) and one of 212 IDUs who did not smoke crack in the past 30 days. Temporal trends in recent risk behaviors were also assessed for each drug user group over an 18-month period, January 1992 to June 1994. Although both groups were economically disadvantaged and at high risk of HIV infection, smoking injectors had fewer economic resources and were at a moderately greater risk of HIV because of higher levels of sexual risk behaviors and higher rates of ever having an STD compared to IDUs only. Analysis of temporal trends revealed few reductions in drug risk behaviors and none in sexual risk behaviors. This study points to the need for examining differences between types of drug users. Understanding the characteristics of different types of drug users and their communities is essential to develop tailored, maximally effective interventions and appropriate treatment programs for persons who use multiple drugs. Semaan, S., Kotranski, L., Collier, K., Lauby, J., et al. Temporal Trends in HIV Risk Behaviors of Out-of-Treatment Injection Drug Users and Injection Drug Users Who Smoke Crack. J AIDS and Human Retrovirol, 19, pp. 274-281, 1998. Risk Behavior Change in HIV Positive and HIV Negative Drug Users This research sought to examine the effectiveness of an HIV intervention program among out-of-treatment IDUs and crack users who were HIV+ and HIV-, and to identify risk behaviors of seropositive drug users that may require more intensive or targeted intervention efforts. A total of 225 IDUs (31% HIV+) and 316 crack users (15% HIV+) were administered a baseline interview, received HIV testing and test results, and participated in a 6-month follow up interview. There were significant differences between injectors and crack smokers by demographic characteristics: injectors were more likely to be Puerto Rican and crack smokers more likely to be African American; injectors were more likely to be male, and living on the street or in a shelter. About 40% of both groups were homeless, only 5% were employed, and illegal activity was the primary source of income for 46% of the injectors and 23% of the crack smokers. Injectors were significantly more likely to be HIV+ than crack smokers. Both HIV-positive and negative drug users reported reductions in risk behaviors over time. For both injection-related and sex-related risks, seropositive subjects reported significantly greater reductions from baseline to follow-up than seronegatives. It appears that seropositives may have already reduced risk behaviors based on knowledge of their serostatus at baseline, underscoring the utility of HIV testing and counseling; i.e., knowledge of serostatus can lead to reductions in sex- and injection-related risks. The researchers also suggest that the changes in risk behaviors in the drug users may have been influenced by multiple factors, including participation in the intervention study, receiving pre- and post- HIV test counseling, and benefiting from community-wide outreach efforts and more widely available needle exchange programs. Deren, S., Beardsley, M., Tortu, S., and Goldstein, M. HIV Serostatus and Changes in Risk Behaviors Among Drug Injectors and Crack Users. AIDS and Behavior, 2(2), pp. 171-176, 1998. Older Substance Abusers, Age-Related Factors, and HIV/AIDS A study was conducted to examine the role of HIV counseling, testing, and partner notification in the lives of street addicts of all ages, with a subsample of the addicts being older injectors (N=53) ranging between 50 to 86 years. About 75% of the sample were African American and the rest were White or Latino; there were 11 women and 42 men. Ten of the 53 (19%) were positive for HIV. Six of the 10 seropositive IDUs lived alone, compared to only nine of the 43 seronegative IDUs. Heroin was the drug of choice, and one injection a day was the average. All of the IDUs reported polydrug use, with the major drugs used being downers, amphetamines, and cocaine. Six of the seven males who were HIV positive had been crack smokers at one time or another. All but one of the women and half the men reported having had heterosexual sex in the past six months, but nearly 60% said they never used a condom. A lot of time was spent by the IDUs to procure drugs and money to buy drugs, by stealing, engaging in "street hustles," or by assisting drug dealers in supplying their customers. The paper reviews issues related to the illness trajectory for HIV/AIDS in older drug users, social support and social networks, access to old age benefits and public assistance, and the need for age appropriate interventions to facilitate older drug users to adopt strategies of risk reduction and AIDS prevention. Levy, J.A. AIDS and Injecting Drug Use in Later Life. Research on Aging, 20(6), pp. 776-797, 1998. Unprotected Sex Among Drug-Using Men and Women Using the AIDS risk reduction model as a conceptual framework, a multivariate prospective test of psychosocial antecedents of unprotected sex was conducted using 155 female and 134 male heterosexual injection drug users. For both women and men, stronger intentions to use condoms predicted subsequent reduction in unprotected sex. For women, but not men, higher perceived self-efficacy also led to reductions in unprotected sex. These results suggest that explicit formation of risk-reduction intentions is an important antecedent to sexual behavior change by drug users of either gender and that change by drug-using women is also influenced by their perceived control over sexual risk-taking. Longshore, D., Stein J.A., Anglin, M.D., and Kowalewski, M.R. Psychosocial Antecedents of Unprotected Sex by Drug-Using Men and Women. AIDS & Behavior, 2, pp. 293-306, 1998. Two-index Method for Evaluating Models This article extends work on the use of fit indices to evaluate models, and proposes use of a two-index evaluation strategy based on the standardized root mean squared residual and supplementing it with one of several well-known indices. A series of empirically determined cut-off values are developed for the various indices to replace ad-hoc rules such as the requirement that a model fit exceed an arbitrary value (e.g., .9) before the model is considered adequate. It was determined that a cutoff value closer to .95 for several indices is required before one can conclude that there is a relatively good fit between the hypothesized model and the observed data. The proposed two-index presentation strategy is required to reject reasonable proportions of various types of true-population and misspecified models. This work will ultimately lead to the development of improved statistical models (such as structural equation models) used in drug abuse research. Hu, L. and Bentler, P.M. Cutoff Criteria for Fit Indices in Covariance Structure Analysis: Conventional Criteria Versus New Alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, pp. 1-55, 1999. Correlates of High Risk Sexual Activity Are Identified Among STD Patients Who Use Crack Crack-smoking sexually transmitted disease (STD) patients are at high-risk for contracting HIV. To examine the effects of cocaine use and other correlates on high-risk sexual behavior among STD clinic patients, a cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample included 1,490 consecutive patients attending three Los Angeles County STD clinics between 1992 and 1994. Logistic regression analysis found high-risk sexual activity was associated with being male and of younger age. Among women, high-risk sexual behavior was associated with crack cocaine use and a perceived need for help. Among men in the study, ethnicity (being black) and having an arrest history were associated with high-risk behavior. Effective intervention strategies should address cocaine use among STD patients and provide them with referrals to drug treatment. Hser, Y.I., Chou, C.P., Hoffman, V., Anglin, M.D. Cocaine Use and High-Risk Sexual Behavior Among STD Clinic Patients. Sex Transm Dis, 26(2), pp. 82-86, 1999. Computer-Assisted HIV Risk Assessment Interviewing is Acceptable to Drug Users Researchers assessed the acceptability of a computer HIV risk assessment instrument administered to not-in-treatment drug users. The study differed from other assessments of the acceptability of computer-assisted data collection in that the population of interest had relatively little experience in use of computers and only limited education. The study was also implemented under field conditions. Three questions were asked related to acceptability (are drug users comfortable responding to HIV risk questions using the computer assessment; do they feel they possess the requisite skills to respond to questions using a computer; and do they believe that their responses will remain private and confidential). Only slight modifications were made to the content of the instrument. Data collection was facilitated using audio enhancement and touch screen, and three scales were used to measure comfort, skill, and perceived privacy. The findings suggest that drug users are comfortable responding to an HIV risk assessment using computer assisted interviewing. Drug users perceived they possessed the requisite skill to successfully complete the interview. Study participants also reported that they believed their responses would remain private and confidential. Their favorable attitudes seemed to be in evidence even though some of the questions were lengthy for some of the respondents. The average time for completing the risk assessment was 60 minutes. The results of this study suggest that computer interviewing has potential for collecting HIV risk information from drug users under field conditions, even though conditions in field settings are often far less manageable than conditions in clinical or institutional settings. Williams, M.L., Freeman, R.C., Bowen, A.M., and Saunders, L. The Acceptability of a Computer HIV/AIDS Risk Assessment to Not-In-Treatment Drug Users. AIDS Care, 10 (6), pp. 701-711, 1998. Results of the Cooperative Agreement Studies Indicate Intervention Efficacy In this article, researchers examine the NIDA Cooperative Agreement HIV intervention studies for active drug users relative to the constructs of prevention efficacy and effectiveness. Conservatively interpreting the outcome findings indicates they fall within the domain of efficacy rather than effectiveness, owing to the high degree of control and organization that occurred with respect to intervention recruitment, participation, process monitoring, and staff training. Because the interventions were implemented and evaluated in community-based, noninstitutional settings with many real-world constraints, minimal shrinkage of their effects would occur if they were implemented in uncontrolled community settings. The CA intervention studies also have attributes of structure, content, process, dose, and participant characteristics that are related to intervention efficacy. Rhodes, F., Wood, M.M., and Booth, R.E. Efficacy and Effectiveness Issues in the NIDA Cooperative Agreement: Interventions for Out-of-Treatment Drug Users. J Psychoactive Drugs, 30(3), pp. 261-269, 1998. Building Bridges for Community Involvement in Drug and HIV Research among Minority Populations This paper proposes methods for developing a community base for drug abuse research with minority populations. Recommendations are based on 6 years of research in communities with a high prevalence of prostitution and/or drug use in New York City and Atlanta. Researchers employed a qualitative methodology that included participant observation, in-depth interviewing, and focus groups. The participant observation involved data collection in the subjects' natural setting. The main stages in participant observation, also referred to as ethnographic mapping, were to gain access, develop a role in the field, identify key respondents, and build trust relationships. The open-ended structured interviews facilitated the development of trust and permitted discovery of the subjects' perspective of his/her own salient issues. Sterk, C.E. Building Bridges: Community Involvement in Drug and HIV Research Among Minority Populations. Drugs & Society 14, 1/2, pp. 107-121, 1999. Incidence and Duration of Hospitalizations Among Persons with AIDS: An Event History Approach The hospitalization patterns of persons with AIDS (PWAs) in a multi-state/multi-episode continuous time duration framework were examined using Medicaid claims history data from 1,401 AIDS patients in New Jersey. Differences in the use of inpatient services by race/ethnicity, gender, AIDS risk group, region, severity of illness, and year of services were studied. Participation in a Medicaid waiver program offering case management and home health care was associated with hospital stays 1.3 days shorter than non-participants. African-American race and Hispanic ethnicity were associated with hospital stays 1.2 days and 1.0 day longer respectively than for non-Hispanic whites. African Americans also experienced more frequent hospital admissions. Residents of the high HIV-prevalence area of the state had more frequent admissions and stays two days longer than those residing elsewhere in the state. Older PWAs experience less frequent hospital admissions but longer stays, with hospitalizations of 55-year-olds lasting 8.25 days longer than those of 25-year-olds. Crystal, S., Lo Sasso, A.T., & Sambamoorthi. Health Services Research 33(6), pp. 1611-1638, February 1999. of the Director][Report Index][Previous Report Section] [Next Report Section]

National Institute on Drug Abuse Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse Plasma Virus Load Evaluation in Relation to Disease Progression in HIV-Infected Children Savita Pahwa and colleagues at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York, observed that high levels of HIV RNA (measured retrospectively by nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay) in infancy is

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged government, communities and citizens to become more ready and resilient to face disasters ranging from terrorism to natural disasters to diseases in a major policy speech at the American Red Cross in Washington, DC, Tuesday. Napolitano emphasized measures undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as well as Citizen Corps in boosting readiness and resilience over the first nine months of the Obama administration. Among those accomplishments has been the introduction of no-notice training drills, Napolitano announced. To date, FEMA has held one such drill, where senior leaders must respond to an unfolding disaster scenario presented to them much like a student would face a pop quiz in class. "Under the leadership of FEMA Administrator Fugate, we are holding no-notice disaster exercises to ensure that our senior leadership is ready to respond swiftly and effectively to a range of disasters at a moment's notice," Napolitano stated. "That's very different from the past, where all exercises were scripted out well in advance so it felt like we were planning out a Shakespearean drama rather than an actual disaster." From WIBW-TV Topeka, KS, on Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Events are planned in Washington, D.C. Thursday to launch October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will join Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III and White House National Security Staff Acting Senior Director for Cybersecurity Chris Painter to kick off the awareness campaign. Homeland Security says the month is designed to educate all citizens and key public and private sector partners on how to guard against cyber threats at home, work and school. National Protection and Programs Directorate Under Secretary Rand Beers and National Cyber Security Alliance Director Michael Kaiser will also deliver remarks at the event in Washington, D.C. 10 AM EDT Secretary Napolitano will testify about evaluating threats of terrorism in the United States after 9/11 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building 10 AM EDT Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Sector Network Management Assistant Administrator John Sammon will testify about the future of the Registered Traveler program before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection 311 Cannon House Office Building 10 AM EDT U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Sally Brice-O’Hara will testify about the Coast Guard’s search and rescue mission before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation 2167 Rayburn House Office Building 10:30 AM EDT NPPD Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security & Communications Greg Schaffer will participate in a panel discussion about the effect of broadband on cybersecurity at the Broadband Cyber Security Workshop Federal Communications Commission Headquarters Commission Meeting Room 445 12th St. SW 2 PM EDT FEMA Assistant Administrator of the National Continuity Programs Directorate Damon Penn will testify about the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management 2167 Rayburn House Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 1:30 PM MDT ICE Office of Investigations Director Kumar Kibble will participate in a media availability with Deputy Attorney General David Ogden to announce the launch of the Arizona Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force strike force 3010 North 2nd St

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged government, communities and citizens to become more ready and resilient to face disasters ranging from terrorism to natural disasters to diseases in a major policy speech at the American Red Cross in Washington, DC, Tuesday. Napolitano emphasized measures undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management

Information for Visitors/Residents in Chile Welcome to the Emergency Preparedness website of the United States Embassy in Santiago, Chile. The Consular Section of the Embassy has developed this site to provide the American community in Chile with useful, accurate information about preparing to confront earthquakes and other disasters. Chile is an earthquake-prone country. It sits on the so-called Pacific “Rim of Fire”, the massive expanse of territory from Indonesia, to Japan, to Hawaii, to the Pacific coasts of North and South America, which is characterized by pronounced seismic activity. The most severe earthquake on record, measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale, occurred in south-central Chile in 1960, and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and widespread property damage; smaller, but still significant earthquakes, occur with regularity. Earthquakes are the most common, but not the only natural disaster that visitors and residents of Chile might encounter. For example, undersea seismic activity periodically results in tsunamis, massive tidal waves that can wipe out everything within miles of the ocean. The 1960 earthquake, for example, was accompanied by a devastating tsunami. Many of Chile’s seaside cities and towns have extensive tsunami warning and evacuation systems. Chile has more active volcanoes than any country in the world and Andean snow melts and torrential rains periodically trigger floods. Below you will find a series of links that provide background on natural disaster threats in Chile and information to help you and your family prepare to deal with these threats. The links are drawn from a variety of sources: American and Chilean, academic and official. You might want to start by reading Emergency Assistance to Citizens Abroad, to learn how the Embassy might help you in the event of an emergency. You can start immediately to improve your emergency preparedness by registering with the Embassy. Whether a visitor to or a resident of Chile, we hope that you find the information on this site useful to you. We would be happy to hear any comments you may have about the site or suggestions you may have about how to improve it, at the American Citizens Unit e-mail. - 1960 Earthquake in Chile - A description by the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S) of the largest earthquake on record. See a map locating the epicenter of the earthquake. - U.S.G.S. Earthquake Hazards Program – Information on worldwide earthquake activity, earthquake science, and earthquake hazard reduction. - Tsunami! – A site hosted by the University of Washington Department of Earth and Space Sciences. - Seismological Service, Geophysics Department, University of Chile – comprehensive site with Chile-specific earthquake information - Department of State Consular Information Sheet on Chile – basic information about Chile; includes security and hazard-related information. - U.S. Embassy Administrative Notice to Personnel on Earthquake Preparedness (PDF 141 KB) – a document provided to all U.S. Embassy employees - Basic Integral Security Guide for Visitors and Foreign Residents in Chile – (PDF 171 KB) ONEMI’s basic document, in English, describing hazards in Chile and measures taken by the Chilean government to address them. Essential reading. - Are you ready? – FEMA’s in-depth guide to emergency preparedness. Adressess manmade (terrorism, chemical/biological warfare) as well as natural threats. Includes information about making a disaster kit, with food, water and other essential supplies. All downloadable documents on this page are provided in PDF format. To view PDFs you must have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may download a free version by clicking the link above.

Information for Visitors/Residents in Chile Welcome to the Emergency Preparedness website of the United States Embassy in Santiago, Chile. The Consular Section of the Embassy has developed this site to provide the American community in Chile with useful, accurate information about preparing to confront earthquakes and other disasters. Chile is an earthquake-prone country. It sits on the so-called

In this section Section highlightHouses into homes This report details findings to emerge from the evaluation during the first six months of delivery (April to September 2012). Written Statement - Update on tobacco policy »Standardised packaging of tobacco products and Sub Committees on The Smoke-free Premises etc. (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2012.Learn more » Living Longer: Ageing Well The third phase of the Welsh Government’s pioneering Strategy for Older People in Wales has been launched. - ‘Enterprise Troopers’ set to storm Wales’ primary schools - “Wales is leading the way on Sustainable Procurement” – Jane Hutt - Living Longer: Ageing Well In this section - Business and economy - Children and young people - Culture and sport - Education and skills - Environment and countryside - Equality and diversity - Health and social care - Housing and community - Improving public services In this section Section highlightAccess to information The Welsh Government has followed the principles of openness in government for many years. Find out how you can make a freedom of information request or see requests that have already been made. Sky lanterns: environmental and risk assessment »To establish an evidence base to help any future policy decisions on sky lanterns and helium balloons.Learn more » - Higher Education (Wales) Bill: Technical consultation - Renting Homes White Paper - Continuity and Change - Refreshing the Relationship between Welsh Government and the Third Sector in Wales - Development of a national standards and outcomes framework for Children and Young People's advocacy services in Wales - Strategic Environmental Assessment: Environmental Report, Rural Development Plan for Wales 2014-2020 - The draft School Governors’ Annual Reports (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 Featured consultation »Implementing the Domestic Fire Safety (Wales) Measure 2011 26 days left In this section Section highlightFurther and Higher Education (Governance and Information) (Wales) Bill 2013 Removes a number of technical restrictions and controls on colleges without changing the principal powers of colleges to provide further, higher and secondary education. Legislative programme 2012 - 2013 » Addressing the Assembly in the Senedd today, the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, detailed the eight bills in the Welsh Government’s 5-year Legislative Programme that will be brought forward during the second year of the Welsh Assembly.Learn more » Section highlightCommunity Infrastructure Levy Local authorities can charge a Community Infrastructure Levy on new developments to support the infrastructure needed. 2nd Supplementary Budget 2012-13 » Proposes a number of changes to the 1st Supplementary Budget for 2012-13, which was published on 26 June 2012.Learn more » The Equality Objectives and Strategic Equality Plan We want to ensure the way we govern has the most effective impact on making our society fairer and more inclusive. Making Equalities Work for Wales The Welsh Government has been engaging with individuals and organisations across Wales to develop our Equality Objectives. We are very grateful for the extensive help, input and support given to us in shaping the Welsh Government’s Equality Objectives. Our Equality Objectives will help ensure that public services and employment are fair, accessible, responsive to people’s needs, and that communities are inclusive. We want everyone to feel safe out and about and have their chance to flourish at school and in work. People should not be put at a disadvantage by any of the following: - Faith or belief - Sexual orientation - Pregnancy and maternity - Being married or in a civil partnership - Being a disabled person - Being transgender Our Equality Objectives sit within our Strategic Equality Plan. These objectives will underpin our work, ensuring a joined up approach to achieving better outcomes for the people of Wales. They will be reflected within the Programme for Government and dovetail closely with our Anti-Poverty Action Plan. Our extensive engagement has confirmed the greatest inequalities we are trying to tackle. This Strategic Equality Plan marks the beginning in many ways, as we start delivering on the Equality Objectives. We will continue the conversation with the people of Wales to make sure that these Objectives achieve the outcomes we want, and make a real difference to people’s lives. Our Strategic Equality Plan is available in alternative formats and languages. If you would like to request this information in an alternative format please let us know. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Division 2nd Floor East Wing English 0300 060 3300 or 0845 010 3300 Welsh 0300 0604400 or 0845 010 4400

In this section Section highlightHouses into homes This report details findings to emerge from the evaluation during the first six months of delivery (April to September 2012). Written Statement - Update on tobacco policy »Standardised packaging of tobacco products and Sub Committees on The Smoke-free Premises etc. (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2012.Learn more » Living Longer: Ageing Well The th

When Sarah Coleman and Carl Sack first saw “Big Blue,” they knew they were home. The massive house, so named because all the rooms were painted shades of the color, was built in the 1920s on two and a half lots in the Corey-Merrill neighborhood of inner-city Denver. Hi folks. This appears on daily5REMODEL today, and I'm republishing it here to elicit more feedback for Michael and Carl. If you'd like to be eligible to win Carl's forthcoming book, Green Building: Principles and Practices in Residential Construction ($99), please…Continue Added by Leah Thayer on December 13, 2011 at 7:00am — No Comments note: I published this article today on daily5REMODEL, and remodelers and home performance pros are weighing in with some excellent responses. Feel free to post your response here, but please also post it on d5R if you want to be eligible for the prize, a signed and inscribed copy of the forthcoming book…Continue

When Sarah Coleman and Carl Sack first saw “Big Blue,” they knew they were home. The massive house, so named because all the rooms were painted shades of the color, was built in the 1920s on two and a half lots in the Corey-Merrill neighborhood of inner-city Denver. Hi folks. This appears on daily5REMODEL today, and I'm republishing it here to elicit more feedback for Michael and Carl. If you'd li

New York State's system of regionalized perinatal services includes a hierarchy of four levels of perinatal care provided by the hospitals within a region and led by a Regional Perinatal Center (RPC). The regional system is led by an RPC that is capable of providing all the services and expertise required by the most acutely sick or at-risk pregnant women and newborns. The concentration of high-risk patients makes it possible to enhance and maintain the level of expertise in the care of high-risk obstetric and neonatal patients, as well as justify the substantial expense required to establish and maintain neonatal intensive care units and attending-level subspecialty consultation. RPCs provide or coordinate maternal-fetal and newborn transfers of high-risk patients from their affiliate hospitals to the RPC, and are responsible for support, education, consultation and improvements in the quality of care in the affiliate hospitals within their region. The four levels of perinatal care within the regionalization system vary by the types of patients that are treated, availability of sub-specialty consultation, qualifications of staff, types of equipment available and volume of high-risk perinatal patients treated. Besides the RPC, there are three other levels of care:

New York State's system of regionalized perinatal services includes a hierarchy of four levels of perinatal care provided by the hospitals within a region and led by a Regional Perinatal Center (RPC). The regional system is led by an RPC that is capable of providing all the services and expertise required by the most acutely sick or at-risk pregnant women and newborns. The concentration of high-ri

Grothman to Introduce Bill to Freeze Renewable Portfolio Standard at 2012 Levels Madison: Today, in response to concerns raised by constituents in Sheboygan County, Senator Grothman announced he would introduce legislation in January freezing the renewable requirements for Wisconsin utilities at 2012 levels. “The ten percent renewable portfolio standard imposed on Wisconsin utilities in 2006 was a mistake. Wisconsin utilities are primarily meeting this standard through windmills. This is raising the cost of electricity at a time Wisconsin families are struggling to make ends meet. Worse, it is tearing at the fabric of Wisconsin communities when new windmills are proposed. Credible cases of health problems are brought forth together with stories of lower property values,” said Grothman. Senator Grothman added, “As overall power usage goes up, utilities will have to use more and more windmills. Freezing the amount needed at 2012 levels should stop this demand. It would be alright to get rid of the standard altogether, but that is not viable at this time. It should be pointed out that all major utilities have already largely met the standard for 2012. I feel confident that such a bill would pass and put an end to the market for new, divisive windmills in this state.”

Grothman to Introduce Bill to Freeze Renewable Portfolio Standard at 2012 Levels Madison: Today, in response to concerns raised by constituents in Sheboygan County, Senator Grothman announced he would introduce legislation in January freezing the renewable requirements for Wisconsin utilities at 2012 levels. “The ten percent renewable portfolio standard imposed on Wisconsin utilities in 2006 was a

October 2009, Volume 1, Issue 10 Check your Fall Calendars! YARP Voting Begins Teen Read Week National Friends of Libraries Week National Novel Writing Month American Education Week Letters for Literature Dec. 12 deadline Share your opinions of the Cornerstone Newsletter in this quick survey! Featured e-Resource of the Month Take another look at school library standards It’s time to take another look at the South Dakota School Library Standards. Endorsed by SDLA and adopted by the SD Board of Education and the SD State Library Board in 2004-2005, these voluntary goals and guidelines have served our school libraries for five years. Much has changed in the world of information, technology and education in the past five years. In that time the American Association of School Librarians has published Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action and Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. If you have not yet had a chance, take a look at these publications at AASL: Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. AASL has also developed a national plan called Learning 4 Life, or L4L, to implement the new standards and guidelines. One of the major steps in the plan is to make everyone in the school library community aware of the new standards. In SD we have been communicating that information in one-to-one site visits and at related trainings and conferences. We are ready to make plans to take another step. Responsibility for the standards has moved from SDLA to the State Library. If you are interested in being involved in revising the SD School Library Standards in any way over the next year, contact Joan Upell at [email protected]. Voluntary free reading is key component in reading success Reading is the baseline skill for success in school and in life so a goal for teachers and librarians is to get kids excited about reading books and media. Students who read are better writers. Students who can’t read or who read poorly frequently struggle to access and use technology productively and efficiently. How do we get busy or, perhaps, disinterested kids to read? Many experts advocate for offering them choices in reading matter. Stephen Krashen notes in The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research “in-school free reading programs [or voluntary reading] are consistently effective … [these] readers do as well or better than students who were engaged in traditional language arts programs.” Krashen further states that the longer free voluntary reading is practiced, the more consistent and positive the results. According to Lisa Von Drasek in “Summer Reading? Good! Assigned Reading? Bad,” a successful reading program should more broadly define reading to include not only books but also magazines and zines, graphic novels, comics, nonfiction and listening to audio books. Read more at the EarlyWord. For more evidence, read about the experience of Jonesboro, Georgia teacher Lorrie McNeill who, after 15 years of teaching reading traditionally by assigning one book as a whole-class read, last fall turned over book reading decisions to the students in her seventh and eighth grade English classes. In May Ms. McNeill’s approach was vindicated when she received results of her students’ performance on state reading tests: 15 of the 18 eighth graders exceeded requirements and scored in the highest bracket. As seventh graders the previous year, only four of the same class had reached that level. The entire article is at New York Times: A New Assignment: Pick Books You Like. Do we throw out traditional reading programs? Of course not, but maybe Voluntary Free Reading as a component of school reading programs could contribute to success in creating accomplished and active student readers. In South Dakota the Prairie Bud, Prairie Pasque and YARP/Teen Reads lists offer terrific ideas for giving students reading choices. For more info on all three programs go to: Prairie Bud, Prairie Pasque, and YARP Teen Reads. Looking for motivation for your reluctant teen readers? Orca Book Publishers we will be giving away a free download of the new Graphic Guide Adventure - Media Meltdown starting Oct. 1. Visit Media Meltdown to claim your free copy of this exciting graphic novel. The site also features games and activities and an information page for teachers and librarians on media literacy. Tools to use for Web site evaluation Here are two tools you can use to help teach your staff and middle and high school students some Web site evaluation strategies. All you need to use both of these tools is the URL of a Web site. To find the owner of a Web site go to easyWhois. Knowing who owns the site is a lot like knowing who published a book. Students need to know if the information they are finding is from a qualified and reliable source. Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive lets you find the history of a Web site. You can see when the site first began and the changes that have been made to it over time. You can also use this to find a site that takes you to a dead link, or to find information that was once on the site but has been updated and removed.

October 2009, Volume 1, Issue 10 Check your Fall Calendars! YARP Voting Begins Teen Read Week National Friends of Libraries Week National Novel Writing Month American Education Week Letters for Literature Dec. 12 deadline Share your opinions of the Cornerstone Newsletter in this quick survey! Featured e-Resource of the Month Take another look at school library standards It’s time to take another l

"Length 1402 ft. width 360 ft." "Machinen Halle, Galerie des machines." In general appearance at a distance resembles the Main Exhibition Building, but the architectural details are quite different. The structure is located about 550 feet west of the Main Exhibition Building, its north front being upon the same line, so that, viewed from the interior of the grounds, this building appears to be a continuation of the other. This structure is 1402 feet long, 360 feet wide, with an annex extending from the centre 210 feet in depth to Elm avenue, this extra space being 208 feet wide. There are also 2 other annexes and 4 boiler-houses, with some small buildings. There are two main avenues, each 90 feet wide, with a central aisle between them, 60 feet in width. Two aisles, each 60 feet wide, one on the north and one on the south side, finish out the ground-plan. Taking off from the interior the front constructions and galleries, these aisles are each 1360 feet long. In the centre is a transept 90 feet wide, extending from north to south, and widening on the south line of the main building to 208 feet. The chief portion of this edifice is one story in height, the main cornice on the outside being 40 feet from the ground. The interior height to the top of the elevator, from the avenues, is 70 feet; in the aisles it is 40 feet. The foundations are piers of masonry, upon which are erected solid timber columns, which stand in rows 16 feet apart. The columns are 40 feet high, and support the 90-feet roof-spans and 60-feet roof-spans at the aisles. The outer walls are built of masonry to the height of 5 feet, above which are glazed sash in connection with the columns. These windows are movable for ventilation, and there are Louvre ventilators along the avenues and aisles. The light is from the north and south. The annex fitted up for hydraulic machines has a tank 60 x 160 feet, with 10 feet depth of water. The interior is handsomely decorated in light colors, the pillars, ties, struts and roof being painted with taste, so as to create an agreeable effect. The exterior is diversified in the long lines by façades and projections at the main entrances, which extend 78 feet in height and are ornamented with arches and towers. In the centre there is a façade and tower with projecting wings. East and west of the centre, about halfway between that portion of the building and the ends, are other projections. There are eight entrances upon the sides, four of which, with doorways and ornaments, help to break up the uniformity. From these doorways walks lead across the building, 10 feet wide. The promenades in the avenues are 15 feet wide; in the aisles, 10 feet wide; and in the transept, 25 feet wide. The entire area is 558,440 square feet, or nearly 13 acres, and with the gallery space the available area is nearly 14 acres. The architects are Henry Pettit and Joseph M. Wilson; the builder, Philip Quigley, of Wilmington, Del. Cost of the building, $792,000. This building was constructed entirely at the cost of the city of Philadelphia, and will permanently remain on the grounds after the Exhibition is closed. 1 lithograph; 12 x 22 cm. Architect: Henry Pettit and Joseph M. Wilson. Removed from: Centennial portfolio / Thompson Westcott. Philadelphia : T. Hunter, 1876. The Building, situated in a landscaped field, with people strolling in the foreground.

"Length 1402 ft. width 360 ft." "Machinen Halle, Galerie des machines." In general appearance at a distance resembles the Main Exhibition Building, but the architectural details are quite different. The structure is located about 550 feet west of the Main Exhibition Building, its north front being upon the same line, so that, viewed from the interior of the grounds, this building appears to be a c

U.S. Embassy Grants - Ambassador's Special Self-Help Fund (Fiscal Year 2012: $50,000) This Self-help fund provides small, short-term grants (one-year) to community groups that are working to improve the basic economic and social conditions of their villages or communities. The fund provides grants for activities such as construction of classrooms, construction of community centers and health clinics, and boreholes for access to clean water. - PEPFAR HIV/AIDS Community Grants (Fiscal Year 2012: $112,500) The PEPFAR HIV/AIDS Community Grants Program, funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) awards community-initiated projects in Lesotho which assist and promote orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) and HIV/AIDS infected persons. - PEPFAR Gender Challenge Fund (Fiscal Year 2012: $300,000) The PEFPAR Gender Challenge Fund, funded by PEPFAR, is a Gender-based program that will provide capacity building and grants to small female-operated businesses. This program supports and builds upon the work accomplished by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA Lesotho) gender based activities. The grants are only available for the women who have already been trained by MCA Lesotho. - PEPFAR Scholarship Program (Fiscal Year 2012: $100,000) The PSP provides scholarships for the retention of girls and boys who would otherwise have no means of staying in school. Mentoring and health training for the students complements the scholarship program. Students are awarded scholarships on the basis of academic merit, income, and the effects of HIV/AIDS on the child or family. This program is a continuation of the Ambassador's Girls Scholarship Program which ended in December 2011. We are no longer accepting new students in this program. - Public Affairs Grants Program Public Affairs grants are intended for local representatives of civil society, including non-governmental organizations and universities. They support projects to: 1. Encourage Entrepreneurship and/or sustainable economic growth in Lesotho. 2. Strengthen people-to-people ties to deepen the partnership between Lesotho and the United States. 3. Expand media engagement and/pr public awareness on issues of women's rights, Trafficking in Persons, HIV/AIDS, and/or democracy. MCC assists in various projects including healthcare. Millennium Challenge Corporation in Lesotho assists in various projects including the healthcare sector. For more information, please contact the Special Projects Section of the U.S. Embassy at [email protected] or +266.2231.2666

U.S. Embassy Grants - Ambassador's Special Self-Help Fund (Fiscal Year 2012: $50,000) This Self-help fund provides small, short-term grants (one-year) to community groups that are working to improve the basic economic and social conditions of their villages or communities. The fund provides grants for activities such as construction of classrooms, construction of community centers and health clini

Marriage in Belarus Requirements for Marriage If you plan to get married in Belarus, you must plan ahead. There are several documents you will need to obtain both in the U.S. and Belarus. This information is provided for general information only and may not be totally accurate in every case. Questions involving interpretation of specific foreign laws should be addressed to the foreign embassy or consulate, the foreign law division of the Library of Congress, or a foreign attorney. Note: Only marriages performed at a registrar's office (ZAGS – Office for Matrimonial Acts Registration) are legally valid in Belarus. A church ceremony may be held later, if desired. It is important to remember that all documents submitted must be translated into Russian (or Belarusian) and that the processing, in most cases, will require time. (The application fee and marriage registration service fee is about $7 charged in local currency, and subject to minor cost fluctuations.) Marriage registration is preceded by filing a marriage application with the ZAGS assigned to the area where the Belarusian fiancé(e) resides. Applications should be filed by both fiancé(e)s who certify their intention to get married by signing the application in the presence of a ZAGS representative. According to Belarusian laws, a marriage can not be registered sooner than 3 or later than 90 calendar days after it was applied for. Below is a list of documents to be submitted to the registrar's office (ZAGS) by the engaged couple: Passport translated into Russian: translation must be notarized by a local notary public. Certificate of Free Status (Certificate of Non-Impediment) - required of all foreigners marrying in Belarus. ZAGS offices generally accept an "Affidavit of Free Status" executed before an American Consul in Belarus or before a notary public in the U.S. In the latter case, the affidavit should be translated into Russian and authenticated in accordance with the Hague Legalization Convention, and bear an apostille. See the State Department web site for additional information on the Hague Legalization Convention and its procedures. Documents issued in the U.S. can be authenticated only in the U.S. The state where the document is issued will need to affix the apostille. In case the "Certificate of Free Status" lists the American fiancé(e)'s status as "divorced" or "widowed" a divorce decree or death certificate is required. In both instances the document must be translated into Russian and have an apostille affixed to it. After the marriage is performed, a marriage certificate will be issued by ZAGS. For further use outside Belarus, the certificate should bear an apostille from the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus in Minsk (37a Karl Marx Street, Minsk 220030, tel. +375 (172) 222661; an equivalent of $12 is charged in local currency for each apostille) or at the appropriate Belarusian consulate abroad. We recommend that you do this in Minsk, as otherwise the cost can be prohibitive. Prior to travel to Belarus, U.S. citizens are urged to review the Consular Information Sheet, and any pertinent Public Announcements or Travel Warnings. For additional information on fiancé(e) or immigrant visas for a spouse see http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_2991.html. All downloadable documents on this page are provided in PDF format. To view PDFs you must have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may download a free version by clicking the link above.

Marriage in Belarus Requirements for Marriage If you plan to get married in Belarus, you must plan ahead. There are several documents you will need to obtain both in the U.S. and Belarus. This information is provided for general information only and may not be totally accurate in every case. Questions involving interpretation of specific foreign laws should be addressed to the foreign embassy or c

Print friendly version Other Names for this Disease - Hypomagnesemia-hypokalemia, primary renotubular, with hypocalciuria - Potassium and magnesium depletion See Disclaimer regarding information on this site. Some links on this page may take you to organizations outside of the National Institutes of Health. Gitelman syndrome is a kidney condition that causes an imbalance of charged atoms (ions) in the body, including ions of potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Signs and symptoms usually appear in late childhood or adolescence and vary widely. Most affected individuals have relatively mild symptoms. Common symptoms include painful muscle spasms (tetany), muscle weakness or cramping, dizziness, salt craving, and tingling or prickly sensations in the skin on the face (paresthesias). Some experience fatigue, low blood pressure, and a painful joint condition called chondrocalcinosis. It is caused by mutations in the SLC12A3 or CLCNKB genes and is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. - Gitelman syndrome. Genetics Home Reference. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/gitelman-syndrome. Accessed October 10, 2011. - Genetics Home Reference (GHR) contains information on Gitelman syndrome. Click on the link to go to GHR and review the information. - Medscape Reference provides information on this topic. Click on the link to view this information. You may need to register to view the medical textbook, but registration is free. - The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library provides information on this condition. Click on the link to view the information. - Orphanet is a European reference portal for information on rare diseases and orphan drugs. Access to this database is free of charge. Click on the link to read information on this topic. - PubMed is a searchable database of medical literature and lists journal articles that discuss Gitelman syndrome. Click on the link to view a sample search on this topic. - The The Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database contains genetics resources that discuss Gitelman syndrome. Click on the link to go to OMIM and review these resources. Selected Full-Text Journal Articles - Gitelman syndrome. Knoers NV, Levtchenko EN. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2008 Jul 30;3:22. Review.

Print friendly version Other Names for this Disease - Hypomagnesemia-hypokalemia, primary renotubular, with hypocalciuria - Potassium and magnesium depletion See Disclaimer regarding information on this site. Some links on this page may take you to organizations outside of the National Institutes of Health. Gitelman syndrome is a kidney condition that causes an imbalance of charged atoms (ions) in

KABUL, June 1, 2008 (AFP) - More than 120,000 refugees have returned to Afghanistan this year with UN help, the world body's refugee agency said Sunday, warning the country had limited capacity to take people back. Ninety-nine percent of the 123,244 returnees had arrived from Pakistan and most of the remainder from Iran, UNHCR public information officer Mohammad Nadir Farhad said in a statement. Most of the returning families had gone back to where they had originally come from, he said. But several temporary settlements had

KABUL, June 1, 2008 (AFP) - More than 120,000 refugees have returned to Afghanistan this year with UN help, the world body's refugee agency said Sunday, warning the country had limited capacity to take people back. Ninety-nine percent of the 123,244 returnees had arrived from Pakistan and most of the remainder from Iran, UNHCR public information officer Mohammad Nadir Farhad said in a statement. M

Australian Bureau of Statistics 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003 Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2003 |Page tools: Print Page RSS Search this Product| During 1999-2000, government organisations spent an estimated $4.3b, or 5% of total government operating expenditure, on IT&T. By level of government, Federal government expenditure on IT&T was 7% of total Federal government operating expenditure, state/territory expenditure on IT&T was 4% of total state/territory operating expenditure, and local government expenditure on IT&T was 2% of total local government operating expenditure. This page last updated 20 January 2006 Unless otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia Licence together with any terms, conditions and exclusions as set out in the website Copyright notice. For permission to do anything beyond the scope of this licence and copyright terms contact us.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003 Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2003 |Page tools: Print Page RSS Search this Product| During 1999-2000, government organisations spent an estimated $4.3b, or 5% of total government operating expenditure, on IT&T. By level of government, Federal government expenditure on IT&T was 7% of total Federal governm

Forecast issued at 4:16 pm EST on Wednesday 22 May 2013. A high pressure system over southern WA extends a ridge to the south of Tasmania. A low pressure system centred north of Mildura will move rapidly eastwards across N.S.W tonight and early Thursday and weaken. Another low will develop off the northern NSW coast during Thursday. The high will reach the Bight late Thursday then move across the Bight on Friday, the associated ridge will weaken as it moves northward during this period. The next cold front will move across Bass Strait Friday. The high will move from the Bight to lie near Adelaide by late Saturday and will move slowly towards Victoria on Sunday. Forecast for the rest of Wednesday Cloudy. The chance of light showers this evening. Winds south to southeasterly and light. Thursday 23 May Patchy fog early in the morning. The chance of light showers near the Otways in the morning. Patches of light morning frost near the Grampians. Mostly sunny afternoon. Winds east to southeasterly 20 to 30 km/h becoming light in the evening. Overnight temperatures falling to between 4 and 8 with daytime temperatures reaching around 17. No UV Alert, UV Index predicted to reach 2 [Low] Friday 24 May Partly cloudy. Patchy fog and frost in the morning. Isolated showers from the late morning until late afternoon. Light winds becoming west to southwesterly 15 to 20 km/h in the middle of the day then becoming light in the evening. Overnight temperatures falling to between 2 and 6 with daytime temperatures reaching around 16. Saturday 25 May Areas of morning fog in the north. A mostly cloudy day with isolated showers in the south, extending throughout during the morning. Winds westerly 15 to 25 km/h. Overnight temperatures falling to between 5 and 10 with daytime temperatures reaching around 16. Sunday 26 May Cloudy. Isolated showers. Winds west to southwesterly and light increasing to 15 to 25 km/h during the morning then becoming light during the evening. Overnight temperatures falling to between 6 and 10 with daytime temperatures reaching around 16. The next routine forecast will be issued at 5:40 am EST Thursday.

Forecast issued at 4:16 pm EST on Wednesday 22 May 2013. A high pressure system over southern WA extends a ridge to the south of Tasmania. A low pressure system centred north of Mildura will move rapidly eastwards across N.S.W tonight and early Thursday and weaken. Another low will develop off the northern NSW coast during Thursday. The high will reach the Bight late Thursday then move across the

The search textbox has an autosuggest feature. When you enter three or more characters, a list of up to 10 suggestions will popup under the textbox. Use the arrow keys to move through the suggestions. To select a suggestion, hit the enter key. Using the escape key closes the listbox and puts you back at the textbox. The radio buttons allow you to toggle between having all search items start with or contain the text you entered in the search box. primary endpoint (PRY-mayr-ee END-poynt) |The main result that is measured at the end of a study to see if a given treatment worked (e.g., the number of deaths or the difference in survival between the treatment group and the control group). What the primary endpoint will be is decided before the study begins.|

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Press Briefing Transcript CDC, FDA, Massachusetts Department of Public Health Joint Telebriefing Updating Investigation of Meningitis Outbreak Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 3 p.m. ET - Audio recording (MP3, 16MB) OPERATOR: Welcome, and thank you for standing by. I would just like to remind all parties that the lines have been placed in a listen only mode until the question and answer session of today's call. This call is also being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Curtis Allen and sir you may begin. CURTIS ALLEN: I thank everyone for joining the CDC and the FDA at the Massachusetts Department of Health joint telebriefing updating our investigation on the meningitis outbreak. We have three speakers available today, but there are also technical experts around the table who might be available to answer additional questions. First is J. Todd Weber, MD with CDC. And he's the Incident Manager of the multistate meningitis outbreak and then we have Deborah Autor, and she's the Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy at FDA. And then Dr. Madeleine Biondolillo, Director, Department of Public Health, Bureau of Health Care and Safety and Quality at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. We are going to do things slightly differently today. I will begin the introductions, and then after the introductions and then when we move to the Q&A, Erica Jefferson at FDA will take over the Q&A. So with that let me introduce Dr. J Todd Weber. J. TODD WEBER: Thank you, Curtis. Today I would like to give you an update on CDC's efforts to date on tracking down patients who may have been exposed to the medication in question, what we know from the laboratory testing about the fungus associated with these infections, what CDC is doing to ensure that patients are receiving the best possible treatment based on the latest clinical information from confirmed meningitis cases. What we know about patients who may have received this medication as an injection in a joint and how we are working with FDA to evaluate long-term strategies to protect patients from exposure to contaminated medicine. I'll start with the update on the patient notification efforts. On Monday, we stated that the CDC believed that approximately 13,000 patients may have been exposed to the three indicated lots of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate produced by the compounding center which is frequently referred to by the acronym NECC, continuing investigations by state and local health departments have demonstrated that this number is now closer to 14,000 patients. The 14,000 patients received the medication as a steroid injection either into the spinal area or into a joint space such as a knee, shoulder or ankle. Through the tremendous efforts of our state and local public health departments and utilizing CDC's Emergency Operations Center to staff a call center to contact patients, we are happy to say that together, we have successfully contacted over 12,000 or 90% of these nearly 14,000 patients. CDC and public health officials are referring any patients who have symptoms to possible meningitis or possible joint infection to their physician who can evaluate them further. However, we know we are not out of the woods yet. In these notifications, we are making sure patients understand that should they develop symptoms of meningitis or joint infections in the coming weeks, they need to seek medical care immediately. Among people with meningitis for whom we have clinical information available, the onset of symptoms is typically between 1 and 4 weeks following injection. However, we want to emphasize that we know fungal infections can be slow to develop, and that there are indeed reports of longer periods of time between the injection and the onset of symptoms so patients and their doctors will need to be vigilant for at least several months following the injection. Patients with meningitis have presented with a variety of symptoms including fever, new or worsening headache, nausea or a new neurological deficit consistent with a deep brain stroke. Almost all patients have reported headaches and half have reported fever, back pain or nausea. Some of these patients' symptoms were mild. Given the severity of the fungal meningitis, time is of the essence. We know we can save lives by identifying patients early and getting them on appropriate anti-fungal therapy. Now I will talk about the infections that have been reported to us. As of October 11th, today, we have 169 meningitis cases that have resulted in 14 deaths across 11 states. Additionally, we have one joint infection case that has just been reported to us. This person received an injection from one of the three recalled lots. Laboratory results are not complete at the time so we cannot be sure if this is a fungal infection. A breakdown of the number of cases per state is available on CDC's website. Next, I would like to discuss in more detail what we know about the fungi that has been identified to date in this outbreak. As we reported a week ago, the first patient with fungal meningitis from Tennessee had an infection from a fungus known as Aspergillus, since that time the laboratory confirmed cases of fungal meningitis have all had infections caused by a different fungus known as Exserohilum and the spelling is on the website. To date CDC laboratories have confirmed the presence of fungus Exserohilum in ten people with meningitis, and the fungus Aspergillus in only one person with meningitis. That was our first patient. We are aware of three additional Exserohilum cases confirmed by other laboratories. I am now going to walk you through some complex points regarding diagnosis and treatment. We know that fungus such as Exserohilum can be difficult to detect from samples from patients. Patients and their clinicians should not assume fungal testing that is negative, means there is no infection. In other words, patients who received an injection with one of the three recalled lots of steroids may be diagnosed with meningitis, but their fungal testing may be negative. In these cases, patients should still be treated for fungal meningitis. Similarly, curing these infections requires prolonged treatment and patients should adhere to the treatment recommendations of their physician. The CDC's laboratory continues to get specimens for testing daily. Although we are not prepared to say that Exserohilum is the sole cause of these injections we are certainly seeing a predominance of that fungus among the patients with meningitis. Let me emphasize that historically fungal meningitis is very rare and Exserohilum has not been seen previously as a cause of fungal meningitis. This is new territory for public health and the clinical community. So, you may be wondering, what does this laboratory testing mean for patients. Knowing the type of fungus causing these infections will directly impact the treatment regimen we are recommending for patients. CDC has convened a panel of the nation's leading clinical fungal experts who are working with us to ensure that our diagnostic and treatment guidance is appropriate for identifying and treating these patients should they become ill. We initially started with a treatment recommendation that was narrow in scope. Once we had laboratory confirmation of Exserohilum infections we broadened the scope of the treatment guidance to ensure that we were giving the patients an appropriate regimen to fight these fungal infections. At the present time we are recommending that patients with confirmed fungal meningitis receive two anti-fungal drugs, -- voriconazole and lipsomal amphotericin B. These drugs are very strong and can be very difficult for patients to tolerate over a long period of time. We are working with our clinical experts to determine the best dose and the best length of time to treat patients. As additional information comes in from CDC's laboratory, and from FDA's testing of the vials of medications that were in the facility, it is possible that our clinical recommendation will change. We are working quickly to gather as much information as possible to ensure that doctors and nurses who are treating any patients with fungal meningitis have the necessary information they need to appropriately care for these patients. Next, I want to shift gears and talk about the patients who received the potentially contaminated medication as a steroid injection in a joint space such as knee, ankle or shoulder. As I mentioned, CDC and the Michigan Department of Community Health have confirmed today the first patient with evidence of joint infection following injection with the implicated medication. We are working to get additional information on this individual patient. To reiterate laboratory results are not complete at this time. We expected through our patient notification efforts we may see additional patients come forward with infections of the joints. These patients may present with symptoms including fever, increased pain, redness, warmth or swelling in the joint where they received the injection or at the injection site. CDC will be releasing guidelines for the clinicians to manage and treat patients with fungal joint infections. I want to take a moment and acknowledge tremendous work happening across the country by state and local health departments during this investigation. Last week we mentioned the rapid work by the Tennessee Department of Health in piecing together the information from the initial cases and helping CDC and FDA crack open this investigation. Today, we talked about the work by the Michigan Department of Community Health in identifying the first case of fungal joint infection. I also would like to acknowledge the Virginia Department of Health was the first to identify that the patients presenting fungal meningitis was in the rare form cause by Exserohilum. Their laboratory was the first to make this connection and put CDC further ahead in the clinical investigation. Over the weekend, public health officials worked tirelessly to track down 14,000 patients in 23 states that had been exposed to the implicated medication. Additionally, CDC has stood up our Emergency Operations Center to better respond to this outbreak and is working 24/7 to ensure that patients are notified, clinicians have the necessary information to treat these patients, clinical specimens are tested and fungal isolates are promptly identified. These examples demonstrate the public health efforts to save lives and protect people. This outbreak highlights the need to ensure that all products, processes and procedures used in healthcare are safe. CDC is committed to working with our federal partners at FDA to ensure that long-term strategies are put into place to prevent contaminated medication from entering our healthcare system. We want patients who access healthcare to be confident they are not going to get a potentially devastating illness as a result of their care. This is a necessary safety net that all Americans deserve. Thank you – I would now like to turn it over to my colleague at FDA, Dr. Deborah Autor. DEBORAH AUTOR: Thank you. Let me first start by saying we know how unsetting these recent events have been and we send our deepest sympathies to all who are impacted by this tragic situation. It is our goal here at FDA to understand and contain the health risk as quickly as possible. We consider this a top priority and we are dedicating many, many resources to this investigation. Once the immediate crisis is contained, we want to work with Congress, compounders, the states, and all other stakeholders to strengthen the system, to try to prevent tragedies like this in the future. I'll provide an overview of where we are today. First, FDA is working closely with the CDC and state partners, to investigate this meningitis outbreak. It has occurred among patients who have received an epidural steroid injection. The investigation into the exact source of the outbreak is still ongoing, but a contaminated product is suspected to be the cause of the outbreak. As you heard the suspected injectable steroid was compounded and distributed by New England Compounding Center – NECC -- Framingham, Massachusetts. The process of producing sterile drugs is highly complex and must be done with great skill and care. Compounding pharmacies have a responsibility to have processes in place to ensure that they are producing quality drug products that are safe. Failure to do so puts patients at risk. Here's a brief timeline of our investigation into this matter. I want to point out these are some of the major milestones in our investigation. But this has been a 24/7 operation system the moment we found out about this and we are actively working with CDC and the states to contain this public health issue at all possibilities. On September 26, 2012, the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy initiated an inspection at NECC. On October 1, 2012, FDA and the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy together inspected NECC. On October 3, 2012, New England Compounding Center discontinued all operations and voluntarily surrendered its pharmacy registration to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy. No products have been produced or distributed by the facility since October 3, and none of the injectable steroid at issue has been produced since September 26. On October 6, 2012, the NECC, following an earlier recommendation by FDA that none of the firm's compounded products be used, announced a voluntary recall of all products currently in circulation that were compounded at and distributed from this facility. FDA and the Massachusetts State Board of Pharmacy are continuing with our joint inspection of NECC. As one part our inspection, FDA's investigators are taking samples of materials from the NECC facility and testing those samples in an FDA laboratory. We are also reviewing the processes, procedures, and documentation at the facility. We are conducting a thorough investigation. FDA has also collected product samples from clinical facilities around the country that reported ill cases and/or had remaining quantities of methylprednisolone acetate supplied by NECC. FDA investigators also initiated an inspection on October 2, of Busse Hospital Inc., of NY, the firm that provided custom epidural trays to the TN pain clinic, which had an event. The epidural trays were used in conjunction with spinal injections administered at the TN pain clinic and initially considered one of the suspect items associated with the outbreak; they have since been ruled out. The inspection spanned October 2-10th included inspection of Busse's sterilization firm in Long Island, NY. The firms have demonstrated good manufacturing practices. Concurrently, FDA inspectors in New Orleans collected epidural trays from the New Orleans pain clinic central to the outbreak. The epidural trays common to a number of the pain clinics have been analyzed by FDA's Winchester Engineering and Analytical Center lab for fungus. The trays have been negative for fungus implicated in the outbreak. FDA has confirmed fungal contaminant in multiple sealed vials of methylprednisolone acetate injection both at the pharmacy sites from samples collected around the country. FDA in partnership with CDC, is in the process of identifying the exact species of the fungus whether is similar to organism found in the patients. At this time, FDA labs have a number of ongoing analyses of samples taken from NECC and from around the country. These tests are in process, and we will share further information as soon as it is available. Yesterday, also working closely with Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy, FDA launched a joint inspection at Ameridose, as part of our efforts to protect the public health. Because there appears to be a business relationship between Ameridose and NECC, and as a precautionary measure, FDA intends to determine whether certain aspects of compounding practices and facility conditions observed at NECC may also be present at the Ameridose facility. As part of this inspection, FDA will review whether Ameridose has procedures and facilities necessary to assess the firm's ability to safely produce and provide sterile drug products. At the same time that we initiated the inspection with the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy, the State was able to have Ameridose voluntarily cease operations until October 22. Although NECC has recalled all products, we want to be sure that no product compounded by NECC remains on the shelves and we are urging clinics, doctors' offices, and hospitals to check their drug supplies and purchasing records to determine if they have purchased products from NECC. They should immediately remove and isolate those products from their supply. NECC will be providing further instructions regarding the disposition of the products at a future date. Finally, as I noted at the beginning of my remarks, we will continue working with CDC, state health authorities and boards of pharmacy and patient care clinics to notify the public if we determine any other NECC products pose any risks. Again, we give our heartfelt sympathy to all patients and family members who are affected by this situation. We hope that all who touch pharmacy compounding –pharmacists as pharmacies, doctors, regulators, law-makers, and others – can come together, work together, to try to prevent such tragedies in the future. Thank you. MADELEINE BIONDOLILLO: Thank you, Dr. Autor and Dr. Weber. Good afternoon, my name is Dr. Madeleine Biondolillo, I am the Bureau Director for Health Care Safety and Quality at the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services. On behalf of the commonwealth, I want to express my deepest sympathy for each person and their loved one impacted by this tragedy. The department of public health (DPH) continues to closely collaborate with the CDC, the FDA and the other state public health officials to investigate the exact cause of this outbreak of fungal meningitis. DPH took immediate action to protect the public health and safety when first notified of the outbreak late in the evening of September 24th. NECC voluntarily surrendered its license at the request of DPH and has recalled all medications. Yesterday the board of pharmacy issued an alert to all compounding pharmacies in the commonwealth to reinforce for them the rules they must abide by in Massachusetts. Our statutory and regulatory requirements stipulate that compounding can only be conducted upon receipt of a patient's specific prescription. Additionally the board of pharmacy has issued an order requiring that all compounding pharmacies in the commonwealth sign an affidavit attesting compliance with all pertinent laws and regulations. At the request of DPH, Ameridose, LLC, a manufacturing pharmacy in Westborough, Massachusetts, that shares principle ownership with NECC agreed to cease all manufacturing and compounding operation effective October 10th. And other pharmaceuticals have ceased manufacturer and distribution of any compounds from that company. Ameridose and its partnering distributor Alantos pharmaceuticals have cease distribution of all products manufactured and compounded by that company or any of the companies under shared ownership, for any kind of delineated period. The request for a temporary cessation of operations will facilitate a targetted joint DPH, FDA inspection. DPH has seen no evidence to suggest that there is direct concern for compromised products manufactured or compounded by Ameridose, and has not requested a recall at this time. We are working closely with the Massachusetts hospital association to ensure protection of medication supply chains, and we encourage state hospital associations across the country to similarly engage with their providers. Our shared investigation with our federal partners at the FDA continues and will be comprehensive. This includes concerns for quality and safety across the corporate entity including but not limited to corporate ownership and governance structures at NECC and Ameridose. We urge congress to act quickly to address the needs for new laws on the federal level to fill in the regulatory gap so that there is clear authority over regulating these practices. DPH and FDA are jointly examining all root causes of these events and we are committed to ensuring that all responsible parties are held accountable. Thank you very much. CURTIS ALLEN: Okay. We will open it up for questions but first let me turn it over to Erica Jefferson at the FDA. Erica? ERICA JEFFERSON: Thanks Curtis. The one important ground rule before we get started, given the level of interest in this issue we want to make sure that we get to as many people on the phone as possible. So, I will be limiting reporters to one question and a related follow-up. A transcript of the telebriefing will be available after the call. With that, let's begin. Calvin can we take the first question? OPERATOR: Yes, thank you. At this time if you would like to ask the question, please press star one on the telephone keypad. The first question from David Morgan with Reuters and your line is open. DAVID MORGAN: Thank you very much. I'd like to know given the 2006 warning letter from FDA to Dr., which talked about the managed manufacturing scale of production and concerns about health risks including a health risk associated with injectable sterile drugs, wasn't there anything that FDA could have done under current law to prevent this outbreak from taking place? ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Autor? DEBORAH AUTOR: Thank you for the question. The FDA has done a lot together with the states to oversee NECC both being repeatedly inspected and sent a warning letter and NECC has been under consent agreement with the state. I want to point out first and foremost, it is the responsibility of NECC to ensure that they are making safe high quality products and they assured us that they were doing that, so we have taken some action, and I will say that the enforcement in this case and other compounding cases is complicated greatly by litigation and a lack of clarity in the law, and while we have done some with clear authority, we cannot do all. DAVID MORGAN: Are you saying that the NECC misled the FDA and state authorities? DEBORAH AUTOR: I would defer that question to the state, to the state. ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Biondolillo? MADELEINE BIONDOLILLO: This is Madeleine Biondolillo. So, you know, NECC under Massachusetts board of pharmacy licensing regulations was licensed to deliver compounded products in response to individual patient specific prescriptions. And it looks through the investigation as though they have violated that aspect of the state licensing regulation despite their assertion that they were operating under the regulations. ERICA JEFFERSON: Great. Next question. OPERATOR: Thank you. Our next question comes from Jon Lapook from CBS news. Your line is open. JON LAPOOK: We want to know if the -- this is a question directed to the Massachusetts Board of Health. So, how was it that you wouldn't know that this company was shipping volume to a number of states in clear violation of the law? This is the main business as far as we can tell. MADELEINE BIONDOLILLO: This is Dr. Biondolillo from Massachusetts. Under the Massachusetts licensing regulations for pharmacies including compounding pharmacies, there's oversight in this capacity by four distinct bodies. The board of pharmacy supervises the adherence to practice requirements, the FDA supervises the integrity of drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients, and the DEA and the drug control program at the state handle controlled substances, but the DEH regulatory function does not track the volume of medications that are prepared and distributed. There is an arena of intrastate licensing which goes on and following on to Dr. Autor's comment about the need for the evaluation of the federal oversight, this is an area which businesses like NECC have expanded into, and certainly NECC was not operating as far as the investigation has seen so far in accordance with the Massachusetts licensing regulations. However, the intrastate aspect of that is something that bears looking at on a federal level. ERICA JEFFERSON: Do you have a follow up, CBS? JON LAPOOK: So, kind of the way it was set up nobody was looking? MADELEINE BIONDOLILLO: So, as I mentioned, we have had regulatory authority over the company and as Dr. Autor mentioned, the FDA and board of pharmacy inspectors have been out on numerous occasions, and have been inspecting, and this organization chose to apparently violate the licensing requirements under which they were allowed to operate. JON LAPOOK: Thank you. ERICA JEFFERSON: Can we have the next question, please? OPERATOR: Yes, the next question comes from Yamiche Alcindor from USA Today, and your line is open. YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Hi. Several people online have expressed worry about getting the flu shot, because of this outbreak, and obviously the two are completely different, and completely different substances, but what advice or message do you have for people who are feeling scared about it, and people tweeting about whether or not they are going to get the flu shot because of the meningitis outbreak and anybody can answer that and I'm hoping that maybe the CDC could take a crack at that, please. ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Weber? TODD WEBER: Yes, we were having difficulty hearing what she said, and may the question be repeated? YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Oh, hi. Can you hear me now? TODD WEBER: Yes, better. YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Sorry. Several people online have expressed worry about getting the flu shot because of the meningitis outbreak and obviously these are two different substances, but people are tweeting on Facebook and saying that they are scared to get the flu shot because of the meningitis outbreak and what advice or message do you have for people like that those who are feeling anxious about getting the flu shot and I would hope that Dr. Weber could take a crack at that from the CDC, and if anybody else wants to chime in, I would appreciate it. Thank you. TODD WEBER: Okay. This is Todd Weber from the CDC, and we think that these are completely unrelated subjects, and follow the recommendations for getting a flu shot. DEBORAH AUTOR: I would add on to that from the FDA perspective that the flu shots are FDA approved products for safety, whereas compounded products do not have FDA approval and are not approved for efficacy and quality, so this is not going the raise concern as to the quality. YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Okay. Thank you. ERICA JEFFERSON: May we take the next question, please. OPERATOR: Our next question come from Mike Stobbe with the Associated Press. Your line is open. MIKE STOBBE: Thank you. Dr. Autor said that the vials tested positive, but she did not say how much. How many of the vials tested positive at the NECC facility and you said some tested positive out across the country, and could you give us details? DEBORAH AUTOR: There are more than 50 vials that have tested positive for fungus, and we have sent the vials and the samples to the CDC to see if it is connected to the meningitis. ERICA JEFFERSON: Did you have a follow up, Mike? MIKE STOBBE: I did. Where is it coming from? Any developments in the investigation about where in the plant? Was it a particular piece of equipment? Did you think it was from staff there, broken autoclave or anything about how this contamination got into the vial? DEBORAH AUTOR: We continue to investigate that, and to take samples of products and environmental samples, and the facility and looking at records because we are concerned about the conditions at the facility, but at this point, we cannot speak about a definitive link. MIKE STOBBE: You said 50 vials, 5-0, right? DEBORAH AUTOR: Yes. That's correct. ILISA BERNSTEIN: And just to be clear, this is the FDA, but we have a number of samples ongoing in the process as fungus takes a while to grow out and culture. So things are at various different stages, so that we are still waiting to get results from the other testing. ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Bernstein is the Director for the Center for Drugs and Office of Compliance. May we have the next question, please. OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Danielle Dellorto with CNN News. Your line is open. DANIELLE DELLORTO: Thank you. My question is going back into the whole misleading for the FDA and the state level, because records show that the department of veteran affairs actually placed eight different orders with the NECC totaling more than $20,000. These were all large batch orders, and dating back to 2006. So what is your response to that, and, you know, to claim that you didn't know when a government agency was actually ordering drugs from them in bulk and not individual. DEBORAH AUTOR: I think that at this point, we are continuing to investigate the facts to make sure we have a thorough understanding of exactly what was happening and exactly what we were and were not told. I will say that what this points out is that the practice of pharmacy has changed quite a bit. The world has changed a lot since the days of mortar and pestle, and this is the time for pharmacists, for lawmakers, for regulators and for doctors to sit down to grapple with this new model of pharmacy compounding and come up with a regulatory scheme that appropriately controls the risk. DANIELLE DELLORTO: But you are saying that the government, the federal government didn't know that NECC was making and distributing large batches, when the government, itself, actually gave them $20,000 and placed large orders with them. DEBORAH AUTOR: I'm saying that this is an ongoing investigation and we have to understand all aspects of it, and we have potential criminal and civil remedies and we will continue to look into this. ERICA JEFFERSON: And can we take the next question this is. OPERATOR: Next question is from Maggie Fox with NBC. Your line is open. MAGGIE FOX: Thanks very much. The sound on this call for some reason is very, very distorted. Can we ask that the transcript be made available as soon as humanly possible, and my questions are kind of follow-up. Can I ask if any other type of fungus have been found in any of the samples and also can we have more details on the one case, because it is hard to understand the one case of joint injection. ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Weber. TODD WEBER: Right. So -- ERICA JEFFERSON: Maggie, could you repeat the first question. MAGGIE FOX: Yes. Dr. Weber, can you give us more details on the one case when the person was injected in the joint and not the spine. I could not understand what you were saying about that case. TODD WEBER: Well, it has been reported to us because the person got an injection with the steroid lots that were recalled that have been the focus of the investigation, and so they need, and they are meeting the criteria for someone that we would want to investigate further, and they have symptoms in their joints, but we don't have the final results of the laboratory testing, so we don't know if it is a fungal infection. CURTIS ALLEN: Did you have a follow-up? MAGGIE FOX: Dr. Weber, I heard about half of that. Is everybody else having the same trouble hearing you? TODD WEBER: Okay. So I'm not sure if it is on our end. But I will say it again. Can you hear me now? MAGGIE FOX: Yes. TODD WEBER: Okay. So, we know that, that patient got an injection into that joint with the medication that was, you know, one of the three lots that was recalled, and they have symptoms that indicate infection, but we don't have the final results of laboratory tests that tell us whether this is a fungal infection or something else. MAGGIE FOX: But they do have meningitis? TODD WEBER: Pardon me? MAGGIE FOX: They have meningitis? Or they have headaches? TODD WEBER: No, no. Okay. Sorry. No, this is symptoms of an infection in their ankle. MAGGIE FOX: An infection in the ankle. Okay. TODD WEBER: And it is a joint injection and not a spinal injection. MAGGIE FOX: Okay. ERICA JEFFERSON: Are you clear on that now? MAGGIE FOX: I'm sorry. TODD WEBER: It is called a peripheral joint if that would help. MAGGIE FOX: It is the ankle, and that I have an infection in the ankle and no symptoms of meningitis. TODD WEBER: Correct. MAGGIE FOX: And where is this case? ERICA JEFFERSON: Maggie, this is Erica, and so we can continue, can you follow up with Curtis for the details. Calvin, can we take the next question, please. OPERATOR: Yes, from Katie Moisse with ABC news, your line is open. KATIE MOISSE: Hi, thanks very much. I was wondering if someone could comment on the attack rate and explain why some people are developing the infection whereas others are not. Is it a question of dose, if someone could elaborate on that? ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Weber. CURTIS ALLEN: Actually, Dr. Park will answer that question. BENJAMIN PARK: Dr. Benjamin Park, at the CDC. What I would say is that the investigation is ongoing. There are different, there are different clinics and different states in various stages of patient notification and as well as patient follow-up so as this investigation continues to evolve, we will have better data about what the attack rate is. So, I would say that those numbers are yet to be determined right now. ERICA JEFFERSON: And Dr. Park, can you provide the title for the participants on the call, please. BENJAMIN PARK: Ah, sure, Medical Officer. ERICA JEFFERSON: Can we take the next question. OPERATOR: Yes. The next question comes from Sabrina Tavernise from New York Times. Your line is open. SABRINA TAVERNISE: Hi, yes. Thank you for taking my question. Do we know anything about the source of the original materials that went into the compounded drugs? Where they came from? The country of origin? Whether they were generics or what, what was the source of what went into the steroid? DEBORAH AUTOR: Yeah, hi. This is Deborah Autor at FDA, and let me go back to the previous question and with respect to the question of the attack rate one thing that is important to realize is that contamination is not necessarily uniform in a lot of the product, so I'm not saying that is or is not a factor here, but when considering the potential infections here, it may or may not be the case at all vials are equally contaminated with the methylprednisolone acetate source of contamination. With respect to the source of the ingredients, that is something we are actively looking into. We want to make sure that we have traced down every thread in this investigation, and one of those is what is the source of every ingredient in the compounded products that appear to be associated with this problem, and with rein the process of doing that. ERICA JEFFERSON: Sabrina, did you have a follow up? SABRINA TAVERNISE: I wanted to know why the company managers haven't been, and why they were still involved in the recall. DEBORAH AUTOR: When we conduct a recall, and the firm conducts a recall one of the things that is key is for the firm to be there to help us to understand the district shun of the product, and the customers and how the product was sent out and the FDA will oversee the recall and conduct audit checks to ensure that the customers have been notified about the recall, but it is key that the individuals at the firm be involved so that which can make sure that we are able to reach all possible products. ERICA JEFFERSON: Can we take the next question, please. OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Richard Knox with National Public Radio. Your line is open. RICHARD KNOX: Hi. Thanks very much. Can you tell me about what is the longest interval between injection and symptom onset, and something about the distribution of those cases in terms of time? ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Weber or Dr. Park. BENJAMIN PARK: Dr. Park. I'm sorry, Richard, the first question was about the longest duration of time and the second part was what? RICHARD KNOX: Excuse me. If you have any information about the distribution and the time of onset, and I think that many people out there who are worrying that i got the injection last may or july and i noticed earlier in the conference call you say that people have been alert for several months burk i am trying to get behind that and find out what you know about the time of injection versus onset. BENJAMIN PARK: Okay. Richard, thanks. The median time which is the similar to the average, but about the middle time frame that we know of is about two weeks between the last injection that they received and when the symptoms began. Now, the longest that we have is about 42 days. But, again, as Dr. Weber mentioned, we want to emphasize that we don't know what the longest will be, so we don't quite know at this point how long people need to be vigilant for, but as Dr. Weber said, it is important to stay vigilant for a long time afterwards to make sure that they do not develop symptoms of infection. ERICA JEFFERSON: Richard, did you have a follow up? RICHARD KNOX: Yes, please. It is related. It is striking so far that 11 states out of 23 that got these potentially contaminated lots are reporting cases this far in. What are you thinking that signifies or what are the hypotheses about why it is unevenly distributed? BENJAMIN PARK: I would say that there are possibly a lot of reasons as to why the, there are some cases that don't have cases yet. As you know, the investigation is ongoing, and the other thing that we know is that there are some states that did not receive many lots of the medication, and there are some states for example, Tennessee we know received a lot of medication. So it probably has something to do with that. ERICA JEFFERSON: Can we take the next question, please. OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Jennifer Corbett with the Wall Street Journal, and your line is open. JENNIFER CORBETT: Yeah, hi. This question is for Dr. Autor, and you mentioned that the phone was breaking up, and you mentioned some of the stuff that came back negative as to the epidural trays came back negative and can you explain to me what those are and where those were and my other question is of the 50 vials of the steroids, were those all at the facility in Massachusetts or were these taken from some of the clinics? DEBORAH AUTOR:Sure. Thank you, Jennifer. We are spect to the epidural trays, we can easily i think walk you back through that after the call. Essentially, we were doing a comprehensive investigation to look at all of the components that could have been involved here and the epidural trays were among those, but we have at this point ruled that out as a cause of the problem. With respect to the vials that have tested positive, those were vials that we collected at the facility and also at clinics. JENNIFER CORBETT: Okay. Thank you. ERICA JEFFERSON: Now can we take the next question, please. OPERATOR: The next question comes from Lena Sun from the Washington Post. Your line is open. LENA SUN: Yes, hi, this question is for Dr. Autor, and I had two questions. One is that both you and Dr. Biondolillo mentioned the regulatory gaps and could you be specific where you feel that maybe you could answer the question this way -- what is the FDA's authority over compounding pharmacies like NECC and then i had a specific follow-up. DEBORAH AUTOR: Okay. Well, it is incredibly complicated to explain what our authority is and is not and the nuances of that. There is for example differing court cases in different federal appellant courts in the country. I will say that the state boards of pharmacy that licenses pharmacies and oversee the day-to-day operations, and we have some authority, and we can initiate enforcement action against the compounded drug if it is misbranded in certain ways, but on the other hand, the law exempts these companies from compounded drugs not manufactured in United States, and they do not undergo premarket review. So it is very, very complicated. With respect to what needs to be put in place at this point, I think that what we need to do is to sit down with pharmacists, with lawmakers and with other regulators to think about how to put in place the schemes that recognize the practice of pharmacy and the industry of compounding have evolved over time, and there needs to be a risk-based scheme put in place to deal with those issues. It is really unfortunate that it takes a crisis to bring this kind of change, but that is often the case. It is in crisis that we have the opportunity to the make change, and i hope that we can do it together to prevent these kinds of tragedies in the future. ERICA JEFFERSON: Dr. Biondolillo, would you like to add anything? MADELEINE BIONDOLILLO: Well, I would certainly agree with what Dr. Autor just said, and say that the licensing regulations in each state are different. In this case, we have a company that was apparently operating in violation perhaps of the licensing regulations for our particular state, but there is, you know, difference between the states and so, working together with all of the states and with our federal partners is really going to be a key to ensuring public safety as this industry evolves. LENA SUN: I had a follow up. ERICA JEFFERSON: Okay. LENA SUN: Okay. And the follow up was in 2006, the FDA sent a warning letters to NECC and you were explicit in those warning letters that when a compounding pharmacy acts like a drug manufacturer, then you can definitely take action against them. There was some specific issues. Are the issues that you raised in 2006, were they resolved, and if they were, what did you do to make sure that the company did what it said it was going to do? DEBORAH AUTOR: Sorry. Could you restate the question? LENA SUN: You sent warning letters to NECC in 2006. And in those letters, you said that the company was acting like a drug manufacturer, and that the compounding was resulting in, you know, adulterated stuff, and there were issues and they were acting like a manufacturer, raised a whole host of issues. I'm -- I don't know if that investigation is still ongoing, but if it has been closed, if the company said that it took corrective action, i guess my question is, what did the FDA do to make sure that those corrective actions were actually, you know, taken? That they did what they said they were going to do. DEBORAH AUTOR: Yes, a there has been a series of actions including after the letter correspondence back and forth with the firm where they assured us that they were adequately protecting the patients and complying with the applicable laws and regulations and, again, we took some action, and it is very, very complicated and the ability to take action here. So, while we did some, and we will continue to remain vigilant with respect to compounding pharmacies, it is also an ongoing concern as to what NECC was and was not doing. I will point out that they had the obligation to appropriately compound products, and in fact under Massachusetts state law, they were bound the follow the United States phrma cospeed (inaudible) chapter on appropriate sterile compounding practices your issues, and they had to understand the facts and what was done when and we will hold people accountable as appropriate. LENA SUN: So is that investigation still open or closed? ERICA JEFFERSON: Well, we will have to move on to get to the next question. Calvin, can we take that, please? OPERATOR: The next question comes from Anna Edney with Bloomberg news. Your line is open. ANNA EDNEY: Hi, thanks. Dr. Autor, and in relation to the warning letters, was NECC ever, did the FDA ever visit them again? You are not counting the most recent ones, the most recent investigation or, you know, inspections that you have done? DEBORAH AUTOR: The state came back and inspected NECC. ANNA EDNEY: Can the state talk about that? MADELEINE BIONDOLILLO: So during the time period after 2006, there were not complaints registered with the state. There was a visit and inspection made in 2011. So there was no complaint activated in between 2006 and 2011 and in '06, there was with a licensing action that needed to be investigated which is the renovation in some space, and that was conducted. And then there was a complaint in March of 2012 which is currently still under investigation. ERICA JEFFERSON: Thank you. We will take the next question. OPERATOR: Our next question comes from David Pittman from Medpage Today. Your question? DAVID PITTMAN: A lot off my questions have been answered or asked by the people, but i will try to ask something. Is there any way that you can talk about the kind of the number or the put in perspective the growth of the problem nationally, and like how the pharmacies can go from acting like a small compounders to small manufacturers like this and how you can work with states to, to keep an eye on these folks, or is that a problem with the lack of clarity and the regulations and the laws? DEBORAH AUTOR: I'm not sure I totally followed the question, but I think that challenges there is a lack of clarity in the law, and this has I think that the pharmacy practice and industry has evolved a lot, and that needs to be taken into account in the future in coming up with an appropriate regulatory scheme. ERICA JEFFERSON: David, did you have a follow-up? DAVID PITTMAN: Yes, can you speak about how you mentioned earlier about the potential civil and criminal remedies in the situation, and can you elaborate on that? DEBORAH AUTOR: Sure. Under the federal food and drug and cosmetic act we have the authority to seize products. We have the authority to put firms under injunction which is to obtain a court order which requires them to do or stop doing the certain things, and we have criminal prosecution abilities if people violate the federal food, drug and cosmetic act. ERICA JEFFERSON: We have time for two more questions. Calvin, the next to last question, please. OPERATOR: Yes. The next to last question comes from Alice Park with Time magazine. ALICE PARK: Yes, hi. Thanks for taking the question. I just wanted to clarify with Dr. Autor, you talked in the 2006 letter to NECC, can you clarify, are there, on what did you base the, the complaint that they were acting like a manufacturer and had sort of moved beyond acting like a compounding pharmacy, and also I'd like Massachusetts to address that if there is anything in the state regulations that set a limit on volume or how do you determine when a compounding pharmacy is reaching that limit and starting to, you know, go beyond its, what it is allowed to do under the registration. DEBORAH AUTOR: Well, let me speak to one of the complexities here which is that there is some legal dispute about our ability to look at records and pharmacies, and it is the records that help us to determine whether a pharmacy is acting as a pharmacy or as a manufacturer. And so, in some cases, we are blocked from the threshold determination of the regulatory ability with respect to the compounders, because the regulatory ability is limited and so it becomes a bit of a catch 22 in respect to the agency's ability to effectively regulate the pharmacies. ERICA JEFFERSON: did you have a follow-up? ALICE PARK: Yes, I would like to hear from the Massachusetts side on whether the regulations or the registration when people apply for the registration is there, you know, anything in those requirements in the state that sets a volume or looks at it? It seems that is where it would need to occur and that is something that the state would keep track of. MADELEINE BIONDOLILLO: So, the regulatory authority at the Massachusetts board of pharmacy does not include tracking volumes of medications. Our regulations are specific in saying that each dose of a medication produced as in compounding procedures has to be tied to a patient-specific prescription, but there is nothing that speaks to a volume question. ERICA JEFFERSON: The last question, please. OPERATOR: Yes. The last question comes from Mark Bell with the Daily News Journal in Tennessee. MARK BELL: Yes, I had a question about the sterility test, and it is clear if NECC was performing any sterility testing on the tainted medications? DEBORAH AUTOR: This is ongoing investigation and I don't believe we can comment on that at this point. We are continuing to thoroughly investigate this issue, and track down all threads and work with all stakeholders to put in schemes to prevent this type of tragedy in the future and put together the facts to make sure that all people who are to be held accountable will be held accountable as appropriate ERICA JEFFERSON: And this is going to close the Q&A portion of the call. And now I send it back over to Curtis to close this out. CURTIS ALLEN: I believe it was Maggie, and we will try to get the transcript up as quickly as possible, it will probably be available within two hours. Also there is an audio file available, and you can access that by calling the press 404-639-3286. Again, thank you very much for joining us today, have a good evening. OPERATOR: That concludes today's conference call, and that concludes your participation. You may disconnect at this time. - Page last reviewed: October 11, 2012 - Page last updated: October 11, 2012 - Content source: Office of the Associate Director for Communication, Division of News and Electronic Media - Notice: Links to non-governmental sites do not necessarily represent the views of the CDC. Get e-mail updates To receive e-mail updates about this page, enter your - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Rd Atlanta, GA 30333 TTY: (888) 232-6348 - Contact CDC-INFO

Press Briefing Transcript CDC, FDA, Massachusetts Department of Public Health Joint Telebriefing Updating Investigation of Meningitis Outbreak Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 3 p.m. ET - Audio recording (MP3, 16MB) OPERATOR: Welcome, and thank you for standing by. I would just like to remind all parties that the lines have been placed in a listen only mode until the question and answer session of to

Safety and Efficacy Study of an A1-Adenosine Receptor Agonist to Slow Heart Rate in Atrial Fibrillation This study is designed to evaluate the safety of DTI-0009 in patients with atrial fibrillation and to find the dose of DTI-0009 that lowers heart rates in patients with atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response. |Study Design:||Allocation: Randomized Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment Primary Purpose: Treatment

Safety and Efficacy Study of an A1-Adenosine Receptor Agonist to Slow Heart Rate in Atrial Fibrillation This study is designed to evaluate the safety of DTI-0009 in patients with atrial fibrillation and to find the dose of DTI-0009 that lowers heart rates in patients with atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response. |Study Design:||Allocation: Randomized Intervention Model: Parallel Assign

MEMBER OF LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY LOCAL AREAD DVELOPMENT SCHEME (MLALADS) The Government of India had framed "Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme" under which MPs can recommend works to be carried out in their constituencies. Since the MLAs are also frequently approached by their constituents for carrying out small works of capital nature, the Govt. of Delhi has framed a scheme along the pattern of the MPs Local Area Development Scheme. The scheme was started in the year 1994-95 when the fund under the scheme was Rs.1.00 crore per MLA per year. After gaining some experience the Govt. decided to revise the scheme & increase the fund to Rs.1.40 crore per MLA per year w.e.f. 1999-2000. From the financial year 2000-01 the limit of Rs.1.40 crore has been raised to Rs.1.90 crore per MLA. And from 2004-05, the limit has been further increased to Rs.2.00 crore and w.e.f 2011-12 the limit has been further increased to Rs. 4 crore. Under this scheme of "Strengthening and Augmentation of Infrastructure facilities in each Assembly Constituency", commonly known as MLALAD’s each MLA can suggest small works of capital nature to be done in their constituencies upto the tune of Rs.4.00 crores in a year with each individual project not exceeding Rs.2 The works recommended under this scheme should confirm to the general pattern of programmes and projects being implemented by the local bodies/ departments of Govt. of Delhi. These works will be sanctioned and implemented in the same manner, as the other works of these bodies are being sanctioned and implemented. Wherever required technical and administrative sanction of the works falling within the scope of this scheme and for which the MLAs have exercised their choice will be given after following the normal departmental procedures applicable to the local bodies and other Government Departments and the actual expenditure should in no case exceed the sanction. The works under this scheme shall primarily be durable asset creation works on Government / Local Bodies land and only such works will be taken up which can be executed / completed within one or two years time schedule. No purchase of inventory equipment etc. or revenue expenditure will be allowed except purchase of computers for schools and provision of ambulances & refuse collectors only for the Government institutions. This is a project/location specific scheme where the expenditure on each project/location is not going to exceed more than Rs.2.00 Crores under the guidelines issued by the Delhi Govt. from time to time. List of Permissible Works of school buildings. of community halls/barat ghars/chaupals, other durable assests for public use on public/government land. of sub-ways wherever found technically feasible. specially for working women or girl schools. of culverts, foot-bridges/bridges. toilets at different locations. or development of burial grounds. of tube-wells and water tanks for providing drinking water to the people in villages, towns or cities, or execution of other works which may help in this respect. of roads and drains including part roads, approach roads, link roads as per approved lay-outs. of parks(except earth filling, planting of saplings, apply of compost of common services/community services including maintenance of group toilets, courtyard, common path and similar other services in privately owned katras subject to the stipulations that no ceiling on individual works or on total quantum of works per MLA will be imposed. Stop and Bus ‘Q’ Shelter collection Centre like one’s in NDMC area. of Ambulances/Refuse Collectors Water Harvesting in government and public buildings and places including buildings and places of Local Bodies. funds upto the limit of Rs. 35 lakh per MLA per year shall be released on the request of the concerned MLA for Relief to the victims of Natural Disaster / National Calamity declared by the Govt. and shall be credited into the L.G. / C.M. Relief fund. development / strengthening of common areas / common facilities / common passages balconies / Courtyards / Common stairs / toilet blocks and various facilities in the slum complexes developed by Slum & JJ Department and other such residential complexes is allowed under the of HT/LT lines (funds would be released as per laid down procedure by Power Department, GNCTD) vans for public library purpose only for public parks. Cabins with over 20 years of durability on Government land after obtaining NOC from the land owning agency. - Provision of PVC Overhead Tanks for portable water storage in JJ Clusters and Unauthorized - Provision of Porta Cabins with durability over 20 years in areas other then NDMC and Lutyen’s Zone, on Government land after obtaining NOC from land owing agencies, for use as Temporary Offices for Resident Welfare Associations. The construction of Porta Cabins will also be allowed for setting up of Kendriya Bhandar, Mother Dairy Booth, Amul and Safal Outlets etc 4. List of Non permissible works. buildings, residential buildings and other buildings relating to Central or State Governments, Departments, Agencies and Organizations. pertaining to commercial organizations, trusts, registered societies, private institutions or co-operative institutions. or memorial buildings. of inventory or stock of any type. of land or any compensation for land acquired. for an individual benefit except those which are part of approved schemes. for religious workship. 5. Procedure for proposal and release of 1. The MLALAD Fund of Rs. 4.00 crores per MLA per year prevalent at present will be divided into two parts, i.e., the Mandatory Fund and the Discretionary Fund of Rs. 1 crore and Rs. 3.00 crore respectively. GNCTD has decided to release Rs.1.00 Crores earmarked as the mandatory fund out of the total allocation of Rs. 4.00 Crores per annum per Assembly Constituency under MLALAD Scheme to DJB instead of MCD, for water and sanitation works as per the recommendation of the Area MLA except in NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Areas. The Mandatory fund will be directly released to DJB, NDMC and DCB for execution of developmental works as may be proposed by Hon’ble MLA’s of the respective constituencies. Thus Rs. 68.00 Crores will be released to DJB, Rs, 1 crore will be released to NDMC and Rs. 1 Crore will be released to DCB as Mandatory Fund of MLALAD Scheme as per the number of Assembly Constituencies predominantly falling in their respective areas. 3. The mandatory fund of Rs. 1.00 Crores per annum in respect of Assembly Constituencies falling within the jurisdiction of NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board will be released to the respective Local Authorities viz., NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board, for taking up works/projects as per the recommendations of the MLA; balance amount of Rs. 3.00 Crores per annum will be released by Urban Development Department to a designated executing agency for undertaking an approved work/project as per the recommendations of the Area MLA, subject to a maximum allocation of Rs. 2.00 Crores per work/project. The remaining amount of Rs. 210 crores per annum will be sanctioned as the Discretionary Fund through the Urban Development Department, GNCT of Delhi for execution of developmental works by various executing agencies namely three Municipal Corporations ( North, South & East) NDMC, DISCOM, DJB, I&FC, S&JJ and others like Health, DDA, DCB, CPWD, etc. against the recommendations of Hon’ble MLAs concerned after obtaining detailed cost estimates and layout plans from the concerned executing scheme envisages that MLAs would submit written requests directly to Pr. Secretary(UD), urban Development Department, GNCTD for the release of Rs. 3.00 crores subject to the individual scheme limit i.e. Rs. 2 crores per year. The MLAs while submitting their consent letters would also mention the name of the Department/agency from whom they propose to have the work to be executed, details of the work, its locations, detailed cost estimate and layout plan etc. The estimate will be prepared as per the DSR-2012 as adopted by GNCTD vide Pr.Secretary (Finance) Order No. 8/2/2007-A/CD-01295543/2012-13/Exp-4/854-73 dated 12th September,2012 ( Copy as Annexure-A). On the basis of aforesaid information, funds will be released and placed at the disposal of the executing agency. The implementing agencies/departments shall utilize the funds in accordance with CPWD Manual and GFRs. The departments/agencies shall require to open separate bank accounts for each MLA and the utilization certificates is also required to be furnished after the execution of works or by the end of financial year whichever is earlier, to UD department, GNCTD. 5. DJB, NDMC & DCB will issue sanction orders for all developmental works as per the guidelines of MLALAD Scheme regarding the Mandatory Fund and monitor its progress regularly. They will submit the monthly expenditure report and annual utilization certificate to the Urban Development Department, GNCT of Delhi regularly. 6. The implementing agency, once selected, may not be allowed to be changed under any circumstances. However, the proposed works by the MLA may be changed and substituted only once. In order to comply with the orders of Central Information Commission (CIC), to fulfil the obligations as required under Rule – 4(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 and for the sake of transparency, DJB, NDMC, DCB will upload on their websites full details of sanction works, specifications, date of start and completion of the works, name of contractor and total amount of contract relating to MLALAD Funds separately for Mandatory Funds released from time to time. The Urban Development Department, GNCT of Delhi will be responsible for uploading the information on their website regarding release of work wise details of Discretionary Funds of MLALAD Scheme released to all executing agencies namely MCD, NDMC, DISCOM, DJB, I&FC, S&JJ and other like Health, DDA, DCB, CPWD etc. 6. Procedure for Street Lights work The following procedures approved by the Cabinet of Delhi during 2001 will remain continue as per detailed below : work of street light under MLA Fund should be carried out by the MCD, PWD or other road owning agencies and they may get this work executed by the DISCOMS on deposit basis or in any other manner subject to payment of electricity work of high mast lights under MLA Fund may be carried out by the MCD, PWD or other road owning agencies subject to guidelines issued by the urban Development Deptt. For erection of high mast lights. requisition for undertaking work relating to street lights and high mast lights would be placed before the road owning agency and in case no comments were received within 10 days of the receipt of the requisition, it would be presumed that deemed permission had been accorded by them and the DISCOMS would be asked to get the work initiated. The payment would be made directly to the DISCOMS under intimation to the road 7.1 The implementing agencies/departments will ensure that all preparatory steps are taken as per the established procedure and work order is issued within a period of maximum 60(sixty) days after the funds are released by Urban Development Departments to them. 7.2 It is to be ensured that the works pertain to be concerned MLAs constituency and are to be executed in/on property belonging to the government or local body. The works to be executed should have a public purpose only and not a private purpose. 7.3 “MLALAD Scheme can be converged with the scheme of Central Government, State Government/local Bodies. Wherever such pooling is done, funds from other schemes should be used first and the MLALAD/MPLAD funds should be released later, so that MLALAD/MPLAD funds result in completion of the work. However, in case of such pooling of resources separate record of works in both physical and financial terms, will have to be maintained for the MLALAD Scheme for accounting 8. MAINTENANCE : 15% of MLA fund can be utilized for the special repair and maintenance of assets created in the previous years subject to the production of a certificate to this effect and the date of completion of the work by a concerned officer not below the rank of Superintending Engineer of the concerned executing agencies to UD Department after duly recommended by the concerned area MLA. If, for any reason the concerned local body/departments/agency is unable to take up any work suggested by the MLA a report in this regard is to be sent to the Pr. Secretary (UD). financial and audit procedure will apply to all expenditure incurred under this in the event of change of MLA 9.1 When there is a change in the MLA, for whatever reason it may be, the following principles should be followed, as far as possible in execution of works, if the work identified by the predecessor MLA. ) If it is under execution, it should be completed. ) If it is pending sanction due to administrative reasons beyond a period of 45 days from the date on which advice was received for taking up the work, it should also be executed, provided the work is otherwise as per norms. (c ) If it was not taken up for execution because of reasons other than those mentioned in the preceding sub-para, it can be executed subject to the confirmation by the (d) If the predecessor MLA has not identified any works at all, allocation or releases of funds to such predecessor MLA will not be additionally given to the successor/MLA over and above Rupees two crore being the entitlement of the latter MLA for the year concerned. The funds under the scheme shall be considered and treated as un-lapsable; therefore, the release of funds under the scheme, if not fully utilized due to unavoidable circumstances and unreleased fund left with the government in a particular year, is allowed to be carried forward/released for subsequent three years and four years respectively to the implementing departments/agencies etc. on the recommendation of concerned MLA and after obtaining the approval, as per procedure laid down by the urban Development Department, GNCTD and finance Department, GNCTD respectively. The change (s) of work may be allowed only once provided there are serious problems in the implementation. However, the implementing agency cannot be changed under any circumstances. The implementation will be regularly monitored by the Government. The senior officers of the implementing departments/agencies shall regularly inspect the works being undertaken and submit quarterly reports to urban Development Department for effective report on the physical and financial progress made in respect of each work is to be submitted to the UD Department at the time of request for release of funds. b) In execution of works, MLAs may face special problems/situations not envisaged to be covered under these guidelines. Such cases may be taken up with the pr. Secretary, urban Development Department for suitable clarification. GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL CAPITAL TERRITORY OF DELHI FINANCE (INFRASTRUCTURE) DEPARTMENT Dated : September 12,2012 Sub : Adoption of DSR-2012 in place of DSR-2007 for capital works in National In partial modification of Government Order of even No. PA/DSF/Misc./2012-13/Exp-4/538-45, dated May 17,2012 and subsequent corrigendum dated May 23,2012 regarding revision of delegation of powers for sanction of capital works/projects, observance of standard norms/parameters and guidelines for approval/sanction of capital works, Lieutenant Governor, Delhi is pleased to approve the adoption of Delhi Schedule Rates-2012(DSR-2012) IN PLACE OF Delhi Schedule Rates-2007(DSR-2007) for capital works/projects of Government of NCT of Delhi to be executed by the work executing agencies including PWD, I&FCD, DSIIDC, DTTDC, DUSIB, DTIDC and local bodies as per following rates/stipulation : Nature of Works DSR 2012 Minus 5% DSR 2012 Minus 12% ( Roads and ide drains ) DSR 2012 Minus 12% adoption of DSR-2012 is further subject to the followings : i) Contingency, third party quality control, labour cess and art work ( wherever necessary) shall continue to be charged @ 1% each. (ii) Consultancy charges ( wherever necessary) shall be fixed lump sum subject to a maximum of 3% of original project cost, and (iii) Project Management charges/Department charges to agencies other then PWD and I& FCD shall be restricted upto a maximum of 5% of the original project cost. ( D.M. SPOLIA) Pr. Secretary (Finance) Administrative Secretaries, GNCT of Delhi All Head of the departments, GNCT of Delhi Chairperson, New Delhi Municipal Committee Dated: September 12, 2012 Secretary to the H.E. Lt. Governor, Delhi. Secretary to the Hon. Chief Minister, GNCT of Delhi to Hon. Ministers, GNCT of Delhi officer to Chief Secretary, GNCT of Delhi. Secretary, Finance Department, GNCT of Delhi General (Audit), Delhi Public Works Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi of Account, Principal Account Office, GNCT of Delhi of Audit, Directorate of Audit, GNCT of Delhi Dy. Secretaries in the Finance Department, GNCT of Delhi Pay and Account officers, GNCT of Delhi Desk Officers in Finance Department, GNCT of Delhi

MEMBER OF LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY LOCAL AREAD DVELOPMENT SCHEME (MLALADS) The Government of India had framed "Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme" under which MPs can recommend works to be carried out in their constituencies. Since the MLAs are also frequently approached by their constituents for carrying out small works of capital nature, the Govt. of Delhi has framed a scheme along t

Plant disease illustrations by Margaret Senior These coloured illustrations were commissioned by the Division of Science Services of the then NSW Department of Agriculture in 1964. (NSW Department of Primary Industries incorporates the former NSW Department of Agriculture.) The artist, Mrs Margaret Senior, was originally commissioned to produce 24 coloured paintings of plant diseases and other aspects of biology at the princely sum of £21 each. She eventually produced more than 80 superb illustrations which are still used in publications produced by NSW Department of Primary Industries today. The original drawings are stored in the Agricultural Scientific Collections Unit at Orange and are protected under the Agricultural Scientific Collections Trust Act 1983. Ownership is vested in the Scientific Collections Trust. Margaret Senior was one of the celebrated artists of her time. She was the illustrator for Eve Pownall's "The Australia Book" which won the Children's Book of the Year award in 1952 and illustrated other children's books, some of which also won awards. She was an excellent illustrator of Australian natural history, producing the illustrations for a series of highly popular posters on Australian Parrots, Raptors, Waterfowl and Reptiles for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. She left a bequest to NPWS in her will to be used to promote natural history illustration and the Margaret Senior Wildlife Illustration Award is presented annually by the University of Newcastle. The following are examples of Margaret Senior's illustrations.

Plant disease illustrations by Margaret Senior These coloured illustrations were commissioned by the Division of Science Services of the then NSW Department of Agriculture in 1964. (NSW Department of Primary Industries incorporates the former NSW Department of Agriculture.) The artist, Mrs Margaret Senior, was originally commissioned to produce 24 coloured paintings of plant diseases and other asp

The expiry of the Protocol to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, which established the fishing opportunities and the financial contribution for the period between 1 August 2008 and 31 July 2012, has been the subject of a huge debate in the EU’s fishing industry. The agreement appears to be more a financial contribution than a genuine fisheries agreement intended to make fisheries resources, the EU fleet, employment and a better standard of living for the Mauritanian people more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. As regards the Galician fleet, the decision to exclude the cephalopod fishing fleet from the agreement did not take due account of the scientific data available. This is a very serious issue affecting many jobs that depended, until 31 July, upon fishing under this agreement and has produced a social and political reaction. As regards the Dutch fleet, statements have already been made to the effect that economically in particular the new agreement will prove too burdensome for it to continue operating in Mauritanian fishing grounds. Excluding the fleet or the fleet deciding by itself not to continue operating in Mauritanian waters could bring about a paradoxical situation in which only a tiny percentage of the fishing opportunities are actually taken up and the number of fishing vessels from the EU fleets fishing in Mauritanian waters does not reach the minimum number stipulated in the bilateral agreement. Should this occur, could the agreement be rejected and cancelled? Could new negotiations be opened, if utilisation of fishing opportunities by the EU fishing fleet does not reach the required level?

The expiry of the Protocol to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, which established the fishing opportunities and the financial contribution for the period between 1 August 2008 and 31 July 2012, has been the subject of a huge debate in the EU’s fishing industry. The agreement appears to be more a financial contribution than a

Featuring developments in Federal highway policies, programs, and research and technology. |This magazine is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information.| |Federal Highway Administration > Publications > Public Roads > Vol. 68 · No. 2 > Taking the High Road| Taking the High Road by Christina Slattery and Steve Jacobitz Two States share different approaches to protecting historic and cultural resources along America's highways. What happens when a transportation project is scheduled to move a road closer to a historic farmstead or a planned interstate route cuts through the cultural heart of a major city? Transportation planners across the country frequently grapple with conflicts between transportation needs and the desire to preserve historic and cultural resources. When project planning fails to identify stakeholders in such properties and to take their views into consideration, projects can run into costly schedule delays sparked by disagreement among stakeholders. Generally, historic properties are defined as those that are at least 50 years old and possess historic, archaeological, engineering, or architectural significance. Any type of building, structure, historic district, or site that is listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places—the official national list of cultural resources worthy of preservation—is considered a historic property. Examples include a late 19th-century school, a neighborhood of early 20th-century bungalows, a park developed by the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps, a gas station constructed when an early highway was built, or a downtown commercial center. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 requires that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), often working through State departments of transportation (DOTs), take into account the effects of road projects on historic properties. Two State agencies—the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)—are leading the way by adopting proactive approaches toward preserving and revitalizing sites of historic significance. Through thoughtful planning, interagency cooperation, context-sensitive design solutions, and strong partnerships with FHWA, both States have taken the high road when it comes to preserving history. Nebraska's Historic Highway Survey In 2001, the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) initiated an unprecedented, comprehensive statewide survey of historic properties along five of the State's earliest automobile routes. The goal of the year-long study, completed in cooperation with NDOR, was to solve a reoccurring problem facing both agencies: a lack of knowledge of where historic roads and related resources are located. This shortcoming could hinder the successful and timely identification and evaluation of historic properties, as required by Section 106 regulations, and result in project delays. NDOR and SHPO, which is a division of the Nebraska State Historical Society, both have roles in planning highway projects and managing cultural resources. During a review of proposed projects, SHPO began investigating the historic significance of road segments and related properties that might be affected by future highway improvements. Rather than face repeated conflicts over the question of historic significance, the two agencies partnered to conduct a survey of historic roads statewide. "The survey offered us a great opportunity to team with NDOR on a project that will make our respective agencies' Section 106 responsibilities easier on future projects," says SHPO Resource Planning Program Associate Bill Callahan. The project was funded by SHPO under its annual Historic Preservation Fund Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service, as well as matching funds from NDOR. The agencies collaborated to develop the work scope, participate in progress meetings, and review the survey results. "The survey is a tremendous addition to our understanding of how vehicular culture and the evolution of highway construction have shaped our State's built environment," Callahan says. NDOR and SHPO selected historical consultants to study the historic contexts for the following roads: Interstate 80, Lincoln Highway, Detroit-Lincoln-Denver Highway, Meridian Highway, Potash Highway, and U.S. Highway 20. All represent major highways of regional or national scope and were developed in the early- to mid-20th century to serve America's automobile travelers. The consultants also conducted a survey of the historical and architectural features along the highways, with the exception of Interstate 80. The consultants drove thousands of miles to identify the historic routes and inventory the different types of road-related resources, such as buildings, objects, and structures. The survey focused on property types specifically associated with the historic transportation routes frequented by automobile tourists, including sections of early roads and waysides, bridges, gas stations, cabin courts and motels, diners and drive-in restaurants, and vintage tourist attractions. "Historic roadside resources, including gas stations and cabin courts, are quickly disappearing from our landscape," says Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Bob Puschendorf from the Nebraska State Historical Society. According to Puschendorf, developing a historic context has led to a better understanding of the history of road development and construction in Nebraska. Although intact examples of historic gas stations are increasingly rare, the survey found that historically this was a common type of property along the roadways studied. "These resources," explains Puschendorf, "tell a significant story about the development of roads, road-related services, and tourism across the State." Cindy Veys, NDOR's environmental section manager, indicates that NDOR and SHPO are using the survey results for future project planning, NEPA development compliance activities, and outreach efforts to educate the public about the significance of the State's historic properties. She adds that her agency is benefiting from the project's products—historic contexts, the survey report, and Multiple Property Document Forms for the National Register—-all of which "facilitate [NDOR's] decisions regarding the eligibility of roadways and road-related resources [for listing in the National Register] in cases of Section 106 compliance." As a result, NDOR has an early understanding of what historic properties may be affected, which in turn provides greater opportunities to avoid potential conflicts and streamline the NEPA process. The Advantages of a Holistic Approach The survey offers long-term benefits as well. NDOR will save time and money in project development because the historic properties already have been identified prior to road improvements or bridge replacement projects. And the development of a statewide historic context makes the evaluation of resources easier, faster, and more objective than ever before. With the comprehensive study, NDOR and SHPO can evaluate small sections of roads and determine the eligibility of particular road segments for the National Register. The results can be applied on a project-by-project basis, enabling the agencies to come to agreements quickly. The plan is to house the data in a geographical information system layer that can be updated as needed. The survey project was completed in 2002, and the results already are helping shape new transportation projects, according to NDOR Highway Environmental Program Manager Len Sand. NDOR and SHPO are distributing the final report to local groups to support their efforts to preserve historic roadside properties through the Nebraska Transportation Enhancement Program, Nebraska's Scenic Byways, and the Nebraska Lied Main Street Program. "We've received enthusiastic responses on the final survey report from both NDOR personnel and the public," says Sand. "We're already printing additional copies." A book intended to expand the public's knowledge and appreciation of Nebraska's highways and road-related historic properties also may be forthcoming from the Nebraska State Historical Society. In addition, NDOR recently provided funding to SHPO for a pilot project to enter the survey results into its geographic information system (GIS). After mapping the surveyed properties, NDOR and SHPO will be able to use the GIS to identify the locations of potential historic sites quickly when planning projects. To learn more about the survey or Nebraska's historic highways, access the final report, Nebraska Historic Highway Survey, on the Web at www.dor.state.ne.us/docs/NE-Hist-hwy-surv.pdf and www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres/historic_highway_book-web.pdf. The report provides a history of road development in Nebraska and highlights the results from the survey, including significant historic properties. A Highway Splits a City A historic property across the country shows how road improvements and economic prosperity can coincide. Forty years ago, the news of Interstate 4 coming through the heart of Tampa, FL, was a harbinger of economic revitalization. The new Federal-aid highway promised to boost commerce, expand tourism, and speed local commuters to and from work. The roadway also offered the city a means to spur urban renewal in areas dotted with crumbling factories and decaying homes. When I–4 cut an east-west swath through the center of the Ybor City neighborhood, it had two unfortunate side effects. First, many historic structures were sacrificed to the shared interests of acquiring right-of-ways and removing urban decay. Second, the highway had the unexpected impact of dividing the Ybor community both physically and socially into a prospering southern section and a declining northern section. While homes and commercial buildings north of I–4 lost value and fell into serious disrepair, the Ybor neighborhood south of the highway had an almost miraculous renaissance. In 1974, thanks to the efforts of involved Tampa residents, Ybor City was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The downtown area, including 948 historic structures, was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1991. South of I–4, Ybor took on a new luster with restored brick streets, signature five-globe iron street lamps, trendy shops and clubs, a distinctive urban shopping complex, and the new Ybor City Museum State Park, featuring not just displays, but historic buildings to help tell the story of Ybor City's past. The Tampa Interstate Study By the early 1990s, FDOT realized that the interstate corridors in Tampa needed substantial upgrading. One outcome was the Tampa Interstate Study (TIS), which addressed the long-term needs of I–4 and I–275 by proposing a new crosstown connector linking I–4 with the Leroy Selmon Crosstown Expressway. The new connector would help divert truck traffic from Ybor's streets. With a projected cost of nearly $1.1 billion, the TIS connector qualified as one of the Nation's current transportation megaprojects. In the 5.1-kilometer (3.2-mile) stretch of I–4 crossing through Ybor City, TIS called for doubling the number of lanes by adding eight new collector/distributor lanes outside the present roadway. When construction of this segment is completed in 2008, the old four-lane roadway will be removed. Possible future uses might include express lanes, HOV lanes, or a rail corridor. Although the plan would bring needed advancements to the transportation infrastructure, Ybor City once again faced the prospect of losing more historic structures to highway right-of-way needs. In addition, the plan had the potential to create an even wider physical separation between the northern and southern sections of the community. TIS staff at FDOT's District Seven Headquarters in Tampa and the FHWA Florida Division noted early-on the plight of Ybor City and sought to correct the problems that I–4 had created four decades earlier. This time, Ybor's historical significance and the needs of its residents would be in the forefront as highway improvement plans were developed. Cigar Capital of the World Ybor City was born as a 16-hectare (40-acre) tract of scrubland east of Tampa that was purchased by cigar manufacturer Vicente Martinez Ybor in 1885. Ybor, a Spanish-born Cuban living in political exile, thought the Tampa area was ideal for cigar manufacturing. Land was cheap; Tampa's seaport and recently arrived railroad provided easy commercial transportation; and the hot, humid climate was perfect for storing tobacco. A year later, when his Key West cigar factory burned, Ybor built a factory on the new tract, surrounding it with affordable housing to coax skilled cigar makers—called tabaqueros—from Key West. "Mr. Ybor's City," as it was known, soon attracted other cigar manufacturers from Key West and as far away as New York and Cuba. In 1887, the Tampa Board of Trade made the area Tampa's fourth ward. By the turn of the 19th century, Ybor City eclipsed Havana, Cuba, as a source of fine, hand-rolled cigars, laying claim to the title of "Cigar Capital of the World." Restoring the Past The challenge facing the TIS project was not a simple one. Improvements to I–4 in the Ybor City area could adversely impact historic resources. Even with careful routing to avoid historic structures whenever possible, many would end up in the right-of-way corridor. When the FHWA Florida Division, FDOT, the Florida State Historic Preservation Officer, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the city of Tampa signed a preliminary memorandum of understanding in 1996, the document called for a number of innovative steps to mitigate the potential environmental impact. The steps included following an extensive set of urban design guidelines developed by FDOT and thoroughly documenting all affected historic structures. In addition, 35 historically significant structures built between 1895 and 1930 were to be relocated, rehabilitated, and turned over to the city of Tampa for sale to qualified buyers. Of the relocated structures, 26 would be in the Ybor City neighborhood north of I–4, and 5 were to be donated to the Ybor City Museum State Park. Rick Adair, environmental administrator for FDOT's District Seven, was involved at the beginning of the project when the environmental scope seemed truly daunting. "The environmental impact statement took 8 years," he says, "primarily because of the extent of historic resource involvement that was required." Covering 40 kilometers (25 miles) of improvements in urban areas, TIS involved a major impact. "The documentation requirements brought many people into the process," Adair adds. According to District Seven Secretary Ken Hartmann, in 1997, TIS "resulted in the largest environmental document of its kind in the country at the time." A high level of community involvement has distinguished this project from the outset. A group of local citizens, acting through a Cultural Resource Committee, has been intimately involved in the selection process and the rehabilitation plans for each of the relocated structures. "The TIS [committee] is unique," says Adair, "[because] usually participation in these groups will dwindle over time, but not this one." Laying the Groundwork In 1999, FHWA funded $8 million for the I–4 Historic Relocation and Rehabilitation Project. Work had to begin quickly because many of the historic homes were in an extreme state of disrepair. Vandalism and arson also posed a constant threat. Early right-of-way acquisition started during the project's design phase to help prevent further loss. "Relocation property was only purchased from willing sellers," says Interstate Historic Resources Coordinator Elaine Illes, who has been close to the project since its earliest days. "Fortunately, the city of Tampa owned many properties along the [right-of-way], and city involvement added to the ‘partnership' of the project." At the same time, FDOT launched the complex process of finding a new lot for each of the designated structures. The criteria included providing a setting appropriate for each structure and its historical importance, as well as practical considerations, such as the distance of a move and availability of affordable, preferably vacant, lots. "We called it the puzzle," says Illes, describing the process that helped determine which structures to relocate. "First," she explains, "we looked at examples of different architectural styles, historic fabric, and the ability of the building to make the move. Then we had to determine the best placement, whether each structure would fit on the lot chosen, and if we could meet all of the code requirements." Illes continues, "We tried to keep things in context. As much as possible, we matched neighboring houses and retained the original orientation. Unfortunately, when a house would burn because of vandalism or neglect, we would have to go through the process all over again." In addition to lot selection, just moving the often-fragile historic structures, which frequently were simple wood-frame houses with significant deterioration, was a major challenge. FDOT District Seven Right-of-Way Administrator Bill Scott served as project manager overseeing the job of moving and restoring the historic houses. "This was strange for me," he says, noting that his usual position involves demolition—not reconstruction—along the right-of-way. "Originally, we thought we would put the relocation project out for bid on a districtwide basis," Scott explains. "But we didn't yet own all of the structures and couldn't disclose their addresses, so the only specifications we could provide were basically the square footage." Since moving a property is so dependent on such complexities, as well as the specific distance and route to the new location, contractors were reluctant to bid on that basis. "Realizing bid cost would be much higher with all the unknowns," Scott says, "we decided to bid the individual moves as we obtained the properties." In the end, the relocation projects took almost 2 years but were accomplished without major incident. According to Scott, "There was damage to some of the more deteriorated structures—mostly to a few of the less stable porches—as you might expect, but nothing we didn't anticipate." Better Than New Key to the success of the project in Ybor City is rehabilitating the relocated homes to maintain their historic appearance while ensuring they remain attractive to today's home buyers. Although historical preservation generally focuses on the exterior of structures, Scott describes the Ybor City effort as trying "to preserve as much of the historic interior as possible while putting in a [number] of improvements to be sure the houses were marketable once we turned them over to the city of Tampa to be resold." FDOT also paid careful attention to the setting for the homes. "Aesthetically complementing the community was an important design consideration," says Illes, citing the incorporation of brick knee walls, Medjool date palm trees, a four-tiered lighted fountain, and vintage five-globe street lights that are a hallmark of Ybor City. "It is all aimed at reuniting a community," she says. Even though rehabilitation work is still underway, the positive results of the project are already evident. According to FDOT District Seven Secretary Hartmann, "Once people saw the finished product with the first few homes, they were committing to buy before houses were rehabilitated." At the time of this writing, all of the available restored, fixed-price homes are sold or under contract, and there is a waiting list for the remaining structures. "Interest in some of the homes was so high that a lottery was required to select from the many bidders," he adds. Perhaps of greater significance, many homeowners in the area have begun their own rehabilitation projects as local property values climb with the success of the I–4 historic mitigation effort. Echoing the thoughts of many, FDOT's Scott acknowledges, "I was skeptical at first, but now I see it happening." "It's exciting to take an active leadership position with a project such as this," says FDOT's Hartmann, reflecting on the agency's positive experience with the successful restoration effort. "Major highway improvements often are accused of destroying communities," he admits, "but in this instance, we're clearly enhancing one." For information on the Ybor City project, visit www.mpivideo.com/videos/historic.html to view "Partners in Preservation," an 8-minute online video on the project. Visit http://mytbi.com/urs/content/design/I275-I4-Downtown to see before and after photos of the I–275/I–4 interchange and Ybor City. Taking the High Road The historic preservation projects in both Nebraska and Florida have proven successful beyond expectations. Each demonstrates the critical importance of embracing history, preserving the reflections of past and present communities along the Nation's roadways, and—in some cases—healing the wounds to which those very roads contributed. Although each project highlights a different approach, both share a common theme: Section 106 regulations represent an opportunity to incorporate historic preservation into the planning of future transportation infrastructure. Nebraska's catalog of historic resources along its roadways will help planners, road builders, and historians make more informed decisions that affect significant roadside features. In Florida, FDOT and FHWA demonstrated the value of teaming with concerned citizens to preserve historic structures and help restore the fabric of a community that was torn apart by an interstate highway years before. Roads can be much more than gravel, concrete, or asphalt, particularly when they symbolize a pathway through the Nation's rich and varied history. The initiatives undertaken by Nebraska and Florida will benefit future generations long after the dust of highway construction has settled. Christina Slatteryis a senior architectural historian at Mead & Hunt, Inc., a consulting engineering/architecture firm. She served as project manager for the Nebraska Historic Highway Survey. She holds a master's of science degree in historic preservation, and her consulting experience includes conducting historic surveys, preparing nominations for the National Register, developing historic contexts, and facilitating Section 106 compliance activities for projects throughout the country. Steve Jacobitz is a marketing and communications specialist based in the FHWA Florida Division in Tallahassee. Jacobitz joined FHWA in 2003, after serving as a communications director and a marketing projects director in the financial services industry. Page Owner: Office of Corporate Research, Technology, and Innovation Management Scheduled Update: Archive - No Update Technical Issues: [email protected]

Featuring developments in Federal highway policies, programs, and research and technology. |This magazine is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information.| |Federal Highway Administration > Publications > Public Roads > Vol. 68 · No. 2 > Taking the High Road| Taking the High Road by Christina Slattery and Steve Jacobitz Two States share different approache

Diminishing habitat and introduced non-native plants and animals are threatening the survival of marsh-dependent species, including the endangered California clapper rail, salt marsh harvest mouse, and many rare and endemic salt marsh plants. The refuge is engaged in tidal restoration projects critical to the long-term future of these species. Refuge objectives include protecting threatened and endangered species, providing wintering habitat for diving ducks, conserving migratory birds and other wildlife, and providing compatible wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities. Local support for habitat conservation and research contributes to our ability to reach our objectives and restore and enhance northern San Pablo Bay lands for the benefit of wildlife and people. For more information, contact:

Diminishing habitat and introduced non-native plants and animals are threatening the survival of marsh-dependent species, including the endangered California clapper rail, salt marsh harvest mouse, and many rare and endemic salt marsh plants. The refuge is engaged in tidal restoration projects critical to the long-term future of these species. Refuge objectives include protecting threatened and en

|http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/ A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine®| Hereditary spherocytosis is a condition that affects red blood cells. People with this condition typically experience a shortage of red blood cells (anemia), yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice), and an enlarged spleen (splenomegaly). Most newborns with hereditary spherocytosis have severe anemia, although it improves after the first year of life. Splenomegaly can occur anytime from early childhood to adulthood. About half of affected individuals develop hard deposits in the gallbladder called gallstones, which typically occur from late childhood to mid-adulthood. There are four forms of hereditary spherocytosis, which are distinguished by the severity of signs and symptoms. They are known as the mild form, the moderate form, the moderate/severe form, and the severe form. It is estimated that 20 to 30 percent of people with hereditary spherocytosis have the mild form, 60 to 70 percent have the moderate form, 10 percent have the moderate/severe form, and 3 to 5 percent have the severe form. People with the mild form may have very mild anemia or sometimes have no symptoms. People with the moderate form typically have anemia, jaundice, and splenomegaly. Many also develop gallstones. The signs and symptoms of moderate hereditary spherocytosis usually appear in childhood. Individuals with the moderate/severe form have all the features of the moderate form but also have severe anemia. Those with the severe form have life-threatening anemia that requires frequent blood transfusions to replenish their red blood cell supply. They also have severe splenomegaly, jaundice, and a high risk for developing gallstones. Some individuals with the severe form have short stature, delayed sexual development, and skeletal abnormalities. Hereditary spherocytosis occurs in 1 in 2,000 individuals of Northern European ancestry. This condition is the most common cause of inherited anemia in that population. The prevalence of hereditary spherocytosis in people of other ethnic backgrounds is unknown, but it is much less common. Mutations in at least five genes cause hereditary spherocytosis. These genes provide instructions for producing proteins that are found on the membranes of red blood cells. These proteins transport molecules into and out of cells, attach to other proteins, and maintain cell structure. Some of these proteins allow for cell flexibility; red blood cells have to be flexible to travel from the large blood vessels (arteries) to the smaller blood vessels (capillaries). The proteins allow the cell to change shape without breaking when passing through narrow capillaries. Mutations in red blood cell membrane proteins result in an overly rigid, misshapen cell. Instead of a flattened disc shape, these cells are spherical. Dysfunctional membrane proteins interfere with the cell's ability to change shape when traveling through the blood vessels. The misshapen red blood cells, called spherocytes, are removed from circulation and taken to the spleen for destruction. Within the spleen, the red blood cells break down (undergo hemolysis). The shortage of red blood cells in circulation and the abundance of cells in the spleen are responsible for the signs and symptoms of hereditary spherocytosis. Mutations in the ANK1 gene are responsible for approximately half of all cases of hereditary spherocytosis. The other genes associated with hereditary spherocytosis each account for a smaller percentage of cases of this condition. Changes in these genes are associated with hereditary spherocytosis. In about 75 percent of cases, hereditary spherocytosis is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means one copy of the altered gene in each cell is sufficient to cause the disorder. In some cases, an affected person inherits the mutation from one affected parent. Other cases result from new mutations in the gene and occur in people with no history of the disorder in their family. This condition can also be inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means both copies of the gene in each cell have mutations. The parents of an individual with an autosomal recessive condition each carry one copy of the mutated gene, but they typically do not show signs and symptoms of the condition. These resources address the diagnosis or management of hereditary spherocytosis and may include treatment providers. You might also find information on the diagnosis or management of hereditary spherocytosis in Educational resources (http://www.ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/hereditary-spherocytosis/show/Educational+resources) and Patient support (http://www.ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/hereditary-spherocytosis/show/Patient+support). General information about the diagnosis (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/consult/diagnosis) and management (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/consult/treatment) of genetic conditions is available in the Handbook. Read more about genetic testing (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/testing), particularly the difference between clinical tests and research tests (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/testing/researchtesting). To locate a healthcare provider, see How can I find a genetics professional in my area? (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/consult/findingprofessional) in the Handbook. You may find the following resources about hereditary spherocytosis helpful. These materials are written for the general public. You may also be interested in these resources, which are designed for healthcare professionals and researchers. For more information about naming genetic conditions, see the Genetics Home Reference Condition Naming Guidelines (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/ConditionNameGuide) and How are genetic conditions and genes named? (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/mutationsanddisorders/naming) in the Handbook. Ask the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/GARD/). anemia ; arteries ; autosomal ; autosomal dominant ; autosomal recessive ; capillaries ; cell ; cell membrane ; congenital ; enlarged spleen ; erythrocyte ; gallbladder ; gene ; hemolysis ; hemolytic anemia ; jaundice ; mutation ; population ; prevalence ; recessive ; red blood cell ; short stature ; splenomegaly ; stature You may find definitions for these and many other terms in the Genetics Home Reference Glossary (http://www.ghr.nlm.nih.gov/glossary). The resources on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Users seeking information about a personal genetic disease, syndrome, or condition should consult with a qualified healthcare professional. See How can I find a genetics professional in my area? (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/consult/findingprofessional) in the Handbook.

|http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/ A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine®| Hereditary spherocytosis is a condition that affects red blood cells. People with this condition typically experience a shortage of red blood cells (anemia), yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice), and an enlarged spleen (splenomegaly). Most newborns with hereditary spherocytosis have severe anemia, although it improv

In Queensland, there are a number of laws relating to building and renovating. There are also specific laws designed to protect the health of homeowners, their families and the general community by ensuring asbestos is handled, removed and disposed of safely. There are nine particular things you need to know before every job you plan to do with asbestos: More information on these points is provided below. Some renovation activities may require approvals from your local council, such as planning permits and building approvals. Please contact them before starting any work. Your choices are to dispose of the waste yourself or employ a waste contractor. If disposing of asbestos waste yourself, it is important to contact your local Council to find out their requirements (eg. where to take the waste, how much it will cost). You will also need to package the waste to minimise the chance of asbestos fibres getting into the air. Read more information on waste disposal. If you are planning to remove 10 square metres or less of bonded materials containing asbestos, you do not require an asbestos removal certificate. However, you will still need to take safety precautions to minimise asbestos fibres getting into the air. Read more about suggested safety precautions. If you are planning to remove more than 10 square metres of bonded materials containing asbestos, you are required to: The fact sheet on Asbestos Removal Certificates provides further information for homeowners, owner-builders and the public. As a guide, 10 square metres is equivalent to approximately four sheets of asbestos cement wall sheeting or approximately one wall of a typical bedroom. Loosely bound materials containing asbestos must only be removed by an asbestos removal business with an “A” Class certificate. Businesses that remove these materials can be found by searching in the Yellow Pages under “Asbestos Removal and/or Disposal”. You will need to make sure they hold a current ‘A’ Class removal certificate issued by the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations. More information on ‘A’ Class removal certificates from Workplace Health and Safety, Queensland. If you are doing work other than removal (eg. preparing an asbestos wall for painting, drilling a hole), you do not require a certificate. You will still need to take safety precautions to minimise asbestos fibres getting into the air. Read more about suggested safety precautions. When planning your work, don’t forget your family and neighbours. Under public health laws, you have a responsibility to make sure that you protect their health by not releasing asbestos fibres into the air during your work. You should also speak to your neighbours about the work you are about to do. It is particularly important to explain the safety precautions you will be taking to minimise the chance of asbestos fibres getting into the air. There are three particular activities you must never do when working with or removing a bonded material containing asbestos: All of these activities are very dangerous because they can release large numbers of asbestos fibres in to the air. They are illegal. Substantial on-the-spot fines apply. Before starting your work, you will need to plan how you will carry out the job. You will also need to purchase an amount of equipment specific to working with asbestos. The equipment is available from a variety of stores, including hardware and safety equipment suppliers. Read more information about equipment needed for some common jobs with asbestos. An example of a proper respirator (Image courtesy of Dept. of Human Services, Victoria) Ordinary dust masks are not effective in preventing the inhalation of asbestos fibres and dust. Cheap masks may save dollars but they do not provide adequate protection against airborne asbestos fibres. You will need to purchase and use a specific respirator designed specifically for working with asbestos. Wear a half-face filter respirator fitted with a class P1 or P2 filter cartridge, or a class P1 or P2 disposable respirator appropriate for asbestos. Dust masks do not protect against asbestos (Image courtesy of Health and Safety Executive, Great Britain) Males should be clean-shaven to make sure there is a clean seal between their face and the mask. The respirator should have an airtight fit. Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to check the fit of the respirator. Keep your respirator on until all work and clean up is done and your contaminated clothing is removed, bagged and sealed. Disposable coveralls should be used to prevent the contamination of any clothing, including your shoes/boots. A disposable hat and disposable gloves should also be worn. Do not keep the clothing, reuse them or shake the dust out of them. After your work is complete, spray your clothing with a light mist of water and remove them. Keep your respirator on when doing this. Seal all of these in your asbestos waste bags for disposal (contaminated clothing can be disposed of with other asbestos waste). Read more information about disposing of asbestos waste. To remove any dust and asbestos that may be on your body, have a thorough shower after finishing your work. Make sure you wash your hair as well. You must clean up, package and dispose of all asbestos waste (including scraps and surplus asbestos) as soon as possible after you produce it. No asbestos can be stored or kept for another use. This is to minimise the chance of asbestos fibres being released into the environment and the risk of you, your family and your neighbours breathing in the fibres. Read more information about packaging asbestos waste. Read more information about disposing of asbestos waste. Under Queensland law, you cannot sell or give away asbestos. Substantial penalties apply.

In Queensland, there are a number of laws relating to building and renovating. There are also specific laws designed to protect the health of homeowners, their families and the general community by ensuring asbestos is handled, removed and disposed of safely. There are nine particular things you need to know before every job you plan to do with asbestos: More information on these points is provide

Ask a Librarian Library of Congress Manuscript - Mixed Formats Photo, Print, Drawing Show Featured Items A map of the Internal Provinces of New Spain. A Plan of the coast of part of west Florida & Louisiana : ... Map of Grand Canyon National Park. Boston its environs and harbour, with the rebels works raised ... Route of the Tenth New York Cavalry from Culpeper to Gettysburg ... Tunison's railroad, distance, and township map of New York from ... Rail road & township map of Massachusetts, published at the ... Map showing the line of the New Haven, Middletown, and Boston ... [Political map of the world, September 1987]. Madison, State capital of Wisconsin, county seat of Dane County ... Topographic Map, Acadia National Park and vicinity, Hancock ... The State of New Hampshire. Compiled chiefly from actual ... Bird's eye view Coney Island. Hudson, Lenawee Co., Michigan 1868. [August 26, 1944], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map. Amarillo, Potter County, Texas. Map of the battle field of Gettysburg. July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 1863 Yellowstone National Park [Map of Madison County, Va.]. A map of Kentucky from actual survey A map of the most inhabited part of New England... Thomas ... Seat of war in America, 6d. [December 18, 1944], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map. Extract From A Map Entitled Portions Of The Military Departments... Bird's eye view of the city of Mount Vernon Williams' commercial map of the United States and Canada with ... Plan général du Fort Septentrional du Detour des Anglois, tel ... Topographical map of the Yellowstone National Park, ... Collections with Maps No results found for Remove a constraint: Original Format: Map Location: United States Subject: Civil War Contributor: Weyss, J. E Check for spelling errors and typos Get additional search tips by visiting our

Ask a Librarian Library of Congress Manuscript - Mixed Formats Photo, Print, Drawing Show Featured Items A map of the Internal Provinces of New Spain. A Plan of the coast of part of west Florida & Louisiana : ... Map of Grand Canyon National Park. Boston its environs and harbour, with the rebels works raised ... Route of the Tenth New York Cavalry from Culpeper to Gettysburg ... Tunison's railroad

|NASA Invention Offers Slippery Solution for Environmental Contamination|| When a groundwater treatment team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently won NASA's Invention of the Year award, the honor came as a pleasant shock. "We about fell out of our chairs," said Jackie Quinn, an environmental engineer with the group. The team received the award for developing a simple and clever substance for cleaning up water contaminated by harsh, chlorinated solvents. "It was like a dream come true! I couldn't believe it," beamed analytical chemist Kathy Brooks. Image to right: Microscopic bubbles of emulsified iron draw in contaminants and react with them to form harmless substances. Credit: NASA/University of Central Florida Chemists classify chlorinated solvents as "dense non-aqueous phase liquids" which, like oil and water, remain separated in layers of liquid and won't mix together. The solvents are called "DNAPLs" for short and are harmful to the environment. Such solvents were used extensively around Kennedy during the 1960s and 70s to clean rocket parts and in everyday industries like dry cleaning. "For so long, chlorinated solvents were used because they were considered so safe to humans. They didn’t know about the toxicity or long-term clean up issues," explained Brooks. A standard method for treating contaminated water is to place iron walls in the water and let the metal reaction transform the offending chemicals. The Kennedy team wanted to take a different approach, so the group turned to the big potential of nanotechnology for a solution. Their answer came in the form of itty-bitty particles of iron 100 nanometers in size. Image to left: NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden (center) presented the Invention of the Year award to team members Debra Reinhart (left to right), Cherie Geiger, Jacqueline Quinn, Kathleen Brooks and Christian Clausen at a ceremony in Washington. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls Quinn, Brooks and three other researchers with the University of Central Florida devised a mixture of iron, vegetable oil and a substance called a "surfactant" that aids in attracting contaminants. The result was a black syrup the team dubbed "emulsified zero-valent iron." The goo is designed to be injected into groundwater where it behaves like the DNAPL solvents. The iron floats as a blob of little oily bubbles, closing in on the solvent -- a creeping wolf in sheep's clothing. "When iron gets close to it, it sucks it inside," said Quinn. Like bugs in a popular pest control product, the solvent checks in, but can't check out. "The reaction takes place inside the bubble," described Quinn. "Nothing leaves the bubble until it's completely degraded." Once the reaction is finished, the only things left of the solvent are harmless chloride salt and ethene, a benign gas. And what of the vegetable oil still swimming around in the groundwater? "The oil will eventually be eaten by naturally occurring bacteria," said Quinn. Even more stunning than the simple genius of the team's remedy is how quickly it works. "In a really contaminated site, even though the complete reaction may take a couple of weeks or a month, once you pump this stuff into the ground, the water clears up immediately. So you can take samplings of the water and -- like wow -- the water is clean," said Brooks. "It's amazing." The team's emulsified iron cleans up contaminated water so well, it's no wonder the compound is NASA's clear winner for the Invention of the Year. NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center

|NASA Invention Offers Slippery Solution for Environmental Contamination|| When a groundwater treatment team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently won NASA's Invention of the Year award, the honor came as a pleasant shock. "We about fell out of our chairs," said Jackie Quinn, an environmental engineer with the group. The team received the award for developing a simple and clever substance fo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 10, 19961:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) In a randomized, phase II study at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), self-administered injections of the immune system protein interleukin-2 (IL-2) have dramatically increased levels of CD4+ T cells in patients with early HIV infection. The findings build on previous NIH reports that another regimen of IL-2 -- intravenous infusions of the drug -- can significantly boost numbers of CD4+ T cells in certain patients. Richard T. Davey, M.D., senior investigator in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), will present preliminary findings of the ongoing clinical trial at the XIth International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday, July 10 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. "Our data suggest that therapy with subcutaneous IL-2, in combination with antiretroviral drugs, has the potential to halt the usual progression of HIV disease by maintaining a person's CD4+ T cell count in the normal range for prolonged periods of time," says Dr. Davey. "The CD4+ T cell increases we have seen with injections of IL-2 have been similar to those previously achieved with intravenous IL-2 infusions, but with fewer side effects. In addition to having less toxicity, the current regimen allows patients to self-administer their medication on an outpatient basis." "Further studies are needed to help discern whether the increases in CD4+ T cell counts seen with IL-2 therapy will translate to clinical benefit," he adds. In the study, 41 of a planned 48 patients with baseline CD4+ T cell counts greater than 500 per cubic millimeter (mm³) of blood have been assigned to one of four subcutaneous IL-2 regimens for at least six months. All the patients are currently taking antiretroviral drugs; none of them had received IL-2 previously. The four subcutaneous IL-2 regimens are: All patients are taught to self-administer IL-2 by injection and are seen by study physicians once a month at the NIAID/Clinical Center HIV Research Clinic. Six months into the study, significant increases in CD4+ T cell counts have been seen in all groups, with the largest rise in group three. The main toxicities associated with subcutaneous IL-2 treatment have been mild to moderate flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, aches and pains, and headache. "We have seen the same spectrum of toxicities with subcutaneous administration of IL-2 that we've noted with intravenous administration," says Dr. Davey. "However, because the concentration of the drug in the bloodstream quickly peaks following injection and then declines, the severity of the side effects tend to be less than with intravenous IL-2." "Characteristically, the side effects with subcutaneous dosing peak four to six hours after the injection. Over the next few hours, as drug levels start to come down, side effects begin to decrease as well." In the four treatment groups, viral burden at baseline as measured by the bDNA assay ranged from 13,000 to 23,000 HIV RNA copies per milliliter of blood; these levels have not increased significantly in any group over the six-month study period. NIAID Clinical Director H. Clifford Lane, M.D., says, "We anticipate that these positive findings will set the stage for a phase III trial to determine the clinical efficacy of subcutaneous IL-2 in combination with antiretrovirals for the treatment of HIV-infected people. We are currently working with Chiron Corporation, and with scientific colleagues in the United States and abroad to plan such a trial." IL-2, originally called T cell-growth factor, is produced in the body by T cells and has potent effects on the proliferation and differentiation of a number of immune cells, including T cells, B cells and natural killer cells. Commercially, IL-2 is produced by recombinant DNA technology and is licensed for a kind of kidney cancer. The recombinant IL-2 used in the NIAID study was produced by Chiron Corporation. Dr. Davey's co-authors include Dr. Lane, Doreen Chaitt, Joseph Kovacs, M.D., Robert E. Walker, M.D., Michael Polis, M.D., M.P.H., Judy Falloon, M.D., Henry Masur, M.D., Julia A. Metcalf, and Stephen C. Piscitelli, PharmD, all of NIH; and Gwendolyn Fyfe, M.D., of Chiron Corporation, Emeryville, Calif. NIAID and the Clinical Center are components of the National Institutes of Health. NIAID conducts and supports research to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, asthma and allergies. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Davey RT, et al. Subcutaneous IL-2 therapy is capable of inducing marked, sustained increases in CD4 counts un early HIV-infected patients. XIth International Conference on AIDS (Abstract #2305), Vancouver, July 7-12, 1996. Kovacs JA, et al. Increases in CD4 lymphocytes with intermittent courses on interleukin-2 in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. N Engl J Med 1995;332(9):567-75. Kovacs JA, et al. Randomized trial of intermittent interleukin-2 therapy in HIV-infected patients with CD4 counts >200 cells/mm³. 35th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (Abstract LB-8), San Francisco, Sept. 17-20, 1995. NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at www.niaid.nih.gov. About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov. NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health ® back to top Last Updated July 10, 1996

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 10, 19961:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) In a randomized, phase II study at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), self-administered injections of the immune system protein interleukin-2 (IL-2) have dramatically increased levels of CD4+ T cells in patients with early HIV infection. The findings build on previous NIH reports that another regime

Operating Hours & Seasons The park is open year round except Christmas, December 25. Painted Desert Inn is a National Historic Landmark with stunning views of the Painted Desert. Spring hours: 10 am - 4 pm daily. The Painted Desert Rim Trail (0.5 mi/0.8 km one way) begins here. Two gift shops, a convenience store, a gas station, and restaurant are operated in the park by valued concessionaire Xanterra. Hours vary seasonally for these locations; call (928) 524-3756 for further information. Park and Visitor Center hours are subject to change. Note: Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time, remaining on Mountain Standard Time year-round. For example, in the summer months, during Daylight Savings Time, the time in Arizona and California is the same, with New Mexico and the Navajo Reservation one hour ahead. Did You Know? On clear days in the Southwest, especially on crisp, cold winter days, you can see landscape features almost 100 miles away!

Operating Hours & Seasons The park is open year round except Christmas, December 25. Painted Desert Inn is a National Historic Landmark with stunning views of the Painted Desert. Spring hours: 10 am - 4 pm daily. The Painted Desert Rim Trail (0.5 mi/0.8 km one way) begins here. Two gift shops, a convenience store, a gas station, and restaurant are operated in the park by valued concessionaire Xant

NSSL Hot Item NSSL researchers present preliminary results from VORTEX2 Researchers presented preliminary results from the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2009-2010 (VORTEX2) during a special session at the American Meteorological Society Severe Local Storms Conference held in Denver, Colo. in October. The data collection phase for the historic VORTEX2 project wrapped up operations on June 15, 2010 in New Mexico. About 40 instrumented vehicles each logged more than 25,000 miles across the Great Plains in search of supercell thunderstorms. The mission of VORTEX2 was to collect data that will help explain how, when, where and why tornadoes form, or why sometimes they don't. The project was designed to observe all the scales of motion from the thunderstorm down to the tornado. VORTEX2 teams logged 36 consecutive days in the field in 2009 and 46 in 2010. Researchers have selected 20 of the best data collection days for more detailed study. The NSSL/Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorology (CIMMS) team operating the NOAA X-Pol (NOXP) dual-polarized radar reported 81 deployments over the two-year period. The team captured data on 11 tornadoes as they formed, and 14 tornadoes during some part of their life cycle. In all, approximately 36 supercell thunderstorms were sampled; 24 did not produce tornadoes, but 12 did. Another NSSL/CIMMS and the University of Oklahoma team operated the Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching radars and reported similar numbers. NSSL's Field Command vehicle was used to help coordinate operations in the field along with NSSL's fleet of instrumented vehicles including mobile mesonets, balloon sounding trucks, and a vehicle to deploy disdrometers. Several intercepts included the operation of the University of Colorado's Unmanned Aerial System, an instrumented remote control airplane that was flown through different parts of the storm. This was the first time an unmanned aircraft has been used to collect data close to supercells. Researchers are using the vast reservoir of VORTEX2 data to advance their understanding of tornado behavior. Results are expected to help forecasters extending tornado warning lead times and improve tornado warning skill to protect the public.

NSSL Hot Item NSSL researchers present preliminary results from VORTEX2 Researchers presented preliminary results from the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2009-2010 (VORTEX2) during a special session at the American Meteorological Society Severe Local Storms Conference held in Denver, Colo. in October. The data collection phase for the historic VORTEX2 project wrapp

NTSB Identification: CEN11CA535 14 CFR Part 137: Agricultural Accident occurred Monday, August 01, 2011 in Joice, IA Probable Cause Approval Date: 10/17/2011 Aircraft: TEXAS HELICOPTER CORP OH-13H/M74A, registration: N51857 Injuries: 1 Uninjured. NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report. The pilot reported that during an aerial application flight, he was paralleling a highway as he was applying chemical to a cornfield. He gained altitude to clear a homestead and then descended into the field to continue spraying. He reported that the helicopter impacted an unmarked wire that was strung diagonally between the road he was paralleling and the corner of the property. The helicopter impacted the field and the main rotor blades separated from the airframe, causing the helicopter to cartwheel prior coming to a stop. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the main rotor blades and fuselage. The pilot reported that there was no mechanical malfunction or failure of the helicopter prior to the wire strike. The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the wire. Full narrative available Index for Aug2011 | Index of months

NTSB Identification: CEN11CA535 14 CFR Part 137: Agricultural Accident occurred Monday, August 01, 2011 in Joice, IA Probable Cause Approval Date: 10/17/2011 Aircraft: TEXAS HELICOPTER CORP OH-13H/M74A, registration: N51857 Injuries: 1 Uninjured. NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did

Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents| | Standard Number:||1926.500(a); 1926.501(b); 1910 Subpart D; 1910 Subpart I| May 9, 1995 Dear Mr. Moskowitz: This is in response to your letter of February 24 addressed to Mr. James Foster and Ms. Barbara J. Bielaski requesting an interpretation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) newly revised standard for Fall Protection in the Construction Industry (Subpart M). Please excuse the delay in responding. I have repeated your questions and provided our interpretation. Question 1. Does the fall protection standard apply only to stationary equipment (e.g., scaffolding, catwalks, or ramps used to service machinery), or does OSHA believe that its jurisdiction extends to mobile or transportation equipment? Question 2. If the fall protection standard does not apply to mobile equipment, might it apply to portions of that equipment that are routinely detached from the vehicle? For example, many customers receive waste collection services by means of a roll off container. These 6 foot tall detachable containers are mounted on a vehicle chassis during transportation, but are separated from the vehicle and left at the customer's site to be filled prior to disposal. Once filled, these containers are hoisted back onto the truck (using a hydraulic lift) and transported to a waste processing or disposal facility. Under this scenario, are these containers subject to the fall protection standards (1) when attached to the vehicle, and/or (2) when left as a stationary container at the generator's site? Question 3. Does the fall protection standard apply to landfill sites? The fall protection standard published in 29 CFR 1926 (Subpart M) requires that all employers engaged in construction operations (see enclosed interpretation of construction operations) provide some type of fall protection when their employees are exposed to falls of 6 feet or more to lower levels. There are some exceptions to this general statement. First, if employees are working in a situation where they could fall into or onto dangerous equipment, like a vat of acid or a crane, then the employee must be protected regardless of the fall height. Also, there are other sections of the construction standards that contain a requirement to have fall-protection when working on specific types of equipment or in specific operations. Subpart M will not apply in those situations. Each of those situations is listed in the scope section of Subpart M, under §1926.500. In particular, workers on scaffolds are to be protected from falls as specified in the Scaffold sections, Subpart L, and are not covered by the duty requirement of Subpart M -- Fall Protection. The same applies for workers on stairways and ladders. These activities are regulated in Subpart X which contains all of the fall protection requirements that would apply. Ramps, catwalks and other types of walking/working surfaces are clearly covered by Subpart M. Ramps, runways and other walkways are covered in §1926.501(b)(6). If a specific activity or location is not "scoped" out by paragraph §1926.500(a) and not-listed in paragraph §1926.501(b)(1) through (b)(14), then §1926.501(b)(15) Walking/Working Surfaces Not Otherwise Addressed would impose a duty to have fall protection for workers exposed to falls of 6 feet or more to lower levels. It requires the employer to protect employees from fall hazards through the use of guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems. The employer can choose the system that works best for his or her construction operation. After the employer chooses a system of fall protection, he or she must ensure that the criteria for use in 1926.502 for the particular system has been met. The training requirements in §1926.503 apply to all construction activities, without exception. Waste collection services are not considered to be construction activities and, therefore, are not covered by the occupational safety and health standards for construction and Subpart M -- Fall Protection in Construction does not apply to the operation you described. In response to your question as to whether the construction fall protection standard applied to landfill sites, the answer is yes, for all construction operations underway at the landfill and no, if you are talking about normal operating activities such as dumping operations or moving material around in the dump. Those activities are not construction activities. We also have fall protection requirements for workers engaged in general industry operations. In the occupational safety and health standards for general industry, Subpart D, Walking/Working Surfaces, and Subpart I, Personal Protective Equipment, may apply. I hope this explanation adequately addresses the concerns raised in your letter. Please contact me at (202) 219-8061 if you have any further questions. Thank you for your interest in occupational safety. Thomas H. Seymour, P.E. Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents|

Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents| | Standard Number:||1926.500(a); 1926.501(b); 1910 Subpart D; 1910 Subpart I| May 9, 1995 Dear Mr. Moskowitz: This is in response to your letter of February 24 addressed to Mr. James Foster and Ms. Barbara J. Bielaski requesting an interpretation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) newly revised standard for Fall Protection in

Office of Facilities Planning Newsletter #61 – March 2005 Awning Rescue Windows: We have recently discovered some buildings are utilizing awning windows as rescue windows where the awning windows are not compliant. We need to clarify. Awning windows can be used as rescue windows, but compliance can be more difficult. Our exception to this issue is, that generally certain types of awning windows do not allow for the minimum clearance dimensions for rescue windows requirements. Therefore, the second means of egress from student occupied spaces as required by the Manual of Planning Standards is not being met. The minimum requirements for rescue windows are, a minimum clear opening dimension of 24 inches and a total clear opening area of 6 square feet. Measure the width of the opening and the projected clear opening from the open window to the window’s sill. Not the height. The window must stay open in that position. The use of a non-permanently attached rod or strap to hold the window open is not acceptable. The window cannot have operating rods that infringe on the clear opening, for example, residential type crank-out hardware. In one of the instances we observed most of the windows were very difficult to operate and some could not be held open at all. In three of the districts where this issue was pointed out to us the awning rescue windows were non-compliant, yet the buildings passed the annual fire safety inspections and had received certificates of occupancy. This is extremely troubling to us. It must be remembered that the purpose of the rescue window is to allow fire department personnel to rescue occupants that may be trapped in a burning building. Awning windows make it difficult to correctly place ladders. The overhead restriction caused by the window in the open position makes it all the more difficult to rescue the occupants. School districts need to be certain that all of their rescue windows are fully compliant and operable. “Panic” Hardware vs. “Fire Bolt” Hardware: Recently it has come to our attention that there has been some inappropriate use of "Panic and Fire Bolt Hardware". While both look and operate the same, there are two major differences between the two. First and foremost, "Fire Bolt" hardware has an UL listing and a fire rating for use in fire and smoke barriers. The second difference is much more subtle. "Fire Bolt" hardware will not have a dogging device. This is a device that can be activated to keep the latching mechanism retracted and prevent the door from latching in the closed position. The access to this mechanism is usually a small hole located in the faceplate just behind the actuating bar and it is activated by the use of an Allen wrench. While "Fire Bolt" hardware may be used in place of "Panic" hardware, the reverse is not true. With rare exceptions, "Panic" hardware may not be used on fire and smoke barrier doors. The reason being that fire and smoke barrier doors must close and latch under fire alarm condition. Therefore, there must be nothing to keep a fire or smoke door from latching in the closed position. Please, check all of your doors in fire and smoke barriers for the proper hardware. If you find any of the latching devices being held in the retracted position, then you have the improper hardware on the door and it must be replaced. This should be found as a fire safety violation on the next Annual Fire Safety Inspection. Window Cleaning Safety Devices: In our effort to update the Manual of Planning Standards, we provided the specific requirements for Window Cleaning Safety Devices. This is required from the Department of Labor, Title 12 NYCRR, Part 21 and referenced on our Evaluation of Existing Building Form for capital projects. a. The provisions of this section apply to buildings 3 stories or higher. Exception: Shall not apply to any building three stories or less in height in cities, towns or villages having a population of less than forty thousand. b. Persons engaged in window cleaning shall be protected. Windows shall be cleaned from approved safe surfaces, windowsills or ledges, ladders, boatswains' chairs, or scaffolds. c. A safe surface is where the cleaner is working not over 6 feet off the floor (or grade) and not over 3 feet above a stair run. d. Ladders may be used generally when the top of the window is not over 35 feet above grade (or floor). e. Windowsills and ledges may be used when the window openings are provided with approved anchors for use with safety belts. f. Approved boatswains chairs and scaffold also may be used. Please, each school district should consult their insurance carrier regarding this type of equipment. Truss Identification Regulations: There is a new regulation requiring the identification of all trusses in buildings. This does include schools and it affects all trusses of all material types. It applies to new buildings and additions to existing buildings. The regulation specifies sign shape, location, and placement requirements on the building. The sign must include the classification and the truss types as specified in the regulation. The new Truss Identification Regulations are found in Title 19 NYCRR, Part 1264. The title of the regulation is “Identification of Buildings Utilizing Truss Type Construction”, and it went into effect on 12/29/04. There is no “phase in” period. Therefore this should be applied to construction projects that are being built right now. Please take a look at the regulation. The text of the regulation can be found on the DOS website at http://www.dos.state.ny.us/code/trussID.htm. Incidentally, as you read this regulation, please be aware that we are the Authority Having Jurisdiction and we are NOT collecting any $50 fees. An Index of our Newsletters is available on our web site at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/facplan/NewsLetters.htm. If you would like to have this Newsletter sent directly to you by e-mail, please send your e-mail address to Joe Levy at [email protected] Please continue to send in your comments and requests. If you have a subject you would like addressed, feedback on the material you read, input or general comments we are happy to hear from you.

Office of Facilities Planning Newsletter #61 – March 2005 Awning Rescue Windows: We have recently discovered some buildings are utilizing awning windows as rescue windows where the awning windows are not compliant. We need to clarify. Awning windows can be used as rescue windows, but compliance can be more difficult. Our exception to this issue is, that generally certain types of awning windows do

The story made the headlines across the Arab world. For three days, 14-year-old Amira Al-Gerem’s name was on the list of presumed dead in the district of Tel Al-Hawa, in central Gaza City, after tank fire reduced her family’s home to rubble, killing her father and two brothers instantly. Amira was found injured on 17 January, the day before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect, ending their armed confrontation. The young girl had taken refuge in a neighbouring apartment, abandoned by its occupants who, like so many others, had been forced to flee the intensity of the fighting. Although she miraculously survived, Amira has not escaped the war unscathed. She was rapidly operated on, and her bodily injuries will heal. Her mother keeps vigil by her bedside. She will be given a roof over her head, even if only temporarily. But will she ever wipe from her memory the moment when she had to climb over the lifeless bodies of her father and brothers to get out of her house — or what was left of it? Here in January 2009, Amira personifies in many respects the Gaza Strip, ravaged by three weeks of unprecedented, unremitting violence. In this conflict, there are no victors and only one loser: the civilian population. In the absence of independent information, it is difficult to tell the war’s precise toll. According to figures that the Gazan Health Ministry published at the end of January, more than 1,380 people have been killed and 5,640 wounded. One thing is sure, however: a particularly high proportion of the victims were women and children. The figure, sad and unacceptable though it is, is not entirely surprising. The population of Gaza is almost oneand a half million. Most of them are crammed into densely populated urban areas. Conducting military operations in such a context can only put civilians at enormous risk. Traces of the conflict Shijaya is one of the poorest districts in Gaza City. Here, evidence of the conflict is everywhere. Barely a few days after the end of hostilities and before the reopening of schools, children once again throng the streets, their playground of choice. Dozens run alongside PalestinianRed Crescent and ICRC teams out and about to deliver urgently needed relief goods to families whose apartments were damaged in the fighting: plastic sheeting to replace windows and doors shattered by explosions, blankets, and buckets and other basic items required for washing and cooking. It is not enough, however, to assuage the anger of Leila Al-Helou, one of the 80,000 recipients of the emergency assistance distributed in the days following the ceasefire. The mother of six picks her way carefully up the stairs of the building in which she lived, with seven other families, until just a few days ago. “The building was hit several times,” she says, surrounded by rubble and the debris of furniture.“Thank God, my husband, my children and I had already left the place.” The building’s top two stories had collapsed with the violence of the shock. One of the remaining walls has a hole 1.5 metres in diameter, through which you can see the villages of southern Israel some 2 kilometres away. “We have been living here for 20 years. Now, we have nowhere to go, we have lost everything,” says Al-Helou. Like an earthquake Throughout the Gaza Strip, several thousand houses and apartments have been completely or partially destroyed in the conflict. At the beginning of February, the ICRC and the Palestinian Red Crescent counted more than 3,300 damaged houses in the areas where the fighting was fiercest. Some districts look as if they have been struck by an earthquake. But just about every person in the territory has suffered the consequences in one way or another. When the conflict was at its height, two-thirds of Gazans were completely without power and one-third without drinking water. Three weeks after it ended, tens of thousands of people still had no running water, being obliged to buy it from private vendors at double the normal price. Certain districts in Gaza, as well as places in the north of the Gaza Strip such as Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, will have to wait even longer to be reconnected to public water and Gaza City’s sewage treatment facility, situated in an agricultural zone, was bombed during the second week of the war. “Three million litres of waste water instantly flooded the surrounding localities and fields, wiping out crops and endangering the health of tens of thousands of people,” recalls Marek Komarzinski, an ICRC engineer. It took three weeks after the fighting was over to get the station back in working order. Swamped by a sudden influx of wounded people, often in a serious condition, the health services worked round the clock for three weeks, until almost at breaking point, relying on generators to keep the equipment going when fuel supplies threatened to run out at any moment. According to the World Health Organization, eight hospitals and at least 26 primary healthcare centres, including the Al-Quds Red Crescent hospital, were directly or indirectly damaged in the fighting. Consequences of closures The blow to Gaza and its population was all the more severe coming as it did after one and a half years of deprivation. “The situation was already critical before the January conflict,” explains Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC office in Gaza. “The closures imposed by Israel since summer 2007 have had disastrous effects on hospitals, on sanitation systems, and on water and electricity supply.” The lack of cooperation between the Palestinian Authority, run from Ramallah in the West Bank, and the Hamas administration in Gaza has not facilitated access for the aid necessary to improve basic public services. The restrictions have had other adverse consequences for the population: almost 50 per cent unemployment, rampant inflation, rising poverty, a drop in agricultural production, the deterioration in the diets of an increasing number of people, threatening their long-term health, etc. All of the humanitarian organizations working in Gaza have been striving to counter these effects, making representations to the Israeli authorities, since they control almost all routes in and out of the territory. “To get Gaza back on its feet and repair its infrastructure, there must be a nonstop and unrestricted supply of building materials and spare parts,” warns Antoine Grand. “Workers are available. They just need something to work with. But if we go back to the pre-war situation, with one closure after another, reconstruction will simply not be possible.” Sébastien Carliez (ICRC Geneva) with Iyad Nasr (ICRC Gaza). “There was a lack of respect for medical teams” Dr Khaled Jouda is head of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in the Gaza Strip. He explains how delicate the work of his teams was during the crisis in January. What was PRCS’s role during the events? We tried as much as we could to continue providing all types of medical services at all times to the population throughout the Strip. Our ambulance teams took the wounded mainly to the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City. During the three-week conflict, we managed to transport around 2,400 injured people and moved 1,100 civilians trapped in dangerous areas to safety. Our teams also evacuated 750 bodies. Most of the time, the movement of our ambulances was carried out with the coordination of the ICRC and sometimes even escorted by ICRC teams. What were the biggest challenges faced by your The evacuation and transportation of wounded and sick people were made extremely difficult, due in particular to the unpredictable nature of the fighting. The movement of our emergency medical teams was very much limited even when they were operating close to their bases or to our warehouses. I have to say that there was often a lack of respect for medical teams and for the Red Crescent emblem. The toughest challenge we faced, though, was when the PRCS compound was hit by shelling twice on the same day, setting a warehouse, some offices and our cultural centre on fire. After the second incident, the fire brigades were denied access to our buildings for three hours. That could have had disastrous consequences for the lives of 350 people, many of whom were wounded and sick being treated at the Al-Quds hospital, as well as families who had taken refuge in our compound. We decided to evacuate the hospital amid continuous fighting in the neighbourhood. Patients in the intensive care unit were taken out lying on their beds. Newborn babies were moved in their incubators. The patients who could walk had to carry their intravenous drips by themselves. It was a horrifying scene and I still find it difficult to describe. The conflict also took its toll on our staff. One volunteer was killed and six medical workers were injured. But despite all these difficulties and the personal challenges that the conflict posed on our teams and their families, about half of our 800 regular staff members reported to work during these three weeks. Another 30 people volunteered to join What were your needs and priorities in the immediate aftermath of the crisis? Our first priority is to rehabilitate the damage to our facilities, in particular parts of the hospital and the warehouse. Then, we need new ambulances and spare parts to repair those that were damaged during the conflict. For the sake of the population of Gaza, cooperation and coordination with partner National Societies are crucial to mobilize the support we need so that we can resume normal activities

The story made the headlines across the Arab world. For three days, 14-year-old Amira Al-Gerem’s name was on the list of presumed dead in the district of Tel Al-Hawa, in central Gaza City, after tank fire reduced her family’s home to rubble, killing her father and two brothers instantly. Amira was found injured on 17 January, the day before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect,

ViFiLite is a wireless infrastructure that utilizes the advantages of a V-band technology in supporting data gathering for structural health monitoring as well as supporting high throughput local area wireless communication for NASA applications. This system provides: non-line-of-sight operation, wireline level reliability for the link, high node density, high throughput links, low delay data/signal, susceptibility to jamming, safe operation near ordnance/fuel for some operations, and compatibility with avionics data bus infrastructure. Our technology incorporates different techniques to utilize the 60GHz band based on the application scenarios to virtually eliminates nonÂ?LOS issues in the operating environment. The development of the proposed technology will allow for replacement of the wires for signal data and video communication onboard a spacecraft/space-vehicle platform and reducing risks resulting from the weight, the cost and the time of qualifying the wire-based architecture and the inflexibility of wired connections. Small Business Information at Submission: 2071 Lemoine Avenue, Suite 302 Fort Lee, NJ 07024-9212 Number of Employees:

ViFiLite is a wireless infrastructure that utilizes the advantages of a V-band technology in supporting data gathering for structural health monitoring as well as supporting high throughput local area wireless communication for NASA applications. This system provides: non-line-of-sight operation, wireline level reliability for the link, high node density, high throughput links, low delay data/sign

August 25, 2010 As San Diego County children begin another school year, it’s the perfect time for parents to make sure their children are up-to-date on vaccinations, especially as cases of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, continue to rise according to County Health and Human Services Agency officials. (This week's new cases listed below). There have been 412 cases reported so far in 2010. There were 143 cases in all of 2009, and the previous high for San Diego County was 371 cases in 2005. “Back to school time is the perfect time to remind parents to make sure their children are immunized against pertussis and other diseases,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County Public Health Officer. “It’s important to remind parents that they are not only protecting their own children, but their child’s classmates and friends.” The County is holding additional vaccination clinics on weekends at Northgate Markets and the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The clinics at the six Northgate Markets locations will be held on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The San Ysidro Port of Entry clinic will be held on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The clinics are scheduled to continue on weekends until Sept. 26, based on vaccine availability. County residents are encouraged to continue going to their private health care provider. Vaccines are available at County Public Health Centers for those with no primary care provider. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children get one dose of DTaP vaccine at the following ages: 2 months; 4 months; 6 months; 15 to 18 months and 4 to 6 years. The CDC also recommends that children receive a booster shot of Tdap vaccine at 10-11 yrs. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recommends an adolescent-adult pertussis booster vaccine (Tdap) for everyone 10 years or older who has not yet received it, especially women of childbearing age, before, during, or immediately after pregnancy; and other people, including household contacts, caregivers, and health care workers, who have contact with pregnant women or infants. Children 7-9 years of age who did not receive all of their routine childhood shots are recommended to receive a Tdap booster dose. A typical case of pertussis in children and adults starts with a cough and runny nose for one-to-two weeks, followed by weeks to months of rapid coughing fits that sometimes end with a whooping sound. Fever, if present, is usually mild. The disease is treatable with antibiotics. For more information about whooping cough, please call the HHSA Immunization Branch toll-free at (866) 358-2966, or visit the web site at www.sdiz.org. The locations and dates for the vaccination clinics (all are held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Sept. 26, subject to vaccine availability): San Ysidro Port of Entry, 720 East San Ysidro Blvd, San Diego Northgate Market, 2909 Coronado Avenue, San Diego Northgate Market, 1410 South 43rd Street, San Diego Northgate Market, 1058 3rd Avenue, Chula Vista Northgate Market, 1346 South Mission Road, Fallbrook Northgate Market, 1150 East Vista Way, Vista Northgate Market, 606 North Escondido, Escondido This week’s new pertussis cases where there is a potential for public exposure are: - A 3-year-old who was up-to-date on immunizations and attends the Del Mar Heights Nursery School and the Panda Bear Preschool. - A 5-year-old who was up-to-date with immunizations and attended the Creative Dance Theatre Dance Camp Monday-Thursday from July 26 to Aug. 12. - A 10-year-old who was due for a booster shot and attended classes at the Little Artists on July 9, 16, 23 and 30. Email Updates Get County news and information delivered to your inbox

August 25, 2010 As San Diego County children begin another school year, it’s the perfect time for parents to make sure their children are up-to-date on vaccinations, especially as cases of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, continue to rise according to County Health and Human Services Agency officials. (This week's new cases listed below). There have been 412 cases reported so far in 20

23 August 2010 According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 of 1996) Chapter 5 - The President and National Executive: - The President - Powers and functions of President - Executive authority of the Republic - Election of President - Assumption of office by President - Term of office of President - Removal of President - Acting President - Accountability and responsibilities - Deputy Ministers - Continuation of Cabinet after elections - Oath or affirmation - Conduct of Cabinet members and Deputy Ministers - Transfer of functions - Temporary assignment of functions - Assignment of functions - National intervention in provincial administration - Executive decisions - Motions of no confidence - is the Head of State and head of the national executive; - must uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic; and - promotes the unity of the nation and that which will advance the Republic. - The President has the powers entrusted by the Constitution and legislation, including those necessary to perform the functions of Head of State and head of the national executive. - The President is responsible for - assenting to and signing Bills; - referring a Bill back to the National Assembly for reconsideration of the Bill's constitutionality; - referring a Bill to the Constitutional Court for a decision on the Bill's constitutionality; - summoning the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces or Parliament to an extraordinary sitting to conduct special business; - making any appointments that the Constitution or legislation requires the President to make, other than as head of the national executive; - appointing commissions of inquiry; - calling a national referendum in terms of an Act of Parliament; - receiving and recognising foreign diplomatic and consular representatives; - appointing ambassadors, plenipotentiaries, and diplomatic and consular representatives; - pardoning or reprieving offenders and remitting any fines, penalties or forfeitures; and - conferring honours. [General Note: Honourable tributes instituted in Government Gazette 24155 of 6 December, 2002, Government Gazette 25213 of 25 July, 2003 and Government Gazette 25799 of 2 December, 2003.] - The executive authority of the Republic is vested in the President. - The President exercises the executive authority, together with the other members of the Cabinet, by - implementing national legislation except where the Constitution or an Act of Parliament provides otherwise; - developing and implementing national policy; - co-ordinating the functions of state departments and administrations; - preparing and initiating legislation; and - performing any other executive function provided for in the Constitution or in national legislation. - At its first sitting after its election, and whenever necessary to fill a vacancy, the National Assembly must elect a woman or a man from among its members to be the President. - The Chief Justice must preside over the election of the President, or designate another judge to do so. The procedure set out in Part A of Schedule 3 applies to the election of the President. [Sub-s. (2) substituted by s. 6 of Act No. 34 of 2001.] - An election to fill a vacancy in the office of President must be held at a time and on a date determined by the Chief Justice, but not more than 30 days after the vacancy occurs. [Sub-s. (3) substituted by s. 6 of Act No. 34 of 2001.] When elected President, a person ceases to be a member of the National Assembly and, within five days, must assume office by swearing or affirming faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution, in accordance with Schedule 2. - The President's term of office begins on assuming office and ends upon a vacancy occurring or when the person next elected President assumes office. - No person may hold office as President for more than two terms, but when a person is elected to fill a vacancy in the office of President, the period between that election and the next election of a President is not regarded as a term. - The National Assembly, by a resolution adopted with a supporting vote of at least two thirds of its members, may remove the President from office only on the grounds of - a serious violation of the Constitution or the law; - serious misconduct; or - inability to perform the functions of office. - Anyone who has been removed from the office of President in terms of subsection (1) (a) or (b) may not receive any benefits of that office, and may not serve in any public office. - When the President is absent from the Republic or otherwise unable to fulfil the duties of President, or during a vacancy in the office of President, an office-bearer in the order below acts as President: - The Deputy President. *3 - A Minister designated by the President. - A Minister designated by the other members of the Cabinet. - The Speaker, until the National Assembly designates one of its other members. - An Acting President has the responsibilities, powers and functions of the President. - Before assuming the responsibilities, powers and functions of the President, the Acting President must swear or affirm faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution, in accordance with Schedule 2. - A person who as Acting President has sworn or affirmed faithfulness to the Republic need not repeat the swearing or affirming procedure for any subsequent term as Acting President during the period ending when the person next elected President assumes office. [Sub-s. (4) added by s. 1 of Act No. 35 of 1997] 91. Cabinet *4 - The Cabinet consists of the President, as head of the Cabinet, a Deputy President and Ministers. - The President appoints the Deputy President and Ministers, assigns their powers and functions, and may dismiss them. - The President - must select the Deputy President from among the members of the National Assembly; - may select any number of Ministers from among the members of the Assembly; and - may select no more than two Ministers from outside the Assembly. - The President must appoint a member of the Cabinet to be the leader of government business in the National Assembly. - The Deputy President must assist the President in the execution of the functions of government. - The Deputy President and Ministers are responsible for the powers and functions of the executive assigned to them by the President. - Members of the Cabinet are accountable collectively and individually to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions. - Members of the Cabinet must - act in accordance with the Constitution; and - provide Parliament with full and regular reports concerning matters under their control. 93. Deputy Ministers 5* - The President may appoint- - any number of Deputy Ministers from among the members of the National Assembly; and - no more than two Deputy Ministers from outside the Assembly, to assist the members of the Cabinet, and may dismiss them. - Deputy Ministers appointed in terms of subsection (1) (b) are accountable to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions. [S. 93 substituted by s. 7 of Act No. 34 of 2001.] When an election of the National Assembly is held, the Cabinet, the Deputy President, Ministers and any Deputy Ministers remain competent to function until the person elected President by the next Assembly assumes office. Before the Deputy President, Ministers and any Deputy Ministers begin to perform their functions, they must swear or affirm faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution, in accordance with Schedule 2. - Members of the Cabinet and Deputy Ministers must act in accordance with a code of ethics prescribed by national legislation. - Members of the Cabinet and Deputy Ministers may not - undertake any other paid work; - act in any way that is inconsistent with their office, or expose themselves to any situation involving the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and private interests; or - use their position or any information entrusted to them, to enrich themselves or improperly benefit any other person. - to (6) inclusive. *6 The President by proclamation may transfer to a member of the Cabinet - the administration of any legislation entrusted to another member; or - any power or function entrusted by legislation to another member. The President may assign to a Cabinet member any power or function of another member who is absent from office or is unable to exercise that power or perform that function. A Cabinet member may assign any power or function that is to be exercised or performed in terms of an Act of Parliament to a member of a provincial Executive Council or to a Municipal Council. An assignment - must be in terms of an agreement between the relevant Cabinet member and the Executive Council member or Municipal Council; - must be consistent with the Act of Parliament in terms of which the relevant power or function is exercised or performed; and - takes effect upon proclamation by the President. - When a province cannot or does not fulfil an executive obligation in terms of the Constitution or legislation, the national executive may intervene by taking any appropriate steps to ensure fulfilment of that obligation, including - - issuing a directive to the provincial executive, describing the extent of the failure to fulfil its obligations and stating any steps required to meet its obligations; and - assuming responsibility for the relevant obligation in that province to the extent necessary to - maintain essential national standards or meet established minimum standards for the rendering of a service; - maintain economic unity; - maintain national security; or - prevent that province from taking unreasonable action that is prejudicial to the interests of another province or to the country as a whole. [Sub-s. (1) substituted by s. (2) (b) of Act No. 3 of 2003.] - If the national executive intervenes in a province in terms of subsection (1)(b) - it must submit a written notice of the intervention to the National Council of Provinces within 14 days after the intervention began; - the intervention must end if the Council disapproves the intervention within 180 days after the intervention began or by the end of that period has not approved the intervention; and - the Council must, while the intervention continues, review the intervention regularly and make any appropriate recommendations to the national executive. [Sub-s. (2) substituted by s. (2) (c) of Act No. 3 of 2003.] - National legislation may regulate the process established by this section. [S 100 amended by s. (2) (a) of Act No. 3 of 2003.] - A decision by the President must be in writing if it - is taken in terms of legislation; or - has legal consequences. - A written decision by the President must be countersigned by another Cabinet member if that decision concerns a function assigned to that other Cabinet member. - Proclamations, regulations and other instruments of subordinate legislation must be accessible to the public. - National legislation may specify the manner in which, and the extent to which, instruments mentioned in subsection (3) must be - tabled in Parliament; and - approved by Parliament. - If the National Assembly, by a vote supported by a majority of its members, passes a motion of no confidence in the Cabinet excluding the President, the President must reconstitute the Cabinet. - If the National Assembly, by a vote supported by a majority of its members, passes a motion of no confidence in the President, the President and the other members of the Cabinet and any Deputy Ministers must resign. - Until 30 April 1999, s. 84 is deemed to contain sub-s. (3) as set out in Annex B to Sch 6. See Sch 6 item 9 (2). (Back) - Until 30 April 1999, s. 89 is deemed to contain sub-s. (3) as set out in Annex B to Sch 6. See Sch 6 item 9 (2). (Back) - Until 30 April 1999, s. 90 (1) (a) is deemed to read as set out in Annex B to Sch 6. See Sch 6 item 9 (2). (Back) - Until 30 April 1999, s. 91 is deemed to read as set out in Annex B to Sch 6. See Sch 6 item 9 (2). (Back) - Until 30 April 1999, s. 93 is deemed to read as set out in Annex B to Sch 6. See Sch 6 item 9 (2). (Back) - Until 30 April 1999, s. 96 is deemed to contain sub-ss. (3) - (6) as set out in Annex B to Sch 6. See Sch 6 item 9 (2) (Back)

23 August 2010 According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 of 1996) Chapter 5 - The President and National Executive: - The President - Powers and functions of President - Executive authority of the Republic - Election of President - Assumption of office by President - Term of office of President - Removal of President - Acting President - Accountability and responsi

The title of this chart is "ELL Program Placement." The primary box contains the statement "All ELL students placed into the district's ELL program 1) development English language skills and 2) have opportunity for meaningful participation in the educational program." The chart then has a sub-heading of "ELL Program Design Elements." The six program design elements as they appear in left to right order starting with the first row are: Facilities, Staffing, Instructional Materials, Parental Notification, Peer Integration, and Special Programs. Each design element has a text box with information. The following is in the same order as listed above: "Facilities - ELL students provided facilities comparable to that provided to the overall student population." "Staffing - ELL Program staff are appropriately trained and sufficient in number to fully implement the ELL program." "Instructional Materials - The quantity and quality of instructional materials are adequate to fully implement the district's ELL program." "Parental Notification - Parents of ELL student are provided effective notice of program options and school activities." "Peer Integration - ELL students are not segregated from their English-speaking peers except as necessary to implement the ELL program." "Special Programs - ELL Students have an opportunity to participate in district special programs."

The title of this chart is "ELL Program Placement." The primary box contains the statement "All ELL students placed into the district's ELL program 1) development English language skills and 2) have opportunity for meaningful participation in the educational program." The chart then has a sub-heading of "ELL Program Design Elements." The six program design elements as they appear in left to right

Measuring the longitudinal change in FEV(1) is useful for assessing the adverse effects of respiratory exposures and pulmonary diseases. Investigators seek to estimate the "true" mean FEV(1) slope (mu(beta)) of an infinite population. The difference between the estimated mean FEV(1) slope (mu(beta)) and the true mean slope, resulting from biological variation and measurement errors, can be minimized by increasing the number of subjects (N), years of follow-up (D), or the frequency of measurements (P). We defined maximum error e(max) such that P[|mu(beta) - mu(beta)| < or = e(max)] = 0.95, and thus e(max) is one-half the width of the 95% confidence interval for mu(beta). We computed the values of e(max) on the basis of actual data obtained from 160 coal miners and working nonminers who had completed 11 spirometry measurements, using recommended equipment and procedures, at 6-mo intervals over 5 yr. Individual 5-yr FEV(1) slopes (Delta FEV(1)) were calculated by linear regression. For a range of values of N, D, and P, tables are provided for e(max), the magnitude of detectable differences in Delta FEV(1) between two groups, and the recommended number of subjects needed in each of two groups to reliably detect the anticipated differences in Delta FEV(1). The tables provide unique guidance for investigators in selecting among various study design options.

Measuring the longitudinal change in FEV(1) is useful for assessing the adverse effects of respiratory exposures and pulmonary diseases. Investigators seek to estimate the "true" mean FEV(1) slope (mu(beta)) of an infinite population. The difference between the estimated mean FEV(1) slope (mu(beta)) and the true mean slope, resulting from biological variation and measurement errors, can be minimiz

Chapter 3Infectious Diseases Related To Travel Plague (Bubonic, Pneumonic, Septicemic) Kevin S. Griffith, Paul S. Mead Plague is caused by the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis. MODE OF TRANSMISSION Zoonotic disease is usually transmitted to humans by the bites of infected rodent fleas. Less common exposures include handling infected animal tissues (hunters, wildlife personnel), inhalation of infectious droplets from cats or dogs with plague, and rarely, contact with a pneumonic plague patient. Each year, 1,000–2,500 cases occur globally. Plague is endemic in rural areas in central and southern Africa, central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the northeastern part of South America, and parts of the southwestern United States. Although rare, urban outbreaks of plague have been reported in Mahajanga, Madagascar. All ages are at risk for infection; however, risk to travelers is largely restricted to rural endemic areas. Only 1 case associated with international travel has been reported in the United States in the past 2 decades. The incubation period is typically 1–6 days. History is suggestive of exposure to rodents, rodent fleas, wild rabbits, sick or dead carnivores, or patients with pneumonic plague. Symptoms and signs of the 3 clinical presentations of plague illness are as follows: - Bubonic (more than 80%)—rapid onset of fever; painful, swollen, and tender lymph nodes, usually inguinal, axillary, or cervical - Pneumonic—high fever, overwhelming pneumonia, cough, bloody sputum, chills - Septicemic—fever, prostration, hemorrhagic or thrombotic phenomena, progressing to acral gangrene Y. pestis can be isolated from bubo aspirates, blood cultures, or sputum culture if pneumonic. Diagnosis can be confirmed through culture rapid assays, available through public health laboratories, or serologic tests that show a 4-fold change in antibody titer to F1 antigen between acute- and convalescent-phase sera. Physicians should report all suspected plague cases to state or local health departments and consult with CDC to obtain information and access diagnostic services. Parenteral antibiotic therapy with streptomycin is the recommended first-line therapy; alternatively, gentamicin or, where treatment is limited to oral therapy, doxycycline can be used. Additional information can be found on the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases website at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/index.htm. PREVENTIVE MEASURES FOR TRAVELERS No vaccine is currently available in the United States. Preventive measures are aimed at reducing contact with fleas and potentially infected rodents and other wildlife. Prophylactic antibiotic treatment is given only in the event of exposure to bites of wild rodent fleas during an outbreak, exposure to tissues of a plague-infected animal, or close exposure to another person or animal with suspected plague pneumonia. People working in health care settings should follow droplet precautions while working with suspected plague patients, especially if patient is coughing. - Boisier P, Rahalison L, Rasolomaharo M, Ratsitorahina M, Mahafaly M, Razafimahefa M, et al. Epidemiologic features of four successive annual outbreaks of bubonic plague in Mahajanga, Madagascar. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002 Mar;8(3):311–6. - Boulanger LL, Ettestad P, Fogarty JD, Dennis DT, Romig D, Mertz G. Gentamicin and tetracyclines for the treatment of human plague: review of 75 cases in new Mexico, 1985–1999. Clin Infect Dis. 2004 Mar 1;38(5):663–9. - CDC. Human plague—India, 1994. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1994 Sep 30;43(38):689–91. - CDC. Prevention of plague: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR Recomm Rep. 1996 Dec 13;45(RR-14):1–15. - Dennis DT, Mead P. Yersinia species, including plague. In: Mandell GS, Bennett JE, Dolin R, editors. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2010. p. 2943–53. - Gage KL. Plague. In: Collier L, editor. Microbiology and Microbial Infections. 9th ed. New York: Arnold; 1998. - Inglesby TV, Dennis DT, Henderson DA, Bartlett JG, Ascher MS, Eitzen E, et al. Plague as a biological weapon: medical and public health management. Working Group on Civilian Biodefense. JAMA. 2000 May 3;283(17):2281–90. - Kool JL. Risk of person-to-person transmission of pneumonic plague. Clin Infect Dis. 2005 Apr 15;40(8):1166–72. - Neerinckx S, Bertherat E, Leirs H. Human plague occurrences in Africa: an overview from 1877 to 2008. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Feb;104(2):97–103. - Perry RD, Fetherston JD. Yersinia pestis—etiologic agent of plague. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1997 Jan;10(1):35–66. - World Health Organization. Human plague: review of regional morbidity and mortality, 2004–2009. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2009 Feb 5;85(6):40–5. - Travel Notices - Find a Clinic - Disease Directory - Information Centers - Traveler Information Center - Common Travel Health Topics - Adventure Travel - Bug Bites - Business Travel - Counterfeit Drugs - Cruise Ship Travel - Cold Climates - Deep Vein Thrombosis - Food and Water - Health Care Abroad - High Altitudes - Hot Climates - Humanitarian Aid Workers - Jet Lag - Last-Minute Travel - Long-Term Travel - Mass Gatherings - Medical Tourism - Mental Health - Motion Sickness - Natural Disasters - Pregnant Travelers - Road Safety - Senior Citizens - Sex Tourism - Sick After Travel - Study Abroad - Sun Exposure - Swimming and Diving - Travelers' Diarrhea - Travelers with Chronic Illnesses - Travelers with Weakened Immune Systems - Traveling with a Disability - Traveling with Your Pet - Visiting Friends or Relatives - Water Disinfection - Traveler Survival Guide - CDC-TV Videos - Common Travel Health Topics - Clinician Information Center - Travel Industry Information Center - Traveler Information Center - Yellow Book - RSS Feeds Before you travel make sure you speak with your doctor.

Chapter 3Infectious Diseases Related To Travel Plague (Bubonic, Pneumonic, Septicemic) Kevin S. Griffith, Paul S. Mead Plague is caused by the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis. MODE OF TRANSMISSION Zoonotic disease is usually transmitted to humans by the bites of infected rodent fleas. Less common exposures include handling infected animal tissues (hunters, wildlife personnel), inhalation o

Speeches - By EPA Administrator Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Remarks to the 2nd Annual Governors’ Global Climate Summit, As Prepared09/30/2009 |As prepared for delivery.| It’s my honor to welcome you to the Governors’ Climate Summit. Thank you to our host, Governor Schwarzenegger, and co-hosts Governor Gregoire from Washington and Governor Kulongoski from Oregon. Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger convened leaders from across the globe to discuss this shared challenge. By doing so again this year, he’s demonstrated that he is a true leader in the fight to stop climate change. He has been nothing short of a remarkable voice on this issue. And I’m glad to see that moving from Hollywood to Sacramento has not stopped him from trying to save the world. Thank you, Governor Schwarzenegger. I also want to thank him – and everyone here – for making this a broad and bipartisan event. It can often feel like the poles of our debate are growing at the same rate the poles on our planet are shrinking. I’m heartened that we can all meet here with a common purpose. Let me also thank you – as your keynote – for allowing me to welcome you when – as part of the EPA and the federal government – I am the newcomer here. For too many years, states, cities and towns concerned about climate change have had to go it alone – typically without federal partnership, and sometimes with aggressive federal opposition. I know from my time as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – where we joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and stepped up state efforts on clean energy – exactly how challenging it has been. But I also know that it sparked incredible creativity and leadership, especially here in California. California has been out front on energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, transportation innovation, and so much more. In many ways, the country is once again catching up with what’s happening here. That is literally true with one of President Obama’s signature initiatives – a groundbreaking agreement on national fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for vehicles. 15 days ago, the Secretary of Transportation and I signed a formal proposal setting standards of 35.5 MPG by 2016, and containing the first ever national action to significantly control greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. That breakthrough had its roots in the California waiver, which President Obama directed EPA to reconsider almost as soon as we stepped into office. To stay ahead of the game – rather than just play catch up – discussions are already underway between California, EPA, and DOT on what happens in 2017 and beyond. Last year, President-elect Obama promised the first Governors’ Climate Summit that his Presidency will be a “new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change.” This year, I would like to read you the first pages of that chapter. Now is the time for this administration to take action against the greatest environmental challenge of our time, and claim the national and international leadership expected of us. Central to our progress is getting America running efficiently on clean energy. We can create millions of good jobs that can't be shipped overseas, cut carbon emissions, and keep billions of dollars here at home by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Comprehensive legislation from the US Congress is the next frontier – and we are closer today than we have ever been before. The House has already passed the bill from LA’s own Congressmen Henry Waxman and Massachusetts’ Ed Markey. Today, we saw the introduction of a Senate bill from another great Massachusetts-California duo: Senator’s Boxer and Kerry. That marks the start of the Senate's work to pass a bill this year. EPA is ready to work with Congress – and all of you – to bring a strong climate and energy bill to the American people. But we are not going to continue with business as usual while we wait for Congress to act. We have the tools and the technologies to move forward today, and we are using them. Along with the California Waiver and the clean car program, we have taken – in these first few months – two other historic actions in the fight against climate change. In just a moment, I will share with you another. The first of those two was one of our earliest actions on the job: fulfilling the mandate of the 2007 Supreme Court decision by proposing a formal Endangerment Finding for greenhouse gas emissions. That Supreme Court decision was perhaps the most important decision ever handed down in the annals of environmental law. EPA was prompted to determine if greenhouse gases pose a threat to the health of Americans, and – if so – to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. The court sent a crystal clear message: there are no more excuses for delay. Unfortunately, that watershed moment was met with more diversion and inaction. But this administration refused to ignore science and the law. We quickly set to work and proposed the finding as directed by the court. We have received more than 400,000 responses in the 60-day public comment period. And we soon expect a final document that will lay the foundation for reducing greenhouse emissions and confronting climate change. Our second historic action came last week when we announced that – for the first time ever – the nation’s largest sources of greenhouse gases will be required to report their emissions. That new rule will allow us – and you – to track approximately 85 percent of total US emissions while only requiring a small percentage of facilities – about 10,000 out of tens of millions of American businesses – to report. We will now know with greater accuracy how much carbon is polluting our atmosphere and where energy efficiency investments and new technologies may be particularly effective at reducing greenhouse gases. Today, I’m proud to announce the next major advance in this effort: today I signed a proposed rule to use the power and authority of the Clean Air Act to begin reducing emissions from the nation’s largest greenhouse gas emitting facilities. Under this new rule, large facilities would be required to adopt the best, most efficient technologies available when they are constructed or upgraded, helping us significantly reduce greenhouse gases from sectors that account for nearly 70 percent of non-vehicle emissions. This is a common-sense measure, strategically tailored to facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year. And the results won’t just be emissions cuts. It will also promote emerging innovations and accelerate the use of efficient, clean technologies across the entire economy. In short, it allows us to do what the Clean Air Act does best – reduce emissions for better health, drive technology innovation for a better economy, and protect the environment for a better future – all without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the better part of our economy. This is change. It’s not easy. And we can’t expect it to get easy in the months and years ahead. Defenders of the status quo are going to oppose this with everything they have. Very soon, we will hear about doomsday scenarios – with EPA regulating everything from cows to the local Dunkin’ Donuts. But let’s be clear: that is not going to happen. We have carefully targeted our efforts to exempt the vast majority of small and medium-sized businesses. We know the corner coffee shop is no place to look for meaningful carbon reductions. In the coming months, we will continue working together with regions, states and localities, as well as Congress, to put climate solutions into action. We will explore cost-effective ways to expand the reach of energy efficiency and innovation to key sectors of the economy, where opportunities are very real. In addition to the national fuel economy proposals for light-duty vehicles, we see the potential for significant emissions cuts in other transportation sectors, which together account for about 28 percent of the nation’s emissions. We are also exploring moving forward with New Source Performance Standards so that power plants, refineries, cement manufacturing and other stationary sources are using energy efficient motors and heaters – helping to spark new innovations and new ways of doing business that will ensure our economic and environmental sustainability for generations to come. Let me close on that last point: generations to come. Our chief responsibility in all of this is to leave our planet a better place. Whatever our political beliefs are, wherever we come from, and whatever strategy we think is best, a concern for our future generations is – ultimately – what brings us all here. With me today is young woman named Otana Jakpor. Many of you may already know of her from the well-deserved attention she gained for her leadership and commitment to protecting our health and our environment. Otana is a 15 year old a senior at Woodcrest Christian High School in Riverside. When she was 13, she began coming to public hearings and offering not only her impassioned views, but hard data on environmental threats. Her extraordinary work helped move California to pass a law on ozone pollution from air purifiers. Today, she is still at it, hoping for cleaner air to help her mother in her chronic struggles with asthma. In the process, Otana is working on behalf of us all. At this young age, she has stepped up to do her part. Now it’s time for us to go to work for her. Otana and her generation should be able to look back and see this moment as the turning point in our history, when we began, in earnest, the stop climate change. That is why I’m here today. It’s why President Obama has initiated American leadership on climate change. And it’s why I’m glad to be here – with all of you – to offer my hand in partnership, and to say that the journey towards real carbon reductions, towards clean energy, cleaner air and a better future, is underway. Thank you very much.

Speeches - By EPA Administrator Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Remarks to the 2nd Annual Governors’ Global Climate Summit, As Prepared09/30/2009 |As prepared for delivery.| It’s my honor to welcome you to the Governors’ Climate Summit. Thank you to our host, Governor Schwarzenegger, and co-hosts Governor Gregoire from Washington and Governor Kulongoski from Oregon. Last year, Governor Schwarzenegg

1. To review general requirements 2. To list key requirements for site choice 3. To consider specific requirements for main areas 4. To list major facilities required in a multifunction site Our objectives for this session are split into 4 main areas: 1. We will review in detail the general requirements that GMP make on the location and design of the premises. We will be looking at the principles supporting all aspects of the design of the factory. 2. Having done that we will have a group session in which we will be asking you to use your knowledge of the general principles and your practical experience in your country to review a concept drawing of a facility “faxed” through to your group. The plan is only on one page, A4 but this is sometimes typical of plans faxed through for comment. 3. We will then examine each key area and review the special requirements for building design. We will also look at the role of the premises in the prevention of cross-contamination. 4. In the second group session we want you to look at a multifunction factory and to define the GMP facilities that you would expect to find there. There is another concept drawing of a sterile facility faxed through to your group for comment.

1. To review general requirements 2. To list key requirements for site choice 3. To consider specific requirements for main areas 4. To list major facilities required in a multifunction site Our objectives for this session are split into 4 main areas: 1. We will review in detail the general requirements that GMP make on the location and design of the premises. We will be looking at the principles

(A) A well shall be plugged with cement, prepared clay, or any other material approved by the chief. A rotary drilled hole shall be plugged with cement unless otherwise approved by the division. The owner or his agent may have the option of using either prepared clay or cement to plug a cable tool drilled hole. (1) All Class II saltwater injection, enhanced recovery and Class III solution mining wells must be plugged with cement. (B) Cement shall meet commonly accepted industry standards for portland cement. Cement blends must be able to attain a minimum compressive strength of five hundred pounds per square inch after twenty-four hours when tested in accordance commonly accepted industry standards. If pozzalan cement mixtures are used, pozzalanic materials may not exceed fifty per cent by volume of a cement blend. A well that yields hydrogen sulfide must be plugged with sulfate-resistant cement. Inspectors may approve the use of a nine-sack grout. The chief will evaluate sources of prepared clay to determine whether they satisfy division standards. The chief shall approve prepared clay sources based upon an annual test demonstrating that the material has a clay content of not less than 40 percent and a sand or greater size content not exceeding 30 percent. For purposes of this evaluation, clay shall be considered any material with a particle size of 4.0 microns or less, and the sand fraction will be considered all particles with a grain size exceeding 62.5 microns. The division will collect a composite sample of material from the clay seam, stockpile or bagged product that is deemed representative of the source material. The division will seal, label, and deliver the sample to a qualified laboratory for testing. Upon receipt of the analysis, the division will inform the owner whether the sample meets applicable standards and provide a copy of the analysis. In addition to meeting the grain size standards, the owner of an approved operation must process the material and store the material in a dry condition for delivery. The division will maintain and update the list of approved prepared clay sources at least annually. (C) No substance of any nature or description other than that normally used in plugging operations in accordance with the acceptable industry standard shall be placed in any well at any time during the plugging operations. Replaces: 4101:10-1-03, 4101:10-1-04, 4101:10-1-05; Eff 7-16-82; 8-9-93; 4-15-04 Rule promulgated under: RC 119.03 Rule authorized by: RC 1509.03 Rule amplifies: RC 1509.15 RC 119.032 review dates: 9/16/03, 1/27/04, 4/15/09

(A) A well shall be plugged with cement, prepared clay, or any other material approved by the chief. A rotary drilled hole shall be plugged with cement unless otherwise approved by the division. The owner or his agent may have the option of using either prepared clay or cement to plug a cable tool drilled hole. (1) All Class II saltwater injection, enhanced recovery and Class III solution mining w

Logan, George, 1778-1861; M'Laughlin, William F., printer; University of Pennsylvania 1802. An essay on the hydrocephalic state of fever An inaugural dissertation on the kalmia latifolia and angustifolia: submitted to the examination of the Reverend John Ewing, S.S.T.P. Provost, the trustees & medical faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, on the 27th day of May, 1802, for the degree of doctor of medicine

Logan, George, 1778-1861; M'Laughlin, William F., printer; University of Pennsylvania 1802. An essay on the hydrocephalic state of fever An inaugural dissertation on the kalmia latifolia and angustifolia: submitted to the examination of the Reverend John Ewing, S.S.T.P. Provost, the trustees & medical faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, on the 27th day of May, 1802, for the degree of doctor

About the Extended Continental Shelf Project The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Task Force directs and coordinates the Extended Continental Shelf Project, an effort to delineate the U.S. continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Task Force is an interagency body, chaired by the Department of State with co-vice chairs from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of the Interior. Ten additional agencies participate in the Task Force: the U.S. Geological Survey, the Executive Office of the President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, BOEMRE, and the Arctic Research Commission. Where does the U.S. have an ECS? There are six areas where the U.S. likely has an extended continental shelf (ECS): the Atlantic Margin, Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, off the west side of Guam/Northern Mariana Islands, and in two areas in the Gulf of Mexico. There are nine areas in which the U.S. may have an extended continental shelf: the Gulf of Alaska, the western end of the Aleutian Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Hawaii's Necker Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll, and three areas off the U.S. west coast. Preliminary studies have indicated that the U.S. ECS likely totals at least one million square kilometers -- an area about twice the size of California or nearly half the Louisiana Purchase. As additional data are collected and existing data analyzed, we will begin to come to a more definitive conclusion as to the extent of the U.S. ECS. Why do it and what's there? The U.S., like other countries, has an inherent interest in knowing, and declaring to others, the exact extent of our sovereign rights in the ocean. Specifically, a nation has sovereign rights over the resources on and under the seabed, including petroleum resources (oil, gas, gas hydrates), “sedentary” creatures such as clams, crabs, and corals, and mineral resources, such as manganese nodules, ferromanganese crusts, and polymetallic sulfides. Defining those rights in concrete geographical terms provides the specificity and certainty necessary to protect, manage, and/or use those resources. And international recognition is important in establishing the necessary stability for development, conservation and protection of these areas. Because most of the ocean -- especially the deep ocean -- is unexplored, we are unsure exactly what the sea floor looks like. Given the size of the U.S. continental shelf, the resources we might find there may be worth many billions if not trillions of dollars. A country may use the sediment thickness formula or the bathymetric formula to define the outer limits of its continental shelf. Click image for larger view.Credit: continentalshelf.gov A country may use either constraint line to define the outer limits of its continental shelf: either 350 nautical miles seaward of the baseline, or 100 nautical miles seaward of the 2,500-meter depth contour (isobath). Click image for larger view. How is an ECS determined? Determining the extent of the continental shelf is a bit different than other maritime zones, such as the territorial sea or the exclusive economic zone, because it is not simply a matter of distance from the shoreline. Under customary international law, as reflected in the Convention on the Law of the Sea, every country automatically has a continental shelf out to 200 nautical miles from its shore (or out to a maritime boundary with another country). In some cases, a country can have a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles if it meets certain criteria. Typically, the portion of continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles is called the "extended continental shelf” or simply the ECS. Keep in mind this legal definition of the continental shelf is not the same as what a geologist would call a continental shelf. The rules for defining the ECS are based in international law, specifically the 617 words of Article 76 in the Convention on the Law of the Sea. A country can use one of two formulas in any combination to determine the edge of its ECS. The Convention also says there are two constraint lines that those two formulas cannot extend past. Here, too, a country can use any combination of those constraint lines to maximize its shelf. There are two primary datasets that a country needs to collect to determine the two formula lines and the constraint lines. The first is bathymetric data that provides a three-dimensional map of the ocean floor. The second is seismic reflection data that provides a cross-section view of what's beneath the ocean floor. From that cross-section view, scientists can derive information on the thickness of the sediments and the characteristics of the geologic layers that are stacked on top of one another.

About the Extended Continental Shelf Project The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Task Force directs and coordinates the Extended Continental Shelf Project, an effort to delineate the U.S. continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Task Force is an interagency body, chaired by the Department of State with co-vice chairs from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

The purpose of this guide is to help information providers (sometimes referred to as IPs) by describing what can be published on CORDIS, the publishing services and support available and some basic rules on the how content should be published and maintained. CORDIS - Community Research and Delopment Information Service, is an information space devoted to European research and Development (R&D) activities and technology transfer. The main aims of CORDIS are : - to facilitate participation in European research and take-up activities; - to improve exploitation of research results with an emphasis on sectors crucial to Europe's competitiveness; - to promote the diffusion of knowledge fostering the technology take-up to enterprises and the societal acceptance of new technology. Since 2004, the CORDIS service has been managed by the Publications Office (see CORDIS contacts), in close cooperation with the various services of the EU institutions, agencies and associated bodies involved in research activities. CORDIS is a multilingual web service currently operational in six languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish. The creation of CORDIS is based on the Communication of the Commission for the implementation of an RTD information service (1988-12-12, SEC(1988)1831). The current legal basis of CORDIS is Decision No. 1982/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-2013). CORDIS has a wide range of information providers and stakeholders. Information providers can be found at regional, national and European level. Amongst the stakeholders can be found research organisations, public administrations and specialised target groups. At European level information providers are, within the European Commission, selected persons offering timely information on the research programmes and activities. IPs and stakeholders CORDIS is an information space, filled with a vast array of data on European research and development activities. New information is added daily, and all information is regularly updated and reviewed until it is archived (where it remains available to users). Information published on CORDIS can be categorised as follows: - EU research activities: Information services on all aspects of European Union R&D programmes, policies and other initiatives. The objective is to assist organisations and individuals to participate in, and/or benefit from Community-funded research. The services promote awareness of EU research activities at European, national and sub-national levels. - Pan-European and international research activities: Services to promote the research and innovation policies, programmes and infrastructures of the Member States. Information covering pan-European frameworks, services to promote cooperation activities with associated states and other third countries. CORDIS can help you build your website and develop it according to your needs. The current publishing offer consists of three main categories of services: - Web services (static and dynamic pages) - Database service (records grouped within a database) - Applications (e.g. on-line forms, on-line forums). If necessary, CORDIS is able to host your website, but services hosted outside can be also integrated in CORDIS. CORDIS is the central information service on European Union research activities. It comprises 12 searchable databases including news stories, events, project profiles, press releases, exploitable project results or outlines of EU research programme. All the services can be accessed via the multilingual home page. Main benefits of hosting your web service on CORDIS: - High visibility as part of EU R&D Services – Publishing on CORDIS will enable you to integrate your content with over 140 other R&D web services. The popularity of CORDIS ensures high visibility for your web service. - Disseminate your content to current CORDIS users – CORDIS has over 100,000 registered users. Publishing on CORDIS is an excellent opportunity to attract the appropriate audience to your content. Enhanced tools (including notifications, syndication techniques, RSS feeds) enable targeted dissemination to specific user groups. - Comprehensive catalogue of services – Your web service published on CORDIS automatically benefits from the comprehensive catalogue of multilingual services, including dynamic content delivery, user registration, sophisticated search facilities, tailored marketing and promotion facilities, and more. - CORDIS editorial – If you have an important announcement, the editorial services of CORDIS ensure the appropriate channel to disseminate in all languages of CORDIS. It includes publication and translation of news items and the submission of CORDIS Wire announcements. - Assistance and support – CORDIS ensures a multi-level Help Desk which provides support to the information providers and stakeholders. The support to information providers ranges from advice on content organisation to specific technical questions. The information provider is a person appointed by the relevant organisation or entity to act as the contact point with CORDIS on all matters relating to the content published on the relevant part of the CORDIS website. The information provider will be in contact with CORDIS on the following issues: - Maintenance of the content: Information providers are expected to maintain their information published on CORDIS. Maintenance refers to all types of updates including additions and deletions. - Copyright: All graphical items (images, logos) published on CORDIS must have an explicit copyright clearance from the owner. In case of doubt, CORDIS may contact the information provider for clarification.

The purpose of this guide is to help information providers (sometimes referred to as IPs) by describing what can be published on CORDIS, the publishing services and support available and some basic rules on the how content should be published and maintained. CORDIS - Community Research and Delopment Information Service, is an information space devoted to European research and Development (R&D) act

Why did BLS add questions about Hurricane Katrina evacuees to the Current Population Survey (CPS)? Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast in late August 2005. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau realized that the CPSa large, well-designed, monthly household surveycould provide timely and useful information about some people affected by this major natural disaster. The questions to identify evacuees were first asked in the CPS in October 2005only about a month and a half after the stormand the first results were published in early November. Since that time, the estimates of the employment status of Katrina evacuees have been published monthly in the Employment Situation news release and made available on the BLS website. Why is the BLS discontinuing the collection of Hurricane Katrina evacuee data in October 2006? Asking these questions in the CPS is not a good method for studying the population of Katrina evacuees over the long term: Does BLS have any other plans to gather additional information about Hurricane Katrina evacuees? At this time, BLS does not have plans to conduct additional surveys of Hurricane Katrina evacuees through the CPS. BLS will continue to publish monthly employment and unemployment data from its other programs for the states and local areas affected by the storm. The most recent news release for regions and states can be found at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.toc.htm. The most recent news release for metropolitan areas is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.toc.htm. Last Modified Date: November 03, 2006

Why did BLS add questions about Hurricane Katrina evacuees to the Current Population Survey (CPS)? Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast in late August 2005. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau realized that the CPSa large, well-designed, monthly household surveycould provide timely and useful information about some people affected by thi

Exclude Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten Teachers (A155) and Teacher's Aides (D387). Specialize in the care of infants or children and help promote social, physical, and intellectual growth in day care, nursery, and preschool education. May read to children, organize games, and teach simple painting and drawing. May direct children in learning to listen to instructions, playing with others, and using play equipment. Include Teacher's Assistant, Day Care Aide, Kindergartner's Helper, and Nursery Attendant. Last modified: October 16, 2001

Exclude Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten Teachers (A155) and Teacher's Aides (D387). Specialize in the care of infants or children and help promote social, physical, and intellectual growth in day care, nursery, and preschool education. May read to children, organize games, and teach simple painting and drawing. May direct children in learning to listen to instructions, playing with others, and u

Commission Directive 2001/93/EC of 9 November 2001 amending Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs OJ L 316, 1.12.2001, p. 36–38 (ES, DA, DE, EL, EN, FR, IT, NL, PT, FI, SV) Special edition in Czech: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Estonian: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Hungarian Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Lithuanian: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Latvian: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Maltese: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Polish: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Slovak: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Slovene: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Bulgarian: Chapter 03 Volume 40 P. 39 - 41 Special edition in Romanian: Chapter 03 Volume 40 P. 39 - 41 DA DE EL EN ES FI FR IT NL PT SV |Bilingual display: BG CS DA DE EL EN ES ET FI FR HU IT LT LV MT NL PL PT RO SK SL SV| Commission Directive 2001/93/EC of 9 November 2001 amending Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 91/630/EEC of 19 November 1991 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs(1) as amended, and in particular Article 5 thereof, (1) Pursuant to Article 6 of Directive 91/630/EEC the Scientific Veterinary Committee adopted on 30 September 1997 an opinion regarding the welfare of intensively kept pigs. (2) Council Directive 98/58/EC of 20 July 1998 concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes(2), drawn up on the basis of the European Convention for the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, establishes Community provisions applying to all farmed animals in relation to construction requirements for animal housing, insulation, heating and ventilation conditions, equipment inspection and inspection of livestock. It is therefore necessary to deal with these matters in the Annex to Directive 91/630/EEC when more detailed requirements have to be established. (3) When pigs are kept in groups, appropriate management measures for their protection should be taken to improve their welfare. (4) Tail docking, tooth clipping and tooth grinding are likely to cause immediate pain and some prolonged pain to pigs. Castration is likely to cause prolonged pain which is worse if there is tearing of the tissues. Those practices are therefore detrimental to the welfare of pigs, especially when carried out by incompetent and inexperienced persons. As consequence, rules should be laid down to ensure better practices. (5) The abovementioned report of the Scientific Veterinary Committee recommended that, in the interests of their welfare, piglets should not be weaned from the sow aged less than 28 days, unless the health of either the sow or her piglets would otherwise be adversely affected or advantages for the health of the piglets justify an earlier weaning. (6) The measures provided for in this Directive are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Veterinary Committee, HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: The Annex to Directive 91/630/EEC is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Directive. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 January 2003 at the latest. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions. When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 9 November 2001 For the Commission Member of the Commission (1) OJ L 340, 11.12.1991, p. 33. (2) OJ L 221, 8.8.1998, p. 23. In addition to the relevant provisions of the Annex to Directive 98/58/EC, the following requirements apply: 1. In the part of the building where pigs are kept continuous noise levels as loud as 85 dBA shall be avoided. Constant or sudden noise shall be avoided. 2. Pigs must be kept in light with an intensity of at least 40 lux for a minimum period of minimum eight hours per day. 3. The accommodation for pigs must be constructed in such a way as to allow the animals to: - have access to a lying area physically and thermally comfortable as well as adequately drained and clean which allow all the animals to lie at the same time, - rest and get up normally, - see other pigs; however, in the week before the expected farrowing time and during farrowing, sows and gilts can be kept out of the sight of conspecifics. 4. Not withstanding Article 3(5), pigs must have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities, such as straw, hay, wood, sawdust, mushroom compost, peat or a mixture of such, which does not compromise the health of the animals. 5. Floors must be smooth but not slippery so as to prevent injury to the pigs and so designed, constructed and maintained so as not to cause injury or suffering to pigs. They must be suitable for the size and weight of the pigs and, if no litter is provided, form a rigid, even and stable surface. 6. All pigs must be fed at least once a day. Where pigs are fed in groups and not ad libitum or by an automatic system feeding the animals individually, each pig must have access to the food at the same time as the others in the group. 7. All pigs over two weeks of age must have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of fresh water. 8. All procedures intended as an intervention carried out for other than therapeutic or diagnostic purposes or for the identification of the pigs in accordance with relevant legislation and resulting in damage to or the loss of a sensitive part of the body or the alteration of bone structure shall be prohibited with the following exceptions: - a uniform reduction of corner teeth of piglets by grinding or clipping not later than the seventh day of life of the piglets leaving an intact smooth surface; boars' tusks may be reduced in length where necessary to prevent injuries to other animals or for safety reasons, - docking of a part of the tail, - castration of male pigs by other means than tearing of tissues, - nose ringing only when the animals are kept in outdoor husbandry systems and in compliance with national legislation. Neither tail docking nor reduction of corner teeth must be carried out routinely but only where there is evidence that injuries to sows' teats or to other pigs' ears or tails have occurred. Before carrying out these procedures, other measures shall be taken to prevent tail biting and other vices taking into account environment and stocking densities. For this reason inadequate environmental conditions or management systems must be changed. Any of the procedures described above shall only be carried out by a veterinarian or a person trained as provided in Article 5 of this Directive experienced in performing the applied techniques with appropriate means and under hygienic conditions. If castration or docking of tails is practised after seventh day of life, it shall only be performed under anaesthetic and additional prolonged analgesia by a veterinarian. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS FOR VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF PIGS Boar pens must be sited and constructed so as to allow the boar to turn round and to hear, smell and see other pigs. The unobstructed floor area available to an adult boar must be at least 6 m2. Where pens are also used for natural service the floor area available to an adult boar must be at least of 10 m2 and the pen must be free of any obstacles. From 1 January 2003 this provision shall apply to all holdings newly built or rebuilt or brought into use for the first time after this date. From 1 January 2005 this provision shall apply to all holdings. B. SOWS AND GILTS 1. Measures shall be taken to minimise aggression in groups. 2. Pregnant sows and gilts must, if necessary, be treated against external and internal parasites. If they are placed in farrowing crates, pregnant sows and gilts must be thoroughly cleaned. 3. In the week before the expected farrowing time sows and gilts must be given suitable nesting material in sufficient quantity unless it is not technically feasible for the slurry system used in the establishment. 4. An unobstructed area behind the sow or gilt must be available for the ease of natural or assisted farrowing. 5. Farrowing pens where sows are kept loose must have some means of protecting the piglets, such as farrowing rails. 1. A part of the total floor, sufficient to allow the animal to rest together at the same time, must be solid or covered with a mat, or be littered with straw or any other suitable material. 2. Where a farrowing crate is used, the piglets must have sufficient space to be able to be suckled without difficulty. 3. No piglets shall be weaned from the sow at less than 28 days of age unless the welfare or health of the dam or the piglet would otherwise be adversely affected. However, piglets may be weaned up to seven days earlier if they are moved into specialised housings which are emptied and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before the introduction of a new group and which are separated from housings where sows are kept, in order to minimise the transmission of diseases to the piglets. D. WEANERS AND REARING PIGS 1. When pigs are kept in groups measures must be taken to prevent fighting which goes beyond normal behaviour. 2. They should be kept in groups with as little mixing as possible. If pigs unfamiliar with one another have to be mixed, this should be done at as young an age as possible, preferably before or up to one week after weaning. When pigs are mixed they shall be provided with adequate opportunities to escape and hide from other pigs. 3. When signs of severe fighting appear the causes shall be immediately investigated and appropriate measures taken such as providing plentiful straw to the animals, if possible, or other materials for investigation. Animals at risk or particular aggressors shall be kept separate from the group. 4. The use of tranquillising medicaments in order to facilitate mixing shall be limited to exceptional conditions and only after consultation with a veterinarian.

Commission Directive 2001/93/EC of 9 November 2001 amending Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs OJ L 316, 1.12.2001, p. 36–38 (ES, DA, DE, EL, EN, FR, IT, NL, PT, FI, SV) Special edition in Czech: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Estonian: Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 Special edition in Hungarian Chapter 03 Volume 34 P. 265 - 267 S

Member State to which the notification was sent Date of acknowledgement from the Member State Competent Authority Title of the Project Evaluation of H7-1sugar beets in different systems of conservation tillage and different systems of weed control including Roundup Ready® herbicide Proposed period of release: 15/04/2010 to 15/12/2012 Name of the Institute(s) or Company(ies) Wroclaw University Of Environmental and Life Sciences, ; 3. Is the same GMPt release planned elsewhere in the Community? Has the same GMPt been notified elsewhere by the same notifier? Genetically modified plant Complete name of the recipient or parental plant(s) vulgaris var. saccharifera 2. Description of the traits and characteristics which have been introduced or modified, including marker genes and previous modifications: H7-1 sugar beet expresses the CP4 EPSPS protein, derived from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4, which provides tolerance to glyphosate. Glyphosate is the active ingredient of the herbicide Roundup. The nature of the product and the objective of the genetic modification is to improve weed management practices in sugar beet. Weed management is an expensive, labour intensive, and in some cases complicated operation necessary for optimal production efficiency of sugar beet. No single currently-registered herbicide offers the broad spectrum weed control afforded by Roundup. Instead, farmers today must resort to using several applications of multiple herbicides with high input of the respective chemicals. The use of H7-1 sugar beet for sugar beet production would enable farmers to use Roundup herbicide for effective and sustainable control of weeds while making use of the benefits of Roundup’s environmental safety characteristics. This new glyphosate-tolerant sugar beet could positively impact current agronomic practices, reducing energy consumption and soil erosion. 3. Type of genetic modification: In case of insertion of genetic material, give the source and intended function of each constituent fragment of the region to be inserted: H7-1 contains the cp4 epsps gene which codes for the CP4 EPSPS protein derived from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4. This protein confers tolerance to glyphosate. A full description of the genetic elements in H7-1, including the approximate size, source and function is provided in Table 1. 6. Brief description of the method used for the genetic modification: A disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens plant transformation system was used to produce event H7-1. This delivery system is well documented to transfer and stably integrate transferred DNA (T-DNA) into the plant nuclear chromosome. The vector used is PV BVGT08. The original transformation was conducted by using a diploid fertile sugar beet line. 7. If the recipient or parental plant is a forest tree species, describe ways and extent of dissemination and specific factors affecting dissemination: 1. Purpose of the release: The aim of this environmental release is evaluation of cultivation of H7-1 sugar beet in conservation tillage condition and proves economical and production related benefits in Poland. 2. Geographical location of the site: The Agricultural Experimental Institution in Swojec, dolnoslaskie voivodship, Poland 3. Size of the site (m2): 4. Relevant data regarding previous releases carried out with the same GM-plant, if any, specifically related to the potential environmental and human health impacts from the release: H7-1 sugar beet has been released for field-testing at several locations in the U.S.A., Canada, Russia, Chile and the EU 27 since 1995. These field trials were conducted to produce material for regulatory studies and to assess agronomic performance (efficacy, selectivity, yield assessment). Following rigorous regulatory assessment, environmental authorizations have been received in the U.S.A. (2005), Canada (2005), and Japan (2007) for H7-1 sugar beet. The results of the release in these countries showed no evidence that H7 1 sugar beet is likely to cause any adverse effects to human or animal health and the environment. Further on H7-1 sugar beet received authorisation for food and feed importation in the EU according to Regulation (EC) 1829/2003 in October 2007. Environmental Impact and Risk Management Summary of the potential environmental impact from the release of the GMPts: Analysis of the characteristics of sugar beet event H7-1 have shown that the likelihood of potential adverse effects on human health and the environment in the European Union, resulting from its cultivation and use as any other sugar beet is negligible. Therefore, the overall environmental risk posed by the proposed field trials with event H7-1 is also negligible, and strategies for risk management would be the same as for conventional sugar beet. Brief description of any measures taken for the management of risks: The environmental risk assessment has indicated that the environmental risk of this sugar beet is negligible. Therefore, strategies for risk management for H7-1 sugar beet would be the same as for conventional sugar beet. However, the trial site will be checked regularly during the period of the deliberate release to destroy bolting sugar beet plants before pollen emission, making unnecessary any need of isolation distances. Summary of foreseen field trial studies focused to gain new data on environmental and human health impact from the release: European Commission administrative information Consent given by the Member State Competent Authority:

Member State to which the notification was sent Date of acknowledgement from the Member State Competent Authority Title of the Project Evaluation of H7-1sugar beets in different systems of conservation tillage and different systems of weed control including Roundup Ready® herbicide Proposed period of release: 15/04/2010 to 15/12/2012 Name of the Institute(s) or Company(ies) Wroclaw University Of E

Toward a Single Coherent Vision: Sustaining Interdepartmental Collaboration to Support Community Integration for Persons with Disabilities Modeling automobile manufacture after uncoordinated human services illustrates the shortcomings of a delivery system without cohesion. Rather than selling a car fully assembled, it would be up to the customer to figure out which parts are needed, where to buy them, and how to put them together to the best effect. There would be no overall design for the car and no quality management to make sure the parts fit or to determine how well the cars were working. There would be no way to measure how much each car cost or to determine the most effective allocation of resources. While the delivery of human services is considerably more complex than car manufacture, comparing the assembly of an automobile to coordinating the interdepartmental delivery and management of human services helps to illustrate the need for investing in collaboration. An automobile manufacturer sees bringing the parts of a car together and assembling them into an automobile as part of the series of steps required to produce a car. No one expects it to happen for free. Someone at Ford Motor Company is paid to know how the different parts are related and to have a plan for how they should come together. There are people paid to assemble the car; assembly is not something they try to find time for, in between their other responsibilities. In contrast, we often seem to see the “assembly” of the disparate services provided by the State into a comprehensive human service system as either an unnecessary step or something that should happen automatically, without additional resources. Interdepartmental coordination and collaboration might be a stated goal, but often departments are not given or do not make available the necessary resources to make it happen. As a result, the “specialization” within individual departments and bureaus results in “fragmentation.” For a state, the cost of not collaborating means an inefficient use of resources and ineffective services. From the consumer perspective, lack of coordination means frustration, wasted time, and can sometimes lead to more dire consequences such as institutionalization or incarceration, poor health or death. This document is written in the wake of a two-year process of developing Maine’s response to the Olmstead decision. The purpose of this document is to marry the resulting vision for coordination and consistency across departments with a sustainable, collaborative governance structure that will incorporate that vision into the workings of Maine’s state agencies. (Author) Type of Resource:

Toward a Single Coherent Vision: Sustaining Interdepartmental Collaboration to Support Community Integration for Persons with Disabilities Modeling automobile manufacture after uncoordinated human services illustrates the shortcomings of a delivery system without cohesion. Rather than selling a car fully assembled, it would be up to the customer to figure out which parts are needed, where to buy t

Geological Conservation Review Series Extracts from the Introductory Volume Precambrian and Structural Geology Igneous Petrology and Mineralogy This volume provides a summary of the mineralization GCR sites in England and Wales. This volume covers the diverse suite of carbonate rocks known collectively as the Magnesian Limestone which formed near the margins of shallow tropical seas during the last five or six million years of the Permian Period. This volume provides an invaluable summary of Pleistocene bird and mammal fossil sites throughout Great Britain. Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology This volume describes the Quaternary rocks and landforms of Wales. This volume covers the causes of mass movements and their manifesations, and describes over 30 sites of interest.

Geological Conservation Review Series Extracts from the Introductory Volume Precambrian and Structural Geology Igneous Petrology and Mineralogy This volume provides a summary of the mineralization GCR sites in England and Wales. This volume covers the diverse suite of carbonate rocks known collectively as the Magnesian Limestone which formed near the margins of shallow tropical seas during the las

The consultation process specified under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is being followed for the Solar PEIS. Conducting ESA Consultation The BLM is currently engaged in ESA consultation on the Solar PEIS with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under Sections 7(a)(1) and 7(a)(2) of the ESA. The BLM, in consultation with the USFWS, is undertaking a conservation review pursuant to Section 7(a)(1) of the ESA on the overall Solar Energy Program, including the amendment of 89 land use plans and associated conservation measures. This consultation on the overarching program will provide guidance for subsequent solar projects by ensuring that the appropriate conservation measures for listed species are incorporated into project-level actions. The BLM is also engaged in programmatic consultation with the USFWS on the identification of SEZs under Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA initiated through the submission of a programmatic Biological Assessment. This Biological Assessment describes potential effects on listed (endangered and/or threatened) species and designated critical habitat from expected solar development in SEZs and any appropriate mitigation, minimization, and avoidance measures. Further Section 7(a)(2) consultation will occur, as necessary, at the level of individual solar energy projects and will benefit from the preceding programmatic consultation and resulting programmatic Biological Opinion for SEZs.

The consultation process specified under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is being followed for the Solar PEIS. Conducting ESA Consultation The BLM is currently engaged in ESA consultation on the Solar PEIS with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under Sections 7(a)(1) and 7(a)(2) of the ESA. The BLM, in consultation with the USFWS, is undertaking a conservation review pursuant to Section

- Animals of Tasmania Links to a range of information on the wildlife of Tasmania (mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs, threatened species, and introduced animals). Also managing, threats, health, caring for and living with wildlife - Living with wildlife A guide to living with Tasmanian wildlife (snakes, possums, devils, quolls, eagles and hawks, kangaroos and wallabies, native hens, seals), for landowners, fishers, and home owners - Nature and Conservation Information on Tasmania's wildlife, plants, fire ecology, geoheritage and conservation - Roadkill Project (Save the Tasmanian Devil Program) Information on how the public can help, and how to report roadkill to the Roadkill Project of the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, which is collecting data to find out how significant roadkill is to the survival of devil populations depleted by the Devil Facial Tumor Disease - Tasmanian Forest Insect Collection Provides information on the Tasmanian Forest Insect Collection (TFIC) which is only one of three state forestry-specific collections in Australia - Threatened species: list of state and national approved recovery plans, 2006-2010 Lists the recovery plans for listed threatened species that have been made or adopted under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and also the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. - Wildlife Import Policy and Procedures Information on the new arrangements developed by the Tasmanian Government for importing wildlife from the Australian mainland into Tasmania. These arrangements are outlined in the document, 'Policy and Procedures for the Import, Movement and Keeping of Vertebrate Wildlife in Tasmania'

- Animals of Tasmania Links to a range of information on the wildlife of Tasmania (mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs, threatened species, and introduced animals). Also managing, threats, health, caring for and living with wildlife - Living with wildlife A guide to living with Tasmanian wildlife (snakes, possums, devils, quolls, eagles and hawks, kangaroos and wallabies, native hens, seals), for l

Water: Drinking Water For Students (Grades 9-12) You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more. * This link will open up a large file that may take several minutes to open based on your internet connection speed.(Requires Adobe Flash ) Games & ActivitiesQuestion & Answer Game PDF - A card game that you can print and cut apart the individual cards. The game is played by one team reading the Answer from the card and the other team has to guess the correct Question that relates to the Answer. * This link will open up a large file that may take several minutes to open based on your internet connection speed. Interactive Question & Answer Game* - A flash animated game that gives the Answer and you have to choose the correct Question from three possible answers. The game lets you know instantly if you have the right answer. Build Your Own Watershed PDF - An activity to illustrate the basic properties of a watershed. Safe Drinking Water Act - Protecting America's Public Health - This web site contains an informative poster and that illustrates how everything we do can effect our drinking water. Water Trivia Facts - Some fun and unusual facts about water. Water Facts of Life - Amazing facts continue - how much of your brain is water? Be Hydro-logical - Find out what you can do.

Water: Drinking Water For Students (Grades 9-12) You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more. * This link will open up a large file that may take several minutes to open based on your internet connection speed.(Requires Adobe Flash ) Games & ActivitiesQuestion & Answer Game PDF - A card game that you can print and cut apart the individual car

Water: Nonpoint Source Success Stories State Funding Programs: Pennsylvania's Growing Greener Program |In December 1999 the governor signed Pennsylvania's Growing Greener program into law, providing nearly $650 million over 5 years to address the state's most pressing environmental challenges. Funds provided by Growing Greener will be split among four state agencies on an annual basis: Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Agriculture, and Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority. These agencies will direct Growing Greener funding to protect open space, clean up abandoned mines, restore watersheds, and provide new and upgraded water and sewer systems, among other projects. The first year of Pennsylvania's Growing Greener grant program has been very successful. Growing Greener grants have led to 55 watershed assessment and protection plans and 85 restoration/demonstration projects being implemented. Projects facilitating 58 environmental education projects and the organization of 21 watershed groups have also been set in motion. With the help of Growing Greener funds, 3,603 acres of wetlands and 117 miles of riparian buffers are being restored. In addition, 279 miles of streams affected by acid mine drainage are being cleaned up, nearly 800 acres of abandoned mine lands are being reclaimed, and 43 miles of stream improvement structures are being built. Growing Greener has also enabled Pennsylvania to eliminate its backlog of mine reclamation and oil and gas well plugging projects. As a result, an additional 612 acres of abandoned mine lands are being reclaimed and more than 134 abandoned oil and gas wells are being plugged. Grant recipients took the initiative to seek out other sources of funding to build on their Growing Greener grants. Nearly $45 million in matching funds supplemented the Commonwealth's investment. Match money was received in the form of cash, volunteer time, or donations of equipment or materials. For more information on Pennsylvania's Growing Greener program, see www.dep.state.pa.us/ growgreen.

Water: Nonpoint Source Success Stories State Funding Programs: Pennsylvania's Growing Greener Program |In December 1999 the governor signed Pennsylvania's Growing Greener program into law, providing nearly $650 million over 5 years to address the state's most pressing environmental challenges. Funds provided by Growing Greener will be split among four state agencies on an annual basis: Department

On April 7th 2011, the Bureau of Meteorology will release a new graphical marine forecast service for the Victorian waters of Port Phillip Bay and Western Port Bay. This easy to use interface will provide maps of forecast wind and combined sea and swell at three-hour intervals for the next three days. The maps will be generated from the Australian Digital Forecast Database. Unlike the numerical model data that is available on the Bureau website, the NexGen Grids contain forecaster input. The maps highlight small scale local effects and the day to day changes in wind and sea state that occur about the coast, which the existing worded forecasts can not provide. Therefore, the new service will provide the user with more information and detail than they have ever had access to in a marine forecast.

On April 7th 2011, the Bureau of Meteorology will release a new graphical marine forecast service for the Victorian waters of Port Phillip Bay and Western Port Bay. This easy to use interface will provide maps of forecast wind and combined sea and swell at three-hour intervals for the next three days. The maps will be generated from the Australian Digital Forecast Database. Unlike the numerical mo

Pilot Study of High-Dose Capsaicin Patches to Treat Postherpetic Neuralgia Pain This study has been completed. Information provided by: First received: May 1, 2002 Last updated: February 6, 2006 Last verified: February 2006 The purpose of this study is to gain initial information on the tolerability of high-dose capsaicin patches in patients with Painful Postherpetic Neuralgia. The study will also collect preliminary information on safety and efficacy. Peripheral Nervous System Diseases Drug: Capsaicin Patch Endpoint Classification: Safety/Efficacy Study Primary Purpose: Treatment ||A Double-Blind Controlled Pilot Study of High-Dose Capsaicin Patches in the Treatment of Pain Associated With Postherpetic Neuralgia | Estimated Enrollment: | Study Start Date: | Estimated Study Completion Date: |Ages Eligible for Study: ||18 Years and older |Genders Eligible for Study: |Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Patients may be eligible for this study if they: - Have a diagnosis of Painful Postherpetic Neuralgia and are at least 6 months post vesicle crusting. - Are in good health. - Have an adequate pain score during the screening period. - Have painful areas (maximum of two sites) below the neck. - If female, are of non-childbearing ability as defined by absence of menses for a minimum of 3 months or surgically sterile. - If male, are willing to agree to take adequate birth control precautions with their partner for 60 days following experimental drug exposure. - Have unbroken skin with good perfusion over the painful area(s). - Have the ability to feel capsaicin-mediated sensations, as evidenced by ability to feel topically applied OTC capsaicin cream. - Are on a stable and continuous medication regimen, with no change in dosage for 21 days prior to study start, and are willing to maintain concomitant medications at current doses throughout the study. - Are willing and able to use oral opioid-based analgesic agents for relief, in case this is needed to relieve acute pain associated with the application of capsaicin patches. - Are 18 years of age or older. - Are willing and able to comply with the protocol Patients will not be eligible for this study if they: - Have diffusely distributed neuropathic pain (i.e., pain that is evident in more than 2 different sites). Subjects must not have significant pain outside the areas to be treated. - Have any implanted medical device (spinal cord stimulator, intrathecal pump or peripheral nerve stimulator) for the treatment of neuropathic pain. - Currently (within the past 21 days) use topically applied non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, local anesthetics, steroids or capsaicin products on the painful areas. - Currently (within the past 21 days) use topical agents such as lidoderm patch 5%, topical steroids or aspirin. - Have a history or current problem with prescription drug or illicit substance abuse (from self report or as judged by investigator). - Currently have an abuse problem with alcohol (from self-report or as judged by investigator). - Are suspected of psychosocial gain/benefit of continued pain as judged by the investigator or primary treating physician. - Plan to travel more than 100 miles from home during the study or engage in unusual activities that might exacerbate pain. - Have poor cardiac, renal, hepatic, or pulmonary function judged by the investigator or primary treating physician. - Have a laboratory value at screening outside the normal range, unless it is judged by the investigator as not clinically significant after appropriate evaluation. - Have hypersensitivity to capsaicin (i.e., chili peppers or OTC capsaicin products), local anesthetics, oral opioid-based analgesic agents, or adhesives. - Have a high tolerance to opioids. - Currently using Class 1 anti-arrhythmic drugs (such as tocainide and mexiletine). Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00034710 |Arizona Research Center |Phoenix, Arizona, United States, 85023 | |University of Arizona Health Sciences Center |Tucson, Arizona, United States, 85724 | |Anchor Research Center |Naples, Florida, United States, 34102 | |Palm Beach Neurological Center |Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States, 33410 | |Suncoast Neuroscience Associates, Inc. |St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, 33701 | |Brigham and Women's Hospital, Pain Trials Center |Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115 | |University of Utah Pain Management Center |Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84108 | |University of Wisconsin Hospital, Neurology Department |Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53792 | ||John A Jermano No publications provided History of Changes |Other Study ID Numbers: |Study First Received: ||May 1, 2002 ||February 6, 2006 ||United States: Food and Drug Administration Keywords provided by NeurogesX: Capsaicin/*administration & dosage/adverse effects Herpes Zoster/*complications/drug therapy Additional relevant MeSH terms: ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 23, 2013 Nervous System Diseases Peripheral Nervous System Diseases DNA Virus Infections Signs and Symptoms Sensory System Agents Peripheral Nervous System Agents Physiological Effects of Drugs

Pilot Study of High-Dose Capsaicin Patches to Treat Postherpetic Neuralgia Pain This study has been completed. Information provided by: First received: May 1, 2002 Last updated: February 6, 2006 Last verified: February 2006 The purpose of this study is to gain initial information on the tolerability of high-dose capsaicin patches in patients with Painful Postherpetic Neuralgia. The study will also

4th February, 1926 (Due to arrive Melbourne-5.3.26) My dear P.M., I discussed yesterday with Sir Cecil Hurst and Malkin the particular way in which a Dominion would be involved by reason of accession to the Locarno Pact. In the first place, Hurst was rather inclined to admit that a Dominion had two alternatives as to how it would accede-either it could do so as an independent and responsible guarantor co-equal with either Great Britain or Italy, or, as a sub-guarantor backing up and augmenting the British guarantee. After some thought he came to the conclusion that the second alternative was the sounder of the two. On an emergency occurring, it would be necessary for Great Britain to inform and consult with the adhering Dominions (and, for that matter, the others too) as far as the emergency would permit, and come to a conclusion with them as to whether a casus foederis had arisen. When this had been decided, Great Britain would so inform the League. All that accession to the Pact would mean from the point of view of Australia would be that the present Parliament and Government of Australia would bind any succeeding Government to do its best to persuade the Parliament of the day to make good its guarantee if and when H.M.G. and the Australian Government of the day had decided that a casus foederis had arisen. This, of course, in fact, is all that any Government can do when it signs a treaty of any sort involving possible obligations in the future. The more Dominions adhere to the Pact, the stronger in the eyes of the world is the British position as a guarantor. As a practical matter, Dominion adherence to the Pact does not really mean anything more than a gesture to the world. The Pact is an instrument between heads of States. The King by his signature commits all units of the Empire (whether they have adhered to the Pact or not) to technical belligerency if and when Great Britain feels it incumbent on herself to declare war to implement her guarantee. Neither the King nor the Pact can commit a Dominion in advance to more than technical belligerency. The next stage-active participation in war-can only come about by decision of the Dominion Parliament of the day on the merits of the situation. This is the theory of the position. In practice, one would imagine that a Dominion Parliament would be much more hesitant to leave Great Britain in the lurch if the Dominion had put her signature to an instrument of adherence to the Pact, than if she had not done so. I am trying to get the D.O. and the F.O. to get together and produce a considered memorandum on what is actually implied by adherence to the Pact, for transmission to you. If you are considering having a Debate on the Pact in the near future, I would cable to you any useful observations that they may have to make in this regard, if you would let me know by telegraph. 2. The Australian Cable Service (Sun-Herald London Agency) moved into their new quarters in the 'Times' Office this week. It was good diplomacy on someone's part to get the 'Times' rights for this service but, to my mind, it is a great pity that the Australian Press Association (which represents practically all the other papers in Australia except the Sun-Herald) did not get the rights for the 'Times' news. I understand that the contract was made by Campbell-Jones , the Editor or Managing Director of the 'Sun' in Sydney, who previously represented the Sydney 'Sun' in London. I should think that the recent Imperial Press Conference tour in Australia will have opened the-eyes of the 'Times' people to the relative importance of the various newspaper groups in Australia, and one can only hope for the good of the whole show that, when the present contract comes to an end, the A.P.A. will be given a chance to obtain the facilities of the 'Times'. 3. At lunch at Mr. Amery's house a few days ago, I met the present Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, His Honour Robert Randolph Bruce. He has a vague idea that he may be a connection of yours. He asks that he might have the privilege of knowing in advance if and when you come through Victoria, B.C., on the way to England, so that he can offer you some hospitality. He is a pleasant mannered elderly man, with very bad sight-almost blind. 4. There was very little discussion at the 3rd February Cabinet as to the advisability of having the Imperial Conference in October 1926. Your two telegrams were very useful to Amery. 5. Had the Imperial Conference not been likely to eventuate this year, Mr. Baldwin had proposed to make a trip to Canada. This, with Mr. Amery's trip to Australia via South Africa and New Zealand, would have covered the Dominions fairly well. There seems to be a good chance of another Canadian election in June or July. They have a system of payment of members in Canada under which they have to attend either 50 or 60 days before they can claim any parliamentary salary at all. This fact is apparently not unconnected with the present Parliament hanging on for three months or so. A July election, I am told, fits in satisfactorily after the sowing of the crops. It is hard to believe that the present Government can last many months. 6. 'A Grammar of Politics' by Laski , a young Radical Jew lecturer in economics in, I think, London University, has attracted considerable notice lately. Tom Jones thinks it is likely to be the Bible of the Labour Party in this country for many years. It is very long and detailed. 7. When I told a man in the F.O. recently that Amery was getting an Artificial Sunlight apparatus, he said: 'At least an artificial sun need never set on the guardian of the British Empire now!' I am, Yours sincerely, R. G. CASEY

4th February, 1926 (Due to arrive Melbourne-5.3.26) My dear P.M., I discussed yesterday with Sir Cecil Hurst and Malkin the particular way in which a Dominion would be involved by reason of accession to the Locarno Pact. In the first place, Hurst was rather inclined to admit that a Dominion had two alternatives as to how it would accede-either it could do so as an independent and responsible gua

SUPTS. MEMO. NO. 94 June 6, 1997 |FROM:||Richard T. La Pointe Superintendent of Public Instruction Enclosed is a training announcement for two seminars entitled "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Schools." This training is being offered as a collaborative initiative between the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Department of Education. You will note that the seminar is being provided "tuition free" by DCJS. Participants who travel more than 75 miles will be reimbursed for lodging; all participants will be responsible for their own transportation and meal costs. As you are aware, HB 1851 (22.1-278.1) was enacted by the 1997 General Assembly and requires that all schools conduct school safety audits. A list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in the audit process is currently being developed by the Department of Education. This training seminar will provide valuable information for personnel who will be planning and conducting these audits. You are encouraged to send a maximum of three individuals from your division, such as school principals, School Resource Officers, and facilities personnel. If you have questions, please contact Marsha Hubbard at the DOE's School Safety Resource Center, 804-225-2928 or Dan Gilmore at DCJS, (804) 371-0635. RTL/shs Enclosure: A hard copy of this memo and its enclosure will be sent to the superintendent's office.

SUPTS. MEMO. NO. 94 June 6, 1997 |FROM:||Richard T. La Pointe Superintendent of Public Instruction Enclosed is a training announcement for two seminars entitled "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Schools." This training is being offered as a collaborative initiative between the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Department of Education. You will note tha

June 8, 2006 Director of Communications Public Information Officer Fairfax County middle-school teacher Jamie Sawatzky today was named Virginia’s 2006 Preserve America History Teacher of the Year. He is a seventh-grade U.S. history teacher and department chair at Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly. Mr. Sawatzky has been teaching for six years and is a national board certified teacher in early adolescence and social studies. Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Linda M. Wallinger presented the award during a reception at the school. Mr. Sawatzky coordinates a school-wide Oral History Day Project. His students read about and research World War II and prepare questions prior to interviewing veterans, including D-Day and Iwo Jima participants, a Tuskegee Airman, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, a member of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), and individuals on the home front. Videotaped interviews are sent to the Library of Congress for inclusion in the Veterans History Project. “Through the Oral History Day Project, Jamie Sawatzky’s students are not only learning about a significant time in our nation’s history but are preserving firsthand accounts for future generations to view as primary sources,” said Acting Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright. “Numerous comments from students and parents attest to Mr. Sawatzky’s teaching methods,” said Rocky Run Middle School Principal Dan Parris. “Under his instructional leadership, his students attained a 99 percent pass rate on the U.S. History from 1877 to the Present Standards of Learning test.” Preserve America is a White House initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to retain America’s cultural and natural heritage. The History Teacher of the Year Award is co-sponsored by Preserve America and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and is designed to promote, celebrate, encourage, and honor the teaching of history in America’s classrooms. One outstanding K-12 teacher of American history in each of the 54 participating states and territories is recognized annually with a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate of recognition, and history books and materials for the schools’ library. A national Preserve America History Teacher of the Year is selected from among the state honorees. The national winner is recognized during a ceremony in early fall to mark the start of the school year. In addition, the national Preserve America History Teacher of the Year participates in a multi-city tour to promote history teaching as a national priority. Mr. Sawatzky is the third Virginia teacher to be honored for this award. Previous winners include Mary M. Gunsalus of Landstown Middle School in Virginia Beach and Barbara W. Weaver of Thomas Eaton Middle School in Hampton.

June 8, 2006 Director of Communications Public Information Officer Fairfax County middle-school teacher Jamie Sawatzky today was named Virginia’s 2006 Preserve America History Teacher of the Year. He is a seventh-grade U.S. history teacher and department chair at Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly. Mr. Sawatzky has been teaching for six years and is a national board certified teacher in early ad

U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis International Energy Outlook 2011 Release Date: September 19, 2011 | Next Scheduled Release Date: July 2013 | Report Number: DOE/EIA-0484(2011) Consumption of petroleum and other liquid fuels15 increases from 85.7 million barrels per day in 2008 to 112.2 million barrels per day in 2035 in the IEO2011 Reference case. Although world liquids consumption actually declined in 2009 (to 83.9 million barrels per day), it recovered in 2010 to an estimated 86.0 million barrels per day and is expected to continue increasing in 2011 and beyond as economic growth strengthens, especially among the developing non-OECD nations. In the long term, world liquids consumption increases despite world oil prices that rise to $125 per barrel (real 2009 dollars) by 2035. More than 75 percent of the increase in total liquids consumption is projected for the nations of non-OECD Asia and the Middle East, where strong economic growth and, in the case of the Middle East, access to ample and relatively inexpensive domestic resources drive the increase in demand (Figure 27). To satisfy the increase in world liquids demand in the Reference case, liquids production increases by 26.6 million barrels per day from 2008 to 2035, including the production of both conventional liquid supplies (crude oil and lease condensate, natural gas plant liquids, and refinery gain) and unconventional supplies (biofuels, oil sands, extra-heavy oil, coal-to-liquids [CTL], gas-to-liquids [GTL], and shale oil) (Figure 28 and Table 3). In the Reference case, sustained high world oil prices allow for the economical development of unconventional resources and the use of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies to increase production of conventional resources. High world oil prices also incentivize the development of additional conventional resources through technically difficult, high-risk, and very expensive projects, including wells in ultra-deep water and the Arctic. The most significant non-OPEC contributors to production growth are Russia, the United States, Brazil, and Canada (Figure 29). Total non-OPEC liquids production in 2035 is 15.3 million barrels per day higher than in 2008, representing 57 percent of the total world increase. OPEC producers16 are assumed to restrict investment in incremental production capacity in the Reference case, below the levels justified by high prices. As a result, OPEC provides roughly 42 percent of the world's total liquids supply over the 2008-2035 period, consistent with its share over the past 15 years. Unconventional resources from both OPEC and non-OPEC sources become increasingly competitive in the IEO2011 Reference case, although unconventional petroleum liquids production development faces some difficulties, such as environmental concerns for Canada's oil sands projects and investment restrictions for Venezuela's extra-heavy oil projects. Production of nonpetroleum unconventional liquids, such as biofuels, CTL, and GTL, is spurred by sustained high prices in the Reference case (Figure 30). However, their development also depends on country-specific programs or mandates. World production of unconventional liquids, which in 2008 totaled only 3.9 million barrels per day or about 5 percent of total world liquids production, increases in the Reference case to 13.1 million barrels per day in 2035, when it accounts for 12 percent of total world liquids production. World oil prices The impacts of world oil prices17 on energy demand are a considerable source of uncertainty in the IEO2011 projections. Prices have been exceptionally volatile over the past several years, reaching a high of $145 in July 2008 (daily spot price in nominal dollars) and a low of $30 in December 2008, as the global recession substantially dampened demand and thus prices. Improving economic circumstances, especially in the developing economies, strengthened liquids demand, and prices rose in 2009 and 2010. More recently, growing demand and unrest in many oil-supplying nations of the Middle East and North Africa have supported price increases into 2011. Prices rose from an average $62 per barrel in 2009 to $79 per barrel in 2010, and they are expected to average about $100 per barrel in 2011 . In the IEO2011 Reference case, world oil prices continue increasing, to $108 per barrel in 2020 and $125 per barrel in 2035. In addition to the Reference case prices, IEO2011 includes analyses of high and low world oil price paths. The three alternative price paths, which are consistent with those presented in EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2011 , are used to develop five price scenarios that can be used to illustrate the range of uncertainty associated with prices in world liquids markets (Figure 31 and Table 4). The high and low oil price paths and resulting scenarios illustrate price uncertainty, but they do not span the complete range of possible price paths. In past editions of the IEO, high and low oil price scenarios typically have examined the impacts of changes in liquids supplies relative to the Reference case, based on different assumptions about OPEC decisionmaking and access to non-OPEC resources and their impacts on world liquids supply. In the IEO2011 Traditional Low Oil Price case, as in past IEOs, the available supply is higher at all price levels; and in the Traditional High Oil Price case, the available supply is lower at all price levels, reflecting shifts in the liquids supply curve. The traditional oil price cases assume that demand curves are constant, with changes in demand resulting only from movement along the demand curves as prices rise or fall. In contrast, the Low Oil Price and High Oil Price cases in IEO2011 assume that changes in demand growth, resulting in different levels of demand, also affect prices. Thus, the Low Oil Price and High Oil Price cases incorporate alternative assumptions about economic growth and other structural factors in non-OECD countries that shift the "demand schedule" for liquids fuels while also continuing to maintain a portion of the change in "supply schedules" that drive the Traditional High Oil Price and Traditional Low Oil Price cases. The IEO2011 Low Oil Price case assumes that liquids demand in the non-OECD countries (where most of the world's demand uncertainty lies) at any given price level is lower than in the Reference case, and that total liquids supply available at any price point is higher than in the Reference case. It also assumes that the shifts in demand and supply schedules lead to changes in the liquids quantities, resulting in price levels that are the same as those in the Traditional Low Oil Price case. That is, the only change is in the amount of oil consumed in the world market. Similarly, the IEO2011 High Oil Price case assumes that liquids demand in the non-OECD countries at any given price level is higher than in the Reference case, and that the total liquids supply available at any price point is lower than in the Reference case, with the shifts in demand and supply schedules leading to changes in the quantities of liquids available, so that price levels that are the same as those in the Traditional High Oil Price case. Again, the only change is in the amount of oil consumed in the market. In the Reference case, world oil prices are $95 per barrel in 2015 (real 2009 dollars), increasing slowly to $125 per barrel in 2035 ($200 per day in nominal terms). The Reference case represents EIA's current best judgment regarding exploration and development costs and accessibility of oil resources outside the United States. It also assumes that OPEC producers will choose to maintain their share of the market and will schedule investments in incremental production capacity so that OPEC's conventional oil production represents about 42 percent of the world's total liquids production. To retain that share, OPEC would have to increase production by 11.3 million barrels per day from 2008 to 2035, or 43 percent of the projected total increase in world liquids supply (Figure 32). Non-OPEC conventional supplies—including production from high-cost projects and from countries with unattractive fiscal or political regimes—account for an increase of 7.1 million barrels per day over the projection, and non-OPEC production of unconventional liquid fuels provides the remaining 8.2 million barrels per day of the increase. In the High Oil Price case, world oil prices are about $200 per barrel in 2035 ($320 per barrel in nominal terms), with the higher prices resulting from the combination of an outward shift (greater demand at every price level) in the "demand schedule" for liquid fuels in the non-OECD nations and a downward shift (reduced supply at every price level) in the "supply schedule." The shift in the demand schedule is driven by higher economic growth relative to the Reference case in the non-OECD region, with non-OECD growth rates raised by 1.0 percentage point relative to the Reference case in each projection year starting with 2015. The downward shift in the supply schedule is a result of the assumption that several non-OPEC producers further restrict access to, or increase taxes on, production from prospective areas, and that the OPEC member countries reduce their production substantially below current levels. High oil prices encourage the expansion of unconventional production relative to the Reference case. In the Traditional High Oil Price case, OPEC countries are assumed to reduce their production from the current rate, sacrificing market share, and oil resources outside the United States are assumed to be less accessible and/or more costly to produce than in the Reference case. As in the High Oil Price case, higher oil prices allow unconventional resources to become more economically attractive, and their production increases above the levels in the Reference case. Oil consumption is lower solely due to the higher prices (which are the same as in the High Oil Price case), reflecting a movement upward and to the left along the demand curve. In the Low Oil Price case, world crude prices are $50 per barrel in 2035 ($82 per barrel in nominal terms), compared with $125 per barrel in the Reference case. The low prices result from the combination of a shift to lower demand at every price level in the demand schedule and a shift to increased supply at every price level in the supply schedule. The shift in demand is driven by lower economic growth in the non-OECD region relative to the Reference case, with non-OECD growth rates lowered by 1.5 percentage points relative to the Reference case in each projection year starting with 2015. The upward shift in the supply schedule in this case results from greater access and more attractive fiscal regimes in prospective non-OECD areas, as well as higher levels of production from OPEC members. However, the lower prices make it uneconomical to expand production of unconventional resources. In the Traditional Low Oil Price case, the OPEC countries increase their conventional oil production to obtain a 52-percent share of total world liquids production, and oil resources are more accessible and/or less costly to produce (as a result of technology advances, more attractive fiscal regimes, or both) than in the Reference case. With these assumptions, conventional oil production is higher in the Traditional Low Oil Price case than in the Reference case, but low prices constraint the expansion of unconventional resources. Oil consumption is higher solely as a result of the lower prices (which are the same as in the Low Oil Price case), reflecting a movement downward and to the right along the demand curve. World liquids consumption World liquids consumption in the IEO2011 Reference case increases from 85.7 million barrels per day in 2008 to 97.6 million barrels per day in 2020 and 112.2 million barrels per day (225 quadrillion Btu) in 2035. World GDP is a key driver of demand, growing by an average 3.6 percent per year from 2008 to 2020 and 3.2 percent per year from 2020 to 2035. Developing non-OECD nations, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, experience strong economic growth in the Reference case, which is accompanied by increasing demand for liquids in the transportation and industrial sectors. Rising prices for liquids increase the cost-competitiveness of other fuels, leading many users of liquids outside the transportation sector to switch to substitute sources of energy when possible. As a result, the transportation share of total liquid fuels consumption increases, accounting for about 80 percent of the overall increase in liquids consumption in all sectors over the projection period (Figure 33). In 2035, the transportation sector consumes 60 percent of total liquids supplied, as compared with 54 percent in 2008. Strong expansion of liquids use is projected for non-OECD countries, fueled by a return to robust economic growth, burgeoning industrial activity, and rapidly expanding transportation use. The largest increase in regional non-OECD consumption from 2008 to 2035 is projected for non-OECD Asia, at 17.3 million barrels per day. Within non-OECD Asia, the largest increases in demand come from China (9.1 million barrels per day) and India (4.6 million barrels per day), with the increase from China being the largest for any single country worldwide. Large consumption increases are also expected in the Middle East (2.9 million barrels per day), followed by Central and South America (2.5 million barrels per day) (Figure 34). Liquids consumption in OECD regions generally grows more slowly over the next 25 years, reflecting slowly growing or declining populations and relatively low economic growth as compared with non-OECD nations. In addition, growth in demand for liquids in many OECD countries is slowed by government policies and legislation aimed at improving the efficiency of personal motor vehicles. This includes increased automobile efficiency standards and government incentives introduced in many nations during the recession, such as the U.S. "cash for clunkers" program, designed to encourage consumers to trade in older, less efficient cars for newer ones that are more fuel-efficient. In Japan and OECD Europe, liquids consumption declines by average annual rates of 0.4 percent (0.5 million barrels per day) and 0.2 percent (0.7 million barrels per day), respectively, from 2008 to 2035. As a result of the different growth trends for the non-OECD and OECD regions, non-OECD liquids consumption in 2020 exceeds OECD consumption. The difference widens considerably over time, and in 2035 non-OECD consumption is 23 percent greater than OECD consumption. Although China's demand for liquids increases by 3.5 percent per year over the projection, its consumption in 2035 still is 5.0 million barrels per day less than U.S. liquids consumption. In the Low Oil Price case, non-OECD consumption and OECD consumption are nearly identical, at 57.0 and 56.3 million barrels per day in 2035, respectively. OECD consumption is higher than in the Reference case, because low prices discourage conservation and allow consumers to continue to use liquid fuels without economic impact. Most of the increase in OECD consumption in the Low Oil Price case occurs in the Americas and in Asia. In contrast to the OECD, non-OECD consumption is 4.8 million barrels per day lower in the Low Oil Price case than in the Reference Case. In this case, slower growth in demand for liquids among the developing nations keeps world oil prices low—in contrast to the Traditional Low Oil Price case, where low prices encourage increased consumption worldwide. Although OECD liquids consumption levels in 2035 are similar in the Low Oil Price and Traditional Low Oil Price cases, non-OECD consumption grows to a total of 74.4 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Traditional Low Oil Price case—17.4 million barrels per day higher than in the Low Oil Price case and 12.6 million barrels higher than in the Reference case. In the High Oil Price case, where high oil prices are a result of strong growth in non-OECD demand for liquids, non-OECD liquids consumption represents 61 percent of the world total in 2035. China's consumption of liquids grows by an average of 3.8 percent per year (from 7.8 million barrels per day in 2008 to 21.2 million barrels per day in 2035), as compared with 3.5 percent per year in the Reference case. India and the Middle East also increase consumption by an average of more than 2.0 percent per year. OECD consumption declines slightly through the mid-term and increases only slightly in the longer term, with high world oil prices encouraging consumers to conserve fuel and turn to alternatives fuels whenever possible. OECD liquid fuel use in the High Oil Price case remains below the 2008 level of 48.0 million barrels per day through 2035. Non-OECD demand, which is higher in the High Oil Price case than in the Reference case, provides support for higher world oil prices. For example, in the High Oil Price case China's liquids consumption in 2035 is equal to U.S. consumption. In contrast, in the Traditional High Oil Price case, demand for liquids in all regions is affected only by price, with high prices dampening liquids demand and encouraging conservation and fuel switching. As a result, liquids consumption in the Traditional High Oil Price case is lower than in the Reference case in every IEO2011 region. In the Traditional High Oil Price case, non-OECD liquids consumption totals 59.4 million barrels per day in 2035, as compared with 74.2 million barrels per day in the High Oil Price case and 61.8 million barrels per day in the Reference case. OECD liquids consumption in 2035 in the Traditional High Oil Price case is almost the same as in the High Oil Price case. Recent market trends In 2010, world oil prices responded primarily to expectations about demand, with producers, consumers, and traders looking for some indication as to when the world's economy would recover, what shape the recovery would take, and how strong the corresponding increase in oil demand would be. While stronger than expected regional growth led many market players to expect a buoyant return of global liquids demand and an increase in oil prices, the financial crises in several European nations served as a caution about the still fragile global economy and the potential negative impact of higher oil prices on demand. In addition, 2010 was an eventful year for supply factors that shape long-term pricing. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico may have consequences for future U.S. production that are not yet fully understood. In addition, new discoveries and development in Africa's frontier exploration regions have increased production expectations for the continent and expanded the range of countries with future production potential, which not so long ago was generally limited to a few established producers relying on EOR and deepwater production in Angola and Nigeria . In addition, although OPEC compliance18 with its 2008 production quotas has held relatively steady, averaging under 60 percent for the year, the recent decision by OPEC not to increase official production targets despite rising oil prices, along with public statements by members calling for $80 to $100 per barrel as the new "fair" oil price, has drawn into question the organization's concern for world economic recovery . Iraq, the only OPEC member not subject to a production quota, has seen initial production gains at the individual fields included in its two 2009 bid rounds; however, those gains have only compensated for other declines and have not lead to an increase in total production. Although foreign companies in Iraq have been able to establish operations and achieve initial production gains in relatively short order despite ongoing security risks and political uncertainty, most industry analysts still do not expect Iraq to reach its production target of 9.5 million barrels per day—almost four times the country's current production level—within the next decade . World liquids production In the IEO2011 Reference case, world liquids production in 2035 exceeds the 2008 level by 26.6 million barrels per day, with production increases expected for both OPEC and non-OPEC producers (Figure 35). Overall, 57 percent of the total increase is expected to come from non-OPEC areas, including 31 percent from non-OPEC unconventional liquids production alone. OPEC produces 46.9 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Reference case, and non-OPEC producers provide 65.3 million barrels per day. The Reference case assumes that OPEC producers will choose to maintain their market share of world liquids supply and will invest in incremental production capacity so that their liquids production represents approximately 40 percent of total global liquids production throughout the projection. Increasing volumes of conventional liquids (crude oil and lease condensate, natural gas plant liquids [NGPL], and refinery gain) from OPEC members contribute 10.3 million barrels per day to the total increase in world liquids production from 2008 to 2035, and conventional liquids supplied from non-OPEC nations contribute 7.1 million barrels per day. Unconventional liquids production increases by about 5 percent annually on average over the projection period, because sustained high oil prices make unconventional liquids more competitive, and "above-ground" factors limit the production of economically competitive conventional liquids.19 Unconventional fuels account for 35 percent (9.2 million barrels per day) of the increase in total liquids production in the Reference case, and 8.2 million barrels per day of the increase in unconventional supply comes from non-OPEC sources. High oil prices, improvements in exploration and extraction technologies, emphasis on recovery efficiency, and the emergence and continued growth of unconventional resource production are the primary factors supporting the growth of non-OPEC liquids production in the IEO2011 Reference case. Liquids production modeling approach The IEO2011 projections for liquids production are based on a two-stage analytical approach. Production projections before 2015 are based largely on a project-by-project assessment of production volumes and associated scheduling timelines, with consideration given to the decline rates of active projects, planned exploration and development activity, and country-specific geopolitical situations and fiscal regimes. There are often lengthy delays between the point at which supply projects are announced and when they begin producing. The extensive and detailed information available about such projects, including project scheduling and the investment and development plans of companies and countries, makes it possible to take a detailed approach to the modeling of mid-term supply. Although some projects are publicized more than 7 to 10 years before their first production, others can come on line within 3 years. For that reason, project-by-project analyses are unlikely to provide a complete representation of company or country production plans and achievable production volumes beyond 3 years into the future. Instead, production decisions made after the mid-term, or 2015, are assumed to be based predominantly on resource availability and the resulting economic viability of production. In view of the residual effects of previous government policies and the unavoidable lag time between changes in policy and any potential production changes, however, most country-level changes in production trends are noticeable only in 2020 and beyond. Geopolitical and other above-ground constraints are not assumed to disappear entirely after 2015, however. Longstanding above-ground factors for which there are no indications of significant future changes—for instance, the government-imposed investment conditions currently in place in Iran, or OPEC adherence to production quotas—are expected to continue affecting world supplies long after 2015. Even if above-ground constraints were relaxed, the expansion of production capacity could be delayed, depending on the technical difficulty and typical development schedules of the projects likely to be developed in a particular country. For some resource-rich countries it is assumed that current political barriers to production increases will not continue after 2015. For instance, both Mexico and Venezuela currently have laws that restrict foreign ownership of hydrocarbon resources. Their resource policies have discouraged investment—both foreign and domestic—and hindered their ability to increase or even maintain historical production levels. In the Reference case, both Mexico and Venezuela ease restrictions at some point after 2015, allowing some additional foreign involvement in their oil sectors that facilitates increases in liquids production, including from deepwater prospects in Mexico and extra-heavy oils in Venezuela's Orinoco belt. Iraq is another resource-rich country where currently there are significant impediments to investment in the upstream hydrocarbon sector. Liquids production in Iraq dropped substantially after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. From 2002 to 2003 production declined from 2.0 million barrels per day to 1.3 million barrels per day, and since then it has achieved only inconsistent and slow growth. Although Iraq's production levels are not expected to increase substantially in the near term, it is assumed that political and legal uncertainty eventually will subside, and that renewed investment and development activity will ensue, resulting in significant growth in production from 2015 to 2035. The return to sustained high oil prices projected in the IEO2011 Reference case encourages producers in non-OPEC nations to continue investment in conventional liquids production capacity and increase investment in EOR projects and unconventional liquids production. Non-OPEC production increases steadily in the projection, from 50.0 million barrels per day in 2008 to 65.3 million barrels per day in 2035, as high prices attract investment in areas previously considered uneconomical, and fears of supply restrictions encourage some net consuming nations to expand unconventional liquids production from domestic resources, such as coal and crops. Despite the maturity of most non-OPEC producing basins, conventional liquids production in the Reference case increases from 46.8 million barrels per day in 2008 to 53.9 million barrels per day in 2035. The overall increase results primarily from production increases in four countries: Brazil, Russia, Kazakhstan, and the United States (Figure 36). Among non-OPEC producers, the near absence of prospects for new, large conventional petroleum liquids projects, along with declines in production from existing conventional fields, results in heavy investment in the development of smaller fields. Producers are expected to concentrate their efforts on more efficient exploitation of fields already in production, either through the use of more advanced technology for primary recovery efforts or through EOR. Those efforts are expected to allow most established non-OPEC producers to maintain or slow production declines but not to raise production volumes. In the Reference case, unconventional liquids production from non-OPEC suppliers rises to 6.5 million barrels per day in 2020 and 11.4 million barrels per day in 2035. In both the High Oil Price and Traditional High Oil Price cases, non-OPEC unconventional liquids production rises to about 17.4 million barrels per day in 2035, as significantly higher prices encourage the development of alternative fuel sources to the limits imposed by expected environmental protection measures and industry expansion in general. In contrast, in the Low Oil Price and Traditional Low Oil Price cases, fewer unconventional resources become economically competitive, and non-OPEC production of unconventional liquids rises to only about 7.0 million barrels per day in 2035 in each low price case. Major areas of decline in non-OPEC liquids production In the IEO2011 Reference case, Mexico and the North Sea are the only non-OPEC production areas that lose more than 1 million barrels of liquids production per day from 2008 to 2035. The most significant decline in non-OPEC liquids production is projected for OECD Europe, with a decrease from 5.1 million barrels per day in 2008 to 3.0 million barrels per day in 2035. Most of the decline is in North Sea production, which includes offshore operations by Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany. Over time, fewer and fewer prospects capable of compensating for declines in existing fields have been discovered. The drop in North Sea liquids production does not vary significantly among the four price cases, both because the projected production is based on depletion of resources and because all the countries currently producing liquids from North Sea operations are expected to continue encouraging investment and providing open access to development. In Mexico, liquids production sinks to approximately 1.4 million barrels per day in 2025 before rebounding slowly to 1.7 million barrels per day in 2035, still 1.5 million barrels per day below the 2008 production volume of 3.2 million barrels per day. The rebound after 2025 depends entirely on the development of potential resources in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, which must begin some years in advance of any increase in production levels. The outlook for Mexico's liquids production is markedly different from the IEO projection just 5 years ago, in which production did not fall below 2.9 million barrels per day, and a long-term recovery began in 2013. The difference between the projections is the result of production declines at Cantarell, which have been more severe than expected, as well as diminished expectations for Chicontepec production and more pessimistic assumptions about the level of future investment, both foreign and domestic, in Mexico's deepwater production. Although the shortage of investment in Mexico is expected to lead to a mid-term decline, Mexico has potential resources to support a long-term recovery in total production, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico. The extent and timing of a recovery will depend in part on the level of economic access granted to foreign investors and operators. Mexico's national oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), currently does not have the technical capability or financial means to develop potential deepwater projects in the Gulf of Mexico. Major areas of growth in non-OPEC liquids production The largest increase in non-OPEC total liquids production is expected for Brazil, where total production in 2035 is 4.1 million barrels per day above the 2008 level of 2.4 million barrels per day. Of that increase, 2.9 million barrels per day is attributed to conventional liquids production. The strong growth in Brazil's conventional production results in part from short- and mid-term increases at producing fields for which expansions currently are either planned or in progress. In addition, recent and expected discoveries in the Campos and Santos basins, including the massive Tupi and related Guara and Iara discoveries, both add to production in the mid- and long term and suggest the presence of other large fields in the same formation . The vast size of the sub-salt potential in Brazil, as well as national economic strategy and industrialization goals, has led Brazil to pursue new petroleum legislation . The legislative change most pertinent to production potential is the requirement that the state oil company, Petrobras, be the sole operator and a minimum 30-percent equity holder for all sub-salt fields. Although Petrobras has repeatedly proven itself a leader in deepwater development and is known to have the technical capabilities to develop sub-salt prospects, it is not expected to have the resources (financial, labor, etc.) to develop its domestic plays completely on its own. The different IEO2011 price cases assume different investment terms offered by Brazil to foreign investors and hence different rates of sub-salt development. Although both the High Oil Price case and the Traditional High Oil Price case assume more restrictive terms of access to Brazil's conventional resources, the increase in world liquids demand in the High Oil Price cases supports a production level of 5.3 million barrels per day in 2035, compared with 5.0 million barrels per day in the Traditional High Oil Price case. In contrast, both the Low Oil Price and Traditional Low Oil Price cases assume open terms of access to Brazil's conventional resources, resulting in production increases averaging 3.4 percent per year and conventional production of 5.1 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Low Oil Price case (as a result of lower world liquids demand) and 5.6 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Traditional Low Oil Price case. In addition to the growth in conventional liquids production, Brazil's biofuel production also increases, from 0.5 million barrels per day in 2008 to 1.7 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Reference case. The growth is a result of steadily increasing yields and expansion of crop production, with most of the increase consisting of ethanol. Brazil's major ethanol production is derived from sugar cane, currently the highest yielding and least expensive feedstock for ethanol. Brazil also has a large amount of land available for sugar cane production, in the form of previously cleared and currently underutilized pasture land. The country's domestic consumption is not expected to rise as fast as its expansion of ethanol production, making Brazil a net ethanol exporter over the course of the projection. Thus, its production depends largely on other countries' policies and demand for ethanol. In the High Oil Price case, Brazil's ethanol production totals 1.9 million barrels per day in 2035, reflecting higher demand for ethanol both at home and abroad. In the Low Oil Price case, which assumes reduced domestic and international demand for ethanol, Brazil's ethanol production totals 1.1 million barrels per day in 2035. Even in the Low Oil Price case, however, there is only a small drop in Brazil's domestic ethanol consumption, because of the country's mandatory minimum E25 blend and the fact that ethanol makes up nearly 50 percent of the country's domestic gasoline market . The second-largest contributor to future increases in non-OPEC total liquids production is the United States. U.S. conventional liquids production grows from 7.8 million barrels per day in 2008 to 9.9 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Reference case, as rising world oil prices spur both onshore and offshore drilling. In the short term, the vast majority of the increase in crude oil production comes from deepwater offshore fields. Fields that started producing in 2009, or that are expected to start producing in the next few years, include Great White, Norman, Tahiti, Gomez, Cascade, and Chinook. All are in water depths greater than 2,600 feet, and most are in the U.S. Central Gulf of Mexico. Production from those fields, combined with increased production from fields that started producing in 2007 and 2008, contributes to the near-term growth in U.S. offshore production. The reduction in crude oil production resulting from the current moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is estimated to average about 31,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2010 and about 82,000 barrels per day in 2011, but production levels are expected to recover in the mid-term. Production from other recently discovered and yet-to-be discovered fields offsets production declines in older fields in the projection, resulting in a net increase in liquids production through 2035. Is Brazil the world's next major oil producer? In 2007, a consortium led by Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, discovered the Tupi field in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil. The field, now known as a "pre-salt deposit," was found 18,000 feet below the ocean surface underneath a 6,000-foot layer of salt. Tupi and other pre-salt finds hold the potential to make Brazil one of the world's most prolific oil exporters. Although Brazil already produces 2.1 million barrels per day of crude oil and lease condensate, it did not become a net exporter until 2009. In the next decade, Brazil aspires to more than double its conventional production and significantly expand its oil exports. According to Oil & Gas Journal, Brazil's proven oil reserves are estimated currently at 12.9 billion barrels, not including major pre-salt fields. Estimates of Brazil's pre-salt reserves have varied widely. In 2008, Haroldo Lima, Director General of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency, stated that the country's pre-salt deposits could contain between 50 and 70 billion barrels of oil . More recently, in January 2011, Petrobras announced its assessment that the Tupi and Iracema fields (renamed Lula and Cernambi) contain 6.5 billion and 1.8 billion barrels of commercially recoverable oil, respectively . It will be some time before the Brazil's pre-salt reserves are fully quantified, but knowledge of exact reserve levels is not critical to assessing the viability of Brazil's proposal to expand their production in the coming years. In its 2010-2014 business plan, Petrobras outlined production targets of 3.0 million barrels per day in 2014 and 4.0 million barrels per day in 2020. In the plan, more than one-quarter of the company's Brazilian production in 2020 comes from pre-salt fields . In the IEO2011 Reference case, Brazil's conventional liquids production increases to 3.3 million barrels per day in 2020 and 4.9 million barrels per day in 2035; and its total liquids supply, including unconventional liquids such as ethanol and biodiesel, increases to 6.6 million barrels per day in 2035. The projections reflect a somewhat more conservative view of the pace of expansion, given the financial, regulatory, and operational challenges that Petrobras will need to overcome in order to realize the full potential of Brazil's pre-salt resources. Financing the development of pre-salt oil fields will be expensive. One analyst has suggested that Brazil's current undertaking could be "the largest private sector investment program in the history of mankind ." The Petrobras business plan includes investments of $224 billion between 2010 and 2014, more than half of which will be spent on exploration and production activities. To facilitate the plan, the company raised $67 billion in the world's largest initial public offering ever in September 2010. However, most of the capital came in the form of a reserves-for-shares swap with the Brazilian government . Petrobras will need to fund the majority of its investments through operating cash flow. The increase in the government's equity points to an expansion of state involvement in the petroleum sector. The government's capitalization of Petrobras was part of a set of laws passed in 2010 to regulate development of Brazil's pre-salt reserves. The legislation also established a new federal agency (Petrosal) to administer pre-salt production and set up a fund to align the expenditure of pre-salt revenues with Brazil's development goals. Most importantly in terms of Brazil's investment climate, the law changed the country's concession-based system for exploration to a production-sharing agreement (PSA) system. Under the PSA system, Petrobras will hold at least a 30-percent share of each project and be the operator . Some analysts fear that the new system will reduce foreign interest in investing in Brazil and overburden Petrobras. The re-launch of Brazil's latest bid round for oil exploration blocks is scheduled for 2011, pending settlement of a dispute over the distribution of pre-salt royalties among Brazilian states. The results of the bid round will highlight the full impact of the legislative changes on the development of pre-salt resources . Development of pre-salt deposits represents a daunting task, with considerable technological uncertainty about how the geologic formations will behave once production has begun. In addition, the reserves are located more than 150 miles off Brazil's coast, making them difficult for pipelines and people to reach. Petrobras plans to purchase 45 floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels to extract the pre-salt oil; however, only 75 such rigs currently exist in the world . In addition to massive investments in physical capital, the planned expansion of Brazil's production will require additional human capital. Petrobras plans to train 243,000 technical professionals to work in the petroleum industry in the coming decade and to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in oil-related research and development centers at Brazilian universities . Given the scale of the task, the predominant role played by Petrobras, and local-content requirements, operational challenges introduce a nontrivial amount of uncertainty into projections of Brazil's liquids production. Brazil's pre-salt discoveries represent some of the most promising oil finds, and its role as an oil producer will grow in the coming decades. The extent of that expansion is uncertain, however, given the financial, regulatory, and operational challenges involved in such a large-scale undertaking. U.S. lower 48 onshore production of crude oil continues to grow through 2035, primarily as a result of increased application of EOR techniques. In 2035, EOR accounts for 37 percent of total onshore production in the Reference case. The rate of growth in domestic crude oil production depends largely on assumptions about world oil prices and improvements in technology, because remaining onshore resources typically require more costly secondary or tertiary recovery techniques. On the other hand, if carbon dioxide emissions were captured and sequestered in the future, the availability of relatively plentiful and inexpensive supplies of carbon dioxide could spur additional EOR activities that would make onshore production more economical. U.S. unconventional liquids production becomes more significant as world oil prices rise, with domestic production of biofuels increasing from 0.7 million barrels per day in 2008 to 2.2 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Reference case. Although advances in coal liquefaction technology have made CTL fuels commercially available in other countries, including South Africa, China, and Germany, the technical and financial risks of building what would be essentially a first-of-a-kind facility in the United States have discouraged significant investment thus far. In addition, the possibility of new legislation aimed at reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions creates further uncertainty for future investment in CTL. Similarly, although ongoing improvement in oil shale technology leads to the start of commercial production in 2029 in the Reference case and a rapid increase to 1.1 percent of total U.S. liquids supply in 2035, oil shale development also would have to overcome environmental, technical, and financial uncertainties similar to those for CTL. Canada's production of conventional liquids declines slowly in the Reference case, by a total of just under 20 thousand barrels per day from 2008 to 2035. However, increased production of unconventional petroleum liquids from oil sands more than offsets the decline in conventional production. As a result, Canada's total liquids production increases from 3.4 million barrels per day in 2008 to 6.6 million barrels per day in 2035. Russia and Kazakhstan are the other key players in non-OPEC production growth. However, the non-OECD Europe and Eurasia region is prone to territorial disputes, transportation blockages, contractual changes, and political intervention. After declining to 9.0 million barrels per day in 2014, Russia's liquids production begins a slow increase to 11.4 million barrels per day in 2020 in the Reference case, as uncertainty about tax regimes lessens. In addition, annual increases in the world oil price in the IEO2011 Reference case spur liquids development that boosts Russia's production to 13.3 million barrels per day in 2035. Although exploration in eastern Siberia and the Arctic is expected during the projection period, Arctic exploration does not contribute much to production in the Reference case. Across the five IEO2011 scenarios that assume different levels of economic access granted to investors in the long term, Russia's total liquids production in 2035 ranges from 13.3 to 15.3 million barrels per day. In the Low Oil Price case, as access to resources is opened up, production in 2035 totals 14.1 million barrels per day—more than in the Reference case but less than in the Traditional Low Oil Price case, because worldwide demand for liquids is lower. In Kazakhstan, mid-term growth in liquids production depends predominantly on the resources of the Kashagan and Tengiz oil fields, as well as the ability of investors to transport production from those projects to the world market. Although known and potential resources are sufficient to support the growth of liquids production in Kazakhstan, they could be undermined by a lack of easy export routes. Currently, exports are limited to six routes: the CPC pipeline, Atyrau-Samara pipeline, and railway shipments can transport a total of 0.8 million barrels per day to Russia; another pipeline can move 0.2 million barrels per day to China; and two barge routes allow shipments of about 0.1 million barrels per day to Azerbaijan and Iran. Kazakhstan's export potential is affected strongly by its geographical position. Attaining the production levels projected in the Reference case depends not only on resource availability and production but also on the construction of export routes—a task requiring regional cooperation that has not been easy to achieve in the past. A number of possible projects to expand Kazakhstan's capacity for liquids exports have been proposed over the past several years. The most likely expansions in the near term are capacity increases in the pipelines to Russia and China . In addition to the problem of transportation capacity, Kazakhstan has previously reopened legal contracts with private foreign investors, forcing renegotiation of investment returns and making companies reluctant to increase their investment in the country's energy sector. Across the five IEO2011 oil price cases (including the Reference case), Kazakhstan's production in 2035 ranges from a low of 3.1 million barrels per day to a high of 3.5 million barrels per day. In the IEO2011 Reference case, total liquids production from OPEC nations increases from the 2008 level of 35.6 million barrels per day at an average annual rate of 1.0 percent, resulting in the production of 46.9 million barrels of liquids per day in 2035. Of the total OPEC increase, 11.0 million barrels per day originates in the Middle East (Figure 37). Throughout the projection period, Saudi Arabia remains the largest liquids producer in OPEC, with total production increasing from 10.7 million barrels per day in 2008 to 15.4 million barrels per day in 2035, as prices stabilize at historically high levels and world consumption continues to grow. Seventeen percent of the increase (0.8 million barrels per day) is expected to be NGPL production related to expansion of natural gas production. The total production increase equates to an average annual growth rate of 1.4 percent, based on the assumption that Saudi Arabia will continue with its current plan to maintain spare production capacity at levels between 1.5 and 2.0 million barrels per day. Iraq increases its liquids production by 3.7 percent per year in the IEO2011 Reference case, the largest annual average growth in total liquids production among all OPEC members. The projection assumes that political, legislative, logistical, investment, and security uncertainties in Iraq will be resolved in the long term, and that OPEC constraints and resource availability will be the factors with the strongest influence on Iraq's willingness and ability to increase production. In addition to political and legislative uncertainty, import and export infrastructure also are expected to limit production growth in Iraq to 0.6 million barrels per day from 2008 to 2015. If the country is able to achieve long-term political and economic stability and expand the capacity of import and export routes as projected in the Reference case, investment in production capacity could rise by an average of 4.2 percent per year from 2015 and 2030 before slowing to a more modest 3.0 percent per year from 2030 to 2035. The fact that Iraq has the resources necessary to support such growth in the long run, yet produced only 2.4 million barrels per day in 2008, illustrates the significant impacts that the political environment and other above-ground constraints can have on production projections. Qatar has the second-highest average annual growth rate in total liquids production among OPEC nations from 2008 to 2035 in the Reference case, at 2.7 percent, with total volumes increasing from 1.2 million barrels per day in 2008 to 2.5 million barrels per day in 2035. About 55 percent of the increase consists of crude oil and lease condensate production; NGPL production contributes another 0.3 million barrels per day; and GTL projects add just over 0.2 million barrels per day. Despite the current negative outlook for many previously announced GTL projects around the world, the return and persistence of historically high oil prices in the Reference case supports the operation of Qatar's Pearl facility (0.1 million barrels per day capacity) and expansion of its Oryx facility (adding another 0.1 million barrels per day). Total liquids production in Iran is restricted by political rather than resource-related factors in the IEO2011 Reference case. The political factors include the effectiveness of the national oil company's operations, the ability of the government and foreign investors to agree on contractual terms, and continuing financial sanctions. In the Reference case, Iran's oil production declines from 2008 through 2035 because of both financial and political constraints on the development of new oil and natural gas prospects. In addition, the amount of natural gas available for improving oil recovery through natural gas reinjection is limited in the projections by natural gas demand for domestic electric power and heat production. Political factors and investment constraints affect Iran's liquids production so severely that production in 2035 varies by 3.5 million barrels per day across the IEO2011 projections, from 2.7 million barrels per day in the Traditional High Oil Price case to 6.3 million barrels per day in the Traditional Low Oil Price case. In the OPEC nations of Western Africa, total liquids production increases from 4.2 million barrels per day in 2008 to 5.4 million barrels per day in 2035 in the Reference case. Angola expands production to 2.3 million barrels per day in 2020—almost entirely by increasing crude oil and condensate production from offshore projects—before entering a slow but steady resource-driven decline in the long term. Nigeria's liquids production is likely to be hampered in the short term by conflict and infrastructure difficulties; in the long term, however, a higher level of known resources enables its liquids production to grow by an average of 1.7 percent per year, from 2.2 million barrels per day in 2008 to a total of 3.4 million barrels per day in 2035. Recent history suggests that Venezuela's national government reacts to high oil prices by tightening the terms for foreign direct investment and limiting access to its reserves. As a result, in the Reference case, with prices rising in real terms through 2035, further mandated changes in contractual terms, along with threats of actions to recapture upside returns from potential investors, are likely to hinder Venezuela's production potential in the short term and discourage investment in and development of additional projects in the long term. The trend is particularly evident in the mature conventional oil basins, with conventional production declining by 0.3 million barrels per day over the projection period from 2008 levels of 2.0 million barrels per day. However, development of several extra-heavy oil projects in the Orinoco belt offsets some of the decline in conventional liquids production. Ecuador rejoined OPEC in October 2007, after having suspended its membership in 1999. Ecuador is a relatively small oil producer in comparison with other OPEC members, producing 0.5 million barrels of oil per day in 2008. Liquids production in Ecuador declines through 2015 in the Reference case, as uncertainties associated with the country's Hydrocarbons Law make foreign companies reluctant to investment in Ecuador's oil sector . After 2015, although investment in the country's oil sector continues to be hindered by high investment risk, development of its ITT heavy oil field in the Amazon helps to stabilize its production. Consequently, liquids production in Ecuador rebounds to 0.7 million barrels per day in 2025 and remains fairly flat through 2035. OPEC investment decisions regarding additional new production capacity are the primary difference between the Traditional High and Traditional Low Oil Price cases. In the IEO2011 High and Low Oil Price cases, non-OECD demand is also an important market determinant. In the Low Oil Price case, OPEC production increases to 53.7 million barrels per day in 2035, representing a 47-percent share of total world liquids production. The Low Oil Price case assumes that OPEC members will increase investment either through their own national oil companies or by allowing greater economic access to foreign investors, depending on the country. It also assumes that OPEC members will expand production capacity in an attempt to maximize government revenue through increased production. OPEC production in the Traditional Low Oil Price case increases by 32.4 million barrels per day from 2008 to 2035, to 68.0 million barrels per day or approximately 52 percent of total world liquids production in 2035. In the High Oil Price case, high demand and high prices encourage development of expensive non-OPEC resources. As a result, OPEC supports only a 37-percent market share of total world liquids production, with a production level of 45.7 million barrels per day in 2035, less than the Reference case level of 46.9 million barrels per day. Alternatively, in the Traditional High Oil Price case, OPEC member countries maintain record high prices by restricting production targets to a smaller share of world total liquids production each year. As a result, OPEC production accounts for 32 percent of the world total in 2035. Production totals 34.8 million barrels per day in 2025, and after 2026 it begins a slight decline to 34.1 million barrels per day in 2035. Unconventional liquids production Unconventional liquids play an increasingly important role in meeting demand for liquid fuels over the course of the IEO2011 projections. In the Reference case, 12 percent of world liquids supply in 2035 comes from unconventional sources, including 1.7 million barrels per day from OPEC and 11.4 million from non-OPEC sources. Although the volume and composition of unconventional production vary across the IEO2011 price cases (from 19.2 million barrels per day in the Traditional High Oil Price case to 10.8 million barrels per day in the Low Oil Price case), the geographic origin of each unconventional liquid type is relatively constant across the cases, usually being limited to countries where projects currently are underway or advertised. Because world oil prices largely determine whether relatively expensive unconventional supplies are developed, there is little difference between the volumes of unconventional resources supplied in the Low Oil Price case and in the Traditional Low Oil Price case. The same is true of the two high oil price cases (Figure 38). OPEC unconventional production OPEC's unconventional production consists predominantly of extra-heavy oil production in Venezuela (from the Orinoco belt) and GTL production in Qatar. In the IEO2011 Reference case, Venezuela's extra-heavy oil production rises from 0.7 million barrels per day in 2008 to 1.4 million barrels per day in 2035, and Qatar's GTL production increases from a negligible amount in 2008 to 0.2 million barrels per day in 2035. Although the resources to support production at those levels abound in the two countries, large investments will be required to bring them to market, and the timing of such investment is uncertain. There are four major projects currently operating in Venezuela's Orinoco belt, but they have been suffering from poor maintenance and lack of investment. Venezuela's ability to increase its extra-heavy oil production will depend on the level of foreign investment and expertise it is able to attract for extraction and upgrading projects. In the Reference case, only two Orinoco belt projects are developed over the course of the projection—JunÃn 4 (operated by a consortium of Chinese companies) and JunÃn 6 (operated by a consortium of Russian companies). The two projects add 0.4 million barrels per day of production capacity each. In the Low Oil Price case, Venezuela improves contract terms and stabilizes its investment climate to attract more foreign investment in the development of Orinoco resources, including JunÃn 2 and the Carabobo area, which contribute 0.2 and 1.2 million barrels per day, respectively. In addition, several other development projects are undertaken in the long term. Non-OPEC unconventional production Outside OPEC, unconventional liquids production comes from a much more diverse group of countries and resource types. As a whole, non-OPEC unconventional liquids production in the IEO2011 Reference case increases by 8.2 million barrels per day, from 3.2 million barrels per day in 2008 to 11.4 million barrels per day in 2035. OECD countries account for 71 percent of total non-OPEC unconventional liquids production in 2035. By volume, the countries making the largest contribution to the increase in non-OPEC unconventional liquids are Canada (an increase of 3.3 million barrels per day), the United States (2.3 million barrels per day), Brazil (1.2 million barrels per day), and China (0.9 million barrels per day). In each of the five oil price cases, Canada's bitumen (oil sands) production makes up more than 40 percent of total non-OPEC unconventional production, ranging from 3.1 million barrels per day in the Low Oil Price and Traditional Low Oil Price cases to 6.5 million barrels per day in the High Oil Price and Traditional High Oil Price cases. Bitumen production in the two high price cases ramps up quickly in the short to mid-term then begins to slow in the long term, closely following the assumed world oil price path in high price cases. In the low oil price cases, production growth stagnates because the price is too low for new projects to be economical. Over time, however, reductions in the cost of the technology lead to an overall increase in production. Biofuels production in the Reference case increases from 1.5 million barrels per day in 2008 to 4.7 million barrels per day in 2035, at an average annual growth rate of 4.3 percent. The largest increase in biofuels production over the projection period comes from the United States, where production grows by 1.6 million barrels per day, from 0.7 million barrels per day in 2008 to 2.2 million barrels per day in 2035. The growth in U.S. biofuels production is supported by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which mandates increased use of biofuels. Strong growth in biofuels consumption is also projected for Brazil, where production grows by 1.2 million barrels per day from 2008 to 2035. Government policies provide the primary incentive for non-OPEC biofuels production. Biofuels are used as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote energy security, and support local economic development. To achieve those goals, many countries set mandates for the amount of biofuels to be used and give tax credits to biofuel producers. The United States, for example, mandates 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The European Union mandates that biofuels must make up 10 percent of the liquid fuels market by 2020, according to the European Union Biofuels Directive . Canadian producers receive payments or operating grants based on output, and the Chinese government has a flexible subsidy scheme with payments based on plant profitability . The Canadian and Chinese tax credits are designed to expire over time as the cost of production falls and oil prices rise. Despite the wide range of biofuels incentive programs, some recent studies suggest that biofuels may not be as effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as previously thought. As a result, many countries have relaxed or postponed renewal of their mandates. For example, Germany reduced its biofuels quota for 2009 from 6.25 percent to 5.25 percent . The global economic recession has also dampened investment in biofuels development. Consequently, world biofuels production in 2030 is 40 percent lower in the IEO2011 Reference case than was projected in the IEO2009 Reference case and essentially the same as in the IEO2010 Reference case. In the IEO2011 oil price cases, as in the Reference case, biofuels become more competitive with conventional oil products over time; however, the level of competitiveness depends on the oil price assumption. In the low price cases, only the cheapest and most cost-effective feedstocks and production technologies are competitive with gasoline and diesel fuels. In the high price cases, more feedstocks and production processes are competitive. Total biofuel production in 2035 ranges from 3.5 million barrels per day in the Low Oil Price case to 6.2 million barrels per day in the Traditional High Oil Price case. The growth of biofuel production slows in all cases from 2008 to 2015, as the current generation of crops reach their economic potential, then accelerates after 2016 with the advent of new technologies that use cellulosic feedstocks. China is the primary CTL producer in all the IEO2011 cases, with 2035 production levels ranging from 0.2 million barrels per day (or 50 percent of the world total) in the two low oil price cases to 2.1 million barrels per day (51 percent of the world total) in the two high oil price cases. Other major producers are the United States and South Africa, which produce about 0.5 and 0.3 million barrels per day, respectively, in the Reference case; 1.6 and 0.3 million barrels per day in the High Oil Price and Traditional High Oil Price cases; and about 0.1 million barrels per day each in the Low Oil Price and Traditional Low Oil Price cases. The unconventional liquid product that consistently contributes the least to total unconventional production in each of the IEO2011 cases is GTL. In the Reference case and the two low oil price cases, GTL production is limited primarily to Qatar, although South Africa and Nigeria also produce small volumes. In the two high oil price cases, the United States rapidly becomes the world's third-largest GTL producer, accounting for 96 thousand barrels per day of the world's total of 400 thousand barrels per day in 2035.20 World oil reserves As of January 1, 2011, proved world oil reserves, as reported by the Oil & Gas Journal,21 were estimated at 1,471 billion barrels—115 billion barrels (about 9 percent) higher than the estimate for 2010 . According to the Oil & Gas Journal, 51 percent of the world's proved oil reserves are located in the Middle East (Figure 39). Just under 79 percent of the world's proved reserves are concentrated in eight countries, of which only Canada (with oil sands included) and Russia are not OPEC members (Table 5). In 2011, the largest increase in proved reserves by far was attributed to Venezuela, as the country now reports its Orinoco belt extra-heavy oil in its totals . As a result, Venezuela's reserves alone increased by 113 billion barrels from 2010 to 2011. Smaller but notable increases were reported for Libya, Uganda, and Ghana. Libya's proved reserves increased by almost 2 billion barrels (4 percent). Uganda, which previously did not report any oil reserves, now claims 1.0 billion barrels. Ghana's recent discoveries of the Jubilee, Tweneboa, and Owo fields, among others, raised its reserves from 15 million barrels in 2010 to 660 million barrels in 2011. The largest decreases in regional reserves were attributed to Europe, including notable declines for Norway, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, which in combination saw a 14-percent decline (1,485 billion barrels) in reserves from 2010 to 2011. Although several OPEC member countries in late 2010 reported large additions to reserves, the Oil & Gas Journal chose not to include the new figures, citing the "politics involved in reserves estimates as they relate to output targets" within OPEC . Country-level estimates of proved reserves from the Oil and Gas Journal are developed from data reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), from foreign government reports, and from international geologic assessments. The estimates are not always updated annually. Proved reserves of crude oil are the estimated quantities that geological and engineering data indicate can be recovered in future years from known reservoirs, assuming existing technology and current economic and operating conditions. Companies whose stocks are publicly traded on U.S. stock markets are required by the SEC to report their holdings of domestic and international proved reserves, following specific guidelines. In December 2008, the SEC released revisions to its reserves reporting requirements in an attempt to provide investors with a more complete picture of the reserves held by reporting companies, by recognizing the technologies and reserve quantification methods that have evolved over time. Proved reserves include only estimated quantities of crude oil from known reservoirs, and therefore they are only a subset of the entire potential oil resource base. Resource base estimates include estimated quantities of both discovered and undiscovered liquids that have the potential to be classified as reserves at some time in the future. The resource base may include oil that currently is not technically recoverable but could become recoverable in the future as technologies advance. Readers may notice that, in some cases in the IEO2011 projections, country-level volumes for cumulative production through 2035 exceed the estimates of proved reserves. This does not imply that resources and the physical limits of production have not been considered in the development of production forecasts, or that the projections assume a rapid decline in production immediately after the end of the projection period as reserves are depleted. EIA considers resource availability in all long-term country-level projections, the aggregation of which gives the total world production projection. However, proved reserves are not an appropriate measure for judging total resource availability in the long run. For example, despite continued production, global reserves historically have not declined as new reserves have been added through exploration, discovery, and reserve replacement. In order to construct realistic and plausible projections for liquids production, and especially for petroleum liquids production, underlying analysis must both consider production beyond the intended end of the projection period and base production projections on the physical realities and limitations of production. The importance of approaching an assessment of liquids production in this way is illustrated by the recent history of U.S. reserve estimates. Whereas the United States reported 22.5 billion barrels of proved reserves in 1998, proved reserves of 20.7 billion barrels were reported in 2010—a decrease of only 1.8 billion barrels despite the cumulative 26.2 billion barrels of liquids supplied from U.S. reserves between 1998 and 2010. Proved reserves cannot provide an accurate assessment of the physical limits on future production but rather are intended to provide insight as to company- or country- level development plans in the very near term. In fact, because of the particularly rigid requirements for the classification of resources as proved reserves, even the cumulative production levels from individual development projects may exceed initial estimates of proved reserves. EIA attempts to address the lack of applicability of proved reserves estimates to long-term production projections by developing a production methodology based on the true physical limits of production, initially-in-place volumes, and technologically limited recovery factors. By basing long-term production assessments on resources rather than reserves, EIA is able to present projections that are physically achievable and can be supported beyond the 2035 projection horizon. The realization of such production levels depends on future growth in world demand, taking into consideration such above-ground limitations on production as profitability and specific national regulations, among others. - World energy demand and economic outlook - Liquid fuels - Natural gas - Industrial sector energy consumption - Transportation sector energy consumption - Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions Reference Case Summary & Detailed Tables Interactive Table Viewer › Provides custom data views of the IEO2011 Reference case.

U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis International Energy Outlook 2011 Release Date: September 19, 2011 | Next Scheduled Release Date: July 2013 | Report Number: DOE/EIA-0484(2011) Consumption of petroleum and other liquid fuels15 increases from 85.7 million barrels per day in 2008 to 112.2 million barrels per day in 2035 in the IEO2011 Reference case.

ECOLOGICAL MODELING ON THE OAK RIDGE RESERVATION The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) covers ~14,000 ha in eastern Tennessee. Most of the reservation is covered by mixed hardwood forest. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a large multi-program research facility, and the Y-12 plant are the two primary DOE facilities currently operating on the Reservation. Like many military installations (Goodman 1996), the ORR is an forested island for endangered species in the midst of heavily developed residential, commercial, and agricultural land. Land management issues on the ORR are similar to those on many military installations. Ecological models developed and tested on the ORR have been successfully applied to other facilities. For example, the cedar barrens habitat model and cerulean warbler population model were developed and first implemented for the ORR. Goodman, S. W. 1996. Ecosystem management at the Department of Defense. Ecological Applications 6(3):706-707. Return to the Sites page Return to the Web Site Map Return to Ecological Modeling home page

ECOLOGICAL MODELING ON THE OAK RIDGE RESERVATION The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) covers ~14,000 ha in eastern Tennessee. Most of the reservation is covered by mixed hardwood forest. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a large multi-program research facility, and the Y-12 plant are the two primary DOE facilities currently operating on the Reservation. Like many milita

Department of Agriculture Trade and U.S. Export Opportunities U.S. horticultural product exports in fiscal year (FY) 1998 totaled $10.3 billion, down 3 percent from FY 1997. The strong U.S. dollar, Japans economic recession, and the economic crisis in other Asian countries are reasons for the lower exports. Record sales to Canada and Mexico partially offset lower exports to Japan and other Asian countries. Sales to Canada, the top U.S. market, reached a record $3.05 billion in FY 1998, 6 percent above FY 1997. Products showing the largest gains to Canada in FY 1998 were fresh vegetables, up 10 percent to $719 million, and fruit and vegetable juices, up 12 percent to $261 million. Sales to the European Union (EU), the second largest market, totaled $2.17 billion, or about the same as the FY 1997 value. Higher fresh fruit and wine sales to the EU offset lower exports of tree nuts. Exports to Japan, the third largest U.S. market, decreased 8 percent in FY 1998 to $1.68 billion, due to the strong U.S. dollar and weak Japanese economy. This is the third straight year that U.S. exports to Japan decreased. Essential oils and fresh citrus accounted for the largest reductions in exports to Japan. Sales to Mexico, the fourth largest market, reached a record $555 million in FY 1998, 17 percent above the previous years value. Products with the largest gains were dried and dehydrated vegetables (up $32 million) and potato chips (up $13 million). U.S. horticultural product exports in FY 1999 are forecast at $10.1 billion, 2 percent below the FY 1998 value. A slowdown in sales to Canada is possible because the U.S. dollar has appreciated against the Canadian dollar. Furthermore, the continued economic recession in Japan and the continued weakness in other Asian economies will hamper exports to Asia. On the positive side, horticultural exports continue benefitting from the Uruguay Round and NAFTA tariff reductions, USDAs Market Access Program activities, and export credit guarantees. Approved by the World Agricultural Outlook Board/USDA

Department of Agriculture Trade and U.S. Export Opportunities U.S. horticultural product exports in fiscal year (FY) 1998 totaled $10.3 billion, down 3 percent from FY 1997. The strong U.S. dollar, Japans economic recession, and the economic crisis in other Asian countries are reasons for the lower exports. Record sales to Canada and Mexico partially offset lower exports to Japan and other Asian c

|This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-05-083 Date: August 2007 Cable-stayed bridges have become the structural form of choice for medium- to long-span bridges over the past several decades. Increasingly widespread use has resulted in some cases of serviceability problems associated with stay cable large amplitude vibrations because of environmental conditions. A significant correlation had been observed between the occurrence of these large amplitude vibrations and occurrences of rain combined with wind, leading to the adoption of the term “rain/wind-induced vibrations.” However, a few instances of large amplitude vibrations without rain have also been reported in the literature. In 1999, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) commissioned a study team to investigate wind-induced vibration of stay cables. The project team represented expertise in cable-stayed bridge design, academia, and wind engineering. By this time, a substantial amount of research on the subject had already been conducted by researchers and cable suppliers in the United States and abroad. This work has firmly established water rivulet formation and its interaction with wind flow as the root cause of rain/wind-induced vibrations. With this understanding various surface modifications had been proposed and tested, the aim being the disruption of this water rivulet formation. Recently developed mitigation measures (such as “double-helix” surface modifications) as well as traditional measures (such as external dampers and cable crossties) have been applied to many of the newer bridges. However, the lack of a uniform criteria or a consensus in some of the other key areas, such as large amplitude galloping of dry cables, has made the practical and consistent application of the known mitigation methods difficult. The objective of this FHWA-sponsored study was to develop a set of uniform design guidelines for vibration mitigation for stay cables on cable-stayed bridges. The project was subdivided into the following distinct tasks: The initial phase of the study consisted of a collection of available literature on stay cable vibration. Because of the large volume of existing literature, the information was entered into two electronic databases. These databases were developed to be user friendly, have search capabilities, and facilitate the entering of new information as it becomes available. The databases have been turned over to FHWA for future maintenance. It is expected that these will be deployed on the Internet for use by the engineering community. The project team conducted a thorough review of the existing literature to determine the state of knowledge and identify any gaps that must be filled to enable the formation of a consistent set of design recommendations. This review indicated that while the rain/wind problem is known in sufficient detail, galloping of dry inclined cables was the most critical wind-induced vibration mechanism in need of further experimental research. A series of wind tunnel tests was conducted at the University of Ottawa propulsion wind tunnel to study this mechanism. This tunnel had a test section 3 meters (m) (10 feet (ft)) wide, 6 m (20 ft) high, and 12 m (39 ft) long, and could reach a maximum wind speed of 39 m/s (87 mi/h). With a removable roof section, this tunnel was ideal for the high-speed galloping tests of inclined full-scale cable segments. The results of the project team’s dry inclined cable testing have significant implications for the design criteria of cable-stayed bridges. The 2001 Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI) Recommendations for Stay Cable Design, Testing, and Installation indicates that the level of damping required for each cable is controlled by the inclined galloping provision, which is more stringent than the provision to suppress rain/wind-induced vibrations.(1) The testing suggests, however, that even if a low amount of structural damping is provided to the cable system, inclined cable galloping vibrations are not significant. This damping corresponds to a Scruton number of 3, which is less than the minimum of 10 established for the suppression of rain/windinduced vibrations. Therefore, if enough damping is provided to mitigate rain/wind-induced vibrations, then dry cable instability should also be suppressed. The project team obtained matching funds from Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council for the testing at the University of Ottawa, effectively doubling FHWA funding for the wind tunnel testing task. The project team also supplemented the study by incorporating the work of its key team members on other ongoing, related projects at no cost to FHWA. Analytical research covering a wide spectrum of related issues, such as the behavior of linear and nonlinear dampers and cable crossties, was performed. The research included brief studies on parametric excitation and establishing driver/pedestrian comfort criteria with respect to stay cable oscillation. Based on the above, design guidelines for the mitigation of wind-induced vibrations of stay cables were developed. These are presented with two worked examples that illustrate their application. This is the first time such design guidelines have been proposed. They are meant to provide a level of satisfactory performance for stay cables with respect to recurring large amplitude stay oscillations due to common causes that have been identified to date, and are not intended to eliminate stay cable oscillations altogether (as this would be impractical). It is expected that these guidelines can be refined suitably based on future observations of the actual performance of stay cables in bridges around the world as well as developments in stay cable technology. With the widespread recognition of mitigation of stay cable vibration as an important issue among long-span bridge designers, all new cable-stayed bridges are more likely than not to incorporate some form of mitigation discussed in this document. Such would provide ample future opportunities to measure the real-life performance of bridges against the design guidelines contained here. As a precautionary note, the state of the art in mitigation of stay cable vibration is not an exact science. These new guidelines are only intended for use by professionals with experience in cable-stayed bridge design, analysis, and wind engineering, and should only be applied with engineering judgment and due consideration of special conditions surrounding each project. Topics: research, infrastructure, structures Keywords: research, structures, cable-stayed bridge, cables, vibrations, wind, rain, dampers, crossties TRT Terms: research, infrastructure, Facilities, Structures

|This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-05-083 Date: August 2007 Cable-stayed bridges have become the structural form of choice for medium- to long-span bridges over the past several decades. Increasingly widespread use has resulted in some cases of serviceability problems associated with stay cable large

Southern Appalachian Creature Feature Podcasts |For more information about the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature, please contact: 160 Zillicoa St. Asheville, NC 28801 828/258-3939, ext. 234 New bats for endangered species list? Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. The spread of white-nose syndrome, the deadly bat disease, brings with it many questions, one of the most important, what will become of our bat populations? Parts of the eastern United States have already seen dramatic die-offs in bat numbers. In response to white-nose syndrome, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which maintains the U.S. list of endangered species, has been asked to add two more bat species to that list. One of those is the Eastern small-footed bat, one of the smallest in North America weighing in at less than two pennies. Although they’re found across much of the Eastern United States, their distribution is patchy, and most known populations are found from Virginia up to New York, an area significantly impacted by white nose syndrome. The other is the northern long-eared bat. This species is found across much of the eastern and north central United States, but like the eastern small-footed, its distribution is patchy across that range. In the summer time the northern long-eared bat tends to be associated with old-growth forests with trees 100 years old or older. Both of these bats are found in the Southern Appalachians, and indeed, both are known from sites where white-nose syndrome was recently found in North Carolina. For WNCW and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, this is Gary Peeples.

Southern Appalachian Creature Feature Podcasts |For more information about the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature, please contact: 160 Zillicoa St. Asheville, NC 28801 828/258-3939, ext. 234 New bats for endangered species list? Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. The spread of white-nose syndrome, the deadly bat disease, brings with it many questions, one of the

||BERKELEY, CA — Joan Daisey, 59, senior staff scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and one of the nation's leading experts on indoor air quality, passed away on Feb. 29 at Alta Bates Hospital after a long illness. A physical chemist by training, Daisey was at Berkeley Lab for 14 years and headed the Environmental Energy Technologies (EET) Division's Indoor Environment Department, with a 60-person staff and a budget of more than $6 million per year. She was also Chair of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Science Advisory Board, an influential national board that helps guide the direction of EPA research. Born in New York City, Daisey received her B.A. in chemistry from Georgian Court College in New Jersey in 1962 and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Seton Hall University in 1970. With more than 25 years of research experience, Daisey's more than 100 publications focused on organic pollutants and indoor and outdoor air particles. Her work in this field included studies of the physical and chemical nature, sources, transport, and fate of pollutants, as well as exposure assessment and exposure pathways. "Joan's contributions -- as an outstanding researcher within the Department, as an advocate for linking indoor and outdoor air quality research, and as a national leader on environmental research -- were magnificent," said Mark Levine, Division Director of EET. "Equally, we will miss her joy in doing research, her impatience with impediments to progress, her sense of humor, and her acceptance of her co-workers as friends and part of her extended family." Added Charles V. Shank, Director of Berkeley Lab, "Joan has had an enormous impact here, and we will miss her very much." While a researcher at New York University Medical Center's Department of Environmental Medicine (1975-1986), Daisey was a principal investigator in numerous multi-institutional field projects, including the Airborne Toxic Elements and Organic Substances Study. As a senior scientist at Berkeley Lab, she was a principal investigator for many research projects on environmental tobacco smoke, ventilation, infiltration and indoor air quality, the health effects of volatile organic compounds and particles, and on the soil-to-gas transport of volatile organic compounds into buildings as an exposure pathway. She had a strong interest in the continuum between indoor and outdoor air quality and helped to build a bridge between the respective research communities. Daisey took a lively interest in guiding the development of new areas of research. She was active in the public arena, where she applied her scientific expertise and knowledge of toxic chemicals to the problem of reducing their exposures to human beings. She was a member of the EPA's Science Advisory Board since 1987 and was chair of the Board since 1998. Her work with the Board included participation in several committees, including the Human Exposure and Health Subcommittee of Advisory Board's Integrated Risk Project. She was very active in scientific societies including service as President of the International Society of Exposure Analyses in 1995 and 1996; Directors' Environmental and Occupational/Public Health Standards Steering Group since 1993; the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (1988-90); and the National Research Council's Committee on Advances in Assessing Human Exposure to Airborne Pollutants from 1987 to 1989. In 1987 and 1988, Daisey worked on the Peer Review Committees that developed emergency plans for the sampling and analysis of data from the Love Canal area of New York State. "She will be remembered as an outstanding, creative, and energetic scientist with a positive outlook and a sense of humor," said fellow scientist Bill Fisk. "She was unselfish and treated her colleagues with warmth and respect. She particularly enjoyed working with promising young scientists and guided several students in research for their Ph.D. dissertations." Daisey, a resident of Walnut Creek, California, is survived by her husband of 36 years, Tom, son Christian, two sisters and a brother. Funeral services are pending.

||BERKELEY, CA — Joan Daisey, 59, senior staff scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and one of the nation's leading experts on indoor air quality, passed away on Feb. 29 at Alta Bates Hospital after a long illness. A physical chemist by training, Daisey was at Berkeley Lab for 14 years and headed the Environmental Energy Technologies (EE

Welcome to the South Carolina Lowcountry Unique in its beauty and pleasant environment, the South Carolina Lowcountry is rich in history and cultural diversity and well positioned for economic opportunity. Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties lie between Charleston and Savannah within the service areas of two international airports and two major shipping ports with a third port planned on the Savannah River in Jasper County a few miles back river from the Atlantic Ocean—the Jasper Ocean Terminal is a joint venture between South Carolina and Georgia. The region is served by an active commercial rail network as well as passenger services through Amtrak. Three of our four counties are intersected by Interstate 95 with the other only a short distance away making our “air, land and sea” region perfect for domestic and international commerce. Tourism is a major year-round industry in the Lowcountry. Many come to visit and find such feeling of home that they return to live and work in what has become one of the fastest growing regions in the South. Locals know there could be no place finer. Whether you’re interested in our many leisure activities and historical sites, looking for a wonderful place to retire or searching for a location to start or expand your business, Lowcountry Council of Governments is pleased to introduce you to our region and all it has to offer. Visit our HISTORY page to learn more about the Lowcountry.

Welcome to the South Carolina Lowcountry Unique in its beauty and pleasant environment, the South Carolina Lowcountry is rich in history and cultural diversity and well positioned for economic opportunity. Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties lie between Charleston and Savannah within the service areas of two international airports and two major shipping ports with a third port planned

Exterminating Bugs in Spreadsheets and Web Applications Back to article | Note about images The 'What You See is What You Test' (WYSIWYT) testing approach. Spreadsheet cell borders reflect the 'testedness' of cells. Users indicate 'testing decisions' by placing checkmarks. Credit: Eugene Creswick, Joe Ruthruff, Margaret Burnett and Gregg Rothermel, Oregon State University

Exterminating Bugs in Spreadsheets and Web Applications Back to article | Note about images The 'What You See is What You Test' (WYSIWYT) testing approach. Spreadsheet cell borders reflect the 'testedness' of cells. Users indicate 'testing decisions' by placing checkmarks. Credit: Eugene Creswick, Joe Ruthruff, Margaret Burnett and Gregg Rothermel, Oregon State University

HISTORY OF FLIGHT Use your browsers 'back' function to return to synopsisReturn to Query Page On August 5, 2007, at 2141 mountain daylight time, a Beech E90, N369CD, registered to Omni Flight Helicopters, Inc., formerly Enchantment Aviation, d/b/a Southwest MedEvac and piloted by an airline transport certificated pilot, was destroyed when it struck trees and impacted terrain while maneuvering approximately 4 miles southeast of the Sierra Blanca Regional Airport (SRR), Ruidoso, New Mexico. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at the time of the accident. The nonscheduled domestic passenger (air ambulance) flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed but had not been activated. The pilot, flight nurse, paramedic, patient, and patient's mother were fatally injured. The cross-country flight originated from Ruidoso approximately 2137, and was en route to Albuquerque (ABQ), New Mexico. The patient, a 15-month-old female child, had been treated for seizures at the Lincoln County Medical Center in Ruidoso. The attending physician summoned an air ambulance to transport the patient to University Hospital in Albuquerque. According to Southwest MedEvac, the airplane departed Roswell (ROW), New Mexico, approximately 2000, and arrived at SRR approximately 2030. The patient and her mother were placed aboard the airplane, and the airplane took off on runway 06. Witnesses observed the airplane make a left turn to the north and disappear. Satellite tracking detected the airplane only once, at 2137, when it was at an altitude of 6,811 feet, tracking a course of 072 degrees northeast of the airport, and flying at an airspeed of 115 knots. When the airplane failed to arrive at ABQ, Southwest MedEvac notified the airport at 2200 and a perimeter search was conducted. Unable to locate the airplane, FAA's ABQ automated flight service station (AFSS) issued an ALNOT (alert notice). The wreckage was located by search and rescue personnel approximately 0500 the next morning 4 miles southeast of the airport on a heading away from its destination. The pilot was employed by Southwest MedEvac in June 2006, and was assigned to fly the Cessna 414A. He later upgraded to captain on the Beech E90B in April 2007. He held an airline transport pilot certificate with an airplane multiengine land rating, and commercial privileges with an airplane single-engine land rating. His second class airman medical certificate, dated January 17, 2007, contained no restrictions or limitations. According to the operator, the pilot had accrued 2,774.6 total flight hours, of which 2,239 hours were in multiengine airplanes, and 23 hours were in the Beech E90B. He had also logged 439 hours of night flying. Of the 23 hours logged in the Beech E90B, 14 hours were as pilot-in-command. The pilot had undergone 16 hours of ground school, 48 hours of training by computer, and 6 hours of flight training on the Cessna 414A. When he transitioned to the Beech E90B, he underwent another 16 hours of ground school. His flight training was for 5.2 hours. His proficiency check lasted 1.8 hours. Along with the other Roswell-based pilots, he had received an additional 1.2 hours of training that dealt specifically with engine hot starts. One company instructor described the pilot as "one of his best students and was excited about the (Beech King Air) transition." Coworkers described him as "very cautious"; "nice individual, very positive"; he showed "a healthy amount of curiosity, a lot of interest, a very serious approach, [and was] diligent to flying the E90"; "very dedicated"; "comfortable with the airplane"; "confident and competent." The flight nurse was employed by Southwest MedEvac on January 9, 2007. Previous to this employment, he had been a volunteer paramedic for 11 years with the Denver City, Texas, Volunteer Fire Department. The flight paramedic was employed by Southwest MedEvac on July 2, 2007. Previous to this employment, she was an emergency room technician and paramedic in Prescott Valley, Arizona. N369CD (s.n. LW162), a model E90B King Air, was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation in 1975. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-28 turboprop engines, each rated at 680 shaft horsepower, driving two McCauley 4-blade, all-metal, constant-speed, and fully-reversible propellers (m.n. 4HFR34C762-E./94LMA-4). According to the aircraft maintenance records, the airplane was maintained under a continuous airworthiness program (AIP). A phase 4 inspection was performed on August 4, 2007. No unusual anomalies were noted. At the time of the accident, the airframe had accrued 10,358 flight hours. Hot section inspections of both engines was performed on May 10, 2007. The following Aviation Routine Weather Report (METAR) was made by the Automated Weather Observation Station (AWOS) at SRR at 2030 (see WEATHER REPORTS AND RECORDS for further details): Wind, 190 degrees at 3 knots; visibility, 10 statute miles; sky condition, 7,000 feet overcast; temperature, 24 degrees Celsius (C.); dew point, 17 degrees C.; altimeter, 30.21 inches of Mercury; remarks: automated observation with precipitation discriminator (rain/snow). AIDS TO NAVIGATION There were no reported difficulties with aids to navigation. There were no reported communication difficulties. According to AOPA's Airport Directory, Sierra Blanca Regional Airport (33 degrees, 27.77' North latitude; 105 degrees, 32.09' West longitude), elevation 6,814 feet msl, is located 15 miles northeast of Ruidoso. It is equipped with two runways: 06-24, 8,099 feet x 100 feet, asphalt, porous friction coarse overlay (pfc); 12-30, 6,500 feet x 75 feet, asphalt. According to airport officials, all lights and facilities were operating normally throughout the evening. The airplane was not equipped with either a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder, nor were they required by Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR). The airplane was equipped with Sky Connect, a satellite-based flight tracking system. According to Southwest Medevac, an aircraft's position is transmitted every 5 minutes for fixed wing aircraft, and every 30 seconds for rotary-wing aircraft. In the case of N369CD, only one position was transmitted, at 2137. At that time, the airplane was at an altitude of 6,811 feet, the airspeed was 115 knots, and it was tracking a course of 072 degrees. WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION On August 6, 7, and 8, 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Evidence Response Team, Albuquerque Field Office, under the auspices of the National Transportation Safety Board, used Nikon Total Station surveying equipment to document the accident site and wreckage. Initial impact with trees was at an elevation of 6,860 feet. Fragmented wreckage was strewn for 1,100 feet down a 4.5 degree hill on a magnetic heading of 141 degrees. The aircraft's descent angle was computed to be 13 degrees, and the angle of impact was computed to be 8.5 degrees (see FBI's report for further details). There was evidence of a flash fire. Both engine and propeller assemblies were recovered and bore signatures consistent with operation and turning at impact. MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION Autopsies were performed on the victims by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI). According to its report, death was attributed to "multiple blunt force injuries." Toxicological screens were performed on the victims by the State of New Mexico and FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI). The MEO's report indicated the presence of chlorpheniramine and acetaminophen (Tylenol) in both the liver and preserved vitreous. CAMI found the same medications in the urine and lung. In a cover letter accompanying CAMI's report, the regional flight surgeon for FAA's Southwest Region said that chlorpheniramine is "an antihistamine used in the treatment of allergic symptoms and may have sedative effects. If the FAA had been made aware of this medication, the pilot would have been issued a warning not to fly within 12-hours of taking it." NTSB's medical officer reviewed the pilot's medical records maintained by FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute, and the autopsy and toxicological reports prepared by the State of New Mexico. On his most recent application for medical certification dated January 17, 2007, the pilot answered "No" to the question, "Do you currently use and medication?" The pilot noted "Yes" to the following: "Admission to hospital" and "Other illness, disability, or surgery." The pilot noted "No" to all other items under "Medical History," including specifically "Hay fever or allergy." TESTS AND RESEARCH On August 28 and 29, 2007, the wreckage was re-examined at the facilities of Air Transport in Phoenix, Arizona, under the auspices of the National Transportation Safety Board. The wreckage was fragmented due to impact forces. All major components were identified. The flaps and landing gear were retracted. Flight control continuity was established. All control cable breaks exhibited "broomstraw" signatures, consistent with overload failures. All push rod breaks exhibited signs of overload failures. The restraint systems for both flight crew seats and the flight paramedic appeared to have been in use. The condition of the restraint system used by the flight nurse suggests it may not have been worn at the time of impact. According to Pratt & Whitney Canada, examination of both engines revealed "contact signatures" to various components "characteristic of the engines producing power at the time of impact in a mid to high power range." On October 10, 2007, both propellers were examined at McCauley Propeller Systems in Wichita, Kansas. According to the McCauley report, there was no evidence of propeller failure prior to impact, and all damage was consistent with impact forces. Damage was consistent with the propellers rotating at high power. Southwest MedEvac aircraft are operated with only one pilot as allowed by FAR (Federal Aviation Regulations) Part 135.105. In addition to the Federal Aviation Administration, parties to the investigation included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Canada, McCauley Propellers, and Southwest MedEvac. The wreckage was released to U.S. Aviation Insurance Group on October 10, 2007.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT Use your browsers 'back' function to return to synopsisReturn to Query Page On August 5, 2007, at 2141 mountain daylight time, a Beech E90, N369CD, registered to Omni Flight Helicopters, Inc., formerly Enchantment Aviation, d/b/a Southwest MedEvac and piloted by an airline transport certificated pilot, was destroyed when it struck trees and impacted terrain while maneuvering appr

LESLIE R. GROVES: MANHATTAN PROJECT'S MAIN MAN In September 1942, Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves took charge of the Manhattan Project. His influence was to be felt far and wide by people swept into service for this top secret project. In Oak Ridge, in the red mud and yellow dust, he was the driving force behind the construction and operation of the large wartime plants that would come to define the "Atomic City." Groves is remembered for his management style and personality traits. Those who liked him recall that he was hard-driving, courageous, tough, responsible, and efficient. They say he demanded respect and got the job done. Those less fond of his style remember him as blunt, impatient, ruthless, tyrannical, severe, and inconsiderate. For them, he was a strict taskmaster. The day before he came to Oak Ridge, Groves was in a meeting with Secretary of War Henry Stimson. By age and rank, Groves was the junior person. Stimson proposed a committee of seven to nine persons to run the Manhattan Project; Groves countered that such a committee would be inefficient and proposed a committee of three. After some discussion, the group accepted Groves' suggestion. Then, in the presence of his superiors, Groves abruptly excused himself from the meeting, saying he had to take the train to Oak Ridge to select a site for the first atomic plant. On September 19, 1942, Groves met with Colonel James Marshall and inspected the site in Oak Ridge. Groves was pleased with the site because it offered abundant electrical power and water, good access by road and train, a sparse population, a nearby source of labor, and a mild climate that made outdoor work possible year round. Although scientific research leading to industrial production of fissionable material was not yet complete, Groves decided to take a chance on constructing uranium-235 production plants in Oak Ridge. To accomplish this task, some 59,000 acres were purchased at a cost of $60 to $70 per acre. During the war, Groves frequently visited Oak Ridge, staying at a special suite permanently reserved for him in the Guest House, now the Alexander Motor Inn. When the hotel was booked up, guests were allowed to stay in the general's suite provided that they agreed to leave if he should show up (he sometimes arrived in the middle of the night). Besides production of enriched uranium through electromagnetic separation and gaseous diffusion, which was done at Oak Ridge, another goal of the Manhattan Project was to produce plutonium through transmutation of uranium. Although the Graphite Reactor was a pilot plant for creating plutonium, Groves ruled out Oak Ridge as a major site for large-scale plutonium production. He was concerned about the proximity of the site to Knoxville and the possibility, however remote, of a reactor explosion that might endanger Knoxville. Groves, a native of Albany, New York, who graduated fourth in his class from the U.S. Military Academy, headed the Manhattan Engineer District for three years. He retired from the Army in 1948 with the rank of lieutenant general and wrote several books, including Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project. He served as a vice president of the Sperry Rand Corporation until 1961 and died in 1970 in Washington, D.C. Related Web sites

LESLIE R. GROVES: MANHATTAN PROJECT'S MAIN MAN In September 1942, Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves took charge of the Manhattan Project. His influence was to be felt far and wide by people swept into service for this top secret project. In Oak Ridge, in the red mud and yellow dust, he was the driving force behind the construction and operation of the large wartime plants that would come to defin

Feel free to download these COSPAS-SARSAT brochures: Additional Cospas-Sarsat Bulletins can be found on the Cospas-Sarsat website (External Link) at http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/en/cospas-sarsat-documentation/information-bulletin All media inquiries on the Cospas-Sarsat Program and/or NOAA can be directed to: Mr. John Leslie NOAA Public Affairs 1335 East-West Highway, #7411 Silver Spring, Md. 20910 Satellite Based Search and Rescue: The International Cospas-Sarsat Program The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates a series of satellites in low-earth and geostationary orbits to detect and locate aviators, mariners and land-based users in distress. The satellites, along with a network of ground stations, and the U.S. Mission Control Center in Suitland, MD are part of the International Cospas-Sarsat Program, whose mission is to relay distress signals to the international search and rescue community. Emergency beacons are used to transmit distress signals on the 406 MHz frequency to a constellation of Cospas-Sarsat satellites (and transmit low-power 121.5 MHz signals for close-range homing). Ground stations track these satellites and process the 406 MHz distress signals to obtain a location (using Doppler-Locating technology) of the distress. The processed information is then forwarded to a Mission Control Center where it is combined with other location and registration information and passed to the appropriate search and rescue authorities. Alternatively, some beacons operating at the 406 MHz frequency can use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to obtain a very accurate position. This position can then be transmitted as part of the distress signal. The Cospas-Sarsat program is operated in the United States by NOAA, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force and NASA. Since the inception of the system in 1982, over 24,500 lives have been rescued worldwide and over 6,000 lives have been rescued in the United States.

Feel free to download these COSPAS-SARSAT brochures: Additional Cospas-Sarsat Bulletins can be found on the Cospas-Sarsat website (External Link) at http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/en/cospas-sarsat-documentation/information-bulletin All media inquiries on the Cospas-Sarsat Program and/or NOAA can be directed to: Mr. John Leslie NOAA Public Affairs 1335 East-West Highway, #7411 Silver Spring, Md. 2091

27 abril 2012 | EN | FR Prunus africana is vulnerable to extinction Russell Sharp/Lancaster University [NAIROBI] A threatened tree used for curing prostate disorders could be saved from extinction through domestication, according to scientists who examined the trees in different regions of Kenya. Prunus africana is a highland forest tree found in some African countries, mostly Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Zambezi basin divide. Extracts from its bark have been used to treat certain prostate disorders, but overexploitation has left the tree vulnerable to extinction. The existence of this species in its natural wild habitat is threatened by "unsustainable and unchecked exploitation" according to Peter Gachie, a scientist at the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), in Nairobi, Kenya, and lead author of the study. His team at ICRAF examined which types of P. africana have the highest yields of bark extracts — a first step towards domestication of the trees. In the study, published in the latest issue of Forest, Trees and Livelihood, they compared the yields of medicinal bark extract of P. africana from different Kenyan forest zones and found the highest yields in medium-sized trees; the yield was also higher in trees growing at higher altitudes and cooler temperatures. This knowledge could be used to choose "good sources of planting material" for domesticating the trees, they said. "Cultivating the tree on farms will assist in its regeneration, improve on its growth and regulate its harvesting," Gachie told SciDev.Net. He added that spreading awareness about the trees' medicinal use and vulnerability to extinction could stimulate demand for its cultivation. Francis Gachathi, a senior scientist at the Kenya Forest Research Institute, said that rising demand for the tree bark is endangering it in the wild. He said that its cultivation will not only help counter unsustainable exploitation but also help address the escalating demand for therapy in what is increasingly becoming a major health problem internationally. "Unrestricted export of this forest product should not be allowed," he said. The paper concludes that more research is needed on the effect of habitat on medicinal extract yields and on how the yields may change if trees are planted in different habitats. The diversity of the species is important for breeding purposes and should be conserved, it says. The need for conservation of P. africana was also highlighted in a modelling study published last month (31 March) in African Journal of Ecology. It found the species was highly vulnerable to a warming climate. Forest, Tree and Livelihood doi:10.1080/14728028.2012.662627 (2012) African Journal of Ecology doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2012.01327.x (2012) Todos los comentarios están sujetos a revisión. Nos reservamos el derecho de editar los comentarios que contengan un lenguaje inapropiado o inadecuado. SciDev.Net mantiene los derechos de autor de todo el material que se publica en el portal. Por favor lea las condiciones de uso para más detalles. Todo el material de SciDev.Net se puede reproducir gratuitamente siempre que se de crédito a la fuente y al autor. Para más detalles ver Creative commons.

27 abril 2012 | EN | FR Prunus africana is vulnerable to extinction Russell Sharp/Lancaster University [NAIROBI] A threatened tree used for curing prostate disorders could be saved from extinction through domestication, according to scientists who examined the trees in different regions of Kenya. Prunus africana is a highland forest tree found in some African countries, mostly Kenya, the Democrati

The Pentons VDS This VDS was formally adopted by Test Valley Borough Council as Supplementary Planning Guidance in April 2000. It draws attention to what is special about the Pentons (Penton Mewsey and Penton Grafton) and to the features which give it a unique character. Its aims are to give the residents a say in the future of their village, to offer guidelines on conserving its particular qualities and to contribute towards the improvement of rural design in general. |Some of the documents are in pdf format. You can download and install a free PDF reader to enable you to read and print them. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Reader.| |The Pentons VDS||18.1MB|| 56Kbps Modem: 44 Minutes Broadband : 4 Minutes 54 Seconds

The Pentons VDS This VDS was formally adopted by Test Valley Borough Council as Supplementary Planning Guidance in April 2000. It draws attention to what is special about the Pentons (Penton Mewsey and Penton Grafton) and to the features which give it a unique character. Its aims are to give the residents a say in the future of their village, to offer guidelines on conserving its particular qualit

Critical Infrastructure Protection (PDF, 1.8 mb) According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), critical infrastructure is defined as "assets, systems and networks, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such assets, systems or networks would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, public health or safety, or any combination of those matters." In an effort to secure the nation's critical infrastructure, DHS has charged each state with developing a list of its critical infrastructure and key resources. In Virginia, the responsible entity is the Governor's Secretary of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security. As such Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security is working with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM), the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the Virginia State Police (VSP) and other local, state federal and private partners to identify, prioritize, assess and protect Virginia's critical infrastructure and key resources. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security unveiled a new Web site designed to provide stakeholders and the public with easily accessible information about their role in safeguarding critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR). The website features a link to the new CI/KR Resource Center, which includes information about how to sign up for free Web-based seminars on the tools, trends, issues, and best practices for infrastructure protection and resilience; resources concerning potential vulnerabilities for chemical facilities; and details about the National Response Framework, which outlines guidance for all response partners to prepare for and provide a unified response to disasters and emergencies. Visit the new site at www.dhs.gov/criticalinfrastructure. Developing Protection and Resiliency OCP uses several methods to accomplish this important task. The Secure Commonwealth Panel's Critical Infrastructure Sub-panel meets regularly to discuss infrastructure issues throughout the Commonwealth. They have developed Virginia's Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resiliency Strategy Plan (the VA Plan); in keeping with DHS's National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) and other pertinent documents and practices. In addition, Virginia also supports regional resiliency projects funded by DHS grants; and serves on the advisory working group for the National Capitol Region. Critical Infrastructure/Key Resources Programs The VA Plan – Supports the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) by establishing a coordinated approach to national priorities, goals, and requirements for critical infrastructure and key resources protection. Requires the development of Sector Specific Plans (SSPs) to provide the means by which the NIPP is implemented across all critical infrastructure and key resources sectors, as well as a national framework for each sector to address its unique characteristics and risk landscape. DHS Automated Critical Asset Management System (ACAMS) –A Web-enabled information services portal that helps state and local governments build critical infrastructure/key resource (CI/KR) protection programs. ACAMS provides a set of tools and resources that help law enforcement, public safety and emergency response personnel collect and use CI/KR asset data, assess CI/KR asset vulnerabilities, develop all-hazards incident response and recovery plans, and builds public/private partnerships. Using ACAMS also provides state and local jurisdictions with a practical way to implement the NIPP through engagement of private sector CI/KR stakeholders. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) - Improve the Nation’s capability to detect and report unauthorized attempts to import, possess, store, develop, or transport nuclear or radiological material for use against the Nation. Buffer Zone Protection Program (BZPP) - Builds security and risk-management capabilities at the State and local level to secure pre-designated Tier I and Tier II critical infrastructure sites, including chemical facilities, financial institutions, nuclear and electric power plants, dams, stadiums, and other high-risk/high-consequence facilities. First Responder Authentication Credential (FRAC) Program - A smart card identity system for emergency responders. These interoperable smart cards allow federal, state, local and private sector emergency responders the ability to quickly and easily gain access to an all hazards event across jurisdictions. The FRAC Program expedites response and recovery efforts through facilitating more efficient adjudication of identity and credentials and enhances the protection of emergency responders and CI/KR from unauthorized access during an all hazards event. Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) - An information-protection program that enhances information sharing between the private sector and the government. The Department of Homeland Security and other federal, state and local analysts use PCII to analyze and secure critical infrastructure and protected systems, identify vulnerabilities and develop risk assessments, and to enhance recovery preparedness measures. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security will continue its work with our partners in local, state, federal and private sector entities to refine Virginia's critical infrastructure protection and resiliency process.

Critical Infrastructure Protection (PDF, 1.8 mb) According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), critical infrastructure is defined as "assets, systems and networks, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such assets, systems or networks would have a debilitating impact on security