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The world economic crisis has had an impact on virtually everyone. Proceedings asked the commanders of the world's navies: The global economic downturn is obviously affecting the United States and its Navy. How is it affecting your navy's maritime strategy, operation, and force structure? Vice Admiral Il Ibrahim—Nigerian Navy The dawn of the 21st century witnessed significant changes in global security dynamics that led to the emergence of numerous security challenges and redefined maritime expedition and policing capabilities of navies worldwide. In addition, the post-Cold War era has demonstrated the increasing need for multinational cooperative maritime strategies. This option has become more obvious in the face of the global economic meltdown with dwindling funds for navies to develop requisite capabilities to deal with emerging transnational nature of maritime threats. Such threats-which include maritime terrorism, the resurgence of piracy on the high seas, narcotics and human trafficking-with their increasing sophistication have further necessitated the need for increased cooperation among maritime security stakeholders. It is pertinent to state that the Nigerian Navy is not immune to the current geostrategic dynamics and the attendant consequences of the global economic meltdown. Nonetheless, efforts are ongoing toward effective maintenance of existing platforms, while projecting for phased acquisition of additional patrol boats and offshore patrol vessels. Our navy's commitment to subregional maritime security, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, is further underlined by its participation in the Africa Partnership Station mission and closer operational relationship with navies of the area under the auspices of the Sea Power for Africa Symposium. Locally, operational cooperation with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and other maritime-related stakeholders has allowed for synergy of effort, economy of resources, and enhanced efficiency. Similarly, our recognition of the importance of maritime domain awareness (MDA) has also manifested itself in the close collaboration with the U.S. Navy toward developing requisite capabilities for enhanced maritime security of the global commons. In contemporary and futuristic terms, the maritime security challenges around the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Guinea, and elsewhere point to the global imperative of enhancing real-time MDA capability beyond the littorals and exclusive economic zones (EEZ). Accordingly, the Nigerian Navy has focused on the enhancement of maritime domain awareness, response capabilities, and enforcement of extant laws. This enhances security of our EEZ and information sharing in consonance with the nation's foreign policy thrust. These efforts confer on Nigeria's maritime environment and the Gulf of Guinea the status of a Zone of Peace conducive to economic activities. EDITOR'S NOTE: Click on the "Google Translate" button under the photo box and choose the language into which you would like the section translated.

Santa Cruz, CA (PRWEB) January 14, 2015 — LifeAID® Beverage Co. today announced that FitAID®is now available at select Vitamin Shoppe stores nationwide and on VitaminShoppe.com. LifeAID’s premier synergy drink enhances performance and recovery for athletes on the move, pre and post workout. “We are excited to have FitAID distributed in the Vitamin Shoppe, a leading national specialty retailer of vitamins, minerals and supplements,” said Orion Melehan, LifeAID Beverage Co. CEO. “We have formulated FitAID to be the cleanest performance and recovery liquid supplement in the market, with nearly three grams of supplements in every 12 oz. can. Now, with the Vitamin Shoppe offering FitAID many more functional fitness and workout enthusiasts can easily purchase and benefit from LifeAID’s best-of-class supplement beverage.” FitAID provides a great tasting synergy drink that fulfills the real needs of your body before and after workouts, fortified with just the right supplements to aid in performance and recovery, FitAID has nutrients not found in other sports drinks due to their expense, like CoQ10 and omega-3 fatty acids that are essential to cardiovascular health. “FitAID is my go-to drink for both post-workout recovery and a clean delicious drink I love to have outside the gym. It’s the best quality and taste I’ve found,” saidChristmas Abbot, fitness and NASCAR celebrity. FitAID’s proprietary formulas are rich in all-natural nutritional supplements that provide better benefits than an energy drink with none of the disadvantages. All LifeAID products hydrates without sodium, provide energy without excessive caffeine or a high-sugar content and contain no artificial colors or sweeteners. Specifically designed for the demanding needs of an active and healthy lifestyle, FitAID is certified gluten-free, Lurong Paleo Challenge approved, and has only 45 calories per can. Key FitAID proprietary formulated ingredients to assist with athletic performance and recovery include: - Arginine, Glutamine and Branched-Chain Amino Acids – a mixture of amino acids that supports training efficiency in athletes, through its positive effects on muscle - Omega 3 EFAS, CoQ10 — essential for cardiovascular health - Glucosamine – supports joints - Quercetin, Turmeric –that help with common post-workout discomfort - B Vitamins – to help produce the reliable, consistent energy the body demands during an intense workout - Green Tea Extracts — a mild dose of caffeine to supply a boost of energy - Vitamins C, D, E — to help protect and fortify the immune system and support post workout recovery - Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium – Electrolytes without sodium to regulate nerve, muscle function, hydration, and help rebuild damaged tissue For more information on FitAID ingredients see the supplement facts panel at http://www.drinkfitaid.com/media/fitaid-supp.jpg FItAID is available for purchase from the Vitamin Shoppe in four packs online at http://bit.ly/1ydj3cr and in-store; and singles in-store. FitAID is the functional supplement drink for functional fitness. The LifeAID team designed FitAid to meet the unique demands of elite athletes creating a formula that enhances athletic execution and speeds recovery. FitAID tastes great, with only 45 calories per can sweetened with organic blue agave. And all FitAID ingredients are natural, paleo-friendly, and gluten-free. FitAID is the product for athletes on the move. For additional information visit DrinkFitAID.com About LifeAID Beverage Company The LifeAID founders realized the need for healthy and effective alternatives to energy and sports drinks, so they developed a new category of beverage they call “synergy” drinks – healthy, targeted vitamin/supplement drinks specifically formulated for different activities. Their first three products, FitAID®, GolferAID®, and PartyAID® happen to be the shared passions of the founders. For additional information visit LifeAIDBevCo.com

In my recent article Living The Grand Dream, I wrote about how we each possess a key for personal transformation in the dreams that we hold, and when we begin to listen to those dreams, transformation begins to unfold. Well what if I told you that all that separates you from your dream are five simple keys? When each of these essential keys are activated, you invoke the power of the Universe on your behalf and the whole world conspires with you – to make your dream a reality. As a life coach who specializes in dream manifestation, this is what I have learned, in over 20 years, working with thousands of people all over the world… Dream Realization – Manifesting Your Grand Dream 1 – What is Your Dream? The first step in realizing your dream is to clearly identify it, and understand why this dream is important to you. Sometimes we have a dream because we believe that in the attainment of that dream, we will acquire something that we desire, like money, status or fame. If you are only pursuing a dream in order to acquire a result, the dream is probably not authentic. Authentic dreams are pursued and fulfilled for the love of the dream itself and not for any self-serving result. This doesn’t mean that in fulfilling your dream there won’t be positive results for you – there actually should be great rewards for you, but the rewards will be a by-product, rather than the goal. If you are pursuing a dream because you believe that it will please your mother, for example, or it will bring you approval by others, it might be a good idea to re-examine your dream. If your dream is based on something that you believe that you “should” do or if it is motivated by obligation, you might want to pause to question your dream as well. If you discover that your dream is based on inauthentic motivation, don’t be afraid to let go of your dream so that there is space for your authentic dream to appear and make itself known to you. After you strip away the inauthentic, you might discover that you still have the same dream; but without the external pressure and motivation, the dream now originates from sustainable inspiration. Once you uncover your authentic dream, your first call to action is to simply dream about it through your imagination. Even if you only know a little piece of it, begin there and use your imagination to fill in the details. Your imagination is an ingenious built-in technology for exploring possibilities, and it can grant you access into hidden worlds and glorious possible futures. The use of imagination can save you time and energy, and can accelerate the manifestation of your dream. Your imagination can also demonstrate what you don’t want so that you can clarify what you do want. The greatest inventors and creators of all times used their imagination before ever beginning any projects. Your imaginative powers allow you to fine tune your dream by mentally exploring various possibilities until you discover a dream that fits for you. And, yes, there is a dream with your name on it! 2 – Beliefs: the Foundation of Your Dream The realization of every dream begins with a thought in your imagination, but in order for a dream to materialize there needs to be a strong belief that supports the dream. Keep in mind that every dream will have beliefs that support the dream and beliefs that stop the dream from materializing. It is in your highest interest to understand all the beliefs that you hold about your dream. The key is to address the non-supportive beliefs and release them or shift them and to enhance the supportive beliefs. Your beliefs are the source of your inner chatter and automatic affirmations, like, “I can do it” or “this is too much to handle.” Every time you affirm that you can do something, a supportive belief inflates and you are elevated to a level of aligning with your dream. Every time you affirm that it is too much to handle, you mis-align with your dream. Remember, beliefs are simply a series of thoughts that we believe. The simplest way to shift a belief is to DROP any and all thoughts that do not support your objective (dream). When you drop these disempowering thoughts enough times, a threshold is met and the negative belief begins to lose power. Hence, the more you affirm empowering beliefs through your conscious affirmations and intentional focus, the stronger those beliefs will become. To manifest that which you desire, it is imperative to believe that it is already done. Sometimes we are very clear in our convictions and it is easy to believe our desires into reality, but other times, Fears, Objections and Doubt (aka FOD) arise and our ability to believe is less than stellar. Big or small, most dreams bring up fears. Having fear in relation to your dream is natural and normal and is not an indication of whether or not, you can achieve your dream. Having said this, take a good look at all your fears in relation to your dream. Many of the rational fears on your list might be addressed by gaining more information or making the right contacts; for example, getting funding or finding someone who can provide a particular service. If this is the case, it is best to handle each concern accordingly without hesitating and making issues bigger than they are. Of course, there are irrational fears which are likely linked to deeper issues, such as lack of confidence or low self-esteem. It would be nice to say, first gain the confidence and self-esteem and then get on with your dream, but that doesn’t really work. The key to overcoming irrational fear is to consciously grow your dream and your desire for your dream larger than the fear. If your desire is greater than your fear, nothing will stop you, and as you move toward your dream, and take action, you will naturally gain the confidence and esteem that you lacked pre-dream. Fan the flames of your dream, and the fire will put out the fears. Everyone who has ever had a dream has also had objections to pursuing or living that dream. Objections are all the reasons why we shouldn’t pursue our dream and why it is not possible. If you push your objections underneath the carpet, they will eventually trip you, so it is best to deal with your objections head on. Sometimes just paying attention to your objections will allow them to dissolve on their own. But, if you have a stubborn objection, chances are, there is an underlying belief that is manifesting in this objection. If this is the case, uncover that belief and deal with it directly. For example, if one of your objections is that you need more education in order to fulfill your dream, pay attention to this objection. Is it really true or is it an excuse to put off your dream? If you discover that you really do need more education in order to fulfill your dream, than move in that direction, but if you discover that your dream does not depend on future degrees, then let go of this objection, and move forward. Doubt is another form of fear and, although doubt, in itself, appears benign, doubt is like the apocalypse to a dream. Even a little doubt can take down the structure of your dream and reduce it to rubble. If you decide to pursue your dream, there is no room for doubt. This means consciously choosing to ignore doubt whenever it rears its doubt-ridden little head. Recognize the voice of doubt and take all its power away, by consciously choosing not to give it energy. If circumstances indicate that your dream is doubtful, don’t give in to the doubt. Instead use those circumstances as opportunities to dream even bigger, beyond the barrier of doubt. As you release and overcome non-supportive beliefs, it is vitally essential to develop and enhance positive, dream-affirming beliefs that will create a foundation for the building of your dream. It is a good idea to spend time every day feeding your supportive beliefs, as well as surrounding yourself with people who believe in you and believe in your dream. 3 – Align with Your Dream In order to materialize your dream, you must align with it. This means energetically becoming the future you who already has the dream. When we say yes to a dream, life responds by saying yes in return, but if we are not a vibrational match to that dream, life also responds with challenges. Challenges are intrinsically designed, in such a way, that as you overcome them, you naturally grow and evolve into the future you who is aligned with your dream. In other words, challenges are opportunities for growth that support the realization of your dream. Who are you now in comparison to who you must be in order to realize your dream? For example, if the person in your dream communicates masterfully, but you currently do not communicate well, life will present you with specific challenges. In overcoming these challenges, your communication skills grow. The more you are aligned with your dream, the less challenges required to align you, so, it makes sense to consciously do whatever it takes to become a vibrational match to your dream. When you think of yourself living your dream, who are you? What attributes, energy and qualities do you possess? If you can determine the gaps or discrepancies between where you are and where you need to be, you can take conscious action in order to initiate the necessary growth. In other words, instead of waiting for life to give you opportunities to grow into confidence, for example, you take the initiative and you put your attention and intention on gaining and achieving confidence. Your dream can materialize in an exponential manner if you can now take on all aspects of who you will be in your dream. Your work is in becoming the future you who is already experiencing the dream. 4 – Commit to Your Dream Your greatest power is the Power of Choice and this means that you must choose yourself for the starring role of your dream. Only you can do this and your dream depends on it. It is equally important that you commit to your dream for however long it takes for your dream to materialize. There is something about this unconditional commitment that accelerates the amount of time in which it takes to realize your dream. If you are willing to “give up” your dream if it does not happen in a certain period of time, the amount of time and effort required in attaining your dream increases. Your dedicated commitment to your dream plugs you into the Universe in such a way that everything lines up with synchronicity and synergy. The Universe likes unconditional commitment. Committing to your dream requires both intention and attention. The intention is in the underlying emotional and energetic choice to fulfill your dream while the attention is the tangible manifestation of your intention, and it is demonstrated through your daily focus and inspired actions. 5 – Take Inspired Action Once your dream is clear and you have chosen yourself for your dream, it is time to take inspired action. This is not just action for the sake of taking action or checking off the logical “to do” list. This is action that comes through inspiration. Inspired action is personal guidance given to you by the greater part of you that already knows how the dream unfolds. In order to receive this guidance, it is essential that you spend quiet time each day in contemplation of your dream and that you are receptive to any and all intuitive hits that may guide you in the right direction. It might be calling an old friend, reading a book, going to a gathering, or asking someone for help. By following inspired guidance, the process to realizing your dream is accelerated by the creative power of the All-Knowing Universe. Your Dream Grows As you pursue your dream, don’t be surprised if your dream changes or grows. Sometimes we can only imagine the beginning stages of a dream but as we move into it and life unfolds, we are shown or called to an even bigger dream. The point is, your dream is not stagnate. Your dream is meant to grow and you are meant to grow with your dream – and for your dream. Above all, Enjoy the Journey. “Manifesting Your Grand Dream,” by Nanice Ellis, December 17, 2014 at http://wakeup-world.com/2014/12/17/manifesting-your-grand-dream/ Click here to access the original article: Manifesting Your Dream

The High-Level Segment of CSD 18 opened during the morning, and two ministerial roundtables convened in the afternoon to address sustainable consumption and production and mining. OPENING: CSD 18 Chair Ferraté opened the session, noting that the biggest challenges have been to reconcile environment with social and economic interests. UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said the CSD 18 themes are directly linked to the fight against climate change, efforts to restore weakened economies and work towards MDGs. Hamidon Ali, President of ECOSOC, highlighted the importance of empowering women and integrating gender equality into all aspects of sustainable development. Leslie Kojo Christian, Vice-President of the 64th Session of the General Assembly, said sustainable development is an overarching element of the UN’s work and the UNCSD in 2012 provides an opportunity to renew our commitment to achieve sustainable development. Gerda Verburg, CSD 17 Chair, said the world economy needs an urgent transition towards a sustainable, inclusive and resource sufficient path, and there is a need for a paradigm shift in agriculture. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker, International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, addressed the challenges of decoupling environmental degradation and economic development. Ashok Koshla, IUCN, said the global economy is currently using more than 40% of the Earth’s resources and the MDGs are not likely to be achieved. Yemen, for the G-77/CHINA, noted that mining is an important source of revenue for developing countries, but greater transparency and accountability is required by all actors at all levels. The EU said a well-structured process with a clear and accepted mandate should be set up and initiate work right after CSD 18 to develop a proposal for a 10-YFP on SCP. Nepal, for LDCs, said it is urgent to pursue a new development model taking into consideration the needs of the most vulnerable people. LDCs and Chile, for the RIO GROUP, stressed technology transfer, capacity building, and new and additional resources. Lebanon, for the ARAB GROUP, requested support for capacity building in cleaner production, establishment of national centers, use of market-based instruments, and public policies for sustainable development. SPAIN discussed national initiatives for sustainable development, including: a national heavy metals plan; tax cuts for use of public transportation; and an integrated waste programme. ITALY called for the definition of a common global framework for action promoting regional and national initiatives in SCP. GABON described efforts to condition new mining to environmental and social impact studies. SOUTH AFRICA said the food crisis suggests a need to manage our natural resource base closely. IRELAND said a “cradle to grave” approach must be considered for waste management. GHANA said it subscribed to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative for mineral wealth management. NIGERIA said developing countries have become dumping grounds for end-of-life e-wastes. SWEDEN committed to continuing the work for reaching a global agreement on climate change, highlighted the importance of the 3Rs and pricing the Earth’s resources, and supported development of a 10YFP on SCP. VENEZUELA said production should meet the basic needs of humanity and waste should be avoided. MOZAMBIQUE stressed national ownership and government leadership in the achievement of MDGs. JAPAN supported the 3Rs and the development of a legally binding instrument on mercury, and said involving stakeholders, especially industry, is a key to successful policy development. EGYPT and MOLDOVA introduced their experiences in environmentally sound management of chemicals and wastes. SAUDI ARABIA stressed coherence and synergy among chemicals and wastes conventions. NAMIBIA said more sophisticated early warning systems are needed for an adequate response to short-, medium- and long-term events. INDIA described the use of compressed natural gas as fuel for the Delhi public transport system. MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLES: Sustainable Production and Consumption Patterns: Stefania Prestigiacomo, Minister of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, Italy, and Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ghana, co-chaired this roundtable. Tariq Banuri, DSD Director, introduced the SCP focus. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, stressed the importance of a long-term development perspective and called attention to the “Global Biodiversity Outlook-3” and “Metals Recycling Rates and Metals in Society” reports. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker, International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, emphasized attention to the research and innovation agendas in order to shift from an emphasis on labor productivity to increased resource productivity. Kaarin Taipale, Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Buildings and Construction, suggested considering construction of net-zero and positive energy buildings, land-use planning, and mobility, public transport and energy infrastructure in sustainable building. Mohan Munasinghe, Manchester University, said tools such as advertising should be used to make consumers more sustainable in their consumption patterns. Singapore, for the G-77/CHINA, called for an ad hoc open ended working group to develop the 10YFP prior to CSD 19. GUATEMALA supported intersessional work. Spain, for the EU, said the 10YFP should be ambitious and SCP work should be based on a credible and coherent scientific basis. BARBADOS said the Marrakech Process should feed into the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting. CAMEROON and SUDAN described national activities. IRAN announced it is phasing out energy subsidies. POLAND highlighted technologies and new instruments, awareness raising, and coordination of policies. GERMANY said the 10YFP should address harmonized environmental and sustainability quality labels, environmentally sound public procurement, and green information technology. INDIA and EGYPT shared their experience in SCP. ISRAEL introduced its experience in water management. CHILDREN AND YOUTH stressed education and a role for youth organizations in SCP. FARMERS stressed training, education, extension programmes, and recycling schemes. FINLAND said 2011 would provide an opportunity to develop the 10YFP, which should be embedded in the UN system. NIGERIA said corporate social responsibility is a key to sustainable development, and appealed to ban illegal trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes, especially e-waste, to Africa. INDONESIA said poverty reduction should be a main component in SCP. The US said it does not support intersessional work on SCP. THAILAND described the use of economic tools to make SCP more feasible for consumers and producers. TURKEY noted the need to meet the demand side, as well as the supply side, of SCP. ECUADOR discussed its adoption of the concept of “living correctly” in order to achieve the well-being of all citizens. SOUTH AFRICA highlighted its focus on sustainable energy projects such as the distribution of one million solar water heaters over five years. FRANCE said action targeting consumers and consumption results in effective action on producers. The PHILIPPINES said the development of an accessible financing facility is necessary. The ILO noted the potential for social dialogue and alliances at all levels to achieve better policy responses. BANGLADESH looked forward to the Marrakech Process recommendations regarding public and corporate procurement, producer responsibility of consumption and services, transport, tourism, food and manufacturing. BOLIVIA said we must acknowledge that the market has failed and that nature has rights in itself. The REPUBLIC of KOREA said it would play a bridging role between developed and developing countries on SCP. SWITZERLAND supported a transparent process to develop concrete proposals for a 10YFP and said there will be no framework on SCP if we fail to make it happen. ARGENTINA said measures that distort trade should be avoided and any strategy should include the food sector. The RUSSIAN FEDERATION said cultivated lands need to be restored after closing mines. CUBA said consumption and production patterns should change in developed countries first. Managing Mining for Sustainable Development: This event was co-chaired by László Borbély, Minister of Environment and Forests, Romania, and Susan Shabangu, Minister of Mineral Resources of South Africa. Rachel Mayanja, UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, called for fostering social development. Sam Spiegel, University of Cambridge, discussed governance challenges in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), and urged governments to engage with the informal sector. Kathryn McPhail, International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), presented ICMM’s work, including on poverty reduction, revenue management, human rights and dispute resolution. Roderick Eggert, Colorado School of Mines, discussed challenges related to the fair distribution of mining’s surpluses, sustaining the benefits of mining by investing in education and health, and savings and stabilization funds. Indonesia, for the G-77/CHINA, mentioned: benefits from mining are yet to be realized in developing countries; the task of clean-up; transparency, good governance and strong regulatory frameworks; technology provision; and capacity building. The EU said access to raw materials is necessary for the functioning of the world economy, and there is a need to do more with less and increase recycling and reuse of materials. ESTONIA referred to its oil shale industry, and CHILE, NIGERIA and PERU described national programs. CAMBODIA stressed ecological recovery. BELGIUM emphasized conflict prevention in mining and ending child labor. AUSTRALIA said mining can be an economic driver in indigenous communities. INDIA discussed land degradation and relief and rehabilitation solutions. TURKEY highlighted research and development of technologies that reduce risks to workers. ARGENTINA said developed countries should provide support to developing countries so that mining activities can be developed. GUATEMALA underscored the need for ethics and respect in negotiation processes for extraction. GHANA said the UN should develop guidelines for mining sector good governance. KENYA stressed challenges in technological transfer and capacity. MONGOLIA said it has introduced ASM cooperatives. THAILAND described its “green and clean” mining policy, including strategic environmental assessments of mining activities. GABON described its work in diminishing the impacts of mining. TANZANIA said one million Tanzanians engage in ASM, highlighting key challenges including the absence of access to fair market arrangements. FINLAND outlined its new mining law, which it hopes will reconcile public and private interests. PALESTINE said occupying practices have impeded the development of the mining industry. SUDAN outlined the challenges of addressing ASM gold miners’ use of mercury. WOMEN, supported by INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, called for an international tribunal on the effects of uranium mining and tailings. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES said current mining practices violate human rights and “Earth rights.” BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY emphasized a life-cycle approach to mining. CHILDREN AND YOUTH, supported by WORKERS AND TRADE UNIONS, said child labor should be addressed. NGOs called for the rehabilitation of mine sites. IN THE CORRIDORS Some conversations in the corridors continued to reflect on Tuesday’s discussion of partnerships. This was highlighted as the first time a discussion on partnerships had been brought into a formal plenary session, and might indicate that CSD was beginning to embrace what it is best at. A CSD role in sharing and disseminating applied research was also taken up in the corridors and side events, with some highlighting the recent launches of the Global Island Database, the Global Biodiversity Outlook, the announcement of a Global Chemicals Outlook for 2011, and the DSD and UNEP Chemicals report. These will add, according to some, to efforts to address issues on the CSD 18-19 agenda. Others suggested that Rio+20 must review the partnership methodology again, explaining this could provide important direction to the CSD.

The Club has 28 member municipalities from a total of 65 Covenant signatories in Romania and is the core of the Romanian Covenant Dialogue Platform - that gathers different stakeholders (ministries, universities, NGOs etc). The main objectives of the Club, as defined in the meeting, are: - Exchanges among signatories of the Covenant on the political and practical aspects - Support for Romanian municipalities in their efforts to fulfil their CoM commitments - Develop initiatives and proposals to national and European authorities on Covenant implementation The idea of forming a Mayors Club starts from the need for representation of the local level, with its specific issues, in the policy making process. The territorial dimension of energy must be taken into account in the national energy policies and thus the role of local authorities in developing national and European policy must become central. These were the main themes addressed at the 2012 OER Annual Meeting by representatives of 18 municipalities in an open dialogue with representatives of national authorities, universities, Covenant supporting structures, companies, NGOs and local press. The Club will collaborate with the Covenant Dialogue Platform in order to: - Foster initiatives to accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) - Create proposals for introducing dedicated funding for SEAP implementation - Develop local regulations to facilitate the SEAP implementation In this first Club meeting, the Covenant signatories elected the Romanian Covenant Ambassadors, which will represent the Club and its common values and vision at national or European level. The three Ambassadors are: - Mr. Ovidiu-Teodor Crețu, the Mayor of Bistrița - Mr. Viorel Ilie, the Mayor of Moineşti - Mr. George Coriolan Ciuhandu, the Mayor of Timișoara Romanian Covenant Ambassadors: Mr. Ovidiu-Teodor Crețu, the Mayor of Bistrița (left), Mr. Viorel Ilie, the Mayor of Moineşti (right). Mr. George Coriolan Ciuhandu, the Mayor of Timișoara, could not attend the Club meeting, but was elected as Ambassador as a recognition of Timisoara’s support for the Covenant. Through an IEE project, CONURBANT, 16 small municipalities from the Timișoara County signed the Covenant in late 2011 and they also joined the Covenant Club, thus assuring the synergy between NET-COM and similar initiatives taking place in Romania.

1 oz serum This product is intended for 60 to 90 day use. You're reviewing: PCA Skin® A&C Synergy Serum Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water, SD Alcohol 40-B, Glycerin, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Alpha Arbutin, Kojic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Lactic Acid, Arginine Butylene Glycol, Peumus Boldus Leaf Extract, Aminoguanidine HCI, Decarboxy Camosine HCI, Resveratrol, Benzyl Alcohol, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Isohexadecane, Polysorbate 60, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Retinyl Palmitate, Allyl Methacrylates Crosspolymer, Retinol, Polysorbate 20. After cleansing and toning, apply one to two pumps to entire face and neck twice daily for maximum results. Follow with the appropriate PCA SKIN® broad-spectrum SPF product in the daytime.

Seventeen Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates carrying the blaVIM-1 metallo-β-lactamase gene were collected in the intensive care units of three hospitals in Athens, Greece, in 2002. They exhibited various carbapenem resistance levels (Etest MICs of imipenem ranged from 4 to 32 μg/ml). All isolates gave positive results by the imipenem-EDTA synergy Etest. The isolates were classified into four main types by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; the majority of the isolates (5 and 10 isolates) belonged to two types. The blaVIM-1 gene cassette was part of the variable region of a class 1 integron that also included aac6, dhfrI, and aadA. This structure was carried by transferable plasmids.

Kansas University's baseball team was finishing up its much-needed weekend of success Sunday when two fans in the Hoglund Ballpark bleachers pulled out brooms and started waving them over their heads. A sweep - and a badly needed one, too. Kansas beat Oklahoma, 9-4, on Sunday to complete the three-game sweep and further entrench itself in the middle of the Big 12 Conference pack. It's that time of year for the Jayhawks, who traditionally seem to start slow and warm up as the weather does. "Every year, it seems like we get rolling about this time," left fielder John Allman said. "Once the weather starts to pick up, we start swinging the bats better, and the pitchers start feeling a little better. We're getting that synergy back as a team." Allman paused, then smiled. "Synergy," Allman said. "That was a good word, wasn't it?" Hey, everything's good for Kansas right now. The Jayhawks continued to swing scorching bats, pounding out 13 hits to finish with 45 in the three-game series. They jumped to an early lead on a solo home run by Ryne Price and never trailed again. The pitching, meanwhile, picked up significantly. Freshman T.J. Walz had 62â3 innings of admirable work, striking out two and improving to 4-0. The game stayed close into the middle innings, though, thanks in part to a humorous play in the fifth. Oklahoma's Matt Harughty sent a fly ball to deep left field, and Allman nearly robbed it when he crashed into the wall leaping for the catch. It ended up being a two-run home run - and Allman's glove came off his hand and fell behind the fence, too. "My wrist kind of broke on the fence, and my glove fell off," Allman said with a grin. "I was trying to reach as far as I could." Kansas stayed ahead, but Oklahoma had a major threat in the seventh inning. Down 5-4, the Sooners had two on and two out when Mike Gosse hit a line drive up the middle. Kansas second baseman Robby Price made a diving catch to end the inning and preserve KU's lead. "That was a great play," KU coach Ritch Price said. "That took the tying run off the board. If they're still hitting, who knows?" Robby Price then led off the bottom of the seventh with a beautiful bunt single, setting the table for a three-run eighth inning that put Kansas comfortably ahead to stay. Kansas improved to 29-22 overall and 8-13 in Big 12 play and dug into seventh place in the standings - a half game behind Baylor, and a full game ahead of Kansas State. The top eight teams are invited to the Big 12 tournament later this month. KU plays its next five games at home, including next weekend's series against Missouri. It's a good time to be in a comfort zone - and something about May brings a lot of comfort out of the Jayhawks. "I just know that we need to win a bunch of these last games," freshman Tony Thompson said. "I know our offense is good enough and our pitching is good enough that we can get to that tournament and play well there. That's our goal."

After hearing some incredible horn systems What have you heard and can you describe what it is you like about horns viz a viz your current setup? As far as I can see you have plenty of bass already - so is it more dynamics or forwardness of just greater loudness in the midrange - is that where you are at? I want greater low level resolution and reduced distortion. I think the increased speed of horns is nice, but the ability to resolve complex classical & play at loud volumes with little if any distortion or strain is unparraleled. Especially after hearing compression drivers. I recently heard Cessara Beta horns. They were a revelation in detail & resolution. No horn coloration. They weren't perfect, but very close. Using all TAD drivers. I noticed a few people changing to horns after having speakes in the 50K price range. I am curious about their experiences. Well you can't beat horns for distortion levels that will compete with headphones - so you are on the right track for detail - but can you live with that kind of directivity. Room issues/setup/sweetspot may become a bigger challenge. You are right about the sweet spot being incredibly narrow. Within the sweet spot it is perfect but outside almost monoaural in sound. I went from dynamics to electrostatic and now horns. I still design dynamics but for my mains its a all front horn system. And it doesnt have a narrow sweet spot, doesnt sound like mono when out of said sweet spot,doesnt require massive room and great distance for drivers to integrate, doesnt have problems with coloration etc. But its very large still can fit right in a corner so takes up little floor space. All loudspeakers have +- traits to me horns have far less - than other designs. To me horn - are size cost. After my recent auditioning of the Acapella High Violins Mk IV I believe they are the best sounding speaker I've ever hear. I had TAD 1601c, ET703, and 4001 with the TH4001 wood horns in my last speakers. Before that many JBL and Altec horn systems, and before that Sound Labs and Martin Logans going back 15 yrs. All I can say is its a different league of listening experience. I too particularly want to be able to hear all when listening at low levels and they did that in spades. I also walked around the room listening and found them excellent from outside the sweet spot. The room was very well treated. Just my 2 cents, listen to them if you can. Please note: I bought them and intend to become a dealer. You might want to listen to some line arrays before you take your entire system in a different direction. They can offer some of the advantages of horns and some unique properties of their own. I suspect what people are pointing out is that there are horns and there are horns => short throw and long throw horns and everything in between. If you make the leap then perhaps the jump to long throw horns like Cessara Beta horns might be to much room/sweetspot challenging compared to your existing setup. Perhaps you should start auditioning a shorter throw horn design to see if you can get that resolution and something with a wider sweetspot. Looking at you system, I suspect that your Wilsons are not optimally set in the room. With the proper set they'll sound much more dynamic and stress free. You seem to have enough power to drive them, but the any flaws in the set will prevent you from enjoying their potential. See my Review of the Sumiko Master Set. for a hint at what potential can be unlocked. by their very nature, deep bass notes can be somewhat 'fat' and slower sounding. i think that sometimes familiarity breeds contempt, even in the finest systems. its not uncommon for audiophiles to struggle to get real bass, and then when they get it, they don't necc like it. by their very nature, deep bass notes can be somewhat 'fat' and slower sounding. Jaybo may be on to something. Masking is an important issue in what you hear. More plundering of the bass depths can be the pleasureable result of ported designs/bass extended designs and some boomy room modes that they excite. There is probably nothing more impressive than plundering the depths in the bass. However more bass and higher group delay can actually mask some of the midrange detail when listening. Take out the thunderous bass and boom from room modes and you may hear things you never heard before. Could Jaybo/Dave be on to something - speaker setup? Yeah, those speakers are too far into the room. I suspect that they were pulled out there to remove midrange coloration caused by bass nodes interferring with the mids. They need to go back closer to the wall, but the nodes need to be avoided. Dealers trained to do the Sumiko Master Set know how to avoid those nodes and integrate mids and bass. It's hard for the untrained to do, so I'd suggest finding a Sumiko dealer that'll do it for your system. I'll give you my personal(non sonic)take on this..... After years in this hobby,I finaly have a system that I have no desire to upgrade anymore(for a month or two,at least)since I feel I have the "sonic signature" I've been after......Yet... My friends' set-ups,my own set-up,and the super set-ups I constantly hear at shows/dealers/acquaintances just seem to be getting far to complex. This surely will invite inevitable downtime,due to the nature of "these" configurations.Yes,they do sound superb...but... I have heard some horn set-ups which do quite a nice job,and if chosen carefully,require far less complexity in the partnering equipment.I've thought alot about this,and would think seriously about a "simple" horn set-up in the future. Take a look at the circuitry in the latest "First Watt Amp"(perfect for horns).The F-5 model. This amp will most likely last a lifetime,with NO relibility issues(very simple/beautifully carried out circuitry)but does not have the kind of power for speakers like my friend's power hungry Magico Minis.AHorn" though?Fabulous!!! After years of occassional reliability issues,which we all have,or will experience(mine have had very happy endings)it becomes a pain in the tush to even "think" about repacking stuff up.Waiting for lengthly service.Worrying about multi tube heat/reliability,and.... just too many component boxes inviting more "mess-around" time,with less listening time.Some folks like this.I used to be one of them. Now, I just want a superb/simple set-up,which does what my years in the hobby has earned me(I think). Simple "set amp","pre" and non complex ancillaries(not the rediculous multi box/multi tubed/multi bucks monsters some reviewers pitch,which will also require a "refridgerated listening room")and you're good to go! Just my two cents! Have you listened to horns? I think you need to understand some of the physics related to horns to understand that there is a limitation to what a dynamic speaker can do compared to a horn. The mass of the driver is so much smaller than any dynamic driver This will allow a compression driver to be so much faster than any dynamic driver, allowing for the increased detail & resolution with less distortion. It is just not possible for a dynamic driver to equal a horn in those aspects. On to your advocating improved setup of my speakers. I used what Wilson terms the WASP system. All Wilson speakers have adjustable pivot points for the tweeter. Indeed the speakers are out into the room due to freeing up the speaker from the resonance of the rooom. This is done by voicing the room while having someone at the seating position. It is also done w. 1/4 inch precision. Dgad, of course I've listened to horns. You seem sold, so go ahead. I still doubt that your Wilsons are in their optimal positions. I thought your were asking for advice and now that I re-read you OP I see that you may have already made up your mind. Sorry if I disturbed your euphoria. I am curious what systems people had before and after a switch to horns. Or maybe in the reverse direction & why. Are you "happier" in the long run. I know it involves a major equipment change. Simplification in one way depending on direction. I need to do some listening to hear some of the full range / without crossover solutions some people love. I have heard some incredible dynamic speakers that don't use crossovers. Yet, for true full range extension additional bass drivers/horns and high power amplification will be needed at least for the bottom octave. And for the highs, maybe a supertweeter. I read somene selling of their line arrays w. a linear ribbon as well in favor of a horns system. I am curious if more people have done the same. PS, my speakers are excellent, I just know there is a level up but for a price. That is the question. And it appears that for the money, speakers have the largest impact on sound. I switched from dynamic speakers to Avantgarde Duo Omega horns. These are obviously not full range horns but the midrange clarity, detail and imaging are fantastic. I also feel that the bass is very good and well integrated so long as the level is matched sensibly. I can't really describe in audiophile terms why (for me) horns hit the spot but they just do and leave me grinning from ear to ear. I think it is the sheer excitement of explosive transients (but at sensible dB levels) that makes the sound seem so 'live'. The other advantage with efficient horns is that you can use simple and low power amps. I have tried a variety of amps ranging from Advantage, Avantgarde, Altmann BYOB and now Atmaspere OTL. All produced great music but valves seem to capture the subtlety of a musician so much better. Go horns... Detail is amazing and dynamics like real music, after having had horns for a while my friends systems with dynamic speakers sound like a very nice reproduction of music, horns sound like music right there...I tried a lot of full rangers in open baffle and they were nice, but no challenge for real horns...Lowthers are very good with detail, untill you compare them face to face with a compression driver...For full range drivers you are going to have to add a super tweeter and a sub woofer to patch up a full ranger, and then get rid of any whizzers... Horns are really the end of the road, they play everything well from a girl with guitar that will make your eyes watery to full Symphonies that will have your heart pounding! The best soundstage I ever heard was with horns also, side to side, behind the speakers and IN FRONT of the speakers, you will never get that with dynamics speakers. You are saying exactly what I experienced. What kind of speakers are you using? Do you feel the compression drivers are superior to the full range drivers as you explained above? I would love some more details. PS- Amazing how Dcstep can tell your system isn't properly set up without ever hearing it. I had a long extended listen to the Maxx2's at a hi-fi show, they were in a nice big room, they are very good speakers, but I would not swap my KCS Oris 150's for them (the truest hi-fi bargain for the price). I also agree with Jsadurni, once one has listened to a good pair of horn speakers I do not think one could go back to any other enclosed speaker. All IMHO, naturally. Based on your comments you might try to audition ATC also - at least before taking the plunge - SCM100asl and upwards (depending on room size). In essence these are one of only very few conventional box speakers that sound as dynamic as the most "you are there" horns. The wide dispersion will make placement and adaptability to various rooms much easier than a horn - making what you hear in a demo more likely to be achievable at home and over a wide sweetspot. Anyway don't take my word for it though -see this review If clarity, transparency, detail and dynamics is what excites you about horns then these conventional speakers are worth checking out (along with good horns of course). Quite a few horn lovers I know also mentioned ATC. I want to give them a listen as well. I read the review a short while ago. The reviewer mimics what I heard. That is why I posted the thread. I am curious how many others have experienced horns as the "final" step on the audio ladder. Jeff Day swapped his Duos for Bland British Boxes (I'm being sarcastic about their bashers - I think they're great). My point is only that it happens. I think the dynamics of many well-made dynamic speakers will sound very close to what front horns do *on most music*. On orchestral - probably not. I don't listen to orchestral. Paul dynamics can not equal the dynamic range of a front horn no mater how much power you feed them. It just isnt going to happen. Paul dynamics can not equal the dynamic range of a front horn no mater how much power you feed them. It just isnt going to happen Completely agree. In fact for sound reinforcement and for stadiums really horns are the only way to go. The narrower dispersion can also be a huge benefit in these applications in getting a good soundstage to different sections of the audience (Haas effect). As I mentioned above there are very few conventional box speakers that can compete dynamically and even then we are talking about domestic spaces. I would also be wary of horns with excessively high compression ratio - extreme high efficiency - as you will get harmonic distortion in the treble at higher SPLs. I would also avoid long throws (narrow dispersion) as this will make room/placement and synergy with the bass much tougher. But I fully agree that good horns are going to sound great - just in the way you describe - the "you are there" dynamic factor and nothing else really competes. Dgad, ATC are used at Disney Concert Hall - that is a stereo set of speakers with three midrange domes per channel. I think this picture tells you that they do indeed play dynamically even if they are not a horn. One of the few speakers if not the only conventional speaker that can compete. I would also be wary of horns with excessively high compression ratio - extreme high efficiency - as you will get harmonic distortion in the treble at higher SPLs. I would also avoid long throws (narrow dispersion) as this will make room/placement and synergy with the bass much tougher Please explain the above in more detail. I don't understand it 100%. Excessively high compression ratio :You get non-linearities in air compression in the compression chamber at extreme compression (high efficiencies). It creates harmonic distortion. I would not think you need to worry about this with hi-fi designs - however it is worth asking about. Bear in mind, the higher the compression and the greater the efficiency the overall more difficult and precise the design - phase plugs and such in the throat can be tricky and tolerances become very important. I guess I am saying don't just aim for the highest efficiency you can find - like something you can rock the whole neighbourhood with on a mere 1 watt amp! Avoid long throws (narrow dispersion): This is easier to explain. The Bass radiates in all directions - so it uniformly fills your room in every direction. A long throw narrow dispersion horn is going to "beam" energy in a narrow path towards the listener. The hard part is where do you sit and how is it voiced and does this match your room and listening position. There is a danger that your brain interpretes the two very different soundfields separately. This effect was studied by Dr Floyd Toole at NRC labs in Canada in the 70's. Since then it has been the general consensus that the dispersion in the midrange and treble needs to be very wide horizontally in order to provide a pleasing "natural" sound field (i.e the reverberant energy from the room matches what you would expect to hear across the entire frequency range if you replaced your stereo by real musicians). If you look at the modern Klipsch and JBL designs you will see that they tend to respect this by using short throw horns with wider dispersion. If you look at the modern Klipsch and JBL designs you will see that they tend to respect this by using short throw horns with wider dispersion And I would add - that they sound great! Along the lines of what Shadorne is describing, there is usually a minimum recommended distance the listening position needs to be from the mouth of the horn. This may not be such a big deal with a single full range horn, but with a 2 or 3 way it is needed to give the sound time to blend. This distance is probably related to some dimension of the horn but I don't know what it is. A very happy horny guy. ;-) Did you read what I wrote? I said there is little _practical_ difference in the dynamic range of horns vs. *some* (definitely not most!) coned speakers on *much* music (NOT orchestral!). IOW, on jazz, and smaller scale music, some very good coned speakers are _practically_ as dynamic _in the home environment_ as front horns. Why the talk of stadiums and pro sound? Who cares? Admittedly I do not speak from vast experience as I've never owned front horns. But I've been to the shows and listened to them. You are quite right to say that on symphonic music, it's a different story, and that very few boxed speakers of any kind display impressive dynamics in general. And come to think of it some of the non-horn speakers I'm thinking of do have some horn-loaded elements (Audiokinesis, E-P). But some of them do not. Based on what you are saying (I am new to understanding horns) a long throw horn - front loaded - will be longer in length rather than wider? In the case of a very long Bass Horn that is front loaded (rather than a folded bass horn - I assume that is rear loaded?) will be to directional and not disperse well? I looked at your system. I see Edgarhorns & Acapellas. So my question to you is do you have an Ion tweeter? How does it compare to a Compression driver? I assume the Acapellas have some issues with the bass speed compared to the horn. Correct me if I am wrong. And to all - do you go DIY for horns in a full range sense. I get a feeling going all out the speakers will sell for well above $100K. Hence, I respect Shadorne's use of ATC to keep things in perspective. I have been told by a few hornys that their dynamic speakers of choice are either PMC or ATC. Dan ed not all large horn systems are limited as you say. I have designs that integrate at normal listening postions. Even 1 that you can sit 6ft away and its a seemless whole just depends on the design not a limit on horn design in general, just some designs need more space. And Shadorne I have not heard or have measured problems with compression in hi-quality compression drivers. Sure its posible but compression driver designers are well awear of it and realy its not a problem at all for any quality horn loudspeakers. Why the talk of stadiums and pro sound? Who cares? Sorry if I confused everyone. I was just trying to explain that long throw horns with narrow dispersion tend to be used to direct coverage over a small narrow area and work extremely well in stadiums where you have multiple sets of speakers cover section of the crowd just like "spotlights". I guess it was not clear but this "spotlight" feature which is ideal in stadium and hall applications are generally more diffuclt to set up in a room.The "long and short" of it is that shorter wider dispersion horns are what I would tend to focus on for domestic settings (in the mid range and treble of course). Sorry for a late response, I have been away from my computer. I have tried Lowthers on M.King transmision line, on Open Baffle and on Front horns, really the best setup for lowthers is front horns they sound very sweet (unlike to how they sound on boxes), even on front horns that load down to 170 hz they dont really go that low, on OB I was cutting them a 100 hz and they were having trouble with that...I do believe Lowther to be the most Dynamic dynamic speaker...lets rephrase that, the most dynamic cone speaker...It gets totally killed by compression drivers, I compared head to head Lowther DX3 and Altec 906 and the difference was night and day (plus I hate whizzers) For a limited range you can even find more dynamic cone drivers than lowthers (Beyma, 18sound) but for a longer range Lowthers are indeed very good, the thing is that they step on Compression driver territory (500-800 hz) and they have nothing to do there in comparison! I am actually using a Beyma 1" driver from 1.2khz instead of the Altec 906 I had (I may be changing these soon for either Radian or Beyma 750) I have a 170hz Exp horn with an 18sound driver that goes lower than the Lowthers did and have a fuller tone. I do have a Supertweeter from 6khz up, the Compression Driver was having trouble on complicated symphonic passages going all the way up. I love huge Symphonic music I used to have a pass for the local Theater but traffic jams have kept me starving for music. On the best dynamic system I listened to I never could get a full orchestra to play correctly and so I lost interest on reproduced Classical music, once I got into front loaded horns and got a system that could play Classical music properly I almost only listen to it when doing critical listening, for gatherings or parties I play everything. Once you can listen to the violins on the left, Violas on the center-right and cellos on the right, trumpets on the right mainly and Precussion on the back left you know it is getting there, Last night I was playing Borodins Plovtsian Dances and when the percussions came in (minute 3:10 Antal Dorati version) I jumped off my seat! Not to say Girl with guitar music doesnt sound good, it sounds wondefully deatiled dynamic and present, but once you have the luxury of a full orchestra playing just for you, its hard to pick something else! JohnK, thanks for correcting me. I know that you are very much more experienced with horns and I certainly haven't experimented with all configurations, including my own Edgarhorns. I have heard of folks with the same horn system as I use that listen near field. Myself, I sit about 12 feet away. Anyway, I give a big thumbs up to horns! You mentioned that you recently heard the Cessaro "Beta" horns. Can you tell me a little about their strengths and weaknesses? I thought that the Betas were only available in Germany and Asia. Did you hear them here in North America? I'm told that they are great speakers but that the TAD drivers can sound a little "hi-fi-ish." There is a pair of KCS Oris horn's for sale here on Audiogon. I almost bought them, but they are blue and could not convince 'her highness' that they go with an antique red looking sofa! I bet they sound Incredible. For what you are getting for the price you are getting them, they could be such a bargain. I seriously doubt you could buy a better pair of speakers for the money.These sort of speakers are hard to shift secondhand. Don't know why personally. Maybe a bit big and ungainly, but surely for sound quality alone they are worth their weight and size, not mention the very reasonable price.IMHO I heard the Cessaro Betas in Germany in a home system. They were slightly modified from standard using a Field Coil Midrange and TAD drivers for tweeter & super tweeter. Also folded horn TAD woofers. I think 4 drivers for the bass. There were limitations to the sound. Primarily the room was small so bass couldn't generate 100%. The system uses an adjustable crossover on top. I felt the treble could be turned down a touch. So in that regard, they could be taken as slightly high fi ish. But...I am wondering how a Fostex Supertweeter would compare and has me curious. There was a certain magic in these speakers that defies all electronics etc. Hard to explain, but resolution and a lack of distortion was present at any volume setting. If you closed your eyes, you could not find the speakers (within the sweet spot) and the speakers being fairly tall gave a very realistic image size. The body on male vocals was spooky to say the least. With acoustic guitar the strings came to life. You didn't strain to hear any detail. It was there. Not unrealistic just there. It makes you question where to put your money. Speakers vs. electronics. This was run with I think 1 watt. I will give you a little of my listening biases as they have matured. I have been looking for a speaker that can play well at both low & high volumes. I have found speakers that sound OK loud but then very poor at low volumes. And speakers that excel at low volumes only to distort at high volumes. Actually, I want to crank it up once in a while at close to 100 db. Yes, crazy, but here in Aruba there aren't many concerts to go to. I am extremely sensative to distortion of any form and work endlessly to eliminate it. To date no dynamic speaker I have heard aside from some truly Giant multi driver arrays have been able to handle such a task. My Maxx IIs have thier limits. Also they don't have the detail of the Cessaros at any level. They have been older designs. And the crossovers have been audible. Another huge sensitivity for me. Most speakers get very congested at loud volumes. They lose detail and smear. I would say this is room related to some extent, but after hearing the Cessaros this was no longer the case. You can listen at 100db and not even know you are listening so loud. No distortion etc. And everything remains stable in space with a transparency that is hard to believe. There is no horn coloration at all. The crossovers are seemless, all 1st order. Many horn people love the speed a horn can give. I like the speed but find more important is the lack of distortion. Thus I am now progressing to setting up a 2nd system w. horns in the future. I am trying to learn as much as possible to get a sense of direction and find setting up a horn system quite a daunting task. Too many options and I need to learn the benefits. I won't mention many of the popular horns I have heard that many love. Suffice it to say, they all have been colored (horn sounding) and the crossover has been detectable. Very nice description Dgad. Thanks for taking the time. It's uncanny; you and I are looking for exactly the same thing at this point in the hobby. I too am extremely sensitive to distortion. The -only- reservation I have about my MBL 101Es is that they too get congested at loud volumes during complex passages. They lose detail and smear and the soundstage becomes confused. This is true with any of the many amplifiers I have used with them, though my current amps tend to compound the problem (no amps have sounded less distorted or as wonderful under 93db, however). I would like a speaker that, as you say, "You can listen at 100db and not even know you are listening so loud. No distortion etc. And everything remains stable in space with a transparency that is hard to believe." I'm also looking for speakers that I can run with my 300B SET amps. These two factors have led me to search for horn speakers using compression drivers. I ruled out the following a few years back (no offence to current owners intended): Acapella [great tweeter however] Drivers such as Lowthers and Fostex The shortlist of speakers/drivers I would like to hear, in no particular order, are: 1. Sunny Cable H3W18 Majestic: I think they use a GOTO driver in the midrange horn 5. Danley (pro-sound but interesting designs) 6. I'm open to suggestions as long as they don't involve asking me to revisit things that I have already ruled out or products that will be grossly inferior to the MBL 101Es in most other areas of sound reproduction. Since I have no DIY talent or experience with horn or crossover design, I'm not going to buy separate drivers and horns and try to cobble something together. I'm also not going to hire someone to put something together that I haven't already heard. I, therefore, would have to hear a complete speaker system that sounds incredible in order to convince me to give up my beloved MBLs. Yes we are in the same boat. I was curious if there were others. It is nice not be alone. I feel a few others have gone this way as well. Horns are very complex to understand and the horn world has so many options. Also how to integrate bass is going to be a problem. Have you seen the massive 20 feet long bass horns some use. Others use a folded horn or a back loaded horn. I have to hear more implementations to know what is my direction. I also think you can do it for less. I have been told by a few people a compression driver and field coil come very close. I prefer to do without the hassle of a field coil but love what I heard. The TAD drivers are great and the Cessaros might be an option due to their turn-key installation & adjustability. But there are also fabulous US products around. I just spoke w. one designer who was incredibly informative and modest. There is a lot to learn. The truth is I think horns have come a long way but also have thier limits. I don't want to throw in a ton of money only to find I made a mistake. While I can sell a Maxx II or you can sell your 101es, most horns will be impossible to sell unless they are Avantgardes or the like which we both don't want. I also want to hear the Sunny speaker. I think it is a back loaded bass horn with front loaded highs & mids. Have you heard any you liked. The Cessaros blew my mind from the mids on up. I would have turned down the highs a notch but the crossover easily allows for that. Total clarity and no distortion. Something special. You feel you need to pay for admission the sound is so good. Especially the wonderful air pressure in the room from listening to a 12 string guitar as if it is in front of you. You are left with a giant smile like the first time you heard a great system. "You can listen at 100db and not even know you are listening so loud. No distortion etc. And everything remains stable in space with a transparency that is hard to believe." ATC, PMC will do it and so will some horns and several other high end designs but you are basically getting into the realms of professional main studio monitors (Westlake, Meyer, custom Augspergers with Tad drivers - take your pick). If you sit 4 meters back (large room like I do) then you are talking 112 db SPL capability at 1 meter continuous to get your 100 db spl at the listening position (and remember that headroom up to 122 db SPL may be required to be handle this cleanly on some music). Very few speakers can do this that are not specifically designed for this task....and they only sell handfuls of these kind of speakers - not tens of thousands like B&W's. Most people don't want or need this kind of eye watering capability - but it can be incredibly fun and exhilerating. Dgad,nice post....Btw,didn't I meet you at HE 2007?There are not many other hobbyists living in Aruba,whom I met at that show,so I assume this "is" you. Sorry for my short session listening to the Singer demo,with you. "The -only- reservation I have about my MBL 101Es is that they too get congested at loud volumes during complex passages. They lose detail and smear and the soundstage becomes confused." I'll bet any speakers with a sensitivity of 81dB/2.83V/m powered by 40watt tube amps(no offence to current owners intended), will sound congested if you try and push them past 93db in a big room. Solution: Spectron Musician III SE Mk. 2 monoblock amplifiers. You missed, or simply ignored, the part in my post where I said "This is true with any of the many amplifiers I have used with them." Two of them were monobocks, each worth over $30,000 a pair. One of these delivered 640 watts into 4 ohms and the other 220 watts into 4 ohms. Believe me, I've tried throwing high-quality watts at the tops (105Hz and up) of these speakers. I only hooked the SETs up to the speakers as joke when I was between amplifiers; it turned out the joke was on me! My 40 watt SET amps distort after 93db but MBLs get congested at loud volumes during complex passages no matter what amps you put on them and no matter how many watts you throw at them. The upper drivers simply reach their excursion limits. The Spectron Musician III SE Mk. 2 monoblock amplifiers; the top MBL amplifiers; the CAT JL-3 Signatures; the top Boulders monoblocks, none of these is the solution because the problem isn't amplification, its the drivers. I'm pretty sure I'll never find amps that sound better (to me) under 93dB so that's why I have the 40 watt SETs. If you heard my speakers without seeing my amps you'd swear the amps were putting out over 250 watts (not that I have to justify my decision to you or anybody else). I have to ask you about the "air pressure in the room" with the Cessaros. One of the reasons I gave up on the idea of owning horns a few years ago was because I often felt a sort of pressure on my skull, which quickly let to a headache, when listening. I know a horn lover in Italy who feels the same thing but puts up with it because the sound is so good. Did you feel any sort of fatigue or discomfort with the Cessaros? I went from electrostats to horns, bypassing dynamic altogether. In doing so, I have found what I didn't know that I was looking for. The dynamics and "you-are-there-ness" are far ahead of dynamic speakers. Years on, I still get the shivers with certain music. Even good horns have weak points. It is difficult to integrate midrange and bass. Finding dynamic bass which has the "speed"/dynamics/delicacy to match the midrange is difficult. If I ever build my own place in the country (on a hilltop with a beautiful view), I will build large horns into the ground/walls. Also, to get to the mid-bass (say, below 200Hz), horns can get very large and some people don't like that. If you can live with the deficiencies and still like horns, then you probably belong with them. I went from electrostats to omni-directionals. Your speakers look very cool. I also like the idea of building a house around horns like they do in Japan. for more on horns, see anyone have any thoughts on how a horn would do in a small (15*11) room, w horns on 15' wall?

Optrex For Your Third Eye: What Does Psychedelia Mean In 2014? , September 17th, 2014 08:03 John Doran wonders if there are any rules as to what makes a modern song psychedelic, or is it simply in the (third) eye of the beholder? With Spotify list of mind-warping office favourites from the history of the Quietus In The Masthead introduction to issue 357 of The WIRE which came out last November, Editor Chris Bohn, drew attention to the fact that the word "psychedelic" has been stripped of any real useful meaning. Quoting the Egypt based, Canadian born musician Sam Shalabi he suggested that psychedelia is what happens when one is "spat out" of the active and historical state of "being" unexpectedly. He claims - quite rightly, as far as I am concerned - that "a truly psychedelic experience can be read as one that jolts your everyday world off its axis long enough for you to be able to see it askew, sort of like from the position you saw it for the first time when you popped out of the womb". It is the confusing and sometimes enlightening effect caused by the violently rapid and temporary transition into psychic deterritorialization (and then back to reality via reterritorialization) brought on by an external agent. But why does this word cause so much confusion? When I took a straw poll of friends as to what their favourite modern European psychedelia was the results were a lot more varied than I had anticipated - almost to the extent I could have just said, 'Can everyone suggest some cool new music for me to listen to?' It should be said that I got to listen to a huge amount of really good music which I was previously unaware of, so there certainly seems to be a vigorously healthy scene for music that people think of as psychedelic going on at the moment. But beyond this however the sheer range of genres that were represented - electronica, ambient, black metal, doom, indie, heavy rock, space rock, cosmic synth, disco, techno, folk, drum & bass etc. - made me wonder, 'If the term is so aggressively subjective, of what use is it, when it comes to determining whether an individual piece of music is the sort that makes you view your life like you've just "popped out of the womb" or not?' In short, are there any rough rules, or even observations, that can be made on this subject or does psychedelia simply exist in the (third) eye of the beholder? The trouble with the word in 2014 is that it has fallen victim to a schism in popular criticism between those primarily wishing to classify music and those primarily wishing to describe its effects. Throw in some temporal and causal dissonance and the malign influence of fashion and it's easy to see why there is confusion. If we look at the most simplistic narrative a feature of this length allows, psychedelic music as a definable element of Western pop started in the early-60s on the West Coast of America, coinciding with the spread of LSD in the US counterculture; almost immediately this began to inform the leftfield fringes of US and UK folk, then not long afterwards reaching mainstream and underground rock and pop round most of the world. Now, back in the 1960s, if you were high on a potent tab of Blue Cheer or Orange Sunshine acid, listening to Disraeli Gears by Cream for the first time then you were no doubt enjoying the synergy between psychedelic music and the psychedelic experience at full tilt. However, I would hazard a guess that very few people are currently seeing the world through a perfectly cleansed door of perception with 'Sunshine Of Your Love' as the soundtrack. Many young folk - going through a perfectly understandable rite of passage - are probably sitting around in flats listening to albums such as this plonked on a couch protected from pot burns by a tie-dyed throw, in the warm low light given off by a lava lamp but if anything Clapton and co.'s "safe hands" blues rock is a tether to Earth - a sonic safety blanket - lest the powders and potions the listeners have ingested take them higher than expected. They are indulging in a very codified "psychedelic" experience surrounded by signifiers. The same sentiment can be applied to the modern consumption of many acts that are routinely described as psychedelic cornerstones from Hendrix to imperial period Pink Floyd. Even less genuinely psychedelic in 2014 for the most part is the rock subgenre called 'psych' - any truly mind-expanding properties that a lot of this music once had have long since dissipated and what we are left with is a conservative modern collectors scene which fetishizes rarity and expensiveness of records not to mention abstract qualitative benchmarks such as 'fuzziness of bass' or 'warmth of guitar tone'. For the most part the titles of these records tell you more about the purity and strength of the drugs available in the late 1960s rather than the mind warping tunes they contain. There are exceptions to every rule however and there are plenty of LPs which remain disorientating to this day such as Brainticket's (psych/Krautrock hybrid) Cottonwoodhill which is such a genuinely consciousness scrambling album that it came with a stern warning on the sleeve and was banned in several countries lest it drive potential listeners insane. And I'd skip a thousand mannered Mod freakbeat records just for one slab of genuine synapse frying weirdness like Calico Wall's 'I'm A Living Sickness'. Not wanting to state the obvious but it should be remembered that psych is a sub genre of Western pop and rock from the late 60s which has been revived several times since; while the search for the psychedelic experience is older than civilization itself. Many 1960s acts associated with the mainstream boom in psychedelia have lost their ability to transport the listener outside of themselves through no fault of their own. It is perhaps too much to expect The Beatles to remain a potent fuel in the modern psychedelic trip when everything they have ever recorded has become so ingrained into popular mainstream culture. No doubt 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' were mind-blowing when they first came out but due to endless airplay, magazine and book canonisation, their monolithic influence on culture and countless parodies they have been rendered as psychedelic as an episode of Coronation Street. Having said all this, I'd argue that the Fab Four did make a small number of sui generis psychedelic statements that age will never wither and which can still sheer the top of your head off in the right circumstances today. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is a watershed moment in psychedelic music and an all out assault on pop music itself. It looked forward to an age far ahead of itself and it is no real surprise that the biggest mainstream psychedelic act of the Britpop era, The Chemical Brothers, effectively rebooted the song with the help of savvy Beatles fan Noel Gallagher in order to make one of the strangest records that has ever gone to the top of the UK charts - 'Setting Sun'. (Oasis were often compared to The Beatles by their champions but perhaps only an early version of the group, pre-psychedelic blossoming. In retrospect it seems clear that the Mancunian band's inability to go through their own spiritual and artistic revolution was down to internal power struggles. Liam Gallagher's post Oasis efforts in Beady Eye reveal him to be one of the least psychedelic people to ever draw breath. His elder brother, unable to completely control Oasis had to quench his psychedelic leanings elsewhere such as by commissioning neo-hippies Amorphous Androgynous to remix his music. He also played some of the sitar on Cornershop's excellent Handcream For A Generation album which, along with an earlier Punjabi cover of 'Norwegian Wood', was a very smart cultural nod and ironic reflection by Tjinder Singh on The Fab Four's infatuation with Indian mysticism and psychedelia. What a shame more of Britpop wasn't as brilliantly weird and smart as Handcream For A Generation or 'Setting Sun'.) But of course it took The Chemical Brothers - essentially a techno act - rather than a rock group to take heavily tripped out music back to the top of the UK charts. For people of my generation acid house and ecstasy were our gateway to satori in the late 80s and 90s. Many people refused to see this music as psychedelic because of the machine-made nature of it but the name "acid house" derives from the acid rock of the late 1960s. Marshall Jefferson, who produced Phuture's 'Acid Tracks' (along with DJ Pierre) was a massive fan of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple before discovering Chicago house in the mid-80s and the nomenclature actually points to a continuum between psych rock and electronic dance. This is not to say that guitar bands weren't producing brain splattering psychedelia in the late 80s - they were; the period was a veritable tripped out renaissance. In the UK rock scene however there was little of rave's ecstasy fuelled utopianism going on. A resurgence in the popularity of low quality acid, heroin and weed produced something else entirely. A lot of commentators take the 1960s to be a short decade in the Eric Hobsbawm sense, claiming that the genuine psychedelic period in rock ended in murder at the Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969. But in Britain, in a wider cultural sense, the last vestiges of 60s liberalism and utopian counterculture were ground into the dirt during Margaret Thatcher's second and third terms in office, between 1983 and 1989. The 1960s were the most forward looking and inclusive time in living memory, promising a new dawn in civil rights, an end to racism, misogyny and homophobia, as well as fair treatment for the working classes, for the first time ever. The spirit of the 1960s was still just about alive by the 1980s, with radical political movements such as anarcho-syndicalism and socialism still promising (no matter how naively) that power could be seized from the capitalist ruling class and distributed among the people on the street. Thatcher however, as well as setting her sights on crushing this country's heavy industry and curtailing civil liberties, wanted to turn the clock back to before the Swinging 60s, believing in a mission statement which she summed up herself as: "Go back, you flower people, back where you came from, wash your hair, get dressed properly, get to work on time and stop all this whingeing and moaning." Skullflower's Xaman, the Jesus And Mary Chain's Psychocandy, Loop's Heaven's End, Spacemen 3's Playing With Fire and Godflesh's Streetcleaner are the soundtrack to the death of 60s liberalism and optimism; the collapse of the social democratic dream and the dawn of neo-liberalism. They sound the retreat away from utopianism into nihilism and despair, which is not just to say that they are violent and inward looking, but that they also viciously parody the sun dappled psychedelia of 1967. This is the brown acid really kicking in. Of course, to me, both My Bloody Valentine and Aphex Twin are psychedelic as hell, as they were the radically new and sensory overloading sounds that came out when I was a young man and I fully expect that someone two decades younger than me could find these artists as old fashioned as I found Pink Floyd when I was a teenager. Because - whether I like it or not - even the wildest outliers of shoegaze and acid house have, to a certain extent been co-opted by many, many lesser talents. Leaving the question: how does one define psychedelic music in 2014? As with a lot of things in 2014 you're on safer ground defining what isn't, than what is. Are Hookworms, Parquet Courts, Suuns etc psych? Yeah, sure... whatever… I'm not that interested in genre tags. Are they psychedelic? Not to me. Not even remotely. I don't want to come across as a high maintenance curmudgeon but it takes more than a canonical record collection, a desire to be in Spacemen 3, some fancy FX pedals and a pair of tight jeans to blow my mind. There are other groups such as The Horrors and Toy, that I have enjoyed listening to on and off in the past but again, I don't see them as psychedelic, rather than simply bands who create cool, weird pop music. The whole boom for all things psych has reached its nadir recently with the signing of several criminally poor acts such as Foxygen, who are no more mind-warping than the Flight Of The Conchords acid folk parody 'The Prince Of Parties'. Techno probably remains the easiest gateway to the psychedelic experience in music today given its hypnotic repetitiveness, how it inculcates deep listening and creates a sense of three dimensionality that envelops the listener when experienced in a club, not to mention its association with prolonged (shamanic?) dancing and mind altering substances. Guitar music is more conservative as a whole and tends to bunch around trends. One only needs to look at the proliferation of psych festivals - every city and town has one! - to see this. Often this means it's hard to see the wood for the trees. I'm not going to knock a band for using a motorik drumbeat, a Stooges' riff and an apeggiating analogue synth as the foundation of what they do - that's always going to be loads more interesting than sounding like The Libertines not to mention much more satisfying to listen to but such is the nature of the modern availability of music, that this on its own is essentially a conservative approach. As David Stubbs points out in his recent book Future Days "motorik" and "Krautrock" are not interchangeable terms. If a band has got as far as getting to grips with Klaus Dinger's Apache beat then why stop there? Why not look at Can's theories on instant composition or Faust's anarchic musique concrete next? As long as musicians are looking at music in experiential terms they're on the right tracks roughly speaking. In real terms, we are brain poor when it comes to the processing of true psychedelic music. Our ability to absorb information is limited by a bottleneck caused by our evolving rather than designed sensory apparatus. However we are great at filling the gaps ourselves when given the chance. When experiencing - say - Factory Floor, Electric Wizard, SunnO))), Perc or GNOD live at full volume with the assistance of overpowering visuals, frenetic dancing or trance inducing drugs, the listener can hear things that aren't actually there; ghostly voices, snatches of high end melody, bizarre modulations in bass frequency… the sensory organs become a permeable membrane between the music and consciousness and when the listener enters 'the zone' they become a co-author of what they are experiencing. But without this space for the listener to enter and journey into, in my opinion at least, it can't be called psychedelic. There are many acts today who create bewitching and often bewildering (even sometimes beautiful) music, such as the celestial indie rave of Fuck Buttons, the churchical synths of Tim Hecker, the maximal festival house of Jon Hopkins, the pseudo-psychogeographical noise of Ben Frost and many many others who present you with a wall of sound that it is difficult to impregnate in any way. And the more brick-walled, the more maximal, the more compressed the sound, the less transcendent the overall effect. For me, the much more bucolic, restrained and minimal Grumbling Fur are more genuinely psychedelic than all of these acts put together... but then I would say that wouldn't I? If I had to choose the one record from the last two years that has genuinely made me feel like my everyday world has been jolted off its axis long enough for me to be able to see it askew, as if fresh from the womb, then I'd have to say 'Pipes' by Katie Gately. A single 14 minute long track constructed from various recordings and manipulations of the artist's voice. It's something that I'm still unpicking now and probably will be for some time to come. But what it says to me right now is that fashion psych revivalism should be abandoned immediately and that the expansion of one's mind will only occur in the framework of genuinely exploratory music. Time to cast the winkle pickers and the drainpipe jeans onto the fire. Music that contains space for the listener to occupy as thinker, creator and dreamer; music that envelops, dislocates and bewilders; music which is trance inducing through repetition but essentially forward facing and unconcerned with historical accuracy, authenticity, fashion or tradition and music that rewards deep listening is still the root of the sonic psychedelic experience, and long may it remain so.

Consider this some major ABC synergy: TV Line reports that CASTLE -- the net's hit primetime crime drama starring Nathan Fillion (ex-Joey, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) as mystery novelist Richard Castle and Stana Katik as NYPD detective Kate Beckett -- is planning an soap star-studded wink to Fillion's daytime roots! In the episode titled "One Life To Lose," Castle and Beckett investigate the murder of a soap opera scribe. According to TV Line, multiple stars from ABC's own daytime lineup will make appearances, likely as fictional actors on the soap-within-the-show. And Fillion fans can expect the star to make at least one nod to his run as OLTL's Joey! This new slew of guest stars will join a long list of current and former daytimers who have already stopped by CASTLE, including GENERAL HOSPITAL's Andrea Bogart (Abby), who appears on the Monday, February 14 episode. Past guests have included Carrie Genzel (ex-Skye, AMC), Sarah Joy Brown (Aggie, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL; ex-Claudia, GH), Rick Hearst (Whip, B&B; ex-Ric, GH), Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki, THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS) and A Martinez (Ramon, B&B; ex-Ray, OLTL; ex-Roy, GH). "One Life To Lose" is tentatively scheduled to air on Monday, March 21, at 10:01 EST. Which ABC Daytime stars are you hoping to see on the episode? Tell us below!

Enchanter; Infocom: the Steven Spielberg of text adventuring. (evaluation) John Anderson. Infocom: The Steven Spielberg of Text Adventuring At Creative Computing we don't look down our noses at "twitch-syle' arcade games. We love them, and we play them regularly. A good hand-eye arcade game can provide hours of excitement and have an addictive power that keeps you coming back time after time. In Praise Of Twitch Games One of the outstanding qualities of a good arcade game is its accessibility. Boot one up and start playing immediately--no long-winded documentation to wade through, or abstract objectives to ponder. Wives, kids, friends, even parents can sit down and become quickly absorbed in a colorful, tuneful environment where the laws of physics have taken a decidedly whimsical turn. For the fervent micro gamester, however, these games can begin to wear thin. After dozens of hours with Miner 2049er, even this magnificent game may seem a bit shallow. The time comes when you begin to long for a different kind of diversion. Something that ideally requires intelligence, strategy, a grasp of overall concepts, and no emphasis on physical coordination. In Praise Of Text That is where the text adventure excels. Nowhere can graphics or sound seem more real than in your own mind. Here a sense of narrative may unfold, as it unfolds in a novel or movie, with the power to involve you in strong and subtle ways. But a computer adventure is more than a mere novel or movie. Here the interactions of the story can be initiated by the user. The challenge of solving a story-puzzle can be maddeningly frustrating; likewise it can be, in its solution, very satisfying. In Praise Of Inforcom And when it comes to text adventures, Infocom excels. In our reviews of the Zork series, murder mysteries Deadline and Witness, science fiction sagas Starcross, Suspended, and Planetfall, we have said it again and again: Infocom can't be beat. For richness of description, unfolding of stoyline, sharpness of wit, and challenge of puzzles, Infocom has no equal in the software business. In Praise Of Fantasy As a software house, they have focused specifically on the text adventure, and in the process raised the genre to high art. With Enchanter, they have scored again. Enchanter is the debut package in a new line of fantasy adventures from Infocom. In some ways it marks the return to the old Zorkish formulas of D&D (donuts and dragoons) style fantasy--sorcerers and warlocks, sweeping medieval stories of magical, untainted heroism and terrible, unthinkable evil. These are the tales that myth is made of, and they seem so at home on microcomputers by now it seems they have been there always. Although we have enjoyed contemporary and science fiction adventures from the company, Enchanter is a special treat. We have grown to love the Zork series, and somehow the modern stories, though extremely involving, seem a bit antiseptic by comparison. They are at times very cerebral exercises in logical problem-solving --a bit lacking in the fantasy elements that can turn a person in an armchair into Merlin the Magnificent. Enchanter marks a welcome return to the swords and sorcery micro owners have come to know, love, and accept. An Enchanting Scenario In Enchanter, you are a wizard third-class, chosen for a special mission specifically because of your amateur status. According to the top-flight sorcerers, who may or may not be quaking in their own upturned boots, if any of them were to attempt to depose the evil warleck reigning over the countryside, they would be detected immediately. You, on the other hand, are insignificant enough to gain access to Krill's castle undetected by his powerful mind-probe. At the same time, there is an outside chance you might just be competent enough to flush out the evil magician. Thus the die is cast. And take it from us, you are bound to die quite often before you prevail. As is our custom in reviewing these sorts of games, we will offer nothing in the way of hints to spoil your enjoyment of the game. You must have a full opportunity to savor every breakthrough. But a little bit of description won't hurt. Spelling It Out Your only weapons in Enchanter are magic, so don't waste much time looking for swords, maces, or tactical nuclear weapons. You will, however, come upon spells, which you may write to your spell book. Because you nearly flunked out of the wizard program, only six of these at a time can be committed to your somewhat dull memory. It is, hence, a very good idea to rememorize the spellls in your spellbook every morning before breakfast. Some of the spells we have come upon so far are the following: onesoprotected is game.initially written,rememorizeequipment. obtain theperhaps a doesn'tmeet Speaking of breakfast, you must keep yourself well fed and watered, and get enough rest. Otherwise you will end up passing out or getting so tired your mind will begin to cloud. This is not to say that you shouldn't do a bit of sneaking around in the dead of night. Just make sure you get your beauty sleep. If you are lucky enough to find a way into Krill's castle, you may learn of possible means to dispose of him. But betware: the castle is full of dangers. The cannibal pagans, for example, only have you for brunch in order to have you for brunch. They are a rather ill-mannered bunch of fellas. While there are no nasty grues lurking in the dark corners of Krill's castle, the dark remains about as dangerous as it is in Zork, so watch your step. Enchanter is full of the delightful little touches we have come to expect from Infocom. It has a developed sense of humor. Our realization of the significance of the Zifmia spell left us smiling. By the time we made sense of the Burma-Shave sign, we were in hysterics. But more important, Enchanter has a good sense of synergy: this is the ability of an overall narrative to become more than the sum of its parts--to totally envelope the user within it--and to build story involvement to the point at which disbelief is suspended. This is the point at which the landing gear of a good adventure leaves the ground, so you can soar into the air of imagination. Rest assured, Infocom hires only the best pilots around. In Criticism Of The Best This is not to say that absolutely everything about Infocom is perfect. Debugging programs of this nature is necessarily tricky, and early versions may evidence undiscovered bugs. The Commodore 64 version of Planetfall we received was good enough to boot, but too flaky to play for very long. It soon came up with bizarre and fatal errors, and even more insidious stuff, like suddenly making the food you were carrying disappear off the face of the planet. This was enough to stop our playtesting sessions cold. (We are happy to report that the Apple version is fine and has us losing sleep regularly.) Then there are the "brick walls.' If you are not a hot-shot adventurer, and usually even if you are, you will reach points in any and every adventure where all areas seem mapped, all grabbable objects seem to have been grabbed, all transactions seem transacted, and all possibilities seem exhausted. You simply reach a point where you are plumb out of ideas. This very problem explains the aversion of many people to the text adventure. Maybe diehard adventurers don't mind spending eight months solving a single title, but most normal people do. This is why embedded hints are so important. Enchanter has them, and like its predecessors, is wonderfully documented. It includes a parchment with seal and a Guild Directory (wizard's local) to help get you started. Still, you are bound to hit frustration points. Like its predecessors, Enchanter is tough and designed to last. You won't be solving it in one night, so you might as well take your time. Rushing will only result in missed opportunities. Making Adventures Better Around the lab we have some pretty strong feelings about the future of text adventures, so feel free to disagree. Here goes. A major thrust should be to make text adventures more accessible, even to people who would ordinarily select a "twitcher' instead. Several approaches to this idea may be used in concert to bring adventures to a mainstream micro audience. Suspended took a step in the right direction with the inclusion of a fold-out gameboard that mapped the adventure in its entirety. Admittedly, giving the user a complete floor plan may make things a bit too easy. But an alternative is to provide a partial map, with unexplored areas remaining a secret. Or, as in the case of Suspended, an adventure may not make the mapping phase critical to the unfolding of the story. Purists offended by the idea of a pre-drawn map can choose not to use it. It might be packed in a sealed envelope to allow freedom of choice. But a well designed adventure need not have mapping as a main component. An oracle of some type should be available to aid in dissolving "brick walls.' This might take the form of nested helps, wherein each time you ask for help, you get a different, and more detailed, clue. Or it might take the form of an oracle within the plot line of the story itself: perhaps even something along the lines of a guardian angel or wizened sage. Needless to say, hints should always be vague and tricky, and never reveal actual answers. The idea is rather to continue a flow of information so that the user does not run out of ideas. Good hints can be as tough to crack as game puzzles themselves. The feat is to reveal just enough to allow the adventurer to discover something new. Using a parser (text-translation subroutine) as excellent as those in the Infocom series would allow asking for clues pertaining to specific stumbling blocks. "Help unlock castle door' might return a clue designed for just that problem. Even these hints can be nested, so that the fifth or sixth time you ask for help on one problem, you get as solid an answer as you will get. The hints could recycle beyond that point. Purists may cry treachery at the suggestion of hints of this kind. We submit that just as a map can remain unopened, hints can remain unasked for. But the idea that enough hints reside within an adventure to allow even novices to complete it successfully would change the whole psychological tone of the game by diffusing the onset of frustration. Another concept we would like to develop is the notion of logical incidence. This device allows new events which modify the overall story to transpire in a specific place at a specific time. But there is a danger here. The concept must foremost fit logically into the flow of the narrative. It should be used sparingly, and only where it is telegraphed. This gives use of the device much greater impact, and adds to the overall synergy of the story. For example, good use of logical incidence might consist of the following: evidenceroom. the able Shoddy use of the same device has already taken the following unfortunate forms: clue everything. leave The key to logical incidence is the word logical. Don't bring something in out of the blue and make all further progress hang on it. Let the story tell itself completely enough to allow the crafty adventurer to deduce a next move. The logic that applies need not be the logic of real life as long as it is consistent with the story, and the user has some notion of it. If, for example, there is a magic word that gets something to happen, telegraph this to the user, and give him a way to learn it. And while richly documented adventures are a joy to pore through, an adventure program should not be too dependent on its documentation. Ideally, we should learn enough from the outer packaging to get going, then refer to enclosed material during game play to fill in the gaps and further progress. If you have to read for an hour before you can boot the program, enthusiasm may wane. Planetfall did very well on this account and took it a step further: you have no clear idea of just what the objective is when you start off. This is a clever approach, of which we would like to see more. Another feature we look forward to in adventures to come is multi-player capability. When more than one person sits down to play currently, everyone debates about what the sole character in the story should do next. Imagine being able to activate more than one character in a story, so that each player gets a turn to further his or her own plot line. Different players might actually have different objectives, conceivably opposing, and operate out of different locations that eventually culminate in common events or "the big showdown.' None of these suggestions should be interpreted as mitigating the achievements of the Interlogic series; we just want to offer enough feedback to keep the juices flowing. Keep 'em coming, Infocom. We can't wait. Products: Enchanter (computer program)

Liberty Media Execs Explain Barnes & Noble Bid Chairman John Malone and CEO Greg Maffei made their first public comments on the proposed deal at a meeting where shareholders approved a planned split-off of Liberty Starz and Liberty Capital. NEW YORK - Strong management, an emerging digital business, opportunities to become a bigger retail-plus-device player much like Apple and a chance to put e-reader software on more Android-powered devices than just the Nook e-reader - that is how Liberty Media chairman John Malone and CEO Greg Maffei on Monday explained their interest in book retail giant Barnes & Noble. Liberty last week unveiled a surprise $1 billion bid for about 70 percent in the company, which would be attributed to its Liberty Capital arm. Management's first public comments on the proposed deal came at a special meeting in Denver Monday that saw shareholders approve the planned split-off of Liberty Starz and Liberty Capital. Malone compared Barnes & Noble to Sirius XM, which has been a successful investment for Liberty. Maffei said that while nothing will be as good an investment as Sirius, in which Liberty took a stake - whose value has multiplied - when it faced financial stress, Liberty is focused on the business fundamentals of Barnes & Noble and sees upside in them. Any possible synergy with other Liberty assets would be pure icing, although cross-selling and -promoting products, such as selling Nooks on Liberty's QVC, would be a bonus, management said. "QVC could do very well selling Nooks," suggested Malone. Maffei lauded Barnes & Noble for being a leader in its space, having a strong management team led by Len Riggio, who the company has said it wants to continue running the business, operating expertise and having made "great progress in the transition to digital" with e-book sales and its Nook e-reader. Maffei also said there is an opportunity for even better interplay between B&N stores and devices, citing Apple as a role model. Apple is doing well in the digital and retail worlds and does better business per store square foot than others, he said. "We'd like to think that Barnes & Noble is beginning that trend" that will get it to a similarly strong performance across its various businesses. Maffei cited 40 million customers, solid traffic to barnesandnoble.com site and the firm's big share of the college market as additional reasons to find the book giant attractive. Maffei also discussed possible upside from expanding the Nook business further. The Android-based Nook could make its e-reader software an addition to other Android devices, which may take a majority of market share, he said in explaining one opportunity. Executives also said that the Nook, whose latest model features not only email functionality, but also apps, could become a player in the broader tablet market. While a B&N deal, which could be agreed on within weeks before months of regulatory approvals, is a significant investment, "we are not betting the company," Malone summed up. Saying that he has been a B&N client for "many, many years," he predicted that "there will be a physical [store] presence for a long, long time to come, and it will be a physical presence." Liberty management also got questions on its planned spins now that shareholders have approved the split-off of Liberty Starz and Liberty Capital from Liberty Interactive. Liberty management on Monday once again signaled that the split-off should occur around mid-year. The Delaware Court of Chancery recently sided with the company after the Bank of New York raised issues about the split-off. The bank had argued that the split-off would constitute a disposition of all or substantially all the assets of Liberty Media. The judgment is subject to appeal. Maffei said an appeal would have to come by June 8. If one is filed, it would likely be another 30-60 days until a final ruling, he added. Malone said he has "very high confidence" that Liberty will prevail. Malone even got a shareholder question about Liberty's Live Nation investment, which makes it the largest investor in the concert promoter. Live Nation's promise is "so far unfulfilled, but "that process is going to take time, he said.

Globalization is making the world a smaller, busier planet for exporters encountering unexpected challenges as they move into new, promising markets. That dynamic between surging trade and required adaptation to local factors is perhaps most evident within booming business between Asia-Pacific and African nations. Trade between Africa and Asia-Pacific countries has increased rapidly in recent years, reflecting a synergy between two of the world’s fastest growing economic regions. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and trade between Asia-Pacific and Africa jumped from just $2.8 billion in 1990 to around $300 today and are expected to surpass $1.5 trillion by 2020. Those exchanges are unbalanced, however. The mostly manufactured goods exported Africa constitute just 26% of Asia's global total, while the commodities Africa exports to Asia-Pacific nations represent only 3% of the continent’s tally. China dominates Asia-Pacific/African exchanges with $200 billion annually, followed by Japan’s $30 billion, Thailand’s $11.6 billion, Indonesia’s $10.7 billion and Singapore’s $9.5 billion. “Booming Asian economies, especially China, need raw materials to fuel continued industrial expansion, while consumer goods going back to Africa answer growing demand from the rising number of African middle class households,” explains Cyril Dumon, Director of the Greater China unit for the Shanghai-based SDV PRC International Freight Forwarding Co., who says those flows will continue increasing with time. That rising pace of exchange between the two regions is pushing Asian exporters to shift their focus from traditional American and European trade partners to expanding opportunities in Africa. And that’s already altering some of the standard practices in moving goods between the two regions. “A lot of exporting companies that used to ship goods to Africa via Europe are instead loading up entire cargo ships that sail directly to African destinations,” Dumon says. “So far we’ve managed to get maritime companies to meet that escalating capacity demand, though air transport hasn’t been able to match rising cargo demand as well. That’s forcing some exporters to re-think their options.” But the real challenges - and choices - await Asia-Pacific exports once their products arrive in African ports. “You can’t just put a container on a ship somewhere in Asia and say, ‘Part goes to Kenya, part to Tanzania and part to Uganda’ – it just won’t work” Africa’s internal transport network is still largely fragmented in national rail and road systems, and transporting goods from ports to land-locked countries remains notoriously laborious. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific companies that attempt to embrace trade opportunities with the entire African continent discover their goods end up navigating patchwork of different 47 nations – each with its own transport, logistics, customs, duties and administrative differences and complexities. “You can’t just put a container on a ship somewhere in Asia and say, ‘Part goes to Kenya, part to Tanzania and part to Uganda’ – it just won’t work,” says Dumon. “Africa isn’t integrated the way European Union nations or US states are. Exporters need to have experienced partners on the ground in Africa who know how to deal with all facets and variations of transport, storage, handling and customs work that is involved.” Adding to that complexity are the very different structures and states of evolution of distribution systems across Africa. Those can range from standard retail chain and logistics models to 100% Internet transactions that are delivered directly to end-customers, whose emergence as middle class consumerism coincided with the rise of e-commerce. “Asian exporters really need to have partners in Africa who can cover all transport options, know the most efficient corridors, and have experience in the oldest and most recent distribution models alike,” Dumon says. “With the Bolloré group’s history and infrastructure in Africa, and its activity in Asia, we’re one of the few players who can cover that entire range of options based on client need – all the way to end-to-end solutions right into the hands of individual consumers.” Those capacities were evident in SDV’s work for Asian clients active in Africa recently. For example, it has been essential helping a Chinese company building Senegal’s power transmission grid emanating from the capital Dakar into outlying areas. SDV’s quick and efficient transportation of equipment also made it a critical partner to other Asia-Pacific customers constructing a 400 km-wide solar electricity transmission line in Ivory Coast. The importance of having that kind of partner is expected to double in value as investment in Africa builds the industrial capacities and local companies capable of sending large volumes of consumer goods back to Asian markets, rather than primarily raw materials. As that happens, both the volume and complexity of Africa/Asia-Pacific trade will grow, along with the critical role of specialized logistic and transport partners facilitating it.

Tasha: Why is the process important to you as a Christian? •Zarat: Helps to continually rid my life of imbalance because I am a recovering workaholic •Helps me to reorganize my life around what really matters. •Helps me to cultivate and master what only I can do (my unique giftedness) and stop trying to be a well-rounded, “Jack-of-All-Trades/Master of None” •Encourages freedom for me to be who I was created to be because I will have no excuses at the end of my life •Any written document can serve as a powerful assessment tool and guide. The written LifePlan, if utilized and updated regularly, creates checkpoints, standards, discoveries and learnings of who God is and has created me to be. What we do is an outflow of who we are. Just like a budget, a legal plan, financial plan, workout plan, nutrition plan, career development plan, business plan, etc. can give a clear picture of past, present, and future. The LifePlan has even greater power as it encourages me to look strategically at all areas of my life, based on my unique giftedness. •The LifePlan is fully activated and realized when we continually surrender to God, the Creator of one’s LifePlan. I am learning that this is a continual process of humbling oneself to face new realities and act accordingly. Tasha: How long have you been a Life PlannerCoach? •Zarat: I have been a Life Coach/Planner more than half of my life, working with those around me. Early on, I remember creating a plan for myself because I have always desired strategic focus. I must admit that it was just a shell, not compared to Tom’s comprehensive LifePlanning process. •I started coaching professionally seven years ago, after completing my LifePlan. Several years later I became an Advanced Certified LifePlanner, trained by the founder, Tom Paterson. I now integrate the lifeplanning with coaching for maximum effectiveness and return on investment. Tasha: What made you become interested and certified in Life Planning? •Zarat: My Pastor, Dr. Bryan E. Crute, was instrumental in me hearing about Tom’s LifePlanning process and getting my LifePlan facilitated. •After receiving my LifePlan in 2001, I knew that LifePlanning would be a vital process in accomplishing my life mission. •I believe in the LifePlan process as a tool that I’ve seen God use to clarify and give future direction for numerous people. Tasha: Why should a person consider the Life Planning process? •Zarat: If that person is maneuvering through a crossroad in their life. •If they want to better discern God’s unique path for them specifically. •If that person desires greater balance between his/her many responsibilities. •If that person wants to invest more of WHO they are into WHAT they do, being confident and clear saying “yes” and “no” to opportunities •If that person wants a written strategic plan/map that highlights one’s redeemed past, present reality, and incredible future. •If that person wants a proven, reusable process for continued growth and development regardless of the life season Tasha: Is there a perfect or better time in a person’s life to start? •Zarat: Generally those who are experiencing an overwhelming life crisis or participating in lay or professional counseling should wait before engaging in the LifePlan process. Tasha: What about married couples? Do they do the Life Plan as a couple or as individuals? •Zarat: The LifePlanning process can create greater synergy, appreciation and focus for couples. With all of what married couples face and desire to accomplish, this is an invaluable opportunity for transformation in their lives and family. •The LifePlanner can assess which way to facilitate the process.

This time we will show you how to create colorful rockstar poster in photoshop. In this tutorial we will use plenty of various photoshop techniques. Tutorial is pretty complex, so you will need to carefully follow each step of this tutorial. As you can see from final image preview, we willcreate awesome effect using usual photo and your photoshop knowledge. So, enough to talk, lets start to learn. “This wall remains colorful” is the diploma thesis by Ideas you forgot. Check out the portfolio. Dan Pearlman is responsible for giving these new Tally Weijl stores in Berlin, Bonn and Basel a “sexy” concept. The spaces are glamorous and invite interaction and the opportunity for eyecatching displays. The fashion brand ‘Tally Weijl’ has almost 50,500 fans online, and these new stores are sure to add to these numbers. Read more through ‘World Interior Design Network Blog‘ View 1080p version on From The Guardian: The Gaga spectacle is brand-content synergy perfected and it’s proved so successful that it will surely produce an entire generation of imitators. For better or worse, this is the future of media. Just like Miracle Whip, content, celebrity and advertising will all be poured into a giant machine, sweetened, watered down and emulsified into a mysterious goo. And just like we learned to abide 20 minutes of adverts before a feature film, we’ll grow to accept the incoming regime of scandalous celebrity brand-speak. Meanwhile on Design You Trust: - Life-Size 1964 Ford Mustang Recreated In Lego - Apple To Create New UK Headquarters At London’s Battersea Power Station - This Mind-Blowing Audi Truck Could Be The Future Of Big Rigs - A Look Inside The Luxurious Boeing 747-8 VIP - How The Pros Film Crocodiles Up Close - Sharon Stone And Anton Rivas In “Dog Day Afternoon” Photoshoot (2012) - French Florist Spends 15 Years Decorating His Shop With 800 Water Cans - This Humble Little House Was Designed For A Chef To Live On The Coast Of Norway - Sarah Mudle’s Creepy Makeup Art Will Give You Nightmares - Meet Rava Ray, The Sexy Queen Of The Stingrays - Simple And Clever Pictures That Perfectly Sum Up Every Day Life - Mike Miller’s Photography Captures ’90s Hip-Hop And Lowrider Culture To The Fullest - 2016 Nikon Small World Photo Contest Winners - Photographer Mike Kelley Captures Air Traffic In A Way You’ve Never Seen Before - Artist Shows Off The Fleeting Nature Of Beauty With Crumbling Portraits

Pekrun, Carola and Claupein, Wilhelm (2006) The implication of stubble tillage for weed population dynamics in organic farming. Weed Research, 46 (5), pp. 414-423. [In Press] Limited to [Depositor and staff only] In practical farming early and shallow stubble tillage post-harvest is carried out to stimulate germination of freshly ripened crop and weed seeds, to kill the resulting seedlings and hence to reduce the input into the soil seedbank. Additionally, it aims at reducing perennial weeds by mechanical damage. In this paper field experiments and laboratory studies are presented which show that stubble tillage can reduce perennial weeds. However, it had a variable effect on annual weeds. After five years of experimentation, no effect of stubble tillage was seen when looking at the aboveground vegetation. In contrast, the soil seedbank of the control roughly doubled the seedbank of plots where stubble tillage had been carried out immediately after harvest. These results indicate that practical experience may be correct which assumes that stubble tillage reduces annual weed populations, despite the fact that in other published studies stubble tillage exerted no control of annual weeds or had a variable effect. |EPrint Type:||Journal paper| |Keywords:||stubble tillage, annual weed, perennial weed, volunteer weed, seedbank, organic farming, cultural weed control, germination, dormancy| |Subjects:|| Crop husbandry > Weed management| Crop husbandry > Soil tillage |Research affiliation:||Germany > University of Hohenheim > Institute of Crop Science| |Deposited By:||Pekrun, PD Dr. Carola| |Deposited On:||26 Sep 2006| |Last Modified:||12 Apr 2010 07:33| |Refereed:||Peer-reviewed and accepted| |Additional Publishing Information:||Die endgültige Version des gesamten Artikels kann bei der Autorin angefordert werden. | Der Artikel kann außerdem über den folgenden Link bezogen werden: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com. Weed Research ist die offizielle Zeitschrift der "European Weed Research Society (EWRS)". Repository Staff Only: item control page

Scout SV Reconnaissance Specialist Vehicle, United Kingdom Scout SV is the reconnaissance variant of the Specialist Vehicle armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) developed by General Dynamics (GD) UK for the British Army. It was developed as part of the Future Rapid Effects System's (FRES) Specialist Vehicle (SV) programme of the UK. The new Scout SV vehicle is developed to replace the CVR Scimitar light tank currently in service with the British Forces. This variant can carry a crew of three. Its critical design review (CDR) was completed in February 2015 and first pre-production prototype is scheduled for completion later in 2015. Scout SV is one of the first four planned variants to be deployed by the UK Army. The others are the recovery and repair variants and the protected mobility reconnaissance support (PMRS) infantry carrier variant that can carry up to eight soldiers and a crew of two. The base platform CDR for the PMRS variant was completed in April 2014 and the first PMRS pre-production prototype was unveiled at the DVD (Defence Vehicle Dynamics) 2014 show. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) placed a £3.5bn ($5.56bn) order for 589 Scout SV vehicles in six variants in September 2014. The deliveries will commence in 2017 and continue through 2024. FRES specialist vehicle programme The Scout SV is a modified military off-the-shelf (MMOTS) vehicle. Assessment of potential reconnaissance vehicles from BAE Systems and General Dynamics UK for the SV programme was started in November 2008. General Dynamics UK's Scout was selected as the preferred bidder, against the BAE Systems' CV90, in March 2010. In July 2010, the UK MoD awarded a £500m ($780m) contract to develop seven prototypes of the ASCOD SV - three Scout, repair and recovery versions and an infantry carrier variant - for the demonstration phase. General Dynamics completed cold-weather trials on the mobile test rig (MTR), which is a precursor to the prototype SV, in June 2013. The MTR was unveiled at the DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) 2013 exhibition. Vitavox - Military Loudspeakers, Microphone Communications Systems and Handsets Vitavox has supplied worldwide defence organisations with... Oxley Group Ltd - Night Vision and LED Lighting Systems Oxley has a total capability in the design and manufacture of LED... Scout reconnaissance vehicle variants A common base platform (CBP) for SV will be used across the SV fleet of variations, including the Scout reconnaissance vehicle. The planned SV variants include Scout, recovery and repair, ambulance, PMRS troop carrier and command and control SV, but overall approximately 17 variants are possible, including the heavier bridge-layer and the direct fire/light tank variant. The vehicle's electronic architecture design allows for replacement of various mission subsystems while the commonality of its platform will allow for a wide number of variants including a direct fire vehicle that would feature of a 120mm direct fire weapon delivering the capability of a light tank. The vehicle has maximum synergy and commonality with the FRES utility vehicle (UV) and SV programmes in electronic architecture, survivability and mobility, which reduces the development costs, risks and time. Design of the Scout specialist vehicle The design of Scout SV is based on the Austrian Spanish Cooperation Development (ASCOD) Specialist Vehicle. All variants have an open electronic architecture design. It is expected to offer a much reliable and modern platform for better protection, situational awareness, fire power and mobility for manned reconnaissance missions. The ultra-quiet auxiliary power unit of the vehicle will offer quiet and concealed loitering. The rugged body will enable 24x7 surveillance operations. The vehicle can identify and detect helicopters, UAVs and decoy systems. It has a 1.7m diameter turret ring for providing the crew with a favourable working environment. It will have a normal combat weight of 34t, which can be increased to about 42t to accommodate new technology and component upgrades. The vehicle is expected to have a life of 30 years. Companies and contractors The development of Scout SV involves about 24 UK and other European based suppliers. Lockheed Martin UK was contracted to provide the turret for the vehicle. Thales UK will provide a full optronics suite based on its Orion technology. The suite will include sights for commander and gunners, reconnaissance and targeting and short-range sensors for situational awareness. Raytheon UK was chosen for providing its Chassis Power Switch Node for the vehicle, in January 2012. The display systems will be supplied by Barco. ViaSat will design and develop the onboard encrypted data storage systems. Lockheed Martin UK was awarded a $1bn contract by General Dynamics UK to deliver 245 turrets for the Scout SV in October 2014. The first prototype turrets will be delivered in 2015. Observation and communication systems The Scout vehicle is designed to provide most advanced ground-based intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities. It will reduce the work load on crew with its doubled target stand-off range, fast and accurate automated search, detection and tracking. The detection and identification ranges of the vehicle will be twice to that of the currently operational battle group thermal imager (BGTI) system. An array of sensors and systems are integrated with the crew stations using General Vehicle Architecture (GVA)-complaint 20Gbs/sec Gigabit Ethernet intelligent open architecture. It allows capturing, storing, manipulating, analysing of about 6TB of data for the crew. The captured still and moving images can also be shared in real time. The electronic architecture and integration of Bowman Tactical Communications and other C4 systems on-board enable transmission of the data to secure C4I systems of other allied forces such as the US Army. Weapons and protection of the Scout SV The Scout vehicle's turret is armed with a CTAI cased telescoped (CT40) cannon system, 7.62mm co-axial machine gun and electrically operated grenade launchers. The vehicle is designed for blast protection equal to Mastiff levels. It will have all-round modular protection, far-target thermal sights, sensors for local situational awareness and acoustic detection. It also offers a 360 degree remote weapon system for urban and mountainous combat. Scout SV's engine and mobility The vehicle has seven pairs of tracked road wheels on either side. Its wide track and high power-to-weight ratio will enable it to improve dramatically on the all-terrain manoeuvrability of the CVR 2 to effectively perform ground-based ISTAR operations. A 600kW MTU 8V 199 TE21 engine and Renk 256B automatic transmission system, dual rate suspension system, seven wheel-station running gear give the vehicle a top speed of 70km/h. The transmission is rated at 45t allowing the vehicle to meet different variant configurations without any major upgrades. Global Armoured and Counter-IED Vehicles Market 2011-2021 This project forms part of our recent analysis and forecasts of the global armoured and counter-IED vehicles market available from our business information platform Strategic Defence Intelligence. For more information click here or contact us: EMEA: +44 20 7936 6783; Americas: +1 415 439 4914; Asia Pacific: +61 2 9947 9709 or via email.

Research Optimus’ banking sector research keeps industry run smoothly in an ultra-competitive environment, as the banking sector organizations must be prepared to make swift decisions — sometimes without sufficient information. Research Optimus helps to ensure that banking sector decision-makers are always making fully informed choices by providing 22 specialized research services for banking sector clients. The compliance challenges faced by the banking sector can be particularly problematic for banking organizations of all sizes. With a team of legal experts, ROP enables banks to overcome "regulatory legal limbo" regardless of whether they are dealing with U.S. banking reforms like the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act or banking regulations in new international markets. ROP's data management experts can guarantee data accuracy while freeing up internal resources to work on higher priority assignments in the era of Big Data, which means that banks must manage imposing amounts of data on a daily basis. Because banking sector data requirements involve a diverse set of challenges such as due diligence, marketing campaigns, sales, trading and risk management, expert data management help is routinely required. In addition to managing and monitoring internal banking data, key decision-makers such as bank loan officers, traders and portfolio managers get regular updates about external macroeconomic factors such as currency fluctuations and growth rates in international markets. ROP provides such key data as well as other in-depth financial modeling in a timely fashion. Additional details about all of our research services for banking sector clients are summarized in the next section. 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BROADWAY in Wilmington ORANGE isthe NEW BLAck Piper Kerman Classic Shakespearean Theatre BLUE 13 DANCE ON PAGE 4 ON PAGE 6 ON PAGE 8 The world’s most important living choreographer and his dance troupe The legacy of New Orleans Jazz Wilmington’s first full-scale Broadway production Arts in Action Performance Series 2014-15 Season 3 Molly Ringwald 4 Paul Taylor Dance Company 4 Cherry Poppin’ Daddies 4 Nano Stern 6 Aquila Theatre 6 Irvin Mayfield & the NOJO 7 Blue13 8 Broadway’s Jekyll & Hyde 9 Ticket Information 10 Order Form 11 Wade Davis 11 Ernest Cline 11 Piper Kerman Contact UNCW Presents 601 S. College Rd Wilmington, NC 28412 910.962.2522 uncw.edu/presents firstname.lastname@example.org facebook.com/uncwpresents twitter.com/uncwpresents youtube.com/user/uncwpresents The Paul Taylor Dance Company performance and residency activities are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. Dear Friends, Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Stefanie Mancuso, and I will be serving as the Interim Associate Director for Campus Life Arts and Programs for the 2014-15 academic year. It is with great enthusiasm that I announce the 2014-15 UNCW Presents Arts in Action and Leadership Lecture Series Season. Our trademark of excellence and eclecticism continues this season at UNCW with incredible performances including the work of the world’s most prominent living choreographer, classic Shakespearean theatre, a modern swing band and Wilmington’s first full-scale Broadway performance. For more than 20 years UNCW Presents has provided our students, faculty, staff and community members of all ages with the best of the arts and humanities from the world over. It has been our goal to enlighten you with new concepts and art forms, as well as expose you to once-forgotten, old-world traditions. It is a privilege to offer my heartfelt thanks to you, our patrons, for your support in keeping live performing arts alive and well in our region. Thank you to our students, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to support this importnat programming. Our office functions as a student labratory for arts management and program planning through which we connect to various academic programs. To our hundreds of student volunteers, interns and our thousands of student patrons, who will be the next generation of arts leaders -Thank you for continuing to carry the torch! See you at the theater! Stefanie Mancuso Interim Associate Director Campus Life Arts & Programs On the cover: Molly Ringwald. An Evening with Molly Ringwald Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 7 p.m. │ Kenan Auditorium Film icon Molly Ringwald is celebrated for her acting work in the critically acclaimed, rite-of-passage movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. However, long before she became a Golden Globe-nominated actress, Ringwald was singing. She began performing with her father’s jazz band when she was three and has never stopped. Now, she kicks off our exciting season with her crowd-pleasing concert, “An Evening with Molly Ringwald.” She returns to her roots as a singer, performing a flavorsome arrangement of jazz songs from her album, Except Sometimes. Ringwald’s performance melds traditional jazz with hits from the Great American Songbook, creating a unique show with beautiful, unexpected musical connections. Summer 2014 │ 3 Arts in Action Performance Series Paul Taylor Dance Company Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 8 p.m.│ Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts Co-presented with Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts Branded as the world’s most important living choreographer, Paul Taylor will bring his contemporary dance troupe, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, to the Thalian Hall Main Stage in partnership with UNCW Presents. Their performance, a retrospective of their work, will be a celebration of the company’s 60th anniversary. Founded in 1954, the Paul Taylor Dance Company is one of the earliest touring companies in American dance. Today, Taylor continues to win acclaim for the vibrancy, relevance and power of both his recent dances and his classic works. Taylor’s meticulously choreographed dances draw from influential moments in American cultural history—such as war, spirituality, sexuality, and morality—putting his characteristic humorous and lighthearted spin on these themes. With his troupe, Taylor tackles society’s toughest issues and explores the beauty of movement. Above & Beyond The Paul Taylor Dance Company will be in residence at UNCW, offering free master classes, workshops and lectures. For details, visit www.uncw.edu/presents. Cherry Poppin’ Daddies Thursday and Friday, Nov. 20 and 21, 2014 Residency provided by Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014 7 p.m. │ Kenan Auditorium Renowned for their infusion of swing and ska, the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies first broke into the musical mainstream with their 1997 swing compilation, Zoot Suit Riot. Today, to the enjoyment of audiences across the globe, the Daddies continue to perform their trademark songs and signature music styles but with a more eclectic, varied approach. While the band’s earlier releases were rooted mostly in funk and punk rock, their subsequent studio albums have incorporated elements from many diverse genres of popular music and Americana, including rock, rhythm and blues, soul and world music. Their performance features hits from the 1960s, a tribute to the music of the legendary Rat Pack. A guitar virtuoso with a powerful singing voice, Nano Stern is a celebrated Chilean artist devoted to music and larger social issues. At 27, Stern’s rise to fame has been both meteoric and prolific; he has released four critically acclaimed, award-winning solo albums within a five-year span. Stern’s music draws from the traditional music of Latin America and European folk songs, mixed with more contemporary, improvisational jazz-rock. Stern is a highly active voice in Chilean social rights, often writing, singing and speaking about issues bigger than himself. As he grapples with geographical, social and cultural borders through his music, Stern creates an intense, spirited energy that resonates with audiences from all backgrounds and different walks of life. Above & Beyond Nano Stern will be in residence at UNCW, offering free master classes, workshops and lectures. For details, visit www.uncw.edu/presents. Summer 2014 │ 4 Paul Taylor Dance Company Cherry Poppin’ Daddies Paul Taylor Dance Company Arts in Action Performance Series Aquila Theatre: The Tempest Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015 7 p.m. │ Kenan Auditorium Described as “gleefully engaging” (The New York Times), Aquila Theatre presents a dynamic approach to Shakespeare’s famous play, The Tempest. Believed to be Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest is infused with magic, the supernatural and a heightened suspense. The story details the revenge efforts of Prospero, the Duke of Milan, who has been usurped and exiled by his own brother and is stranded on a mystical island with his daughter, Miranda. Hoping to restore his daughter to her rightful place, Prospero conjures a storm to shipwreck his brother and those who conspired against him. However, Miranda’s love of one of the conspirators complicates her relationship with Prospero just as retribution is finally within reach. With an ensemble of superb performers, the highly acclaimed British-American touring company brings its innovative style and dynamic physical approach to the famous magical tale of forgiveness and enlightenment. Above & Beyond Aquila Theatre will be in residence at UNCW, offering free master classes, workshops and lectures. For details, visit www.uncw.edu/presents. Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 7 p.m. │ Kenan Auditorium Described as a “savory dish of musical gumbo” (Deseret News), Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra have revitalized the jazz scene. Grammy Award-nominated artistic director, trumpeter and composer, Irvin Mayfield, formed the jazz orchestra when he discovered there was no institution solely committed to the jazz industry in the city that created it. Now the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra is the most prominent representative of jazz culture. Their latest album, Book One on World Village, won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. Their unrestrained, free-playing performances celebrate the unique musical experience that could have only originated in the birthplace of jazz. Summer 2014 │ 6 Blue13: Fire & Powder Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 7 p.m. │ Kenan Auditorium With their modern, colorful energy and theatrical performances, Blue13 has been established as one of the world’s most innovative and unique dance troupes. Known for signature urban and Bollywood dance styles, Blue13’s Fire & Powder is an imaginative adaptation of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story bound to delight lovers of hip-hop, Bollywood and Shakespeare. Bollywood Montagues meet hip-hop Capulets in this playful dance theatre work filled with excitement, drama, love and tragedy. Featuring a live drum line and energetic Indian soundtrack, this show fuses Bollywood with Hollywood, remaining true to Indian heritage while maintaining a modern edge. Above & Beyond Blue13 will be in residence at UNCW, offering free master classes, workshops and lectures. For details, visit www.uncw.edu/presents. Summer 2014 │ 7 Arts in Action Performance Series Broadway’s Jekyll & Hyde Wednesday, March 18, 2015 7 p.m. │ Kenan Auditorium The first full-scale Broadway production presented in Wilmington, the story of Jekyll & Hyde is brought to life in a pop-rock, powerhouse musical. A thrilling retelling of a groundbreaking book, Jekyll & Hyde explores the life of a brilliant doctor whose experiments create a murderous counterpart. This gothic-inspired production explores madness and murder, creating an entertaining commentary on human nature. With its smoky effects, soaring vocals and sweeping power ballads, this performance is a must-see. Summer 2014 │ 8 Four Ways to Order Tickets Arts in Action Location and Parking. Arts in Action performances take place in Kenan Auditorium on the campus of UNCW. Kenan Auditorium is located on Randall Drive, adjacent to DeLoach Hall. Free parking is available on campus; the best locations are the parking lots located at Kenan Auditorium, DeLoach Hall and Kenan Hall. Leadership Lecture Location and Parking. Leadership Lectures take place in Burney Center on the campus of UNCW. Burney Center is located on Price Drive, adjacent to the Warwick Center and Fisher Student Center. Free parking is available on campus; the best locations are the parking lots across the street from Burney Center in parking lot M and Warwick Center parking lot. Accessibility. Kenan Auditorium and Burney Center are accessible to people of all abilities. With advance notice, we will provide reasonable accommodations you may need. Please call Kenan Box Office (Kenan Auditorium) at 910.962.3500 or Campus Life Reservations (Burney Center) at 910.962.4150 for your specific needs. Seating Policy. All seats are reserved for Arts in Action performances in Kenan Auditorium; Leadership Lectures are general seating in Burney Center. Doors open approximately one-half hour before curtain time. As a courtesy to performers and audience members, latecomers will not be seated until a suitable pause in the program. Electronic Devices. Cameras and recorders of any kind are not allowed. Cell phones must be silenced or turned off. No cell phone usage during the performance. Miscellaneous. Parents should exercise discretion in deciding which events are appropriate for their children. No refunds on ticket purchases, unless event is cancelled. All events are subject to change. Tax Deductible Contribution. Please consider a contribution in support of UNCW Presents when you send in your ticket order. The price of your ticket covers only a portion of the cost of programming. Our primary financial support comes from the students of UNCW, and we do not receive state-appropriated operating funds. Your donation will help ensure the continued presentation of the highest caliber of performing artists and speakers in our community. UNCW Presents, c/o Kenan Auditorium 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC 28403-5966 Online www.etix.com Single tickets only. Season and Choose-Your-Own subscriptions must be ordered from Kenan Box Office. Phone 800.732.3643 or 910.962.3500 Mon-Fri, Noon-6 p.m. Visa/MasterCard orders only In Person Lobby of Kenan Auditorium 601 S. College Rd., UNCW Campus Hours vary. See website for full listing. www.uncw.edu/presents Season Subscriptions. Pay less, see more. Save 20% and receive the best seats in the house when you subscribe to the full Arts in Action season. Package includes six performances at Kenan auditorium plus a special discount to two Thalian Hall shows. Subscription renewals must be received by July 22, 2014. Choose-Your-0wn Series. Select 3 or more events using the Special Rate price column. Multiple tickets for one event do not count as separate events. CYO subscriptions are processed after season subscriptions, but before we process orders for single tickets. Single Tickets. You may order tickets for individual performances beginning August 20, 2014. Students. The student rate for Arts in Action ($5 per ticket) applies to UNCW, university, college and K-12 students. UNCW students may purchase up to 2 tickets at this price with a valid ID at Kenan Auditorium Box Office. UNCW Faculty/Staff, Alumni, Parents and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Members. Use the special rate price. UNCW faculty/staff members must present a valid campus ID at the time of purchase. UNCW Alumni Association members and parents of current UNCW students should use the special rate price. Senior Citizens and Groups. Use the special rate price if you are a senior citizen or if you are purchasing tickets for a group of 10 or more. Summer 2014 │ 9 Arts in Action Performance Series Arts in Action Performance Series Order Form Season tickets on sale July 1 • Single tickets on sale August 20 All 6 events listed below. Save 20% General Public $5 Discount UNCW Student _____@ $150 _____@ $120 _____@ $25 Totals $______ Subtotal 1 $______ Single Event Tickets Save $5 if you choose 3 or more events Date Performance General Public $5 Discount Student Totals 9/17 An Evening with Molly Ringwald _____@ $35 _____@ $30 _____@ $5 $ _____ 11/13 Cherry Poppin’ Daddies _____@ $30 _____@ $25 _____@ $5 $ _____ 2/3 Aquila Theatre: The Tempest _____@ $30 _____@ $25 _____@ $5 $ _____ 2/14 Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra _____@ $35 _____@ $30 _____@ $5 $ _____ 2/19 Blue13: Fire & Powder _____@ $25 _____@ $20 _____@ $5 $ _____ 3/18 Broadway’s Jekyll & Hyde _____@ $35 _____@ $30 _____@ $5 $ _____ Subtotal 2 $ _____ Contact Information Name ____________________________________________________________________ + Subtotal 1$ _____ Address ___________________________________________________________________ Tax Deductible City _________________________________State__________ Zip_____________________ Contribution $ _____ Phone ___________________________________________________________________ Handling Fee $ + 1.00 Email____________________________________________________________________ TOTAL $_______ Season Subscribers __ I wish to retain 2013-14 seats (renew by July 22) Mail completed form to: __ I wish to change 2013-14 seats (renewing season subscribers only; renew by July 22) UNCW Presents Seating preference : ______ 601 S. College Rd. Payment Wilmington, NC 28403-5672 __ Visa __ MasterCard __ Check enclosed payable to: UNCW Presents or hand-deliver to Card #____________________________________________________ Exp Date ________ Kenan Auditorium Box Office CVV# (three digits on the back of the card) ____________ Signature_________________________________________________________________ Leadership Lecture Series Tickets Wade Davis, former NFL player Ernest Cline, author of the 2014-15 common reading Ready Player One Piper Kerman, author of the memoir Orange is the New Black TICKETS General Public: $10 UNCW Students/Faculty/Staff: Free www.etix.com Sharky’s Box Office Fisher Student Center 910.962.4045 Leadership Lecture Series Former NFL player to LGBTQ Advocate Author of the 2014-15 Common Reading Ready Player One Monday, Oct. 6, 2014 7 p.m. │ Burney Center Wade Davis is a nationally acclaimed speaker, activist, writer and educator. Davis was the first NFL football player to come out as gay, becoming an instant role model for the LGBTQ community. Davis is the Executive Director of the You Can Play Project, an organization dedicated to ending discrimination and homophobia in sports. He is the co-founder of the You Belong Initiative, a Youth Sports and Leadership camp for LGBTQ and straight allied youth. During the 2012 election, he served as an LGBTQ Surrogate for President Obama. He is currently a visiting professor at Rutgers University. His upcoming memoir—Interference— chronicles his struggles from growing up in a strict religious household to working and advocating for LGBTQ rights. Monday, Nov. 3, 2014 7 p.m. │ Burney Center The author of the 2014-15 Synergy Common Reading book Ready Player One, Ernest Cline is no stranger to the world of technology and video games. Self-described as the “Biggest Geek in History,” Cline’s childhood centered around comic books and sci-fi novels, Dungeons & Dragons and video arcades. A New York Times bestseller, Ready Player One takes the reader on a thrilling ride while providing a commentary on the relationship between people and technology. The book is scheduled to be adapted into a film. Additionally, Cline performs slam poetry, and his work is featured on NPR and CBC Radio. Piper Kerman Author of the memoir Orange is the New Black Tuesday, March 3, 2015 7 p.m. │ Burney Center In the critically acclaimed memoir-turned Netflix series Orange is the New Black, Piper Kerman recounts the year she spent in a correctional facility, serving time for a crime she had committed 10 years prior. Kerman’s book is a compelling and moving conversation about the women she met while incarcerated, raising issues of friendship and family, codes of behavior and the almost complete lack of guidance for life after prison. Now, Kerman advocates for change in the prison system, speaking to groups that include federal probation officers, public defenders and formerly incarcerated people. In her lecture, Kerman will discuss her experience in a women’s prison and her advocacy for reform within these prison Summer 2014 │ 11 systems. Nonprofit Organization US Postage University of North Carolina Wilmington 601 South College Road Wilmington , NC 28403-5993 Wilmingotn, NC Permit No. 444 Cherry Poppin’ Daddies │p. 4 Piper Kerman │p. 11 Blue13 Dance Company│p. 7 irvin mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra│p. 6 Paul Taylor Dance Company │p. 4

Report from ASH December 2012 MPN Research Foundation 2012 ASH Meeting Summary This year’s ASH meeting provided important updates on clinical trials for JAK inhibitors as well as insights into novel alternative therapies. In addition, there were several exciting pre-clinical advances that suggest new targets for therapies for the MPNs. 1. Update on the efficacy of Ruxolitinib: Ruxolitinib, a dual JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor has been on the market for over a year and has shown efficacy in reducing the constitutional symptoms in patients with myelofibrosis. However, it has been unclear whether Ruxolitinib alters the natural history of the disease, provides a survival advantage, reduces the allele burden, or improves bone marrow fibrosis. An update on the Phase III COMFORT trials provided some exciting news. Most importantly, the survival advantage reported in last year’s ASH meeting has been confirmed in the extra one year follow-up: patients taking Ruxolitinib show a modest, but significant, increase in overall survival. In addition, the Ruxolitinib response has been durable and there is evidence of gradual reductions in allele burden. The drug may extend survival by reducing cachexia, which is associated with weight loss, loss of appetite, fatigue and other symptoms commonly seen in myelofibrosis. Despite the good news, it remains unclear to what extent the drug halts or reverses bone marrow fibrosis. Moreover, the most frequent adverse events reported include anemia or thrombocytopenia. Preliminary Phase Ib data, however, suggest that lower doses of ruxolitinib are effective at reducing spleen length and generally well tolerated in myelofibrosis patients with low platelet counts (between 50,000 and 99,000). Another update presented data from a Phase II study of Ruxolitinib in PV. This small study demonstrated that Ruxolitinib provided a sustained improvement in patients resistant or intolerant to hydroxyurea. Effects included improvement in constitutional symptoms, modest decreases in the allele burden, and impressive reductions in peripheral blood counts. These results suggest that Ruxolitinib may be a great benefit in PV as well as myelofibrosis. 2. Update on the Cytopia (now Gilead Sciences) JAK inhibitor: An extended study of the Phase II trial of CYT387 reported safety and efficacy data, which confirmed last year’s report that the JAK inhibitor provides benefit to patients with myelofibrosis. Specifically, patients displayed a durable response with symptomatic improvement and a reduction in spleen volume. Unlike Ruxolitinib, CYT387 provided a benefit to patients with anemia in this trial: among the 33 patients who were transfusion dependent, nearly 70% achieved a minimum of 12-week period without transfusions and some remained transfusion free for more than 2 years. Overall, there was a 48% anemia response rate. This update provides optimism that CYT387 will confer an important therapeutic benefit in myelofibrosis. Nevertheless, a Phase III trial is required to confirm the anemia response in a much larger cohort of patients. 3. Update on the Sanofi (formerly TargeGen) JAK inhibitor: SAR302503 continues to show promise in clinical studies. Results from a Phase II study confirmed activity in reducing splenomegaly and improving constitutional symptoms. The most common hematologic side effect is anemia. Surprisingly, SAR302503 treatment was associated with a low incidence of thrombocytopenia. This curious finding suggests that the drug will be useful in patients whose platelet counts are low. Data from an ongoing Phase III should be released in 2013. Other novel therapies 1. PI3K pathway inhibition There were several presentations regarding the use of PI3K inhibitors. These drugs target a signaling pathway that is related, but distinct from JAK/STAT. In one presentation, pre-clinical studies demonstrated that a class of these compounds known as “Pan-PI3K” inhibitors showed the best synergy with Ruxolitinib. Mice treated with one of these compounds, GDC0941, in concert with Ruxolitinib showed drastic reductions in spleen weight and decreased growth of endogenous erythroid colonies (ones that do not rely on cytokines due to activated JAK/STAT signaling). In an impressive related study, the PI3K inhibitor BEZ-235 was shown to strongly cooperate with Ruxolitinib in MPN cell lines, primary patient samples and in animal models of MPNs. Together these results provide strong rationale for opening human trials to test the combination of PI3K pathway and JAK inhibitors. 2. HDAC inhibition Histone deacetylases are enzymes that modify the structure of DNA and also control the stability of some cellular proteins. This year, the results of Phase II trials of this class of drugs in PV and ET patients were presented. In one study, the activity of the drug Vorinostat as a single agent in a Phase II trial was detailed. Vorinostat normalized white blood cell and platelet counts in many patients and also showed a significant reduction in allele burden. However, more than 50% of the patients dropped out of the study due to side effects. Nevertheless, the observation that the drug was effective at reducing the tumor burden suggest that combining it with a JAK inhibitor and using it at a lower dose may be beneficial. A second clinical trial of Vorinostat in PV and ET patients also showed reduction in symptoms, but due to the small sample size the results were not significant. Overall, these and other studies suggest that HDAC inhibitors may provide therapeutic benefit when used at lower doses in combination with a JAK inhibitor. 3. HSP90 inhibition HSP90 is a protein that regulates the stability of proteins. A previous study demonstrated that HSP90 inhibition led to a selective degradation of the mutant form of JAK2 and to reduced disease burden in a mouse model of MPN. A new report presented at this meeting revealed that the HSP90 inhibitor PU-H71 cooperated with a JAK inhibitor to provide pathologic improvement, a reduction in fibrosis and reduced JAK/STAT signaling without increased side effects in animal models. These results provide strong rationale for combination studies of HSP90 and JAK inhibitors. 4. LOXL2 inhibition LOXL2 is a protein that has been implicated in cancer progression and fibrosis including that of the bone marrow. A conversation between the MPN Research Foundation and Gilead Sciences revealed that the company is developing a LOXL2 inhibitor that may be a promising agent. Stay tuned for more information on the potential use of this class of drugs in the MPNs. This is a drug that acts as an immunomodulator that shows efficacy in multiple myeloma. In addition to papers that described its use in myeloma, there were multiple presentations regarding its use in the MPNs. Previous reports have suggested that pomalidomide improves anemia and reduces the need for red blood cell transfusions in patients with myelofibrosis. This year’s meeting included two reports of trials that combine a low dose of pomalidomide with the corticosteroid prednisone. In both cases, pomalidomide showed modest efficacy with some patients becoming transfusion independent during the study. A Phase III trial is underway. 6. PRM151 and fibrosis This is a drug under development by Promedior, a biotechnology company seeking to develop new treatments for fibrosis, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In a discussion with the MPN Research Foundation, the company revealed that it plans to open a study of this investigational drug in bone marrow fibrosis. It is believed that the drug works by regulating monocyte-derived cells that contribute to the fibrotic process. Stay tuned for updates on clinical studies of PRM151 in the MPNs. 7. Telomerase polymorphism and therapeutic benefit Telomerase is an enzyme that repairs the ends of chromosomes after cell replication. Studies have revealed that telomerase is hyperactivated in tumor cells. Two studies at the meeting reported on telomerase in the MPNs. In one paper, the company ‘23 and me’ reported the identification of a new polymorphism (a difference in the DNA sequence among different individuals in a population) associated with the MPNs in TERT, the gene that encodes the telomerase reverse transcriptase. Although it is unclear how this variant would contribute to the MPNs, the observation is interesting because of the existence of a telomerase inhibitor under development by Geron Corporation. Imetelstat, a first in class telomerase inhibitor, is under study in a Phase II trial in patients with ET who are refractory or intolerant to prior therapy. In this small trial, Imetelstat showed robust activity against the megakaryocyte lineage, with significant reductions in platelet counts in the majority of patients. A reduction in JAK2 mutant allele burden was also seen in the majority of JAK2 V617F positive cases. Although it remains unclear why the drug appears to selectively affect platelet-producing cells, the Phase II data suggest that the drug may have efficacy in ET. Scientific Talks of Note Dr. Jerry Spivak of Johns Hopkins University discovered that MPL, the receptor for thrombopoietin and regulator of megakaryocyte production, is required for PV in mouse models. This result is surprising in that MPL is generally not associated with red blood cell production. It is likely that the requirement for MPL is at the hematopoietic stem and progenitor level. This observation suggests that reducing the activity of MPL, perhaps by reducing thrombopoietin levels, may have therapeutic benefit in the MPNs There were multiple presentations that describe the use of next generation sequencing to identify novel mutations in the MPNs. Although these talks did not discuss the identities of new mutations, we should be optimistic that potential new targets for therapy will be revealed in the near future.

Volume 7 Supplement 5 Trends in life science grid: from computing grid to knowledge grid © Konagaya; licensee BioMed Central Ltd 2006 Published: 18 December 2006 Grid computing has great potential to become a standard cyberinfrastructure for life sciences which often require high-performance computing and large data handling which exceeds the computing capacity of a single institution. This survey reviews the latest grid technologies from the viewpoints of computing grid, data grid and knowledge grid. Computing grid technologies have been matured enough to solve high-throughput real-world life scientific problems. Data grid technologies are strong candidates for realizing "resourceome" for bioinformatics. Knowledge grids should be designed not only from sharing explicit knowledge on computers but also from community formulation for sharing tacit knowledge among a community. Extending the concept of grid from computing grid to knowledge grid, it is possible to make use of a grid as not only sharable computing resources, but also as time and place in which people work together, create knowledge, and share knowledge and experiences in a community. Bioinformatics applications often require high-performance computing and large data handling which exceeds the computing capacity of a single institution . Sharing of unpublished data is also important in promoting collaborative research among institutions, as well as sharing of public databases, bioinformatics tools and web services [2–7]. Biological knowledge, such as ontology and meta data, also plays an important role in analysis of experimental data and integrating genome-wide OMICS data including genome, transcriptome, proteome, and other types of data [8, 9]. Grid computing is a promising information technology which meets the above requirements, and has great potential to become a standard cyberinfrastructure for life sciences [10, 11]. However, many features of it remain to be improved in terms of availability, performance and security, to name a few. This paper reviews the latest grid technologies for life sciences mainly from papers published in the proceedings of international conferences: LS-GRID2004 , LSGRID2005 , LSGRID2006 , CCGRID2006 and NETTAB2006 . The grid technologies can be classified into three categories from the viewpoint of application development: computing grids, data grids, and knowledge grids. Although the grid is general enough to execute any type of life science application, the above classification is helpful for understanding the pros and cons of grid technologies when they are used for real life science applications. The organization of this paper is as follows. The section, "Computing grid" introduces computing grid technologies focusing on virtual screening and large-scale sequence matching from the viewpoint of high-throughput computing. The next section, "Data grid" focuses on data grid technologies from the viewpoints of service integration, workflow and security when assuming open grid service architecture (OGSA). The "Knowledge grid" section discusses the requirements of knowledge grid technologies when using a grid as a cyberinfrastructure for knowledge creation based on the Nonaka knowledge spiral between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Finally, a summary of the current status and future perspectives of life science grid technologies is presented. Bioinformatics applications often have to deal with thousands of relatively small independent tasks, each of which costs at most seconds or minutes for computation. This type of computation is referred to as "high throughput computing" and is distinguished from "high performance computing", which aims at short turnaround time on large scale computing using parallel processing techniques and special purpose computers [17, 18]. Although grid computing aims at parallel and distributed computing, like cluster computing, the two differ in network latency and robustness. Network latency among institutions is far longer than that in a system area network in clusters even if network throughput performance is the same, for example, a giga-bit per second. In addition, the frequency of remote task failures is much higher in grid computing than in cluster computing due to the overhead of remote task invocation and the heterogeneity of computation pools. Therefore, handling of unexpected node termination and network problems is mandatory in grid computing, especially for lengthy execution jobs which take weeks and months of total time. There are two types of high-throughput computing in life sciences: numerical processing, typified by virtual screening, and symbolic processing, typified by sequence matching. High throughput numerical processing High throughput numerical processing has become popular in bioinformatics due to the emergence of systems biology, which aims at modeling of biological dynamics in molecules, cells, organs and individuals. Huge computational power is necessary for the simulation of molecular folding, molecular docking, and spatiotemporal molecular interaction, and for the kinetic parameter estimation of metabolic pathways and signal transduction pathways, and so on. Problem decomposition techniques such as parameter sweep and stochastic modeling are often used to obtain a set of independent tasks in life science applications. One of the best examples of life science high-throughput computing is the WISDOM high-throughput docking project in the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE (EGEE) project. It achieved over 46 million docking simulations, using 1700 computers distributed in 15 countries in about 6 weeks. The equivalent of 80 years on a single machine was used to find new inhibitors for a family of proteins produced by Plasmodium falciparum from 11 July 2005 to 19 August 2005 . DIANE is an enhanced version of WISDOM with a light-weight framework. It was used to search for potential drugs for the predicted variants of the avian flu virus (H5N1), and produced two millions docking complexes with a size of 600 gigabytes using 2000 grid worker nodes distributed in 17 countries . The above virtual screening projects revealed the limitations and bottlenecks of the current EGEE infrastructure. Overall grid efficiency was reported to be about 50 percent, on average. Server license failure, workload management failure and site failure were major sources of failures with rates of 23, 10 and 9 percent, respectively . This means that much remains to be accomplished in grid middle-ware in improving availability and performance in solving real-life science problems. Another example of high-throughput computing in bioinformatics is parameter estimation of ordinary differential equations for the mathematical modeling of metabolic pathways and signal transduction pathways . Genetic algorithms are often used for estimating optimal parameter fitting to biological experimental results [23–25]. Genetic algorithms exhibit high degrees of parallelism, since they require multiple trials with various initial conditions as well as fitting function evaluation for each individual on each generation. "Parameter Mining" is an alternative approach to genetic algorithms for the parameter estimation of mathematical models . It uses two-dimensional geometrical patterns representing parameter-parameter dependencies (PPD) in differential equations, obtained by calculating moment parameters, such as area under the curve (AUC), mean residence time (MRT), and variance of residence time (VRT). Each two-dimensional pattern requires 25*21 measurement points to cover (10 to 6)*(10 to 5) parameter ranges, and 370 Gigabytes and 71 single cpu days are required for calculation of 256 geometrical patterns with 2,150,400 simulation in total. This CPU and data-intensive approach enables more precise mapping of biological experimental data on appropriate locations in geometrical patterns with a bird's eye view. High throughput symbolic processing Sequence analysis, such as homology searches, genome comparisons and genome-wide analyses, are typical examples of time-consuming high-throughput symbolic processing applications in bioinformatics. Although the human genome sequence project has been concluded, there is still strong demand for high-performance sequence analysis due to the emergence of metagenomic projects and human resequencing projects as well as genome sequencing projects on mammalian and other species . Sequencing data are expected to increase more rapidly as high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies become popular and economical. Unlike numerical processing, bioinformatics symbolic processing often requires large databases such as DNA and protein sequence databases. Sharing and updating of biological databases on the grid are of key importance in high-throughput symbolic processing such as homology searches, genome comparison and genome-wide scan analyses. Sharing and updating of biological databases Sharing and updating of biological databases has become more and more difficult and intractable due to the rapid increase in DNA and genome sequence data. Rapid progress of DNA chip technologies also contributes to the expansion of gene expression databases and SNP databases. Automatic updating of databases is necessary to decrease the database maintenance costs, especially when the number of replicas becomes large in grid . In the deployment of genome databases on worker nodes, duplicated database copying, disk overflow, unexpected shutdown, version management, and file checksum integrity verification are all concerns, as well as parallel and pipelined mechanisms for high-throughput data transfer . EGEE also provides a general framework for sharing replicas of biological databases represented by logical filenames (LFNs) using a replica manager system (RMS). The framework enables execution of bioinformatics applications on computing elements with randomly replicated LNFs on the storage elements of several grid nodes shared by more than 30,000 CPUs in total . The Genome Analysis and Database Update system (GADU) provides an automated, scalable, high-throughput computational workflow engine that executes bioinformatics tools (BLAST, BLOCKS, PFam, Chisel and InterPro) with public databases (NCBI RefSeq, PIR, InterPro and KEGG) on multiple Grids of different architectures and environment, a collective member of more than 18,000 CPUs contributed by more than 60 institutions . BLAST is a typical example of high-throughput symbolic processing in homology searches. Many GRID BLAST implementations have been developed and reported [30–35]. The characteristics of Grid Blast are summarized as follows: (1) prestaging of sequence databases to minimize the runtime overhead of transferal of large sequence databases, which often reach several Gigabytes in size, (2) databases update which keeps data consistency on the data-grid, (3) dynamic load balancing of query sequences to avoid unexpected slow responses, especially when dealing with thousands of query sequences in heterogeneous computation pools including PC-clusters and desktop computers, and (4) assembling of the results from distributed jobs. Genome comparison is one of the most promising life science applications for grid computing. "The computation will be left behind a tidal wave of genomic data, unless an expandable and flexible large scale computing facility is established" described Sugawara, when investigating horizontal gene transfer among 354,606 ORFs extracted from more than 100 microbial genomes using 229 CPUs located in five institutions in 2003 . It should be noted the number of pair-wise sequence comparison increases in proportion to the square of the number of genome sequences. Grid is one of feasible information technologies that can provide huge computation power necessary for this purpose. Genome-wide scan analysis Genome-wide scan analysis becomes more and more important but time-consuming in nature. Recent disccovery of RNA world reveals the importance of finding highly conserved regions in genome sequences for non-coding genes and microRNA binding regions as well as coding-genes and binding factor regions. SNP-based population genetics and copy number analysis on genome sequence variations are also important applications for a life science grid in near future. Gridification of sequence analysis tools are urgent issues to deal with ever–expanding genome sequences [37, 38]. "We suggest that the full set of bioinformatics resources–the resourceome–should be explicitly characterized and organized." noted Russ Altman in his article . Resourceome requires a uniform interface in which all the bioinformatics databases and application tools can be accessed through web services and workflow systems in a secure fashion. Ontology and/or meta data are also required to integrate the bioinformatics services. Data Grids based on Open Grid Service Architecture (OGSA) are beginning to satisfy the above requirements, and will be applicable to practical applications including pharmacogenomics and clinical-trials in the near future. Integration of bioinformatics services OGSA provides a general framework for sharing of resources among institutions over firewalls based on the Web Service Resource Framework (WSRF). It enables execution of bioinformatics applications and workflows with remote resources through web services in secure fashion. Metadata and ontology play an important role to fill the semantic gap of heterogeneous databases as follows. The Japanese BioGrid project designed application metadata and data service metadata to fill the semantic gap among gene-protein databases, interaction databases and compound databases necessary for drug-design using GT3 and OGSA-DAI for the implementation of a heterogeneous database federation . The @neurIST project developed a service-oriented grid infrastructure to integrate public databases, hospital information, private databases, modeling and simulation using Web Service Level Agreements (WSLA) for QoS-enabled computer service . The Sealife project aimed at context-based information integration on a semantic web/grid browser which automatically links a host of web servers and Web/Grid services to the Web content being visiting. Text mining and concept mapping techniques were used for bridging the gap between the free text on the current web and the ontology-based mark-up for the semantic web and the grid services . Bioinformatics workflow tools are necessary for end-users to make use bioinformatics web/grid services. Taverna is one such example which provides a workflow language and graphical user interface to facilitate the easy building, running and editing of workflows allowing the integration of resources that are published as Web services . However, the quest for resources becomes a very demanding and time-consuming activity, so that a dynamic semantic indexing system of bioinformatics services becomes essential . Searching functionally similar bioinformatics workflows is also important for the recyclable use of bioinformatics workflows . In addition, automatic generation of bioinformatics is possible if bioinformatics ontology that defines input-output data specification and functional specification is established . A workflow management system is also helpful for deploying grid applications because it enables to encapsulate architectural differences of heterogeneous grid resources from application users [46–48]. Agents society is another approach to integrate insilico experiments, resource discovery and biological system simulation . Secure data access Many bioinformatics databases are public and freely available, but it is often the case that access to the data needs to be strictly controlled in distributed collaborative research. A secure framework is needed to access clinical data that exists across regional, national and international boundaries for clinical trials and unbiased evaluations of their outcome . Although Public Key Infrastructures (PKI) is the predominant method for enforcing authentication in a grid community, the Virtual Organization for Trials and Epidemiological Studies (VOTES) project adopted the Internet2 Shibboleth technology to allow a "single sign-on" authentication step between the grid/data servers and the local database resources [35, 50, 51]. Michael Polanyi, a 20th-century philosopher, commented in his book, The Tacit Dimension, that "we should start from the fact that we can know more than we can tell". This means that knowledge which we can represent on computers is just a part of knowledge which we can create, transfer and share among a community. The Grid can be considered as a kind of "Ba", a Japanese philosophical concept, that conceptualises time and place where people work together and create knowledge . This "ba" can be designed not only for sharing explicit knowledge but also for sharing tacit knowledge among communities and/or virtual organizations . According to the Nonaka knowledge spiral theory , knowledge creation requires a cyclic process of knowledge conversion between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge; (1) Socialization (tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge), (2) Externalization (tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge) (3) Combination (explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge) and (4) Internalization (explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge). This has significant insights into what it will take to support the realisation of the Grid amongst our scientific community. This framework gives a meta-philosophical approach to rationalise the current Grid phenomemon. Socialization is the first step in formulating a community. Grid portals are helpful for attracting those who are interested in some specific field. However, the role of a portal will be limited if it does not allow formulation of user-defined communities. Knowledge grids should provide social communication system-like facilities in which any participant can formulate a new community and can recruit other participants. Face-to-face meeting or off-site meeting will be also helpful in promoting mutual understanding in a community. Externalization is the essence of knowledge creation. It is not too much to say that all research activities are a kind of externalization involving publication of research papers as a final result. In this sense, knowledge grid should provide facilities for participants to publish their knowledge in a community. Web-based dynamic contents are one of the promising ways of publication of knowledge . Combination expands knowledge by the sharing of explicit knowledge in a community. Synergy effects can be expected if participants bring together their own knowledge. Grid portals [55–57] and application-oriented grids [58–61] play an essential role in this process. Internalization is a process of acquiring tacit knowledge by experience. In order to make use of a grid for real world life science problems, a global bioinformatics environment, that is, a problem solving layer for bioinformatics must be developed on a grid. Gridfication of public databases and bioinformatics tools are necessary conditions but not sufficient for this. The bioinformatics environment should provide secure facilities to deal with unpublished data and customization facilities to develop one's own bioinformatics environment coordinated with global bioinformatics environment. Computing grid technologies have been matured enough to solve high-throughput real-world life scientific problems like virtual screening of docking simulation. Scalable distributed storage management systems are also necessary to deal with high-throughput sequence analysis on ever-increasing DNA sequence data. Data grid technologies are strong candidate for realizing resourceome for bioinformatics. OGSA and workflow management system enable to develop a global bioinformatics environment in which any biological databases and bioinformatics tools can be access through grid services. Ontology and common data-exchange formats are keys to establish interoperability among bioinformatics grid services. Knowledge grid should be designed not only from sharing explicit knowledge on computers but also from community formulation for sharing tacit knowledge among a community. Then, we can extend the concept of grid as a ba, that is, time and place in which people work together, create knowledge, and share knowledge and experiences in a community. The authors express special thanks for the member of the Open Bioinformatics Grid project and anonymous reviewers for their valuable discussion and useful comments for this manuscript. This article has been published as part of BMC Bioinformatics Volume 7, Supplement 5, 2006: APBioNet – Fifth International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB2006). 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|Número de publicación||US5858697 A| |Tipo de publicación||Concesión| |Número de solicitud||US 08/667,014| |Fecha de publicación||12 Ene 1999| |Fecha de presentación||20 Jun 1996| |Fecha de prioridad||22 Jun 1995| |También publicado como||EP0750045A1| |Número de publicación||08667014, 667014, US 5858697 A, US 5858697A, US-A-5858697, US5858697 A, US5858697A| |Inventores||Warren Groner, Jean-Louis Drocourt, Louis Foissac| |Exportar cita||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Citas de patentes (9), Citada por (13), Clasificaciones (19), Eventos legales (6)| |Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet| The instant invention relates to a method for the rapid diagnostic of an infection of the urinary tract (UTI), by a specific examination of urine. Two laboratory findings are more particularly carried out in case of an infection of the urinary tract, i.e. count of white blood cells (pyuria) and culture of microorganisms (bacteriuria). These two tests present independent diagnosis value: bacteriuria without pyuria indicates contamination of the specimen or colonization of the bacteria in the urine without tissue invasion. pyuria without bacteriuria indicates inflammation without infection or may sometimes reveal the presence of anaerobic bacteria. However, the clinical synergy of these two findings is frequently mitigated by laboratory practice since they are generally the result of two separate tests frequently performed at different times and upon different samples; such a situation leads, therefore to a very difficult comparison and interpretation of the results. Generally, pyuria is evaluated by the determination of the number of white blood cells in a urine sample, as part of the microscopic examination of the solid material in urine (high power field), concentrated by sedimentation. However, this method has been shown to be imprecise, poorly correlated with the excretion rates of leucocytes, not reproducible and time-consuming. The major source of inaccuracy and imprecision has been found to be a result of the sedimentation process where there is a poor relationship between the volume examined and the amount of original sample (Am. J. Med., 1983, 53-58). Alternatively, the undiluted urine could be analyzed for leucocyte alkaline phophatase, on a serum chemistry analyzer; however, this method is not sufficiently sensitive. More quantitative results which were obtained by counting leucocytes with a hemocytometer, in unspun urine, have been shown to correlate better with excretion rates and with urinary tract infection (Blum et al. J. Gen. Int. Med., 1992, 140-144) It is however time-consuming and it may not be routinely available. However, these methods are difficult to perform, more costly and may not be sufficiently sensitive, given the relatively low concentration of white blood cells in normal urine (<10,000 per ml). Bacteriuria is, generally, detected by cultures, which constitute the standard process for the diagnosis of UTI. However, such a procedure is expensive and the results are not readily available since the test requires one to two days for obtaining a positive result and there is as much as seven days for a confirmed negative result. Such a delay in diagnosis constitutes a major drawback in so far as a rapid diagnosis allows a prompt treatment and can avoid renal damage especially in small children and infants. More rapid methods of detection of bacteria in urine have been proposed such as Gram staining and ATP bioluminescence (Pezzlo et al., J. Clin. Microbiol., 1989, 716-720); however, such methods generally do not offer the sensitivity of the culture methods. Indeed, desired detection sensitivity to viable bacteria is less than 10,000 per ml. Thus, the required sensitivity of detection for medical use is similar for bacteria and white blood cells (WBC) and is generally not achieved with the rapid methods of detection. In view to overcome the hereabove mentioned difficulties, there have been many methods proposed and used for rapid screening of urine to detect UTI. These methods include, for instance: rapid dipstick tests reacting to esterase activity of both leucocytes and bacteria; (Blum et al, cited; Bachman et al., JAMA, 1993, 270, 6, 1971-1974; Pezzlo et al. cited); however, they provide no distinction between leucocytes and bacteria, and the sensitivity is limited. For example, bacteriuria at levels of 102 to 103 CFU/ml are detected in less than 50% of the cases, Filtration methods (Pezzlo et al. cited) and quantitative microscopy for leucocyte. A comparison of the results of dipstick analysis, standard microscopic urinalysis, hemocytometric cell counting and Gram staining were compared with the results of a standard urine culture (Blum et al, cited). The standard urinalysis (microscopic analysis of a centrifuged specimen) was the most accurate single method to predict significant bacteriuria in symptomatic ambulatory women. A further comparison with bioluminescence method was illustrated in Pezzlo et al. (cited). Recent studies have proposed the counting of leucocytes and bacteria, by visual microscopy performed quantitatively on unspun urine specimens (Vickers et al., The Lancet, 1991, 338, 8770, 767-770; Hiraoka et al., Scand. J; Clin. Lab. Invest., 1993, 53, 705-709)). In these studies, the best results are obtained when visual identification is made of both the bacteria and leucocytes, usually with no specific staining. Even though it is stated (Hiraoka et al., cited) that urine microspopy on a disposable counting chamber is simple, sensitive and time- and cost-saving method for the diagnosis of UTI caused by a variety of bacterial species including cocci, the method suffers from some shortcomings: sensitivity was less than culture method at low concentrations of bacteria, there is no discrimination between viable and nonviable bacteria leading to false positives which require culture to follow-up, the method is labor intensive and requires trained operators and special optical devices such as a mirrored slide or phase contrast objective lens to be easily and reproducibility performed. To allow automation of the microscopic analysis of urine, techniques carrying out image analysis on sedimented urine or cell counting have been proposed (Deindoerfer et al., Clin. Chem., 1982, 28, 9, 1910-1916; Elin et al., Am. J. Clin. Pathol., 1986, 86, 731-737). These systems count and classify the larger particles such as blood cells, casts and crystals, but cell counting systems do not have the ability to discriminate between particles with the view to detect small bacteria. Thus, their predictive value for UTI is quite low. They also suffer from the problems of quantitation on a sedimented sample. Indeed UTI, where there is less than 105 CFU/ml urine, is very difficult to detect with the hereabove mentioned rapid methods (acute urethral syndrome, for instance) and a concomitant pyuria is quite necessary. It is important, therefore to assess the leucocytes in urine. However none of the hereabove methods allow a simultaneously quantitative detection of bacteria and more specifically viable bacteria and leucocytes. To sum up the drawbacks of the hereabove technics: direct detection of bacteria in urine 1. Automated culture method: these methods are sensitive and classify bacteria, but they are slow and give no information about pyuria (WBC) which has been found to be useful clinically and practically (to eliminate false positive results). 2. Microscope analysis on sediment: whether automated or not, the problem is that this test does not give information on viable bacteria. Also the measurement of pyuria is not accurate, because of the sedimentation, and consequently does not correlate with UTI. 3. Cell counters: said counters can detect bacteria, only if present at high concentrations; however, they cannot discriminate viable bacteria. 4. Filters and papers: these methods are rapid and gain sensitivity by sensing both the somatic cells (WBC, RBC, etc . . . ) as well as bacteria. However, since they can not quantify them separately, they loose both the clinical and practical advantages of separate counting of bacteria and WBC. 5. Bioluminescence methods: these methods detect both viable and non viable bacteria. However, somatic cells must be eliminated first as they represent a tremendous interference even at normal levels; moreover even though said technic is rapid, it is quite not sensitive and 6. Dipsticks: even though said technic is rapid, it is quite not sensitive. indirect detection of bacteria in urine, by evaluation of pyuria 1. microscope analysis on sediment: the measurement of pyuria is not accurate, because of the sedimentation, and consequently does not correlate with UTI. 2. microscope analysis on unspun urine: it is hard to recognize the different elements from each other (WBC or bacteria); moreover, the elements present at low frequency are also very hard to detect (bacteria, for instance). 3. cell counters: said counters can count WBC, however in general category only; therefore, the different categories of white cells cannot be distinguished, whereas it could be important to specifically distinguish for instance polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). 4. Filters and papers (see hereabove). 5. Automated image analysis (AIM): this method allows the count and the classification of WBC; however, it is not accurate. 6. Dipsticks: even though said technic is rapid, it is quite not sensitive (see above). FIG. 1 is a graph showing fluorescence of a urine sample spiked with a bacteria and human blood leukocytes; FIG. 2 is a graph showing fluorescence of a another urine sample spiked with a bacteria and human blood leukocytes; FIG. 3(a) is an analysis of a urine sample spiked with bacteria; FIG. 3(b) is an analysis of a urine sample spiked with human leukocytes, and FIG. 3(c) is an analysis of a urine sample spiked with both bacteria and leukocytes. Therefore, the aim of the Applicant was consequently to provide a method of detection of bacteria and leucocytes in the same specimens of urine which meets practical needs better than the methods of the prior Art as exposed hereabove, especially by making it possible a simultaneous detection and counting of viable bacteria and white blood cells, without carrying out a bacteria culture and without compulsory sedimentation of the specimen of urine. The present invention relates to a method of analyzing a urine specimen, characterized in that for the rapid and simultaneous counting of both viable bacteria and leucocytes (white blood cells or WBC), it consists of: (1) simultaneous labeling of said viable bacteria and said white blood cells (WBC) present in said urine specimen, with a fluorescent viability marker of bacteria, said marker tagging and accumulating in both bacteria and white blood cells, under the same conditions (i.e concentration of marker, pH and temperature) and leading to different fluorescent elements; (2) automatically counting all the fluorescent elements by photoelectric detection of the fluorescent marker; and (3) simultaneously classifying said fluorescent elements in fluorescent viable bacteria and in fluorescent white blood cells, in view to obtain in one part the total number of bacteria and on the other part, the total number of white blood cells, on the basis of their size. The instant process allows, unexpectedly, to combine the simultaneous detection of bacteria and white blood cells with the discrimination made on the basis of fluorescent signal amplitude. Advantageously, said size is evaluated, for instance, by measuring the fluorescent intensity, the scattering light intensity or aperture impedance of the different fluorescent elements. According to one advantageous mode of carrying out said method, said viability marker of bacteria of step (1) is selected in the group consisting of products made fluorescent by an intracelluar enzyme, for instance a nonspecific esterase or a phosphatase. According to another advantageous mode of carrying out said method, step (1) comprises, when said viability marker of bacteria is made fluorescent by an intracellular nonspecific esterase, incubating a urine specimen with a solution of carboxyfluorescein diacetate at 0.1-0.5%, at neutral pH. Preferably in such a case, said incubation step includes a first incubation of 5-15 minutes, preferably 10 minutes at 37° C. followed by a second incubation of 5-15 minutes, preferably 10 minutes at 4° C. According to another advantageous mode of carrying out said method, when said labeling is performed on a nonsedimented sample of urine, steps (2) and (3) (said counting and said classification) are carried out by flow cytometry. In alternative, said method consists of: (1) quantitative concentration of the urine specimen by filtering a known quantity of said sample through a filter with pore size small enough to retain both bacteria and white blood cells, (2) labeling the elements retained on said filter as described hereabove, (3) counting and classifying fluorescent elements on the whole filter by means of an appropriate scanning cytometer, such as to obtain on one part the number of fluorescent bacteria and on the other part, the number of fluorescent leucocytes, on the basis of their size and (4) calculating the concentration of bacteria and of leucocytes, present in the initial urine specimen by dividing the obtained numbers by the volume of urine filtered, to express them in terms of concentration in the original specimen. According to the instant invention, said scanning cytometer is such as the one described in the European Patent 0 333 561. In the instant invention, the detection of both bacteria and leucocytes are made rapidly and simultaneously on the same specimens. Rapid determination of viable bacteria is enabled by elimination of the growth phase in favor of a direct approach for determination and quantitation of the viability of the microorganisms. For instance, in the instant method, as specified hereabove, when the viability marker is made fluorescent by an intracellular nonspecific esterase, said intracellular enzyme of the viable microorganisms is able to catalyze a reaction resulting in the transformation of a fluorescein containing molecule from a non-fluorescent to a fluorescent state. The fluorescent product is created and accumulated in the cell within minutes resulting in a fluorescent tag for viable bacteria. The simultaneous measurement of bacteria and leucocytes is enabled by the use of an enzyme for the viability test which is also a common leucocyte enzyme (nonspecific esterase or phosphatase). In this way, the majority of white blood cells will also be rendered fluorescent when their intracellular enzyme performs the same transformation on the fluorescein containing molecule. Thus, unexpectedly, a single chemical preparation allows the simultaneous labeling of both leucocytes and viable bacteria in the sample of urine to be analyzed. These fluorescent elements can then be counted and classified on the basis of their size, since the volume of leucocytes (100 femtoliters to 200 femtoliters) is much greater than the volume of bacteria which is typically less than 1 femtoliter. The instant process allows, unexpectedly, to combine the simultaneous detection of bacteria and white blood cells with the discrimination made on the basis of fluorescent signal amplitude. In the invention, enhancement of the sensitivity of the method to both white blood cells and bacteria is furthermore significatively increased by incorporation of a step of quantitative filtration, prior to said labeling. In this process, a known volume of urine, as specified hereabove, is filtered through a membrane capable of retaining both bacteria and blood cells. The membrane is then treated chemically, as described above, to render the viable bacteria and white blood cells fluorescent. The entire membrane is then scanned rapidly and the different fluorescent elements are counted and classified. The resulting cell counts are then be restored to a quantitative concentration determination by dividing the number obtained in scanning the entire membrane by the volume of urine filtered. Unexpectedly the invention allows to simultaneously label viable bacteria and leucocytes in a single urine sample and also allows by use of a filtering membrane to obtain a quantitative measure. Apart from the foregoing provisions, the invention also includes other provisions which will become apparent from the following description referring to examples of carrying out the method forming the subject of the present invention. It must be clearly understood, however, that these examples are given solely in order to illustrate the subject of the invention without in any way implying a limitation. Bacteria and leucocyte detection in urine using a flow cytometer. 3 ml of urine sample from healthy donor were spiked with bacteria (107 /ml stock solution E. coli) and human blood leucocyte and diluted with 3 ml of labeling buffer (Hepes 10 mM, NaCl 140 mM, pH 7,3); 60 μl of a stock solution of carboxyfluorescein diacetate (10 mg/ml) are added to the diluted urine. Sample is incubated 10 minutes at 37° C. in a water bath, following by 10 minutes at 4° C. in an ice bath. 15 ml of labeling buffer are added and the labeled suspension is centrifuged 5 minutes at 1 800 rpm. The supernatant is discarded and the pellet is resuspended in 3 ml of cold labeling buffer and immediately after sample is injected in a flow cytometer at a flow rate of 10 μl/min where it is exposed to an argon laser light. Acquisition is performed on 104 events, and the resulting fluorescence of the cells are quantified and classified according to their intensity as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in which the x axis represent the fluorescent intensity channel and the ordinate the number of fluorescent cells in each channel. As shown in said figures with two samples spiked at two different bacteria/leucocyte ratio, bacteria and leucocytes are displayed in two different channel windows, where they can be counted using appropriate software. In the FIG. 1, 51% of count are classified as bacteria, 26% as leucocyte. In the FIG. 2, 33% of count are classified as bacteria, 40% as leucocyte. Bacteria and leucocyte detection in urine using a laser scan cytometer. Urine samples are spiked as in example 1 but at a much lower concentration (102 /ml) due to the better sensitivity of the laser scan (down to 1 cell per filter). 1 ml of spiked urine is filtered through a 0.22 μm per size filter membrane. 1 ml of labeling solution is added to the membrane and incubated 15 min at 25° C. Then the labeling solution is removed by filtration followed by a washing step with 4 ml of the labeling buffer. The membrane filter is introduced in the laser scan and analysed as described in EP Patent no 0 333 561. The result is shown in FIGS. 3a-c. FIG. 3 represents the analysis of a sample spiked: (a) with bacteria, (b) with human leucocytes, and (c) with both bacteria and leucocytes. As shown, bacteria and human cells can be easily differentiated, according to their size, by the analysis of their respective fluorescence pulse length. As is apparent from the foregoing description, the invention is in no way limited to those modes of execution, embodiments and modes of application which have now been described more explicitly; on the contrary, it encompasses all the variants thereof which may occur to those skilled in the Art, without deviating from the framework of the scope of the present invention. |Patente citada||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título| |US4581334 *||25 Abr 1983||8 Abr 1986||Ortho Diagnostics Systems, Inc.||Simultaneous detection of leukocyte phagocytic and killing ability| |US4622298 *||9 Ago 1984||11 Nov 1986||Becton, Dickinson And Company||Detection and quantitation of microorganisms, leukocytes and squamous epithelial cells in urine| |US4657855 *||6 Abr 1984||14 Abr 1987||Miles Laboratories, Inc.||Composition and test device for determining the presence of leukocytes, esterase and protease in a test sample| |US5325168 *||13 May 1992||28 Jun 1994||Toa Medical Electronics Co., Ltd.||Apparatus and method for analyzing cells in urine| |US5464739 *||22 Ago 1994||7 Nov 1995||Bayer Corporation||Composition method for determining the presence of leukocyte cells, esterase or protease in a test sample| |EP0333561A1 *||8 Mar 1989||20 Sep 1989||Chemunex||Device and method for the detection and counting of fluorescent particles on a solid support| |EP0405480A2 *||27 Jun 1990||2 Ene 1991||Kirin Beverage Corporation||Method of and apparatus for detecting microorganisms| |EP0443700A2 *||19 Feb 1991||28 Ago 1991||Mitsubishi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha||Method for counting living cells of microbes and apparatus therefor| |EP0515099A1 *||14 May 1992||25 Nov 1992||Toa Medical Electronics Co., Ltd.||Apparatus for analyzing cells in urine| |Patente citante||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título| |US6583722||12 Dic 2000||24 Jun 2003||Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.||Wetness signaling device| |US6603403||12 Dic 2000||5 Ago 2003||Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.||Remote, wetness signaling system| |US6803208||30 Jul 2001||12 Oct 2004||The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy||Automated epifluorescence microscopy for detection of bacterial contamination in platelets| |US7727206 *||27 Dic 2005||1 Jun 2010||Gorres Geoffrey H||Device for monitoring a patient for a urinary tract infection| |US8343122||1 Ene 2013||Geoffrey H Gorres||Device for monitoring a patient for a urinary tract infection| |US9194785||2 Dic 2009||24 Nov 2015||Grundfos Management A/S||Sensor system for detecting and specifying individual particles in a fluid| |US20030022270 *||30 Jul 2001||30 Ene 2003||Mark Seaver||Automated epifluorescence microscopy for detection of bacterial contamination in platelets| |US20060073470 *||28 May 2003||6 Abr 2006||Naohiro Noda||Method of counting microorganisms or cells| |US20070037135 *||7 Ago 2006||15 Feb 2007||Barnes Russell H||System and method for the identification and quantification of a biological sample suspended in a liquid| |US20070148716 *||27 Dic 2005||28 Jun 2007||Gorres Geoffrey H||Device for monitoring a patient for a urinary tract infection| |US20100120073 *||7 May 2008||13 May 2010||Superior Medical Llc||Methods and devices for detecting organisms causing urinary tract infections| |US20100274156 *||23 Abr 2010||28 Oct 2010||Gorres Geoffrey H||Device for Monitoring a Patient for a Urinary Tract Infection| |EP2194368A1||3 Dic 2008||9 Jun 2010||Grundfos Management A/S||Sensor system for detecting and specifying individual particles in a fluid| |Clasificación de EE.UU.||435/34, 435/29, 435/968, 435/19, 549/223, 435/973, 435/7.24, 435/7.32, 435/4| |Clasificación internacional||C12Q1/06, G01N33/49, G01N15/14, G01N33/493, G01N21/64| |Clasificación cooperativa||Y10S435/968, Y10S435/973, C12Q1/06, G01N33/493| |16 Sep 1996||AS||Assignment| Owner name: CHEMUNEX, FRANCE Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GRONER, WARREN;DROCOURT, JEAN-LOUIS;FOISSAC, LOUIS;REEL/FRAME:008137/0850 Effective date: 19960717 |30 Jul 2002||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed| |15 Oct 2002||SULP||Surcharge for late payment| |15 Oct 2002||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 4 |12 Jul 2006||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 8 |8 Jul 2010||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 12

Eric Schlosser, an investigative journalist best known for his book “Fast Food Nation” from where the piece “Your trusted friends” is taken describes few types of marketing strategies implemented by Walt Disney and Mc Donald’s corporations. Throughout the text Schlosser is drawing parallels between Walt Disney’s and Ray A. Kroc’s business practices. What they both had in common, as being friends and children of the same generation, they used in their business approach. One of the strategies adopted from his friend Walt Disney was “synergy”, which is the way of selling things by making licensing agreements with other companies for using their brand name. ……..Another strategy was called “cradle-to-grave”(p. 190), where marketing campaigns targeted people of different age groups in their advertising. According to Schlosser, Krok believed that “childhood memories of a brand will lead to a lifetime of purchases”. He truly believed that the way the food is sold is as important as it tastes. One of the most important comparisons the author of the book is stating between Walt Disney and Ray Kroc is that they both mastered their art of selling things to young children. The idea of fantasy world borrowed from Walt Disney, resulted in creating the characters further utilized in advertising the Mac Donald’s foods to children. Mac Donald used a thoughtful way to get kids to eat there by collaborating with other companies via selling their toys with happy meals and by making a mascot that would catch a child’s eye. Fast-food companies went even further, creating the play lands, where smiling and funny Ronald Mac Donald was probably more appealing to the kids than the food itself at times. And it served its purpose of attracting huge numbers of children to Mac Donald’s restaurants. Schlosser asserts that the idea of using characters in...

In this article series, I'll discuss my thoughts on ways of improving as a wargamer. Improvement is something many of us strive for in our hobby, but what's important is that there are so many different ways to become a better tabletop gamer. So even if you are a top-tier tournament Jedi who wields a tape measure like a light saber and rolls dice with the force, I’m going to try and convince you that there are other ways you can improve your game. Before I get into it, its worth saying that I by no means believe myself to be perfect, but I'm always trying to improve by being more well-rounded. If I turned up at my game club every week and smashed my opponent into oblivion, handing them the mop so they could wipe up their tears after Riptides and Wraithknights poached them in Plasma, I'd eventually come away thinking that something was missing. It wasn't as fun as it could have been, not for me, and certainly not for my opponent. Sure, I'd be winning, but I could still be better... So the key areas: Winning - Let's get the obvious (and the most common) out the way first. Everybody likes winning their games. Some more than others, no doubt there, but at the end of the day we all want our plastic toy soldiers to send the enemy back to their sprues with their ears still ringing. Painting and Modeling Fluff - the less popular ones now. So many of our tabletop games have amazing lore and background, yet I don't think its celebrated enough. It can be awkward to try and shoe-horn some background in, yet a gaming system without background is just so soul-less. But never fear, it can be done without looking like an anorak! Sportsmanship and the Community - We play a social game. Nuff said. These are 4 key areas I believe make us better. What I'll do is break these 4 areas down and give you my thoughts on them, and some ways they've worked for me to make an already amazing hobby into an even better one. How to be a Better Wargamer Part 1 - Winning In the first part of this series, I’m going to share my thoughts on how you can improve your play on the tabletop to win. So to kick it off, preparation. Benjamin Franklin once said ‘By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail’. Now I promise that’s the first and last cheesy saying you’ll have to put up with, but this one is definitely true. Ever played someone who has rocked up to your (pre-organised) game, unloaded his models from shoddy old Tesco bags, pulls out a pen and paper and starts writing up an army list? You then find out he’s forgotten his rulebook so its all on you. Sure, Johnny Shoddybags might end up being Sun Tzu, but either way, he’s gotta work hard to get himself back in the game. With this in mind, its worth sitting down and getting stuff done beforehand. The obvious one is the army list. Write loads of them, and tinker them over and over again, because proper list building is absolutely essential if you want a decent force. On top of that, small differences can win you the game. It’s Turn 5 and an objective your holding is about to be stormed by a Dreadnought. Your sergeant has a piddly combi-melta? Time to make him a hero! But if you write your army list in haste, these things can get overlooked. When thinking about what units to take, consider the different roles they will be required to perform. You can generally fit units into attack, defense and support. Attack units will do just that; ram their bayonets down the throat of the enemy, probably dying in the process. Defense units are your objective claimers. They will win you the game. Now they don’t have to claim objectives straight away, but they need to be alive at the end to do so. With this in mind, they can play a supporting fire role, just make sure they don’t bite off more than they can chew so they can whip back to that objective turn 5. Lastly, you have the support units. These guys should ideally be mobile enough (or capable of deep striking) to turn up wherever they are needed, OR have the range to shoot where needed. Things don’t always go to plan, particularly because your opponent is trying to smash your models to bits too, so your support units can dish out some pain where things aren’t going as well as they could be. So some examples. In my Chaos army I’d have Maulerfiends and a Cultist blob with Dark Apostle to attack, my Noise Marines to defend with supporting fire from their Blastmasters, and my Heldrake and Raptors to support. By assigning roles to my units, it focuses my game plan and improves effectiveness. With your list sorted, now visualise your game and come up with a strategy. Diagrams can help here. It's all about maximising effectiveness, so you want to know exactly where your units need to be to do this. Troop choice with plasma guns? Mid-table? 5 man combat squad with Lascannon? Your table edge to hunker down and fire? Get that sorted before the game. One thing about strategy, however, is that you need to leave room for flexibility. If your facing a horde army that wants to charge across the table and beat you over the head with a crude looking axe whilst shouting WAAAGGGHHHH! in a cockney accent, those mid-table shooters might be worth hanging back for a few turns to whittle down some greenskins, or heading up the flank where they can't be swamped. Visualise it all, then hopefully there won't be so many nasty surprises. DeploymentPutting a unit in the wrong place can, at best, make it useless for a few turns, and at worst, the rest of the game. Plot out where you want your units to be both mid-way through the game and at the end. That huge Cultist blob I have for attack? I’ll put them right in the middle and send them straight up the table. That way they can tar-pit any enemy nasty and offer some serious board control right in the centre. My opponent just has to deal with them. Maybe you have a fast but fragile unit? Deploying it on the flank will mitigate damage, but then its fast enough to boost to almost anywhere when it’s needed. With each unit’s role visualised, you can create some proper synergy in your army to create an overall strategy. Now once you start the game, you’ve got a game plan, you know your army’s strengths (and have assigned them the roles to utilise those strengths), all you’ve got to do now is get down on your knees and pray to the dice gods! Well, no, its not that easy, but if you’ve done a few of these things beforehand, you’ll find things going much better. Even if you follow these tips, its obviously not a guaranteed winning formula. Sometimes a unit is just rubbish, or you make bad decisions. This is where the post game evaluation comes in. Post Game Evaluation This is a really good opportunity to look at how things went, and to find areas that can be improved. A really good way to do this is through a war journal. I started playing 40k with Dark Eldar, and recorded EVERY SINGLE RESULT! I kept a tally of wins and losses, who they were against, what mission it was, the friendly and enemy unit of the game, the friendly flop of the game, etc etc. I wrote a report on each and every battle commenting on what worked and what didn’t, considering both tactical decisions and unit performance. When preparing for the next game, I’d read this through and use it to make necessary changes in the list or my decisions during the game. I highly recommend this, as it’s improved both my army and my gaming ability in abundance. Also, talk to your opponent. Wargaming is a pretty involving hobby, so most gamers know a few things, particularly if they’ve been playing a while. They (should) be more than happy to share any advice with you. If you won the game, have a chat with them, as it will highlight what went well and what didn’t. If you lost, they could offer you some tips for next time. At the very least, it will improve your knowledge of the opponents army, and ‘knowledge is power’ (Another quote! I lied!). Use the Internet Finally, hit up the internet. There are so many excellent articles on the interweb that can turn you into the armchair Genghis Khan, from blogs, to forums, to youtube videos. I’ll always remember my first tactica article that set the tone for my Dark Eldar army - The Kabal Template by Ketara over on Dakka Dakka - and I still play with it to this day. One final thought to leave you with. At the end of the day, YOU are making the decisions and YOU are rolling the dice. Take all the advice you can get, but turn it into something that works for you. You may need to respectfully ignore certain opinions, and that is absolutely fine, because it’s your army, your decision. Plus, it will make it all the more sweeter when its an army you created yourself, and not something you’ve copied and pasted from the net.

August 25th, 2007 Boy, how time does fly. It seems like only a couple of months ago, but nearly a year has passed since I completed my custom Tour Easy project. Probably the greatest testament to the bike is the fact that I’ve made it through an entire year without purchasing another recumbent!* Since it’s gone so well, and I’ve learned and confirmed a few things along the way, I thought I’d share a few random thoughts. First an admission: I’m horribly biased. I’m such an admirer of Gardner Martin, that anything I say about his bikes is likely to sound like a sales pitch. But honestly, I don’t for a minute concern myself with what others ride (unless they’re asking for advice), and I have no interest in selling a product or enticing people to the Easy Racers fold. My only interest is to share what works for me in my particular situation, with the hope that someone might gain a little from that single data point. So if I sound enthusiastic, please take it at face value. If I didn’t like some aspect of my bike I’d change it, so it naturally follows that I’m fairly well satisfied at this point. More than ever, I’m riding in urban/suburban traffic. (If you follow my blog, you’ve probably seen photos and videos taken on our local bike paths. The fact is, the majority of my riding is in traffic, but for safety reasons I only pull out my camera when we’re in quiet areas.) I’m more convinced than ever that bikes like the Tour Easy or Gold Rush Replica, with their relatively upright seats and low bottom brackets, are well-suited for urban riding. Besides the obvious advantage of having your feet near the ground for the many, and sometimes sudden, starts and stops, the heads-up position is conducive to making eye contact with other vehicle drivers – a key element in anticipating potential collisions. The jury is still out on the recumbent-butt question, but personally I don’t have a major problem with it. Well, what I should say is, after the first few weeks it went away and hasn’t come back. Others, I know, can’t tolerate the mandatory upright seating position of these bikes. If RB is an issue for you, my advice is to consider another bike with a more laid-back seat; these bikes really do handle so much better with the seat in the “upright and locked” position. I started riding more hills this summer and my knees went south. I was running a beautiful Campagnolo triple crank in 172.5mm (my standard length on uprights). Unfortunately I actually needed shorter cranks on this bike, so I swapped out the Campy for a Specialites T.A. Carmina triple in 155mm. Within a few weeks my knees dramatically improved and they’re in good shape now. The shorter cranks forced my seat back 17.5mm which resulted in needing to modify the seat back and bar position somewhat; I’ve yet to determine if this is going to be an issue in regards to weight distribution and handling. I love my “low normal” XTR rear derailleur. If you’re not familiar with the term “low normal”, it refers to the position of the derailleur when tension is released from the cable. In other words, the spring on a traditional derailleur moves the derailleur over the small cog (“high” gear) when the cable is released. The spring on a “low normal” derailleur moves the derailleur over the large cog (“low” gear) when the cable is released. The cool thing about low normal derailleurs is that if you’re running thumb shifters, both the left and right move in the same direction to shift either up or down. In other words, traditionally you pull the left shifter toward you and push the right shifter away from you to shift to a lower gear, but with a low normal, you pull both shifters toward you to shift to a lower gear (or push both forward to shift to a higher gear). I know, it’s a little obsessive, but I like it. Plus, having the spring work in reverse makes panic shifts onto the larger cogs faster. And if the shift cable breaks while on a tour, the derailleur will default to the lowest cog in back, probably not a bad thing on a loaded touring bike. I’ve spouted off about my love for Paul Thumbies and D/A bar ends ad nauseam. I’ll spare you the details and just say once again, the Paul/DA combo is heavenly. If you haven’t tried friction shifting in the past few decades, you might give it a go the next time you have the need to replace your shifters. Current Easy Racers are shipping with a small chain tube in place of the traditional spring-loaded chain keeper. It’s a shame to use a chain tube on a bike that has the cleanest chain path in recumbency. If nothing else, it just looks hokey. If I had one of those chain tubes, it would land in the misfit parts bin in a NY minute, to be replaced by one of the super-nice idlers from Terracycle. It’s a fussy thing, but I had to say it. Unvarnished cork grips feel great but look like h*ll in a week or two. Varnished cork grips look great (and actually look better the more they get used), but don’t feel as good as raw cork. Gorilla Glue rocks and is the only safe way to secure cork grips to a handlebar. I’ve probably written too much about lighting on my blog already, so I won’t go into detail here other than to say my SON generator hub has been flawless and perfect. An always-there, instant-on lighting system is a wonderful thing for someone that rides in the dark almost daily. And yes, a 3-watt halogen combined with a pair of 1-watt LEDs is plenty of light if it’s focused correctly. I have yet to tire of looking at this bike. I’m a visual person, and as silly as it sounds, there are certain things that I like to see in a bike, and if they’re not there, it’s hard for me to fully enjoy it. The subdued, traditional color scheme, lack of decals, small diameter tubes, triangulated frame layout, and absence of high-tech (carbon) parts, all add up to a whole I (still) find visually pleasing. Of course, what floats your boat might be (and most probably is) something completely different, and that’s just great! I’ll be keeping this bike for many years as other bikes come and go from my stable. My Tour Easy isn’t particularly fast, it’s fairly heavy, and it uses some decidedly old school parts, but it’s one of those bikes where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The steering is ultra-precise, and if set up properly, has little to no tiller. The frame is stiff, but provides just enough suspension. The ergonomics are super dialed-in (if you can handle sitting upright), and place the rider in a comfortable position that is ideal for riding in city traffic. And finally, the Gardner Martin designed Easy Racer bikes have a certain undefined quality — sometimes described as the “Gardner Magic” — that makes them mysteriously appealing to many people, myself included. I need to give thanks and credit to Rick Steele at Gold Country Cyclery for providing technical advice and doing the heavy lifting on this build. And, once again, I need to acknowledge Michael Wolfe, the owner of Molly III, the original Riv-ish Tour Easy. I had a picture in my mind of what a recumbent designed by Grant Petersen might look like. Then one day I stumbled upon a photo of Michael’s TE and the vague picture in my mind was there in front of me in perfect focus. Many of the component details are different, but Michael deserves credit for the overall approach and visual effect. -Alan Tour Easy Frameset Brake levers: Avid Speed Dial SL Brakes: Avid Single Digit SL Headset: Chris King Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace bar-end on Paul Thumbie Mounts Derailleurs: R: Shimano XTR “Low Normal”, F: IRD Alpina F Crank: 155mm Specialites T.A. Carmina, 24/36/46 Bottom Bracket: Specialites T.A. Cassette: Shimano XT 11-34 Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace Front Wheel: SON Dynamo Hub / 36h Velocity Razor Rear Wheel: Phil Wood Cassette Hub / 36h Velocity Synergy Tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Racer: 40/406, 35/622 Bags: Rivendell Nigel Smythe Headlights: B&M Lumotec Oval Plus, B&M Ixon Taillight: B&M DToplight Plus Rear Rack: IRD Khyber Stainless Steel Fenders: River City Full Wood Grips: Velo Orange Cork Bell: Velo Orange Japanese Brass Bottle Cages: Nitto Brazed Kickstand: ESGE Pletscher Double Fairing: Super Zzipper

Together we are working to support educators, empower students, and most importantly, improve literacy outcomes for students. Dallas, TX and Orlando, FL (PRWEB) August 14, 2015 The Morgridge International Reading Center (MIRC) at the University of Central Florida will continue its research partnership with Istation Reading for the 2015–2016 school year. The partnership will support a statewide reading performance study among Florida students in grades pre-K through 5. The MIRC-Istation project will examine the effects of the Istation Reading program on elementary school students’ reading comprehension, text fluency skills, vocabulary, phonemic awareness and phonics performance. Istation will provide participating schools free and unlimited access to Istation Reading’s computer-delivered educational technology, including computer-adaptive assessments, highly interactive and engaging computer-based intervention curriculum, immediate online reports, Istation Home and Istation’s complete library of web-based training videos and teaching resources. Throughout the year, Istation will also provide free professional development seminars and webinars at various locations for participating teachers and administrators. “We’re excited to continue this partnership with University of Central Florida and MIRC. Together, we are working to support educators, empower students, and most importantly, improve literacy outcomes for students,” said Richard H. Collins, Istation Chairman and CEO. Participation by districts and schools in the MIRC-Istation project is voluntary and open to all Florida public school students in grades pre-K through 5 and state-assessed Florida charter school students up to a maximum of 500,000 students. No identifying student information will be provided to MIRC, and all data analysis will be performed without identifying information from participating students, schools or districts. The study began in the 2014-2015 school year. “I am excited about continuing our research with Istation in Florida. Our collective goal is to improve student achievement and support teachers in their valuable work,” said Dr. Sandra Robinson, Executive Director of the Morgridge International Reading Center and the Toni Jennings Exceptional Education Institute at the University of Central Florida. To sign up and participate, visit http://www.istation.com/ucf or call 866-883-7323 and select option 6. For more information about MIRC UCF and this project, visit http://www.education.ucf.edu/mirc or contact Dr. Laurie Campbell at MIRCIstation@ucf.edu or 407-882-6472. About The Morgridge International Reading Center The Morgridge International Reading Center at the University of Central Florida, in partnership with universities and organizations throughout the world, is dedicated to advancing disciplinary literacy through communication, collaboration, learning and research. A dynamic complex for the free exchange of ideas and information to improve literacy acquisition and instruction, the Center coordinates national and global efforts through collaboration among authors, practitioners and research scholars, leading to the implementation of action-based programs formulated on evidence-based research and focused on teaching all students to read well. Through research, the Center establishes linkage between theory and practice, creating a synergy that unfolds worldwide in enriched learning environments. Additional information on the Morgridge International Reading Center may be found at http://www.education.ucf.edu/mirc. About America’s Partnership University The University of Central Florida, the nation’s second-largest university with nearly 60,000 students, has grown in size, quality, diversity and reputation in its first 50 years. Today, the university offers more than 200 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations. UCF is an economic engine attracting and supporting industries vital to the region’s future while providing students with real-world experiences that help them succeed after graduation. For more information, visit http://today.ucf.edu. Istation is short for Imagination Station and is an award-winning comprehensive e-learning program used by more than 4 million students on 8,200 school campuses across the world. Known for its accurate assessments, engaging curriculum and trusted teacher tools, Istation helps students in prekindergarten through 12th grade achieve academic growth. Istation’s computer adaptive assessments (known as ISIP™) immediately place students on personalized instructional paths unique to their needs. An animated, game-like interface effectively engages students so that they don’t even know they’re being evaluated. Along with its highly interactive digital curriculum, Istation provides teachers with access to thousands of lessons perfect for instructing small groups or an entire class. Comprehensive progress reports are also immediately available for educators, administrators and parents. Istation offers its ISIP assessment in Early Reading, Advanced Reading, Reading en Español and Math. Istation instruction is available in Reading, Reading en Español, Writing and Math. Students can also use their Istation subscriptions at home. Since its founding in 1998, Dallas-based Istation has seen tremendous growth. The company’s animated program is now helping students in 44 states and multiple countries learn and grow.

Adaptive Battle Staff (ABS) Seminar / Workshop: The purpose of this seminar/workshop is to facilitate senior leader and staff review and dialogue on possible courses of action to develop an efficient and effective organizational Command and Control structure for an all-hazards response. In addition the seminar/workshop will review relative state emergency management and Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA) best practices and lessons learned, and the roles and integrated operational concepts of NORTHCOM and the NGB. At a minimum the objective of the course will be to: - Understand emerging joint doctrine, organizational options and roles, and key intra and inter-agency linkages of the JFHQ’s ABS. - Understand the civil emergency management and the National Guard DSCA and federal DSCA architectures and concept of operations. - Understand the JFHQs JOC core functions and the roles and relationships of the JFHQ’s-State / JTF Staff in successfully executing domestic operations. - Understand the state’s emergency management philosophy, concept of operations and possible methods to leverage National Guard support to build maximum capability, synergy and situational awareness to the benefit of the state’s emergency response team.

What do you look for when you’re hiring someone new? A sleek resume, a polished presence, shiny shoes? Or do you think about the synergy of your team and how this new hire will affect group dynamics? Perhaps you’re unsure of where to recruit. Would it surprise you to know that 73% of Millennials (ages 18 – 34) are hired through social networks? (Aberdeen Group survey) According to this Jobvite’s revealing survey, you can find a whooping 83% of job seekers on Facebook compared to 36% on LinkedIn. These statistics prove that the hiring process is evolving, just like social media. Finding the right candidate is connected to discovering where they are. It’s also about asking the questions and knowing what to listen for. We asked hiring experts to give you their best piece of advice when hiring someone new. Here’s a rich list of resources. Be sure to bookmark this page and tweet it out for those in your audience that may need this advice. 1. Apply Mark Zuckerberg’s simple hiring rule to build respect in your company. Brett Farmiloe, Co-Founder, Y Scouts Mark Zuckerberg Said It Best: I have a simple rule, Mark Zuckerberg says. I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person. 2. Is your candidate hungry for the job? Hunger is more important than skills. Jon Penn, White Maqui What advice would I give to small businesses who need to hire someone? Always hire for attitude and hunger. Skills be can learned on the way. 3. Use social media to gauge a candidate’s personality. Andrea Burnett, Andrea Burnett Public Relations Lifestyle Publicity Never rely on or bother with a candidate’s resume. It’s simply worthless. I always look at their LinkedIn profile and their social media channels. Are they well-written, witty, intelligent? What do they post about? Is it interesting? But, what matters most is how they show up and how prepared they are for the interview. Before they come in, I ask then to look at my site, pick a client (or, in my case, a book that I’m promoting) and arrive ready to tell me what they would do to promote it. It shows me how creative they are and how much homework they’re willing to do. 4. Let the test-taking begin! Use tests to find the ideal person for the job. Stephan Reek, Co-Owner, BSR Online The best advice I can give is to give people a test. Give them a few questions on how they would solve a problem or let them actually do a few small things to test their knowledge. This way you know exactly who can really do those things. 5. You can always train a skill, but you can’t train an attitude. Look for those who match your values. Betty Brennan, President, Taylor Studios, Inc My best tip would be to hire for attitude more than skill. You can train skills, but you can’t change attitude. This is similar to hiring for your core values. Make sure the values of the candidate match the values of the firm. Hiring for culture will give the best chance of successful outcomes. It will be more pleasurable for everyone too. Learn More: 11 Questions To Test Honesty and Integrity 6. Fact check resumes to weed out unreliable candidates.Barry Maher, Consultant, Author, Speaker, Barry Maher & Associates Having consulted on hundreds of hires, my number one tip is to check everything checkable on your final candidate’s resume. Where do people exaggerate and even lie? Where don’t they? Education, compensation, duties and responsibilities, achievements, awards, length of employment, etc. Some people fudge dates to make themselves look younger. When I told one applicant that no one at his former company had heard of the Executive Merit Award, he’d cited, he simply replied that was probably because after he’d won it three years in a row the company retired the reward in his honor. 7. Use a probation period to assess how well a candidate will fit into the job. Mike Scanlin, CEO, Born To Sell You want to put the new hire on some kind of temporary plan. Tell them it’s a 30-day (or 90-day, or 2-week, whatever) trial period. At the end of that period you’ll decide if there’s a match to go full-time. 8. Quality over quantity: Hire based on capacity rather than quotas. John Jersin, CEO & cofounder, Connectifer Managers easily get too focused on the number of hires they want to make, rather than the capacity they want to add. Further managers can get caught up in aiming at higher numbers so they can build a bigger fiefdom inside their company. This leads to hiring average people too quickly instead of holding steading and waiting a few extra weeks and wading through many more candidates to find future star performers. On the other hand, managers who focus on adding *capacity* instead of a certain number of employees, and aiming at higher capacity *per* employee can turn their team into an example of quality and launch the leader of that team into a position of thought leadership at their company. 9. Your mission if you should choose to accept it: Give a candidate one task and one hour to do it. Mike Bowman, Publisher & Owner, The Quarter Roll Financial Entertainment Magazine The best way to determine if a candidate is a good fit for your company’s culture and has the skill sets to complete the work you need done is to have the applicant do some of the work during the interview process. Ask a customer service candidate to assist a customer find something in the store. Instruct a public relations candidate to write a response to a (made up) public company crisis. Ask an operations manager candidate to tour your warehouse layout and give you a more efficient operational option. Instead of taking a smiling candidate’s word that they can do the job, ask them to prove it. Qualified applicants will be proud to show you what they can do. 10. For the right candidate, it’s never about the money, it’s about the opportunity. Greg Archbald, Founder & CEO, GreaseBook, LLC The key to recruiting: create a compelling opportunity, present it early and often, and make the candidate earn the right to have it. The best people rarely take the job for the money — they’ll take the job for an opportunity to meet their personal life plans, ambitions, and goals. And remember, if you make it too easy for someone to get the job, he or she doesn’t want it as much. If you make it challenging and difficult to get, he or she wants it more. 😉 11. Create a way to access your candidate’s relevant work experience. Matthew Reischer, CEO & Chief Hiring Manager of Legal Marketing Pages Corp, LegalAdvice I always make sure your interview process is geared towards uncovering truthful assessments of IQ and relevant technical work experience. Create a process that seeks to gauge the scope of intellectual curiosity and intellectual capacity of any new hire. These attributes we have often found are key leading indicators for how successfully an employee will fit within our organization. Generally speaking we like to hire ‘enthused nerds’ who are engaged with our workflow and who love implementing complex technological and business ideas. 12. Have onboarding training in place immediately after hiring to create a smooth transition into your company’s culture and values. Rob Biederman, co-founder of HourlyNerd The biggest mistake is hiring someone and not giving them the proper onboarding and training up front. We’ve made the mistake of hiring someone and assuming they can walk in and execute on day one. Even the best all-star will fail without proper training and onboarding. 13. Hire someone you can trust completely. Debra Benton, Executive Coach - Hire someone you’d let run the company. - Hire someone who is in it for the love of what you do not to just have a job and make money. - Hire someone you’d let your daughter or son marry. - Hire someone your spouse approves of. 14. Involve your current staff in the hiring process. Mike Munter, Web Design, SEO, Internet Marketing and Reputation Management #1 best of all time – when I was GM of a minor league baseball team, I’d spend 10-15 minutes doing an intro interview with a candidate. If I liked him/her, I’d have my 3 or 4 of my staff get to know them during a pre-arranged lunch. (I didn’t go). My staff knew the deal, this was someone we were considering, so they’d get to know them in a more casual way. After the lunch, I’d get staff feedback (after all they are the ones who’ll be working with the new hire day in/day out, so they have to get a good vibe). If they liked the candidate, I’d move forward with a more serious interview and most likely make an offer. 15. Consider the Hartman assessment to understand where your new hire fits in your company. Armand Hebert, Hebert Consulting Half of my consulting business is in advising companies and business owner in new hires and team building. In that process the use of Hartman assessment are critical. This assessment combines DISC, Motivators and values into an easy to use report that can be tailored to an Executive, Management and Sales position. This give a company a clear idea of what type of employee they are adding to their work force. This is even more important in smaller companies who need new employees to become productive in a short amount of time. 16. Pay attention to how your candidate interacts with others. Aalap Shah, Co-Founder, SoMe Connect I would share that at our small marketing firm, one of the best ways to determine a good hire for us is how they interact with all of us – from the team, to the doorman of our building, to the founders. Attitude, how you talk and carry yourself, and politeness, matters and is an important trait to being part of the team. We find that when we are paying attention closely to how they treat people and others, we can make an assessment of how they’ll perform in a team setting. 17. Look at more than employment, look at references. Michael D. Shaw, People First Consulting I think it has to be to hire on Will more than just skill. Hire the person that has strong references of support and not just dates of employment. 18. Understand the difference between hiring for a specific position and hiring for a specific person. Chelsea Garrett, Managing Director, Garrett Search Partners, Inc. Do not create a job around a person. Create a position specification and hire for the spec; do not hire hoping “the right” person will fit into that role. It’s a recipe for disaster. 19. Find the person whose core values match your company ideals. Victoria Cabanos, Managing Principal / CEO, Stuart-Lynn Company, Inc. Hire on enthusiasm! Despite the fact that we provide a highly specialized service, I have learned that it is possible share knowledge and teach a wide range of skill sets, but it is nearly impossible to change an individual’s core values. So make sure they are in line with those of your business. 20. Do you know job benchmarking? It helps you see past skills and to the right fit for the job. David Scarola, Vice President, The Alternative Board The best way to hire is by considering the job first and the candidates second. This is called job benchmarking. Instead of analyzing the candidates in front of you, analyze what the job requires in terms of behavior, motivation, and soft skills. Once you, and the other decision makers, determine each of these three benchmarks, then you can develop interview questions that assess each trait. Job benchmarking helps you see and hire beyond skills. It reveals cultural fit, as well as fit within the role. 21. Hire a person who can take over your responsibilities. Art Schade, Author I think the best advice I could give any small business owner is to let go of your ego, and hire the person best fitted to take over your responsibilities. Too often managers fear they’ll be left behind hiring a person who might know more then them. 22. Prepare yourself for the interview by understanding exactly what you want, and don’t sugar coat it. Christian Neeser, Outreach Manager, ZipRecruiter.com Be Clear – There are lots of problems with generic help wanted ads. First, everyone and their brother applies, so you end up with a veritable avalanche of resumes and applications. Second, it makes it that much more difficult to zero in on candidates who really have what it takes. Therefore, be as specific as possible when writing job ads. Clearly define the position. Learn More: 6 Things You Need To Do After The Job Interview 23. Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions. And listen for the way the candidate answers it. Brendan Burke, Managing Director, Headwaters MB Ask the hard question. Don’t dance around it. If someone has a hole in their career path, a low GPA or some other red flag on their resume, you have to confront the issue head on. Often times, the candidate will have a well-rehearsed answer and use the opportunity to showcase their sales skills. The ability to turn a negative into a positive is a critical attribute. Further, if the candidate doesn’t have a smooth response, it quickly tells me that the candidate didn’t prepare for or doesn’t care about the interview. Want to speed up payroll? Click Here to get 3 free timesheet templates 24. Encourage varying opinions to grow your business. Don’t hire “yes” men. Chike Uzoka, Entrepreneur & Business Coach My best piece of hiring advice is to hire people who understand your company values and mission, yet do not necessarily agree with you on how to reach the ultimate vision. Having people disagree with you as the business owner and with each other can be a valuable thing in business, as long as no respect lines are crossed and no egos get in the way. Learn More: 3 Keys to Small Business Success 25. Let more than one department head interview the candidate. William Bauer, Managing Director, Royce Leather Many of our roles require inter-departmental relationships, and it’s crucial that all hires work well across departments and roles. We help facilitate this by having various department heads interview job candidates, regardless of the role for which they are applying. This gives us the opportunity to truly evaluate whether or not a candidate is a great fit for our culture. Those hiring for positions within their department will tend to ask role-specific questions, whereas team members from other departments can evaluate whether the candidate is a personality and cultural fit. 26. Don’t miss the opportunity to ask behavioral questions about real life scenarios. Mrs. Shilonda Downing, Virtual Work Team LLC Asking behavioral questions during an interview is key to selecting the right person for your company or team. Behavioral questions, when asked properly, will provide insight regarding what a potential candidate might do or say in a given situation. Make sure you tailor the questions to real life scenarios that would actually happen in your business. Learn More: Behavioral Interview Questions are Essential 27. Go with your gut. Vivek Agarwal, Founder and CEO, Strand of Silk I started my company 3 years ago, and over the years have made various recruitment mistakes including some that cost the company dearly. Reflecting back to almost every one of these mistakes, I decided to ignore my gut sense and go with the candidate that seemed to be more qualified on paper. 28. Use virtual contractors and freelancers to lighten the load. Sandip Sekhon, CEO and Founder, GoGetFunding.com My best piece of hiring advice for small businesses is to use virtual contractors where possible. Thanks to freelancers sourced from sites such oDesk we’ve been able to grow into one of the largest fundraising websites in the world. Freelancer sites are full of talent at an attractive cost. Furthermore, with a small business profits can be unpredictable. The flexibility a contractor provides helps put my mind at ease. 29. Don’t look for team players, look for critical thinkers who will get the job done. Jeff Altman, Recruiter, The Big Game Hunter Stop looking for team players. When you do you announce that you don’t want people who can think and want people who are docile and obedient. You’re saying that Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, and a host of others should never apply to your firm. 30. Does your candidate know about or engage with your product or service? Stacey Oliver-Knappe, Chief Consultant, The Customer Service Gurus The question that all businesses should ask a potential new employee is do they actually engage with the product or service. This helps to see beyond the technical skills needed for the job, to see if they have a will to do the job. For example, in an Apple store, the employees loved Apple products before they ever went to work for them. Learn More: How to Create the Perfect Employee 31. Do you really need to hire an employee? Or will a freelancer be the right answer? David Bakke, Writer, Money Crashers My best tip would be to make sure you need to hire someone in the first place. Oftentimes with some prudent time management you can get a lot of the tasks in a small business completed on your own in order to save money. 32. Passion is more persuasive than educational background. Deborah Sweeney, CEO, MyCorporation.com When hiring for small business, it’s better to look at passion and drive than educational background. I would rather have someone on our team that’s excited about our business and willing to learn and grow as the business grows than have a Harvard graduate lacking entrepreneurial fire. You don’t need a valedictorian, you need a person who loves small business. 33. Don’t use artificial test assignments. Test on the real product for spot-on analysis. Uliana Tikhova, Icons8 If you listen to the software developers, they complain about wrong skills evaluated during the interviews. Therefore, we’re trying to isolate the software development skills from anything else. As a result, we currently use a simple pattern of hiring software developers. First, we interview the developers with proper skills and pick several of them. Then we give them a test assignments that can be accomplished in a week or two. We give the real tasks of a real product, not artificial test assignments. The probation period is also paid at the common rate. We won’t work for free, so we can’t expect that from the prospective developers. This procedure may seem quite pricey for start-up, but it is cheaper than a recruiting agency, and it’s the money spent well. Meanwhile, there are no hard feelings on the candidates’ part: not only get they paid, but also they can figure out if our project is enjoyable. 34. Change the ad for your job description, change your fortune. Jean Tang, Chief Strategist for Copywriting & Founder, MarketSmiths - Make your job post headline VIVID v. generic. This will capture the attention of the right person, and ensure you’re not flooded with responses. - Be specific in your ad–rather than listing characteristics you’d like (hard-working, intelligent, etc.) really SPELL OUT what the job is like and what needs to be done. This will scare away anyone not capable. - List the METRICS by which job success is measured. Again, this scares away bad fits. - Map out a hiring process in which you can compare apples to apples. Include tests that are close to on-the-job tasks. This measures persistence and healthy competitive spirit. Our winning candidate wanted this job–and it showed. She got back to me with polished answers within HOURS, not days. 35. Hire people who will positively impact your company culture. Brett Derricott, CEO, AgencyFusion.com As a small business, hiring is especially difficult. In addition to finding a person with the necessary skills and experience, it’s critical to hire people who help shape the company culture in a positive way. Unlike a larger corporation, each person in a small business can greatly affect the work atmosphere for better or for worse. Regardless of a person’s resume, never hire someone who doesn’t contribute positively to the culture you’ve worked so hard to create. 36. Choose a candidate who compliments the existing team. Gail Abelman, Staffing Perfection, Inc. Resist the temptation to hire someone just like yourself. A business grows best when new ideas and different strengths are blended together. For best results, choose someone who complements you and the existing staff well. 37. Get recommendations from your employees and make sure your candidate will fit in well with your team. Laura MacLeod, Human Resources Expert - Collaborating with all employees at all levels to determine what is needed in a new hire and what area needs the most assistance. - Utilizing all or as many employees as possible in the job search, from recommendations to interviews. - Taking in to consideration atmosphere of your business, to make sure that the new hire is the perfect fit for your business and with your current employees. 38. Commit to a rigorous interview process to find the right candidate. Hajmil Carr, CEO, TrueLine Publishing When looking to hire a new employee, the two most important factors to consider are: 1) Who are you? 2) Who is the candidate? In order to clearly articulate who you are you need to have updated website information coupled with a strong online presence in order to properly paint the picture that you want to portray to court the candidates that will ultimately be the best fit for your firm. In order to understand and get the best feel for who the candidate is you must have a rigorous interview process that critically flushes out the skill sets you need in a prospective candidate. 39. Write the job description and then look for the perfect candidate. Barney Cohen, President, Business 360 Northwest My best tip about hiring is always write the job description before you look for the person to fill the job. In my work with business clients, I find the most common practice is to ask around to see if friends and colleagues know someone that would like to work at their firm. This approach has several major drawbacks. First you don’t get to interview a wide range of candidates and pick the best person for the job. Second, you have the baggage of the relationship with the person who recommended your new hire. And third – the biggest problem of all – you hire the person without a clear understanding of what the job actually entails. That leads to bad communication and uncertainty about what is supposed to happen. Learn More: Three hiring mistakes most businesses make A big thank you to all of our contributions! Now, it’s your turn. What’s your best piece of hiring advice? Let us know in the comments below. Want to speed up payroll? Click Here to get 3 free timesheet templates

August 23rd, 2010 Of course, neither myself nor anyone writing inside the walls of this blog are going to have a problem with nonsense, be it outright nonsense, stupid nonsense, or nonsense for nonsense’s sake. It’s a Marvel comic, nonsense is what it does best, and it is the best there is at what it does. But what about nonsense mad enough to think it’s Important? Or nonsense sane and brittle enough to knows it’s nonsense but try to pass itself off as Important? Are both of those things not high art crimes? Shield #3 by Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver (Marvel) This book has its fans, who will love this because it renders unto these Fans a vivid and energetic Service. A ‘Fan Service’, if you will (if those fans are fans not only of the the mighty Marvel manner but also of cheap readings of Renaissance and Enlightenment history). These mysterious Fans of the Dan Brown/superhero genre-hopping funnybook (because no-one demanded it!) are in extreme danger of Missing The Point, especially in regard to the Da Idiot Code stuff – the reason these alter-history bestsellers work is because they offer unusual insights into the function of the historical consensus. Destabilising the grown-up world’s memory of itself, exposing its partiality and reminding the powerless that history is a nightmare that can be woken from, is fun because of the way its stories change the backdrop of our everyday reality. Changing the backdrop of the Marvel Universe isn’t fun in the same way, not because there aren’t people out there who don’t interact with it as seriously as they do with the real world out here – there are probably some who love Pete Parker’s crazy old aunt even more than their own – but even they would hopefully recognise that the history of the Marvel U is already totally mutable, prone to constant revision and insertion. Changes in the way we view history take even longer to change than history itself. Changes in the way we view Marvel’s history have never taken any longer than the width of a single panel of comic page. Therefore, to place these universes side by side for easy comparison, that Newton was an alchemist is intriguing because it provides a new perspective on the evolution of science, and how two apparently differing worldviews can exist side by side. That Newton was a supervillain isn’t very intriguing, because that Newton exists in a place where everyone is either a supervillain or a superhero, and the fact that the former was chosen probably says more than it should about the way certain debates surrounding science and theology are currently being framed in the USA than anything about how a real live historical man who single-handedly overhauled our species’ knowledge of the universe should have his name thrown around by a modern fighting comic. With these issues solidly unresolved and leaving a great big dialectical gap in its conceptual undercarriage we just get a printpresspunk superhero comic whose scenes never quite connect with each other, with the real world, with its own fictional context, with anything at all really. Further hindered by overly fussy art that emphasises the book’s unappealing habit of making portentous and pious melodrama out of silly spectacle, Shield needs to smoke a cigar and connect with its inner Fury pretty damn quick. Age of Heroes #4 by Elliott Kalan and Brendan McCarthy (Marvel) (There are actually two strips in this comic – one of which is a nice, coffee-shoppy two-pager by Joe Casey and Nathan Fox which makes a pleasing and timely call for the repositioning of the concept of the supervillain, something which has been somewhat overlooked in the past ten years of ever-greater inspection and valorisation of their more heroic counterparts.) The other one, well, I don’t know about this one, so I’m going to have to ask… Is it a bit racist? I don’t know enough about how Native American peoples are currently faring in the USA’s social discourse. I presume there’s plenty of talk if you look for it about the way NA cultures interact with whitey’s, and hopefully this story makes its contribution, feeding into those debates without pissing on anyone’s moccasins too cruelly. I’m just trying to frame this story’s last panel in a way that makes a bit more sense to me personally. I haven’t got much material to go on, but imagine that Aucaneck is an old Kerryman, who has substituted his household shrine’s picture of the Madonna with one of Billy Orange (hence the pic of the plank above, an easy one for Paul Cornell’s much-anticipated 100 British supervillains, by the way), or Olly Cromwell (‘forget the famines and military attacks on the civilian populace, he was a great parliamentarian and that’s good enough for me’), or Captain Britain even… Yeah, it would be kind of offensive, wouldn’t it? Captain America isn’t Uncle Sam, after all. He doesn’t represent America as such, he represents American militarism, a very specific (and enormously unappealing) subset of the nation-state’s overall character. Maybe the reading needs to be taken a bit further though – look at Auckaneck’s asshole Christian son. Maybe he’s supposed to be Auck’s punishment for severing his family’s presumably ancient connection to their traditional icons in favour of an Aryan marine in an icecube, like a bored British housewife in 1943, happy to drop and swap her old knickers for a new pair of nylons and some gum. Despite the apparently cosy and affirmative ending, maybe this strip is deceptively pert: Can Auck’s adoption of the supersoldier-as-deity be seen as a comment on today’s disproportionately high rates of military service among young Native Americans? (Which is predicated, I guess, please note again the massive levels of ignorance I am bringing to this issue, on high poverty rates among NA communities, and the employment and education benefits currently offered to those willing to risk being shot at or blown up to protect the Afghan poppy crop.) I have no idea where to come down on this strip. I’m enjoying thinking about it though, which suggests that maybe, after my recent plea, in Neil Kalan, the Mac is finally being teamed with a worthy writer. Good. (Nice art too, unsurprisingly. Tempers this recent Marvel style of his with some nods towards a naive, ‘tribal’ kind of look, plus a restrained, muted palette that tones the emotional surface of the story just right.) Hellblazer #270 by Peter Milligan, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini (Vertigo) Ah right, yes I get it, it was very obvious actually: With Shade in the comic, Hellblazer becomes like a Shade comic. Overt fealty to the book’s horror roots is given just the most cursory nod in this latest, splendid little issue, before we prance into a tightly paced, soapy depiction and discussion of some (not-too) complex relationship/personal identity issues. I can’t imagine anyone picking this comic up and not enjoying it for that. I give this comic five of those dot-in-circle madness bubbles. I’ll be glad to get back to the shocks and scares next issue, because Milligan is great at them, even though he’s clearly not all that comfortable in the genre, and even more happy when Shade returns with the lovely Epiphany in a few issues time. If DC–proper is going to somewhat ungraciously demand the return of all the properties it handed over to Vertigo back when we were children, then this little crossover and its soon-to-be sequel is an excellent way of letting Shade, on the one hand, be a Mature madman one last time and, on the other, repositioning him as a thoroughly modern mainstream Phantom Stranger for the twenty-first century. The Bulletproof Coffin # 3 by David Hine & Shaky Kane (Image) This comic is – not like drugs because that’s such a perfectly, pathetically blah thing to say about something, nothing, or anything even – but certainly somehow psychoactivating. Something in those oceanic colours and thick blank lines pokes you right in the brain like a much-loved sibling in the mood to annoy. All the very best comics do this (and let’s get this straight: Bulletproof Coffin is the very best comic), leaking inky rainbows straight into your eyes where for its 32 page duration you and she (the very best comics are always girls) merge in some – less than beautiful and often borderline abusive but still crazy hot for all that – symbiosis of page & person. Like plugging your brain into a computer that won’t be made for a hundred years, this sexy synergy creates a brand new nervous system for this imaginificent Third Beast, heightening cognitive acuity, speeding autonomic response intervals and enabling you to hear the hidden language of lizards, as well as giving you abs of steel ripped enough to scar your lover’s paperthin body. Careful not to tear the corner there. Once successful bonding has been completed, the new org/an/ism enters a new and unexplod state of existence, a scorched desert of the unreal, strewn with the infinite treasures of a million irradiated plastic nick-nacks and priceless free giveaways, a strange environment traversable only in impossible machines from the dreams of a heavy metal Heath Robinson. Its hostile physics can only be endured by the native tank girls and paradaxical swifty boys through protective suits of primary colour and animal insignia. All in all in all just a dream, Bulletproof Coffin offers a laser-focussed commentary on the relationship between the Comic and its loyal, helpless, debased Fanman, betraying a depth of psychological insight that betrays the impeccable outward gaudiness, that makes you wince in sympathy for Hine’s psychiatrist, priest or local barman as they learn: All children are war-crazed zombies, and All wives look better in leopard print, just as All comics are better with a bit of that early-90s newsagenty madcap flavour. Bulletproof Coffin is an upstart restart switch for the human soul. When you read it, you will never be the same again, so read it, because there’s a better brighter you inside this book, and they’re begging for a right good seeing to.

|PER||PER Against (Net)| |Al Jefferson||24.5||17.4 (+7.1)| While there’s usually an influx of uncertainty that surrounds a high-priced free agent signing in the NBA, that level of skepticism was escalated when the Bobcats signed veteran Al Jefferson to a three-year deal. Despite the fact that the move marked a potential change in the overall landscape of the Bobcats organization, there was still some skepticism about the moves for a multitude of reasons. As mentioned in the following piece, SBNation’s Mike Prada criticized the Jefferson deal based on the notion that the ‘Cats would have to restructure their entire offense around an inefficient player that struggles on the defensive end. While that reputation was absolutely warranted based on his past performances with Utah or Minnesota, a return to the Eastern Conference marked a pivotal for Jefferson and the future of the Bobcats/Hornets organization. Strengths: While the aforementioned flaws of Jefferson’s overall game hasn’t completely vanished, the 29-year-old center’s overall impact on the team was undeniable. On a team that arguably hasn’t featured that “go-to” offensive weapon in franchise history, the addition of Jefferson helped solidify an offense that was otherwise considered to be a barren wasteland of mediocrity and Byron Mullens. While the team’s offense didn’t quite turn into the 2nd coming of the mid-00’s Suns, Jefferson’s overall offensive approach was solid enough to elevate the team to where they’re currently at. Even though Charlotte’s offensive improvements can’t be entirely attributed to the addition of Jefferson; the veteran 6’10 center definitely helped push the overall progression. From a statistical perspective, the Bobcats’ offense definitely turned the corner into becoming a more effective unit. A prime example of this could be pointed at the drastic improvement with Charlotte’s eFG% (effective Field Goal Percentage) from 2012-13 (.46%) to this past season where the 6’10 center helped push it to 48%. As the league continues to turn into a perimeter-oriented game, Al Jefferson’s ability to completely master the art of the low-post game continues to be one of the more breathtaking sights to behold. Per Synergy Sports, the 29-year-old center was able to average an extremely impressive .97 PPP (points per possession) in post-up situations which sets him above the rest of the top-notch front-court players in the NBA. As previously mentioned, Jefferson’s low-post ability is definitely an extremely amazing sight to behold because of the relative ease that he displays on a play-by-play basis. Although people may point to Jefferson’s previous issues on the defensive end, the 6’10 center made some noticeable improvements from his time with Utah. While a portion of Jefferson’s developments to the overall defensive scheme of Charlotte coach Steve Clifford, Big Al definitely looked like a more consistent, focused part of that Bobcats system. Even though he could still seem to be a little slow-footed during PnR situations against more mobile front-court players, it’s safe to say that he fit into his given role in Clifford’s defensive scheme. With that in mind, opponents finished the season with a below-average of .81 PPP (Points Per Possession) when they square off against Big Al which was a pretty solid improvement from the previous season. Weaknesses: While it might be safe to say that Jefferson isn’t quite the 2nd coming of Hakeem Olajuwon, it’s really hard to find any major weaknesses from his 2013-14 season. One of my minor issues with Jefferson would be his work away from the low-post. Even though Jefferson is definitely effective away from the rim because of his PnR work with Kemba Walker, the 29-year-old center is prone to taking a wide array of mid-range jumpers. Between 15-19 feet away from the rim, Jefferson shot an incredibly pedestrian 37%. Reasons for Optimism: At this point, the addition of Jefferson to the Bobcats/Hornets organization has been an extremely solid success. As the 2nd half of the season wore on, the overall chemistry that Jefferson and the rest of the Bobcats had was one of the more entertaining and exciting aspects to observe. Jefferson’s low-post was an absolutely beautiful thing to behold and it’s just going to be fun to watch the rest of the team grow around him for the near future. Reasons for Pessimism: While it was courageous and gutsy to watch Jefferson to play in that Miami series with a torn plantar fascia, you can’t help to be a little worried about his future. With that in mind, Jefferson will have the entire season to recover from that injury, so I wouldn’t expect it to cause him too much trouble during the 2014-15 season.

A Chat with Synergy Dance Fitness Studio What services does your business offer and what makes your business stand out from the competition? Our amazing new facility is equipped with a beautiful dance floor, expert instructors in a large variety of fitness formats. [Our studio has] a friendly community of students and a great track record of helping others reach their fitness goals, relieve stress and have fun! Exercise is challenging. How do you keep clients motivated and engaged? Instructors at Synergy will keep you motivated and moving with amazing music, new choreography, exercises, and a lively bunch of students. We feature some of our students’ (and staff’s!) successes on our wall of weight-loss fame! What was the inspiration to start or run this business? Synergy was created after years of teaching dance fitness and zumba in the DMV area and watching how fitness changed others’ lives. We include a number of formats so that everyone can find something to motivate them toward being more fit and happy. What do you love most about your job? We love to hear about the changes that our contribution may have helped our student achieve—whether it was stress relief, improved health, weight loss or less pain. We feel honored to be part of their journey.

A San Diego school was awarded top honors for Excellence in Urban Education from San Diego State University’s National Center for Urban School Transformation. Granger Junior High School in National City, which instructs grades 7-9 in the Sweetwater Union High School District, was presented with the center’s highest honor — gold — at the national symposium in Houston. Urban schools like Granger often struggle, with a lack of resources, low test scores and poor attendance. The SDSU center, under the leadership of Joe Johnson, Ph.D., identifies, celebrates, and studies urban schools that achieve excellent academic results. The center works hand-in-hand with educators to not only improve urban education, but transform it. “Granger Junior High School is among the best urban schools in the nation,” Johnson said. “It is representative of a select group of typical schools that are achieving atypical results.” Highly selective winners To be eligible for the NCUST award, schools must have high numbers of low-income students and may not have selective admissions policies. The school’s test results must be better than the state average for all students and the test results for every demographic group of students must be better than the state average for all students. All schools must have high attendance rates, low suspension and expulsion rates, high graduation rates and evidence of excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. "One of our goals is to recognize more schools that are doing great work,” Johnson said. “When schools see other schools succeeding, they see that their goals are attainable, and often they are inspired to improve their efforts.” Seventeen elementary, junior high, and high schools were identified as bronze-level finalists for the National Excellence in Urban Education Award. Each of those finalists received a site visit from an NCUST evaluation team of researchers and practitioners. Of those finalists, eight were selected for bronze-level, four for silver-level, and four for gold-level recognition, having demonstrated rigorous curricula, effective instruction and positive, productive school climates. “All students of all groups need to be educated in a way that will encourage them to be high achievers, and that is what NCUST is dedicated to help urban schools do,” Johnson said. At the National Excellence in Urban Education Symposium, on May 23 and 24, all of the winners were recognized and one elementary, one middle school, one high school and one alternative school were named as gold-level award winners — Granger Junior High School was one of them. The other gold-level award winners included Synergy Charter School in South Central Los Angeles, MacArthur High School in the Aldine Independent School District in Houston, and Dayton Business Technology High, an alternative school in Dayton, Ohio. Silver-level winners will receive $2,500 and gold-level winners will receive $5,000. Additionally, all winners will receive a variety of other prizes and forms of recognition for their schools. A systematic approach NCUST, created in 2005 as part of the Qualcomm Institute for Innovation and Educational Success at SDSU with a $15 million endowment from the company, seeks to transform urban schools performing at or below acceptable standards into high-achieving educational environments. Since its inception, the center has identified, celebrated and promoted the best practices of the nation’s highest performing urban schools, honoring 76 schools in 20 states. NCUST provides programs, tools and research intended to help districts create more high-performing urban schools. The center implements three key initiatives for urban schools as part of a systematic approach to increase the number of urban schools nationwide that achieve exceptional academic results. They are: “Too often demographics define destiny,” Johnson said. “All students of all groups need to be educated in a way that will encourage them to be high achievers, and that is what NCUST is dedicated to help urban schools do.”

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SGYP) Rating Reiterated by BTIG Research Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SGYP)‘s stock had its “positive” rating restated by BTIG Research in a research report issued on Monday. They currently have a $11.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 107.94% from the company’s current price. Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on SGYP. Zacks Investment Research cut Synergy Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. HC Wainwright set a $15.00 target price on Synergy Pharmaceuticals and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 8th. Rodman & Renshaw reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, September 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Sunday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.75. Synergy Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SGYP) opened at 5.29 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.16. The company’s market cap is $949.27 million. Synergy Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $2.50 and a one year high of $7.15. Synergy Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SGYP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.03. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Synergy Pharmaceuticals will post ($1.03) earnings per share for the current fiscal year. In other Synergy Pharmaceuticals news, major shareholder Paulson & Co. Inc. sold 3,473,713 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.61, for a total value of $19,487,529.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders. A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals by 27.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,304,086 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,600,000 after buying an additional 281,991 shares during the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $828,000. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 117,436 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $363,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new position in shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $126,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.54% of the company’s stock. About Synergy Pharmaceuticals Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (Synergy) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of gastrointestinal (GI) therapies. The Company’s GI platform includes two lead product candidates: plecanatide and dolcanatide. It is engaged in the discovery, research and development involving uroguanylin analogs for the treatment of functional GI disorders and inflammatory bowel disease. Receive News & Ratings for Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

It is trio time in the Classics at The Merc series this week. Flutist Cathy Blickenstaff, pianist Stefani Walens and oboist Susan Barrett will perform a program ranging from the classics to contemporary classics to whimsical, sometimes working as a trio, sometimes as a duo. Typical of the program is a trio for piano, oboe and flute by English composer Madeline Dring, said Blickenstaff, "It is very audience friendly and fun to play." Then there is a piece by William Grant Still, compared, says Blickenstaff, of "short, quirky movements. Blickenstaff, who has been playing for the better part of her life, nonetheless declares herself the junior member of the trio, at least from the perspective of musical experience. "I learn from them. They're experienced," she said. Both of her fellow performers make their living as musicians while Blickenstaff divides her time between music and her family, and that's just the way she likes it. "I am doing the two things I always wanted to do in my life," she said. Blickenstaff is mother to a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter and plays piccolo for the San Diego Lyric Opera and flute with the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra, as well as the trio and the occasional pick-up performance. Back in middle school Blickenstaff dreamed about playing in the pit on Broadway. That didn't happen, but that works for Blickenstaff. "I'm OK that is not where I am," she said. Instead, after she earned a master's degree ---- two of them in fact ---- and spent some time in a duo with a guitarist, she moved from Colorado, where she attended college, to her native La Jolla. "I was ready for a change," she said. She took a job as editor for a music publishing company and worked on establishing herself as a flutist, hooked up with another guitarist she would eventually marry, and settled into a life. Almost. She still was not a mother. When that changed, she left the editorship, but kept her hand in with the flute. She was finally living the life she loved and decided to have a second child. Today she is a stay-at-home mom and a flutist. Blickenstaff has never lost sight of her mother's injunction, though. "Cathy, you have to have music in your life or you won't be complete," she recalled her mother telling her. And her mother should know. She started Blickenstaff on piano in the first grade and, after she switched to flute in the fourth grade, became her frequent accompanist and relentless supporter through a young life replete with performance dates. "I always knew I wanted to be a musician," Blickenstaff said. "It's just something that's in your soul." Even when she hits a musically slack period and her energies are going primarily into being a mother, the flute is never far away. "It feels so good when I pick it up again," she said. Walens teaches piano at the University of California San Diego and accompanies and coaches voice students at University of San Diego. She plays regularly in chamber music series in San Diego, including those at the Athenaeum, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Public Library, Chula Vista Public Library, Scripps Ranch Public Library, First Unitarian Universalist Church, San Diego Mini Concerts at the Lyceum Theater, Muriel Gluck Chamber Music Series, MUSE chamber music series and Synergy at Home. She holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College, NorthwesternUniversity and the Dartmouth College Congregation of the Arts. Barrett has performed in the Classics at the Merc series with harpsichordist Alison Luedecke. Like Blickenstaff, she has been performing since she was a child. Her sister started teaching her piano when she was 5 years old. She was only in third grade when her sister graduated with a degree in music education and became her voice teacher, and was in fifth grade when she made the switch to oboe. Though she plays in symphonies, she prefers small groups, though playing an oboe makes her part of a very small group automatically, though the reason she plays oboe is it is her favorite instrument. Classics at The Merc The Merc, Old Town Temecula Community Theater, 42051 Main St., Temecula 3 p.m. Sept. 6 $11 adults and $5 students

Senior Synergies is a great show concept for the Wilmington area, as it has become a retirement hub of late. Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) February 04, 2014 On Thursday, February 6, 2014, BusinessRadioX® welcomes to the studio the latest addition to its radio family, Senior Synergies, hosted by Tom Pechar, from BusinessRadioX® in Wilmington, NC. Senior Synergies will focus on a wide range of issues faced by seniors in the Cape Fear Region. Each show will bring insight to topics that impact those in the region, including availability and breadth of government services, veterans issues, elder law, health care, lifestyle – and even fun events in which seniors can participate. The goal is to help guests tell their stories and the impact on seniors throughout the Wilmington area. Tom Pechar is the owner of Synergy HomeCare of Wilmington. He moved to Wilmington in 2010 after a long and successful executive career in not-for-profit arts management, and fulfilled a long held dream of starting and growing his own business. Having lived in a mission-driven environment his entire professional life, Pechar started a business that would make a real difference in peoples’ lives. He found that in Synergy HomeCare, a national network of more than 100 non-medical home care agencies. Synergy provides care to clients of all ages who may need personal care for short or extended periods of time. “Senior Synergies is a great show concept for the Wilmington area, as it has become a retirement hub of late,” said Ann Revell-Pechar, who operates the Wilmington studio of BusinessRadioX®. “We’re happy to see Synergy HomeCare so committed to bettering the lives of seniors in our region, and giving those who serve them an opportunity to shine. We are very much looking forward to Tom’s guests and the stories they’ll share.” Pechar's first broadcast will feature Gayle Ginsberg, a Social Worker at the New Hanover County Senior Resource Center and Holly Pilson, the Caregiver Resource Specialist at the Cape Fear Council of Governments. Join us for this inaugural episode at 11:30am Eastern on Thursday, February 6th, on Senior Synergies. About Business RadioX®: BusinessRadioX® interviews dozens of innovative entrepreneurs and successful leaders each week. Its mission is to help local businesses Get The Word Out about the important work they’re doing for their market, their community, and their profession. With a pro-business slant and a long-form interview format, guests don’t have to worry about being ambushed or talking in “sound bites.” Guests have enough time to tell their whole story and to share their insights and experience without interruptions. BusinessRadioX® hosts are business professionals interviewing their peers, drilling down on the critical issues, and delivering practical information to an engaged business audience. Business topics that are frequently covered include: Law, Finance, Healthcare, Technology, Trade Shows, B2B Marketing, Venture Capital, Training and Development and other issues impacting the business community. For more information, visit: http://www.businessradiox.com.

More animated this and that. Warner Bros. Animation continues to rev up its super hero division. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Cartoon Network will be unveiling Green Lantern: The Animated Series in 2011, coinciding with the live-action Green Lantern movie, which will hit theaters in June of that same year. The Green Lantern cartoon series represents yet another facet of DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.’ plan for total brand-expansion. Yesterday we reported on DCE/WB’s latest plans for their slate of upcoming superhero movies ... This is known as "synergy" in the moving picture business. Homer Simpson tops some list or other. (And are we really, truly supposed to care?) ... Entertainment Weekly did a pretty fine job of putting together their list of The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 years. But that doesn't mean there's not some room for dissent. The pick of Homer Simpson as the best character over the last 20 years is fitting: he's actually been around for 20 years. Sure, diehard fans will tell you "The Simpsons" isn't what it once was, but for a single character -- particularly an animated one -- to sustain such a presence in popular culture over such a long time is truly remarkable. ... (Well, hey. Look at Mickey Mouse.) Peter Keefe, RIP Peter Keefe, an animation executive and producer best known as the creative force behind the iconic children's TV series "Voltron," died May 27 of throat cancer in Rochester, N.Y. He was 57. During the past two decades, Keefe created, produced and sold more than 600 half-hours of children's and family entertainment programming, shows that were watched by hundreds of millions while generating hundreds of millions of dollars in business. ... Meantime, Wall Street speculates about what the Mouse will be doing with ABC. ... "I've been anticipating a new wave of consolidation in the TV and radio broadcasting business. And the notion of Disney selling ABC fits into that picture," said Paul Kagan, chief executive officer of PK World Media. ABC, third of four networks in the ratings race, recently overhauled its prime-time lineup -- the second year in a row it revamped its schedule during the upfronts season, when broadcasters negotiate with advertisers ... Just because Disney is backing away from hand-drawn cartoons, doesn't mean others aren't giving it a shot. Check out the french trailer for Sylvain Chomet’s new animation film, L’ILLUSIONNISTE (The Illusionist), which was written by Jacques Tati before he passed away. The animation looks really good. ... Enjoy the elongated weekend. But wear sunscreen.

Spectrum group, the holding company for Comguard, Spectrum Network Solutions, Spectrum Training, ComGuard Infosol (India) and Psilog International facilitated its channel partners for their contribution towards its success in the Middle East and India at a recently held Annual Partner Conference in Dubai. The Conference was supported by Kaspersky, EnGenius, TripWire, gateprotect, WinMagic, Accutnix and GFI. The partner conference was attended by over 200channel partners from across the Middle East, North Africa and India. Channel partners were rewarded for their efforts and hard work put in during the past year at a glittering Award Ceremony held at the prestigious Burj AL Arab Hotel in Dubai early this month. Spectrum group awarded partners in various categories on behalf of its different companies and key divisions at Comguard such as Comguard VAD, Comguard Value Business and Comguard Wireless. Comguard Value Added Distributor Emerging Partner: Procloud, Bahrain Loyalty Award -Deltaline, Saudi Arabia Enterprise Project of Year - Applicom, UAE Highest Growth Partner - OBM, Oman The Most Consistent Partner- Sites Power, UAE Comguard Value Business Emerging Partner of the Year - Paramount Computer Systems, Saudi Arabia Most Consistent Partner of the Year - Paladion Networks, UAE Best Project of Year - Al Moammar Information Systems, Saudi Arabia Best Partner of Year - Wipro Middle East, UAE Wireless integrator of the year, outdoor - Computer Data Networks, Kuwait Best microwave project of the year -ScopeSky, Iraq Best SMB partner for wireless solutions - Al Jadayel, UAE Most Active Partner of the Year - Frontier Business Systems Pvt. Ltd Most Active Sub-Distributor of the Year - MSV Tech Pvt. Ltd Most Valued Tier 1 Partner -HCL Infosystem Most active partner of the year - MHD Solutions, UAE “We are extremely happy to host our channel partners and share our thoughts with them. The conference provided us an perfect opportunity to express our gratitude by awarding our champion channel partners for their efforts and support that has brought us to the forefront of IT distribution in the region and in India.” said Ajay Singh Chuahan, CEO, Spectrum group. Spectrum group consists of leading distribution companies that distribute world class brands like Kaspersky, GFI, HP ArcSight, WinMagic, WatchGuard, Clavister, gateprotect and others. The group operates across Middle East including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and India among others. About Spectrum Group Spectrum Group is a synergy of Spectrum Training, ComGuard Distribution, ComGuard Value Business, Psilog International, Spectrum Network Solutions, ComGuard Infosol (India). With offices in Dubai, Riyadh, Mumbai, Singapore, New Delhi and over 200 highly skilled professionals supporting the group initiatives, Spectrum Group has truly emerged as one of the top ICT players in the region. The group has gained respectability in the ME marketplace for its keen sense of understanding and readiness to serve the network and security needs of Consumers, SMBs, Government agencies and Enterprises in the region. Backed by in-house technical expertise in deploying cutting-edge products, solutions, training, and combining innovative value proposition to support customers, Spectrum group has struck the right chord and marched ahead with its strategic moves.

Книгу можно купить в интернет-магазинах: · OZON.ru 3216р. [Проверить наличие] ISBN: 0804756600Издательство: Stanford Business Books Год издания: 2007 Hollywood and Silicon Valley have long been uncomfortable bedfellows. Out of fear of pirating and lost profits, entertainment companies have historically resisted technological changes. Conversely, high-tech companies, more concerned with technological progress, have largely ignored the needs of the entertainment industry. Nevertheless, those products that we now take for granted, such as DVDs, MP3 players, and the Internet, are all due to the synergy of technology and entertainment. The switch to digital and web formats for entertainment represents huge potential market opportunities for both Hollywood and Silicon Valley. It has opened up new possibilities for entertainment and expanded the way content is created, distributed and consumed. Consider the phenomenon of YouTube and its wildly popular user-created content, or the ability to download movies and TV shows from sites such as iTunes and watch them on your iPod or computer, anytime and anywhere. ...

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS by Apostle Steve Adonai Free to Share Author requests article critique Free to Share Author requests article critique SEND A PRIVATE MESSAGE HIRE THIS WRITER In a few years, your present income or salary might not be sufficient to cover your escalating costs and expenses. You need your own profitable business now. Since weíre not getting any younger, letís avoid getting into retirement in financial scarcity, struggling and scratching, especially after youíve been such a blessing to people and Godís Kingdom. Know also that itís Godís will for us to make progress, profit and even become financially independent as we depend and trust in His willingness and faithfulness to guide us. To invest our gifts, talents and resources onto profiting is also Godís perfect will. Lk.19:11-26. 1) To build a solid, established, highly successful, and profitable home/business in Christ; - Keep asking in prayer for the gifts of wisdom, understanding and knowledge. These are divine spiritual gifts from above, superior to earthly principles and standards. Prov.24:3; James 1:5-8; Prov.3:5, 6. 2) Itís possible and necessary to operate chains of businesses (never limiting God) without your personal involvement, if youíd ask the Lord earnestly for sound business ideas, competent, loyal, faithful and aggressive workforce, according to Matt.25:14-23. You can start small, moving up to greatness, but let it be with excellence, class and distinction. Job 8:7; Zech.4:10aNLT. The best time and place to start is now, from where you are. Start by converting your gift, talent, profession, or vocation (or whatever you love doing best) into a business or profit generating service. You can also identify a need you can satisfy profitably. But itís very important to start with what you already know or get to really know what youíre starting with. 3) SOURCES OF CAPITAL. A) Invest, using your savings. B) Sell your personal effects or property. Your business, well groomed and managed, will buy you back whatever you sold in a short time. Do the most to raise, use and effectively manage your own capital as you start without incurring any debts. C) Share your dream with only close and well meaning friends, relatives and acquaintances asking for their financial support as a loan, as business partners or their free will donations. D) Armed with your neatly and professionally prepared business plan, seek the counsel and financial support of the financial community, e.g. Banks, Cooperatives, and Venture Capitalists etc. 4) Be absolutely focused on building a solid and highly successful business first. Manage your costs and cash flow in such a way that purchases and acquisitions of income generating projects, programs and products are always your top priority. These are your real assets. Keep doing this and youíll keep flourishing. Prov.24:27. 5) PRAYER AND FAITH (ACTION). Be a man or woman of prayer. Be very diligent and persistent. Prayer, diligence and persistence are the unbeatable trio! Pray, and endeavor to work in agreement and harmony always with your spouse or/and staff. Itís very powerful and highly productive. Avoid at all cost, cacophonous, contentious or dubious alliances. Remember too to delegate and decentralize functions and responsibilities, you donít know it all. Seek the advice of specialists, experts and professionals in spite of the cost; because, no matter who you are, what you know or what you have, YOU STILL NEED HELP! It takes teamwork, To make a dream work. Itís not just about me, But, itís really about we! Eccl.4:9; Prov.20:18; Prov.24:5, 6. ďA group of brains, coordinated or connected (a master mind) in a spirit of harmony, will provide more thought energy (through synergy) than a single brain, just as a group of electric batteries will provide more energy than a single batteryĒ Ė Napoleon Hill. Remember, through all this; never ever undermine the importance and necessity of seeking first the counsel, wisdom and direction of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate guaranty for true success and infallible insurance against manís imperfections. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct you paths. Zech.4:6 ....It is not by force or by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty. 5) Its virtually impossible and very frustrating too, to be a blessing without being blessed. We can only give what we have. God has appointed and mandated us as His extension for disseminating His gifts, blessings and mercies to humanity. The gift of wealth, our great wealth inheritance in Christ Jesus gets us financially and materially blessed so we can be a blessing financially and materially, through giving and sharing generously and cheerfully. 2Cor.8:9; 2Cor.9:7-15. The difference between the poor and the rich is this; one is financially disciplined, with absolute authority and firm control over his income and expenditure, while the other isnít. Letís be strong, knowledgeable and prudent to determine when, from where and how much cash comes to us, then also be authoritative and sharp enough to control how much cash and to where it goes from us. 6) STRATEGIC INTERCESSION. To keep, sustain and profitably manage Godís blessings at our disposal, we must be spiritually violent as competent warriors. Always attack, overrule and restrain the Devil and his cohorts like bankruptcy/poverty, fear etc, assigned to steal kill and destroy, using the blood, the name of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. With these, victory, success and financial abundance are at your beck and call to the glory of God! John 10:10; Lk.11:14-22. By the grace of God, you're saved and healthy (Eph.2:8; Matt.8:17), now by His grace, it's time to be wealthy. 2Cor.8:9. SECURE A BLESSED TOMORROW, TODAY! ē Read books on Sales/Marketing, Accounting, Business Management, and Investing. ē Comments, questions are welcome. Have a marvelous day in Godís awesome presence. Apostle Steve Adonai. PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR, LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE Read more articles by Apostle Steve Adonai or search for other articles by topic below. Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)Read more by clicking on a link: Main Site Articles Most Read Articles Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles. New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review. God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You ...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19 Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38 LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

How soon will it be until we start to see reports on how the Yankees are responding (or not) to new manager Joe Girardi? The team is off to a poor start. The media is already starting to question how Girardi is dealing with them on player news. The players are sneaking in candy to the clubhouse behind his back. Some are already questioning Girardi’s line-ups and game moves. Sure, it’s only 25 games into the season. And, the Yankees pitching – as many predicted – has not been effective outside of Pettitte, Wang, Bruney, Rivera and Chamberlain. Also, only Abreu, Jeter, Damon and Posada have hit well with RISP this season, to date. (With A-Rod, Cano, Melky and Giambi killing the team in this regard – see below. Although, for what it’s worth Melky has done well in High Leverage situations.) Yankees, with RISP, through April 26th: PA BA OPS BAbip RCano 32 .133 .354 .160 MEnsberg 11 .182 .364 .286 ARodriguez 24 .143 .440 .231 JGiambi 27 .056 .444 .059 AGonzalez 8 .200 .629 .200 JMolina 9 .222 .667 .333 WBetemit 6 .333 .667 .500 MCabrera 23 .188 .693 .182 SDuncan 4 .333 .833 .333 HMatsui 19 .267 .954 .250 CMoeller 6 .250 1.000 .250 DJeter 24 .429 1.006 .450 JDamon 25 .300 1.075 .286 JPosada 14 .333 1.095 .444 BAbreu 21 .421 1.160 .538 [Stats via Baseball-Reference.com] In any event, many expected Girardi to be a serious change agent for this Yankees team – compared to how the team has been in the last three years or so. And, so far, some could suggest that all we have seen is a situation where various feathers have been ruffled with mixed results. Me? I’d like to see where the Yankees are at the end of May before making any hard judgements. But, will the rest of the world be as willing to give this another 4-6 weeks? I’m not sure that will happen – and things could start getting hot for Joe, sooner rather than later. Go ahead. Help yourself. Get it out of your system. I know that’s what I feel like doing after watching this game. So far, this season, here’s the Yankees won-loss record broken down by what the score of the game was at the start of the 5th inning: When ahead, they went on to win 8 of 9 games. When it was tied, they went on to win 3 of 4 games. When they were behind, they went on to lose 10 of 11 games. That last one is some stat, huh? In games, so far, this season, when the Yankees were losing after four innings, they’ve gone on to lose the game 91% of the time. The problem here is interesting – and the issue is actually the 3rd and 5th innings of games. So far, this season, it’s been the 3rd and 5th innings where the Yankees have allowed their most runs. This is the reason for that 1-10 mark. The 3rd inning puts them behind and then the 5th inning finishes them off. So, it’s not really an issue of the Yankees bats not coming back late – more so, it’s a matter of the starting pitchers letting the game get out of hand early and then really sealing the defeat two innings later. Well, in Triple-A. Via Syracuse Online: [Darrell] Rasner will take that extra edge to the mound today as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre comes to town to face the Syracuse Chiefs in a two-game weekend set at Alliance Bank Stadium. Yankee fans might look to Rasner as an answer to New York’s pitching woes. While young pitchers Philip Hughes (0-3, 7.85 ERA), Ian Kennedy (0-2, 9.64) and Ross Ohlendorf (0-0, 6.06) have struggled in New York, the 27-year-old Rasner has been dominant so far this season in Scranton. Rasner is 3-0 in four starts with an eye-popping 0.72 ERA. He’s struck out 21 batters in 25 innings and walked just five. In his most recent start, Rasner shut out Rochester for eight innings on Monday. Rasner might be in New York already if not for a stroke of bad luck last season. For the first time in his career, Rasner started the regular season in the major leagues, making the Yankees’ 2007 Opening Day roster. He started five games for the Yanks. His 1-2 record belied a respectable 4.01 ERA. But in the first inning of his sixth start, a come-backer off the bat of New York Mets outfielder Endy Chavez fractured the index finger on Rasner’s throwing hand. In the past, throwing in the bigs, Rasner was usually pretty good for his first 50 pitches – and then he lost it. Perhaps he’s found something and now he’s over that? Did you know(?), back in 2002, Rasner was drafted ahead of the following players: Jon Lester, Jonathan Broxton, Jesse Crain, Brian McCann, Curtis Granderson and Rich Hill. Somebody once saw something in the lad. Maybe it’s starting to come out now? There’s a part of me that sees that Victor Martinez grounder that went for a hit in the bottom of the 5th tonight and wonders if someone with the range of, say, Alberto Gonzalez makes that play, gets the out, and then Pettitte is out of the inning before allowing the two bombs (and blowing the game)? Still, as a leader on the staff, gassed or not, it’s up to Andy to pick up the team and get the final out in that frame before allowing all those two-out runs. And, he didn’t – so, this one is on Pettitte. Oh, and, before anyone starts jumping on that “Giambi’s found his stroke” bandwagon, please, let me remind you that Paul Byrd is Mr. Finesse out there on the mound. So, now, we have a small losing streak mounting. The next game is on national T.V. (on FOX). New York’s bullpen is somewhat smarting. No pressure for Ian Kennedy tomorrow, right? Well, let’s put it this way, if Kennedy doesn’t make it through at least five innings tomorrow, the next time his turn in the rotation comes up, it may be Darrell Rasner out there on the mound instead of him. Via Tyler Kepner - Reliever Brian Bruney is probably headed to the disabled list with an injury the Yankees fear could be two torn ligaments in his right foot. Bruney, who will meet with a foot specialist in New York on Friday, said that pitching on an injured foot could lead to more serious damage. “I’ve got to make sure I don’t feel anything,” said Bruney, who stumbled while scrambling to cover first base Tuesday. “That’s something that could lead to changing arm angles, trying to brace my foot and hurting my arm. We have to make sure everything’s good.” Bruney received pregame treatment for the second day in a row and continues to wear a boot. Manager Joe Girardi said only that the foot was sore, and Bruney all but dismissed the Yankees’ public diagnosis. “Sprained midfoot — whatever that means,” Bruney said. “It just hurts.” Googling around, I found this on injuries to foot ligaments: Ligaments have a poor blood supply, and torn ligaments require as much healing time as fractures. Average healing times are: Mild sprains–2 to 6 weeks. Moderate sprains–6 to 8 weeks. Severe sprains–8 to 10 weeks. Based on this, and reading Bruney’s reaction, I’m predicting that he’ll be out for the next 5 weeks (and maybe more) – if it’s true that he has torn ligaments. That’s a shame – as it was somewhat appearing like he had turned a corner this season. Nick-YF from YFSF sent me an e-mail today that contained the following: Recently, Bill James talked about how Craig Biggio always did poorly against good to great pitchers, and he felt that was a reflection of his innate ability (he lacked the true talent to be great, but overachieved against mediocre pitchers). To my eyes and memory, it seems that Melky Cabrera is doing the opposite. But I could be wrong. Does Melky hit better against the better pitchers in the league? It’s an interesting question, so, I looked into the numbers. Ken Griffey Jr. will be 39-years old next season. He has a contract to play baseball with the Reds in 2009. But, it’s a club option: $16.5 million to keep Griffey in Cincy; or, $4 million to buy him out. Based on his age, injury history, (at times) attitude, and the direction of the club, you have to figure that the Reds will go for the buyout. So, what happens if the Yankees let Bobby Abreu walk after this season? Do they move Melky Cabrera to right and open up a spot for Brett Gardner in center? Or, would Hank maybe make a play for Griffey, on a one or two-year deal, to get him to play right field in the Bronx? Does A-Rod, who played with Griffey in Seattle, factor into this somehow? Personally, I would hate a move to bring in Griffey next season. Because of his age, rep, injury history, etc., it’s a terrible move. But, I guess anything is possible. To me, it seems like Joe Girardi is really working his bullpen hard this season, to date. Granted, there’s good cause for this – as his starting pitchers, outside of Wang or Pettitte, have not always provided many innings in their games. So, I checked the numbers. As of this morning, Girardi has brought a relief pitcher into a game 65 times this season. And, with 6 more games this month, this pro-rates to 82 “calls to the bullpen” before May 1st. How does this rank to other recent Yankees teams? It’s pretty bad. What a big, fat, waste of a game. A few minutes ago, in the YES lead-in to the first pitch of tonight’s game, David Cone, on Phil Hughes, said that that Hughes’ problem this season has been the second and third time that he’s faced batters in a game – meaning that’s when he gets hit. Not trusting Cone (Sorry David!) I decided to check the stats at Baseball-Reference.com – and, guess what? Cone was right. See the following for Hughes, to date, this season, in terms of what batters do after seeing him once in a game: PA BA OBP SLG BAbip 1st PA 37 .233 .324 .300 .269 2nd PA 33 .407 .515 .556 .478 3rd+ PA 13 .538 .538 .538 .538 That’s tattoo-city after the first time through the line-up, indeed. How about last season? Here are the numbers: PA BA OBP SLG BAbip 1st PA 118 .192 .316 .343 .250 2nd PA 117 .273 .308 .436 .299 3rd+ PA 71 .238 .314 .365 .250 Now, that’s much better. This suggests that whatever is happening this year is hopefully a blip type thing. It shouldn’t be a conditioning issue – after all we’ve heard about Phil really being in shape now. Perhaps it’s a pitch selection thing? At the least, it’s something for Girardi, Eiland, Hughes, Posada and Molina to think about…and maybe try something new. AVG AB OBP SLG Batting #1 .244 82 .347 .451 Batting #2 .237 93 .273 .312 Batting #3 .289 90 .347 .500 Batting #4 .310 87 .381 .529 Batting #5 .296 81 .389 .469 Batting #6 .227 88 .261 .330 Batting #7 .213 75 .330 .373 Batting #8 .273 77 .325 .403 Batting #9 .338 71 .405 .563 Look at that BA/OBP/SLG mark for the Yankees #9 batter – it’s the best on the team, across the board. For the most part, the Yankees #9 batters this season have been Melky Cabrera (25 PA), Alberto Gonzalez (20 PA), Chad Moeller (19 PA) and Jose Molina (10 PA). Hey, way to go guys! Ken Rosenthal thinks that Brian Cashman should “bolt” from the Yankees at the end of this season. Did you know that the last Yankees G.M. to leave the team, and then go on to be a G.M. for another team was Bob Quinn, Sr.? Quinn resigned from the Yankees on October 13, 1989 to take the G.M. spot for the Cincinnati Reds. Good timing for him – as the Reds won a ring in 1990. Woody Woodward was the Yankees G.M. in 1987. The next season, he was the G.M for the Philadelphia Phillies. And, after that year, he was the G.M. for the Seattle Mariners for the next 11 seasons. Murray Cook was the Yankees G.M. in 1984. The next season, he was the G.M for the Montreal Expos. And, after three years there, he was the G.M. for the Cincinnati Reds for the next two seasons – - until the aformentioned Bob Quinn, Sr. took over from him. Bill Bergesch was the Yankees G.M. in 1983. In 1984, he was kicked down to be Murray Cook’s assistant. And, in 1985, he became the G.M. for the Cincinnati Reds – - until the aformentioned Murray Cook took over from him. So, there’s an interesting study. Bergesch, Cook and Quinn were the Reds G.M.’s from 1985 to 1992. And, Bergesch, Cook and Quinn were the Yankees G.M.’s – for the most part – from 1982 to 1989. Those Reds teams finished 1st, once, and 2nd, five times. Those Yankees teams were only good in 1985 and 1986 – - but, that’s when Clyde King was the G.M. (after Cook and before Quinn). Would Brian Cashman do better outside of New York too? It would be interesting to see how this plays out, if it happens that he does “bolt” from Hank. On February 16th of this year, Peter Abraham had this to share on Phil Hughes’ fastball: Watched Phil Hughes throw and was impressed with his fastball. After his leg injury in May, he said his heater was 91-92 instead of the usual 93-95 it is. “It wasn’t until the playoffs when I felt complete confidence in my leg,” he said. “That was when I got my fastball back.” Hughes said it’s not so much velocity that he counts on. It’s more the “late life” when he can throw harder. “You need your legs to follow throw and get that little extra on the pitch,” he said. “I wasn’t getting that.” Note the part about Hughes’ fastball being “usual 93-95″ MPH. Now, that’s the Javy Vazquez that I remember and didn’t love so much. You know, coming into this game, Johnny Damon’s BA/OBP/SLG line in games that the Yankees have won this season was .342/.390/.711 (in 41 PA); and, in losses it was .125/.326/.188 (in 44 PA). Last season, in wins it was .307/.397/.463 (in 374 PA); and, in losses it was .213/.277/.294 (in 231 PA). It’s starting to look like…as Johnny Damon goes, so do the Yankees. So, what’s up with Mussina? Should we book him for an Eddie Harris moment once every two weeks? It was Harris again in this one, right? Or, was this his Jamie Moyer moment? Either way, I’ll take it – as will Moose and the Yankees. This was an interesting game for Joe Girardi. When he came to the mound in the 7th, and began to motion in order to remove Mussina, only to check-arm his signal to the pen upon Posada’s protest, I didn’t know what to make of it. (And, I still don’t.) Is it a good thing that he’s listening to his players? Or, should it be taken as a sign that he’s not fully in charge? In any event, as this season unfolds, Girardi has shown one thing: When there’s a win on the table, and it’s starting to look like it may slip, he’s not afraid to lock it down – even if that means bringing in Joba in the 7th or Rivera in the 8th. If he keeps this up, and New York does well this season, Joe may go down in history as the one who broke the relief pitchers role-mold that Tony LaRussa started back-in-the-day with the A’s (and is now the norm in baseball). I’ve just finished reading Richard Bradley’s new book, “The Greatest Game: The Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Playoff of ’78.” I went into this one with some concern – because I’m a huge fan of the 1978 Yankees and because that “Playoff” (or “Play-in”?) Game of October 2, 1978 is a game that I will never forget for the rest of my life. Basically, this book was going to have to be awesome, in my mind, to match up with the subject matter that it was covering. And, as I can share now, “The Greatest Game” was up to the task. I loved reading this book. It met my every expectation and more. Bradley not only takes you through “the game,” but, he takes you through the background of the players on both teams, the 1978 pennant chase as a whole, as well as throwing in some great pieces on baseball history. And, “The Greatest Game” is near perfect in detail. I’m a bit of a nitpicker when it comes to books about Yankees teams and players that I followed deeply. And, I only caught three small mistakes in this book. On page 78, it refers to Don Gullet’s right arm hurting – when I’m pretty sure it should have referred to his left arm. On page 99, it referred to Yaz’ homer of October 2nd going down the left-field line when it should have said the right-field line. And, on page 136, in one section, it referred to Jack Brohamer as a right-handed batter and not as a left-handed batter. That’s it – out of many, many – did I say many? – many facts included in this book, those where the only items that I found that we not dead-on correct. This aside, “The Greatest Game: The Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Playoff of ’78” is a very entertaining book. In terms of the essential library for the modern-Yankees fan, this book is a must inclusion. I recommend that Yankees fans get this book without delay. Don’t wait until the next time you’re in a bookstore or surfing Amazon, etc. Good to the bookstore or your favorite book-website, now, and pick up a copy of Bradley’s book. Seriously, do it now. Run. This book is worth it. And, you don’t have to be a Yankees fan to enjoy this book. It was so well written and evenly attacked that a Red Sox fan should find it as a great read too. Heck, any fan of baseball history will want to read this book – it’s that good. Again, I went into it with concern, expecting not to be impressed because of how important the subject matter was to me, and I came away from the experience very impressed and extremely pleased. Richard Bradley gets two, big, thumbs, way up, from WasWatching.com on “The Greatest Game: The Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Playoff of ’78.” Now that Wayne Krivsky is on the job market, I think the Yankees have to make a run at hiring him. Krivsky has 30 years of scouting and player evaluation experience at the major leage level. He cut his teeth at the knees of Eddie Robinson, Joe Klein and Tom Grieve in Texas and then was plucked from the Rangers by Terry Ryan of the Twins (to be his right-hand man). Here’s what Terry said about Wayne when he was hired to be the Reds G.M.: “Probably the goal of his life was to become a general manager, and it’s become reality,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. “He’s bright. He’s organized. He’s a relentless worker. He’s the type of guy that pays attention to detail. He’s good with rules. He’s good with contracts. He’s a good evaluator. “He’s got a lot of the attributes that you would want to associate with a general manager.” So, what happened in Cincy? The report that I heard was that Krivsky was not a “people person” and was somewhat aloof. As the story goes, some long-term and trusted scouts with the Reds got so tired of his ways that they up and quit. Hmm…tons of experience and a decent track record at scouting and player evaluation; but, not a “people person”….basically, Wayne Krivsky is everything that Brian Cashman is not (and vice versa). Sounds like, as a team, Cashman and Krivsky would have some good synergy, no? Michael Salfino of SNY.tv takes a look at the numbers for some Yankees pitchers and offers who should be sent packing to make room for Joba Chamberlain in the starting rotation. Click here to see his feature. Some highlights: Mussina has generated swinging strikes 11 times this year on 319 pitches. That’s five percent of strikes. At his peak, his rate was over three times that and it was 13 percent as recently as 2006. Last year, it was nine percent. But Mussina’s control is still good enough to allow him to maintain a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2-1, which is above league average. Bob Klapisch focuses on Robinson Cano today. Some highlights: Instead, it’s the offense, which led the major leagues with 968 runs last year but before Tuesday night’s 9-5 victory over the White Sox, was averaging just 4.3 runs per game, last in the American League East. What’s wrong? Just about everything: The veterans have either been hurt (Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada) or useless (Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi). Perhaps the most surprising under-performance of the month is coming from Robinson Cano, who signed a four-year, $30 million deal over the winter, and since has sputtered his way to a .173 average. But one major league talent evaluator who tracks the Yankees predicted Cano would suffer in 2008 after Joe Torre went west and took third base coach Larry Bowa with him. It was old-school, in-your-face Bowa who kept Cano focused. The scout said that upon Bowa’s decision to join Torre’s staff in Los Angeles, “I had a feeling Cano would suffer because of it.” Time of the Game: 3:44. Maybe I was just really tired; but, this game seemed longer than that. Not much longer, but, I would have bet (without looking) that it was at least a four hour (nine inning) game. Nice milestone for Wang who hung in there, well, in this one. Via the AP: In his 85th career start, Wang became the quickest major leaguer to record 50 wins as a starter since Dwight Gooden got No. 50 in his 82nd start for the Mets on June 29, 1986, against the Cubs. Wang is also the fastest Yankees starter to 50 wins since Ron Guidry got there in his 82nd start in 1979 against Texas. Impressive, huh? By the way, Wang is on pace to win 25 games this season. Yeah, I know it’s early – but, wouldn’t that be something? Actually, this is a huge win for the Yankees, in my mind. Basically, because of the questions around Mussina, Hughes and Kennedy, New York almost has to win when Pettitte and Wang get the start. So, job well done – and, of course, thank you Octavio Dotel for putting the ball on a tee for Bobby Abreu in the 7th (as that pretty much was the ballgame, right there). Who’s to blame when situations degenerate? Disgusting things you’d never anticipate? So, I’m shuttling around the kids today, listening to The Baseball Beat with Charlie Steiner on X-M Radio in the car and Kevin Kernan is the guest of the moment – talking about Hank, Joba, Cashman, Mussina, etc. And, Kernan offered something that went like this: ‘None of this would be going on now – Hank making quotes, Hughes and Kennedy being rushed and questioned, Mussina being depended on, the whole Joba debate – if Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa were actually doing what they were supposed to do and are getting paid well to do.’ Interesting point, huh? I think this is obvious and yet it gets lost in the noise when Hank starts up, and when Cashman and the fans get defensive about facilitating the learning curve of Hughes and Kennedy, etc. Point blank, Brian Cashman – and there’s no question whatsoever that these two were Cashman’s moves – spent $86 million dollars to have Pavano and Igawa be members of the Yankees starting rotation and they bombed. So, as a Yankee fan, if you’re upset about Hank’s missives and/or the harsh big league spotlight on Hughes and Kennedy, remember what’s the true ground zero here – and who set this all in motion. This is Brian Cashman’s baby which has turned into a monster – as Kernan reminded us today. It’s an excellent point that should not be allowed to get pushed to the back of the Yankees stage. Jose Contreras has faced the Yankees three times at Comiskey Park (in his career). In those starts, he’s never pitched less than six and two-thirds innings in any game. And, he’s never allowed more than 3 earned runs in any of those appearances. In his last start, against the O’s, Contreras was very sharp. I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this Yankees game tonight. Anthony Rieber of Newsday takes a look at player websites and blogs. Here’s what he had to say about Phil Hughes’ blog: Phil Hughes has received some attention for his site, www.philhughes.wordpress.com. It’s pretty much just Hughes posting, but the posts have gotten less frequent and much shorter lately. Maybe being 0-3 with an 8.82 ERA, he just doesn’t have much to say. Know what? That’s not a bad thing. At this point of his career, the way his season is going, Hughes should be more worried about his pitching and less worried about posting to his blog. Personally, I would be a tad turned off if Hughes was blogging away, like mad, while his pitching is so poor. So, I don’t see the need to get on him, now, about “less frequent and much shorter” blog entries. The last time that Jorge Posada truly “caught” a game for the Yankees this season was April 8th. That was two weeks ago. Since that time, Posada (when he has played) has mostly been a D.H. for the Yankees. In this role, Jorge’s BA/OBP/SLG line has been (to date): .310/.355/.517 (in 31 PA). Posada may have a (in his words) “dead” shoulder; but, it’s not adversely impacting his batting skill. On Saturday, the Yankees played Posada at first base. It was the 19th time that Jorge has played there in his big league career. (And, in those 19 games, he’s logged 107.6 innings at the position – making 1 error in 107 chances.) According to Baseball-Reference.com, Posada’s RF/9 innings at first base is 8.86 – compared to a league average RF/9 innings of 9.42 – and that’s not terrible. The Yankees claim that Posada may return to catching this week. If Jorge cannot make a return to being the Yankees primary backstop, they should strongly consider making him their primary first baseman (replacing Jason Giambi). Heck, at this point, I might even consider doing this move if Posada’s shoulder returns to it’s normal state. Jose Molina and Chad Moeller have both been catchers on first place teams – and they both have World Series rings, albeit earned as back-ups. They’re not going to cost the Yankees any games with their work behind the plate. And, the way that Giambi is hitting, the weak bats of Molina and Moeller would be the same as having Jason in the line-up now. Of course, if Posada could catch, you could also start a platoon of Shelley Duncan or Morgan Ensberg with Wilson Betemit at first and sit Giambi. But, considering that Betemit is on the D.L. with corneal ulcers and Duncan is in the minors, at this moment, it’s going to be hard to work such a set-up. Hey, in the end, it’s all just food for thought. But, if Posada can’t catch, soon, it will be time to stop thinking about what’s on the menu – and, it will become time to place an order. Me? I think I’m going to go with the Posada First Sacker Special with a side order of Molina-Moeller – - and, please, hold the Giambi. Via Pete Caldera - Hank Steinbrenner wants to make one thing perfectly clear: He isn’t creating a tempest in Tampa, Fla. “Everybody’s trying to make me sound [ticked] off, or panicking. And it’s just not the case,” Steinbrenner said. He’s still pleading patience with his young starters, and he’s not insisting upon Joba Chamberlain’s immediate insertion into the Yankees’ rotation. “For someone to suggest that I’m dumb enough to demand that happen [with Chamberlain] now … that really [ticks] me off,” the Yankees’ co-chairman said by phone Monday afternoon. “No, you can’t stick him in the starting rotation right now.” Via the Daily News: “It’s all of our intention to try to get him back into the rotation by the end of the year,” [Hank] Steinbrenner told the Daily News by phone Monday afternoon. “I’ve addressed it many times, as did Joe (Girardi) and (GM Brian) Cashman. I’m just saying it would be nice to have him there right now. He’s going to be great anywhere we have him but, my preference is as a starter and that’s everybody else’s preference, too. “You see what a premium starting pitching is. The bullpen is important, but starting pitching is 70% of it. Your bullpen can’t do you any good if you’re down by five runs quickly every night. It’s logical.” Steinbrenner said he was “upset” over the Yanks making Chamberlain a reliever last season, though he acknowledged that the Yankees probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs without Chamberlain’s setup work. But, Steinbrenner said, that work delayed Chamberlain’s development as a starter for this season, something [Brian] Cashman says isn’t accurate. “Joba had 35 innings left on his starting limit last year, so he would’ve been shut down in August as a starter and gone to instructional league,” Cashman said. “We took him and transitioned him to the bullpen and he did 24 innings for us out of the major league bullpen. “Last year’s bullpen did not impair his ability to start for us now. That work was instrumental in us getting to the playoffs and also for him in pushing his development even further – he knows he can pitch in the big leagues and get big-league hitters out. If he can do that as a starter has to be determined.” Cashman insisted there is no disconnect between owner and GM. “I think Hank and everybody, we’re all on the same page,” Cashman said. “These are things we discuss internally all the time and we’ll continue to do so, it’s as simple as that. “I don’t believe Hank wants Joba in the rotation yesterday. I think he wants what we all want. Joba is a starter, but the time and place for him right now is to be in the bullpen.” Yeah, this is getting silly. But, hey, I bet that Hank and Brian even drink the same beer. Via Newsday - “Joba’s staying in the bullpen right now,” [Brian Cashman] told Newsday in a telephone conversation this morning. “That’s where we’re at. [Putting him in the rotation is] not something that’s going to happen here early on, and [Hank] knows that. We’ve talked about it. I don’t know what set him off.” “If you had bet on the kids doing great out of the gate, it wouldn’t necessarily be a safe bet, but we’re betting on them in the long-term, not necessarily in the short term,” Cashman said. “We’re certainly not playing up to our capabilities after 20 games . . . we made our decisions (in the off-season) and our season is now under way. It’s way too early to start making judgments on anything.” Interesting. So, the voice of ownership and the G.M. are now having discussions via the media. Maybe Hank should have not popped off on this? Sure, that’s a valid point. But, Cashman is making a mistake by answering Hank via the media with “I don’t know what set him off.” Pick up the phone. Call Hank. Work it through that way and then see if you can get Hank to come out with a follow-up that will smooth things out. But, if you’re going to play dueling pistols through the newspapers, that’s a big mistake. Many have tried that in the past in Yankeeland; and, at the end of the day, the Steinbrenners always get the last word. Well, at the least, Cashman didn’t play the “One’s a born liar and the other one’s a convicted liar” card. That’s a go straight to jail card, for sure. Go ask Billy. Who knows? Maybe Cashman knows this is the end of the line and he doesn’t care about coming back to the Yankees any more? That’s the only reason to play the “papers” game now.

|Home | About | Journals | Submit | Contact Us | Français| Despite significant advances in identifying the risk factors and elucidating atherosclerotic pathology, atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized society. These risk factors independently or synergistically lead to chronic vascular inflammation, which is an essential requirement for the progression of atherosclerosis in patients. However, the mechanisms underlying the pathogenic link between the risk factors and atherosclerotic inflammation remain poorly defined. Significant progress has been made in two major areas, which are determination of the roles of the receptors for pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in initiation of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis, and characterization of the roles of regulatory T cells in suppression of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis. In this review, we focus on three related issues: (1) examining the recent progress in endothelial cell pathology, inflammation and their roles in atherosclerosis; (2) analyzing the roles of the receptors for pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in initiation of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis; and (3) analyzing the advances in our understanding of suppression of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis by regulatory T cells. Continuous improvement of our understanding of the risk factors involved in initiation and promotion of artherogenesis, will lead to the development of novel therapeutics for ischemic stroke and cardiovascular diseases. Atherosclerosis is characterized by focal arterial lesions containing cholesterol, fibrosis, intense immunological activity, inflammatory cell infiltrates and cell death . Several risk factors have been identified for atherogenic process including hyperlipidemia, high density lipoprotein (HDL), cigarette smoking, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and excessive quiescence. We and others confirmed that hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) acts as an independent risk factor in accelerating atherosclerosis, etc [4–8]. In addition, atherosclerosis is positively correlated with the endotoxin load in patients’ plasma. Endotoxinemia at levels as low as 50 pg/ml, that results from bacterial infection, constitutes a strong risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. These risk factors independently or synergistically lead to chronic vascular inflammation, which is an essential requirement for the progression of atherosclerosis in patients. Despite significant advances in elucidating atherosclerotic pathology, atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized society. Therefore, continuous improvement of our understanding on the atherogenesis initiated and promoted by risk factors will lead to the future development of novel therapeutics for ischemic stroke and cardiovascular diseases. A typical multi-step picture in the atherogenic process has emerged : first, atherosclerosis probably starts from endothelial cell (EC) inflammation, activation and dysfunction with the expression of adhesion molecules on the cell surface and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. This step may be triggered by risk factors and metabolic stress signals. At the same time, lipids in the intima of arteries can accumulate. The low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are modified by enzymes and oxygen and are transformed into proinflammatory stimuli. Second, in response to the inflammation signals initiated in ECs, vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) release chemokines and chemoattractants, which act together with inflamed ECs in leading to the recruitment of monocytes and T cells into the arterial wall at specific sites. When the monocytes are translocated into the intimal layer and activated, they may differentiate into macrophages and then form foam cells by taking up lipid. Third, at this point, the inflammation has become chronic, and the fatty streak is now well on its way to becoming an atherosclerotic lesion. As the lesion matures, it becomes necrotic and calcified. Ultimately, the lesion may rupture, initiate a thrombus, block an artery, and cause a myocardial infarction or stroke. The historical focus of immunological studies on regulation of atherogenesis has been on the functions of infiltrating macrophages and T cells. However, recent reports demonstrated that endothelial cells play a major role in the atherogenic initiation, changing their quiescence into activated phenotypes to support every phase of the inflammatory process[14,15]. In this review, we will focus on three related issues as we outlined in Fig. 1, (1) examining the recent progress in endothelial cell pathology, inflammation and their roles in atherosclerosis; (2) analyzing the roles of the receptors for pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in initiation of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis; and (3) analyzing the advances in understanding of suppression of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis by regulatory T cells. We apologize for not being able to include many valuable articles and reviews due to limited space. The ECs of all vascular beds form a single cell layer in vivo, which lines all blood and lymphatic vessels, and is located at the interface between circulation blood and the surrounding tissue. More than 1012 ECs in the human body cover a surface area of more than 1,000 m2. ECs have an elongated shape with an approximate size of 20 × 50 μm2 and the total weight of ECs is in excess of 100 g . As such, the vascular endothelium can be considered a systemically disseminated “organ” system . ECs serve a multitude of functions that help to maintain blood fluidity and thrombo-resistance, control vessel-wall permeability, and keep blood leukocytes and lymphocytes in a quiescent state. In pathological conditions, damaged, impaired, or dysfunctional ECs in these vascular beds contribute to the pathogenesis and complications of systemic and pulmonary hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, kidney failure, and the major chronic diseases that constitute the leading causes of death and disability[18,19]. ECs are the organ that bridges several cardiovascular risk factors (e.g. a diet high in saturated fat, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, smoking, and congestive heart failure) and may serve as initiators in the development of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis. Proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules that stimulate leukocytes also act on ECs and promote EC inflammation. In order to better understand vascular EC inflammation, we outline the following aspects related to the EC pathology. Characteristic vascular EC markers include von Willebrand factor (factor VIII-related antigen), platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1(PECAM1/CD31), CD34, CD105/endoglin, vascular-cell-adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1/CD106), endothelin receptor B (ENDRB), P1H12/CD146, Tie 1, Tie 2, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1), VEGFR2 (KDR/Flk-1; kinase-insert domain receptor in humans, and fetal liver kinase-1 in mice) and staining with Ulex europaeus lectin type 1 (for human cells). Of note, these EC markers are not universal (also see other sections) or consistent with every detection technique. In addition, cells at the afferent and efferent interfaces of lymph nodes (LNs) from all animals show differential expression of lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) markers, with podoplanin, Prox-1, and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR3) expressed in both microenvironments, but with lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1 (LYVE-1) expressed only at the efferent interface. The chemokine CCL20 is uniquely expressed at the afferent interface by cells co-expressing podoplanin, and this expression is increased during infection with simian immunodeficiency virus or M. tuberculosis . The common features of EC physiology include strong uptake of Dil-Ac-LDL and prostacyclin secretion. Moreover, ECs have specific morphology [16,24], which often adopt a typical “cobblestone” appearance at confluence and may form “tubes” in Matrigel (BD Matrigel™ Basement Membrane Matrix). Flow resistance of microvascular beds is higher than expected from in vitro studies of blood rheology, suggesting that there is a substantial layer on the luminal endothelial surface (endothelial surface layer, ESL) with a thickness in the range of 0.5–1 microm. In comparison, the typical thickness of the glycocalyx directly anchored in the endothelial plasma membrane amounts to only about 50–100 microm. The thick endothelial surface layer significantly impacts hemodynamic conditions, mechanical stresses acting on red cells in microvessels, oxygen transport, vascular control, coagulation, inflammation and atherosclerosis . Endothelial progenitor cells are a circulating, bone marrow-derived cell population that appears to participate in both vasculogenesis and vascular homeostasis. This cell type may have tremendous therapeutic potential for a wide range of human diseases (see excellent review ). The endothelial progenitor cell population is defined by CD34+KDR+ (VEGFR2) double positive markers . In addition, CD117 can also be an EC progenitor marker . In certain disease conditions, circulating ECs (CECs) that have detached from affected blood vessels provide useful indicators for studying vascular injury, cardiovascular disease and progression of atherosclerosis . CECs have also been detected in diverse endothelial damage conditions including acute coronary syndrome, coronary angioplasty, sickle cell anemia, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, infection with Rickettsia conorii or cytomegalovirus, Behcet’s disease, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and small vessel vasculitis. In addition, circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and circulating endothelial progenitors (CEPs) are promising surrogate biomarkers in oncology . Three related circulating cell populations have been identified: (i) CECs are defined as CD45−, CD34+, and P1H12+; (ii) activated CECs are identified as CD45−. P1H12+, CD62+ or CD106+; and (iii) EC progenitors are defined as CD34+ and CD133+ or CD34+KDR+. We and others have demonstrated that hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) acts as an independent risk factor in accelerating atherosclerosis [4–8]. We found that the peripheral EPC population is not significantly altered in HHcy mice. However, Hcy has a profound inhibitory effect on EC proliferation and migration at physiologically relevant concentrations and inhibits EC adhesion at concentrations of 200 μM and higher . There is significant heterogeneity in endothelial structure and function (see excellent reviews[30,31]) including (1) the heterogeneity in endothelial properties between species, organs, vessel classes and even within individual vessels and, (2) the differences in composition and role of the molecular layer on the luminal surface of endothelial cells. The endothelial lining of blood vessels in different organs differs with respect to morphology and permeability. Furthermore, the mediator release, antigen presentation or stress responses of endothelial cells vary between species, different organs and vessel classes. Finally, there are relevant differences even between adjacent endothelial cells, with some cells exhibiting specific functional properties, e.g. as pacemaker cells for intercellular calcium signals. Organ-specific structural and functional properties of the endothelium are marked in the vascular beds of the lung and the brain. Pulmonary endothelium exhibits a high constitutive expression of adhesion molecules, which may contribute to the margination of the large intravascular pool of leucocytes in the lung. The pulmonary microcirculation is less permeable to protein and water flux as compared to large pulmonary vessels. Endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier exhibit a specialized phenotype with no fenestrations, extensive tight junctions and sparse pinocytotic vesicular transport, which allows a strict control of exchange of solutes and circulating cells between the plasma and the interstitial space. Arteries with different sizes or from different tissues vary in their sensitivities to inflammation and atherogenic stimuli. Human umbilical vein ECs (HUVECs) may be different from microvascular ECs in generating proinflammatory cytokines . In addition, EC numbers in glomeruli and macrovessels are decreased in diabetes but EC numbers in retina are increased in diabetes . Atherosclerosis predominantly affects large and mid-size elastic and muscular arteries at vessel bifurcations in heart, brain and extremities[3,34], which may result from the fact that aortic ECs located in lesion-prone regions are highly susceptible to injuries associated with atherosclerosis. EC permeability is mediated by two pathways, transcellular and paracellular pathways – that is, solutes and cells can pass through (transcellular) or between (paracellular) ECs. In transcellular passage, cell fenestration or a complex system of transport vesicles can fuse and appear as channels that traverse single cell and allow the passage of leukocytes and solutes through ECs. In contrast, paracellular pathway is mediated by the coordinated opening and closure of EC cell-cell junctions. Several pharmacological strategies have been proposed in controlling EC permeability: (1) tyrosine kinase SRC inhibitors; (2) inhibitors blocking the association between VEGFR2 and VE cadherin; (3) inhibitors of VE-cadherin internalization; (4) inhibitors of metalloproteases and other lytic enzymes that can cleave extracellular domain of VE-cadherin; and (5) modulators that can modulate the activity of RAP1 or other small GTPases. EC activation and EC inflammation are two interchangeable concepts in some reports. However, traditional EC activation suggests a status with upregulation of adhesion molecules and prothrombotic molecules; whereas EC inflammation has been defined as a status with generation of proinflammatory cytokines after stimulation. Two types of EC activation have been identified. Type I activation is mediated by ligands that bind to heterotrimeric G-protein-coupled receptors. Type II activation is a more sustained inflammatory response mediated by IL-1β and TNF-α . Upregulation of EC activation marker von Willebrand factor (vWF) levels is generally accepted as an indicator of EC injury . Several other molecules are also important for EC activation. Vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin is a strictly endothelial specific adhesion molecule located at junctions between endothelial cells. VE-cadherin is of vital importance for the maintenance and control of ECs contacts, vascular permeability and leukocyte extravasation. In addition to its adhesive functions, VE-cadherin regulates various cellular processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis and modulates VEGF receptor functions. PECAM-1 (or CD31) is a molecule expressed on all cells within the vascular compartment, being expressed to different degrees on most leukocyte sub-types, platelets, and on endothelial cells where its expression is largely concentrated at junctions between adjacent cells. As well as exhibiting adhesive properties, PECAM-1 is an efficient signaling molecule and is known to have diverse roles in vascular biology including roles in angiogenesis, platelet function, and thrombosis, mechano-sensing of EC response to fluid shear stress, and regulation of multiple stages of leukocyte migration through venular walls . Significant progress has been made in identifying potential therapeutic targets for suppressing atherogenic inflammation, as outlined in Table 1[40–60] (also see a review by Rader and Daugherty). Recent report shows that selective or combined inhibitors of cyclooxygenase (COX)-1, COX-2 and 5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX) might be beneficial in the treatment of atherosclerosis . In addition, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) α is a nuclear receptor activated by natural ligands such as fatty acids as well as by synthetic ligands such as fibrates currently used to treat dyslipidemia. PPARα improves markers for atherosclerosis and insulin resistance and inhibits inflammation . EC injuries involve membrane damage, increased permeability, swelling and necrosis. EC dysfunction is characterized by impaired vasomotor response (reduced vasodilation and increased EC-dependent contraction), cell proliferation, platelet adhesion/aggregation, vascular permeability and leukocyte-endothelial interactions that participate in vascular inflammation . EC’s vasodilator dysfunction and injuries precede the establishment of the earliest lesions of atherosclerosis , which thus is a common precursor and denominator of various pathologic conditions, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, hypertension and atherosclerosis . There are different techniques to evaluate the EC functional activity, which can be classified into EC-dependent and EC-independent based on the amount of nitric oxide (NO) produced and the vasodilation effect. EC vasomotor function/dysfunction is assessed on a pressure myograph as the vessel myogenic response to acetylcholine [63,64], which remains the gold standard. In addition, several EC dysfunction markers have been proposed, including elevated circulating levels of von Willebrand factor, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, some adhesion molecules, isoprostane and thrombomodulin. Nearly all stimuli elicit vasodilation via nitric oxide, which is a volatile gas, biologically active, presents in all tissues. NO is produced by the action of nitric oxide synthases (NOS) on L-arginine amino acid. Both constitutive and inducible NOS (iNOS) are expressed in ECs . EC specific NOS (eNOS) is a point of convergence of signaling pathways responsible for the execution of hemodynamic adaption in physiologic and pathologic conditions. eNOS is stimulated by fluid shear stress, cyclic strain, acetylcholine, endothelins, angiotensins II and IV, bradykinin, estrogens, VEGF, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), opiates, cannabinoids, L-arginine and TGF-β. In contrast, eNOS is inhibited by high NO output from iNOS, high CO output from heme oxygenase-1, superoxide anions, oxidized LDL, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), advanced glycation end products (AGEs), hyperglycemia, erythropoietin and TNF-α . EC-derived NO activates the guanylate cyclase of vascular smooth muscle cells to promote cGMP-dependent vasodilation . A risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hyperhomocystinemia (HHcy), is associated with EC dysfunction. We found that arterial relaxation in response to the EC-dependent vessel relaxant, acetylcholine or the NOS activator (A23187), is significantly impaired in cystathionine beta-synthase null (CBS(−/−)) mice, a HHcy mouse model. eNOS activity is significantly reduced in mouse aortic endothelial cells (MAECs) of CBS(−/−) mice, as well as in Hcy-treated mouse and human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). Ultimately, a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, GF109203X (GFX), reverses Hcy-mediated eNOS inactivation and threonine 495 phosphorylation in HAECs. These data suggest that HHcy impairs endothelial function and eNOS activity, primarily through PKC activation. EC dysfunction promotes vascular inflammation by inducing the production of vasoconstrictor agents, adhesion molecules and growth factors. Considering the role of the endothelium in the initiation and propagation of vascular wall injury, there is a need for the discovery of validated biomarkers to serve as a predictor of activation of inflammatory cascades in the development of vascular injury. As outlined in Table 2[68–83], proinflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines play critical roles in modulation of atherogenesis (also see a comprehensive review). Mechanistically, locally released proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines activate ECs to upregulate soluble adhesion molecules, activate neutrophils and generate reactive oxygen species, which serve to amplify the initial inflammation leading to dysregulated apoptosis, secondary necrosis and overt vascular injury lesions . By releasing substances via autocrine, paracrine or endocrine manners, ECs modulate (i) the vascular smooth muscle cells and exercise vasodilation or vasoconstriction; (ii) production of prothrombotic and antithrombotic components, and fibrinolytics and antifibrinolytics; (iii) EC proliferation; (iv) EC migration; and (v) leukocyte activation and inflammation . During inflammation, cell surface adhesion molecules guide the adhesion and migration of circulating leukocytes across the EC lining of the blood vessels to access the site of injury. In addition, oxygen-derived free radicals mediate the disruption of the EC surface layer and increase vascular wall adhesiveness by ox-LDL . Of note, EC denudation is not an absolute prerequisite to allow platelet attachment to arterial wall. EC responses can be different to the same group of inflammation-regulating cytokines. Proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) selectively diminish the ability of arterial rings to relax to the EC-dependent vasodilator acetylcholine, indicating that cytokine activity may be associated with endothelial vasodilator dysfunction as judged by arterial vascular tone. The cytokine granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and erythropoietin induce ECs relaxed, whereas proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and suppressive cytokine IL-10 induce contraction of human arterial segments, suggesting a complex picture for relexation/contraction during inflammation. Cytokine induced relaxation or constriction are inhibited by blockers of endothelial-derived nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin, respectively. Reports in patients with congestive heart failure have shown a correlation between plasma levels of IL-6 and TNF-α and impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation of the brachial artery and vein. The proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-1β (but not IL-6) induce transient and reversible EC dysfunction in humans. Importantly, TNF-α activates nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) with subsequent upregulation of EC adhesion molecules. Adhesion and transmigration of different leucocyte subsets are stimulated after TNF treatment of ECs. In this regard, TNF-α enhances EC adhesion and vascular invasion of dendritic cells, the most potent antigen presenting cell type. Therefore, TNF-α might decrease endothelial NO bioactivity by several pathways. Importantly, ECs transfected with eNOS (endothelial NOS) reduce monocyte-endothelial binding after TNF-α stimulation. Finally, TNF-α-mediated oxidative stress may directly cause apoptotic cell death of the endothelium and up-regulates the death signaling protein, Fas/apo-1/CD95, a cell surface-borne protein belonging to the TNFR (TNF receptor) superfamily. A recent report showed that mildly oxidized LDL (low-density lipoprotein)-induced apoptosis of human coronary ECs involves TNFRs. These data suggest that ECs are the major targets of cytokine signals derived from different vascular cells . In addition to classical proinflammatory cytokines, a few adipocytokines from fat tissue have recently been identified including leptin, adiponectin and resistin. Both leptin and resistin are pro-inflammatory. Leptin induces endothelial dysfunction, increase blood pressure and atherosclerosis. Resistin activates NF-κB-dependent cytokine release and adhesion molecule expression. In contrast, adiponectin is anti-inflammatory and vasculo-protective, which prevents atherosclerosis . Endothelial cell proliferation and replication are associated with vessel proliferation and angiogenesis, which are new therapeutic targets in diseases, such as cancer and muscular dystrophy. Vascular morphogenesis encompasses a temporally regulated set of morphological changes that endothelial cells undergo to generate a network of interconnected tubules. The formation of a new capillary involves multiple steps such as EC activation, migration, alignment, proliferation, tube formation, branching, anastomosis, and maturation of intercellular junctions and the surrounding basement membrane, etc. Each of these stages is either known or suspected to fall under the influence of VEGF, notch, and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/bone morphogenetic protein signaling pathways. Blood vessels, either in insufficient numbers or in excess, contribute to the pathogenesis of many diseases, thus, agents that stimulate angiogenesis can improve blood flow in patients with ischemic diseases. In contrast, anti-angiogenic agents are used to treat disorders ranging from macular degeneration to cancer. Tumor vascular endothelium is characterized by its increased permeability, abnormal morphology, disorganized vascular networks and variable density. There are two types of angiogenesis inhibitors: first, antiangiogenesis agents include the monoclonal antibody bevacizumab; and tyrosine kinase inhibitors sorafenib and sunitinib that disrupt EC survival and block new tumor blood supply, second, vascular disrupting agents that include those that disrupt the already established vasculature. The repair of the endothelium after inflammatory injury is essential to maintaining homeostasis. Using a mouse model of carotid injury linked re-endothelialization, we have observed impaired re-endothelialization and increased neointimal formation in severe hyperhomocysteinemia mice. The capacity of homocysteine to inhibit proliferation and migration of EC may be responsible for impaired re-endothelialization and contribute to arteriosclerosis in hyperhomocysteinemia. We also reported previously that homocysteine (Hcy) inhibits EC growth by transcriptional inhibition of the cyclin A gene via a hypomethylation-related mechanism. The mRNA levels of cyclin A are significantly suppressed by Hcy and a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor. Hcy inhibits DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) activity by 30%. Adenovirus-transduced DNMT1 gene expression reverses the inhibitory effect of Hcy on cyclin A expression and EC growth inhibition. Endotoxins are a set of complex lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which are an integral component of gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli . Loss of the normal EC structure is observed in the aorta of the animals treated with LPS. Erythropoietin is found to inhibit LPS-induced EC apoptosis. EC injury activates the mobilization of circulating angiogenic cells, thus completing EC repair. Microparticles (MPs) are small fragments generated from the plasma membrane after stimulation. Among the proteins harbored by MPs, sonic hedgehog (Shh) is present in MPs generated from activated/apoptotic T lymphocytes. Shh carried by MPs induces NO release from ECs and decreases production of reactive oxygen species. When the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3-kinase) and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling are specifically inhibited, the effects of MPs are reversed. In vivo injection of MPs in mice is also able to improve EC function by increasing NO release, and it reverses EC dysfunction after ischemia/reperfusion, suggesting that Shh represents a new therapeutic approach against endothelial dysfunction during acute severe endothelial injury. Even though ECs are not listed as a type of antigen presenting cell, the important role of ECs in antigen-presentation and immunogenicity in vascular inflammation and autoimmune responses have been recognized. ECs represent a highly heterogeneous population of cells with the ability to modulate the function of immune cells . Matrix-embedding confers a quiescent EC state with reduced expression of chemokines, adhesion, co-stimulatory, and major compatibility complex molecules. Matrix-embedded ECs induce an immune-inhibitory phenotype of dendritic cells and regulatory T cells to a greater extent than non-embedded ECs. However, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) are microvascular endothelial cells with a unique phenotype reminiscent of dendritic cells and a unique function as APCs for CD4+ T cells. All the microvascular and small vessel endothelial cells are ‘constitutively’ positive for MHC class II antigens. Immunogenicity of ECs is significantly upregulated when ECs are activated. Activated ECs express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II and T cell co-stimulators such as CD80 and CD86[14,34,98,99], and select the migration of antigen-specific lymphocytes into the site of inflammation . Unlike bone marrow-derived antigen presenting cells, which utilize B7/CD28 interactions, human ECs utilize lymphocyte function antigen 3 (LFA3)/CD2 pathways to stimulate T cells. ECs activate a CD45RO + B7-independent subpopulation of T cells. Release of MHC and non-human leukocyte antigens (HLA) from ECs stimulates an alloantibody and autoimmune response leading to chronic transplant rejection . In vivo studies suggest that aortic ECs can acquire and cross-present exogenous antigen (Ag) on MHC class I. The process is most efficient for intact proteins rather than degraded peptide fragments. The ET(B)R inhibitor BQ-788 increases T cell adhesion to human ECs in vitro, an effect countered by intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) blockade or treatment with NO donors. In addition, EC auto-antigens are recognized by anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA), which are found in various diseases and recognize several auto-antigen determinants. Some AECA activate ECs, resulting in increased leucocyte adhesiveness, activation of vascular thrombosis. Moreover, oligomerization of the chemokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-inducible protein of 10 kDa (IP-10; CXCL10) plays an important role in the recruitment of activated T lymphocytes via transendothelial migration into sites of inflammation by interacting with CXCR3 . In searching for the mechanism underlying the generation of autoantigens and autoantibodies, we found that alternative splicing occurs in 100% of the autoantigen RNA RNA transcripts associated with various autoimmune diseases. This is significantly higher than the approximately 42% rate of alternative splicing observed in the 9554 randomly selected human gene transcripts (p<0.001). In addition, the product of a transcript that does not undergo alternative splicing is unlikely to be a target antigen in autoimmunity. We also found that TNF-α downregulates expression of prototypic alternative splicing factor ASF/SF2, which correlates with our finding of reduced expression of ASF/SF2 in inflamed cells from patients with autoimmune disease, suggesting that proinflammatory cytokines upregulate untolerized auto-antigens via modulation of expression of ASF/SF2. Based on these data, we proposed a new model of stimulation-responsive splicing for the generation of autoantigens and self antigens. Programmed cell death (PCD) plays an essential role in the EC homeostasis and pathology. Eight forms of cell death have been identified in various types of cells, including two well-characterized forms, apoptosis and autophagy [109,110], and six atypical forms, including paraptosis, calcium-mediated cell death, apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)/poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARA)-dependent cell death, oncosis, caspase-1-dependent inflammatory cell death pyroptosis and caspase-1-indepednent inflammatory cell death pyronecrosis. It is unclear whether all of the forms of cell death play a role in regulation of EC homeostasis. EC dysfunction is associated with increased rates of EC apoptosis. The presence of severe EC dysfunction and increased apoptotic rates of circulating ECs are associated with a high incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with severe hypertension, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, allograft vasculopathy, heart failure, diabetic retinopathy and scleroderma[114–116]. EC death favors thrombosis. The inducers of apoptosis in atherosclerosis include Oxidized LDL (oxLDL) , oxysterols, reactive oxygen species, reactive nitrogen species (NO at high levels), X-, γ, and UV radiation, heat, cytokines and Fas ligand; whereas the inhibitors of apoptosis in atherosclerosis include shear stress, NO at low levels, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), cowpox virus CremA, baculovirus protein p35, the inhibitors of apoptosis (IAP) protein family and microorganism . Overexpression of the integrin-linked kinase(ILK) gene significantly prevents oxLDL-induced cell death. In addition, mechanistically, Fas ligand (FasL) can induce apoptosis in cells bearing the Fas receptor. Overexpression of endothelial FasL is anti-inflammatory and inhibit atherosclerotic lesion by 49% under hypercholesterolemic conditions, suggesting that EC apoptosis induced by attack of Fas-expressing cells (lymphocytes and inflammatory cells) contributes to atherogenesis . In addition to being targets during the secondary wave of vascular inflammation, ECs are capable of expressing a broad spectrum of pro- inflammatory cytokines including IL-1β, IL-3, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-11, IL-15, TNF-α (tumour necrosis factor), chemokines [IL-8, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and RANTES], CSFs (colony-stimulating factors), GM-CSF(granulocyte/macrophage CSF), PDGF, VEGF and FGF, and anti-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1α, IL-10, IL-13 and TNF-β, suggesting an essential role of ECs in initiating the first wave of vascular inflammation. The question regarding how risk factors, metabolic stress and danger signals trigger vascular endothelial cell inflammation remain unknown. An exciting area of progress is the identification of the roles of PAMP recognition receptors (PRRs) in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Four major families of PRRs have been identified as important components of innate immunity, participating in the sensory systems for host defense against the invasion of infectious agents and uncontrolled metabolic stress (danger signals). The Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize a variety of conserved microbial PAMPs derived from bacteria, viruses, protozoa and fungi. TLRs work in synergy with the three cytosolic sensing receptor families including NLRs [NOD (nucleotide binding and oligomerization domain)-like receptors] (which sense bacteria), RLRs [RIG-I (retinoic acid-inducible gene 1)-like receptors] (which sense viruses) and CLRs (C-type lectin receptors) (which sense fungi). All of these receptor families signal an upregulation of a range of immune and inflammatory genes. Elucidation of detailed mechanisms underlying how receptors for PAMPs bridge risk factors to vascular cell inflammation and atherosclerosis holds great therapeutic potential. Unlike existing anti-inflammatory drugs, new drugs based on characterization of PRRs should be capable of inhibiting specific components of innate immunity and inflammation, leaving sufficient redundant function to avoid issues of immunosuppression. All PAMPs-recognition receptors (PRRs) share the following characteristics: PRRs are (1) germline-encoded; (2) they are expressed in a wide variety of host tissues and cells including ECs; (3) they share some of seven conserved domains including the LRR (leucine-rich repeat) domain, the TIR [Toll/IL (interleukin)-1 receptor] domain, the NBS (nucleotide-binding site), the CARD (caspase recruitment domain), the PYD (pyrin domain), the helicase domain and the CTLD (C-type lectin domain); and (4) they are capable in recognizing a limited numbers of evolutionally conserved molecules. PRRs have three major functions: (i) transcriptionally activating nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)-dependent gene expression, such as the expression of proinflammatory cytokines pro-IL-1β, pro-IL-18 and TNF-α; (ii) transcriptionally inducing the expression of type I interferons (IFN-β) and IFN-dependent genes including inducible nitric oxide synthase; and (iii) post-translationally activating inflammasome-related caspase-1, secretion of IL-1β and IL-18, as outlined in Fig. 2. In addition, another class of receptors are considered as PRRs, which are scavenger receptors (SRs) expressed mostly in macrophages but also in endothelial cells (SREC I, SRECII and SR-PSOX). These receptors recognize distinct “epitopes” on the modified low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and participate in internalization of LDL particles and phagocytic clearance. Some SRs may also function as co-receptors of TLRs, involved in macrophage activation . TLRs represent a primary line of defense against invading pathogens in mammals, plants and insects. TLRs recognize the structures of lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids and various proteins, which are collectively referred to as pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Eleven TLRs have been identified in humans while 13 TLRs can be encoded by mouse genome. TLRs 1–9 are conserved between humans and mouse. TLRs are primary sensors in response against PAMPs. TLRs are also important for induction of adaptive immune responses, but misguided responses can lead to autoimmune pathology. Of note, TLRs 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are located in the plasma membrane and recognize bacterial wall components. In comparison, TLRs 3, 7, 8, and 9 are preferentially expressed in intracellular compartments, such as endosomes, and recognize nucleic acid structures. TLR repertoire can be further expanded in the following two manners: (1) formation of heterodimers, TLR2/TLR1 and TLR2/TLR6; and (2) cooperation with other PRRs. TLR signaling shares IL-1 receptor pathway, activates the NF-κB (Fig. 2), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and interferon (IFN)-regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), and releases proinflammatory cytokines[15,125]. Several IKK [inhibitors of NF-κB (IκB) kinase] and NF-κB inhibitors are under development. How these inhibitors will affect TLR signaling, vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis remains to be seen. Co-stimulation and interplay of TLR4 or TLR3 with TLR7 (stimulated by anti-viral compound R848) has been reported to induce secretion of mature IL-1β, implying the TLR synergy activates an inflammasome efficiently. However, R848, the TLR7/8 ligand, can also activate NALP3 inflammasomes (see next section). It is not clear if the effective mature IL-1β production induced upon cotreatment of LPS or poly (I:C) with R848 is derived from TLR3/4 and TLR7 synergy, TLR3/4 and NALP3 interplay, or both. In addition to exogenous ligands including LPS, an envelope glycoprotein encoded by mouse mammary tumor virus, diacyl lipopeptides, glycolipids, peptidoglycan and zymosan, TLRs can also be activated by host-derived stress-associated molecular patterns (SAMPs), including oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxidized LDL), high mobility group B1 (HMGB1), biglycan, hyaluronic acid fragments, heat shock protein (HSP)70, HSP60, fibronectin extra domain , serum amyloid A, necrotic cells and possibly advanced glycation end-products[3,15]. Proatherogenic TLR2 responses to unknown endogenous or unknown endemic exogenous agonists are mediated by non-bone marrow derived cells including endothelial cells. Researchers have identified at least 15 different negative regulators of the TLRs including MyD88s (a short form of MyD88), IRAKM, SOCS1, NOD2, PI3K and TOLLIP . TLR4 antagonists, such as CRX-526, E5531 and E5564, have been under development as potential therapeutics . NOD-like receptors (NLRs; also known as CATERPILLAR proteins) are defined by their tripartite domain structure containing a variable C-terminus, a middle nucleotide-binding domain (NBD, also known as the NACHT domain), and a leucine rich repeat (LRR) domain. The mid-NBD domain exhibits ATPase activity, and regulates oligomerization. The LRR domain mediates autoregulation, protein-protein interaction, and/or PAMP sensing. NLRs are highly conserved through evolution. The NLR system comprises 22 cytoplasmic proteins that include 5 members of the NOD (Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain) subfamily, 14 NALP (NACHT-, LRR- and pyrin-domain-containing proteins) members, IPAF, NAIP and CIITA. The putative function of the majority of 22 human NLRs in activating caspase-1 has not been confirmed except IPAF, NALP1, NALP2 and NALP3. Stimulation of NOD1 and NOD2, two prototypic NLRs, results in the activation of MAPK and NF-κB. On the contrary, a different set of NLRs induces caspase-1 activation through the assembly of a protein complex termed the inflammasome. Three inflammasomes have been characterized: NALP1 inflammasome, NALP3 inflammasome and IPAF inflammasome. NALP1 inflammasome consists of four components, NALP1, PYCARD (ASC), caspase-1 and caspase-5, and functions as primary mediator of susceptibility to anthrax lethal toxin; NALP3 inflammasome consists of three components, NALP3, PYCARD and caspase-1, and is capable in sensing a broad range of stimuli including anti-viral compounds R837 and R848, bacterial mRNA, UVB irradiation-induced increase in free cytoplasmic Ca++ , gout-associated uratic acid crystals, aluminium adjuvants, asbestos and silica, bacterial toxins derived from Listeria M., staphylococcus A. and shigella F, etc; IPAF inflammsome consists of three components, IPAF, NAIP and caspase-1 and functions to sense flagellin derived from Legionella P., Salmonella T., pseudomonas A. and shigella F. A database search has found as many as 203 putative NLRs in the sea urchin genome, suggesting that additional mammalian inflammasomes may be found. An important function of NLRs is in the regulation of caspase-1 activation and proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1β) processing. Caspase-1 is responsible for conversion of pro-IL-1β to mature IL-1β (also known as IL-1β-converting enzyme (ICE)) (Fig. 2). In addition, two other related cytokine precursors, pro-IL-18 and pro-IL-33 are also cleaved by caspase-1. ASC is markedly expressed at the site of vascular injury. Neointimal formation was significantly attenuated in ASC−/− mice after injury. IL-1β and IL-18 are expressed in the neointimal lesion in wild-type mice but show decreased expression in the lesion of ASC−/− mice. These findings suggest that ASC is critical for neointimal formation after vascular injury and identify ASC as a novel therapeutic target for atherosclerosis and restenosis. In addition to NLRs-containing inflammasomes, the cytoskeleton-organizing protein PSTPIP1 requires the familial Mediterranean fever protein termed pyrin to assemble the ASC pyroptosome, a molecular platform that recruits and activates caspase-1. Pyrin is a cytosolic receptor for PSTPIP1. Ligation by PSTPIP1 activates pyrin, thereby allowing it to interact with ASC and facilitate ASC oligomerization into an active ASC pyroptosome, which is a supramolecular assembly of ASC dimers mediating inflammatory cell death via caspase-1 activation . Therefore, constitutive ligation and activation of pyrin by mutant PSTPIP1 proteins explain the autoinflammatory phenotype observed in pyogenic sterile arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum, and acne (PAPA) syndrome . Whether this autoinflammatory phenotype contributes to vascular inflammation remains to be addressed. Inflammatory caspases and inflammasomes are newly-identified master sensors and switches of inflammation initiation. Inflammatory caspases (also known as group 1 caspases) are encoded by three main genes in humans, caspase-1, caspase-4 and caspase-5 and three main genes in mouse, caspase-1, caspase-11, and caspase-12. These caspases are characterized by the presence of a CARD domain at the N-terminus . Three human caspases, caspase-1, caspase-4 and caspase-5, are inflammatory caspases since the main caspase-1 substrates are precursors of proinflammatory cytokines pro-IL-1β, pro-IL-18 (Fig. 2), and pro-IL-33. In addition to these three cytokines, caspase-1 cleaves 41 protein substrates including proteins along the glycolysis pathway (also see http://origin.bic.nus.edu.sg/casbase-bin/squery_browse.pl). Caspase-1 mediates serum-withdrawal-induced apoptosis of endothelial cells, independently of reactive oxygen species production. Tripeptidyl peptidase II inhibitor (AAF-cmk), proteosome inhibitors lactacystin and MG132 inhibit maturation of caspase-1 and Shigella-induced or anthrax lethal toxin-mediated apoptosis. Caspase-1-mediated myocardial apoptosis plays an important role in the progression of heart failure . Studies in caspase-12 deficient mice suggest that this caspase is important for endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced apoptosis. However, caspase-12 deficient mice clear bacterial infection more efficiently than wild-type littermates and have an enhanced production of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18 but not TNF-α and IL-6. Thus, caspase-12 is considered to be a decoy caspase that blocks caspase-1 activation resulting in enhanced vulnerability to bacterial infection and septic mortality[132,149]. Three cytokines, pro-IL-1β, pro-IL-18, and pro-IL-33 belong to the IL-1 family and play essential roles in inflammation. IL-1 cytokines IL-1β, IL-1α, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) induce expression of many effector proteins, e.g. cytokines/chemokines, adhesion molecules, VCAM-1, ICAM-1, MCP-1, NOS, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and prothrombotic function . IL-1β is the most potent proinflammatory cytokine among all proinflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ and IL-6. Eleven members of IL-1β family have been identified. IL-1β does not have a signal peptide, thus IL-1β is secreted via a nonclassical secretory pathway, which can be inhibited by methylamine, low temperature, or serum-free medium, and can be enhanced by raising culture temperature, or by the presence of calcium ionophores, dinetrophenol, carbonyl cyanide chlorophenylhydrazone, or the classical secretory pathway inhibitors brefeldin A and monensin. Purinergic receptor P2X7, that senses for ATP released from injured cells, triggers IL-1β secretion. Histone deacetylase inhibitors prevent exocytosis in IL-1β-containing secretory lysosomes via disrupting microtubules. IL-18 is a key player in models of atherosclerosis, lupus erythematosus, graft-versus-host disease, hepatitis, appetite control and obesity. The IL-18 binding protein, a naturally occurring and specific inhibitor of IL-18, neutralizes IL-18 activities. Other therapeutic options for reducing IL-18 activities are inhibitors of caspase-1, human monoclonal antibodies to IL-18, soluble IL-18 receptors, and anti-IL-18 receptor monoclonal antibodies . Mouse models have been extensively used in characterizing atherogenesis and vascular inflammation. Normal mice are short-lived and resistant to cardiovascular diseases, a number of genetic mutant mouse models have been developed via either spontaneous mutation or gene manipulation. ApoE−/− deficient mouse is the most widely used mouse model with total plasma cholesterol concentration of 11 mM, compared to 2 mM for the parent wild-type C57BL/6 mice and it exhibits advanced intimal lesions that are largely confined to the aortic root area. To mimic widely-distributed atherosclerosis that is seen in humans, a high cholesterol diet with the induction of plasma cholesterol concentrations (approaching 30 mM) is required. Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) targets IL-1 receptor-associated kinase-1 (IRAK-1) activation and thereby interrupts IL-1β and IL-18 signaling in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), which represents a novel antiatherogenic activity of ApoE. The second widely-used atherosclerosis model is low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) −/− deficient mice. However, these mice have mildly elevated cholesterol levels on a chow diet (5.8 versus 3.1 mM for homozygous and wild-type). When fed a 1.25% cholesterol diet, homozygotes have extremely high plasma cholesterol concentrations in the 41 mM range . In the case of normal chow diet-fed LDLR−/− mice, there is the minimal amount of atherosclerotic lesions present, even after 9–12 months . Other mouse models of atherosclerosis include the following: (1) high density lipoprotein (HDL) scavenger receptor class B type 1 deficient mice with ApoE−/− deficiency that are sensitive to high fat/high cholesterol diet and have total cholesterol levels in the range of 40 mM, which develop severe coronary artery disease; (2) the db/db mouse strain carries a spontaneous mutation of the leptin-ObR system that is analogous to the cp gene. Several studies showed impaired endothelial and vascular function, abnormal cardiac function, retinal damage, and glomerular sclerosis consistent with frank diabetes; (3) the ob gene is a mutation resulting in the production of a defective leptin that does not bind to the ObR. There are cardiac and vascular dysfunctions, but there are no reports of atherosclerosis and ischemic lesions. The depletion of TLR2 in LDLR−/− deficient mice leads to a significant reduction (50%) of lesion size in both aortic sinus and the aorta of mice fed with hypercholesterolemic diet. TLR2 expression is significantly upregulated in the lesser curvature region of the aorta within 1–2 weeks of feeding LDLR−/− mice a high fat diet. Neointimal hyperplasia is markedly suppressed in TLR-2KO mice compared with WT mice after vascular injury . Similarly, the depletion of TLR4 in ApoE−/− deficient mice results in significant reduction in atherosclerotic lesion size and macrophages in lesion . The synthetic lipoprotein Pam3CSK4 and LPS induced TLR2 and TLR4 expression at mRNA and protein levels are inhibited by candesartan, an antihypertensive drug angiotensin II type-1 receptor blocker, both in vitro and in vivo. IL-1β is among the dominant cytokines expressed in human atherosclerotic plaques. In addition, IL-1β levels are significantly higher in patients with unstable angina as compared to patients with stable angina. Lack of IL-1β decreases the severity of atherosclerosis in ApoE deficient mice. In contrast, since IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) is an endogenous inhibitor of IL-1, atherosclerotic lesion size in IL-1Ra+/−/ApoE−/− mice is significantly increased by 30% compared with IL-1Ra+/+/ApoE−/− mice. Based on these results, a recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist, Anakinra, has been used to inhibit inflammatory apoptosis in experimental acute myocardial infarction . In addition, the data from IL-18 deficient ApoE−/− mice showed reduced atherosclerosis in spite of increased serum cholesterol, which support a proatherogenic role for IL-18 . IL-33 is a novel IL-1-like cytokine. IL-1 Receptor Accessory Protein and ST2 comprise the IL-33 Receptor Complex. In contrast to the roles of IL-1β and IL-18 in proatherogenesis, IL-33 can reduce atherosclerosis development in ApoE−/− mice on a high-fat diet. This protective role of IL-33 in the development of atherosclerosis results from the induction of IL-5 and ox-LDL antibodies . Among several regulatory T cell subsets identified, Tregs are the best characterized[168–172]. Comprising 5–10% of peripheral CD4+ T cells, Tregs exhibit potent immunosuppressive functions, and play an important role in the regulation of autoimmunity and pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Of note, CD25high has proved to be by far the most useful surface marker for nTregs (see our recent reviews for details)[174,175]. Recently, Roncarolo and Battaglia summarized the difference between mouse and human Tregs. Interestingly, the suppressive effects of these cells are not restricted to the adaptive immune system including CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and B cells, but can also affect the activation and function of innate immune cells (monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells) and neutrophils. Treg effects on innate immune cells are less well known. Alternatively activated macrophages (AAM) are cells with strong antiinflammatory potential involved in immune regulation, tissue remodeling, parasite killing, and tumor promotion. Treg co-cultured monocytes/macrophages display typical features of AAM, including up-regulated expression of CD206 (macrophage mannose receptor) and CD163 (hemoglobin scavenger receptor), an increased production of CCL18, and an enhanced phagocytic capacity. In addition, the monocytes/macrophages have reduced expression of HLA-DR and a strongly reduced capacity to respond to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in terms of production of proinflammatory mediators [IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP-1α), TNF-α], NF-κB activation, and tyrosine phosphorylation. Mechanistic studies reveal that Tregs produce IL-10, IL-4, and IL-13 and that these cytokines are the critical factors involved in the suppression of the proinflammatory cytokine response. In contrast, the Treg-mediated induction of CD206 is entirely cytokine-independent, whereas the up-regulation of CD163, CCL18, and phagocytosis are (partly) dependent on IL-10 but not on IL-4/IL-13. Together these data demonstrate a previously unrecognized function of Tregs, namely their ability to induce alternative activation of monocytes/macrophages. Moreover, the data suggest that the Treg-mediated induction of AAM partly involves a novel, cytokine-independent pathway. Tregs, as an active mechanism of immune suppression, have been targeted due to their tremendous therapeutic potentials to prevent autoimmune diseases and atherosclerosis. Tregs are also powerful inhibitors of atherosclerosis in several mouse models [183,184]. These results provide new insights into the immunopathogenesis of atherosclerosis and could lead to new therapeutic approaches that involve immune modulation using Tregs. Treg numbers are reduced in atherosclerotic compared with nonatherosclerotic ApoE-KO mice. The suppressive properties of Tregs from ApoE-KO mice are compromised in comparison with those from their C57BL/6 littermates. Oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and the subsequent processing of oxidized LDL (oxLDL) by macrophages results in activation of specific T cells, which contributes to the development of atherosclerosis. Thus, oxLDL attenuates the suppressive properties of Tregs from C57BL/6 mice and more so in ApoE-KO mice. Transfer of Tregs from age-matched ApoE-KO mice results in significant attenuation of atherosclerosis compared with transfer of CD4+CD25+/− T cell controls or phosphate-buffered saline. These results suggest that Tregs may play a protective role in the progression of atherosclerosis and could be considered a therapeutic tool if results from human studies can solidify observations in murine models. Several approaches have been developed to increase Tregs and inhibit development of atherosclerosis. Tolerance to oxLDL and malondialdehyde-treated LDL (MDA-LDL) is induced in LDL receptor−/− mice fed a Western-type diet by oral administration of oxLDL or MDA-LDL before the induction of atherogenesis. Oral tolerance to oxLDL results in a significant attenuation of the initiation (30% to 71%; P<0.05) and progression (45%; P<0.05) of atherogenesis. Tolerance to oxLDL induces a significant increase in Tregs in spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes, and these Tregs specifically respond to oxLDL with increased TGF-β production. Tolerance to oxLDL also increases the mRNA expression of Foxp3, CTLA-4, and CD25 in the plaque. In contrast, tolerance to MDA-LDL does not affect atherogenesis. OxLDL-specific T cells, present in LDL receptor−/− mice and important contributors in the immune response leading to atherosclerotic plaque, can be counteracted by oxLDL-specific Tregs activated via oral tolerance induction to oxLDL. These results suggest that the induction of oral tolerance to oxLDL may be a promising strategy to modulate the immune response during atherogenesis and a new way to treat atherosclerosis. In addition, heat shock protein 60 (HSP60)-specific T cells contribute to the development of the immune responses in atherosclerosis. To explore the effect of oral tolerance induction to HSP60 and the peptide HSP60 (253 to 268) on atherosclerosis, HSP60 and HSP60 (253 to 268) are administered orally to LDLR−/− mice before induction of atherosclerosis. This tolerance results in a significant 80% reduction in plaque size in the carotid arteries and in a 27% reduction in plaque size at the aortic root. Reduction in plaque size correlates with an increase in Tregs in several organs and in an increased expression of Foxp3, CD25, and CTLA-4 in atherosclerotic lesions of HSP60-treated mice. The production of IL-10 and TGF-β by lymph node cells in response to HSP60 is observed after tolerance induction. Oral tolerance induction to HSP60 and a small HSP60-peptide leads to an increase in the number of Tregs, resulting in a decrease in plaque size as a consequence of increased production of IL-10 and TGF-β. These beneficial results of oral tolerance induction to HSP60 and HSP60 (253 to 268) may provide new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) are in widespread use due to their LDL reducing properties and concomitant improvement of clinical outcome in patients with and without preexisting atherosclerosis. Immune mediated mechanisms play a dominant role in the beneficial effects of statins. Atorvastatin, but not mevastatin nor pravastatin, treatment of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) increases the number of Tregs. These Tregs, induced by atorvastatin, express high levels of Foxp3, which correlate with an increased regulatory potential. Furthermore, co-culture studies reveal that atorvastatin induces Tregs are derived from peripheral CD4+CD25− cells. Simvastatin and pravastatin treatment in hyperlipidemic patients increases the number of Tregs. In C57BL/6 mice, however, no effect of statins on Tregs is evident. In conclusion, statins appear to significantly influence the peripheral pool of Tregs in humans. This finding may shed light on the mechanisms governing the plaque stabilizing properties of statins. TLR2 can sense endogenous insultsincluding vascular injury induced by cuff-placement around the femoral artery, and induces inflammatory genes expression such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and MCP-1 . It remains unknown whether Tregs can inhibit acute vascular inflammation in addition to its inhibition on chronic vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis. Our recent report showed that Tregs inhibit cuff-induced vascular inflammation presumably by suppressing innate immune responses. In the last thirteen years, substantial molecular differences between homeostasis of Tregs and that of other subsets of T cells and some factors specific in regulation of Treg survival have been characterized. In our recent review, we examined 91 factors, pathways and drugs, both well-characterized and newly defined, regarding the survival and homeostasis of Tregs, suggesting that Treg homeostasis and apoptosis pathways are targets for development of new therapeutics for atherosclerosis and autoimmune diseases. In addition, recent reports suggest that TLRs play important roles in modulating the function of Tregs and immunosuppressive cytokines IL-10 and TGF-β as outlined in Fig. 3. We recently reported that removal of Tregs via a pro-apoptotic protein Bax-dependent apoptotic pathway significantly enhances anti-self antigen immune responses. In several studies, we reported that Tregs have an interleukin-2 (IL-2) withdrawal-triggered apoptosis pathway, in which the upregulation of Bax expression in Tregs is induced. By using transgenic mouse models, we found that modulation of Treg apoptosis pathway, by enhanced Bax expression or decreased expression of anti-apoptotic protein translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP)[192–194], accelerates development of vascular inflammation presumably via decreasing the striking threshold of vascular inflammation. Our results suggest that vascular inflammation is induced by cuff-placement presumably via necrotic cell-triggered TLRs’ signaling (Fig. 2). Our results have also demonstrated the proof of principle that the modulation of Tregs apoptosis/survival could be used as a new therapeutic approach for inflammatory cardiovascular diseases. I am very grateful to Prof. B. Ashby for critical reading, Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Businesspeople want to access their company's BI data easily, then combine it with information stored in a slew of nondatabase formats. Search engines can make available all sorts of information in a way business users find intuitive. Business intelligence (BI) has become the software of choice for companies looking to assess their performance and garner vital insights from data across the enterprise. Providing quantitative data and tools to manipulate it, BI helps organizations produce analyses that support decision-making. Large and midsize companies have invested many millions of dollars in BI software implementations as they strive to give business users information that will improve the company's results. Originally BI was intended only for technically astute business analysts, but now many organizations are deploying these solutions to workers in sales, marketing, the contact center, the supply chain, and other areas of operations. This broad deployment means that BI technologies must meet these new users' expectations about ease of use and responsiveness. One issue for this now-broadened universe of users is the difficulty of locating, among the many diverse reports in the BI repository, information relevant to their current tasks. An organization's data stores typically will contain not only information on financials, but also data on inventory, customer service, production details, and much more. In addition, today's BI users often find it difficult to create queries. Even when they know which table in a database contains the information they want, they may not know the column names for the specific data elements. Using SQL or a vendor-specific programming language to build a query requires technical knowledge and skill that the average business user has neither the time nor the inclination to learn. Concurrently, the Internet has changed people's expectations about information accessibility. When search engines can deliver useful results from Web sites worldwide in a few seconds, business users question why BI applications should demand that they know which database or report holds the information they want. Accustomed to getting results rapidly through technologies from Google, Yahoo, and others, the new breed of BI users want search interfaces like those they're already familiar with to locate what they need, promptly, regardless of where in the organization the data resides. Taking note of this change in attitude, many BI vendors have announced plans to incorporate search capabilities into their products. The question now is not whether BI and search will converge, but when and how. Ventana Research foresees two primary results of this convergence. The first is that it will become easier for business users to find information that has already been generated in BI systems somewhere in the enterprise. In most organizations, different groups have created specific business reports or dashboards to make the information that they need easy to access and apply. But the company overall may lack methods that simplify enterprisewide access to such data; utilizing search as an interface to query systems across the enterprise can be such a method. The other result of a convergence of BI and search will be the integration of data stored in a range of file types. For example, business results from a BI system, information about customer requests or shipment status in an Excel spreadsheet, and news from the Internet about the company's competitors could all be merged automatically into one regularly updated report. Combining traditional BI content with the information stored outside of databases — “unstructured” data — will provide a richer context for decision-making. Anyone who is evaluating business intelligence or business performance management (BPM) technology for his or her organization should consider these types of emerging capabilities, which can access and merge information from a variety of source files. To determine whether this capability is yet on organizations' radar screens, Ventana Research undertook industry benchmark research designed to identify trends and best practices in the combination of business intelligence and enterprise search software to improve business efforts. We based our analysis and research on input from participants in 322 qualified organizations, most of which are located in the United States; respondents represented all major industry groups and company sizes ranging from less than $100 million to more than $10 billion in annual revenue. Slightly more than half of research participants work in lines of business, while 48 percent have IT job titles. Plans for Adoption And Deployment The results of our research reveal that organizations are in the early stages of integrating BI and search. Just 30 percent of organizations indicated that their companies have already combined the two. Yet there is significant awareness of the potential synergy of search and BI technologies: More than half of organizations said they will deploy some type of search capability over the next two years, and one in five organizations plans to deploy combined BI-search applications for the first time within the next year. As exhibit 1, below, indicates, many of the applications that organizations have deployed or will deploy in the next year combine BI and search to help users run ad hoc queries against their BI data; 19 percent of organizations said they already have deployed such an application, and 25 percent plan to do it within a year. After that, the two most common capabilities for which they want to combine BI and search are the ability to find reports previously run by someone else in the organization and the ability to see reports that contain particular information. Clearly, organizations want to take advantage of information that they already have close at hand but that is not easy to find, and they see integrating search with BI as a way to get to it more quickly. In each of these cases, integration of the technologies can accelerate access to specific business information and thus speed up the processes of making decisions and taking action. In addition, companies view the integration of search and BI in strategic terms; a majority of organizations indicated they plan to deploy it first to business analysts (71 percent) and executives (57 percent). These also are the two groups most likely to already have access to the integrated technologies, followed by line-of-business owners, who were the top candidates for deployment in the next 12 months. While organizations' mainstream BI activities are focused on broader deployments to operational managers and frontline workers, only 16 percent of respondents rated extending BI to new users within their enterprise as the number-one benefit of combining BI technologies with search. It seems clear that in the early phases of this technology, it will be deployed primarily to the more elite users, just as BI was in the 1990s. Once an organization has made the investment to provide a single application in which senior managers can search all business intelligence content, however, midlevel operations managers and frontline workers will stand to benefit from a second phase of deployment. Based on our benchmark findings, we advise organizations to think progressively and determine how to make BI more accessible by making the search interface available to all relevant knowledge workers. Data Types and Content One of the top features respondents cited as a requirement of their future BI systems was better search — or, in BI terms, querying. This will be delivered when BI software that integrates search technologies becomes the new interface for ad hoc data queries. Future business intelligence systems also will include, as part of the results delivered to business users, both semistructured data (such as XML and RSS feeds) and unstructured data such as free-form text. Eighty-four percent of respondents told us it is important to integrate these categories of data (see exhibit 2, below). But they aren't being integrated yet. Although 30 percent of organizations reported that they have already integrated BI and search, only 23 percent of all survey participants have extended that technology to unstructured data such as business documents or information on the Internet. Organizations also said it was valuable to be able to run ad hoc queries or perform analysis on textual data that could be stored in documents or applications such as call center or field service systems. However, at this point, most companies are using search only to find data in reports and BI repositories. This constraint indicates the lack of maturity in deployments to date. Integrating BI data with related business information that's in an unstructured format remains a key step toward fulfilling the promise of business intelligence. To advance, organizations will need methods of integration that can draw upon the content and document management systems they already use. We advise them to identify their major content and document assets and then determine how to integrate these assets' data with other types of information. A majority of the organizations participating in our benchmark research emphasized that the data type they most want to integrate with BI data is customer information. We found that the integration of BI systems with customer-related content and documents is critical in many deployments, as is gaining a better understanding of customers and activities related to them. Along the same lines, the metric that the most companies will use to measure the success of their BI-search integration efforts is higher customer satisfaction (41 percent); increased revenue (34 percent) ranked number three. These findings indicate that companies want to drive performance improvements by improving their understanding of the relationship between customer purchases and product attributes. It should come as no surprise, then, that survey respondents placed priority on customer information when asked about their business case for adopting combined BI and search technology. While 83 percent said providing a single place to search for information was the most important capability of these systems, justifying adoption on the basis of technological efficiency alone does not meet most organizations' criteria for approving purchases. But using customer information to determine how to serve them better is an analytic activity that many organizations are willing to invest in. Participants in our survey indicated that most of the integrated search and BI applications they have deployed or will deploy in the next year involve running search or ad hoc queries against data already in their BI systems. And most (59 percent) also told us that the highest-value benefit they will derive is being able to use search as an interface for BI, which will facilitate better querying. This reflects the fact that difficulty in using BI to perform ad hoc analyses is a chronic problem for users. The use of search as a query tool has the potential to change how organizations use BI. By simplifying the complexities of currently inflexible SQL-based interfaces, search technologies have the potential to extend ad hoc queries to business users companywide. When we asked about the business results they expect to realize by integrating search with business intelligence (see exhibit 3, below), more than half of survey respondents rated making better-informed decisions as the most important benefit. This was true regardless of the respondent's organizational role. Those who selected this option also most often selected running ad hoc queries as their most important need. Business intelligence is a key technology for enabling performance management, and combining search with it should help companies improve performance even more. The top two benefits of search integrated with BI, as shown above, are both key aspects of performance management. Providing fast access to needed information is critical for responding quickly to events, which in turn can improve performance. In fact, the five factors that our survey respondents selected most often as benefits of integrating BI and search are directly related to business performance. Understanding performance and determining how to optimize it require relevant information. Most organizations expect integration of BI and search to improve customer satisfaction, lower costs, and increase revenue. Eighty-three percent of organizations said that bringing unstructured data into the BI environment is important for performance management processes. We advise organizations to examine the intersection of these technologies for ways to improve their integration and dissemination of corporate knowledge. Although the number-one search-related BI capability indicated in the research is providing a single point of access to information in the enterprise, that capability promotes understanding of performance but does not directly help improve it. A Challenge for Technology Vendors Our research found that the vendor landscape for combined search and BI technologies is populated by many suppliers. Organizations want search to encompass various BI systems; that will require suppliers to make available the indexes to their own content and to be able to process content from others. The idea of standardizing on one BI vendor is not always practical — nor did most participants in our survey identify it as a priority. The penetration of search vendors into the business intelligence software market is still minimal. Most organizations in our research use Microsoft-related search technology. Interestingly, Google finished second, ahead of specialized suppliers. There has been substantial adoption of Google's search technology. Some organizations also may consider adopting the basic desktop and departmental elements of Google. For business intelligence, the majority of organizations use Microsoft, Oracle, Business Objects, or Cognos as their primary supplier. In text mining and analytics, SAS was the most prevalent provider in our research, leading others that also provide dedicated text analytics. This vendor diversity points to the reality of heterogeneous technology in the enterprise and the critical need to integrate information from disparate sources. In addition, we found that organizations have concerns about whether the available technologies can carry out key tasks. For example, the respondent organizations that we rated most innovative in terms of their technology maturity expressed interest in the ability of integrated technologies to perform sophisticated text analyses that link broader information with traditional data found in BI systems. But at the same time they said they doubt whether integrated BI and search technology can do that. The significance of this concern is highlighted by our finding that the most important search components for integration (after indexing) are content management (66 percent) and document management (64 percent). Along similar lines, organizations' number-one concern about using search to find information in previously run BI reports was the integration of search and text-analytics technology. Even the companies that we found to be the least ambitious technically — those that are focused on basic capabilities of an integrated search and BI environment, such as having a single place to search all content and dealing with words that can have multiple meanings — question how well BI products can accomplish those tasks. Across the board, then, we found data integration to be prospective customers' key concern; it must be addressed to ensure success in combined BI and search deployments. Likewise, survey respondents expect integration of products from different vendors to be an issue. Despite their concern about integrating BI, text analytics, and search components, only 21 percent of organizations said that it is very important to get all their components from a single vendor (see exhibit 4, below). A larger proportion of respondents (29 percent) said that it is not very important or not at all important. This is just as well, because most organizations' requirements are so broad that a single technology vendor would have difficulty meeting them all. User organizations should expect to implement products from more than one or two vendors, due to the evolving state of this technology. Although there are cost savings and other benefits to be realized through standardizing technology, effective search of data from disparate systems is more important. Search-related technology should be able to perform indexing across all related data in various BI systems and enterprise applications, as well as to handle data in its various forms elsewhere in the enterprise. Organizations that are considering standardizing on one solution for BI, text analytics, and search capabilities should be certain that their BI vendor's search functionality can access the complete variety of sources the organization wants to access through its BI system — or at least be sure the search capability exposes the metadata and indexes required to search each necessary data repository. Organizations that are looking into the role of search where it intersects with BI also should look ahead. Already familiar to most users, search technology can help provide access to BI information for more people, in more roles, in the organization. Along with examining search as the potential next-generation query interface, companies should understand that it is leading us back to natural query languages. In fact, the fourth-most-important search-related component, identified in our research as important by 53 percent of organizations, is natural language processing, which today is transitioning from keyword searching to the use of fragments and sentences to find information. Part of being innovative is reaching new levels of efficiency, and search that's well-integrated with BI can deliver efficiency in querying, which can lead to better decision-making throughout the company. Mark Smith is the CEO and executive vice president of research for Ventana Research, a research and advisory services firm focused on the performance management market. Ventana Research is a premium content partner of Business Finance and Business Performance Management (BPM) Magazine.

| | / _| | | | ___| |_ __ _ _ __| |_ _____ ____ _ ___ ___ __ _ _ _| | |_ / __| __/ _` | '__| _/ _ \ \/ / _` / __/ __|/ _` | | | | | __| \__ \ || (_| | | | || (_) > < (_| \__ \__ \ (_| | |_| | | |_ |___/\__\__,_|_| |_| \___/_/\_\__,_|___/___/\__,_|\__,_|_|\__| ____ _ ___ _ _ _ ____ ____ ____ ____ Star Fox Assault |__/ | | \ | |\ | | __ |___ |__| | | Vehicle Riding FAQ | \ | |__/ | | \| |__] | | | |_\| Copyright 2007 TheUnruly1. =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | | \ | | | |_\| TABLE OF CONTENTS =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= 1. INTRODUCTION & OTHERS (inttuon) 2. HOW TO RIDE (htrdmns) 3. WEAPONS (wepsess) 4. RIDER COMBAT (rdvsveh) 5. HOW TO BEAR A RIDER (htbaruo) 6. CHARACTERS TO USE (chartus) 7. CONCLUSION Best viewed in Courier New 10 point. =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 1. INTRODUCTION (inttuon) | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= To quote HAXage: =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= "That's right, riding. Mission 4, mission 7. Only this time, you don't have the Plasma Cannon, you fall off, and your friend doesn't go as slow as Wolf/Falco. And there's always that thought that they might flip you off accidentally, or your opponent might actually do some DAMAGE to you, unlike those dullard Aparoids that fly at you. So! Who wants to try?" =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= And that sums it up very well indeed. It's actually considered by some as a "cheat strategy", but if every little secret in a game was a cheat strategy, well, then competitive SSBM wouldn't be too much fun, would it? =D Of course, that is but one example. __________________________________ / \ --------- ABOUT ME --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Alrighty then, I'll start. My name's Will, and I go by TheUnruly1. I make no claim of being a good player, although HAXage (whom I taught, and true to Star Wars spirit far outgrew my tactical training wheels), in a character profile referred to me in his FAQ as a "Krystal vet". As a matter of fact, I doubt this very statement at the cost of my pride. I am an average player, and I forever will be, in this game. The only thing true of that statement is that my main character is Krystal. (I like Barriers.) I also think of new, fun ways to attack my opponent when the chips are down. As a matter of fact, this manner of thinking helped me instigate a set of common rules about Riding, which is just one of those dangerous things. Anyways, I'm excited, so I'm moving on. __________________________________ / \ --------- WHY RIDE? --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ The reason one would ride is quite simple - to use a form of SFA combat that actually lets you and your teammate work with synergy. Such a team has the advantage of double cover - that is, the rider covers the machine he rides on, and the Arwing pilot keeps the rider safe. Strafes low to the ground from off an Arwing's wing can be easily fatal to pilots on the ground. A fly-by Gatling Gunning of a Landmaster can prove very satisfying indeed in killing something that usually counters an Arwing. Unless you're loaded with Homing Launchers, it takes a great aim and reflex(es) to be an effective rider, and that's discounting the fact that your bearer has to have these as well. __________________________________ / \ --------- SOLO RIDES --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Riding on your own is a weird concept, but the way it works is you get out of your Arwing briefly by pressing Z so you can ride, firing your weapon, and then getting back in. The downside, as compared to team riding, is that while you are outside your Arwing your vehicle will just move in a straight line. However, it can be a good tool for quickly dispatching enemy aircraft if you have the right weaponry. Great sniping tool, too. The OTHER way to use a solo ride is...bailing out - if in trouble, press Z and then press Y. Nothing more. You will fall out through the neon lilac jetstream of your previous vehicle and hope your opponent doesn't notice you did. =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 2. HOW TO RIDE (htrdmns) | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= First off, I've only mentioned in passing how to actually GET RIDING. So, I will now take the time to detail all the major points of riding. __________________________________ -------- THE PREPARATIONS --------- --------__________________________________--------- You should always make sure you have a clear route up and a clear six, because you don't want people ripping you apart as you scramble for the plane. First and foremost, you need the designated rider (no one's drunk here, don't fear) on the wing of choice. Now how much health do your wings have? 59. This makes riding on the fuselage of the plane viable too... on a Wolfen, it's advised, and for an Arwing it's silly (considering you have those two massive wings). Getting up on the wing is tough for Falco, Krystal and sometimes Fox, which makes many people name the higher jumpers in the game the best riders. If you have problems, take a run at it, and try, try, again. (until you are finally silenced after the 10 seconds it takes for the enemy to seek and destroy you.) After that, just get the designated bearer into the plane, and-HEY, COME BACK, YOU DROPPED ME! __________________________________ -------- THE TAKEOFF --------- --------__________________________________--------- The takeoff, as we all agree, is the time where most riders fall off, because the bearer rushes the ascent (but this is about HOW TO RIDE, HOW TO BEAR will be covered later). Anyways, now is when you begin your R-button-holding spree - there's no point in moving much, unless your wing's about to die and you need to hop over to the fuselage. Just hang on, cover the plane's six, and save the real combat for after you have gained a lot of altitude. __________________________________ -------- STAYING ON --------- --------__________________________________--------- During a fight, DON'T PANIC and do not jump off. You act as much needed support for your friend's aircraft. KEEP R HELD DOWN if you're about to fall. If your wing is about to go, you can do one of two things. The first, the simpler but riskier one, is to hug the hull of the Arwing and move to the very edge of the wing (not on the tip, you dorfus, but on the edge where it connects to the plane). When a wing blows, everything but this little tip is removed. You will then be staying on rather dangerously, and could easily be shot off as the unbalanced aircraft teeters and totters. The upside of this is you still get the same features - less chance of hitting yourself - as you would on a full wing (kinda). A reader, whose GameFAQs name is nivlac91, sent me this about the Arwing's wing break area: ============ I found out where the arwings wings break at, if you look at them closely enough you'll see a wavy line (I have 2 pictures as an attached file one is the line and one is the broken wing) near the fuselage it's about peppy's width away from the fuselage, as long as you're stopped it should be easy to see. When your wing is almost gone it will spark there and when it's gone that's where it breaks. ============ I saw this line, but I didn't quite click it that this is where the Arwing wing breaks off, so thank you, nivlac91. The other way, the safer but harder one, is to get your bearer to stop and jump from the wing to the fuselage/hull. This will then allow you to ride the fuselage just like solo riding, but with a movable aircraft. Wolfens, bad luck: your wings get almost completely blown off, and riding on your fuselage is the best option anyways, because your wings are so stubby. __________________________________ -------- RIDING A WOLFEN --------- --------__________________________________--------- Wolfens are a whole new game - in riding, you could say Wolfens are high risk, low return (something you don't want a mode of transport to be, normally). If you are merely sitting on one of the thin Wolfen wings that are menaces to board, you might just walk off without even knowing you let go of R. The fuselage is the only way to go, because as aforementioned, those wings are hard as a week-old kaiser bun to get on and stay on. There is, however a "safe spot" that is near the back: right where either of the upper wings joins with the hull, kind of wedged inbetween the wing and the upper brake on the back of the plane. You're good there, but you can't shoot to many different angles from there; you can only shoot out as if you were a fixed gun on the side of the Wolfen. After this two- paragraph explanation, a simple point is made - the wings, the back, and even the safe spot are worse options than just the fuselage. Also, Wolfens can't stop, and their wings are short, tiny, and pointy, making them very hard to Speedboard (will be explained later) or jump from wing to fuselage, if you got on them already. =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 3. WEAPONS (wepsess) | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= __________________________________ / \ --------- GOOD WEAPONS TO USE --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Well, what weapons does one use when riding? There are two characteristics that need attention: **The weapon won't harm you. This is rather obvious, but we don't want to use Sensor Bombs when riding, do we? **Good control over the weapon is possible, or is offset by a large usefulness. The last bit was added in for the Gatling Gun. Therefore, I have a list of weapons that are useful for riding. The stats showing how many hits the weapons take to break a wing are to help you know when you're going to lose your footing (or when you'll snatch it from your opponent). And by the way, Planes take 1/16 of their HP in damage from hitting something (tested), and so do wings (guess). __________________________________ -------- HOMING LAUNCHER --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo per Item: 10 Max: 99 Lock-on Blow Off a Wing? 2 Hits Well, this is probably the best riding weapon there is. It locks on, comes in bulk, and does a crapload of damage to Landmasters. Not only that, but it's insured that it blows up away from where you are, and it's excellent at killing other aircraft/riders. It's almost like giving the Arwing a second Charge Shot, which is obviously good at dispatching Pilots too. __________________________________ -------- GATLING GUN --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo Per Item: 100 Max: 999 Blow Off a Wing? A mere 4 bullets GATLING GUN? WHAT? It has horrible range and sporadic firing! Why would you ride with one? Well, the reason we use the Gatling Gun, is of course to do tons of damage, kill vehicles in paltry numbers of seconds and whatnot. This makes it a godsend against Landmasters that you can use to swoop and destroy on the annoying tanks. The GGun also serves as your primary pilot killer, although the Homing Launcher can also take this job if you need range. It's good at tearing the wings off other rider-bearing planes as well if you can get close. __________________________________ -------- MISSILE LAUNCHER --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo Per Item: 3 Max: 5 Blow Off a Wing? 2 Hits Okay, okay, the Homing Launcher's the best pick for going after aircraft, but it's just too cool launching a guided missile off a plane and owning a Landmaster with it. Missile Launchers are mostly luxury items, so don't expect them to be your main weapon. __________________________________ -------- SNIPER & DEMON SNIPER --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo Per Item: 10 for Sniper Rifle, 5 for Demon Sniper Max: 99 for both Blow Off a Wing? Both 1 hit These weapons are complete BEASTS when unleashed in a riding setting. The Sniper, on one hand, is awesome against Pilots if you aim (extremely) well, and will take an Arwing down in 2 hits (Landmaster with 3). It is your oyster, and open to whatever purpose you want. The Demon, on the other hand, does only one thing: break stuff. Aim at selected target. Insure you will hit, as ammo is precious. Induce fear into your opponent as you ready the shot. Up in the air like this, you couldn't miss. You fire, annihilating the vehicle and leaving a hapless Pilot to be finished off with the weapon of your choice. That's the Demon Sniper, and that's how it usually ends up. __________________________________ -------- GRENADE --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo Per Item: 5 Max: 99 Blow Off a Wing? 2 Grenades, if you are actually dumb enough to let that happen Explodes after 5 1/2 seconds Yeah, there are oodles of grenade pros out there, saying "they're excellent and do tons of damage!" They are right, but for the average FAQ reader and myself, Grenades are a tool that is difficult to use. Sure, it's very hard to hit an Arwing with 'em effectively, so why in the hell am I recommending them? They can be used in bulk, and drop the hammer on Landmasters. That's about it though. __________________________________ / \ --------- WHAT NOT TO USE --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Wear whatever you like, fellas, but consider ignoring these weapons when choosing your main kicks before taking off. __________________________________ -------- MACHINE GUN --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo Per Item: 200 Max: 999 Blow Off a Wing? 12 bullets "But it's a lot more accurate!" That's very true. However, when we consider the purpose of using it or the GGun while riding (gunning down vehicles or anything at close range) we can easily see that the Gatling Gun does its job 3 times better (4 times if we're talking Pilots) because it does much more damage per bullet. Do, however, get a Machine Gun ready if you get shot down, so you can last longer on foot. __________________________________ -------- BLASTER --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo Per Item: Start with weapon Max: N/A (infinite ammo) Blow Off a Wing? 2 full Charge Shots The Blaster violates the very first rule. Y'know, the one we said was obvious? **The weapon won't harm you. This is rather obvious, but we don't want to use Sensor Bombs when riding, do we? The Blaster will hit yourself with the large chargeup often enough (less so when firing from the wings, however) to cause damage. This is most particularly noticed when you are firing down at something. However, the fully Charged Blaster does quite a significant amount of damage, and it's definitely possible to have a great riding run using your Blaster to own Landmasters - I just don't recommend it because of the charge time that wastes your valuable airtime - yet another reason why high jumpers make the best riders. __________________________________ -------- SENSOR BOMB --------- --------__________________________________--------- Ammo Per Item: 5 Bombs Max: 99 Blow Off A Wing? 2 Hits (or maybe 1) The only practical use of these while riding is doing a plane-to-plane transfer (will be explained), dropping them and transferring back, and who the hell is good enough to regularly do that? =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 4. RIDER COMBAT (rdvsveh) | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= __________________________________ / \ --------- UNITY AND ALL THAT --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ When you're riding, there's one thing that should be the first one in your mind: YOUR UNITY between you and your plane CANNOT BE BROKEN. Why? If you get shot off, lose a wing, get mauled but miraculously survive, whatever, it's a hassle to get back together. You are then left not with a unified vehicle but with an aircraft and a pilot, separate. The sturdier you stand, the greater chance of survival your unified vehicle has. The longer you last, the more you can whittle your opponent down. This means no going off into your own little world, but instead shooting down whatever threatens your plane. Your opponent, likely thinking that if your plane goes down, you go down, will break the bond by wrecking the plane. Thus, you protect your plane - the bonding force - over saving your own life. If the plane goes down, you effectively both go down. __________________________________ / \ --------- AGAINST THE LANDMASTER --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Landmasters pose huge problems for any aircraft. With an extra set of guns, the threat is rather diminished, because you can use stuff like Grenades, Homing Launchers, and most of all Gatling Guns. Using a swoop attack that involves the Arwing pointing down and firing, you can simultaneously charge Landmasters with Arwing fire and Rider fire. This will likely destroy the Master before it can even hit you with a second Charge Shot, allowing you to go heal yourself of pain. MAKE SURE you are close before you start GGunning - you don't want to waste precious ammo and have to go get some more. Alternatively, you can annoy them by gaining lots of altitude, briefly swooping down into the range of the Homing Launcher, firing, and boost away. Doing this means that in about 3 hits, you'll wreck the Master. But you get the basic idea - since the tank is grounded, use your altitude advantage to keep yourself safe, and attack in bursts. __________________________________ / \ --------- AGAINST AN AIRCRAFT --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Well, what do Pilots normally use against Arwings and stuff? Homing Launchers. This same principle applies here too, because several of your other weapons (GGun, Grenades) are unusable. Homing Launchers will always be the anti-air weapon of choice, but since you're flying at their level and all, Snipers (and definitely Demon ones) become a very viable weapon. The reason for this phenomenon is because being up an the air with a plane bearing you eliminates the flaw of trying to Snipe an Arwing from the ground - it can't evade you as well anymore. Height no longer will work as an escape, and neither will Boosting off. Previously, it was like this... ----------------------------------------------------- |--------| | ARWING | <--------------< *MISS!* |--------| B O O S T S ^ H ^ O ^ T ^ |--------| | SNIPER | |--------| ------------------------------------------------------- Now, it's like this... ------------------------------------------------------- |--------| B O O S T | ARWING | <--------------< |--------| |--------|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<| RIDER | *BOOM* SNIPER SHOT |--------| -------------------------------------------------------- That explain it? Snipers are one of the weapons of choice for riding against aircraft. Missile Launchers aren't practical against Arwings, because not only are they luxury items that you will rarely find, they do almost twice as much damage to Landmasters. Still, if there are no Landmasters around, go ahead. Another thing about aircraft to use for your advantage: planes take a while to turn around, so if you get on their six you can start hammering them. If the aircraft tries to mix it up by doing a Loop, put on the brakes and try either of two approaches. For one, you could probably get off 2 free Homers. Or, if you're looking for the more complete ownage type attack, you could try and Snipe it as it comes out of the Loop...hard to pull off, but deadly. __________________________________ / \ --------- AGAINST PILOTS --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Pilots are kinda hard to fight, because the height advantage actually HINDERS you. Not only that, but they're small as a pinhead, so Sniping is hard. What's the solution? Go really low. This too is dangerous because it leaves you open to GGuns and the like, which are the same kind of weapons that you should be using on them. Thus, it's basically whoever goes down first. Or it would be, but I'm forgetting that the Arwing has attacks too. Arwing swoop attacks are fatal to Pilots, let alone with an extra set of guns on your back. Use it. This does NOT mean that you should do an almost vertical Dive-Bomb; that's a nice way to lose your rider. Instead, you need to boost in and start from a long way away. After, pull out quickly (to avoid GGun damage), circle around in a large arc and repeat. So, let's recap, the main idea with Pilots is to use your noodle and your vehicle's mobility to outclass the munchkins. If Homing Launchers come your way, which they undoubtedly will, seek to destroy the guy (next time you dive) in one round of battle because you don't have the luxury of time (you'll get Homered). This is plenty easy to accomplish if you can get your Arwing bearer some upgraded lasers. Then the one Homer that they get on you won't pose a long term problem and can be shrugged off with a ring. Well, if you wanted to be cheap, you could use Homing Launchers every now and then while staying high so he couldn't hit you. But let's have fun, right? =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 5. HOW TO BEAR A RIDER (htbaruo) | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= "I'm awake, I'm awake!" Okay, ladies and gents, this is the section teaching you how to be a big, predatory furry animal commonly seen as dangerous to wandering hikers. So, this whole time we've been discussing the Rider, but never the Bearer, right? Bearers are still half the job, and must not be ignored. Besides helping with combat, Bearers do plenty of things. __________________________________ / \ --------- MOVES AND STRATEGY --------- --------- --------- \__________________________________/ Your powerful ally, riding on your wing, is your main asset and is what gives you an edge. This person is also a weapon to be deployed - upon mutual agreement, there are several tactics to be employed letting you divide and conquer, or even just conquer. __________________________________ -------- SPEEDBOARDING --------- --------__________________________________--------- Speedboarding can be defined as two things. One is slower, the other one truly is SPEED-boarding. Anyways, they both entail a rider boarding an aircraft without it having to land. The first method involves your ARWING (not Wolfen, it won't work) braking to a stop and letting the rider jump on, just like landing (but not actually landing). This is hard except for Peppy/Slippy, really, and will usually end up making you take some damage. This is handy if you don't have the time to land, but daredevils have another option. The rider jumps, you fly towards the rider, and pick them up. Sounds insane, right? It's wicked fast if you do it, and you won't be wasting a moment in getting the rider on your wing. Again, good for high jumpers. __________________________________ -------- THE CATAPULT --------- --------__________________________________--------- WHEEEE! This is always fun to do and never gets old. It's a perfect way to either drop your little spy via airplane into enemy territory or to send him flying to new heights. Hell, you can even make it up Katina Tower or the Spire in Titania without booster packs. Get your rider on a wing and simply barrel roll pointing the control stick to the wing opposite the one they're on. WHEEE! You just sent your rider flying as the wing rolled upwards. Often done accidentally by reflex; TheUnruly1 is not responsible for injuries caused by mad riders after doing this by accident. When done right, though, it's pretty cool. __________________________________ -------- MIXING IT UP --------- --------__________________________________--------- Be sure to switch positions once in a while, it surprises your opponent - especially if you have very different sets of weaponry. Get one person to pack heavy weapons and missiles, the other one packs GGun and Grenades. The switch can be performed simply by the plane pilot pressing Z and then the rider pressing Z: AT LEVEL FLIGHT. (Although, sometimes it is fun having two riders on one plane at once. Can you say...battle on the planetop?) For fun, you could even drop your rider onto an enemy plane for a little sabotage. You may think that packing Motion Sensors is a good idea, but they will only hurt yourself. (The Sensor Bombs often fly off the plane anyway.) For this kind of battle, the best weapon is the GGun, because you're confined to the space of the plane. Just point down, hold A and watch the plane die. __________________________________ -------- TRANSFERS --------- --------__________________________________--------- Here is, everyone, the ultimate in gosu-skill indulgence; the plane-to-plane transfer. This is, in fact, the way to pull off the above paragraph. A plane flies high above another, which is slightly behind it. Jump while holding the control stick forward, and you just jumped from plane to plane. Can be perfected for use in almost any environment. You can also do something I call a catapult transfer by basic term, and a more real-sounding thing for specific term. When done with a Landmaster I call it a Defense Turret. In this, you are flying above a Master, braking to a halt and Catapulting your rider down to the vehicle who gets inside posthaste. I named it such because this is exactly what you're doing. You are quickly and efficiently deploying an Arwing counter to destroy someone who's following you. So, I call it a catapult transfer/Turret because I don't like the ring of "Quick Deployment of Rider to Arwing Countering Vehicle by Barrel Roll". A catapult transfer can also be done with an Arwing, but this is basically just doing a fast P2P transfer. __________________________________ -------- PLAN Bs --------- --------__________________________________--------- Sometimes, for the rider's sake, ya gotta know when to quit. If your plane is smokin' purple, it's good to not go down together. Get the rider off you and go suicidal. Although you probably already knew that, there are signs you can read as to WHEN to start thinking of a Plan B. 1. Your wings are gone. Not very rider-friendly, and your plane will teeter and totter a little. If it's just the wings, chances are you can keep going, but it's likely your body will be shot up too. Get a new plane for either of you. If it's just wings, then go find a laser upgrade...they heal your wings, strangely enough. Then you're good to go. Not one of the real problems that can stab you in the back, but it happens a lot. 2. Your rider has no Barriers and little health. Barriers are lifesavers when that Arwing flies at you shooting Rapid-fire lasers at your wing. If you get on without a Barrier to begin with, it's a little troublesome. But you can get over it. When the rider's health is low and with no barrier for backup, they're as good as gone from the enemy's next attack. The solution? Bail him out onto the ground by a vehicle. This way he can have another chance at life. 3. Your rider beigns to run out of weapons. DO NOT LET THIS SHUT YOU DOWN. The enemy will love you for that. Say your rider runs out of GGun. Does he still have ANYTHING to use against the enemy? Grenades, say? If not, then he always has the Blaster, right? Although if your only option is the Blaster, there's a far better solution; pack weapons yourself and let him fly the jalopy. If you wanna read about that, look above in "Mixing It Up". __________________________________ -------- MACHINE GUN FIRE --------- --------__________________________________--------- The infamous MG (and GGun) pose problems for the Riding system possibly more than anything else, except maybe the Homing Launcher. You can't Barrel Roll, Loop or U-Turn to avoid it, so how do you safeguard your rider from MG or GG fire? Let's fly away. Well, that only works if the person you're fighting is on the ground. Your Arwing attacks have longer range than an MG, and even more so for a GG. Strafing runs beginning from far away work well, and Homers will save your butt by killing them from long range. Of course, you could always outgun them, but you'll be licking your wounds after that. __________________________________ -------- THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK! --------- --------__________________________________--------- Haha...a category about Bombs. As you may already know, one of these badasses will wreck both you and your cargo in about a second. The way to go against this is switch your positions, since you have more health from being covered in the plane. This might be the time where you... __________________________________ -------- GET ANOTHER PLANE --------- --------__________________________________--------- It happens! No one lives forever in SFA/life! Should the purple smoke arise, bail and find a new prize, be it plane or Landmasters. Get both people out of the plane immediately. The way to do it: The Pilot flies above a vehicle, brakes, and Catapults the rider down to it, who gets in immediately. (Also known as a Defense Turret if done with Landmasters. HA! MEMORY TEST!) The guy still left in then seeks out another fresh vehicle OR a Ring/Platinum Star to refresh the one he's in if you've got the time. __________________________________ -------- LANDMASTER RIDING --------- --------__________________________________--------- WHAT? Yes, you can do it, have someone standing atop your Landmaster being an extra set of guns. It may not be as useful as Arwing riding, and it may be hazardous to the rider's health now and then but it can be done. It saves both your butts if you're plane's going down and you would otherwise both need to Defense Turret or do something like that. It's definitely easier to jump on top of one. The key of Master riding is to stay away from 1: the cannon, and 2: the wheels. The cannon is for obvious reasons, and the wheel is so you won't get hurt as if you were run over when you touch them. The perfect spot is on top of one of the two protrusions on the back of the Landmaster, on either side. You're behind the cannon and above the wheels. Weapons? Since you're slow and low, MGs or GGuns are the weapons of choice. If not, Snipers work well (just not as well as from a plane), Grenades are of course more viable and the blaster could also work. The awesome Homing Launcher, as you know, works anywhere. ---------------------------- Now you see the Bearer's huge role? Maybe this FAQ should be called the Bearing FAQ. =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 6. CHARACTERS TO USE (chartus) | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= An OPINION BASED list on who is the best rider in the game, who is 2nd best, who is... ------------- --> Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare #1 ------------- WHAT THE HELL? People think this toad is the worst player in the game, but alas, he is one of two best riders, and I'm gonna prove it. Is Peppy better? No. Slip's jump is but one less than Peppy's, and this still lets him do boardings with ease compared to others. His running is a little better, too. Slippy is small, and can't be seen easily, although the reticules take this advantage away often. Your enemy might not realize you were there if you position yourself behind something on the plane, though. The speedy chargeup time for the blaster is again not as spectacular as Peppy's but still gets the job done if you ever have to use it. There are two more trump cards I haven't mentioned yet. The first? Slippy OWNS at Defense Turrets with his five stars in Landmaster. The last, everyone, is the health - just look, bigger than anyone's but the cheapo that is Wolf. That'll help you survive a lot, since Slippy can survive two Grenades/three Homers/ten GGun bullets/two Bombs. An awesome asset for a Rider. If skilled, Slippy surpasses all else on top of a plane with his only disadvantage being the low crosshair size. Health bar sizes might be overrated statistics that don't matter to skilled pros, but even discounting the fact that most of you aren't, it sure helps in riding to have lots of it. Then again, so are crosshair sizes... =D Peppy seems to have no disadvantage at this, since he makes it all seem so damn easy. A five star jump, the fastest blaster charge in the game and the largest of any Pilot crosshair size means even someone with horrible reflexes can play well as Peppy as a rider. You can board with ease by tapping Y and soaring sky-high. Defense Turrets and other maneuvers like that can be done well, but not as well as with Slippy. And there's the two best. ------------- --> Wolf O'Donnell #2 ------------- Wolf is Falco with a crapload of health, an even faster run and a slightly better jump. Thus, 'tis general consensus he is really cheap, and people don't like him. I guess it makes sense why he's #2, then, right? Wolf can even live out a Sniper shot if someone hits you while you're riding. (which means in a very stupid way Wolf will last as long as the freakin' PLANE ITSELF when it comes to Snipers.) ------------- --> Fox McCloud #3 ------------- A team of two Foxes can pull off any maneuver they like, because all across the screen their stats are even. A Defense Turret could work as well as an abrupt position switch, since they have high score in Arwing, Pilot and Master alike. Not much more to say here than that, this position is earned for being able to do anything with a four-star crosshair size. ------------- --> Krystal and Falco Lombardi #4 ------------- Now that I've finished my Slippy rant, I don't have too much more to say. Maybe I'm biased here, but Krystal is my main character above all else. Her stats suck, but that's alright, 'cause she's got Barriers to spare, an invaluable resource during an all out assault (heh...Assault is the name of the game, after all). She thus has the best chance of survival if shot down. But tell me this, is it really bias putting your favorite character in FOURTH place and not first? Falco does not have the health for riding...and also not the jump. Neither does Krystal, but this is more blatantly extreme with Falco. He may be one of the better characters (and hands down the best bearer character) in the game, but not under these circumstances. He just gets killed a little too easy. Mind you, this is if you actually manage to board with his (and Krystal's too) weak jump. =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 6. CONCLUSION | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= Question answering time: HOW THE HELL DID I DISCOVER THIS? Well, it started with a friend of mine who introduced me to the game. On the second ever time I played it, you could guess I wasn't that great...I tried to bail out of my plane in mid-flight, to see what would happen. I joyfully found I was still astride my plane, with a machine gun in hand. I then said "Look! Here comes something new!" and shot up his plane with my MG. He turned to my screen, saw me standing atop my Arwing with a machine gun finishing him off and asked "How did you do THAT?" I explained. Something like that. I then looked around online and saw I wasn't the only one doing this. Now, I wrote a guide to it. That's all the questions, look me up at firstname.lastname@example.org for more questions. Include something about Star Fox Assault or Riding in the title, or through the spam filter you'll go on my direct order. See you at my next guide! TUn1 =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= ____ _____ _____ ____ |__/ |____ |___| | | 7. COMMENTS | \ | | | |_\| =-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-==-_-= Sender: nivlac91 I found out where the arwings wings break at, if you look at them closely enough you'll see a wavy line (I have 2 pictures as an attached file one is the line and one is the broken wing) near the fuselage it's about peppy's width away from the fuselage, as long as you're stopped it should be easy to see. When your wing is almost gone it will spark there and when it's gone that's where it breaks. I saw this line, but I didn't quite click it that this is where the Arwing wing breaks off, so thank you, nivlac91. FAQ Display Options: Printable Version

Glyphosate was first introduced in 1974 and has become the world’s most dominant herbicide. It’s now generic, so there are many brands and formulations. As a result, it’s virtually ubiquitous, found nearly everywhere on earth. Further driving its use are genetically modified (GM) crops, which were first developed for the purpose of creating glyphosate-tolerant plants, usually known as Roundup Ready. These have resulted in ever-more blatant and free use, especially in the wake of glyphosate-resistant superweeds. Estimates put glyphosate-tolerant GM crops at 90% of all transgene crops. In the United States alone, the amount and increase in glyphosate’s use is stunning. The following table gives estimated figures in millions of pounds of glyphosate for one year: Year 2001 2003 2005 2007 Range 85-90 128-133 155-160 180-185 Notice that the amount of use has doubled in just six years. Samsel & Seneff state: The Western diet is a delivery system for toxic chemicals used in industrial agriculture. It consists primarily of processed foods based on corn, wheat, soy and sugar, and they’re consumed in high quantities. Chemical residues of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides like glyphosate contaminate the entire diet. Roundup Ready GM crops have become the mainstay of Agribusiness. These include soy, beet sugar, and corn—which supply the bulk of the processed food industry. High fructose corn syrup, implicated in the diabetes epidemic, is produced mostly with GM corn. Cotton is genetically engineered and its oil has entered the food supply. Glyphosate is systemic in plants, so it cannot be washed off. If it’s used on a crop, it will be in the food produced from it. All the soy, sugar, cotton, and corn that ends up in packaged foods is carrying glyphosate into our bodies. Food and dairy animals are raised in concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs). The bulk of their diets consists of GM grain crops. Grain and sugar crops take up higher levels of glyphosate than other crops. Therefore, the flesh, eggs, and milk of CAFO-raised animals are contaminated with glyphosate, which enters the food pipeline. Glyphosate is used not only on Roundup Ready crops, but also on glyphosate-sensitive sugar cane and wheat shortly before harvest, when it acts as a desiccant. It’s also used as a desiccant on Roundup Ready sugar beets, canola, and cottonseed for oils, among others. The perception that glyphosate is not toxic in humans results in difficulty obtaining figures on how much glyphosate ends up in the food supply. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Pesticide Data Program is voluntary. Searching for information on residues for the year 2010, the most recent year for which data is provided, shows residue levels for all pesticides except glyphosate and another organophosphate, glufosinate. The USDA has simply not monitored residue levels for either of these herbicides, though they will this year (2013), but only for a small sampling of glyphosate residues in soy. Increasing Limits on Glyphosate Use Governments have failed to control use of glyphosate. The precautionary principle has not been in evidence anywhere. The drive to use it has increased as the use of glyphosate on Roundup Ready crops, which has driven development of noxious superweeds. Therefore, Agribusiness in the forms of chemical and biotech industries have demanded increased limits on glyphosate residue. In 1999, the EU and UK, where no GM crops are currently grown for human consumption, increased the limit for soy from 0.1 parts per million to 20 ppm—a 200-fold increase! The US limit for soy is currently the same. Pressure is now on to increase levels even more. In the EU, industry is pressing for an increase of at least 100 times current residue levels in lentils from 0.1 ppm to 10 ppm, or even 15 ppm. Safety isn’t factored in. Approval levels are based solely on anticipated use, and glyphosate use is being driven massively higher by the noxious superweeds that exist only because of it. The residue limits for food animals are even worse, and by a huge amount. Animal-feed grass is allowed glyphosate residues of 300 ppm, and animal-feed corn can have glyphosate residues of 400 ppm! It should come as no surprise that sickness is becoming the normal state of health. Chronic diseases, once fairly rare, are now how we live and die. Diseases once seen almost exclusively in the elderly are now being seen in children. Autoimmune and neurological disorders are becoming common. There are many potentially causative and contributory factors, but glyphosate has generally gotten a pass because it was considered “generally recognized as safe”—GRAS—for its apparently low toxicity. Indeed, short term studies appeared to confirm its innocence. However, long term studies of its effects on health weren’t done until recently. The most insidious factor in glyphosate’s toxicity has been the slow expression of harmful effects. Because of it, studies demonstrating glyphosate’s insidious action inside the body—like those Samsel & Seneff reviewed—have been systematically ignored. So glyphosate is now the most popular herbicide on earth, and that factor is driving the extent of harm it produces. It isn’t just the fact of its toxicity that’s at issue, it’s the sheer volume of usage. Samsel & Seneff’s research is blowing away the smokescreen around the harmful effects of this monstrous product. They have provided specifics for how glyphosate can destroy health and produce the modern plague of chronic diseases. Glyphosate: A Trajectory of Human Misery The proven and probable effects of glyphosate are manifold. The meteoric rise in chronic diseases and metabolic disorders has occurred during the same time period that glyphosate was introduced, and has followed a trajectory much like that of the herbicide’s massive increase in use. At some point, officials in power must take their heads out of the sand and address the evidence that ties glyphosate to the epidemic of chronic diseases. Samsel and Seneff have now collected, sorted, and logically extrapolated on evidence from studies, and they leave little question that there must be an association between the herbicide and the phenomenon of mass ill health. Samsel and Seneff do not oversell their findings. They clarify that glyphosate is not the only toxin in today’s world. Nonetheless, its known effects on some of the human body’s most basic functions—disruption of gut bacteria, impairment of sulphate transport, and interference with CYP enzyme activity—indicate that, at the very least, glyphosate must have a synergistic effect with other environmental toxins. It is, therefore, imperative that—at the very least—a moratorium be declared on the use of glyphosate until and unless it can be demonstrated to be safe. Surely it’s long past time to apply the precautionary principle to glyphosate and its partner in synergy, Roundup. The toll in human suffering, not to mention costs to society and economic losses, cannot be allowed to continue. Surely civilization cannot be maintained when the average person is irrevocably ill. This trajectory of human misery must come to an end. Samsel, Anthony; Seneff, Stephanie. 2013. “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases.” Entropy 15, no. 4: 1416-1463; doi:10.3390/e15041416 Heidi Stevenson is Allopathy’s Gadfly. She’s an iatrogenic survivor whose prior career in computer science, research, and writing was lost as a result. She has turned her skills towards exposing the modern medical scam and the politics surrounding it, along with providing information about the effectiveness of much alternative medicine, without which she would not be here today acting as Allopathy’s Gadfly. Find her work on GaiaHealth.com This article first appeared at GreenMedInfo. Please visit to access their vast database of articles and the latest information in natural health.

Two For Tuesday: Rising Smoke of the Hobo Kings & Balance20: Deetron Ableton Live Jedi Knight, Jon Margulies, known for his excellent Ableton Live books and mind-blowing workshops, has just dropped Smotin’ At The Water a new EP featuring his “Hobo-Tech” sound. (By the way, Jon wants you to know that “A hobo is not a bum: think transient or vagabond…” OK, mate, got it! —Ed.) For those that don’t know, Hobotech is the brainchild of Producer/DJ/Educator Jon Margulies. Since it’s mushroom-induced fireside conception in 2007 during a train-jumping, cross-country excursion, Hobotech now includes a collective of talent including ATOM, FreeBassBK and Hobotrail, Jon’s recent schedule has included an appearance at Coachella, an opening set for Bassnectar with collaborator Haj (Sub Swara), and shows which have found him sharing the stage with luminaries of bass music including ill.Gates, David Starfire and AN-TEN-NAE. Smotin’ At The Water is a follow up to OK, All Right and sounds like what you’d get if you crossed Moby’s Natural Blues with Glitch-tech sonics and Dubstep’s distorted bass lines. Rising Smoke of the Hobo Kings is a collaboration of Hobotech and Haj. Haj is a founding member of NYC bass music pioneers Sub Swara. He’s also been involved with numerous lauded, cutting edge projects, including Nyxyss with Hannah thiem of Copal and Freek Factory with vocalist, Blacklight. For the 20th incarnation of the Balance mix series, the Australian concern enlisted the assistance of Deetron. The Swiss melodic techno bastion has chosen to embrace both the past and present of mixing disciplines on Balance 20, showing that the two can indeed live together in harmony – or even synergy – and underlining the qualities and nuances of each school of thought. Bringing his wealth of experience that has seen him release on labels from Music Man to Green to Rejected to Circus Company to Versatile, he has created something truly provocative with this 2-CD set. Deetron’s Balance 20 mix takes in seminal classics, exclusives, rare cuts, lesser-known gems, and a healthy blend of big names and underground heroes, with his blend of thoughtful techno and moving melody. “It’s really exciting and challenging, especially these days” he says of the process of putting together the mix. “The beginning of the process could be compared to crate-digging in a record store and going through hundreds of pieces of music. The more difficult part is to make the final selection and to put these tracks together in the mix with a good flow.” Giving a nod to the past and some of the all-time greats, he cites !K7’s blueprint-setting X-Mix series as a key source of inspiration; a collection of mixes which showed that techno was about much more than just kicks, loops and stabs. “Those mixes had a big impact on me when they were released in the early/mid-nineties. I’ve had those in mind – especially the Laurent Garnier one – because of their cinematic approach and dramaturgy.”

Tired all the time? Hate to get out of bed in the morning? Need to jumpstart yourself with coffee, Red Bull, salty or sugary snacks? Do you only feel at your best after 6 PM? Your problem may be adrenal fatigue (AF). You look and act like the same old you and show no symptoms of physical illness, yet you go through the day feeling “gray,” tired or unwell. Sleeping doesn’t seem to help. AF affects an estimated 80% of people who live in industrialized countries. It threatens anybody who experiences ongoing or intense emotional or physical stress. AF also contributes to health problems ranging from allergies to obesity. Mainstream medicine hushes up the adrenal fatigue story. Could you or someone you know be suffering from the syndrome your MD does not want to talk about? Dr. James Wilson is the author of Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome. Dr. Wilson believes AF is caused by the adrenal gland functioning below the body’s necessary level. “Most commonly associated with intense or prolonged stress,” he writes, “it can also arise during or after acute or chronic infections, especially respiratory infections such as influenza, bronchitis or pneumonia.” Other specialists include thyroid problems among the contributing factors to developing adrenal fatigue. The adrenals balance the blood sugar, which helps the body manage its daily ebb and flow of energy. When blood sugar drops, the adrenal hormones elevate it again, and this releases energy. The same chemistry happens when the “fight or flight” response kicks in. Today’s nonstop “fight or flight” stress — traffic jams, arguments and work pressures — is a normal part of daily living. Constant emergencies deplete the adrenals, and when they stop producing sufficient hormones, especially cortisol, adrenal fatigue is the result. Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Dr. Todd Nippoldt, who is no friend of alternative medicine, disagrees. “The unproven theory behind adrenal fatigue is that your adrenal glands are unable to keep pace with the demands of perpetual fight-or-flight arousal.” Neither traditional nor mainstream medicine disagrees about the syndrome’s symptoms, including aches, fatigue, nervousness, sleep disturbances and digestive problems. However, endocrinologists ask, if chronic stress keeps the adrenal gland from producing enough of the hormones patients need to feel good, shouldn’t their bloodwork detect sub-par adrenal functions? The current tests do not. Alternative practitioners point out that mainstream tests cannot diagnose AF because they are prepared only to diagnose extreme dysfunction in the adrenals, such as Addison’s disease, a potentially fatal condition where the adrenals essentially shut down. The test many alternative practitioners trust to diagnose more subtle dysfuctions of the adrenal glands is a saliva cortisol test. While managing their adrenal fatigue, most people feel better after drinking a glass of salty water, especially in the morning. Sometimes the laxative Magnesium Citrate is recommended. However, the management of AF is recovering. Recovering means a real commitment to dealing with 24/7 stress by looking into diet and exercise life changes. If necessary, calming methods that really work are easily available from anger management groups to tai chi classes. Various unproven brands of dietary supplements are also available online, including “hormone-free glandular extracts.” The medical jury may still be out on what causes adrenal fatigue, but everybody recognizes the universal symptoms of too-much daily tension. Alternative professionals and mainstream doctors all agree stress is a killer. The ultimate long-term treatment for tension-related illnesses such as adrenal fatigue remains the healthy synergy operating within wellness-conscious living. “What to Do When Your Family Suffers Because You Can’t Sleep” Have you ever yelled at your kids when you’re bone tired? Brushed off your spouse because you couldn’t keep your eyes open — only to be wide awake two hours later? I know I have. And if you’re like me, the last thing you want to do is hurt the ones you love just because you’re tired. With enough sleep you feel happier and more energetic. You truly enjoy your time with your family — and they enjoy you too. But what do you do when deep, peaceful sleep seems impossible? Take all natural Sleepzyme™. It works for me. And listen to how it helped Margaret. “I had to write to thank you for your wonderful product… for the first time in years, I can actually sleep. I wake up feeling better. And my family feels better too. I don’t yell at the kids like I used to. This makes me and my husband happier. Thanks again!” You can be the person you want to be for your family — just like Margaret. Don’t wait another minute to get the sleep you need to enjoy life. Click here now and find out how Sleepzyme™ can help you.

Sean McGinnis, the American born sculptor from Hays, transforms inner and urban spaces with his massive spatial sculptures made out of colourful strings and industrially woven ropes. Yatzer has the pleasure of presenting his work in focus looking forward to his new project entitled ''The Cathedral of the Wind'' which is going to be unveiled in 2013. Sean McGinnis, here at Yatzer, took us by storm back in February 2011 when we presented the ‘Synergy of Art & Fashion’ exhibition, for which he created an impressive spatial installation from strings and industrially woven ropes which was used to host the garments of the different designers. (Read more here) His sculptures creatively combine architectural influences and pay tribute to the space where they are presented. His art could be seen as experiential or even as performance oriented since most of the art pieces are sight specific and enhance a feeling that they are almost inspired by the surrounding space. Multiple bright coloured strings intertwine creating narratives about the space around them. His sculptures create visual patterns, which change when seen from different angles and being abstract in nature, permit the viewer to interpret them in different ways. In that sense, they become emotionally charged objects, which predispose the visitor, who in turn enjoys both a visual and almost intellectual experience. A common material like a string and an industrially woven rope becomes an object able to alter a space in a very organic and natural way. The patterns, which sometimes are reminiscent of a spider’s web, attract the viewer’s attention and create an almost illusionary effect. On the one hand, when presented in a natural environment, they enhance various patterns, which can only be admired when the natural light is filling their multiple gaps. On the other hand, when presented in an inner sight-specific environment, the dramatic lighting creates and boosts the different visual geometric shapes accordingly. One of his monumental installations: Crepuscule, for the Green Box Arts Festival in Green Mountain Falls in Colorado, almost pops out of the surrounding trees as an unrefined purely organic intervention. At the same time, his work named Cathedral, a gothic naïve in an ash tree forest, blends with the surrounding colours of nature while some of the more colourful ropes stand out making a strong artistic statement. Interestingly enough, the supporting structure of the ropes is almost hidden as it is placed in the middle of the trees. The fact that they are constructed by hand and some of them almost defy gravity, lends the sense that they are living objects which peacefully inhabit within the natural environment. The choice of colours and the geometric shapes further convey some hidden themes that the artist seems to be concerned with. Such themes could be digital graphics and technology especially in the manner in which McGinnis chooses to present his work as interventions. One might even go as far as describing the work as a contemporary synthetic version of Andy Goldsworthy’s work. Yatzer is looking forward to McGinnis’ next ambitious project!

Notch signaling is critical for cell fate decisions during development. Caenorhabditis elegans and vertebrate Notch ligands are more diverse than classical Drosophila Notch ligands, suggesting possible functional complexities. Here, we describe a developmental role in Notch signaling for OSM-11, which has been previously implicated in defecation and osmotic resistance in C. elegans. We find that complete loss of OSM-11 causes defects in vulval precursor cell (VPC) fate specification during vulval development consistent with decreased Notch signaling. OSM-11 is a secreted, diffusible protein that, like previously described C. elegans Delta, Serrate, and LAG-2 (DSL) ligands, can interact with the lineage defective-12 (LIN-12) Notch receptor extracellular domain. Additionally, OSM-11 and similar C. elegans proteins share a common motif with Notch ligands from other species in a sequence defined here as the Delta and OSM-11 (DOS) motif. osm-11 loss-of-function defects in vulval development are exacerbated by loss of other DOS-motif genes or by loss of the Notch ligand DSL-1, suggesting that DOS-motif and DSL proteins act together to activate Notch signaling in vivo. The mammalian DOS-motif protein Deltalike1 (DLK1) can substitute for OSM-11 in C. elegans development, suggesting that DOS-motif function is conserved across species. We hypothesize that C. elegans OSM-11 and homologous proteins act as coactivators for Notch receptors, allowing precise regulation of Notch receptor signaling in developmental programs in both vertebrates and invertebrates. The classic view of Notch receptor activation involves receptor binding to transmembrane Notch ligands that contain a conserved DSL (Delta, Serrate, and LAG-2) domain. Here, we find that the Caenorhabditis elegans OSM-11 protein is a novel ligand of the well-characterized Notch signal transduction pathway and plays a role in cell fate specification during development. OSM-11 is a secreted, diffusible protein whose loss decreases Notch signaling in vivo. OSM-11 and related C. elegans proteins do not contain a DSL domain, but contain a conserved motif we have named DOS (Delta and OSM-11) that is also found in the extracellular domain of known Notch ligands in organisms other than C. elegans. The functional mammalian homolog of OSM-11 is the secreted protein Deltalike1 (Dlk1), also known as Preadipocyte Factor 1 (PREF1), which plays a poorly defined role in Notch signaling regulating obesity and other developmental decisions. This suggests that Notch ligands are split into two complementary coligand families that act together to regulate Notch signaling in developmental contexts. In addition to regulating development, DOS ligands play roles in osmotic stress and C. elegans behavior, suggesting previously unsuspected roles for Notch signaling across species. Citation: Komatsu H, Chao MY, Larkins-Ford J, Corkins ME, Somers GA, Tucey T, et al. (2008) OSM-11 Facilitates LIN-12 Notch Signaling during Caenorhabditis elegans Vulval Development . PLoS Biol 6(8): e196. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060196 Academic Editor: Julie Ahringer, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Received: April 21, 2008; Accepted: June 26, 2008; Published: August 12, 2008 Copyright: © 2008 Komatsu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: Some nematode strains used in this work were provided by the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), by the C. elegans Gene Knockout Project at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation funded by the NIH, and by the National Bioresource Project at the Tokyo Women′s Medical University School of Medicine funded by the Ministry of Education. This work was supported by funding from NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the Ellison Medical Foundation (ACH), the Massachusetts Biomedical Research Foundation (MYC), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (HK), and an NIH postdoctoral fellowship (JQW). Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Abbreviations: AC, anchor cell; AD, activation domain; APX, anterior pharynx defective; DLK, Deltalike; DLL, Delta like; DOS, Delta and OSM-11; DSL, Delta, Serrate, and LAG-2; EGF, epidermal growth factor; EGFL, EGFlike; FA1, fetal antigen 1; GFP, green fluorescent protein; LAG, Lin and Glp; LIN, lineage defective; Muv, multivulva; RNAi, RNA interference; VPC, vulval precursor cell; VU, vulval uterine The Notch signaling pathway is essential for cell fate determination during embryogenesis and postembryonic development in multicellular organisms. Classical Notch signaling begins with activation of the Notch receptor by transmembrane DSL ligands (Delta and Serrate in Drosophila or LAG-2 [Lin and Glp-2] in C. elegans [1–3]) expressed on adjacent cells, resulting in proteolytic cleavage of the Notch receptor, internalization of the ligand-receptor complex, and nuclear translocation of the Notch IC (intracellular) domain [4–8]. In the nucleus, the Notch IC domain acts as a transcriptional regulator together with a conserved transcription factor called Su(H) (Suppressor of Hairless) in Drosophila and LAG-1 [Lin and Glp-1] in C. elegans [9,10]. The molecular mechanisms of Notch signaling are highly conserved. Vertebrate homologs exist for each of these components in the Notch signaling pathway, and mutations in Notch signaling have been implicated in various developmental disorders, including Alagille and CADASIL [11–14] In C. elegans, the Notch receptor LIN-12 (Lineage defective-12) plays critical roles in cell fate specification in multiple tissues. The roles of LIN-12 in two steps of vulval development have been particularly well studied. First, LIN-12 is required for cell fate specification of an anchor cell (AC) and a vulval uterine (VU) cell from the descendents of equipotent precursor cells Z1 and Z4 during the L1 larval stage [15–18]. Loss of lin-12 signaling generally results in the specification of two ACs, whereas increased lin-12 signaling results in two VU cells. The AC produces a diffusible epidermal growth factor (EGF) signal that induces the primary (1°) cell fate in P6.p, one of six equipotent vulval precursor cells (VPCs) (reviewed in ). Additionally, LIN-12 specifies secondary (2°) cell fates of P5.p and P7.p, two VPCs adjacent to P6.p, by antagonizing EGF signaling via lateral inhibition [17,20]. Loss of lin-12 signaling generally causes VPCs to take on 1° and tertiary (3°) fates, whereas strong lin-12 gain-of-function alleles cause VPCs to take on 2° fates with consequent changes in the fates of descendent cells that contribute to the adult vulva. Canonical Notch receptor ligands are exemplified by Drosophila Delta, which contains a conserved N-terminal DSL domain originally found in Delta, Serrate, and LAG-2 proteins [2,3,7,21,22]. The DSL domain is followed by a series of EGF repeats and a transmembrane domain. The DSL domain is critical for Notch receptor activation based on tissue culture studies and genetic analysis [23,24], but Notch ligand EGF repeats are also required for Notch receptor activation [25,26]. Numerous Notch ligands containing DSL domains have been identified in various organisms [23,27–32]. C. elegans LAG-2 is a classical Notch ligand containing a canonical DSL domain and transmembrane domain and is essential for LIN-12 activation in vivo in many contexts [21,22]. Although key components in the Notch pathway were identified decades ago in classical genetic studies in Drosophila and C. elegans [33,34], additional proteins that play important or redundant roles in Notch signaling have been identified more recently. C. elegans anterior pharynx defective-1 (APX-1) and DSL-1 are DSL domain–containing soluble proteins that function redundantly with LAG-2 during vulval development . Noncanonical ligands for vertebrate Notch receptors have been identified, including Delta/notch-like EGF repeat containing protein (DNER), F3/contactin, and MAGP proteins [36–40], but functional C. elegans homologs of these noncanonical ligands have not been identified. Deltalike 1 (a.k.a., DLK1, fetal antigen 1 [FA1], ZOG, pG2, Preadipocyte Factor 1 [PREF1]) also encodes a putative soluble Notch ligand that lacks a DSL domain [41–43,44]. DLK1 is a paternally imprinted gene with diverse developmental roles. DLK1 knockout mice are growth retarded and obese with eye and skeletal defects . Overexpression of DLK1 due to polar overdominance results in callipyge sheep with muscle overproliferation and decreased adipogenesis [45–47]. Although Drosophila lacks a DLK1 homolog, ectopic expression of mammalian DLK1 in Drosophila inhibits Notch signaling . DLK1 has multiple mRNA isoforms; some transcripts are translated as membrane-bound proteins with subsequent proteolytic release of the EGF-repeat–containing extracellular domain, while others encode soluble secreted proteins [42,43,49]. DLK1 EGF repeats bind Notch1 EGF repeats in bacterial two-hybrid assays and inhibit activity of a Notch-dependent reporter gene. However, DLK1 inhibits Notch activation by previously described DSL Notch ligands in these same studies . Therefore, a role for DLK1 as a Notch ligand is controversial, given the lack of a canonical DSL domain and the inability of DLK1 to activate vertebrate Notch receptors. Here, we examine the secreted C. elegans protein, OSM-11. A role for OSM-11 in osmotic sensitivity and defecation was recently described, but the molecular function of these genes was not elucidated in previous studies, and no homologous proteins outside of nematodes were identified [51,52]. We found that OSM-11 and related C. elegans proteins contain a motif found only in known and putative Notch ligands, including Serrate and DLK1. We examined the functional role of osm-11 in development. We find that osm-11 increases lin-12 Notch receptor signaling during vulval cell fate specification. Our results suggest a model in which OSM-11 normally acts with C. elegans DSL ligands to activate Notch receptor signaling in vivo. OSM-11 Is Required for Cell Fate Specification during Vulval Development We identified a deletion allele of osm-11 that removes all of the predicted mature protein, osm-11(rt142). The majority of animals lacking osm-11 had visibly misshapen vulva or defective vulva based on retention of eggs (Figure 1A–1C). A smaller fraction had an additional protrusion near the normal position of the vulva. Vulval development was also modestly perturbed by RNA interference (RNAi) knockdown of osm-11 (16% defective, n = 82), suggesting that osm-11 defects in vulval developmental were caused by loss of osm-11 function. Consistent with this hypothesis, osm-11 defects were rescued by reintroduction of either genomic DNA containing the entire osm-11 gene or the osm-11 cDNA expressed under the control of 3.4 kb of upstream genomic DNA sequences 5′ to the predicted osm-11 initiator methionine (described below) and the unc-54 3′ UTR. osm-11 loss of function also caused non-vulval developmental defects, including misshapen heads and anal protrusions (Figure 1D and 1E) reminiscent of animals with decreased Notch signaling or increased EGF signaling . To determine the biochemical role of OSM-11, a molecular and cellular analysis was first undertaken. (A) Thirty-one percent of osm-11(lf) adult animals had overtly normal vulva and did not retain eggs resembling control animals. (B) Fifty-seven percent of osm-11(lf) animals inappropriately retained eggs and/or had a single misshapen or protruding vulva (15% and 42%, respectively). (C) Twelve percent of osm-11(lf) animals had an extra protrusion near the normally positioned vulva. (D) osm-11(lf) animals had defects in head morphology at low frequency (arrowhead). (E) Two thirds of osm-11(lf) animals had a ventral protrusion behind the anus (arrowhead). n > 100 animals were scored. osm-11 Encodes a Novel Protein with Similarity to Notch Ligands osm-11 corresponds to the C. elegans gene designated as F11C7.5 at the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI). F11C7.5 is predicted to have two exons and one splice form, which was confirmed by cDNA sequencing (unpublished data). OSM-11 and four similar predicted C. elegans proteins, OSM-7 (T05D4.4), ZK507.4, K10G6.2, and K02F3.7, contain a signal peptide for secretion and a potential cEGF-1 domain that is part of a conserved motif described below (Figure 2A). cEGF-1 domains contain a small amino acid and six cysteine residues with characteristic spacing that forms three disulfide bonds, and are found in extracellular proteins including Notch receptors and ligands. (A) Top: OSM-11 genomic structure. The signal peptide is shaded black, and putative O-linked glycosylation sites are indicated by vertical lines. The DOS motif is shaded blue; it overlaps the previously defined osmotic stress resistant (OSR) motif . osm-11(rt142) removes all coding sequence after the signal peptide; osm-11(rt68) converts W177 to a premature stop codon. Bottom: the DOS motif-containing sequences from C. elegans OSM-11, OSM-7, DOS-1, DOS-2, and DOS-3 are aligned above the DOS motif consensus and the cEGF-1 consensus . DOS-motif regions from mouse proteins and known Drosophila Notch ligands are aligned under the cEGF-1 consensus. DOS-motif amino acids are shaded blue and previously described EGF repeats are boxed. Asterisks (*) indicate cysteines in the conserved EGF-motif that are not found in the C. elegans DOS proteins. The DOS motif consensus is: C-X(3)-C-X(3,8)-C-X(2,5)-C-[KVER]-C-X(10,12)-C-X(1,3)-P-X(6,9)-C-X(1,4)-W-X(1,4)-C. In the DOS motif consensus, b represents K, V, E, or R, and the dash (-) indicates possible positions for proline in the DOS motif. In the cEGF-1 consensus, s represents a small amino acid . (B) The position of the DOS motif in known or predicted C. elegans, Drosophila, and vertebrate Notch ligands. The DOS motif overlaps with the first two EGF repeats of canonical Notch ligands and may define a unique subset of EGF repeats. The noncanonical Notch ligands DNER , F3/contactin , and MAGP [36–40] do not contain a DOS motif (unpublished data). (C) Similarity between DOS motifs, the first and second EGF repeats, and the third and fourth EGF repeats of Notch ligands. As noted by Lissemore and Starmer , the first and second EGF repeats differ from the third and fourth EGF repeats. DOS-3 was not included in this alignment. Green indicates the DOS motif of proteins that lack canonical EGF repeats; blue indicates the first and second EGF repeats of Notch ligands; red indicates the third and fourth EGF repeats of Notch ligands; and magenta represents the C. elegans Notch ligands that lack DSL domains. See Materials and Methods for accession numbers and other details. As standard similarity searching programs (i.e., BLAST) failed to identify additional proteins similar to OSM-11 outside of helminthes, we undertook further bioinformatic analysis, which revealed similarity between OSM-11 and previously described Notch ligands. First, the predicted sequences of C. elegans OSM-11, OSM-7, K10G6.2, ZK507.4, and K02F3.7 proteins were aligned, which revealed conserved amino acids in a common motif containing the putative cEGF-1 domain and additional amino acids: C-X(3)-C-X(3,8)-C-X(2,5)-C-[KVER]-C-X(10,12)-C-X(1,3)-P-X(6,9)-C-X(1,4)-W-X(1,4)-C. Motif-based database searches revealed that all proteins containing the new motif in Drosophila, zebrafish, mouse, and humans are either DSL-containing Notch ligands or suspected Notch ligands. We named the motif DOS because it is found in Delta and OSM-11-like proteins (shaded in Figure 2) and designated the C. elegans genes ZK507.4, K10G6.2, and K02F3.7 as dos-1, dos-2, and dos-3, respectively. All five C. elegans DOS-motif proteins are likely secreted based on the presence of a predicted N-terminal signal peptide. However, OSM-11 and DOS-3 also have a consensus proprotein convertase protease cleavage site and a C-terminal transmembrane domain, suggesting that they may be translated as transmembrane preproproteins prior to proteolytic processing and release of a soluble DOS protein. In known Notch ligands from Drosophila and vertebrates, the DOS motif is always located immediately following the DSL domain and overlapping the first two EGF repeats. The first two EGF repeats of most Notch ligands differ from the remaining EGF repeats (this study, Figure 2C). The role of these EGF repeats remains unclear, but several previous studies suggest that these EGF repeats play roles in Notch activation: they are required for the DSL domain of Jagged1 to bind to the mammalian Notch2 receptor in biochemical studies ; perturbation of the second EGF repeat interferes with Notch signaling in Drosophila ; and mutations in these EGF repeats of human Jagged1 are associated with Alagille syndrome . The DOS motif may define a unique group of EGF repeats and EGF-like repeats that have a distinct functional role in Notch signaling. Outside of helminthes, only three proteins were identified with DOS motifs that are not canonical Notch ligands: C901, DLK1, and EGFL9 (DLK2). These proteins have a signal peptide sequence, and the DOS motif is located in the first two EGF repeats (Figure 2B). C901 is a predicted Drosophila protein of unknown function containing a DSL domain and multiple EGF repeats ; it is unclear whether C901 is a transmembrane DSL domain protein. DLK1 and EGFlike 9 (EGFL9) are vertebrate proteins that contain EGF domains, but lack DSL domains. EGFL9 is poorly characterized . DLK1 has membrane-bound and secreted isoforms, and plays diverse roles in normal development. Altered DLK1 expression causes developmental defects in mammals [42,45–47]. DLK1 EGF repeats containing the DOS motif bind to specific Notch1 receptor EGF repeats in two-hybrid studies and in tissue culture , but the role of DLK1 in Notch signaling remains controversial because DLK1 lacks a DSL domain and does not activate mammalian Notch receptors [42,45–47]. Given this controversy and given the limited homology observed between OSM-11 and previously described canonical Notch ligands, we turned to cellular, genetic, and molecular tools in C. elegans to elucidate the role of OSM-11 in developmental signaling pathways. Loss of osm-11 Perturbs Cell Fate Specification during Vulval Development We first examined the role of osm-11 in specification of the AC. LIN-12 Notch function is required for cell fate specification of an AC and a VU cell from the equipotent precursor cells Z1 and Z4 during the L1 larval stage [15–18]. Loss of lin-12 signaling results in the specification of two ACs, whereas increased lin-12 signaling results in two VU cells. AC cells are readily quantified by examining expression of a lin-3p::gfp reporter construct . No alterations in lin-3p::gfp were observed in osm-11(lf) animals compared to osm-11(+) animals (unpublished data; n = 92), suggesting that loss of osm-11 does not alter AC cell fate specification in otherwise normal animals. We next examined VPC specification. After AC specification, the AC produces the diffusible EGF protein LIN-3 that is required for induction of the 1° cell fate in P6.p, one of six equipotent VPCs (reviewed in ). LIN-3 EGF acts via the well-characterized Ras/MAPK (mitogen activated protein kinase) pathway in VPCs. LIN-12 Notch function is required to specify 2° cell fates of P5.p and P7.p, two VPCs adjacent to P6.p, by antagonizing EGF signaling via lateral inhibition [17,59]. Loss of EGF signaling eliminates 1° and 2° cell fates, whereas aberrantly increased EGF/Ras/MAP kinase signaling can cause all VPCs to adopt the 1° cell fate. By contrast, loss of lin-12 Notch signaling causes all VPCs to take on 1° or 3° fates, whereas strong Notch gain-of-function alleles cause all six VPCs to take on 2° fates (Figure 3A). These VPC fate decisions were assessed in osm-11(lf) animals and control animals at specific larval stages using the previously described green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter constructs egl-17p::gfp, lin-11p::gfp, and lip-1p::gfp . (A) A simplified diagram of cell fate GFP marker expression in P5.p, P6.p, and P7.p. GFP expression is schematically shown in green. Note that equivalence group members P3.p, P4.p, and P8.p are not shown. In wild-type animals, primary (1°) cell fate markers are expressed in P6.p (top left), whereas secondary (2°) cell fate markers are normally expressed in P5.p and P7.p (top right). The first Pn.p division (by P5.p, P6.p, and P7.p) in mid-L3 larvae gives rise to Pn.px cells; the next divisions give rise to Pn.pxx cells in late-L3 larvae. Loss of Notch signaling does not stop 1° cell fate assumption by P6.p, but results in inappropriate adoption of 1° cell fates by P5.p, P7.p, and their descendents. Loss of EGF/Ras signaling results in adoption of the tertiary fate by P5.p and P7.p, and in some cases, P6.p, depending on the severity of the defect . (B) Quantification of data from (C–E). p < 0.05 based on χ2 for each marker. (C) Ten percent of L3 osm-11(lf) animals (right) ectopically express the 1° cell fate marker egl-17p::gfp in P5.p or P7.p, which normally adapt the 2° fate (left). (D) Sixty-seven percent of L3 osm-11(lf) animals lack expression of the 2° cell fate marker lin-11p::gfp in descendants of P5.p and/or P7.p. (E) Thirty-five percent of L3 osm-11(lf) animals do not up-regulate expression of the 2° fate marker lip-1p::gfp in P5.p and/or P7.p. p < 0.05 based on χ2 for each marker. These data suggest osm-11(lf) animals have a loss of 2° cell fate specification consistent with loss of LIN-12 Notch signaling. In (C–E), arrowheads indicate the positions of P5.p, P6.p, and P7.p. In L3 animals, egl-17p::gfp expression in P6.p is directly dependent on EGF/Ras signaling, and egl-17 expression is repressed in P5.p or P7.p by lateral inhibition via LIN-12 Notch signaling . At the Pn.p stage, when cell fates are first established, egl-17p::gfp is only expressed in P6.p in wild-type animals. We found appropriate egl-17p::gfp expression in the P6.p cell (Figure 3B and 3C) of animals lacking osm-11, but ectopic egl-17p::gfp expression in P5.p or P7.p in approximately 10% of osm-11(lf) L3 animals. This ectopic egl-17p::gfp expression suggests that in osm-11(lf) animals, P5.p and P7.p secondary cell fates are not correctly established whereas the 1° cell fate choice of P6.p is unaffected. Later, at the L4 larval stage, egl-17 expression normally is lost in wild-type animals from P6.p descendents and observed only in 2° cell lineages, i.e., in P5.p and P7.p descendants. In 71% of osm-11(lf) L4 animals, egl-17p::gfp expression in P5.p and/or P7.p descendants was lost, consistent with loss of 2° cell fates (unpublished data; n = 63). The aberrant egl-17p::gfp expression observed in osm-11(lf) animals suggests that 1° and 2° cell fates are not correctly specified in a fraction of osm-11(lf) animals, consistent with decreased Notch signaling. To determine whether secondary cell fates are lost in osm-11(lf) animals, cell fate specification was examined using lin-11p::gfp and lip-1p::gfp reporter genes. lin-11p::gfp is expressed exclusively in P5.p and P7.p vulval secondary lineages during development [61,62] (98% of control wild-type late-L3 larvae), but lin-11p::gfp expression is lost in P5.p and/or P7.p descendents in 67% of osm-11(lf) animals (Figure 3B and 3D). Strikingly, 69% of osm-11(lf) adult animals had an overtly defective vulva or retained eggs (Figure 1), which correlates quantitatively with the loss of secondary cell fates observed with altered lin-11p::gfp expression. Loss of lin-11 expression at this stage suggests that secondary cell fates are either not properly specified or not maintained in osm-11(lf) animals. Secondary cell fate specification can be more directly assessed using lip-1p::gfp. In normal L3 animals, lip-1p::gfp expression is up-regulated in P5.p and P7.p upon assumption of secondary cell fate . This up-regulation is directly dependent on lin-12 Notch receptor signaling. However, in 35% of osm-11(lf) L3 animals, lip-1p::gfp was not up-regulated in P5.p and/or P7.p (Figure 3B and 3E; vs. up-regulation in 98% of control animals). The loss of lip-1p::gfp and lin-11p::gfp expression observed in osm-11(lf) animals is reminiscent of changes observed when LIN-12 Notch signaling is decreased and is not consistent with decreased EGF/Ras signaling. osm-11 Is Expressed in VPCs and Hypodermal Cells The functional significance of the similarity of OSM-11 to classic Notch ligands was unclear, particularly as OSM-11 lacks a DSL domain. To address the role of osm-11 in development, the cellular and temporal pattern of osm-11 expression was examined to delineate its potential roles in VPC fate specification. A transcriptional GFP reporter (osm-11p::gfp) was generated using the same upstream sequences used for osm-11 cDNA rescue. In animals harboring this transgene, GFP expression was observed in numerous unidentified cells during embryonic development from the comma stage onward (unpublished data). GFP expression was observed in the VPCs during larval development, as well as various hypodermal cells during larval stages (Figure 4). Using polyclonal antisera raised against OSM-11 to stain wild-type animals, we found that OSM-11 was expressed in the VPCs of L3 larvae prior to and during cell fate specification (Figure 4B). OSM-11 immunoreactivity was also observed in the seam cells of L1 larvae and adult animals (Figure 4A and 4D). In adult animals, osm-11p::gfp was expressed only in hypodermal seam cells in adult animals; hypodermal seam cell expression in adult animals was also confirmed with staining with OSM-11 antisera (Figure 4D). The larval hypodermal expression pattern of osm-11p::gfp is reminiscent of the osm-7p::gfp expression pattern described previously, but osm-7p::gfp expression in seam cells was not reported . OSM-11 protein was also expressed in the developing uterus of L4 larvae (Figure 4B) and in the spermatheca (Figure 4D); the LIN-12 Notch receptor plays a developmental role in these tissues as well , but only OSM-11 expression in VPCs was characterized further. (A) OSM-11 expression in seam cells of L1 larvae detected using α-OSM-11 antisera. The seam cells on the right side of an L1 animal are in focus; the seam cells on the left side are visible and slightly out of focus. OSM-11 was not expressed in seam cells or hypoderm at other larval stages. (B) OSM-11 expression in the developing uterus of L4 larvae. Left, α-OSM-11 antisera staining; right, visible light image. (C) OSM-11 expression in vulval precursor cells (VPCs; arrowheads) in L3 larvae. The top panels show α-OSM-11 antisera staining of VPCs prior (top left) and immediately after (top right) cell fate specification as assessed by lip-1p::gfp expression. An overlay of α-OSM-11 staining and lip-1p::gfp expression shows that OSM-11 is concentrated on the apical surface of the VPCs (bottom right); this was confirmed using an ajm-1::gfp fusion (unpublished data). (D) OSM-11 expression in seam cells and spermatheca in adult animals. An osm-11p::gfp reporter gene containing unc-54 3′ UTR sequences is expressed in adult seam cells (left); α-OSM-11 antisera was used to confirm seam cell and spermatheca expression (right). No OSM-11 was detected in neurons of larvae or adult animals (unpublished data); embryonic expression was not characterized. In (A–D), the scale bar represents 10 μm. Initially, OSM-11 protein is detected at uniform levels in all six equivalent VPCs. OSM-11 disappears from P5.p, P6.p, and P7.p after 1° and 2° vulval cell fates are specified (based on up-regulation of lip-1p::gfp; Figure 4B). OSM-11 was not detected in VPC descendents. Previously described C. elegans DSL-containing Notch ligands also have temporally regulated expression patterns in the VPCs . For example, based on reporter construct analysis, soluble DSL-1 is only expressed in P6.p and its descendents. OSM-11 expression in Pn.p cells is consistent with a role for OSM-11 in initial cell fate specification. Like LIN-12 Notch receptors, OSM-11 is primarily localized to the apical side of VPCs (Figure 4B, inset). VPCs are polarized epithelial cells; EGF and Notch signaling normally occurs in separate cellular compartments. Lethal-23 (LET-23) EGF receptors are localized to the basolateral surface of the VPCs in close proximity to the AC , which is the source of LIN-3 EGF. In contrast, LIN-12 receptors are primarily localized to the apical surface of the VPCs. The apical localization of OSM-11 in VPCs during cell fate specification suggests that OSM-11 is available to bind to LIN-12 receptors in VPCs at the time of cell fate specification. Osmotic Stress Response Does Not Alter Vulval Cell Fate Specification osm-11 and osm-7 were previously implicated in osmotic stress resistance [51,52]. Pre-exposure of wild-type C. elegans to high external osmolarity is sufficient to induce osmotic resistance. Loss of either osm-7 or osm-11 allows animals to survive high external osmolarity without pre-exposure. The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying osmotic stress resistance in either scenario are poorly understood, but up-regulation of gpdh-1 and increased levels of the osmolyte glycerol have been implicated [51,52]. As loss of osm-11 increases glycerol levels and increased osmolyte levels can alter protein folding, osm-11 could act indirectly to decrease Notch receptor signaling in VPC fate specification. Alternatively, OSM-11 might act directly upon Notch receptors involved in VPC fate specification. Our experimental results below favor the latter model; the role of OSM-11 in vulval cell fate specification is distinct from the role of OSM-11 in osmotic stress. If osmotic stress indirectly decreases Notch receptor signaling, then vulval development should be altered by osmotic stress and altered by genetic backgrounds with increased osmotic stress resistance. We first tested this hypothesis by raising wild-type animals under previously defined osmotic stress conditions: 200 and 400 mM NaCl. Rearing under osmotic stress conditions did not alter vulval morphology, and the cellular expression patterns of vulval cell lineage markers (lip-1p::gfp, egl-17p::gfp, or lin-11p::gfp) in VPCs were unchanged (unpublished data). We also examined genetic backgrounds previously implicated in osmotic stress resistance; neither osr-1 nor daf-2 animals have altered vulval morphology [66–68]. In addition, we considered the possibility that OSM-11 expression in the vulval cell precursors might be altered by osmotic stress. We found that rearing under osmotic stress conditions (400 mM NaCl) did not alter OSM-11 protein levels in VPCs (unpublished data). Combined, all of these data suggest that osmotic stress does not itself regulate vulval development. Instead, these data suggest that the roles of osm-11 in vulval development and osmotic stress resistance are independent. OSM-11 Is a Secreted Protein Because the predicted peptide sequence of OSM-11 contains a signal peptide, we tested whether OSM-11 is a secreted protein. When an osm-11 cDNA was expressed in Drosophila S2 tissue culture cells, OSM-11 protein accumulates in the media and not in cells (Figure 5A), consistent with OSM-11 acting in vivo as a soluble protein in the extracellular milieu. The ability of OSM-11 to diffuse and act as a soluble factor in vivo was tested by ectopically expressing OSM-11 in non-VPC cells in osm-11(lf) animals. osm-11 cDNA was fused to osm-10 or glr-1 promoter fragments that drive expression in nonoverlapping subsets of neurons throughout larval development. The osm-10 promoter drives expression in four classes of sensory neurons located exclusively in the head and tail . The glr-1 promoter drives expression in 17 other classes of neurons (distinct from osm-10–expressing neurons) located in the head and tail [70,71]. Some of the glr-1–expressing neurons have processes in the ventral nerve cord near the VPCs. We found that neuronal expression of the osm-11 cDNA significantly rescued osm-11 vulval defects to levels comparable with osm-11 promoter-driven cDNA rescue (Figure 5B). Consistent with these results, hypodermal expression of osm-11 cDNA using the wrt-6 promoter also rescued osm-11 defects, albeit at a lower level. We conclude that osm-11 can act nonautonomously and that soluble OSM-11 can diffuse in vivo. Although OSM-11 expressed in VPCs may be sufficient for normal vulval development, OSM-11 can probably function at a distance in some contexts like soluble DSL ligands in C. elegans . (A) Western blot of conditioned media from Drosophila S2 cells containing an OSM-11 cDNA expression construct or empty vector. OSM-11 was not detected in cell lysates (unpublished data). The molecular weight of mature OSM-11 was predicted at 18.9 kDa; the detected protein migrated at 20.7 kDa (arrowhead). OSM-11 may be O-linked glycosylated (see Figure 2). (B) Transgenic rescue of osm-11(lf) vulval defects. osm-11(lf) animals harboring transgenes with empty expression vectors were indistinguishable from nontransgenic osm-11(lf) animals (n = 129 animals, 5 transgenic lines) and were used as controls. Multiple transgenic lines were scored for all rescue experiments; data are reported as mean ± standard error of the mean (S.E.M.) In addition to a genomic osm-11 construct, expression of the osm-11 cDNA using the following promoters also significantly rescued osm-11(lf) vulval defects: osm-11p, hsp-16p (ubiquitous expression; 79% normal vulval; unpublished data), wrt-6p (hypodermal), osm-10p (sensory neurons), and glr-1p (nonoverlapping set of neurons vs. osm-10p). In addition, heterologous expression of mammalian DLK1 driven by the hsp-16 promoter also significantly rescued osm-11(lf) vulval phenotypes. n > 52 animals for each transgene, p < 0.05 by χ2. osm-11 Acts Upstream of lin-12 Notch Receptor Activation to Increase Signaling The phenotypic defects caused by loss of osm-11 might be due to OSM-11 action upon previously identified molecular pathways that regulate cell fate specification in vulval development. We tested the sensitivity of the EGF, Notch, and synthetic multivulva (SynMuv) VPC fate specification pathways to osm-11 levels by RNAi knockdown of osm-11 in mutants that have been previously used as sensitized backgrounds for each pathway: lin-12(n137n460csgf) Notch (see below), let-23(sa62gf) EGF receptor, let-60(n1046gf) Ras, or lin-15(n765tslf) SynMuv [73–78]. osm-11(RNAi) had the most effect in animals with compromised lin-12 Notch signaling (27% change in multivulva (Muv) of lin-12(n137n460);osm-11(RNAi) at 20 °C versus less than 9% change in other backgrounds, p < 0.05, n > 50 each). Although it is difficult to assess the relative sensitivity of these various genetic backgrounds, these results suggested that Notch signaling might be particularly sensitive to OSM-11 levels and that osm-11 might modulate lin-12 signaling during vulval development. To more accurately assess the possible role of osm-11 in lin-12 Notch signaling in vivo, we undertook genetic studies using the osm-11(lf) null allele and previously described lin-12 alleles. lin-12(n137) is a ligand-independent dominant gain of function (gf) allele, whereas lin-12(n137n460) is a recessive, cold-sensitive gain-of-function allele (csgf). Both cause multiple ectopic vulvae (Muv) due to secondary cell specification defects [79,80]. If OSM-11 normally functions to increase Notch signaling, then loss of OSM-11 should decrease LIN-12 Notch signaling. We found that osm-11(lf) partially suppressed the Muv defect of lin-12(csgf) at the restrictive temperature, consistent with OSM-11 normally increasing lin-12 signaling (Figure 6C and 6D). However, osm-11(lf) did not suppress the stronger lin-12(gf) allele (Figure 6E and 6F). Since lin-12(n137gf) is thought to activate lin-12 signaling in a ligand-independent manner, the inability of osm-11(lf) to suppress lin-12(gf) is consistent with osm-11 acting before or during ligand activation of LIN-12. (A and B) lin-12(lf) is epistatic to osm-11(lf). lin-12(lf) is the null allele n941; animals carrying this allele have a protruding vulva (pVul; [A]) that is distinct from the defective vulva seen in osm-11(lf) animals (see Figure 1). lin-12(lf);osm-11(lf) animals were indistinguishable from lin-12(lf) animals (B). (C and D) osm-11(lf) suppresses lin-12(csgf) at 15 °C. lin-12(csgf) is n137n460, a recessive cold-sensitive gain-of-function allele; animals carrying this mutation have multiple pseudovulvae (Muv; [C]). lin-12(csgf);osm-11(lf) animals were significantly less Muv (nonMuv) than lin-12(csgf) animals ([D]; p < 0.05). (E and F) osm-11(lf) does not suppress lin-12(gf). lin-12(gf) is n137, a dominant gain-of-function allele that is ligand independent; animals carrying this mutation are Muv (E). lin-12(gf);osm-11(lf) animals were indistinguishable from lin-12(gf) animals (F). n > 50 animals were scored for each genotype. If osm-11 normally acts before or during ligand activation of LIN-12, then lin-12(lf) should be epistatic to osm-11(lf). lin-12(lf) animals are sterile and have a single large protruding vulva , a phenotype that is easily distinguishable from the misshapen vulva of osm-11(lf) animals (compare Figure 1B and 1C with Figure 6B). lin-12(lf);osm-11(lf) double-mutant animals were indistinguishable from lin-12(lf) animals, suggesting that osm-11 acts upstream of lin-12 Notch (Figure 6A and 6B). Combined, these results suggest that OSM-11 normally increases LIN-12 Notch signaling in vivo and acts before or during receptor activation. OSM-11 Functions with Other DOS Proteins in Development Five C. elegans genes encode putative secreted DOS-motif proteins: osm-11, osm-7, dos-1, dos-2 [51,52], and dos-3. Loss-of-function alleles are not currently available for dos-2 and dos-3, but osm-7(tm2256) and dos-1(ok2398) are deletion alleles generated by the C. elegans gene knockout consortia and are likely strong loss-of-function (lf) or null alleles. osm-7(tm2256lf) animals are resistant to osmotic stress and fail to avoid high osmolarity, similar to previously published osm-7 alleles [51,52]. To determine whether DOS-motif proteins have overlapping functions, we tested whether mutants defective in more than one DOS-motif protein had stronger vulval defects. Loss of either osm-7 or dos-1 alone had little or no overt effect on vulval morphology. However, loss of dos-1 or osm-7 increased the percentage of osm-11(lf) animals with multiple vulval protrusions (Figure 7A). This result is consistent with multiple DOS-motif proteins acting in vulval development. In (A and B), phenotypes were scored as in Figure 1. (A) Genetic interactions between osm-11 and DOS-motif genes osm-7 and dos-1 (ZK507.4). dos-1(lf) and osm-7(lf) are both presumptive null alleles, and animals harboring these alleles had normal vulvas. dos-1(lf);osm-11(lf) and osm-7(lf);osm-11(lf) animals had significantly more severe defects than osm-11(lf) animals (p < 0.005, χ2 test). Mutant alleles of dos-2 (K10G6.2) and dos-3 (K02F3.7) are not currently available. (B) Genetic interactions between osm-11 and DSL-domain genes lag-2 and dsl-1. lag-2(dn) is the dominant negative allele sa37; dsl-1(lf) is ok810 and is a presumptive null allele. lag-2(dn) and dsl-1(lf) animals had few or no vulval defects. lag-2(dn);osm-11(lf) and dsl-1(lf);osm-11(lf) animals had significantly more-severe defects that osm-11(lf) animals (p < 0.005, χ2 test). (C) Vulval precursor cell (VPC) fate analysis for osm-11 and dsl-1. Arrowheads indicate the positions of P5.p, P6.p, and P7.p. Secondary (2°) cell fates were scored as in Figure 3 using lip-1p::GFP as illustrated (right). dsl-1;osm-11 double-mutant animals had significantly more severe 2° fate specification defects compared to either single mutant alone (p < 0.005 by χ2). n ≥ 48 for each genotype in all panels. OSM-11 Functions with DSL Ligands to Increase Notch Signaling Classical C. elegans Notch DSL ligands are expressed in VPCs and function redundantly during cell specification . Accordingly, DOS-motif proteins may also function redundantly in VPC specification. One might expect that DSL-domain proteins and DOS-motif proteins would act together to activate Notch signaling. Therefore, loss of a DSL protein should exacerbate osm-11 developmental defects. dsl-1 encodes a DSL domain-containing ligand which acts redundantly with two other DSL proteins to activate LIN-12 Notch signaling during vulval development . Because of this redundancy, the dsl-1(ok810lf) null allele does not itself cause vulval defects . However, dsl-1(lf);osm-11(lf) double mutants had modestly increased phenotypic defects in vulval morphology compared to osm-11 single mutants. osm-11(lf) vulval defects were similarly enhanced by lag-2(lf), which encodes a DSL ligand (Figure 7B). To more precisely assess interactions between osm-11 and dsl-1, the expression of lip-1p::gfp in dsl-1(lf);osm-11(lf) animals was assessed during VPC fate specification. Eighty-six percent of the double-mutant animals lacked lip-1p::gfp up-regulation in either one or both presumptive secondary VPCs, indicating a substantial synergistic loss of secondary fate specification (Figure 7C). This result is consistent with DOS-motif (i.e., OSM-11) and DSL-domain proteins working together to increase LIN-12 Notch signaling. OSM-11 Interacts with LIN-12 Extracellular EGF Repeats in a Yeast Two-Hybrid Assay The cellular nonautonomy of osm-11, the similarity of OSM-11 to Notch ligands, the expression pattern of OSM-11, and the genetic implication that osm-11 functions before or during LIN-12 Notch activation in VPC fate specification collectively suggest that OSM-11 may function as a LIN-12 Notch ligand. We tested the hypothesis that OSM-11 directly interacts with the LIN-12 extracellular domain. Previous studies demonstrated that Drosophila and vertebrate DSL ligands bind to the extracellular EGF repeats of Notch receptors. In preliminary studies, we were unable to demonstrate direct binding between OSM-11 and LIN-12 biochemically using a heterologous expression system (unpublished data). Therefore, we turned to the yeast two-hybrid assay to test whether OSM-11 can interact with LIN-12 extracellular EGF repeats. Conventional wisdom suggests that the yeast two-hybrid system is not suitable for testing extracellular protein–protein interactions, especially for domains rich in disulfide bridges (e.g., EGF repeats). However, two-hybrid interactions have been demonstrated between Notch receptors and ligand pairs in other species for which biochemical interactions have been previously validated [38,39,50], as well as for numerous other extracellular proteins [81–86]. To validate our yeast two-hybrid approach, we first confirmed that the extracellular domain of LAG-2 and the soluble DSL-domain LIN-12 ligand DSL-1 interact with LIN-12 extracellular EGF repeats 1 through 6 in the two-hybrid assay (Figure 8). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first in vitro evidence that C. elegans DSL ligands may bind directly to LIN-12 Notch. As a negative control and to confirm specificity of the two-hybrid assay, we showed that the unrelated C. elegans ligands LIN-3 (an EGF homolog) and egg laying defective-17 (EGL-17) (an FGF homolog) do not interact with LIN-12 extracellular EGF repeats (Figure 8). The LAG-2 and DSL-1 interactions with LIN-12 in the two-hybrid assay are consistent with previous genetic studies in C. elegans and with biochemical analyses of Notch ligand/receptor interactions in other systems. Ligand-receptor interactions were only assayed using LIN-12 fused to the GAL4 activation domain (AD) as LIN-12 EGF fusion to the DNA-binding domain resulted in strong self-activation in the presence of AD empty vector (unpublished data). DSL-1, OSM-11, LAG-2 extracellular domain (LAG-2Ex), EGL-17, or LIN-3 was fused to the GAL4 DNA binding domain (DB); the first six LIN-12 EGF repeats were fused to the GAL4 activation domain (AD). Pairwise interactions were tested with the yeast two-hybrid assay; positive interactions are indicated by blue staining. Both Notch DSL ligands and OSM-11 interacted with LIN-12 EGF repeats, whereas no interaction of LIN-3 EGF or EGL-17 FGF with LIN-12 Notch receptor EGF repeats was detected. LIN-12::DB fusion proteins exhibited strong self-activation (unpublished data); therefore, reciprocal fusions were not tested. Interaction controls are: (1) empty vectors; (2) DB-pRb and AD-E2F; (3) DB-Fos and AD-Jun; (4) Gal4p and pPC86; and (5) DB-DP1 and AD-E2F1. We found that OSM-11 also interacted with LIN-12 extracellular EGF repeats 1 through 6 (Figure 8); OSM-11 did not interact with DSL-1 or LAG-2 ligands. We also confirmed previous studies in which murine DLK1 EGF repeats 1 and 2 containing the DOS motif interacted specifically with murine Notch1 EGF repeats 12 and 13 in the same two-hybrid assay format (unpublished data). The two-hybrid interaction does not necessarily demonstrate that OSM-11 and LIN-12 interact in vivo; however, combined with the genetic interactions, the apical expression pattern of OSM-11 in VPCs, and previous studies of DLK1/Notch interactions, we favor a simple model in which OSM-11 binds directly to LIN-12 Notch EGF repeats. Further biochemical studies will be required to demonstrate DOS-motif protein direct interactions with Notch receptors. The Mammalian DOS-Motif Protein DLK1 Can Substitute for OSM-11 Our results suggest that the DOS-motif protein OSM-11 may act as a soluble LIN-12 ligand in C. elegans. This raises the issue of whether other DOS-motif proteins such as DLK1, which has been implicated in Notch signaling in mammalian cells, also acts as soluble Notch ligands. The precise role of DLK1 in mammalian Notch signaling is controversial. To address the function of mammalian DLK1 in Notch signaling, we tested the ability of DLK1 to functionally substitute for OSM-11 in vivo in C. elegans. We found that expression of a soluble, mature DLK1 protein isoform named FA1 in osm-11(lf) animals significantly rescued vulval development, consistent with DLK1 protein increasing LIN-12 signaling (Figure 5D). This result suggests that the function of C. elegans DOS-motif proteins is to increase Notch receptor signaling and that the molecular mechanism may be conserved across species. The data presented herein demonstrate that osm-11 is required for normal vulval development in C. elegans. osm-11 encodes a novel cEGF-1 protein that is similar to, but distinct from, previously characterized Notch ligands in vertebrates . OSM-11 contains a previously unidentified protein motif that we have named DOS (Delta and OSM-11) overlapping the EGF motifs. The DOS motif is conserved across species and found in canonical Notch ligands. OSM-11 is a secreted protein that is expressed in VPCs during cell fate specification. Genetic analysis suggests that OSM-11 acts upstream of LIN-12 and that OSM-11 normally increases LIN-12 Notch signaling in vivo. Two-hybrid data and expression on the VPC apical surfaces suggest that OSM-11 may directly bind to the LIN-12 extracellular domain, although additional biochemical studies will be required to further confirm this. Finally, we demonstrated that the mammalian DOS-motif protein DLK1 can partially substitute for OSM-11 in C. elegans vulval development, suggesting that DOS-motif protein function is conserved across species. Our data suggest a model wherein OSM-11 and C. elegans DSL ligands act together to activate Notch receptors, potentially as a C. elegans bipartite ligand that is functionally equivalent to Drosophila Delta or mammalian Jagged1 (Figure 9). Previously described C. elegans DSL ligands such as LAG-2 lack a DOS motif; C. elegans DSL ligands, such as LAG-2, and DOS-motif proteins, such as OSM-11, may both be required to activate LIN-12 Notch receptor signaling in vivo. Classical studies in C. elegans have shown that expression of the APX-1 N-terminus (which contains the DSL domain) is sufficient to activate Notch signaling; however, this is not inconsistent with our model because endogenous DOS-motif proteins were present . Our model is also consistent with previous biochemical and genetic studies that showed the first two EGF repeats of Jagged1 and Delta are critical for high-affinity DSL-domain binding to mammalian Notch receptors and Notch receptor activation [25,54]. Canonical Notch ligands in Drosophila contain both DSL domains and DOS motifs as do some vertebrate Notch ligands (e.g., Delta). However, classical Notch ligands from C. elegans and several vertebrate Notch ligands contain a DSL domain, but lack DOS-motif EGF repeats (e.g., LAG-2 or DLL3). The C. elegans proteins characterized in this study (e.g., OSM-11) and the two presumptive vertebrate ligands DLK1 and EGFL9/DLK2 lack DSL domains, but contain DOS motifs. In the simplest model, both a DOS motif and DSL domain are required for coordinated Notch receptor activation. These could act in cis in canonical Notch receptors like Drosophila Delta or in trans in the case of LAG-2 and OSM-11. Overexpression of a “DOS-only” or a “DSL-only” ligand may inhibit Notch receptor activation by competition with canonical ligands containing both a DSL domain and a DOS motif, such as Jagged1 or Delta. This model is consistent with osm-11(lf) animals having phenotypic defects usually associated with Notch loss of function. We do not exclude other possible scenarios; see Discussion for details. Bipartite or heteromeric ligands are relatively rare compared to heteromeric receptors. To our knowledge, bipartite ligands have only been described previously in the immune system. The binding of antigen to complement fragment creates, in effect, a bipartite ligand for antigen receptor as does the binding of an antigenic peptide to a compatible major histocompatibility complex (MHC) subunit. Additionally, and perhaps more pertinently, heterodimeric cytokines have been described in the immune system that bind to cytokine receptors ; for example, the interleukin-12 (IL-12) cytokine is composed of p40 and p35, whereas the IL-23 is composed of p40 and p19. Although bipartite ligands are unusual, they are not unprecedented. Previous studies have shown that the mammalian DOS-motif protein DLK1 acts as a competitive antagonist of ligand Jagged1, a canonical ligand that contains both a DSL domain and DOS motif . Therefore, a plausible alternative model (which takes into account DLK1 antagonism of Jagged1) is that DOS-motif proteins bind to Notch receptors, but function as antagonists of DSL-domain Notch ligands in all species. DOS proteins such as OSM-11 might play a role in maintaining C. elegans Notch receptor levels or localization, although LIN-12 Notch expression is unaltered in animals lacking osm-11. Based on our data, we instead favor the simpler model of DOS-motif proteins as activators of Notch receptors acting with DSL proteins. In an independent behavioral analysis (M. Chao, J. Larkins-Ford, T. Tucey, H. Komatsu, and H. Dionne, et al., unpublished data), we also found that OSM-11 activates both LIN-12 and germline proliferation defective-1 (GLP-1) in the adult nervous system to regulate behavior. We speculate that if DLK1 was coexpressed in mammalian systems with a C. elegans DSL-only ligand, then Notch signaling might be increased. Mammalian Delta like 3 (DLL3) and DLL4 ligands contain DSL domains, but not DOS motifs. Biochemical studies have shown that DLL3 inhibits Notch signaling and DLL4 increases Notch signaling in various contexts. It would be useful to examine Notch activation when DLK1 and DLL3 are coexpressed. Clearly, biochemical analyses addressing the role of DOS motifs and DSL domains in Notch receptor activation will be required to discriminate between these two models and to determine the relative contributions of DSL and DOS-motif proteins to Notch signaling. C. elegans DSL ligands function redundantly, activating LIN-12 Notch during vulval development; loss of any one DSL ligand gene causes mild or no overt defects . Similarly, loss of osm-11 alone caused only mild defects in vulval morphogenesis, whereas loss of more than one DOS-motif gene resulted in more-severe vulval defects. Like DSL ligands, DOS-motif proteins function semiredundantly to increase Notch signaling in vivo. In addition, genetic analysis suggests that DOS-motif proteins and DSL proteins may act together to regulate Notch receptors. It is possible that Notch receptor activation by ligands during VPC development is robust due to this redundancy. This multifactorial system for regulation of Notch receptors might allow use of individual soluble DOS or DSL proteins in other cell–cell signaling events in other tissues simultaneously. Defining a role herein for osm-7 and osm-11 in Notch signaling suggests that this pathway also plays a previously unsuspected role in osmotic stress response. C. elegans can adapt to increased environmental osmolarity; animals exposed to moderate osmotic stress increase internal osmolyte levels and have altered behavior reminiscent of animals lacking osm-11 or osm-7 [51,52]. A role for Notch signaling in osmotic stress has not been reported in any species. The developmental role of Notch signaling in vulval cell fate specification is distinct from the role in osmotic stress response based on data presented here. Further studies will be required to determine whether diffusible DOS proteins act as humoral factors to regulate Notch signaling in multiple tissues to coordinate physiological and behavioral adaptation to osmotic stress. The diversity of Notch receptors and ligands is remarkable. C. elegans has two Notch receptors (lin-12 and glp-1), ten DSL domain proteins that lack DOS motifs and five DOS-motif proteins without DSL domains (this study). Mammals have four Notch receptors, multiple DSL ligands, and two presumptive DOS-motif–only ligands: DLK1 and EGFL9/DLK2. Additional proteins have been suggested to act as Notch ligands in vertebrates [36–40], but invertebrate homologs have not been identified. At least one DSL domain Notch ligand in each vertebrate species we examined (zebrafish, humans, and mice) lacks the conserved DOS motif; these proteins are potentially analogous to C. elegans DSL domain ligands (e.g., LAG-2) that also lack DOS motifs. Soluble Notch ligands are now predicted in all of these species based on this and previous studies. In contrast, Drosophila has only one Notch receptor, and the two previously characterized transmembrane Drosophila Notch ligands contain both DSL domains and DOS motifs. This heterogeneity of Notch ligands and receptors indicates that the functional relationship between Notch receptors and ligands is highly complex, allowing precise regulation of signaling. Materials and Methods Characterization of osm-11. The osm-11(rt68) mutant allele was identified in a classical genetic screen based on defective chemosensory response and temporarily designated sel-14 (suppressor/enhancer of lin-12-14). The rt68 mutation was mapped to the predicted C. elegans gene F11C7.5 and mutates W177 to a premature stop codon, resulting in premature truncation of translation near the end of the DOS motif. Recent published studies and our analysis herein confirmed that sel-14(rt68) is an allele of osm-11 and has the same amino acid change as the previously identified allele osm-11(n1604) [52,88]; therefore, we refer to this gene as osm-11. The deletion allele osm-11(rt142) was identified by PCR-based screening of a frozen ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized library of C. elegans strains . The rt68 and rt142 alleles had similar phenotypic defects, but the rt142 deletion allele was more severe. Both osm-11 alleles are recessive. osm-11(rt142) is likely a complete loss-of-function (lf) allele and was used exclusively herein. RNAi of osm-11 was performed by raising N2 animals on a lawn of bacteria expressing osm-11 double-stranded (dsRNA). Other than morphological defects, vulva perturbations, and consequent egg-laying defects, osm-11(rt142lf) animals are overtly normal in locomotion, male mating, and reproduction, although their growth rate is slightly slower and they are slightly smaller than wild-type animals. osm-11 animals frequently had ventral protrusions posterior to the anus. Postanal swelling is frequently associated with bacterial infections, but swelling occurs in uncontaminated osm-11 animals raised on standard OP50 bacteria. Gonad morphology was subtly altered in osm-11 animals but was not further characterized here. osm-11 loss of function alters glp-1 germline proliferation defects (M. Chao, J. Larkins-Ford, T. Tucey, H. Komatsu, and H. Dionne, et al, unpublished data). osm-11(rt142) animals are osmotic stress resistant and are motile on 500 mM NaCl NGM plates, consistent with previously published phenotypes of osm-11(n1604) . Strains and genetics. Gain-of-function lin-12 alleles used herein included the constitutive dominant allele lin-12(n137gf) and the cold-sensitive recessive gain-of-function allele lin-12(n137n460gfcs). Results from homozygous lin-12(n137) and heterozygote lin-12(n137)/+ animals were pooled in Figure 6. The lin-12(n941) null allele was maintained by balancing over either qC1 containing qIs26 [rol-6(d), lag-2::gfp] or over unc-32(e189). Genetic epistasis of osm-11 with lin-12(n941) was assessed using homozygous lin-12(lf) progeny of lin-12(lf)/unc-32(e189) animals. A fraction of animals were singled as larvae and subsequently scored for vulval morphology and genotype. lin-12(n941) animals were always sterile regardless of osm-11 status; lin-12(n941)/unc-32 animals lacked protruding vulva and yielded unc-32 progeny regardless of osm-11 status. The deletion alleles osm-7(tm2256) and dos-1(ok2398) were generated by the C. elegans gene knockout consortia. The osm-7(tm2256) deletion removes the first part of the DOS motif and eliminates an exon splice site, resulting in a predicted frame shift after amino acid 200 with premature truncation after translation of 21 amino acids. The dos-1(ok2398) allele is a 1.7-kb deletion that removes the initiator methionine and the first five exons, including the DOS motif. All deletion alleles were backcrossed at least four times prior to analysis. Double-mutant analysis in Figure 7 was performed in an ayIs4 genetic background. Other alleles used in this study include lag-2(sa37) and dsl-1(ok810). Analysis of VPC fate specification. Pn.p cells and descendents were identified by differential interference contrast (DIC) imaging on a Zeiss Axioskop2. The transgenic arrays used for VPC fate analysis were: ayIs4 [egl-17p::gfp], syIs107 [lin-3p::gfp], oyIs31 [lin-11p::gfp], and zhIs4 [lip-1p::gfp] [58,60,63,90]. Animals were scored at the Pn.p and Pn.px stages for egl-17p::gfp and lip-1p::gfp, but only at the Pn.pxx stage for lin-11p::gfp. Rearing on 400 mM NaCl NGM plates dramatically slows growth and results in partially penetrant embryonic and larval lethality. In less than 10% of all animals raised under these conditions, Pn.p cells/descendents could not be identified by DIC; these animals were excluded from the analysis. oyIs31 animals were nonviable on 400 mM NaCl NGM plates Polyclonal antisera specific to OSM-11 were raised in rabbits using the C-terminal peptide YSKCTMFTPVQY (Sigma-Genosys) and was used as a 1:200 dilution of unpurified sera. OSM-11 immunoreactivity was detected in larval and adult animals in paraformaldehyde-fixed wild-type animals, but not in osm-11(rt142lf) animals (unpublished data). Eggs were not examined, and no immunoreactivity in germ cells was observed. OSM-11 was detected at the junction of the presumptive vulva and uterus of L4 larvae and in the spermatheca of late-larval and adult animals. OSM-11 mRNA localization by in situ hybridization is consistent with expression in VPCs and hypoderm in young larvae and in seam cells in adult animals (see NEXTDB, http://nematode.lab.nig.ac.jp/db2/ShowCloneInfo.php?clone=59g10; Y. Kohara, personal correspondence). Plasmids and cloning details are available upon request. Transgenic strains were generated by microinjection with plasmids of interest at 20 to 50 ng/μl. Transgenesis coinjection markers were pJM#67 elt-2::gfp , pPD48.33 myo-2::gfp , or phenotypic rescue of pha-1(e2123) using pBX#1 . The osm-11 cDNA clone was obtained by PCR from the Vidal laboratory ORFeome cDNA library and agrees exactly with the predicted sequence in WormBase and at NCBI. osm-11 cDNA constructs used herein for rescue contained the unc-54 3′ UTR, whereas genomic rescue clones contained the osm-11 3′ UTR. Although osm-11 vulval defects are substantially rescued by both types of constructs, we cannot rule out transcriptional regulation by the osm-11 3′ UTR. Multiple transgenic lines were scored for each transgenic experiment; results were substantially equal for each transgenic line and were pooled by construct. The soluble lag-2 construct was previously described and fully rescues a lag-2 mutant . Mammalian DLK1 has multiple splice forms yielding soluble and membrane-bound isoforms. Proteolysis of membrane-bound DLK1 yields the soluble protein originally known as fetal antigen 1 (FA1). A murine DLK1 cDNA fragment that encodes the DLK1 FA1 protein isoform was used in C. elegans rescue experiments and was expressed ubiquitously using the hsp-16 promoter. C. elegans and C. briggsae homologs of OSM-11 were identified by BLAST analysis against genomic sequences and predicted genes at NCBI and WormBase. A short, common motif was identified manually and used to search for similar proteins using Pattern Search at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) (http://myhits.isb-sib.ch/cgi-bin/pattern_search). A subset of Notch ligands was identified. DLK1 and Drosophila Delta proteins were manually compared to C. elegans and C. briggsae homologs of OSM-11 and used to generate the final DOS-motif consensus (Figure 2). Proteins were aligned using ClustalW at ISREC (http://myhits.isb-sib.ch/cgi-bin/clustalw). The proteins identified are known Notch ligands except for mouse DLK1, Drosophila C901, and human EGFL9. Drosophila C901 contains a signal peptide, a DSL domain, and EGF repeats, but has not been well characterized . DLK1 and EGFL9 do not contain DSL domains, but do contain signal peptides and EGF repeats. Given that all previously identified DSL domains are located between the signal peptide sequence and the EGF repeats, we conclude that DLK1 and EGFL9 do not contain DSL domains. It is interesting to note that many classical Notch ligand genes contain an intron immediately after the DSL domain. T05D4.4 and ZK507.4 (OSM-7 and DOS-1, respectively) predicted C. elegans proteins are partially confirmed by existing cDNAs and are conserved in C. briggsae. A cDNA fragment containing predicted C. elegans K10G6.2 (dos-2) exons was successfully amplified from a cDNA library by the Vidal ORFeome project; the K10G6.2 predicted protein is also conserved in C. briggsae. The C. briggsae homologs of C. elegans proteins are CBG18238 for T05D4.4, CBG18440 for K10G6.2, CBG06935 for ZK507.4, and CBG15929 for F11C7.5. The new prediction for K02F3.7/DOS-3 has been submitted to WormBase; the C. briggsae homolog is CBP19746. All of these C. briggsae proteins are predicted to have signal peptide sequences. Proteins in D. melanogaster, C. elegans, C. briggsae, Homo sapiens, Danio rerio, and Mus musculus that contain the DOS motif are (amino acids): tr:A1L1P2_DANRE/224–274, tr:A1C3M9_DANRE/228–278, sw:DLL1_HUMAN/226–276, sw:DLL1_MOUSE/225–275, tr:A4V346_DROME/231–279, sw:DLLB_DANRE/208–258, tr:Q9VZ44_DROME/212–262, tr:Q925U3_MOUSE/26–76, NP_003827/26–76, sw:EGFL9_HUMAN/29–79, sw:Q8K1E3 EGFL9/29–79, tr:A1A3Y8_DANRE/235–285, tr:A1A3Y7_DANRE/231–281, sw:JAG1_HUMAN/234–284, sw:JAG1_MOUSE/234–284, sw:JAG2_MOUSE/245–295, sw:JAG2_HUMAN/245–295, tr:Q90Y55_DANRE/237–287, sw:SERR_DROME/284–335, tr:O45750_CAEEL/205–253, tr:Q60YH7_CAEBR/205–253, tr:Q21149_CAEEL/127–175, tr:Q60JE9_CAEBR/385–433, sw:YOO4_CAEEL/130–179, tr:Q614N0_CAEBR/135–180, tr:O45346_CAEEL/136–181, and tr:Q60Y06_CAEBR/130–177. DOS-motif proteins were clustered using CLUSTALW in the MegAlign package (Lasergene) with an identity matrix and the following default parameters: gap penalty 20.0, gap length penalty 0.2, delay divergent sequences 30%, and DNA transition weight 0.5. The N- and C-terminal boundaries of the amino acid sequences used for the alignment began at the first cysteine residue of the first EGF repeat, and ended at the cysteine residue immediately preceding the conserved CXC motif of the second EGF repeat. The only exceptions to this were the sequences used for MmJagged1 and HsJagged1; in these proteins, a gap between EGF repeats 1 and 2 contained cysteine and tryptophan residues that followed the spacing of the DOS motif consensus sequence but were clearly not part of EGF repeat 2. Amino acid sequence from the gap instead of from EGF repeat 2 was used for these two proteins. Two outgroups were used in the alignment: EGF repeats 1 and 2 from CeAPX-1 and CeLAG-2, which lack the SELCT motif and have been previously shown to be phylogenetically distinct from EGF repeats 1 and 2 of other DSL ligands ; and EGF repeats 3 and 4 (EGF3–4) of selected DOS motif–containing proteins (using the same N- and C-terminal boundaries as above), as examples of canonical EGF repeats. DmSerrate EGF repeat 4 contains a phylogenetically unique insertion; for the purposes of sequence alignment, amino acids 407–470 were deleted . Accession numbers used are: CeT05D4.4, O45750; Cezk507.4, P34636; CeSEL-14, O45346; CeK10G6.2, O16627; CeAPX-1, P41990; CeLAG-2, P45442; DrDeltaA, AAC41249; DrDeltaB, AAH76414; DrDeltaD, Q8UWJ4; DrJagged1, Q90Y57; DrJagged2, CAH69088; DrSerrateB, AAC98354; DmDelta, P10041; DmSerrate, P18168; DmC901, CAA72010; HsDll1, O00548; HsEgfl9, Q6UY11; HsJagged1, P78504; HsJagged2, Q9Y219; MmDlk1, NP_034182; MmDll1, Q61483; MmJagged1, Q9QXX0; and MmJagged2, Q9QYE5. 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SMTA International Conference Co-Locates With ATExpo 2000 The decision to move SMTA was based, in part, on exhibitor and attendee feedback. While the conference program remains strong, the show floor attendance has declined over recent years, due to a decline in manufacturing in the Silicon Valley. The move to the Midwest market will offer exceptional opportunities to reach key electronics-manufacturing professionals. According to Greg Evans, president of SMTA, “There is a lot of synergy between ATExpo and SMTA. We will nurture this new link between the thriving SMTA conference program and the highly successful ATExpo event.” For more information on ATExpo events, contact Reed Exhibition Companies at 888-267-3796, or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org For speaking opportunities at SMTA International, contact the SMTA at 612-920-7682, or e-mail email@example.com

The upcoming season for the Denton Lady Broncos will see a young roster develop into a competitive team, says Denton head coach Rhana Ramos, and with just two seniors, five juniors and the rest underclassmen on a squad of 14, the consistency is starting to build. “My juniors that I’ve had now I’ve been able to develop since they were freshman and not having to go back to the basics every single year, I feel like we are definitely taking a higher level,” Ramos said. “We are stepping up, so to speak. I think the caliber of the athletes that have joined our program have affected our program in a positive manner as well. I feel like we are building for sure.” The Lady Broncos moved its season opener against Frisco to Monday due to today’s weather concerns, but they have entered the fine-tuning stage with the bulk of their schedule on the horizon. “We worked on pickoffs, relationships and key aspects of how this athlete is going to play this particular play, being able to react to each other and not just the basics,” Ramos said. “We were definitely able to work on higher level things this year.” Ramos expected her juniors and seniors to lead the way, but is also counting on a few freshmen to play a crucial role, especially with the Lady Broncos already having health issues with two injured outfielders in the preseason. Despite being bit early by the injury bug, Ramos said her team is anxious to get started. “Overall, the energy is high,” Ramos said. “Even with our injuries, we are going to be able to play some of those other athletes into those positions and not be horribly affected. We will be able to compete pretty well.” With the roster full of multi-faceted players who have and will play several positions this season, Ramos is most encouraged about the talent across the board. “I’m most excited about us being well rounded this year,” Ramos said. “I’ve been able to take my first baseman and put her in right field and it works out very well. I’ve got three catchers, two pitchers, probably four third basemen and a couple of shortstops. The girls have developed cohesiveness and a type of synergy with each other and they don’t care where they play as long as they’re playing.” The Lady Broncos will see a different District 5-4A landscape, one Ramos thinks is one of the toughest in Texas, with Guyer making the jump into the already difficult district and Ryan moving to District 5-5A. “Our district did not get easier, that’s for sure,” Ramos said. “I’ve watched Guyer play for the last several years, and even at the 5A level, they were successful. [Trophy Club] Byron Nelson is a building program with a lot of spark and ambition. [Fort Worth] Brewer has a new pitcher. I think Azle has a new pitcher. Our district got harder this year, not easier. So, even though we’ve built from the point where we were last year, I know that our competition is going to be stout.” With Denton going through some tough stretches last season, Ramos said the team isn’t looking too far ahead and will employ a day-to-day approach with this season’s goal simply defined as achieving success. “By success, I mean we are going to take it one game at a time, one inning at a time and try and win every inning we go out and play,” Ramos said. “We’d love to reach the playoffs, but we know what our competition is. We have to make sure every one of us is ready to play every game and every single inning.” PATRICK HAYSLIP can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is email@example.com . LADY BRONCOS ROSTER April Van Hoose Head coach: Rhana Ramos Assistant coaches: Sarah Hirsch, Jessica Bradley, Jason Shaw

Vol. 21 No. 38 CITES COP‑13 HIGHLIGHTS: TUESDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2004 Delegates to COP‑13 convened in committees throughout the day. Committee I addressed conservation of saiga antelopes, tortoises and freshwater turtles, sharks and sea cucumbers. Committee II addressed nomenclature, finance, sturgeons and synergy between CITES and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). SAIGA ANTELOPE: The EU presented its proposal on the conservation of saiga antelope (Doc.32). GERMANY and the RUSSIAN FEDERATION supported the draft decisions. Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) said half the range States expressed interest in signing the MOU between CITES and CMS. WWF stressed involvement of both range and consumer States. Chair Dublin proposed establishing a working group chaired by Germany. TORTOISES AND FRESHWATER TURTLES: The Secretariat introduced the report on the conservation of and trade in tortoises and freshwater turtles (Doc.33). Delegates discussed whether to maintain a separate reporting requirement or use biennial reports to provide information. INDONESIA and VIETNAM supported, and delegates agreed, using biennial reports to reduce reporting burdens. Delegates also agreed to maintain the proposed reporting format. AUSTRALIA, supported by CAMEROON and the US, requested the Secretariat to provide a streamlined summary of relevant information from the biennial reports for COP‑14. Noting redundancies between existing resolutions and the draft decision on transportation of species in compliance with IATA guidelines, the US and AUSTRALIA proposed incorporating these decisions into Resolution Conf. 11.9. HAWKSBILL TURTLE: The Secretariat introduced a document on the conservation of the hawksbill turtle (Doc.34). The Secretariat noted failure to secure enough external funding for a Caribbean regional meeting, but commended the UK=s financial commitment. CUBA, supported by TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, JAMAICA, AUSTRALIA and others, disagreed with Secretariat text stating that it implied lack of regional interest, and a downgrading of importance by suggesting the issue be taken up in the context of other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). JAPAN, supported by TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, SAINT LUCIA and others, proposed the issue be addressed at COP‑14. The EU regretted lack of interest and hoped the process could be reinvigorated. BRAZIL called for further cooperation between the Inter‑American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles and CITES. FIJI and AUSTRALIA said much could be learned from work done in the Caribbean region. The US proposed text reflecting collaboration with other MEAs and regional organizations. Parties agreed to report on progress six months prior to COP‑14, and called on the Secretariat to report findings at COP‑14. SHARKS: AC Chair Althaus introduced a document on the conservation and management of sharks (Doc.35), highlighting the AC=s review on progress in implementing the FAO International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA‑Sharks). The US introduced its information document (Inf.35) supporting an FAO technical consultation of experts on sharks. NORWAY, JAPAN and ICELAND rejected the AC=s draft decisions regarding sharks, stressing that sharks should be considered within FAO. CHILE stressed CITES‑FAO collaboration. The EU said participation of FAO and regional fishing authorities is essential for IPOA‑Sharks implementation. GERMANY and AUSTRALIA stressed the legitimate responsibility of CITES in shark conservation and management. GUINEA and SPECIES MANAGEMENT SPECIALISTS proposed adopting the MOU between FAO and CITES. CANADA noted duplication of work between the AC=s draft decisions and FAO. INDONESIA said CITES should not work on non CITES‑listed species. FAO welcomed progress made on IPOA‑Sharks implementation, and emphasized a need to work with CITES. IUCN said CITES should participate in future initiatives on non‑CITES listed shark species. OCEAN CONSERVANCY noted that CITES attention to shark species has raised awareness for shark conservation and has encouraged regional cooperation. Chair Dublin asked New Zealand to chair a working group on sharks to amend draft decisions. SEA CUCUMBERS: AC Chair Althaus introduced its report and draft decisions on trade in sea cucumbers (Doc.37.1), noting the AC had not been able to complete its task of producing a discussion document on biological and trade status of sea cucumbers for COP‑13. He proposed the AC continue addressing the issue on the basis of guidance from the COP. ECUADOR introduced draft decisions on implementation of Decision 12.60 on sea cucumbers (Doc.37.2), which calls for extending the deadline in preparing the discussion paper until COP‑14, and asks the Secretariat to assist in obtaining supporting funds. Noting it could not ensure security of funds, the Secretariat suggested the AC establish a working group to finalize its work. IRAN and AUSTRALIA supported this proposal. The US said it was premature to adopt the AC’s proposed decisions before completing the discussion document, and supported extending the deadline to COP‑14. COLOMBIA, the EU, AUSTRALIA, VENEZUELA and others supported Ecuador’s proposal. BRAZIL said sea cucumbers should be addressed under CITES. INDONESIA, CHINA, GUINEA, the REPUBLIC OF KOREA, QATAR, JAPAN, CUBA and others said sea cucumbers are a fisheries management issue, best addressed by FAO or by national or regional fisheries organizations, rather than by CITES. NAMIBIA opposed listing sea cucumber species under Appendix I. Delegates agreed on Ecuador’s proposal to extend the deadline until COP‑14. PERMANENT COMMITTEES: Standard nomenclature: Delegates considered Mexico=s proposal to revise Resolution Conf. 12.11 on standard nomenclature (Doc.11.3 (Rev.1)). Regarding changes in a taxon=s name and their implications, HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL and the US stressed that changes can affect the scope of protection of a species, and delegates agreed that the scope of protection as originally intended should not be altered by nomenclature changes. Regarding procedures to address conflict regarding the choice of taxonomic authority, the US and ARGENTINA stressed that the NC=s interim recommendations should be notified to Parties. While ARGENTINA supported a role for the SC in the matter, MEXICO and the UK recommended a more flexible procedure, and opposed involving the SC. Regarding checklists, the US stressed that the UNEP‑WCMC checklist should only draw from names included in original proposals, standard reference or the NC=s recommendations. The UK said that standard reference should include all material that is scientifically and legally required under CITES. HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL suggested referring to taxon‑based checklists as basic reference. PC Chair Clemente stressed the importance of taxon‑based checklists. UNEP‑WCMC clarified it does not make decisions on nomenclature and that its standard lists are developed on the basis of CITES basic reference lists. Chair Brasher asked Mexico to revise its proposal based on comments. STURGEONS: The Secretariat introduced a proposal to revise Resolution Conf. 12.7 on the conservation and trade in sturgeons and paddlefish (Doc.65), noting the lack of clear deadlines and mechanisms to ensure compliance by range States. He said the proposal includes deadlines for the publication of quotas, the submission of information to the Secretariat and authorization of exports. A working group, chaired by Romania, was established. FINANCING: The Secretariat presented a review of financial mechanisms to fund conservation and sustainable international trade in wildlife species (Doc.14), highlighting the possibility of establishing a financial mechanism, such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF). CITES Secretary General Wijnstekers suggested that since the CBD had adopted in its Strategic Vision stating that no species of fauna or flora should become extinct as a result of international trade, CITES Parties could use it to access GEF funds. Nigeria and others highlighted the need for a financial mechanism, such as the GEF, to support implementation, in situ conservation and border controls. NEW ZEALAND cautioned against using the GEF, noting that it is a finite source of funding. CANADA and NEW ZEALAND suggested targeting the widest array of funding sources. NEPAL, INDONESIA and HONDURAS highlighted that funding should be geared towards regional cooperation. The EU and CANADA urged Parties to include sustainable wildlife trade in their broader development and poverty reduction strategies to access bilateral funds. NEW ZEALAND and CANADA supported further work on capacity building, while GUINEA and DOMINICA stressed the need for financial assistance to support capacity building. CHAD drew attention to pressures on natural resources caused by refugee influxes from neighboring war‑torn countries. COOPERATION WITH OTHER CONVENTIONS: CITES‑CBD Synergy: The EU introduced a joint proposal with Kenya on achieving greater synergy in CITES‑CBD implementation (Doc.12.1.1 (Rev.1)), highlighting recommendations from the Vilm Workshop to: take into account the CBD sustainable use principles when making non‑detriment findings; link the CBD ecosystem approach and CITES thematic and site‑ and species‑based approaches (Article 4); contribute to achieving the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2010 target to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss; and consider CITES= work within the CBD Ad Hoc Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing. CBD Executive Secretary Hamdallah Zedan highlighted CITES‑relevant targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) and the framework for assessing progress towards the 2010 target, and outlined CBD work regarding COP‑13 items, including cooperation, the sustainable use principles, bushmeat and incentive measures. UNEP recommended that: the CBD use CITES Appendices I and II species as flagship species; CITES be engaged in achieving the 2010 target; and harmonization of reporting be further enhanced. MEXICO, QATAR, PERU, UGANDA and others supported the proposal and further work by the SC on the issue. PC Chair Clemente highlighted synergies between the CBD GSPC and the PC=s work, and suggested instructing the PC to liaise with the GSPC to work towards the 2010 target. The US, NEW ZEALAND, JAPAN and DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE said the SC should consider the outcomes of the Vilm Workshop prior to incorporating its conclusions into CITES= work. Noting that CITES and CBD use different instruments, INDIA and the US cautioned against rushing synergy. BRAZIL noted that synergies will benefit developing countries. TRAFFIC recommended that AC, PC and SC members attend meetings of the CBD Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice. IUCN suggested CITES and CBD cooperate to develop indicators for sustainable use. Chair Brasher requested the EU to revise its proposal on the basis of comments made. Sustainable use principle and guidelines: NAMIBIA introduced its proposal to incorporate CBD Sustainable Use Principles and Guidelines (Doc.12.1.2). The RUSSIAN FEDERATION stressed that not all principles are directly relevant to CITES. The US, supported by CANADA, said Parties should consider, as appropriate within national circumstances, using the principles and guidelines. ISRAEL and AUSTRALIA cautioned against incorporating the sustainable use concept into non‑detriment finding processes, and INDIA noted that these principles have not been scientifically validated. The EU supported using the principles when making non‑detrimental findings, but stressed these must be based on, inter alia, scientific and trade considerations, and supported revisiting the issue at COP‑14. NORWAY, VENEZUELA, JAPAN, NIGERIA, ARGENTINA and SOUTH AFRICA supported the proposal, highlighting that sustainable use is a core part of CITES. Chair Brasher requested Namibia to revise its proposal on the basis of comments made. IN THE CORRIDORS As delegates started turning their attention to marine species, a proposal on sturgeons failed to gather support at this stage of the meeting. Some delegates still believe marine species should not be given the light of day at CITES, but rather discussed in other fora, such as the FAO and regional fisheries organizations. Other delegates pointed out that the scope of CITES is not only limited to terrestrial species, but that numerous marine species are threatened with extinction as a result of international trade. Moderate delegates called for greater collaboration with other relevant fora to ensure sustainable management.

Posted by willyee on November 22, 2006, at 10:20:42 In reply to is taurine a sleep aid?, posted by qqqsimmons on November 16, 2006, at 11:15:09 > does it work for anyone here? > i've been using it as one and am not sure it works. Taurine plays a big role in the production of gaba,you were correct in choosing this.Taurine also works or seems to have a incredable synergy with klonopin,i found im able to lower my klonopin dose with it,and still get the same,if not more effectivness. On a personal note i found the brand to be crucial,dont know any logic begind this,but country life seels a brand,a TABLET form with a very small amount of b6 which aids the taurine to do its thing,and i find this brand to be the only brand i respond too.It is in most general health shops,and sells for about 5 bucks. Also if your taking it at night,remember its best to take a amino after a protien meal,and with a carb snack which helps drive the taurine as well. Last a very very small amount of l thenaine,meaning opening up a capsule and taking a small amount of the powder also works well. So a combo of a small dose of klonopin L-theanine seems to have a calming and possably sleep induing effect. Try doing a google search on taurine and gaba and see the results and how big a role it plays in it.

A surrendered NDFB cadre, identified as Darendra Basumatary was killed and another injured in a clash among the group at the outfit's camp at Sudempuri in Kokrajhar town in Kokrajhar District. Police said Darendra Basumatary died on the spot when he was shot by another member of the camp, Rakesh Brahma, after a fight. According to SP S.P. Sarma, Rakesh Brahma was arrested along with arms later. According to sources, at least 31 militants were killed and over 766 arrested by SFs in 'Operation All-Out' in the state over the past one year. The Army launched the operation to flush out rebels of the NDFB-IKS after the militants gunned down over 69 Adivasis on December 23, 2014. The operation, which completed a year, is still on. The security situation in the state in 2015 was grim in the aftermath of the mass killings of Adivasis. The scars of the May 2014 killings of 46 Muslims were yet to be healed. Relentless operations resulted in significant improvement of the security situation in the state, with the seizure of more than 443 firearms and many arrests, said Defence PRO, Lieutenant Colonel Suneet Newton. The Army also claimed that most terrorist groups, including NDFB-IKS and KPLT had gone on the back foot with their activities severely curtailed. "This was achieved through synergistic intelligence-based joint operations of the Army, Assam Police, Central Armed Police Forces and coordination with the state administration," the defence statement added. The Army made sure of community development initiatives to meet the aspirations of BTAD by organizing events such as the BTC Army Goodwill Football Premier League to provide a platform to local youth to showcase their talent. The Army said it will facilitate the success of upcoming events in the state, including the SAF Games and the assembly election. A Tura-based businessman, who also handles transportation of FCI materials for Garo Hills, identified as Nanhelal Shah was abducted from near Gairong village under Krishnai Police Station in Goalpara District. The trader, who has residences in Krishnai and Mendipathar in North Garo Hills, had gone to a friend’s house for a New Year party when he was picked up the kidnappers. According to Police sources, the abduction could be the handiwork of the ULFA. Security was stepped up at Army and air force installations located in the northeastern region in the wake of the terrorist attack at an Air Force Base at Pathankot in Punjab. The northeast, which is surrounded by Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and China, on all sides, barring a chicken-neck corridor towards north Bengal, is a strategic defence area. The seven states in the northeast house many Army cantonments and air force bases. The Eastern Air Command of the IAF is located in Shillong in Meghalaya. Army sources in the region said that forces guarding defence installations in the northeast are already on a high alert as the region is an insurgency-affected area and shares borders with four countries. Security was also beefed up at LGBI airport in Guwahati as it is located adjacent to the Borjhar air base. Defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Suneet Newton said that along with other SFs in Assam and the entire region, are deployed on a counter-insurgency/terrorism grid and are always on a high alert. "We are always prepared to effectively contain any such untoward incident," he said. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi appealed to insurgents to join the mainstream and take part in dialogue to solve their issues. “I appeal to those who are outside the mainstream to give up the path of confrontation and adopt conciliatory posture by joining the peace process to usher in durable peace and faster economic development in the state,” Gogoi said in a statement. He said the gusto with which the people celebrated New Year points that peace and stability have returned to the state despite attempts by certain forces to disturb peace. “Assam is on the path of peace, development and social harmony. Though the state has surged ahead on various fronts, it has still miles to go,” Gogoi said. UHM Rajnath Singh visited Karimganj sector of the India-Bangladesh border in Assam and said the porous border will be sealed this year. The Minister, who reviewed the fencing project at Steamerghat, expressed his satisfaction at the progress of the work. He said, two major issues that were stalling the project - protests by locals whose properties would be affected by the fencing and objection by BGB in certain patches - have been resolved. Along with the fencing, the installation of flood lights will also be completed this year. "Security measures have been tightened and this has resulted in drastic reduction in cross border crimes and also infiltration from that side of the border," Singh added. UHM Rajnath Singh admitted that there are "gaps" in the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam and that managing a riverine border is a tough challenge. The Minister visited the Dhubri sector of the border with AASU leaders and assured that two pilot projects on how to stop infiltration in riverine areas are going on and depending on the success of these two projects, steps will be taken. "It is a 263 km long border. But gaps are there and these need to be filled up. Covering the riverine stretch is a problem. We hope measures can be worked out depending on the findings of these two pilot projects, which are likely to be completed soon," the Minister said addressing a press conference. Rajnath Singh, however, added that he was not "entirely satisfied" with the sealing work, though he did not specify any details. After the joint border visit with UHM Rajnath Singh, the AASU submitted a memorandum clarifying its stand of not accepting any illegal foreigner entering the State after 1971. AASU leaders Dr Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharyya, Dipanka Kumar Nath and Lurin Jyoti Gogoi discussed several lingering issues with the Minister that included implementation of the Assam Accord, border security, constitutional safeguard, economic development, and the status of illegal migration post 1971. Two memorandums were submitted to the Home Minister in this regard. A team of Army personnel, along with Police representative from Khoirabari Police Station in Udalguri District launched a joint operation and arrested two hardcore cadres and one linkman of NDFB-IKS. The arrested cadres were identified as Raju Daimary and Rikhang Daimary. Raju Daimary was also involved in numerous extortion cases and heinous crimes in Udalguri and Chirang Districts. Both the cadres were in the lookout list of Udalguri and Chirang Police. On questioning Raju Daimary and Rikhang Daimary, NDFB-IKS linkman, identified as Shankar Dutta was arrested from Misahatkhola village in Darrang District. A grenade and five money receipts of extortion and three mobile phones were also recovered from their possession. The GNC, GWC and Garo youth Council asked All Rabha Students’ Union and All Rabha Women Council not to interfere in the internal matter of the Garo people of Assam, stated a press release. They said that Garo leader AG Momin in no way involved in the 2011 Garo-Rabha ethnic conflict as alleged by ULFA-PTF opened an office in the Hatigaon area in Kamrup District. The office was inaugurated by the outfit's ‘chairman’, Arabinda Rajkhowa. Police arrested two persons identified as Ramen Barman and Rameswar Saikia, the masterminds behind the abduction of a small-time businessman Hazrat Ali, who was abducted on December 29, from Tulsibari under Rangia Police Station in Kamrup District. According to Police, Ramen Barman of Shahpur and Rameswar Saikia of Suwapur, both under Tamulpur Police Station in Baksa District, abducted Ali at gunpoint in a Tata Sumo, identifying themselves as NDFB-IKS cadres and wearing SSB uniform on the evening of December 29 when Ali was returning home from his shop at Tulsibari under Rangia Police Station in Kamrup District. Police said the abductors along with another associate took Ali to Lotibari under Tamulpur Police Station in Baksa where he was kept in the house of Saikia The SSB and Police, in a joint operation, arrested a militant of NDFB-IKS, identified as Nirmal Basumatary (27) from Rangjihoura village in Chirang District. A 9 mm pistol, three rounds of ammunition and a mobile phone were recovered from him. “He is a trained militant of the outfit and was trained in Myanmar,” SSB sources said. ULFA ‘General Secretary’ Anup Chetia said that he is not going to put pressure on Independent faction of ULFA (ULFA-I) ‘Commander in Chief (C-in-C)’ Paresh Baruah to come for dialogue with the Central Government. Anup Chetia said in Darrang that it is up to the ‘C-in-C’ to decide himself whether to take part in the dialogue process, and in this regard Chetia will never put pressure on him. Top leaders of NDFB-IKS, including ‘army chief’ G. Bidai and his deputy K. Batha, are hiding in the dense jungles along the Indo-Bhutan border, BTAD IGP L. R. Bishnoi said. Bishnoi said operations as a part of the army's "final push" against the militant group were on. Bishnoi claimed that the NDFB-IKS was becoming weak with many of its top leaders having been killed or arrested since the operation against the outfit was intensified last year (2015). A joint force of the Army, Police, SSB and CRPF had started a massive operation against the outfit on September 18 last year to apprehend the "last remaining 20-25 cadres of the NDFB (S)", including Bishnu Goyari alias Bidai, the mastermind of the Adivasi carnage on December 23, 2014, and his deputy Binod Mushahary alias Batha. Bidai carries a cash reward of INR 5 lakh on his head. He added that altogether 21 militants of the outfit have been killed, 256 arrested and 185 of its linkmen apprehended since the operation began. A total of 15 AK-56 rifles, 10 AK-47s, two M-16, two HKs, seven Insas rifles, 495 rounds of ammunition, 21 grenades, 81kg of explosives 14 lakh in cash and 12 motorcycles have also been recovered from the outfit's militants, Bishnoi said. The top leaders of the outfit arrested so far include its ‘self-styled deputy commander in chief’ Dwiswrang Daimary alias Dhananjay, ‘self-styled army chief’ Rabi Basumutary alias Rongja Baja, his ‘personal security officer’ Jwnglaw Narzary alias Jekhai and the former ‘personal security officer’ of Bidai, Biron Narzary alias N. Bapeibai. Bishnoi said the SFs were continuing their operation against the group and expressed confidence that Bidai and his 20-25 associates would be arrested soon. Bishnoi said other than NDFB-IKS militants, 86 militants belonging to various groups like the KLO, RVA, NSLA and the MPTFA were also arrested by SFs last year (2015). Besides, fundamentalists trying to gain a foothold in lower Assam Districts had been neutralised, he said, adding that 30 fundamentalists were arrested and 22 country-made arms recovered in 2015. Police arrested a ULFA cadre, identified as Ajit Bora alias Dhaniram in Dibrugarh District. Three NSLA militants were arrested from Barabil under Gossaigaon Police station in Kokrajhar District. The arrested NSLA militants were involved in extortion of money and other illegal activities, Defence officials said. Two pistols and a revolver with 3 live rounds were recovered from them, they Haluwating Police, in an operation, arrested one person, identified as Konwer Singh Tanti (28) along with a hand grenade and four bullets of a 9mm pistol from the Tifuk Tea Estate in Sivasagar District. Police suspected him to be linkman ULFA ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia was given the responsibility of leading the peace-talks with the GoI in place of its ‘chairman’ Arbinda Rajkhowa. The decision to lead ULFA talks was taken formally in a central committee meeting which was attended by ULFA ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa, ‘vice-chairman’ Pradeep Gogoi, ‘deputy commander-in-chief’ Raju Barua, ‘foreign secretary’ Sasha Choudhury, ‘finance secretary’ Chitraban Hazarika, and several other leaders of the outfit, including Mrinal Hazarika, Jiten Dutta and Pranjit Saikia. Though, the outfit has ruled out that decision in this effect would marginalize the ULFA ‘chairman’ who was leading the peace-talks so far, security sources claimed that Chetia’s elevation to lead the peace-talks might subside the simmering dissension in the ULFA-PTF to a large extent. Pointing out that some hard-core ULFA cadres were not happy over the way day-to-day affairs were being handled by the ULFA leadership, security sources said that the situation had come to stage that some cadres were contemplating to join back to anti-talk faction of ULFA lead by its ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah. SFs arrested two persons, identified as Buddha Narzary and Nripen Boro along with four gelatin sticks weighing 200 gm and fuse wire from Guwahati Railway Station. The duo was bringing the consignment from Manipur to Tamulpur. Former AGP president Brindaban Goswami, at an AJYCP meet at Jelkajhar in Bongaigaon District, said Assam cannot accommodate any more illegal migrants. The demand for a separate Bodoland got a boost with former Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga and chairman of the all-party Telangana Political Joint Action Committee M. Kodandaram offering to help. Addressing the 48th annual conference of(ABS) at Turibari Noudari Pwthar in Bijni subdivision of Chirang District, Zoramthanga said, "If my humble service is needed, I am ready to help you." "The ball does not lies in the court of Delhi or in Guwahati (Dispur). It lies only in the hands of the Bodo people. With all effort, I believe an amicable solution, which is welcome and accepted by Delhi, Dispur and the Bodo people will be achieved soon," he said. Kodandaram, who attended the conference as chief guest, said the demand needed to be discussed. Security has been tightened around IAF station at Chabua in Dibrugarh District following intelligence inputs about threats to the air base, a Police official said. Following the Pathankot terror attack (Punjab), Police has received certain inputs which need to be corroborated and confirmed in consultation with various agencies and SFs but security has been tightened around the airbase, Dibrugarh SP Bir Bikram Gogoi said. One person, identified as Ram Tudu (27) was arrested with arms from Sukhanjuli in Baska District. An unidentified cadre of NDFB-IKS was arrested from Islampur in Tinsukia District. A NSLA cadre was arrested from Gossaigaon in Kokrajhar District. A suspected linkman of ULFA-I, identified as Babul Dihingia was detained by Assam Police in Kakopathar of Tinsukia District along with INR 25 Lakh. Dihingia has not been produced in court by Police even after 24 hours have been passed, A team of Army personnel from Borrengajuli Army camp along with Assam Police launched a joint operation and arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Rituraj Basumatary (18) from Bainara village under Khairabari Police Station in Udalguri District. A country-made hand grenade was recovered from his possession. SFs arrested linkman of NDFB-IKS, identified as Khonsai Gaorao Mashahary from an undisclosed place in Assam. Khonsai was planning to kidnap three persons and he had already collected INR 1 lakh from VCDC chairmen in the locality in Kachugaon area in Baksa District, BTC IGP, LR Bishnoi said, adding that the Police could recover INR 82,000 and a mobile handset from SFs arrested a KLO linkman, identified as Atul Barman alias Dabla from an undisclosed place in Assam. Sivasagar District Police arrested a ULFA hardliner's linkman from Changmaibari area in Sibsagar District. A hardcore cadre of the NSLA, identified as Ram Kishku alias Ram Hembrom was killed in an encounter with Assam Police near Grahampur under Srirampur Police outpost in Gossaigaon subdivision of Kokrajhar District. The BTC IGP, LR Bishnoi said the Police team recovered one 7.65 mm pistol, four rounds of ammunition and two hand grenades from his possession. He also said the slain cadre was involved in several criminal activities, murder and extortion in the area. Bishnoi said after eliminating Hembrom, the area would be peaceful to a great extent as most of the criminal activities were carried out under his command. He said the total strength of the NSLA was around 40 of which 22 have been arrested in 2015, four were killed in different encounters and the remaining cadres are involved in criminal activities. The ULFA-I opposed the construction of a war memorial on the bank of Dighalipukhuri in Guwahati. In a statement, ULFA-I ‘assistant information and publicity secretary’ Arunodoy Asom also extended support to a group of citizens opposing construction of the memorial. "We have immense respect for soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country. But the Indian government is forcefully invading Assam and its action to destruct a heritage site and ecology for construction of the war memorial is in no way is acceptable," the statement said. The outfit is against peace talks with the Government without discussion on its key demand for a "sovereign Assam". George Kuki, claiming to be the ‘self styled in-charge of publicity and information’ of KLF based somewhere in eastern Karbi Anglong District claimed that the outfit, which was formed in 2008 and remained active until 2010, has been revived. KLF remained silent when a faction of the organization formed the UKDA and laid down arms along with the KRA in 2012 at Guwahati, stated George. He also alleged that the leaders of both KRA-A and UKDA have seized the bank pass books and ATM cards of the surrendered cadres thereby denying them of all Government sponsored benefits. The same leaders have also misused the Government fund given to the cadres for establishing camps, he added. George has also alleged that the over ground Kuki militant leaders instead of protecting the interest of its own community are exploiting the ginger farmers mostly concentrated in Singhason hills. The KLF also claimed that three sophisticated arms have been recovered from the possession of UKDA and KRA-A cadres (one SLR, one M-16 rifle and one AK rifle) recently. Assam Police and Army, in a joint operation, arrested three militants of NDFB-IKS along with a huge cache of arms in Baksa District. Acting on a tip off, Police launched operation at Dolabari area under Barama Police Station in Baksa District and arrested a cadre of the outfit, identified as Ranjit Based on the confession of the detained militant, a joint Police and Army team arrested NDFB-IKS militants, Jimi Boro alias Dharmendra Boro from Panbari in Kumarikata and Sansuma Boro from Bagajuli area of the District. “A 7.65 pistol, one magazine, two live ammunition of 7.65 pistol, ten bullets of 9mm pistol, three live grenades, a handmade gun and ten extortion notes were found on them, “ said SDPO Tamulpur, Asif Ahmed. Police sources also said the detained rebels were involved in various subversive activities in BTAD. A top Police official said with 30 to 35 cadres, the NDFB-IKS is still strong and active in lower Assam. He said apart from the NDFB-IKS, various outfits like the KLO, RVA, NSLA and the MPTFA are trying to gain a foothold and strengthen their base in the area. He said SFs are continuing counter operations against the groups. ULFA is planning to include a few additional points in its charter of demands already submitted to the GoI, disclosed by the ‘general secretary’ of the outfit, Anup Chetia. Chetia, who was brought back to Assam recently from the protective custody of Bangladesh, said that he would participate in the next round of talks between the outfit and the GoI. However, the dates for the next round of talks are yet to be announced. He said a meeting of the ULFA was held in Jagiroad on January 9 where the progress of the peace process was discussed. He said that as the people of the State have raised a few questions on the charter of demands submitted to the Government by the ULFA, a few additional points may be added. However, he said that as a charter of demands has already been submitted to the Government, “we will have to request the Government to allow us to add the new points in the charter of demands.” The issue will soon be discussed with the Centre’s interlocutor for talks, PC Haldar. The three Bodo groups, ABSU, PJACBM and NDFB-P demanded a "solution" to the Bodoland issue and not false promises. Leaders of these groups said they would convey this message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his maiden visit to Kokrajhar on January 19. The three Bodo groups, which have been jointly working for the community since 2013, appealed to Modi to "announce a clear-cut policy on creation of Bodoland" as promised in the manifesto of 2014 Lok Sabha polls by the BJP. "People in (proposed) Bodoland are eagerly awaiting a prudent decision," said ABSU president Pramod Boro. Cachar Police arrested nine persons, including a woman from different places midnight for being allegedly involved in abductions and extortion in Barak valley. The nine arrested persons were identified as Bapan Mazumder (31), Akhtar Hussain Laskar (35), Imran Hussain Raj Barbhuiya (27), Shammim Choudhury (22), Santo Roy alias Shaymal Sarkar (22), and his wife Mahi Deb (20), Moinul Haque Barbhuiya (30), and Abdur Rahman Tapadar (22), including Tiklu (28). Cachar Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajveer Singh said that the gang used Mahi to lure men and then abduct them. The racket was busted after the Police started an investigation into the abduction of college student Sohail Ahmed Laskar of Saidpur village of Cachar District. SFs arrested a NSLA militant, identified as Robvan Hembram (22) from Serfanguri in Kokrajhar District. Police arrested one more person belonging to the gang allegedly involved in abductions and extortion in Barak valley, identified as Tiklu Mazumder. "Around 14 to 15 people are involved in the racket. We have arrested 10. We have continued our hunt for those who have been running abduction rackets here for the past four to five years," SP Rajveer Singh added. Representatives of six ethnic communities of Assam met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati to discuss the issue of granting ST status. Leaders of the communities said the meeting, which lasted for about 15 minutes, failed to get a timeframe on granting ST status. “The Prime Minister only told us that his office is seriously considering the issue. We do not know when the status will be granted,” said AKRSU president Hitesh Barman. The six communities demanding ST status are Tai Ahoms, Koch Rajbongshis, Morans, Motocks, adivasis and Soteas. One woman, identified as Asma Kahtun of South Salmara-Mancachar in Dhubri District lodged a FIR after she was allegedly threatened by a GNLA militant over phone, demanding INR 10 lakh. The ABSU, NDFB-P and the PJACBM demanded early permanent solution to the Bodoland issue and constitutional safeguard and political rights to the Bodo people. Karbi Anglong Police arrested five militants, including ‘commander-in-chief’ of UKPLA, identified as Roben Phangcho, from the Dolamara area of Diphu in Karbi Anglong A joint team of Barpathar Police and SFs arrested three KPLT cadres at Bokajan in East Karbi Anglong District. Acting on a tip-off, the joint team conducted a search operation at Majung Teron Gaon under Barpathar Police Station and arrested one cadre, identified as Winson Teron (26) along with a muzzle loaded rifle, a .22 pistol with three live ammunition and three live ammunition of AK-47 rifle in his possession. The arrested cadre was later interrogated and based on his information, the joint team conducted another raid in the Bonarea locality and successfully arrested two other cadres, identified as Biren Engti (26) and Amus Ingti (45), thereby recovering a .22 pistol with two live ammunition from their possession. Two persons, identified as Naren Chouhan and Mohan Turi were arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from a business-man in Jorhat District. Police arrested a wanted NDFB-IKS militant, identified as the ‘self-styled platoon commander’ Lwithwi Brahma alias Lafa from his hideout in Dolaigaon under Dhaligaon Police Station in Bongaigaon District. Police arrested two persons from Satra Kanora in Barpeta District for carrying illegal arms and ammunition. Seven leaders of the ULFA-PTF, including Anup Chetia and ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa, met interlocutor P.C. Haldar at the BSF camp in Patgaon in Guwahati and discussed issues concerning the ongoing talks with the Centre. The outfit's leaders did not disclose the issues discussed in the meeting but sources said they spoke of new demands they want to include in their charter of demands already submitted to the Centre in 2011. After the meeting, Rajkhowa said that Chetia's inclusion would give a fresh impetus to the talks and a solution would soon be worked out with the Government. According to sources, the Central Government has turned down the offers of the NDFB-IKS for a ceasefire to start the process of talks. Meanwhile, the Centre has also decided not to talk with any insurgent group involved in killing of innocent persons. Highly placed sources UMHA revealed that after receiving major setbacks in sustained operations by the SFs, NDFB-IKS has sent feelers on several occasions to go for a ceasefire agreement followed by talks with the Government. But such proposals from the outfit were emphatically turned down by the Government. UMHA sources revealed that immediately after coming to power, the present Government at the Centre took a tough stand against outfits involved in killings of innocents and the same formula would be adopted in case of all other militant groups. Sources further said that the Government has decided not to go for ad-hoc measures for solution of the problem of militancy. From now on, the Government would try to go for comprehensive solution of the problems and there would be no discussion with any outfit involved in senseless killing of innocent people, sources added. Kokrajhar district has the highest number of children who have lost their parents in terrorist attacks, said ADGP of Railway Police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta. "As many as 267 children were affected by militancy in Kokrajhar district, which is the highest in Assam. The number is quite high in Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD)," said Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta while addressing a gathering at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra KPLT has called for a 48-hour Karbi Anglong bandh (strike) beginning from 5 a.m. January 25 to 5 a.m. of January 27. Claiming to be KPLT source, a text message to local media at Diphu stated that the organization has called for boycotting the Republic Day celebration in protest against “reprisal measure of the government” against it. SFs, in an operation, arrested two militants of the NSCN-IM from Kashipur and Lodi villages in Dima Hasao District while they were carrying out extortion activities in the area. A pistol, along with seven rounds of live ammunition was also recovered from their possession. Four militant outfits operating in north-east India called for their boycott of Republic Day celebrations on January 26. In a joint statement the four organisations, the United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFWSEA), CorCom of Manipur, GNLA and the HNLC called for the shutdown in the region on January 26. “We call upon the citizens to put out a strong, clear message and protest against the imposed celebration of the Republic day in our West Eastern South East Asia (WESEA). We call for a total shutdown of our region from 00.01 hrs to 18 hrs of January 26,” the statement mailed to the media said. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi claimed that Islamic militant group, Islamic State (IS/ ISIS) has not been able to make significant inroads into the State that has a sizeable Muslim population. Gogoi said that though the threat from ISIS exists everywhere, the group so far had failed to strike roots in the State which, of course, can’t be a reason for the SFs to become complacent. Pointing out that ISIS was using social media in its attempt to radicalize youth with its doctrines, Gogoi said close watch was being kept at all levels to ensure that the group was not able to penetrate the state. He also underlined that youth of the country, who have been radicalized by the ISIS, had to be made to see reason and return to the mainstream. Assam DGP, Mukesh Sahay sounded an alarm over the growing threat of ISIS in different fronts and use of social media to recruit vulnerable youth to its ranks. Assam stands vulnerable to threat from radical groups like the ISIS because of presence of a large pool of unemployed youth from the backward Muslim community. The State has witnessed rising activities of jihadi elements in the recent years. Several training dens of jihadis were busted in western Assam in the last couple of years following dismantling of JMB modules in neighbouring West Bengal by Indian security agencies including the NIA. A number of leaders and cadres of various Islamic fundamentalist groups were arrested in the State in the last couple of years. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, while hoisting the national flag at the Republic Day celebrations in Guwahati, made an appeal to elusive ULFA ‘chief’ Paresh Baruah and other separatist leaders to shun the path of violence and join the mainstream. Gogoi also warned that his Government would continue to take stern measures to crush the armed rebel groups in the State. State Transport, Excise and Sports Minister Ajit Singh while welcoming the militant groups that have come over ground and joined the peace process repeated his call to those outfits which are still in wilderness. He described their move as a positive signal which will contribute towards the strengthening of unity and solidarity. Ajit Singh said, “No solution is possible through gun-culture.” It is in their overall interest that they should return to the mainstream life. He at the same time cautioned if any group makes any attempt to challenge law and order and create disorder, his Government will not hesitate to deal with them firmly. Unidentified assailants abducted three persons, identified as Lala Nampui (75), Josepha Nampui (25) and Luapui Thiaite, from New Sangbar village under Umrangsu Police Station in Dima Hasao District. Three Policemen, identified as Dharmendra Das, Tilak Nath and R K Rajesh Singh, were injured when unidentified assailants hurled a grenade at them during patrol duty in Ram Nagar under Haflong Police Station in Dima Hasao District. Investigations are on and a search has been launched to nab the culprits, the Police Unidentified assailants fired at the residence of District BJP General Secretary Deben Thaosen in Haflong in Dima Hasao District. However, no casualties were reported. Assailants abducted one Bijon Kemprai, brother of Dima Hasao DCC president Mahendra Kemprai, from Thaijuari in Dima Hasao District. Police and Army, in a joint operation, arrested one NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Gangaraj Wary alias Dableu Gold (35), and a linkman, identified as Kalicharan Brahma (25) from Chirang District. Spot interrogation and search led to recovery of one 7.62 mm pistol with two rounds of ammunition, one .305 Rifle with 25 rounds of ammunition, 14 rounds of .315 rifle, one Chinese hand grenade and other war like stores, an Army official said in a statement. Army and Tengakhat Police in a joint operation arrested a leader of the ULFA-I and his wife from Ulton area under Tengakhat Police Station in Dibrugarh District. The arrested militants have been identified as Abhinash Gogoi alias Dudu (18), a resident of Tengakhat Lohali Village under Duliajan Police Station and Puja Marak (20), resident of Sherpur District in Bangladesh. According to Police sources, Dudu was joined banned outfit ULFA-I in 2011 and subsequently he was sheltered at Bangladesh and had involved in various activities of ULFA. One person, identified as Dip Neog, who was arrested on charges of making an extortion demand to a local resident in Rajahowli in Jorhat District, was sent to judicial custody by a local court in Jorhat. A jihadi identified as Jahidul Islam (28) was arrested from Gossaigaon in Kokrajhar District. Chirang Police arrested one jihadi, from Hatigaon in Guwahati in Kamrup District. The jihadi identified as Tota Miya (40) was residing as a tenant at Mina Begum’s residence situated at Masjid Road in Notboma. Police have recovered one 7.65 pistol and two rounds of live ammunition, one magazine and two mobile phones from his possession. Nearly 1,450 cadres of different militant groups were arrested across the state last year (2015) and a huge cache of arms and ammunition seized, Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya informed the State Assembly. "During 2015, the security forces apprehended 1,449 cadres of different militant groups," Acharya said in his address to the House on the first day of the February Session. "The security forces also recovered 577 assorted arms, 15,515 rounds of live ammunition, 58 IEDs, 307 grenades, 144 kg of explosives, 2,979 detonators and cash amounting to Rs 29,85,510 from different extremist elements," he added. Acharya also said 58 militants and 10 civilians were killed last year in encounters, while 49 other people were kidnapped in extremist-related "Identification of one module of JMB in the state in the wake of the blast in Khagragarh, Burdwan district, West Bengal, led to the arrest of 30 members of the module from Barpeta, Nalbari and Chirang districts of Assam as well as recovery of 10 bombs," he added. Acharya said efforts are going on to apprehend the remaining members of the module. Currently 13 militant groups are on the path of joining the mainstream after laying down their arms, he said. "My government would also like to appeal to Shri Paresh Baruah and his faction of the ULFA and other insurgent groups to give up the path of violence and come back to the national mainstream in the interest of the people of Assam and the country at large," he added. BSF troops of Dhubri sector seized FICN worth INR 100,000 from three Indian FICN racketeers. Based on a specific input provided by BSF intelligence wing, a joint operation was launched by troops of BSF Dhubri sector along with Police and arrested three FICN couriers, identified as Golam Hussain (50), Jahar Ali (28) and Jamaluddin Sheikh (25) with the FICN worth INR 100,000 from Jogmaya Ghat, adjacent to Dhubri town, BSF official The Red Horns Division operating in the parts of Darrang and Udalguri Districts arrested six hardcore militants of the NLFB. The arrest was made after a combined operation by Army Camp based at Chapai in Borrengajuli and Deomornai assisted by the joint teams SDPO Bhergaon and Police representatives from Khoirabari and Dimakuchi Police Stations. Intelligence inputs received from sources about the presence of a new insurgent outfit, NLFB, being actively involved in killing and several extortion activities across Darrang and Udalguri Districts. Intelligence inputs also revealed about their connection with several militant outfits based at Dimapur like NSCN-IM, NSCN-K and NDFB-S. The Assam State Government said that the killing of civilians and SF personnel has declined significantly during recent years. Replying to a call attention motion by AIUDF MLA Abdur Rahim Khan in the Legislative Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rakibul Hussain said that only four SF personnel died in counter-insurgency operations in 2014, and none in 2015. Similarly, 10 civilians were killed by militants in 2015, and none so far in 2016. “The situation has improved significantly since our Government took charge. The fear psychosis that existed earlier is now absent. A total of 89 security personnel had died in 1997, 77 in 1998 and 87 in 1999. No doubt, in some areas problems do exist, but the situation now is much better,” Hussain said. Earlier, citing a media report, AIUDF’s Khan said that 272 Police personnel lost their lives in Assam during the last 15 years. Unidentified assailants fired at the gate of former Doomdooma MLA and secretary of APCC, Durga Bhumij’s residence at Milantirtha in Rupai Siding in Tinsukia District. According to Bhumij, a Tata Indica vehicle came at a breakneck speed and fired indiscriminately at his gate and fled towards Daimukhia Tea Estate. He was inside his residence and no casualty was reported. Police recovered six empty shells of 7.65 mm pistol from the site of the incident. Various organisations have condemned the incident and demanded an inquiry into the incident. Another firing incident took place at Ultapul near Digboi town in Tinsukia District at 6.45 pm. Three persons riding a car stopped in front of a paan shop owned by one Rameswar Majhi. Alighting from the car, they first asked for cigarettes. Suddenly, one of them whipped out a pistol and fired at the shopkeeper, missing him narrowly. The trio boarded the vehicle and sped off but not before firing again. No one was injured in Members of a newly-floated militant outfit of the Moran community, Moran Tiger Force (MTF) are said to be behind the two incidents of firings happened in Tinsukia District. ADGP (special branch) Pallab Bhattacharya said "We have reports about a new outfit, Moran Tiger Force, floated a week ago. We also have clues about Paresh Baruah's involvement. The situation in Tinsukia district is tense and we have issued orders to bring the situation under control so that it does not spill over to Dibrugarh." Tamulpur Police arrested two militants of NDFB-IKS, identified as Sudem Muchahary alias Manual (24) and Khassar Muchahary (36) along with arms and ammunition from Naokata under Tamulpur subdivision in Baksa District. Police sources said that the militants were involved in various cases of extortion. Acting on a tip off a team of Tamulpur police arrested the rebels when they came to collect extorted money from a trader at Naokata. Tamulpur SDPO Asif Ahmed said that the detained militants threatened MP Biswajit Daimary and BTC EM Ganesh Kachari several times. A NDFB-IKS militant, identified as ‘self-styled section commander’ Lothen Basumatary alias Birai (42) was arrested in a joint operation by the Army and the Assam Police in Gorebil village in Kokrajhar District. A 7.65mm pistol and some ammunition was recovered from him. Assam Police have launched an operation to arrest at least 10 jihadi militants, who are now on the run. The operation will be centred around the BTAD, but various minority-dominated Districts of the State have also been alerted, report said. Besides, three BTC Districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Baksa and neighbouring western Assam Districts of Barpeta and Nalbari have been marked sensitive on the suspicion that the Jihadi elements might have settled to spread tentacles in these areas. The Police have been conducting a major search operation against the jihadis for the past six months in the area and have arrested 18 people who are directly or indirectly involved in the recruitment, gun running and extortion rackets of various Muslim fundamentalist outfits. The biggest success was the busting of a training module at Daukhanagar in Dhaligaon in September 2015. The Police teams recovered eight handmade AK-47 lookalike rifles that were hidden in a pit. A Police official said, "During the combing operation, we found 28 uniforms meant for the cadres. So far we have arrested 18. We suspect that 10 more jihadi cadres are at large. Already, six among them have been identified." The CBI, while probing the 2012 BTAD riots, has disclosed the involvement of Islamic elements in the violence. Post Burdwan blast (October 2, 2014), the arrest of JMB cadre, Sahanur Alom, and his wife by an NIA team in Burdwan District of West Bengal had clearly proved the presence of jihadi elements in the State. Recently, Chirang Police arrested Tota Miya from the city's Hatigaon area with a pistol. He has been taken into three-day police custody. "We hope to get vital infofrom him," said IGP BTAD, L R Bishnoi. One of the biggest catches in the operation, Bura Bhai, who was engaged in arms training and gun running for jihadi groups in the state, has revealed, during interrogation, how the char areas in the state have been used by such modules. Hundreds of Adivasis (tribals), armed with bows and arrows, marched on the National Highway in Tinsukia District in protest against two incidents of firing in the District on February 3. According to written replies to a series of short notice questions in the State Assembly, eight bloody ethnic clashes in different parts of the State, which ended in the deaths of 535 people, including 45 children and 80 women, form the biggest blot on the unbroken but chequered 15-year Congress rule under Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. On the positive side, as many as four militant outfits signed peace deals with the Government and 13 other outfits, including ULFA, declared ceasefire and began peace talks. Since Gogoi's first term from May 2001, militancy claimed at least 2,275 civilians and 309 security personnel. A total of 2,103 militants were killed and 8,930 others laid down arms. Another 213 people were killed in Police firing. On the crime chart, a total of 19,821 murder cases, 21,556 rape cases, 43,879 cases of kidnapping, 91,419 cases of crime against women, 158 cases of witch-hunts, 4,816 cases of dacoity and 43,328 cases of suicide were registered between May 2001 and December 2015. According to the replies, ethnic clashes during Gogoi's terms include the Hmar-Dimasa clash in Dima Hasao District and the Kuki-Karbi clash in Karbi Anglong District in 2003, Karbi-Dimasa clash in Karbi Anglong District in 2005, Muslim-Bodo clash in Darrang and Udalguri Districts in 2005, Zemi Naga-Dimasa clash in Dima Hasao District in 2009, Rabha-Garo clash in Goalpara District in 2011, Bodo-Muslim clash in BTAD areas in 2012 and Karbi-Rengma Naga clash in Karbi Anglong District in 2013-14. The State Government informed that 6,658 cases of ethnic clashes were registered. Of these, chargesheets were filed in 159 cases, final reports were submitted in 3,594 cases, 5,353 cases are under investigation, 12 cases were transferred to the CBI and 2,358 cases were amalgamated Apart from ethnic clashes within the State, another 36 clashes with neighbouring States also took place in which 87 people were killed and 78 injured. Interstate clashes include fights with Mizoram in Hailakandi District in 2003 and 2008 and in Cachar District in 2013, with Meghalaya in Kamrup (Metro) District in 2010 and in Dhubri District in 2013, with Nagaland in Golaghat District in 2002, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2015, in Sivasagar District in 2005, 2007 and 2015, in Jorhat District in 2013, in Karbi Anglong District in 2014, with Arunachal Pradesh in Dhemaji District in 2001, 2006, 2008, in Lakhimpur District in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2011, in Sonitpur District in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and in Biswanath Chariali Police District in 2015. Two incidents of firing in Tinsukia District, both by the hitherto-unknown MTF, has sent local Police in a tizzy. Police arrested Surajit Moran, president of the Tinsukia unit of AJYCP from Doomdooma in Tinsukia District for his alleged involvement with the outfit. Police recovered three handmade bombs from the house of Bipul Basumatary at Sahoriagaon under Dhing Police Station in Nagaon District. Later, several weapons and ammunition were also recovered at the house of Basumatary's father-in-law Khuken Hazowari at Boragaon in Kamrup District. Tinsukia ASP-headquarters, Lamhao Doungel said that Police were trying to gather more information about MTF, a new kid on the block as far as rebel groups are concerned. "Our team has found vital clues (about the outfit) after going through the call details of the phone number used to send text messages after the firings. We have found evidence of Moran's involvement with the perpetrators of the two incidents. Unlike militant outfits like ULFA and NDFB-Songbijit, MTF doesn't seem to have any particular leader," he explained. A suspected Islamic State (IS) operative, identified as Suman Aziz Laskar was arrested at SMC in Cachar District. Police have launched an operation to arrest three others based on information revealed by him during interrogation. A senior Police officer said the 20-year-old man was taking the fourth semester examination of MBBS at SMC on February 6 morning. The students said that the man, in question, was not a student of the medical college. ASP-Cachar, Subhashini Shankaran said the investigation was conducted on the basis of the information revealed by the man adding that some incriminating documents have been recovered from him including a file that contains certain codes of Mumbai and other cities. However, reports also said that during interrogation, the arrested person said he was involved with a Bangladesh-based terror group and that he hails from Bangladesh. ULFA-PTF leader Anup Chetia made a sudden visit to ex-MLA Durga Bhumij’s house at Rupaisiding in Tinsukia District along with Prabal Neog. The visit has carried much significance in view of the fact that on the evening of February 3, some miscreants claiming to be member of the MTF indiscriminately fired at the house of Durga Bhumij from an Indica car and immediately escaped from the spot. The State Government has written to the UMHA asking the latter to facilitate formal deportation of suspected Myanmarese nationals, currently lodged in the detention camps of Assam, through diplomatic channels. The letter, written by the Home Department at Dispur, has also requested the UMHA to pursue the matter with the MEA so that the nationality of the Myanmarese nationals, caught in Assam from time to time, can be cross-checked after which the process could be started. Sources stated that the MEA had already taken up the matter with its counterpart in the neighbouring country. In the letter to the UMHA, the Home Department had sent a list of 28 Myanmarese nationals, which also comprises Rohingya Muslims who had fled the neighbouring country fearing their lives. These also include women and children, official sources said. The 28 Myanmar nationals, who were lodged in the detention camps situated in Goalpara, Kokrajhar and Silchar after their arrest, are now being shifted to the new detention camp in Tezpur. The State has six detention camps, including one each in Dibrugarh and Jorhat. A ‘platoon commander’ of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Uday Narzary alias N. Khilikhang (30), wanted for the Adivasi massacre of December 23, 2014, was killed in an encounter with SFs in Chirang District of lower Assam. An AK-56 rifle with a magazine and INR 31,000 were recovered from the slain militant. Chirang SP Ranjan Bhuyan said Narzary, who hails from Bengtol in Chirang District, was also involved in extortions and abductions. "He had joined NDFB (S) in 2010 and was a member of the outfit's 35th batch. He had undergone training in use of arms and explosives in Myanmar," the Police officer added. Narzary's killing is being seen as a major success for the SFs, who have been carrying out relentless operations against the NDFB-IKS since the outfit killed more than 65 Adivasi villagers in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur Districts in December 2014. A source said 25 cadres of the outfit have been killed and about 600 of its members and linkmen arrested in the operation. However, about 25 to 30 militants, including top leaders G. Bidai and K. Batha, are still at large. Two militants of the PLF-M, identified as Babul Momin and (Energy) Momin, were beaten to death by a mob at Rowmari Garopara area under Rongjuli Police Station in Goalpara District. The militant-brother duo were beaten to death by a mob on charge of terrorizing them by demanding extortion money, District SP Nitul Gogoi said. One of the slain militants Babul Momin was wanted by Police for indulging in anti-social activities and extortion demands, the SP said. Extortion demand letters and the Meghalaya-based PLFM letter pads were recovered from the slain militants. SFs arrested one person, identified as Hitesh Roy, along with FICN worth of INR 17,000 from Amguri in SFs arrested a ULFA-I cadre, identified as Deepak Das (27), along with a 7.62 mm pistol and some ammunition from Kachiabari Borogopha in Kokrajhar District. The militant was involved in money collection, extortion and providing administrative support to ULFA-I. The attempt on the part of the suspected GNLA-ULFA combine to attack the Police personnel in Resubelpara in North Garo Hills District was foiled, following the recovery of IEDs and arrest of a person by a joint team of both Assam and Meghalaya Police from Goalpara District of Assam. Based on the revelation of one of the GNLA cadre, one Malsing R Marak was arrested on the outskirts of Resubelpara and three remote controlled IEDs and gelatins sticks were recovered from a house at Kalaring village adjacent to the forest area of Dorenkitip in Assam. Later, all the IEDs were defused by a bomb disposal team of Meghalaya Police. Based on intelligence input about NDFB-IKS militants holed up deep in the jungles of Rowta Reserve Forest North of Mazbat town (Udalguri District) bordering Arunachal Pradesh, a 48 hour long search and destroy mission was conducted by the Army and Udalguri Police and arrested two persons from the camp location. The operation was launched on February 10 by Army and Assam Police, was a major success and resulted in successful busting of NDFB-IKS militant camp, report said. The camp was being used to train and provide logistic support to the active cadres of the NDFB-IKS. The destruction of the NDFB-IKS camp goes a long way in reducing the menace of this unlawful organization from the Udalguri District and will help in bringing peace and normalcy in the region, Army said in a statement. SFs arrested a senior cadre of the NSLA, identified as Everest Tudu alias Jambua from Siyalmari village in Kokrajhar District. A pistol along with some ammunition and a mobile phone were recovered from his possession. BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate in Assam Sarbananda Sonowal said that illegal immigrants were the enemies of the people of the State. In an interview, Sonowal, said, ‘’Congress is trying to bring illegal migrants to the state. The local people have been reduced to ‘microscopic minority’. These people (immigrants) are the enemies of the people of Assam. Claiming that unabated infiltration from Bangladesh is still on, Sonowal said if voted to power, his party will find a lasting solution to the burning issue which is threatening the basis of Assamese society. A linkman of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Ila Narzary, was arrested from Mainaguri under Serfanguri Police Station in Kokrajhar District. He was involved in extortion and information gathering for the outfit. A country-made pistol, along with live bullets were recovered from him. In a joint operation, the Indian Army and Kokrajhar Police killed two militants of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Sanjib Basumatary alias Khardes and Jangswrang Basumatary alias Ladai at Auzarguri in Kokrajhar District. “An ambush was laid following a tip-off regarding the movement of some NDFB-IKS militants in the area. When the militants were challenged, they opened indiscriminate fire, prompting the security forces to retaliate. Two militants were killed in the exchange of fire”, defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Suneet Newton said. One of the slain militant, Ladai is wanted by the NIA in connection with the Adivasi massacre of December 2014 and for kidnapping Hindi-speaking people in January 2014. Khardes is also a wanted terrorist involved in subversive acts. Two 7.65mm pistols with five rounds of ammunition, six empty cases of 7.65mm pistol, a 7.62mm AK magazine, six 7.62mm empty cases, eight 7.62mm live rounds, two grenades, some explosives and two mobiles were recovered from the duo. The NDFB-IKS claimed that Sanjib Basumatary alias Kharde who was killed by the joint team of Army and Police on February 14 morning at Auzarguri in Kokrajhar District, was not their cadre but a student. The outfit also alleged that a hand of Kharde was cut off brutally by the Army. Suspected Garo militants abducted an owner of a grocery shop, identified as Laldev Shah (Basu), from Bakharapara village in Bongaigaon District. Laldev Shah was returning home at Dhupdhara in Goalpara District at around 5 pm when armed militants allegedly kidnapped him from Bakharapara village at gunpoint. According to sources, a substantial portion of the funds generated from illegal activities like timber smuggling, poaching etc are going to the coffers of the North East militant groups. Highly placed official sources said that timber smuggling and other such illegal activities are matters of serious concern, more so, because some of the militant groups are surviving on the money generated from such activities. Sources said that the Central Government had alerted the States of the region that such activities helped the militant groups to survive and the concerned State governments should take all possible steps to stop such illegal Sources further revealed that for years the NDFB survived from the money that they received from those involved in illegal activities like timber smuggling and poaching. The other income source of the NDFB was abduction and extortion. But of late, after the Central Government decided to launch a massive combing operation against the militants belonging to the NDFB-IKS after the involvement of members of the outfit in the gruesome killing of more than 70 persons on December 23, 2014, the fund flow to the outfit came down as its members, including senior leaders are on the run. The outfit has not been able to indulge in any kidnapping since the operation was launched and the extortion amounts are also coming down. However, sources admitted that according to reports, the remaining militants are surviving because of the money that they are receiving from the persons involved in timber smuggling. Following an intelligence report, the Army launched a combat operation near Assam and Arunachal Pradesh border and killed four militants in Na Kathalguri village under Bordumsa Police Station in Tinsukia District. According to sources, three of them were from NSCN-K and the fourth one was from the ULFA-I. Police recovered 2 pistols, 2 magazines with 25 rounds of ammunition, one AK-56 rifle with 3 magazines, 82 rounds of ammunition of AK series, 13,500 Kyat (Myanmarese currency), 6 mobile phone sets, 2 sets of Army fatigue, 1 pouch, 2 solar plates and 2 solar lights. One person, identified as Amir Hussain was arrested for allegedly demanding INR 2 lakh at gunpoint from Dhubri District Congress vice-president Rezaul Islam on February ULFA leader Anup Chetia, while urging for peace and harmony among all the ethnic tribes of the State, cautioned the divisive forces which tried to destroy the age-long communal harmony in the State. Chetia was addressing a meeting at the Doomdooma Bangiya Durgabari Hall which was convened by the ULFA-PTF in the wake of firing to the residence of former Doomdooma MLA Durga Bhumij by an organisation named MTF. The meeting was also addressed by ULFA ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa, former MLA Durga Bhumij and several leaders of various ethnic student and youth organisations. In his address Rajkhowa alleged that an unknown force is trying to disturb the communal harmony among the ethnic tribes of Tinsukia A link man of NDFB-IKS, identified as Rana Narzary was arrested by SFs from Saraibil under Gossaigaon police station in Kokrajhar District. He was involved with money collection, extortion, providing administrative support and information about movement of security forces to militant outfit organization. Two youths were arrested from Hingoritoli in newly formed Charaideo District on charges of demanding money from some businessmen in the name of ULFA-I. The NIA arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Sibiary alias Sansuma alias Daoka Basumatary when he was produced before the special NIA court in Guwahati. According to an official source, the accused, who was wanted by the NIA in the Adivasi massacre case (December 23, 2014), had surrendered before the special NIA court a few days ago. The court remanded him in NIA custody for 12 days. Basumatary, who hails from Dhalkata village at Nalkhamara in Udalguri District, was allegedly involved in killing of five Adivasi villagers, besides injuring others, at Pakhriguri under Serfanguri police station in Kokrajhar District on December 23, 2014. The source said after carrying out the massacre he was hiding in Nepal and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) disguised as a worker before he surrendered in the court. A suspected NLFB militant, identified as Ajoy Roy (20) was arrested along with one handmade pistol, six hand grenades and two blank cartridges from Darrangamela in Baksa District along Indo-Bhutan border. A militant belonging to NSCN-K, identified as Tabroi Konyak was arrested near a tea garden on Sonari-Namtola Road in Charaideo District. ULFA ‘general secretary’, Anup Chetia met the family members of deceased ULFA cadres in Bakaliaghat in Karbi Anglong District and said that a ‘Martyrs’ Trust’ would be set up by them and soon a museum in the name of deceased ULFA members would also be constructed. The families appealed to him to make them a part of the ongoing talks with the Government of India. The ULFA leader said that the outfit had urged the Government of India to start search operation for ULFA cadres who went missing after the anti-insurgency operation in Bhutan. The ULFA leader held a meeting with the ceasefire groups of militant organizations like KLNLF, former DHD, UKDA and KRA. The chairman of the KLNLF, P Dilli said that they also would like to form the ‘Martyrs’ Trust’ with the ULFA. During the meeting, Thong Teron, general secretary, publicity secretary, Rejak Dera of KLNLF, former DHD leader Pranab Nunisa, Alex Kuki, general secretary, UKDA and Bruce Kuki, leader of KRA were present. Six Assam villagers were wounded when they were attacked by unidentified Naga militants near Holonguri along the inter-state border in Jorhat District. According to sources, six Assamese villagers, who had gone to collect firewood in the Dessoi Valley forest, were held captive by Naga militants and assaulted brutally. The victims belonged to the tea community. Two of the critically injured, identified as Karma Karmakar and Manoj Mirdha were shifted to Jorhat Medical College & Hospital for better treatment. Senior Police officers from the District headquarters rushed to the spot and are also learnt to have communicated with their counterpart in Nagaland seeking assistance in nabbing the culprits. “We are in touch with Nagaland police. We have also identified one miscreant and his details have been shared with Nagaland police,” Titabor SDPO Kulen Deka said, adding no arrests have been made so far. “Security measures have been beefed up to avoid escalation of the situation,” he added. A joint team of Army and Police arrested three NDFB-IKS militants, identified as Bhubneswar Boro (36), Sarjib Basumatary (27) and Lepho Boro (30) from Barimakha village near Mochalpur in Baksa District. Two AK-47 rifles, one 9mm pistol along with ammunition were also recovered from the militants. The three militants were involved in extortion, arms smuggling and other nefarious and anti-national activities, Army official said. All three militants were handed over to Barbari Police for further Two ADF cadres, identified as Budu Tudu (29) and Mirjan Kisku (23), were arrested from Mandaria under Gossaigaon Police station in Kokrajhar District. Condemning the NDFB-IKS for demanding extortion of INR 20, 000 from a journalist of a vernacular daily and member of the central committee of JAFA Babu Rava, the federation urged the militant outfit to stop harassing journalists. In a statement condemning the incident, JAFA said that the NDFB-IKS even took away the bike of the journalist after threatening him with arms in their hands. It also condemned the Police inaction as four days have passed since the incident, but not a single arrest has been made so far. Police arrested three suspects, belonging to NDFB-IKS, identified as Sanjay Brahma, Nerswn Brahma, and Ramen Basumatary, from Tipkai Harjhora village in Kokrajhar District and recovered INR 36,500, two cellphones and a wallet from SF personnel arrested a cadre of the MTFA, identified as Samsul Haq, from Kadamguri in Kokrajhar Police recovered of a large number of IEDs from a stronghold of the banned GNLA in East Garo Hills of Meghalaya. Assam Police believes that the presence of such a large number of IEDs at this juncture in Garo Hills area of Meghalaya definitely looks ominous for the poll-bound State. DGP Assam, Mukesh Sahay said that any threat to the upcoming Assam Assembly elections will be seriously dealt by the Police, which is also geared up to tackle communal forces ruthlessly. “Threat, either from militants or any other source, will be seriously dealt with,” Sahay said. “In the past, there have been instances of candidates having financial dealings with militants. This time such instances will be treated as terror offence under the UAPA,” the DGP said. Reacting to the press release issued by IGAR-N and published in the local, regional and section of the national dailies on January 26, 2016, with regard to the some northeast insurgents involved in narco-terrorism, Independent faction of ULFA-I expressed dismay that their organization was named as being involved in the “cultivation and trade of opium in Kachin province of Myanmar”. In a statement, ULFA-I ‘Assistant Information and Publicity Secretary’ ‘Captain’ Arunudoy Asom objected and refuted the statement. Five days after he was abducted, a trader of the Lamajuar area in Karimganj District, identified as Abdul Kalam (52), was rescued by the Police. Kalam was abducted by a gang of armed assailants on the midnight of February 21, from a place near Janakibazar in Hailakandi District, when he was returning home in a car. Six persons, including two women, were also arrested for their alleged involvement in the abduction. They were identified as Afsalur Haque, Safrul Islam, both drivers, Faruq Ahmed, his wife Saleha Begam Talukdar, Bahar Uddin Laskar and Hafiza Khanam Laskar. Karimganj SP PR Kar said that more persons might have been involved in the incident. A hunt is on to nab the rest. A team of Army personnel from Deumornai Army camp along with Assam Police launched a joint operation and arrested five cadres of NDFB-IKS, identified as Ringchar alias Mukang (20), Ranchai Baro alias Birkhang (20), Shaumangcha Baro (23), Jugchar Baro and Ajoy Haloi from Gurihati village under Khairabari Police station in Udalguri District. One 2.22 pistol and four live ammunition were also recovered from the militants. Army carried out operations in the Goalpara District and arrested an ULFA-I militant, identified as Bhukan Nath. A 7.65 mm pistol, live rounds and a magazine were recovered A delegation of ULFA leaders, led by its ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa, met Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi in his office in New Delhi and reviewed the progress of their ongoing talks. It was decided that the formal tripartite meeting of ULFA leaders with the Home Secretary and representatives of Government of Assam will be held in the middle of March, a Home Ministry spokesperson Chirang Police arrested an NDFB-IKS militant from Rangijhora Kherdanda area under Amguri Police Station in Chirang District. The arrested militant has been identified as Charchil Islary (32). Police official said Charchil was involved in various cases of extortion and abduction and was a close associate of NDFB-IKS ‘finance secretary’ B Doimalu and other top leaders of the outfit based in Myanmar. The ‘deputy commander-in-chief’ of the KLO identified as Dibankar Barman alias Anupal alias Jabarjung alias Raghav, was killed by SFs at Siljan Kakrikola area in Kokrajhar District. BTAD Inspector-General of Police L.R. Bishnoi said that depending on inputs about the presence of some KLO rebels in the area, a joint operation was carried out by the Army and Assam Police where the rebel leader received serious bullet injuries in the gun battle. Later, he succumbed to his injuries. Two other militants managed to escape, Bishnoi said. A 7.65mm pistol, two fired cases of 7.65mm pistol, three live rounds of 7.65mm, eight fired cases of 7.62mm pistol and a grenade were recovered from the slain militant, who was wanted in many cases of abduction and extortion. District Police arrested an ULFA-I militant, Hiren Gogoi, and his accomplice, Hemkanta Changmai, from Tinuskia District, and recovered a number of incriminating documents Based on specific information, Army and Nalbari Police launched a joint operation and arrested a linkman of NDFB-IKS from Barajol village in Nalbari District. The arrested linkman has been identified as Gajen Boro (27) Narayangaon village under Ghagrapar Police Station in Nalbari District. Gajen was involved in extortion, arms smuggling and other nefarious and anti-national activities. One 7.65mm Pistol along with four live rounds and one magazine of 7.65mm Pistol were recovered from him. Army and Police in a joint operation arrested a militant of the NDFB-IKS in Nalbari District. The arrested militant has been identified as Khomin Boro (30), a resident of village Dalbari under Barama Police Station in the District. The arrested militant was involved in extortion, arms smuggling and other nefarious and anti-national activities, Army official said. One 7.65mm pistol along with one magazine and three live rounds were recovered from him. Police arrested another NDFB- IKS militant along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border in Biswanath District. The militant has been identified as Chatu Narzary. A carbine and six rounds of live ammunition were found on him. Based on specific information, Army Camp Boko and Police launched a joint operation, and arrested one arms supplier from Bholkmari (South Kamrup) who was reported to be supplying weapons and ammunition to NDFB- IKS and MULTA militants. The arms supplier has been identified as Mokshed Ali (42) of Bholkamari village under Chhayagaon Police Station in South Kamrup District. The arrested arms supplier was also reported to be involved in arms smuggling and other nefarious and anti-national activities and had been working with extremists for many years, Army official said. One .22mm pistol and one magazine along with four pistol ammunition were recovered from him. Two ULFA linkmen, identified as Hiren Gogoi alias Rabin (24) and Hemakanat Changmai alias Jatin alias Pinku, both belonging to Deoghoriya village of Lakhipather under Digboi Police Station in Tinsukia District were arrested by joint forces of District Special Team and Digboi Police. According to sources, the arrest was made after the demand for fifty hunting boots were made by the rebels from a local businessman in Digboi which was meant for the banned ULFA faction. Police recovered an automatic pistol with two live cartridges at Khaksi under Haluwating Police Station in Sivasagar District. According to reports, local residents of Khaksi area of Amguri TE saw a man roaming here and there and they informed the nearby CRPF camp immediately. When CRPF personnel reached the suspected man fled from the spot leaving a packet wrapped with polythene. An automatic pistol, two live cartridges, one torch light, one water bottle and one cigarette packed from the polythene bag. Based on specific information, Army and Baksa Police launched a joint operation and arrested a cadre of the NDFB- IKS identified as Namal Boro (28), from Alagjhar village under Barama Police Station in Baksa District. The arrested linkman has been involved in extortion, arms smuggling and other nefarious and anti-national activities. One 7.65mm pistol along with one magazine and two live rounds were recovered from him. Namal has been handed over to Barama Police Station. SFs seized a huge cache of weapons in separate raids in Assam. One 7.5 pistol, two magazines, 190 live rounds, three mobile sets, cash, ATM cards and other documents were seized from a mini truck at a check post near Azara Police Station in Guwahati city. The truck was plying from Dimapur to Goalpara. Two persons - Rafiqul Islam of Boko and Irakdau Sargyari of Tamulpur - were arrested from the vehicle. Lumding GRP recovered a large quantity of ammunition from the Tinsukia Avadh-Assam Express at Lumding railway station in Nagaon District. The cache included 497 cartridges of various calibres. The Khatkhati Police in an encounter killed a UPLA militant at Bokajan in East Karbi Anglong District. SFs conducted a raid in the Lalmati area along Assam-Nagaland border on being tipped off about the movement of some unidentified militants in the area and while the Police team was on move, the militant group opened fire and the column retaliated. After a thorough search, a bullet ridden body was found while others managed to escape under cover of darkness. A 9 mm pistol and a 7.65 pistol along with other incriminating documents were recovered from possession of the slain militant. The killed militant is yet to be identified. A linkman of KLO was arrested from Simlubari village under Tamulpur Police Station in Baksa District. Acting on intelligence input, a team of Police led by Tamulpur SDPO Ashif Ahmed launched an operation in Simlubari village and arrested one Indrajit Barman (24). Police sources said that a group of KLO militants along with a top leader of the outfit were taking shelter in the house of Barman in Tamulpur area. Two militants of the ULFA-I surrendered before SFs in Tinsukia District after SFs launched operation against them. A group of UNLFWSEA and some other extremist organizations entered Upper Dihing Reserve Forest in Tinsukia on March 8. Police official said the group was a conglomerate of ULFA-I, PLA, KYKL, and NSCN-K and was led by self-styled 'Lieutenant' Prodip Gogoi alias Akon and their intention was to carry out subversive activity in Tinsukia before or after March 16, which is "ARMY DAY" of ULFA-I. On getting information Police, Army, CRPF and SSB jointly conducted search operation in probable hide outs, as a result of which two ULFA-I militants namely War Asom and Biman Asom deserted the group along with arms/ammunitions and expressed their willingness to join the mainstream. Two PLA cadres and one KYKL cadre are also suspected to have deserted the group. The NIA submitted a supplementary chargesheet before the Special NIA Court in Guwahati (Assam) against three NDFB-IKS militants in connection with the killing of five Adivasi people at Pakhriguri village under Serfanguri Police Station in Kokrajhar District on December 23, 2014. The accused are Amal Mushahary alias Aogoi, Kamakhya Daimary alias Kwnasong alias Konkor alias Kanta and Jeba Basumatary alias Jangsha Borgoyari alias Lambu alias Ziba Borgoyari. SFs have traced the movement of a 16-member special hit squad comprising of militants from several rebel groups in upper Assam's Tinsukia District, and have sounded an alert as these militants are likely to attempt to disrupt the upcoming Assembly polls in Assam. "On March 8, a group of UNLFWSEA and some other extremist organisations entered Upper Dihing Reserve Forest, Tinsukia. The group was a conglomerate of Independent faction of ULFA-I, PLA, KYKL, NSCN-K," Assam Police said. In a joint operation by Police and 168 Field Regiment of Army, one dreaded NDFB-IKS militant identified as B. Shumla was killed in Asrabari under Mazbat Police Station area in Udalguri District. One 7. 65 mm pistol, two rounds of ammunition and one 36 hand grenade were recovered from the killed cadre. A joint team of Manja and Dillai Police recovered huge cache of ammunition from Serlongri Tisso Gaon under Manja Police Station in Karbi Anglong District. As per information, the joint Police team acting on specific information launched an operation at midnight at Serlongri Tisso Gaon about six kilometres west of Manja and recovered 36 hand grenades, 24 rounds of live ammunition of AK series, 10 rounds of live ammunition of 7.65mm pistol and other belongings from the village in the following Army and Assam Police in a joint operation arrested three NDFB-IKS militants in Chirang District. Acting on specific intelligence input, a joint team of Army and Police arrested one cadre and two linkmen with arms, ammunition and other war like stores in the District. The arrested cadre and linkmen were involved in extortion and unlawful activities, an Army official said in A huge cache of explosives with 69 electronic detonators and wires were recovered at Pherighat in Lakhipur in Cachar District, in a joint operation of Police and CRPF. The recovery was made from a boatman accompanied by two women who were taken into custody. On initial interrogation, they revealed that they were coming from Borobekra in Jiribam in Imphal East District of Manipur. Acting on a tip-off, the 14 Dogra Regiment of Army arrested two hardcore militants of the NDFB-IKS from Jaljali village under Rangia Police Station in Kamrup District. According to Army sources, the militants have identified as Durga Baro of village Bonguri, Tamulpur under Baksa District and Umesh Daimary of Gandhibari village. One sophisticated pistol, two grenades and four live cartridges were recovered from their possession. Janagram Tudu, an overground worker of NSLA, was arrested from Kashiabari in Kokrajhar District. A pistol and live round was recovered from him. A JMB operative, Asad Ali alias Asadullah, an associate of Bardhaman blast (October 2, 2014) accused Sahanur Alom was arrested while trying to cross over from Bangladesh at Sutarkandi in Assam's Karimganj District on March 20. An official source told that the fugitive was arrested in an operation led by Karimganj SP Pradip Ranjan Kar on basis of a tip-off. Ali, who hails from Kaplabari village in Mukalmua Police Station area of Assam's Nalbari District, is known as Moinul Islam and Ismail Hussain within the organisation. Confirming Ali's arrest, Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay said that he was one of the six JMB activities of the state who went underground after the arrest of Sahanur and other members of this group. 40th Field Regiment of Army and Udalguri Police in a joint operation arrested a hardcore NDFB-IKS militant. The arrested militant has been identified as Mukuta Boro alias B Mwsagra of Chinakona village under Khoirabari Police Station in Udalguri District. Rakesh Roshan, SP of Udalguri said huge quantities of arms including one factory made 7.65mm pistol, four grenades, three fuse wires, 20 7.65 live rounds of ammunitions were recovered from the possession of the militant. Indian Army and Kokrajhar Police arrested three KLO cadres who were on their way to attend a training camp at Myanmar. Ranjay Barman was arrested from Maktaigaon in Kokrajhar District, while Hitesh Roy and Shibu Prasad Choudhury were held at Maurigaon in Morigaon District. Two rifles, one pistol and few rounds of ammunition were recovered from the arrested cadres. The NIA sleuths will interrogate JMB activist Asad Ali alias Asadullah, who was arrested by Assam Police while he was trying to cross over from Bangladesh to India at Sutarkandi in Karimganj District on March 20. The accused is close to Burdwan-blast accused Sahanur Alam, who was charge sheeted by the NIA in the case. An official source said, a team of NIA officials will come from its Calcutta office and interrogate the JMB member to ascertain if he had any role in the Burdwan blast. Two Bru (Reang) militants were killed in an encounter with the Police in Ramshantipur locality in Hailakandi District. Two persons, who had been abducted by them, were rescued. Police and CRPF personnel launched an operation in the District near the Assam-Mizoram border to rescue the two persons who had been abducted from Silchar in Cachar District on March 25. They are yet to be identified. The officer said three other militants were arrested during the operation. Based on continuous inputs of insurgent activities over last two weeks in Karbi Anglong District, the Army carried out extensive area domination, and recovered a hideout with large cache of arms and warlike stores and neutralised it in Disama Reserve Forest. The cache includes six country made rifles, two pistols, eight grenades, detonators and huge quantity of explosives. Two militants of KPLT, which is opposing the upcoming Assembly polls in Assam, were killed in an encounter with a joint team of Police and the Army at Borpung Terang village in Karbi Anglong District, ahead of the April 4 voting in the area. The slain militants were identified as 'commander-in-chief' Sajong Bey and 'general secretary' Mukrang Bey of the outfit. The Police have recovered one AK series rifle and one 9 mm pistol along with some assorted ammunitions from the slain militants. The insurgents exchanged fire with the joint Police and Army team at Borpung Terang village under Chokikhola Police Station. The KPLT had issued threats to media persons recently after journalists at a meeting in Diphu Press Club unanimously decided not to publish the extremist outfit's press releases calling for bandhs opposing the voting scheduled in the District on April 4. Based on specific information on movement of an NDFB-IKS cadre received from Army Intelligence Unit, a team of Indian Army and Baksa Police launched a joint operation and arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS from Rampur in Baksa District. The rebel has been identified as Samar Ramchiary alias B Bathaou of Nutan Sripur village under Mushalpur Police Station in Baksa District. "The cadre was actively involved in at least six cases of extortion in last six months and was pivotal in NDFB (S) activities in the area," Defence PRO Suneet Newton said. One 7.65mm pistol along with five live rounds of 7.65mm, one no 36 hand grenade and INR 8050 were recovered from the arrested cadre, he said. Based on specific information, Army launched a joint operation with Bongaigaon Police and arrested one RNLF cadre from North Salmara in Bongaigaon District. The arrested militant has been identified as Sunil Rabha alias Chinese. The individual joined the group in 2005 and was trained in Parbatjhora in Kokrajhar District. One 7.65mm pistol with magazine, some live rounds, one letter pad of RNLF and some currency were recovered from his possession. At least two persons were killed and over twenty others injured in a powerful grenade attack at Dudhnoi in Goalpara District of Assam. Sources said two motorcyclists lobbed the grenade near a BJP election office at Dudhnoi Chariali under Dudhnoi Police Station. One person, Bapan Saha (35), succumbed to his injuries. SP Nitul Gogoi said another person was also killed in the explosion. His identity was not yet known. The condition of at least five others are said to be critical, with doctors stating that the toll might go up. A Police SI, Rajen Talukdar, was also seriously injured in the blast. No outfit has claimed responsibility, but Police suspect it to be a handiwork of ULFA-I outfit. The BSF troops of Guwahati Frontier, deployed in Dhubri District, in a joint operation with Kokrajhar Police recovered three country made guns, from Tipkai forest area under Bogribari Police Station in Kokrajhar District of Assam. On specific information of BSF intelligence wing, a search operation was launched in the area and the troops recovered the cached weapons, which were buried in the ground, deep inside the forest. The investigators of NIA’s Guwahati branch arrested a 26–years–old hardcore cadre of NDFB-IKS. Jwnglaw Narzary alias Jekhai, a resident of Duligaon in Kokrajhar District, BTAD, was taken into custody for his involvement in a case relating to killing of innocent civilians in Kokrajhar District of Assam in December One Assam Police commando, Swapan Nath, and a hardcore cadre of the ULFA-I were killed in an encounter in Krishnai area in Goalpara District. The death toll in on April 4 blast went up to three, with Dipankar Saha (23), succumbing to his injuries at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital. The other two deceased have been identified as Ajit Dutta (40) and Bapan Saha (35), District President of AABYCF. Altogether 25 persons, including four policemen, were injured in yesterday's blast. SP Nitul Gogoi said ULFA-I militant, Pabitra Rabha, died in an encounter with the Police at Jira village under Krishnai Police Station. The operation was launched on the basis of information that three militants were holed up in a house in the village, the SP said. "When the police team approached the house, the militants opened fire, leading to an encounter. The other two militants managed to escape but we have recovered a remote control device, which is believed to have been used in the blast," the SP said. Two top militants of the newly formed militant outfit UKPLA were arrested by Police and arms along with ammunition were recovered from them in Karbi Anglong District. SP Debojit Deuri said Police launched an operation at Reshakhidi area and arrested the two militants. The militants were identified as UKPLA 'finance secretary' Bikash Timung alias Chinthur Dera and 'general secretary' Ranjit Hanse alias Sar Chingri. One .22 pistol with 20 rounds live ammunition and one .32 pistol with 15 rounds live ammunition were recovered from City Police arrested two alleged militants of UALA from Ganesh Nagar under Basistha Police Station area in Guwahati Tehsil in Kamrup District. Police said the duo, Jakaeuss K. Marak (25), and Super D. Sangma (32), were plotting abductions for ransom. The operation was carried out by a joint team of Basistha Police Station and the Crime Branch of City Police. The army in a joint search operation with Dhubri Police arrested one MTFA militant, Mohammad Sahidul Islam Miah, from Rupsi near Basbari in Dhubri District. Based on specific information, the Army and Kokrajhar Police in a joint operation arrested a top NDFB-IKS militant, Raju Mushahary alias Rajesh Mushahary, from Kachugaon in Kokrajhar District of Assam. PRO, Defence, Guwahati, Lieutenant Colonel Suneet Newton, said Raju has been trained in Arunachal Pradesh. "He was actively involved in extortion, arms peddling, recruitment of insurgents and providing logistical support to the banned organisation. A 7.65mm pistol with magazine, few live rounds of ammunition and one hand grenade were recovered from him," he said. Three NDFB-IKS militants were taken into custody by the NIA, for their alleged role in the December 2014 Adivasi massacre in lower Assam's Kokrajhar District. An official source said Armish Basumatary (22), Lothen Basumatary (42), and Gangaraj Wary (33), who were held by Assam Police earlier in some other cases, were rearrested by the NIA after investigations revealed their involvement in the massacre. Armish and Lothen are from East Jardanpur village and Goribil village under Kokrajhar Police Station while Gangaraj is from Birhangaon village under Dhaligaon Police Station in Chirang District. The NIA is investigating five cases related to the Adivasi carnage in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur Districts on December 23, 2014. The pro-talks and hardliner factions of ULFA separately observed the outfit's 37th raising day. The pro-talks faction organised a daylong programme at its designated camp, the Asom Naba Nirman Kendra at Lakuwa in Upper Assam's Sivasagar District, while the Paresh Barua-led ULFA-I observed the day at an undisclosed location. Besides the group's top leadership, including ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa and ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia, the leaders of the Progressive and Ranjan Daimary factions of the NDFB, NSCN-R and various Kuki organisations attended the function. ULFA was founded at the Rangghar in Sivasagar on April 7, 1979. The outfit split in 2011 when a faction headed by the ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Barua opposed the peace talks led by ‘chairman’ Arabinda Based on specific information, Army and Police launched a joint operation at Rajparain area in Chirang District, and arrested one NDFB-IKS militant identified as Joni Basumatary. Basumatary was involved in extortion activities in Chirang District on behalf of Subol, a top militant of NDFB-IKS. One Pistol and few rounds of ammunition were recovered from his possession. A driver of a Max pick-up van was shot twice from point blank range by unidentified assailants when he stopped the vehicle near a roadside dhaba at Panichokuwa area under Pulibor Police Station in Jorhat District. The driver, identified as Abdul Ali, informed the investigating officer that he was driving back to Nazira from Baihata Chari-Ali and had stopped near the dhaba when two unidentified assailants on a bike approached him and demanded money. Abdul’s refusal provoked the duo to fire. A tea estate manager was abducted by unidentified gunmen from his residence in Dima Hasao District. Debendra Nath Tiwari, manager of Kopili tea estate at 15 Kilo, 5 kilometres from Umrangso town, was abducted from his residence on the garden premises by a group of six to eight gunmen who reportedly overpowered the two on-duty SF personnel. FICN with a face value of INR 50,000 were seized from Paresh Deka at Noonmati in Guwahati. An unidentified body of a male person was recovered, on the road to Barbhyuan, Sootea on NH-52 in Sonitpur District. Passers-by discovered the body, whose face was smashed. The Sootea Police sent the body for post-mortem to Tezpur. A KLO cadre, Ajay Barman alias Takla (20), of Baksa's Darnagpur was arrested from Nayekgaon area in Kokrajhar District. A pistol and a bullet were recovered from him. BSF troops of Guwahati Frontier, deployed in Mancachar in South Salmara-Mankachar District, recovered FICN with a face value of INR 150,000 at the residence of Abdul Kalam alias The Kokrajhar and Chirang Police, in a joint operation, arrested four suspected jihadis, identified as Abu Bakar Siddique, Jahanur Alam Sheikh, Samad Ali Mandal and Azizul Sheikh from three different locations in Kokrajhar District. A grenade, a revolver, seven rounds of M20 ammunition, two army camouflage dresses and five mobile phones were recovered from their possession. Based on specific information, Army launched a joint operation with Kokrajhar Police in general area Harjhora in the Mahamaya Reserve Forest in Kokrajhar District and arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Sudem Borgoyari. Sudem Borgoyari was wanted in Kokrajhar District in many cases of extortions and abductions for the banned militant outfit. One 7.65mm pistol with magazine and few live rounds were recovered from Sudem. The 'self-styled area commander' of ADF, identified as Supol Hembrom, was arrested from Simbargaon in Kokrajhar District. Army along with Kokrajhar Police arrested one NSLA-AT militant, identified as Pranjit Tudu, who was involved in various subversive activities in the area, from Bharatnagar in Kokrajhar District. One pistol and few live rounds were recovered from the militant. According to Highly placed Police sources, Modern gadgets provided to the Assam Police by the Government of India before the recently-concluded South Asian Games will be of great help to check the activities of extremists and criminals, while the same played a vital role in the arrest of four jihadis from Kokrajhar and Chirang Districts on April 17. Police sources said that Police and SFs were after them for a long time, while the Central intelligence agencies also provided vital inputs. At the same time, the technical gadgets now available with the police also played a vital role in nabbing the jihadis. Sources also revealed that all the arrested jihadis were members of the JMB. Sources added that at least two key JMB functionaries, including a Bangladeshi national, are still at large and Police and SFs are on their trail. However, it is still not known whether they are still inside Assam or they managed to escape either to West Bengal or Bangladesh. Police also said that the JMB members were not planning any major action in Assam as yet and they were concentrating mostly on recruiting boys from lower Assam Districts and they also tried to use Assam as a base. Army launched a joint operation with Kokrajhar Police in general area of Mainaguri in Kokrajhar District and arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Bipul Mushahary alias Bigrai Mushahary from the mobile check post on road Mainaguri-Siyalmari. The arrested NDFB-IKS cadre has been locally trained in Ripu Reserve Forest area in 2011. One 7.65mm Pistol and few live rounds have also been recovered from the individual, said an Army official. Army launched a joint operation with Chirang Police at Samugaon area in Chirang District and arrested another NDFB-IKS cadre, identified as Manjit Basumatary, who was involved in extortion and kidnappings for the banned militant organisation. One revolver and few live rounds were recovered from the individual. One civilian, identified as Rupsing Kramsa, a resident of Monsung village under Dilai Police Station in Karbi Anglong District, was allegedly killed by unidentified assailants. According to report, Rupsing Kramsa came out for a while to the courtyard of his house after taking dinner in the night. Suddenly, unidentified armed assailants opened fire at him and he died on the spot, sources said. The Chirang Police arrested seven jihadis suspected cadres of JMB from two different areas in the Chirang District. Five of them were nabbed from the Dawkanagar area. Two others, including the imam of Rajapara Masjid, Joynal Abedin, were arrested from the Amguri area in Chirang District. Besides Joynal, the other arrested suspected JMB cadres were identified as Rezzak Ali, Soleman Ali, Dildar Ali, Md Nurul Islam, Rafiqul Islam and Ukhiluddin. BTAD IGP LR Bishnoi said, "After the police busted a training camp in Dawkanagar in September 2015, initial probe pointed to the presence of at least 28 jihadi cadres in the area. But with the latest arrests, the total number of arrested jihadi cadres shot up to 29 and interrogation revealed that at least seven others are on the run." He said the numbers may go up further. Last week, Police had arrested four suspected JMB cadres in Chirang and Kokrajhar districts. Following the arrest of the imam, locals protested at the Amguri Police station, demanding his release. "Police have not arrested anyone without specific inputs. The locals thought that Joynal, an imam, was innocent but the arrest was based on intelligence we received. We don't harass innocent people," LR The Government of India has made it clear that no militant outfit under ceasefire agreement, including the NSCN-IM, would be allowed to indulge in unlawful activities and the concerned State governments should take strict actions against anyone involved in such illegal activities. Reacting to media reports about the involvement of the NSCN-IM and NSCN-K in large scale extortions in Upper Assam Districts, particularly from the tea gardens, highly placed sources in the UMHA said that the ceasefire agreements did not give license to any militant group to indulge in unlawful Sources pointed out that it is the responsibility of the concerned State Government to ensure proper implementation of the criminal justice system. The State Governments must ensure that the laws of the land are strictly implemented and if anyone is found involved in unlawful activities, strict action should be taken as per the provisions of the law. Sources said that it is up to the concerned State government to ensure that all criminal cases are properly investigated and those involved in criminal activities are brought to book. Police arrested two cadres of BRA-U, identified as Aranjay Reang (25), 'self styled commander' and Boilaram Reang (24), his trusted cadre, from the premises of the Court in Silchar in the Cachar District. According to source, this arrest shows that the Bru militants of the breakaway faction of BNLF of Mizoram and ULFBV are still active in the region. There have been several cases of kidnappings and extortions against them and other cadres in Karimganj and Hailakandi Police stations. According to a Police source, BRA-U has created a reign of terror in the bordering areas of Karimganj and Hailakandi with Mizoram. The non tribals of Ratabari, Gharmoora, Ramnathpur, Katlicherra, Cheragi, Durgabazar areas have been subjected to a lot of harassment and virtually living in panic. In view of the situation, a contingent of AR was posted at Ratabari to deal with the militants who made frequent forays for criminal activities. The seven suspected cadres of JMB arrested by Police on April 20 were remanded in Police custody for three days after they were produced in a court at Kajalgaon. According to Security sources, illegal flow of substantial amounts of money from the Middle East countries to Assam become a major cause of concern for the security agencies and efforts are now on to track down the recipients of such money so that the actual reasons for the phenomenon can be found out. Highly placed security sources said that according to inputs available with the security agencies, the major sources of money were the countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But interestingly, the money is not sent directly to Assam and it is routed mostly Sources also pointed out that there is a huge number of people from Kerala working in the Middle East countries and hawala transfer of money to India from those countries is very common. The unscrupulous elements have now started to use the hawala channels to transfer money illegally to Assam through Kerala. Sources revealed that those involved in such illegal transfer of money are not from Assam and the report of such huge transfer of funds caused major apprehension as the reasons are still unknown. However, sources pointed out that the recently concluded elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly had nothing to do with such transfer of money as there was no indication of use of such illegally transferred funds during the elections. According to statistics given by the State Police force, the number of extortion cases kept on increasing every year from 2006 to 2015. According to statistics given by the Assam Police, the number of extortion cases in 2006 in the State was 460 that rose to 574 in 2007, to 626 in 2008, to 645 in 2009, to 909 in 2010, to 992 in 2011, to 1074 in 2012, to 1214 in 2013, to 1357 in 2014 and to 1361 in 2015. Army and Rupshi Police arrested a Muslim Fundamental Organisation cadre, identified as Zahidul Islam, of Gobindapur village of Barpeta District, at Rupshi under Kazigaon police station in Kokrajhar District. The Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS), a literary body of the Bodos, demanded of the Government of India to take stern action against the Muslim fundamentalist organizations operating in BTC region of Assam before the situation takes an ugly turn. The Sabha submitted a memorandum to the UHM Rajnath Singh via e-mail demanding action against the fundamentalist operatives in the region. Gorchuk Police arrested a youth, identified as Jitumoni Deka who demanded INR 25 lakh from the guardian of a Royal Group of Institutions (RGI) student in the name of IM in Guwahati. Jitumoni has been working as a peon at RGI. He demanded the cash from Ghanashyam Gogoi, the guardian of an engineering student, on April 16. A case has been filed in Gorchuk Police station in this regard. Investigation is on. A farmer, identified as Afazzudin Ahmed (45), was shot dead by suspected ULFA-I militants in Barpukri village under Kalaigaon Police Station in Darrang District. A senior leader of the ULFA-I, identified as ‘sergeant major’ Rongmon Asom alias Mecuri was killed in an encounter with Army at Talpathar village in Tinsukia District. Acting on specific input, the army conducted a search operation at the village on April 25. On April 26 night, Rongmon came into contact the Army team and was killed in a fierce close quarter battle on April 27. An AK-81 assault rifle along with a magazine and some other items were recovered from the spot. Rongmon was active in upper Assam since a long time. He was actively involved in killing/extortion activities in the area. Acting on a tip-off, Manja Police arrested three persons from Khanbomon Hill black topping under Manja Police Station in Karbi Anglong District. The Police also recovered an old .22 rifle from their possession. The arrested persons have been identified as Babu Sing Timung, Bikram Ronghang and Adin Chonglong. Adin Chonglong had come to buy the gun from Eleven persons, mostly from the Hindi-speaking community, were injured when a suspected IED exploded in Devi Pukhuri Paanchali of Tinsukia District. The explosion occurred in a garbage bin in front of a shop owned by one Upendra Yadav around 7.40 pm. "Of the injured, three are critical while six had minor injuries. All the injured were rushed to Tinsukia civil hospital," a local resident said. One of them was shifted to Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh. "All of them are out of danger," DGP Mukesh Sahay said. A crude bomb exploded in front of the main gate of a tea manager's bungalow at Padumoni estate in Tinsukia District around 2 am. There was no casualty in the attack. ULFA-I is suspected to be behind it. Police said Podumoni tea garden owner Vivek Agarwal had received an extortion demand from the ULFA-I last year, but he reportedly did not pay up. The attack in the town this evening is seen as retaliation to the killing of a senior ULFA-I cadre in the District on April 27. SFs had gunned down ULFA’s ‘self-styled sergeant major’ Rongmon Asom alias Mekuri, during a search operation at Talpathar village of Tinsukia District on April 27. A UPLA militant, identified as Black Dimasa alias Sumesh Hojai, was arrested by the Army from Haflong in Dima Hasao District. Black Dimasa was wanted for several criminal cases, including the abduction of a 12-year-old minor boy Abinash Shah from Diphu on July 25, 2012. The Police are looking for two other persons, Rahim Ali and Raju Rai. The Home Department has given its nod to setting up of the first ever full-fledged foreigners’ detention centre in the State (Assam) for those facing deportation to their respective countries. The need for finding separate camps for the declared foreigners was felt as most of the jails are Alleged jihadi forces in lower Assam Districts are trying to establish links with arms smugglers of Nagaland and Myanmar to gain direct access to the underground market of sophisticated arms. This came to light during an investigation of the growth of jihadi forces in the state following the arrest of 29 alleged militants across the(BTA) in recent times, report said. So far, Police recovered two AK-47 assault rifles from their possession besides a few country-made fire arms. Questioning of the arrested cadres revealed they were befriending gunrunners in Nagaland and Myanmar. Police teams had recovered eight handmade AK-47 lookalike rifles in a raid earlier. Bura Bhai (already arrested) and two others from West Bengal were imparting arms and physical training to recruits at Daukhanagar and Amguri camps. The AK series rifles were bought for this purpose from the Nagaland side. Besides, some local clandestine arms makers are also helping with a few handmade arms," sources said. The two 'cadres' from the neighbouring state of West Bengal are now on the run, along with seven other suspected members of a jihadi module. BTAD IGP LR Bishnoi said the module follows the same training programme as that of the JMB. Though State Police have not commented officially on the possible nexus between this module and other militant outfits of the region, sources said some gunrunners in the Barak Valley are helping these modules get access to the clandestine arms market in Myanmar. Illegal arms allegedly enter the country through the borders of Nagaland and Manipur from Myanmar. These travel to Assam through Dimapur and reach rebels in the state and in Meghalaya. In recent years, Assam has witnessed a steep rise in cases registered under the Arms Act. Official records point out that, 492 cases had been registered under the Arms Act in the State in 2010. This rose to 592 in 2015. DGAR, Lieutenant General Harminderjit Singh Sachdev said that India and Myanmar have started joint border patrolling in some stretches of the “unfenced border” between both the countries. “In some places (joint border patrolling) it has started but not fully. The patrolling has not started all over, but in some specific areas. They (Myanmarese Army) also come and we also go there (Myanmar),” Sachdev said on the sidelines of investiture ceremony of the Assam Rifles. India has been urging Myanmar to take action against the rebels which include Manipur-based UNLF, PLA, KYKL, PREPAK; Assam-based ULFA and the NSCN-K operating from Sagaing division and the Chin State of Myanmar. The Police recovered two dead bodies in different places of Kokrajhar District. The first body was recovered in the forest areas of Badrampur village in Kokrajhar District. Later, the body was identified as Ashinta Basunatary, who was missing since April 22. On the other hand, the Police recovered another body from Padmabil area under Serfanguri Police Station in Kokrajhar District. The body was identified as Bishnu Boro (42). Sources from Podmabil village said Bishnu Boro was allegedly killed by a group of unidentified assailants. The assailants crushed his head with a stone and hung the body in a bamboo grove near his house. Police lodged two cases and started investigation in this connection. The Governor of Assam and Nagaland PB Acharya expressed his grave concern over the recent increase in atrocities on religious minorities in Bangladesh. He said that the killing of minorities, especially of Hindu origin, in Bangladesh, should be stopped. The Governor stressed that the friendly relationship between the two neighbouring nations be strengthened and that no untoward incident should be allowed to take place to hinder this relationship. The Governor also urged that strong action, as per law, should be taken against the perpetrators of violence and crime on minority religious people. Several people including, foreign nationals, bloggers, human rights activists and university teachers were hacked to death in the last one year in Bangladesh. In most of the cases, al Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS) have ULFA-I ‘chief’ Paresh Baruah probably celebrated his 59th birthday on May 1 “on the run,” as the UMHA said. The ULFA-I chief is constantly moving to avoid arrest and possible extradition. Joint Secretary, UMHA (in-charge North East) Satyendra Garg said that Paresh Baruah, according to intelligence input, has always been on the run, after he fled Bangladesh some years ago. “He doesn’t remain in one place now, he keeps on moving,” Garg said. Reports say Baruah is hiding in the jungles of Ruili in south-western Yunnan Province of China. Contrary to media reports, Garg referred China as a “friendly nation” indicating that the ULFA-I chief would not be given refuge in their territory. If on one hand the combined forces of Assam Police and the Amy are busy targeting and eliminating cadres of militant outfits active in Assam such as the ULFA-I and the NDFB, on the other hand, intelligence and Police sources disclosed about recruitment being done by the banned ULFA-I, especially from the Upper Assam Districts, and this time the banned organization is using social media like Facebook as a powerful tool to attract new faces and talented youths with an high IQ rather than the conventional method of one-to-one personal contact recruitment. Six cadres of AANLA, including its ‘Commander-in-chief’, identified as Dilip Nayak alias Anand Nayak (41) were arrested with arms from Jilango village under Bakulia Police Station in Karbi Anglong District. The other five arrested cadres are Mahadev Gour, Somon Gour alias Rahul Gour, Kanakeram Gour, Uttam Munda and Riten Munda. Two 9 mm pistols with magazines, four 7.65 mm pistols with six magazines, two hand grenades, eight rounds of 9 mm ammunition and 28 rounds of 7.65 mm ammunition were seized from the hide out of the militant group. The Central Government was urged to take strong measures to tackle the activities of Islamic militancy in Assam before the situation gets worse. BJP MP Bijoya Chakravarty said in the Parliament that JMB activities in Assam came to the notice of authorities after the Burdwan blasts in West Bengal (October 2, 2014), as militants from Assam were involved. The JMB is active in at least 65 districts of Assam and West Bengal. In Assam, the JMB is active in Baksa, Kokrajhar and Goalpara Districts. The BJP MP said that arms and ammunition were procured from Nagaland and Myanmar. The situation in the area is not normal and that is why arms and ammunition can be procured easily, she said. At least six persons were taken into custody from Barpeta District for their alleged involvement in the Burdwan blast in West Bengal in 2014. Preliminary investigations had revealed that the arrested persons were part of a module operating under the patronage of Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha that there is, currently, no intelligence input to indicate that terrorists are making efforts to set up terrorist training camps in the hinterland of the country. However, during investigation of certain earlier bomb blast cases, it was noticed that IED-related training was imparted by leaders of some of the organisations to their cadres at various places in the country. In order to counter terror activities, there exists close and effective coordination between intelligence and security agencies at the Centre and the State levels. The Multi Agency Centre has been strengthened and reorganized to enable it to function on 24x7 basis for real time collation, analysing and sharing of intelligence with other intelligence agencies and States, which ensures seamless flow of information between the State and the Central agencies. This has resulted in busting of many terror modules in the country. A class XII student of Jorhat based AR Public School, was abducted from Tezpur Mission Chariali in Sonitpur District in Assam by a gang of unidentified assailants. Border guards of Assam Police and unidentified assailants from Dimapur exchanged gun-fire near Monglamukh border Police outpost in Karbi Anglong District. Police said that the firing began around 8 p.m. and the alert personnel on duty retaliated. However, no casualties were reported. Border patrolling has been intensified with additional reinforcement sent to the area. Police arrested an unidentified militant belonging to UPLA from Tengkeralangso under Boithalangso Police Station in Karbi Anglong District. A 7.65 mm pistol along with 10 rounds of live ammunition and some extortion notes were also recovered from his possession. The villagers in Karbi Anglong District expressed anger against extortion by militants and the constant threat they face from them. On four occasions in April, villagers in the District refused to pay money to rebels. Locals of remote Metargaon village in East Karbi Anglong caught and beat a militant and handed him over to Police on April 26. The person was a linkman for a rebel outfit and was trying to extort money from the villagers. Earlier, three such incidents were reported from Rongiongphong, Jinglagso and Cheklangso villages of Karbi Anglong on April 11, 14 and 18, respectively. In all three cases, the villagers confronted the rebels and refused to pay extortion money. Confirming the incidents, an Army source said, "Locals are fed up with gun-culture here." Relentless operations by SFs have decimated rebel outfits like KPLT. "Because of Army operations, money is drying up for militants and they are now targeting remote villages for extortion," the source added. Locals, who already suffer from acute poverty and unemployment, are fed up with such atrocities. Last year, locals of Sirajuli village in Sonitpur District overpowered and apprehended a militant. A peaceful assembly election, where the Army helped civil administration maintain order, also showed that the militants' influence has declined. Army launched a joint operation with Chirang Police in Nagdalbari area of the Chirang District and arrested one ADF cadre, identified as Lakhiram Murmu. Lakhiram Murmu is a local trained cadre of ADF and was involved in carrying out extortion activities in the area. One Pistol and three live rounds were also recovered from him. Army and Kokrajhar Police launched a joint operation and arrested a militant of NSLA-AT, identified as Junas Mardi alias Joyking Mardi from Guruphella village in Kokrajhar District. He was involved in numerous cases of extortion, money collection and providing administrative support to the banned outfit. One rifle along with one live round of ammunition was recovered from the terrorist. The Court of Foreigners Tribunal of Nalbari District sent two Bangladeshi nationals illegally residing in the district to the detention camp in Kokrajhar District in the past one week. In the first case, the tribunal identified one Ramani Das, owner of Badya Bhandar of Nalbari Thana Chowk as a Bangladeshi national on April 29. Das had failed to produce valid documents regarding his citizenship despite repeated notices by the court. After a few days, another woman Chandra Banu alias Barbala Char under Mukalmua circle was picked up on May 6. The woman had also failed to submit valid documents in support of her citizenship. The documents produced in the NRC application were also found fake. The court directed the Nalbari Police to hand over the woman to the BSF to keep her in the detention camp of Kokrajhar District. Central Government is implementing a scheme in the northeast for surrender-cum-rehabilitation of militants. Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian Parliament) that the objective of the scheme was to wean away the misguided youth who have strayed into the fold of militancy and bring them to the mainstream. He also said “Surrenderees are paid monthly stipend upto INR 4,000 for a period of 36 months and an immediate grant upto INR 250,000 is kept in a bank in the name of each surrenderee as fixed deposit for a period of 3 years.” Eligible persons under the scheme are initially lodged in a rehabilitation camp where they are trained in a trade/vocation of their liking or befitting their aptitude. The eligible surrendered militants would also be given the opportunity for applying in the State police/Central Para Military forces. Impact assessment of the policy would be done every year to ensure corrective measures in the scheme provided. The Police and CRPF, in a joint operation, arrested an armed assailant, identified as Prabin Moran alias Dipu (35), from his residence at Inthem Naga Pathar village under Pengeree Police Station in Tinsukia District. A .22 pistol with 7 rounds of live ammunition were also recovered from his possession. However, Police could not establish his link with any extremist organization yet. ULFA-I, led by Paresh Barua, joined the public tirade against drug menace in Assam by warning action against the drug mafia. A statement purportedly emailed by the militant group to media houses in Guwahati, urged the people to provide information about drug users, peddlers and traders, based on which the rebel group would take action. A joint team of the Army and the Police arrested two cadres of the NSLA, identified as Joseph Hembram (35) and Sushil Hembram (26) from Pokihaga village under Gossaigaon Police Station in the Kokrajhar District. Two country-made guns and two cartridges were reportedly recovered from their possession. Sources also said Joseph Hembram was a cadre of the ACMA before he joined the NSLA. A NSCN-R cadre, identified as Kamlin Boro (27) was shot dead by unidentified assailants at Kawlibhangi village under Tangla Police Station of Udalguri District. Reportedly the cadre was travelling from Tangla to his native village Kawlibhanga in his Pulsar bike when assailants who came in a motorbike shot dead the cadre near his residence from point blank range. The cadre succumbed to his injuries with three bullets injuries in the head, heart and stomach. The assailants immediately fled from the scene. Meanwhile, Police rushed the spot at about 4.30 pm and recovered the body. Two empty cartridges of 9mm bullets were also recovered from the spot. At least 43,000 Bangladeshi nationals, who entered India on valid documents, have vanished during the last four years, whereas only 19,995 could be deported during the same period, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju. Revealing this, Kiren Rijiju said in a Rajya Sabha reply that the highest number of 24,364 disappeared in 2011, while 6,761 was deported the same year. Last year (2015), only 116 Bangladeshi nationals disappeared, while 474 were deported. The illegal immigrants fall into two categories: foreign nationals who have entered India on valid travel documents and found to be overstaying, and foreign nationals who have entered the country without any valid travel documents. A number of Bangladeshi nationals who came to India on valid travel documents have been found to be overstaying after expiry of their visas, he said. “There are also reports of Bangladeshi nationals having entered the country without any valid travel documents. As entry of such Bangladeshi nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to have accurate data of such Bangladeshi nationals living in various parts of the country, Army and Assam Police, in a joint operation, busted an NDFB-IKS camp and killed a cadre of the outfit, identified as Birbal Islary alias Banjai in the dense Ripu Reserve Forest in Lalbhita area in Kokrajhar District. The slain cadre was known to be close to NDFB-IKS leader Bidai and was involved in numerous cases of extortion, money collection, providing administrative support to the banned organisation and other subversive activities. The slain militant was also involved in December 23, 2014 massacre. One AK-56 along with a magazine and 30 live rounds were recovered from the slain militant. Dhola Police arrested four youths, identified as Bhaskar Moran (27), Durgeswer Hazarika (33), Raman Borpatragohain (24) and Ajoy Moran (27) on charges of extorting money in the name of ULFA-I in the wee hours. One pistol and live ammunition were recovered from them. India and Bangladesh began a five-day dialogue in Dhaka (Bangladesh) between border guarding forces over a host of security issues, including drug trafficking and cattle smuggling across the over 4,000-km frontier the two neighbours share. A 21-member delegation led by BSF Chief KK Sharma on May 11 reached Dhaka to hold the talks at the Pilkhana-based headquarters of their counterpart BGB. The 23-member Bangladeshi delegation is being led by BGB Chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed. The situation along the Indo-Bangla boundary has improved after the two sides signed an agreement on exchange of border enclaves. The Indian team, including officials from the UMHA and border enforcement agencies, will discuss measures to further enhance security along the border and brief the BGB delegation about measures put in place to completely stop instances of cattle smuggling and other illegal substances across the boundary. Indian delegation sources said that the BGB is expected to raise the issue of bringing about a complete halt on border killing incidents and suggest enforcement of some strict security protocols by both the sides to achieve this goal. “A host of issues relating to activities of Indian insurgent groups suspected to be operating from the other side, smuggling of fake Indian currency, drugs and other banned items will be discussed,” they said. Army in a joint operation with Bongaigaon Police arrested four militants belonging to the MTFA, identified as Ismail Ali, Mohidul Islam, Mouizinur Ahmed and Saiyyuddin Islam from Abhyapuri area in Bongaigaon District. Three pistols, three mobile phones and other warlike stores were also recovered from them. They have been involved in cases of extortion and kidnapping, sources said. A cache of gelatin sticks and detonators were recovered from a cruiser that was coming from Jiribam towards Silchar at Lakhipur in Cachar District at around 5 pm. During the vehicle checking on NH 37 in Phulertol area at Phulertol point, Police found packets of around 1 kg which contained 5 gelatin sticks and 2 detonators from a cruiser. Two persons from the cruiser, Nazrul Laskar (28) and Mofiz Uddin (27) were taken into custody for further investigation. The two accused will be presented before the Court. The Myanmarese Parliament approved a decision to join the BIMSTEC Convention on cooperation in combating international terrorism, transnational organised crime and drug trafficking. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) includes Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. Myanmar's Deputy Home Affairs Minister General Aung Soe told: "BIMSTEC can increase cooperation with the international community and promote the country's stability and security. It will benefit the nation and the region". Though Bangladesh is no longer a preferred route for the militants and criminals to bring in weapons to the Northeast, the porous international border with Myanmar is still a major worry as sophisticated weapons are still being brought into the region through that route and security agencies suspect that Dimapur in Nagaland is the hub of clandestine arms dealers. Highly placed security sources said that at one point of time, the militants used to bring in weapons to the Northeast through Bangladesh, but that has almost stopped in recent times as the security along the international border has been intensified, while the present Government in that country has also launched a crackdown against those involved in such arms smuggling. But the porous border with Myanmar remains a cause of concern as militant groups as well as criminals are still bringing in weapons to the region through that country. The arms smugglers mostly use the Nagaland-Myanmar and Manipur-Myanmar borders to smuggle in weapons. Dimapur is still suspected to be the main hub of arms smugglers in the region from where the smuggled weapons are sent to the other states of the region. According to information available with the security agencies, one AK series rifle costs around three lakh rupees in the clandestine market, while a pistol costs around one lakh to 1.50 lakh rupees depending on the quality. One grenade costs around 30 thousand rupees. Police and CRPF, in a joint operation, arrested ‘Chairman’ of the KPLT, identified as Arabh Terang from Balipathar Sencho Bey Village under Bokajan Police Station in Karbi Anglong District. He was involved with many extortion cases in different areas of Karbi Anglong. Morigaon Police arrested an unidentified cadre of TLA, identified as Babu Phangso from Nallie in Jagiroad in Nagaon District. In a joint operation, Police, Army and COBRA arrested a cadre of KLO, identified as Vikram Barman (22) from Bajugaon area under Gossaigaon Police Station in Kokrajhar District. He was involved in a number of money extortion cases and provided logistic support to the militant outfit. A country-made rifle and live bullet were recovered from his possession. A militant belonging to NSCN-IM, identified as Yimso (a resident of Half Nagarjan in Dimapur, Nagaland) was arrested by Police from Lahorijan Market under Khatkhati Police Station in East Karbi Anglong District. A .22 pistol along with magazine and a mobile phone was recovered from him. At least three people were injured after suspected militants lobbed a grenade at a shop in Nagaon District. The blast took place two days ahead of the counting of votes in Assam. Police said that lesser-known outfit TLA has claimed responsibility for the blast. According to Police, the incident took place at Raha Chariali after two motorcycle-borne men lobbed the explosive at a shop. "Three people who were around the shop received injuries during the incident and they have been shifted to a local hospital immediately," Police Pushing for a comprehensive approach in dealing with illegal influx, the NESO asked the Centre Government to update the NRC in other north-eastern States in the lines of Assam, with 1951 as the base year. An executive body meeting of the eight constituent students’ bodies of the NESO also asked the Union Government to realize the region specific needs of the Northeast, in its policies related to education, economy and security. NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa, while addressing the media in Guwahati, said that the NRC update in Assam was a welcome move, but other States facing similar problem of illegal migrations and its daunting impact on economy and socio-cultural fabric, must get a similar measure to protect the indigenous tribes and communities. “Union Government was yet to take up the specific issues of the North East in a desired way. For a clear picture on the penetration of illegal migrants in the region, the NRC must be updated in other NE States, with 1951 as the base year. We also demand total repeal of the draconian Armed Forced [Special Power] Act (AFSPA),” The NBCC said that the India-Bangladesh border will be fenced within the next three years. The NBCC, which is executing the project along the Indo-Bangladesh international border in the North-East, has been building fences for the last 15 years, said the chairman-cum-managing director, Anoop Kumar Mittal. Referring to the fencing project, the CMD said that there was no issue with the technical part and they have been using the latest fencing technology in the North-East. The NIA filed a chargesheet against five NDFB-IKS militants including their ‘chairman’ Songbijit Ingti Kathar and ‘SS Army Chief’ Bishnu Goyari in the terror attack at Narsingbari in Baksa District in BTAD on May, 2014, which had killed three persons. The top leaders of NDFB-IKS were charge-sheeted for the first time by NIA in a terrorist act case. The five hard-core terrorists of NDFB-IKS, evidence revealed, had planned the ghastly terrorist attack in the night of May 1, 2014 on innocent villagers of Narsingbari village in Baksa District. Those named in chargesheet are - Songbijit Ingti Kathar alias I K Songbjit (Chairman cum Interim president of NDFB-IKS), Bishnu Goyari (SS Army Chief), Binod Mushahary alias Batha (SS Deputy Army chief), Lankeswar Boro and Santosh Khekatary. They have been charged for murder, criminal conspiracy, waging war against India, Explosives Act, UAPA, Arms Act among other sections. The accused persons are evading arrest and wanted in the case, said NIA. "Till date, NIA has arrested total 61 terrorists of different ranks of NDFB (S) in connection with eight cases entrusted to NIA for investigation, pertaining to the terrorist attacks upon innocent people of different communities in Assam in the month of May and December of 2014. With this charge-sheet against five accused, the number of NDFB (S) cadres charge-sheeted by NIA till date stands at 60," the agency said. An NDFB-IKS cadre, identified as Ubram Narzary, and an overground worker of the outfit, identified as Uresh Narzary, were arrested from Balamguri in Chirang District. The new BJP-led Government in Assam will give top priority to finding a permanent solution to the problem of infiltration of illegal migrants from Bangladesh into the north-eastern State, BJP leader Sarbanand Sonowal said. "The sealing of borders with Bangladesh will get top priority," Sonowal, who was elected BJP legislature party leader, said in an interview. He said the issue of "identity crisis" in Assam vis-a-vis bona fide citizens of India and infiltrators from Bangladesh was a matter of concern. However, infiltration had come down "after an agreement with Bangladesh", said Sonowal. The focus of the new Government will also be on maintaining law and order in the state and creation of employment opportunities for the youth. Sensation prevails in Pratapkata area under Gossaigaon subdivision of Kokrajhar District following the alleged recovery of cow's head in a Hindu worship centre. Sources alleged that miscreants put a cow's head in a Hindu worship place on May 22-night at Bhaban Nagar near a Shiva linga. The miscreants also allegedly chopped off the head of the Kali Devi in a Shani temple situated near the Shiva linga on the same night. The incidents drew sharp reactions from the local people. Sources added that the local people informed the police and they took away the head of the cow and buried it near a small stream about 100 metres away from Police and Army, in a joint operation, arrested a ULFA-I cadre, identified as Akon Moran alias Jitu Bora from a hideout in Tekeri in Tinsukia District. Moran was accused of various criminal charges including extortion, kidnapping, and theft and providing arms to his fellow cadres. The sources informed that his activities were mostly confined to Tinsukia District and Sadiya in particular. The SFs recovered a 7.6 mm pistol and seven rounds of live ammunition from the possession of the ULFA-I ULFA-I said the allocation of land by the BTC to yoga practitioner Ramdev is an anti-Assam move. In a statement released to the media, the outfit said it had come to know that the council was almost through with the process of handing over 3,800 hectare of land to Ramdev. "The move of Hagrama Mohilary, one of the leaders of the Bodos, to hand over the land to Ramdev was sad and anti-Assam in nature," said the statement signed by the ULFA-I 'president' Abhijit Asom. Chirang Police and Indian Army arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Saneswar Brahma from Hauliyapara area under Panbari Police Station of Chirang District. One 7.65 mm pistol with three rounds live ammunition was recovered from him. SFs arrested one NDFB-IKS linkman, identified as Hebol Basumatary (36) from Dhaligaon Bazar in Chirang District. One Passion bike bearing registration no AS-26-5553 and INR 20,000 was recovered from his possession. Upon preliminary interrogation it has been learnt that the money was collected through extortion and the linkman was given the job of sending the money to Myanmar-based leaders," the SP Sankarbrata Rai Medhi said. The special designated TADA court in Guwahati acquitted the ULFA founder 'general secretary' Anup Chetia in three cases registered against him under TADA. This includes the sensational murder case of Surrendra Paul that stunned the country, shook up the tea industry and led the State to President's Rule in the 1990s. Chetia, along with five others, including the outfit's elusive 'commander in charge' Paresh Baruah and 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, were accused of the killings. With Chetia's acquittal, now the lone accused in the case is Paresh Baruah. Rajkhowa and others were already acquitted in the case on the 'benefit of doubt' in 2012. The other two cases in which Chetia was also given a breather included the sensational murder cases of city-based businessman and former president of Kamrup Chamber of Commerce Girdharilal Harlalka in 1988 and the killing of three persons, including the wife of a top cop and a personal security officer, at Chabua in Dibrugarh District in 1989. Chetia has been facing trials in all the pending cases after he was handed over to India by Bangladesh. The Union cabinet gave its approval to the introduction of bills in the parliament to grant scheduled tribe status to Bodos living in the hill District of Karbi Anglong and Karbis living in the plain areas of Assam. The Union cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, approved the introduction of two bills in the parliament for certain amendments in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 to modify the list of Scheduled Tribes in Assam, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu, and for the identification of new communities in Puducherry. A central Government statement said Boro, Boro Kachari and Bodo, Bodo Kachari and Karbi (Mikir) communities were found eligible for their inclusion in the scheduled tribe list in the bills. Community leaders said names of the communities from Assam mentioned in the bills are, in popular parlance, referred to as Bodos, dwelling in the hills, and Karbis, living in the plain areas. Indian Army conducted an operation and arrested two suspected JMB cadres, identified as Imran Hussain (32) and Mujammil Azan (35) from Parmaiguli village in Tezpur under Mahabhairob Police outpost in Sonitpur District. However, according to reports, after the arrest of the two fundamentalists, Mujammil Azan tried killing himself by cutting his throat. He was immediately rushed to the Kanaklata Civil Hospital in a critical condition. Though details are awaited regarding the entire incident, sources informed that the two accused are the mastermind of various unlawful activities, including the recent robbery case of popular singer Zublee Barua's Later, it was confirmed that the two arrested jihadis were members of a Muslim fundamentalist group, JMB, Assam, that has been carrying out subversive activities in the greater Pachmile area since the last several years. Army sources informed that following grilling of a jihadi, Imran Hussain, the Army conducted a search operation at his residence and recovered two guns, five mobile phones having contact numbers with militants based in a foreign country, one Tablet and letterheads with the heading, 'Jamat-ul-Muzahiddin, Assam, Sonitpur district committee.' City Police arrested a couple, identified as Khanin Swargiari and Roushmi Boro for their links with the NDFB-IKS from Guwahati. Dispur Police said the two were cadres of the rebel outfit and had already confessed to having links with top leaders of the outfit. "They were providing shelter to rebels and passing information about various police activities to NDFB (S) linkmen. Investigation will throw light on their other possible subversive activities if any," a Police source said. The couple was involved in several extortion activities in the city, too, a Police source said. "Khanin has criminal records and the duo has been extorting huge money since 2013 for the outfit," a Policeman added. In a major breakthrough, the joint team of AR and Police rescued Praful Kumar Tiwari, resident of 12 Kilo, Umrangso in Dima Hasao District, who was abducted by a group of unidentified armed assailants near 15 kilo where he runs a small shop. After an exhaustive search operation of 48 hours, the joint team of AR and Assam Police launched another search operation in which they successfully rescued the victim safely from the clutches of the kidnappers. In the attempt to ensure safety of the victim, however, the SFs could not arrest the kidnappers. SFs arrested a cadre of KLO, identified as Madhusudan Barman alias Hakau (22) from Maktaigaon in Kokrajhar District. A rifle and a live round were recovered from him. Sources said the arrested militant was involved in numerous cases of extortion, money collection, providing administrative support to the banned organization and other subversive activities. Three suspected JMB cadres, identified as Md Mohiruddin Sheikh, Md Mafidul Sheikh and Md Rojob Ali Patowary from Chirang District in lower Assam. They were reportedly fresh recruits of a 'jihadi' module which has been trying to widen its operation in lower Assam, report said. A senior Police officer at Kajalgaon in Chirang said the three were part of a module that set up training camps in lower Assam. "The three persons were arrested during multiple raids at Aamguri and Daukhanagar last evening," the official said. Mahiruddin participated in a physical training camp at Amguri while Mafidul and Rajab participated in a training camp in Daukhanagar. The three were on the run, he added. The police have so far arrested 32 people from different parts of lower Assam in connection with the busting of the training camp at Daukhanagar in September 2015. The Police have a list of 36 people involved with this module. One NSCN-R cadre, identified as ‘Razou Peyu’ Hokuto Ayemi was killed by unidentified assailants at Green Land hotel in Mariani (near Nagaland border) in Jorhat District of Assam. However, the NSCN-R on May 31 asked both the NSCN-IM and NSCN-KK to make inquiry regarding the “cold-blooded killing” of its cadre. Condemning the incident, the NSCN-R said the Naga national movement is not a personal issue or business that some individual or group can use it to do away with any Naga life. The NSCN-R requested the NSCN-IM to inquire into the incident from their workers as well as the public whether the claim that the ‘killers’ are from the NSCN-IM command is true or not. Police recovered an IED planted under a bridge at Dirak Chariali on NH 52 under Kakopathar Police Station in An NDFB-IKS linkman, identified as Alfrat Basumatary (22), was arrested by a joint team of SFs from Auguri under Serfanguri Police Station in Kokrajhar District. A pistol with two live rounds was recovered from him. Though the level of violence involving militants in Assam came down drastically in the face of relentless counterinsurgency operations, the security and intelligence agencies recently came across disturbing inputs on the attempts by militants to go for recruitments in at least four Districts. Highly placed security sources said that the ULFA-I recently started making efforts to recruit youths from upper Assam Districts and according to information available, a few boys have already joined the outfit. On the other hand, the NDFB-IKS, the leaders of which is lying low after the outfit suffered major setbacks in the operations by Police and SFs, is trying to recruit cadres from the Districts of Kokrajhar Sources revealed that both the outfits are now not in a position to create major trouble in the State. The ULFA-I tried to push in a few cadres to upper Assam districts on the eve of the elections to create trouble, but they failed to do so, while, the NDFB-IKS leaders are totally on the run and their strength came down drastically in the last two years. However, the outfits are trying to recruit youths not to use them as "armed cadres" but to use them to indulge in extortions. The leaders of the outfits are calling up middle men and sympathizers requesting them to provide boys who are willing to join the outfits. The ULFA-I leaders have been making efforts to extort money from upper Assam Districts and called up a number of tea garden owners and managers, contractors and other businessmen. But they do not have cadres on the ground to collect the demanded amount. On the other hand, the NDFB-IKS leaders called up a number of Government officials but security sources said that so far, there is no report on whether anyone paid money as per the demand of the militants. Police arrested two cadres of the NSCN-R, identified as Pianthong Sitiji and Solangthong Ekan, while they were collecting money from trucks from the market at Purana Laharijan under Khatkati police station of Karbi Anglong District. Police arrested two cadres of the NSCN-R, identified as Pianthong Sitiji and Solangthong Ekan, while they were collecting money from trucks from the market at Purana Laharijan under Khatkati police station of Karbi Anglong District. Based on specific information, Army launched a joint operation with Assam Police in general area of Hatogaon in Dhubri District and arrested two GNLA linkmen, identified as Julius Sangma and Malceng Marak. One Pistol with magazine, two mobile phones and seven SIM cards were recovered from the arrested linkmen, an Army official said. Morigaon Police arrested one person, identified as Abdul Wahid along with .22 pistol and six live bullets at Pub-Rangadoia under Mikirbheeta Police Station in Morigaon Four militants belonging to KLO, identified as Mridul Ray (25), Dhananjay Ray (27), Kanak Ray (22) and Konujeet Ray (19) were arrested by a joint team of the Army and Police from various places in Kokrajhar District. Police arrested an NDFB-IKS recruiter, identified as Tarun Narzary, from Guwahati Railway Station at Paltan Bazar in Kamrup District. Narzary hails from Bijni of in A NDFB-IKS recruiter, identified as Bikram Muchahary, was brought from Dimapur in Nagaland by a team of Guwahati City Police. Muchahary hails from Sonitpur town. City Police Commissioner Mukesh Agrawal said that the NDFB-IKS was "targeting" Guwahati to set "up an extortion network". The commissioner's warning came in the wake of the arrest of two suspected NDFB-IKS "recruiters" who were involved in demanding money from people here using the outfit's letterheads. "We have reports that the NDFB (S) is attempting to form a network here, but we have already launched our operations and spoilt their intent to a great extent," Agrawal said. Assam Governor PB Acharya, in his customary address to the members of the State Legislative Assembly, said that security, good governance and development for all will be among the top priorities of the Government. The Governor said, “We will do our best to give a clean, efficient and responsive administration, and will strive to ensure that our delivery system works with full accountability and complete transparency in all the areas of governance. “All the initiatives of my Government will be geared towards bringing Assam to be one of the State on the top of the list in development,” he said. The BJP-led NDA Government ordered complete sealing of Assam’s border with Bangladesh by June next year (2017), fulfilling an electoral pledge of BJP within a week of assuming power in Assam to check illegal immigration from the neighbouring country. UHM Rajnath Singh issued the order at a high-level meeting attended by top Home Ministry officials in New Delhi. During the meeting, the UHM directed that the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam should be sealed completely,” a Home Ministry The 4.5-kilometre-long India-Bangladesh border in Assam's Karimganj town area will be single-fenced, said BSF Director General K K Sharma. The BSF chief's visit is significant as it comes at a time when both the Centre and the State Government have announced that Assam's border with Bangladesh will be sealed within one year. During his visit to this part of India's border with Bangladesh, the BSF chief informed that the international border along Karimganj on the banks of the Kushiyara will be fenced soon. The fence will not be erected 150 metres away from the zero point of the border in line with international norms. Instead, fencing work will be carried out by the banks of the Kushiyara that separates the international border in this part of the country. This is to ensure less suffering of residents on the Indian side, The peace talks between the Centre and several militant outfits in the northeastern region are moving positively and peace would be restored in the whole region soon, UMHA Joint Secretary Satyajit Garg said. “The Central government has been holding peace talks with several militant outfits in the northeastern region. The talks are progressing positively,” he said. After meeting Tripura Chief Secretary Yashpal Singh and State Police chief K Nagaraj, he said: “Peace talks are going on with the NSCN-IM, ULFA and many other militant outfits of several North East States.” The official said the government is hopeful that with the positive outcome of the on-going peace talks with the extremists’ groups, absolute peace would be restored in the entire northeastern region soon. “Government’s policy is to hold talks with the militant groups that shun violent activities. The Centre is closely observing the situation in the North East and bordering areas,” Garg said. “Tripura and Mizoram are the most peaceful States in the North East India,” he said, adding that northeastern states are in a strategic location adjoining five countries – China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. “India’s strategies for China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and other neighbours are different. For India, Myanmar is located in a significant position,” said Garg. Police arrested one NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Janak Brahma along with a pistol and ammunition from Kokrajhar District. A NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Sobhaigo Mushahary was arrested by the Police from Chirang District. The arrested militant was in close contact with top NDFB-IKS leaders and was providing them crucial logistics support and early warning of troops' movement. Both these terrorists were involved in extortion activities and other subversive activities, Army and Police in a joint operation in the thick jungles of Kakulong in Chirang District of Assam busted a camp of NDFB-IKS militants. According to reports, while no militant was in the site, a large number of items were recovered, indicating presence of terrorists not long ago. A rifle, some gun powder, clothes, sling shots, utensils and rations were recovered from the spot. It is also suspected that some insiders from the Police Force might have tipped them off, report said. Defending the imposition of the controversial AFSPA in the North East, the Army said there was no recent case of misuse of the law in the region. “In the Eastern Command, during the time I have spent here, there has not been a single incident which has been reported where AFSPA has not been used for the right reason,” Eastern Army Commander, Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi said. He said if there was any breach of AFSPA, it was dealt with firmly by the army. “If the army is required to handle insurgency, we require AFSPA. If we don’t have AFSPA, our hands are tied and we cannot do our job. It is an enabling provision and not a draconian provision,” he said. Acting on specific inputs, a joint team of SFs comprising Police, CRPF and AR cracked militant’s attempts to regroup and float DHNA by arresting eight suspected militants, identified as Pankaj Phukan, Chandra Mohan Rajbangshi, Mrinmoy Choudhury, Junesh Hojai, Parthajit Thaosen alias Ashit Thaosen, Pabitra Batari Debashis Rajowar and Binod Langthasa from different locations of Cachar District. SFs first took into custody Pankaj Phukan and his interrogation led to the arrest of others. According to a top Police officer, these militants who were earlier linked to ULFA, SULFA and DHD joined hands together under the banner of DHNA with the sole purpose of extortions, kidnapping for ransom, loot of ATMs and other criminal activities. Some among them have been involved in criminal activities earlier in Dima Hasao District. Though some arms and ammunitions have been recovered from their possession, Police officer is confident of recovering heavy arms and for which they will be subjected to sustained cross-examination. Gauhati High Court (in Guwahati) ordered an inquiry into the alleged pitiable living conditions in four BTAD relief camps sheltering victims of the 2012 ethnic violence. A division bench of Chief Justice Ajit Singh and Justice Suman Shyam passed the order, directing the registrar (vigilance) of the high court to visit these camps and submit a report on their condition. Of these four camps, three are in Chirang District while one is in Kokrajhar District. Acting on specific information, Police arrested a linkman of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Rajen Narzary (28) at Shantipur village under Kachugaon police station in Kokrajhar District. A joint team of Tamulpur Police and 21 Mahar regiment of Indian Army arrested one NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Deepak Boro alias B. Daithun from Kalakuchi village under Tamulpur police station in Baksa District. Police recovered two grenades, two hand-made bombs, one mobile hand set and some incriminating documents from his possession. Based on specific input, Chirang Police and Indian Army launched an operation and arrested one NDFB-IKS cadre, identified as Sabian Mochahary alias Adam (27) from Amteka area under Amguri Police Station of Chirang District. “One hand grenade was recovered from him. This NDFB-IKS cadre fled away to Bangalore last year (2015) due to ongoing intensive CI operations. He was a close associate of slain hardcore cadres Ringsur Basumatary, Gundai, Jwnthwi and others,” the official A joint team of Police and Army, in an operation, arrested a cadre of the NSLA, identified as Berenthius Hembrom (29) from Thakurpur village under Gossaigaon Police Station in Kokrajhar District. He was arrested on the basis of CDR analysis and found to be involved in extortion from Grahampur VCDC chairman, The NIA Special Court at Guwahati convicted 18 members of the UNLF, including its chairman Raj Kumar Meghen, under various sections of the UAPA and the IPC for various offences, including criminal conspiracy of terrorist acts and waging war against the Government. The members of the outfit have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment ranging from seven to 10 years for hatching criminal conspiracy of terrorist acts in Assam and Manipur and waging war against the Government of India. The NIA had submitted two chargesheets in the case, charging 25 persons for their involvement in terrorist conspiracy and waging war against the Government. Of these, 18 persons faced the criminal trial while the remaining seven are absconding. The case relates to a search conducted on April 30, 2010 at a rented house in Guwahati in which two persons including Khundong Tomba alias Bikramjit, vice chairman of the outfit and Y Nabichand, another UNLF cadre were arrested and a laptop, three pen drives, one mobile phone, one wireless internet connection and INR 50,000 in cash were recovered from their possession. In the subsequent investigation, NIA and Assam Police arrested 20 more members of the UNLF, who were charged with hatching terrorist conspiracy in Manipur and Assam. It was alleged that the outfit had indulged in large scale extortion from Government officials, recruitment of cadres, purchase of arms and ammunition, for waging war against the Government. The NIA also arrested UNLF chairman Raj Kumar Meghen alias Sanayama and a large number of digital articles like laptop and mobile phones were recovered from him and other cadres, which revealed financial dealings of the organisation as well as money trail of investments by the organisation. Tinsukia Police arrested two linkmen of the ULFA-I, identified as Lakhyajit alias Akon Gogoi and Subhash Gogoi from Tinsukia District. The Police also recovered live ammunition and two mobile handsets from them. According to the Police, the duo was involved in several cases of extortion. The Police arrested a linkman of ULFA-I, identified as Anupam Gogoi alias Baba from Kukurekhuwa in Tinsukia District. An assistant engineer of the Assam State Electricity Board, identified as Jatin Dhekial Phukan was shot at by unidentified assailants in the Kahilipara area in Kamrup District. After being hit by a bullet, Phukan rushed to the GMCH on his own on his motorbike, where he was admitted. Although the Police claimed it to be a stray bullet, the source of the same is being investigated. Four suspected linkmen of the NDFB-IKS were arrested from different places in the Kokrajhar District. Three of them, identified as Krwmdwo Basumatary, Sunsuma Basumatary and Bilipang Brahma, were arrested by Kokrajhar Police from Owabari village in the district while the fourth linkman, identified as Kundan Narzary, was arrested from neighbouring Bishmuri village. Three stolen bikes were recovered during the Owabari arrests, one of which was supposed to be handed over to an NDFB-IKS cadre on June 10. Kundan's call details reveal that he is in contact with cadres of the outfit in Myanmar. BTAD IGP L.R. Bishnoi said 40 NDFB-IKS linkmen have been arrested in the past three months, 30 from Kokrajhar District and 10 from Chirang District. ULFA-I in a media communiqué expressed that each of its members were deeply saddened by the news of conviction of the UNLF of Manipur, Chairman, Raj Kumar Meghen alias Sanaiyama’s by another 10 years. It said that the Indian Government machinery in occupation is “scared” of the impact of Sanaiyama’s principle. A KPLT militant, identified as Deven Tisso (22), was killed at Kollonga in West Karbi Anglong District in an encounter with Police. A 7.66mm pistol and four live cartridges were recovered from his possession. Based on specific inputs from military intelligence, the Indian Army and Assam Police launched an operation and arrested a militant of LAEF, identified as Suparo Swargyari from the area of Deuripara near Goalpara in Goalpara District. One 7.65 mm pistol was recovered from the militant along with some ammunition. According to the militant, he joined the LAEF in 2014 and has been active in carrying out subversive activities Based on specific input, a joint team of Tinsukia Police and Army team conducted an operation at Wathoi Kailashpur and arrested a linkman of ULFA-I, identified as Jitu Dohotia (34), from the vicinity of Koriajan reserve forest in Tinsukia District. Later, Jitu Dohotia confessed to having been involved in the bomb blast in front of the residence of Vivek Agarwal, owner of Podumoni Tea Estate on the night of April 28. Army and Police launched a major operation and arrested a linkman of NDFB-IKS, identified as Jibon Arjya from Kokrajhar District in the wee hours. This particular operation was launched on receiving specific inputs about a linkman who was extorting large amounts of money and preparing to send it to the Bidai group. Reacting swiftly, the Army launched operation and arrested Jibon Arjya, who was extorting cash to the tune of INR 1 lakh. The cash was recovered from the linkman along with a pistol and ammunition. It is alleged that the outfit was using it to threaten local businessmen and other people. A meeting on peace and communal harmony was organised by the Udalguri District administration at Bishnu Rabha Kristi Sangha at the Udalguri town. Two women cadres of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Ansuri Narzary alias Ansu (20) and Rekha Mushahary (18) were arrested from Kokrajhar District. Kokrajhar SP Sarma said Ansuri was arrested from Theka Bazar under Kachugaon police station in Gossaigaon subdivision of Kokrajhar District while Rekha was arrested from Bishmuri. "The two were arrested based on intelligence inputs about movement of the women cadres," Sarma said. The Police recovered INR 1 lakh and a mobile phone with SIM from Ansuri. The amount was extortion money collected from businessman, contractors and was to be handed over to B. Bidai, the ‘self-styled vice-president’ of the outfit, Sarma added. Two NDFB-IKS militants, identified as Bharat Basumaraty alias B. Phunkhag and Dipak Daimary alias Dhunphang were arrested from Daisunguri in Kokrajhar District. Two 7.65 pistols and live bullets were recovered from them, the Police said. Both the militants were trained in Myanmar. Both of them were reported to have fled the area after the operation was launched against the outfit in the BTAD and returned recently to revive and strengthen the outfit, sources said. A joint team of Police and CRPF busted an illegal gun and explosive manufacturing factory at No.2 Magurmari Char in Darrang District and arrested two persons in this connection. According to Police, acting on a tip-off the SFs raided the house and campus of one Hafej Ali and found the illegal factory. The SFs arrested two persons, identified as Kitap Ali and Ekambar Ali, both residents of Morigaon District, while they were manufacturing handmade arms. Police recovered a huge quantity of instruments and materials, including electric wires, iron ball-bearings used in cycles, nuts and bolts, sharp weapons, ammunition of handmade rifle, among others. However, the main accused, who also hails from Morigaon, managed to escape. Myanmar and India vowed to cooperate on issues of border security and stability, sources with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar) said. The pledge came as Myanmar Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi met Ajit Doval, the Indian NSA who is visiting Nay Pyi Taw as a special envoy of Indian PM Narendra Modi, report said. Their discussions also covered development of long-term advantages from road connectivity between the two Dibrugarh Police claimed to have unearthed an ULFA-I’s plan to carry out explosions outside the BJP District office in Dibrugarh town in Dibrugarh District, following the arrest of a cadre of the outfit. Police sources said that an ULFA-I militant, identified as Mamon Gogoi alias Biplob Asom (27) was arrested from a hideout at Betoni Sariali under Khowang Police Station in the Dibrugarh District. Nearly 700 grams of TNT, one detonator, one timer device, three battery cells and wires were recovered from him. Sources said during interrogation, the arrested militant, who hails from nearby Dulia Lahowal village, reportedly confessed to the Police that he was entrusted with a mission by the top ULFA-I leadership in Myanmar to carry out subversive activities like triggering blasts in Dibrugarh. The BJP District office at Amolapatty and a hotel at RKB Path opposite Dibrugarh Sadar Police Station were the targets, the sources said. Dibrugarh SP, Bir Bikram Gogoi said that the arrested militant revealed that he was deputed by senior ULFA-I leader Arunodoy Dohotia (self-styled publicity secretary of the outfit based in Myanmar) to "execute the mission". The militant reportedly told the Police that he had joined the outfit last year and had undergone two months' training in the camp on making bombs and triggering blasts. The SP said they were investigating whether the hotel was the specific target or the police station opposite the hotel. He said the BJP's district unit office could have been selected by the outfit. In a joint operation by the Army and Police, an ULFA-I linkman, identified as Rupjyoti Gogoi, was arrested from near Naharkatiya in Dibrugarh District. Altogether 11 extortion notes, two cell phones and a list containing the names of a few small tea growers were found in his possession. In a joint operation conducted by Army, Dibrugarh Police and CRPF arrested three ULFA-I militants, identified as ‘self-styled sergeant’ Ritupon Borah alias Irfan Asom (23), Dipon Moran alias Prthiraj Moran, 'corporal' Nakul Rabha alias Bishal Asom (18) and one GNLA militant, identified as Saltiush N. Marak alias Chem (21) from Chetia Pathar in Dibrugarh District. The SFs recovered three .9 mm pistols, six magazines, 40 rounds of live ammunition and 2 BFDX BF 860 Chinese wireless radio sets from them. The militants confessed they were making transit halt at Chetia Pathar on their way to Arakan camp (1st Brigade), Myanmar from Tura (Meghalaya) on the orders of their deputy ‘commander-in-chief’ Dristi Rajkhowa and were waiting for their guide to take them to Myanmar. Tamulpur Police arrested two ULFA-I linkmen, identified as Sukumani Das (34) and Manab Kalita from Tamulpur in Baksa District. According to Police, they had sent a demand letter to a businessman of Kaurbaha under Tamulpur police station by using the letter pad of ULFA few days ago. Later Police investigated the case following the complaint made by the businessman and nabbed the both from their house. According to the statement of Sukumani and Manab Mrinal Kalita, they worked in the forest department and had used the letter pad to demand money with the help of former ULFA cadres Gitu Kalita and Babli of Rangia. Police are trying to nab Babli and Mrinal. Police recovered letter pad of ULFA from the possession of Sukumani and Manab. Two linkmen of NDFB-IKS were arrested in Kokrajhar District. A general meeting of senior citizens and noted intellectuals was held at the Jorhat Press Club under the aegis of an alliance of the Anti-Influx Platform led by a Supreme Court advocate, Upamanyu Hazarika and Jorhat Bar Association advocate Rintu Goswami, against the grave issue of influx of illegal migrants that has already converted indigenous inhabitants into a minority in large parts of Assam. They said, "The need of the hour is to apprise the present government about how by the year 2040 the indigenous Assamese people will become minorities in view of the continuing influx and the present drawbacks of the NRC update process through which many illegal migrants will get legalized rights to become Indian citizens. The Central Government in Parliament on July 14, 2004 had admitted about the presence of 50 lakh illegal migrants from Bangladesh in Assam. Union Home Minister Prakash Jaiswal had given details of about 20 per cent of the 2.61 crores of Assam population to be foreigners. As against this, in between 1985 to 2012 only 2,442 illegal migrants have been detected and deported (White paper of October 2012, Assam Government)." Police arrested a cadre of ULFA-I, identified as Rahul Hazarika alias Laden Asom (24) from the Moran area of Dibrugarh District. A hand grenade and twelve demand notes signed by ULFA-I 'deputy commander-in-chief' Drishti Rajkhowa on the outfit's letterhead were also recovered from him. Dibrugarh SP Bir Bikram Gogoi said the cadre confessed that he arrived from Myanmar in December 2015 to carry out extortion activities in the district following Rajkhowa's orders. He had joined the banned outfit in 2013 and underwent arms training in Bangladesh in 2014. In a joint operation, Army Lahoal Police arrested an ULFA-I militant, identified as Sagar Gogoi alias Feroz Asom (22) from Lohali Gaon under Tengakhat Police station in Dibrugarh District while he was moving towards Namsai District of Arunachal Pradesh via Tinsukia in order to reach Arakan camp of proscribed outfit in Myanmar. SFs recovered 14 rounds of live ammunition of 7.62 mm AK 47 assault rifle, five 9 mm pistols, 11 rounds 0.22 mm and two fired cases of 0.22 mm from the militant. The arrested militant later during interrogation had revealed that he infiltrated to the District from Dauki village in Meghalaya and was instructed by the 'commander-in-chief', 'self-styled Major' of ULFA-I, Dristi Rajkhowa to reach Arakan Camp in Myanmar through Arunachal Pradesh. "The ULFA has faltered on many occasions in its struggle to achieve independence for the State of Assam as its method of struggle remained debatable, but the entire issue is still relevant even in the face of the changing times in today's world," said Anup Chetia, 'general secretary' of the ULFA. Addressing a gathering at the Kanaklal Baruah auditorium of the Assam State Museum in Guwahati on the occasion of the launching of his poetry collection, Karabandee, the top ULFA leader, who had been imprisoned at the Rajshahi Jail in Bangladesh for nearly 20 years, sought forgiveness from all the people who lost their kith and kin in the hands of ULFA cadres throughout the State. Lamenting that lack of an internal control mechanism among the various cadres of the outfit at different times led to many unfortunate and heart-rending incidents, including killings, Chetia remarked that the struggle for a sovereign Assam is at a crossroads now, though the concept has become somewhat misplaced. Urging the intelligentsia, media and the common people of Assam to suggest and advise the outfit at this crucial period when the ULFA is involved in peace talks, the ULFA leader, who was among the few who gave birth to the armed struggle, stressed the need to relocate the movement in the context of the demographic and other crises currently plaguing the indigenous people of the Government denied having agreed to a proposal of Naga insurgent outfit NSCN-IM of granting separate passport and flag for Nagas saying peace talks with the group was still continuing. "Government recognises the unique Naga history and is committed to it. Talks with NSCN-IM is going on. News of granting separate passport and flag are not true," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said in New Delhi. Rijiju's comments came in the wake of reports which suggested that the Government has agreed to NSCN-IM's proposal for separate passport and flag for Nagas. The appearance of the flag of the GPRN/NSCN and banner on a cardboard written as Greater Nagaland area near Meghnarayan bridge at Maibang in Dima Hasao District of Assam raised several questions in the minds of the people of Dima Hasao. The local people of Maibang are of the opinion that they have been living in peace, harmony and brotherhood with the Zeliang Naga tribe since time immemorial, so it could be a handiwork of outsiders to disturb the peace in the region. Two youths, identified as Jangshaw Brahma (25) and Birdaw Brahma (20) were arrested along with one 9 MM pistol, four rounds of live ammunitions and three mobile handsets in an operation conducted by Tamlpur Police at Barkhata under Tamulpur Sub-Division in Baksa District. Tamulpur Police arrested a linkman of NDFB-IKS, identified as Manjay Boro from Kekerikuchi village under Tamulpur Police Station in Baksa District. Police recovered an amount of INR 1.8 lakh from his possession. According to Police, Manjay Boro has collected money from a contractor of Nalbari District. The pact for Suspension of Operations with the insurgent group, NDFB-P was extended by the government till December 31, 2016. A meeting of Joint Monitoring Group consisting of representatives of the Centre, Government of Assam and NDFB-P was held in New Delhi. The observance of agreed ground rules for suspension of the operations was reviewed. "After discussions, it was agreed to extend suspension of operations for a period of six months up to December 31, 2016," a Home Ministry official said. Three persons allegedly involved in the brutal killing of two tea garden workers of Bhutiachang Tea Estate in Udalguri District surrendered before the court of CJM Gitali Rabha. Police identified the trio - Sunil Thakur, Kanchan Chauhan and Ajay Chauhan, as the prime accused in the killing and a case under section 120B/143/109/325/302/34 of the IPC was registered against them at Paneri Police Station in the District. The CJM court sent the trio to judicial custody. Based on specific inputs, a team of Army, SSB and Chirang Police arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Jordan Narzary alias Jaolang, in a joint operation at Oxiguri village under Amguri Police Station in Chirang District. A 7.65 mm pistol, a grenade, a mobile phone and some incriminating documents were seized from Jordan, a cadre of 38th batch of NDFB-IKS. Though he was earlier arrested on March last year in Bangalore of Karnataka state, he was bailed out from jail on April 3. As per input, after coming out from jail he was in touch with senior cadres of NDFB-IKS and was secretly working for the organization and engaged in extortion and other subversive activities, said a top Police official. A team of Kharupetia Police acting on a tip off recovered one 7.65 mm pistol made in Italy along with two rounds of live ammunition and an empty magazine from the rented house of one Bubul Choudhury (38) at Ghanasimalu village in Darrang District. Bubul who originally hails from village Kosolukhowa of Panigaon in Nagaon District has reportedly been practicing Ayurvedic treatment for last 14 years in the locality. In this connection Kharupetia Police has registered a case (No. 299 /16) under the sections of Arms Act. Meanwhile according to police the accused has confessed before Police that the certificate of Ayurvedic degree to be a fake one. One person, identified as Rajiv Chasa (24) a resident of Dewan tea estate in Cachar District, was arrested for abducting a three-year old boy, Sun Kumar Hajam a resident of Labok tea garden, by Lakhipur Police. Rajiv abducted the baby in the midnight of June 5. Soon, people came to know about the incident and it was confirmed as a case of kidnapping when Rajesh received a ransom call. On the same day (June 5), the baby was found near a pan-shop near Silchar Medical College and Hospital. It has been informed that Rajesh has paid the ransom money. In a joint operation of Army and Police, Dipak Basumatari (33) was arrested at Goreswar of Baksa District. Dipak is a resident of Chinakuna village under Khoirabari Police Station. A 9mm pistol with magazine was recovered from his possession. Dipak was reportedly involved in many extortion related cases in the name of NDFB, added Army and Police sources. Chirang Police arrested two persons - Mathla alias Sunil Tudu (23), an ANLA ceasefire cadre and Biswanath Hembrom alias Chinese (31), an ACMA ceasefire cadre in connection with the attempt of abduction of one Raj Kishore Shah from Ghorsingpara under Runikhata Police Station in Chirang District on June 16. Mathla is from Podotola Amguri in Kokrajhar District while Biswanath is from Paschim Golajhar under Runikhata Police Station in Chirang. SP Sankar Brata Raimedhi said during interrogation the duos had confessed regarding their involvement in the crime and stated that the motive was abduction for ransom. Police and the Indian Army, in a series of joint operations over last few days, arrested 11 cadres of the recently-floated militant outfit, Halam Tiger Force (HTF) from Umrongso in Dima Hasao and Larkercha village in West Karbi Anglong District along Assam-Meghalaya border, defence sources claimed. The operation led by Major Rajneesh and Lieutenant Pratik also recovered two 9mm pistols, three 7.65 pistols, three rifles, one hand grenade and 40 rounds of live ammunition from the militants. The arrested militants confessed before the interrogators that the chief of HTF is camping in Manipur, sources further said. The unearthing and arrest of a majority of cadres of this outfit which has links with KPLT and UPLA; has been a major setback to the nexus between the outfits which have been involved in kidnapping, extortion and ‘tax-collection’, added the official. Four linkmen of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Ram Tudu, Santosh Hembram, Mwikwm Mushahary and Jwisar Borgoary were arrested in a joint operation by Kokrajhar Police and Army from Pakriguri and Padmabil village under Serfanguri Police station in Kokrajhar District. One 7.62 mm pistol, one 7.62 mm country-made pistol and three live rounds of pistol were recovered their possession. The NDFB expressed shock over the demise of Issak Chisi Swu, ‘chairman’ of the NSCN-IM at the Fortis Hospital in New Delhi on June 28. ‘The information and publicity secretary’ of the NDFB, B. Naijab said in a statement, “The NDFB salutes the departed soul of brave Issak Chisi Swu and pays homage to him.” The NDFB leader conveyed deepest condolence to all the leaders and cadres of the NSCN-IM, the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul. He also hoped that the dreams of Issak Chisi Swu would be fulfilled. Assam Police issued an alert across the State following the killing of 20 people by Islamic State (IS) militants at a cafe in Dhaka (Bangladesh), which is about 500 km from Guwahati via Shillong. Assam Police ADGP-special branch, Pallab Bhattacharya said, "We can't say anything about any specific threat, but we have issued an alert after the Dhaka incident. There are Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) modules still at large in the state though we have arrested many of their cadres." An anti-migrant body in Assam on July 2 said that updating the NRC alone can't prevent the indigenous population from becoming a minority unless the BJP-led Government puts in place special legal measures to free the State from illegal Bangladeshi migrants. The Prabhajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), which mobilized the indigenous electorate through signature campaigns ahead of the assembly polls, said the BJP-led government should not forget that safeguarding 'jati, bheti and maati' (identity, homeland and land) was one of its main electoral promises which helped in consolidation of indigenous voters. Based on specific input Chirang Police launched a 48-hour operation starting from July 2 and arrested four NDFB-IKS cadres, including Monika Basumatary, wife of the outfit's general secretary Ranjit Basumatary alias BR Ferenga, two teachers and a linkman, identified as Pinkush Narzary (23) from Chirang District. Chirang SP, Sankar Brata Rai Medhi said that during interrogation it had come to light that through social media networking site Facebook, Ranjit Basumatary, general secretary of NDFB-IKS, created some fake accounts and established contacts with Pinkush and motivated and instructed him to collect extortion money in Bengtol area. collected Rs 31,000 from one Pradip Narzary, who is assistant teacher of Bengtol M V School and Rs 12,865 from one Jitendra Narzary who is Principal of Tukrajhar H S School. The money was further handed over to Monika Basumatary, wife of Ranjit Basumatary alias Ferrenga, who passed it onto the banned organization. All the above mentioned OGWs have been arrested on charges of terror financing and stringent provision of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act has been invoked. A total of four mobile phones and Rs 13,000 extorted cash have been recovered. Further investigation is on to unearth the full design of the banned organization,” the SP said. SFs arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Ristw Narzary alias Adaw from Rupnathpur area under Kachugaon Police Station in Kokrajhar District. He was actively involved in extortion of money for the banned outfit as well deliveries of rations and other administrative stores, which includes medicine. A pistol, two round live bullets were also recovered from him. In the wake of terror strike in Dhaka in neighbouring Bangladesh that left 20 foreigners dead, alert has been sounded in Assam and Tripura especially in the Districts having border with Bangladesh apprehending possible attempts of terror elements to cross over the border which has remained porous in many stretches till date. The Governors of Assam and Tripura told the BSF to tighten their vigil on the border with Bangladesh following the terror attack on Dhaka. Assam Governor, PB Acharya who visited the Sutarkandi border areas in Karimganj District of South Assam, held discussion with BSF officials. The governor has asked the BSF to keep “maximum vigil” along the winding border. Acharya also met officials of district administration, and also talked to Border Guards Bangladesh officials, a senior In Tripura, Governor Tathagata Roy met BSF officials to take stock of the situation along the 856 Km long border with Bangladesh in the land-locked state. “We have apprised the governor about the steps taken along the India-Bangladesh border,” said BSF’s Tripura Frontier Inspector General JB Sangwan Assam's Muslim intellectuals, activists and academicians have condemned and raised their voice against atrocities inflicted upon minorities in Bangladesh and the recent Dhaka attacks by Islamic militants. They strongly opposed the use of religion for creating terror among minorities, liberals and the common people. In solidarity with victims of the attacks, the Muslim Nagarik Samaj (MNS), a citizen group, will organize a peace procession at Dighalipukhuri here on July 5, in which prominent Muslim citizens and community members will participate. Badruddin Ajmal appealed to all people of the State to stand united against the Islamic State (ISIS). In a statement, Ajmal said, “News reports based on an intelligence report on the presence of ISIS in Assam is a matter of concern. If the ISIS has really set up its base in Assam, there’s every possibility of a section of youth of the State going astray and an innocent section is likely to face harassment. In order to avoid such a situation in the State, the people of the State, especially the Muslims, should come forward united against the ISIS. The Muslims of Assam have always been against insurgents. The Muslims of the State never patronized insurgents. It is high time all should be careful that no anti-social elements misled the new generation of the Muslims of the State. I appeal to all Muslims of the State to carry out their anti-ISIS activities, parallel to their rituals related to Ramadan.” keeping a close watch on the cyber space is one of the keys to prevent terrorist outfits like the Islamic State (IS) from launching their propaganda to influence youths, while the Police and security agencies are working in close coordination to prevent such outfits from establishing roots in the State, said the DGP, Assam, Mukesh Sahay. The DGP said that though no footprint of the IS has been noticed in Assam till date, “we have to learn our lesson from the recent incident in Bangladesh and adequate precautionary measures will have to a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Bidyaram Brahma, from Udalguri District. A 7.65mm pistol, a magazine and five live bullets were recovered from him. The NDFB-IKS condemned the arrest of four persons, including a school principal and teacher, from Chirang District for their alleged links with the outfit on July 4. In a statement issued to the media, NDFB-IKS ‘general secretary’ B.R. Ferengga said, "It is a baseless and false allegation imposed upon Jitendra Narzary, the principal of Tukrajhar Higher Secondary School and Pradip Narzary, a teacher of Bengtol Middle Vernacular School." The Assam Police has been put on alert after the recent terror attacks in Bangladesh and reports of five suspected terrorists crossing over from the neighbouring country (Bangladesh) into India and heading for Assam, Assam DG) Mukesh Sahay said. The reports said five suspected terrorists from Bangladesh had crossed the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region. “There were reports that residents of a remote village in South Garo Hills District had spotted the five youth coming from other side of the border. We are yet to confirm it and are in touch with our counterparts in the Garo Hills,” Mukesh Sahay said. The report assumes significance as Bangladesh-based Islamic terror module, JMB, has been active in Assam, where several alleged jihadi operatives working for the JMB have been arrested in the past two years. In view of the latest threat perception, security agencies in Assam have been asked to re-verify the criminal antecedents of the Bangladeshi nationals detained in Assam in the recent past. This comes close on the heels of the recent attacks masterminded in Bangladesh by the JMB and threat inputs received by the Indian security agencies. Well-placed sources said that the Assam Police, in coordination with other security agencies, has detained nearly 100 suspected Bangladeshis since April 1 this year (2016) and although the standard operating procedure was already followed, the recent threat percept and the string of violent activities reported across the world by the radical groups has necessitated a re-check. on the update of the NRC in Assam are confident of completing the task within this year. Sources said the new BJP-led Government at Dispur is extending full support and providing all possible logistics to the NRC authorities to carry out its ongoing verification. State chief secretary V.K. Pipersenia recently wrote to his counterparts in other States to extend necessary help to the NRC authorities to verify documents like birth certificates and university certificates submitted by applicants who are currently staying outside Assam. The NIA special court in Guwahati awarded life sentence to a NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Pradip Brahma alias Pwler for killing seven people, including four women and two children in Balapara village of Kokrajhar District on May 1, 2014. The 26-year-old accused, Pradip Brahma was convicted by NIA special judge M.K. Bhattacharjee under Sections 302, 307 and 368 of the IPC and Section 16 of the UAPA. "He was sentenced to life imprisonment and Rs 5,000 as fine. In case of default in payment of fine, he will have to undergo imprisonment for another three months," said Dilip Kumar Das, special public prosecutor of NIA. Brahma, who hails from Besorkona village under Bagribari police station of Kokrajhar, is a commander of Monglajhora section of the Dhubri platoon of the outfit's 14th battalion. Elusive ULFA-I chief, Paresh Baruah, sent a team of ULFA militants from Myanmar (Burma) to carry out subversive activities in upper Assam Districts in the run up to Independence Day (August 15), according to security sources. Disclosing that ULFA militants are reported to have crossed over the international border and entered Arunachal Pradesh on their way to Assam, authoritative security sources said that the State Police has already been alerted and asked to take necessary steps to foil their attempts. Informing that failure of ULFA-I militants in carrying out any subversive activities has demorlised the ULFA-I leadership, security sources said that the outfit was desperate to make their presence felt. Pointing out that the security agencies are yet to establish the identity of ULFA-I militants, security sources said that instructions have been given to ULFA militants to target SFs and trigger bomb blasts in public places. Assam Police intensified its hunt to trace 11 "missing" cadres of the JMB, in which three of them from the State. Top Police sources said all the Districts have been alerted with details of the wanted cadres. Three of the wanted cadres are residents of Assam while the other eight are Bangladeshi citizens. They are reportedly part of the JMB module set up in Assam and West Bengal by the Islamist outfit after its cadres sneaked into India following a crackdown in the ADGP - special branch, Pallab Bhattacharyya said one Sahidul Islam of Barpeta has been missing since the Burdwan blasts. The NIA is also on his look-out. After clearing his matriculation examination, Sahidul had gone for higher education to Burdwan. "Since the blasts, we have no contact with him," his father Zaharuddin, a resident of Roumari Pathar under Tarabari police station of Barpeta District, said. Another key wanted person is Zahirul Islam. "Initially we thought he was an Indian. But later we realized he was a Bangladeshi national. He had put up in a rented place at Nali of Bhoktoduba under Sarthebari police station. He had married an Indian girl, but later abandoned her and has since been missing," a Police The SC verdict saying the Army should not use excessive force in its counter insurgency operations has not gone down well with the Army veterans who feel that it does not reflect their operational principles under which they use minimum of force in operations against insurgents. The former veterans were unanimous that any dilution of the AFSPA would affect their operations in dealing with insurgents and consequently the security of the country. Hoping that the Centre would seek review of the judgment, Lieutenant General J.B.S. Yadav (retd) said that the army seeks to use minimum force in insurgency operations. “In our training or as a matter of principle we always use minimum force and we scrupulously abide by the ten commandments of the army chief,” Yadav said. The commandments include respecting human rights, no torture resulting in death and no act resulting in military disgrace. Lt. General Yadav, who retired in the year 2006 and had participated in anti-insurgency operations in Northeast, Assam, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir said: “The operations are done in good faith and not to kill anyone.” of the North East India which have been seeking the creation of separate states decided to intensify their movement after August 15 under the aegis of NFNS. NFNS is led by Raja Bundela, who has been leading the movement for a separate Bundelkhand state, and Shrihari Aney, leader of the Vidarbha movement. “If the Centre doesn’t come up with a policy on the creation of new states, we will launch a united movement across the country after August 15,” president of ABSU and NFNS joint secretary, Pramod Boro, said. NFNS’s northeast chapter said the Centre should pave the way for the creation of Bodoland, Kukiland, Karbi Autonomous State and Tripuraland in the region. Based on specific information, a team of Indian Army and Baksa Police launched a joint operation and arrested a cadre of NDFB-IKS, identified as Milon Daimary alias D Mushagara from Tamulpur village in Nalbari District. One 7.65mm pistol along with three live rounds of 7.65mm and two magazines were recovered from the cadre. The arrested cadre was trained in the 38th batch of NDFB-IKS and was involved in extortion, arms smuggling and other nefarious and anti national activities and was pivotal in NDFB-IKS activities in the area. Chirang Police arrested a NDFB-IKS cadre, identified as Derasat Basumatary from Panbari in Bijni subdivision of Chirang District. “One 7.65 mm pistol, two magazines and nine rounds of live ammunition of 7.65 pistol were recovered from his possession. Our interrogation is on,” Chirang SP Sankar Brata Rai Medhi said. concerns over terrorist activities around the globe and the recent attacks at an up market cafe in Bangladesh, madrassa chiefs of Karimganj District in Assam gave a clarion call for a collective fight against terrorism. Superintendents of at least 25 senior madrassas of Karimganj near Bangladesh, in a meeting held at Asimganj, condemned the terror activities across the world. The madrassa chiefs appealed to the people to come forward and fight against such inhuman acts. BTAD IGP L.R. Bishnoi said three overground workers of NDFB-IKS, identified as Nimesius Iswary (28), Jaharlal Borgoyary (45), and Birkholas Narzary alias Laoga (31) were arrested in a series of operations, at different parts of Kokrajhar District, in the past 48 hours. "Based on specific inputs about the overground workers trying to transfer funds to the NDFB (S) in Myanmar at the behest of the outfit's self-styled finance secretary Dwimalu, Kokrajhar police launched an operation in Kokrajhar and Gossaigaon town areas. When the overground workers had come to deposit cash that were collected through extortion and other illegal means, the police arrested two linkmen - Nimesius Iswary and Jaharlal Borgoyary - and seized Rs 91,000 from their possession along with three mobiles and five SIM cards", Bishnoi said. Based on interrogation of the two linkmen, Birkholas Narzary alias Laoga was arrested as he was about to transfer the same money to the cadres in Myanmar in the past week. Security has been beefed up in lower Assam, including the four Districts of BTAD, following reports that five religious extremists from Bangladesh were planning a major strike. BTAD IGP L.R. Bishnoi said vital installations like the NTPC at Salakati and railway tracks are under close watch. High alert has been issued in Kokrajhar town too. Also, the DGP Mukesh Sahay confirmed an intelligence report about intrusion of five suspected persons from Bangladesh, but said reports of intrusion of jihadis into the State is yet to be confirmed or corroborated. "The reports of 5-10 jihadis entering Assam are unverified and uncorroborated as of now. We are in constant touch with other security agencies and there is no confirmation till now," he said, addressing a press conference. Sahay said the State security machinery was "extremely alert" in the wake of the recent attacks in Bangladesh. The Chief Minister is also constantly reviewing the situation, he said. Assam Police and Army in a joint operation detained four suspected jihadis from Roumari Pathar in Barpeta District on July 11 and subsequently arrested two of them for their alleged links with JMB on July 12. Police officials in the District said four persons were picked up from Roumari Pathar by an army team based on intelligence inputs about their possible links with the JMB. Two of them, Kasim Uddin and Akram Ali were subsequently arrested. A Police officer said according to preliminary investigations, Kasim, who runs a hardware shop at Daulasal in Nalbari District, started a physical training institute in 2012. Some unknown persons had visited him frequently, raising suspicion about his involvement in unlawful activities. The arrest comes a day after DGP Mukesh Sahay said a hunt was on for a few JMB members in the State. Panic gripped the State after local TV channels on July 11 telecast a video clip, allegedly posted by the Islamic State (IS) after the spate of terror attacks in neighbouring Bangladesh, which showed a Bengali-speaking militant issue a threat against what many mistook as 'Assam'. State Police on July 12 scrutinized the video and clarified that the word spoken by the militant was 'Al-Sham', not 'Assam'. The media cell of Assam Police said, "On careful observation of the video, it (the word in question) appears to be Al-Sham and not Assam. It refers to the area in the eastern Mediterranean covering Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel." DGP Mukesh Sahay said, "We have increased vigilance on the ground and in cyberspace to the maximum level." Sealing the international border with Bangladesh is one of the keys to dealing with the possible growth of jihadi elements in Assam, said Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. He also said that the Police and SFs are keeping a close watch on the situation and there is no reason for the people to be alarmed. Sonowal also said that sealing of the international border is on the top of the agenda of the GoI. The State Government is also in close touch with the Centre in this regard, he added A militant belonging to the NDFB-IKS, identified as Ripak Narzary alias N Rwhw Rwhw was arrested by Police and Army in a joint operation from Ghograpar area in Nalbari District. One 7.65mm pistol along with six live rounds of 7.65mm was recovered from the arrested militant. The militant was trained in the 39th batch of NDFB-IKS in Myanmar and was involved in extortion, arms smuggling and other nefarious and anti national activities. At a time when reports of entry of Islamic terrorists from Bangladesh into India are hitting the headlines almost every day, a joint meeting of the DCs and SPs of Cachar, Assam and the East Jayantia Hills Districts of Meghalaya was held at the office of the Cachar DC. The meeting discussed vital issues between both the Districts, including insurgent movement into India from Bangladesh via Meghalaya, improvement of the road connecting Silchar and Guwahati through Meghalaya and ways to lessen the number of road accidents, law and order and other matters relevant for better border management between the two States. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju asserted that the overall security scenario in the North East has improved since 2014. He announced that the target of his Ministry is to secure complete peace in the region so that development is expedited here (North East). Rijiju revealed that the entire international border that Assam shares with Bangladesh will be sealed by 2017. All fencing work in the other States will also be completed, he said divulging that funds for border management have been enhanced by 44 per cent from this financial year. Rijiju also said that his Ministry has adopted a two-pronged strategy to deal with extremism and separatist forces. "Our stand is tough and soft where required," he added. An NDFB-IKS militant, who was a NIA under trial prisoner, was killed and another escaped from Police custody when they were on their way to Kokrajhar from Guwahati at Choibari in the Kokrajhar District. Four NIA under trials were returning to Kokrajhar jail from Guwahati when two of them sprayed analgesic spray on the eyes of the escort party after they reached Choibari tea garden around 5pm and tried to escape. One of the NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Swmla Basumatary was shot by the escort team while another one, Rajib Basumatary fled into the tea bushes and its adjoining forest. The other two under trial prisoners, Sanjoy Narzary and Lebao Basumatary who were handcuffed, could not escape and were escorted back to Kokrajhar jail. AIUDF leader, Dahit Chandra Brahma was attacked by unidentified gunmen at Chandamari in Kamrup District when he was on way to Dotma with his own vehicle. He was safe on the attacked, but vehicle was saw bullet injury. Assailants attacked him by AK 47 with ambush, said Dahit. Four overground workers of NDFB-IKS, identified as Simhiring Narzary (32), Michael Hasda (21), Sibu Hasda (23), and Maiku Hasda (23) were arrested from the Pakriguri and Nijemguri areas in Kokajhar District. Police said the overground workers were actively involved in extortion and collection of money for the banned outfit as well as delivery of rations. They were also involved in providing information regarding the movement of SFs to NDFB-IKS cadres Luthai Basumatary alias Dimasha and Sudem Borgoyari. One rifle, one pistol and two live rounds were recovered from Kokrajhar SP Syamal Prasad Saikia said the two Policemen, including ASI Dilip Basumatary and unarmed battalion constable Ukundwi Brahma, were arrested for negligence of duty and helping the two under trials escape on July 13. Nalbari Police had a tough time when an NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Mithinga Narzary, tried to escape from the Police custody while he was being taken to court. He was in captivity for over six months for various antinational activities and was lodged in Nalbari Jail. "Narzary tried to give the slip to the police escort team when he reached the court campus. One head constable had to resort to warning fires to stop him. Two rounds were fired," Nalbari police sources said. Immediately, locals too jumped into action as the militant hid himself in the crowd in the nearby area. After a few minutes of suspense, locals succeeded in catching him and handed him over to police again. A police official said additional charges would be slapped on him as per law. Two AANLA cadres, identified as Sanjay Sama (35) and Mansuk Kheruar (38) surrendered at 142 Battalion, CRPF Jonaki Nagar Head Quarters in Golaghat District with arms and ammunitions recently. Sanjay was a third batch cadre of the outfit and underwent training in Nagaland while Mansuk was second batch cadre of AANLA. They deposited one hand grenade, a point-22 pistol and 12 rounds of live ammunition. Dhula Police arrested two members of an interstate FICN racket, identified as Rasul Ali (52) and Wazed Ali (26) during search operation in the house one Abu Taher of Galandi Habi village under Daipam police outpost of the Darrang District. The Police recovered FICNs amounting INR 5500 in the denomination of INR 1000 and INR 500, from their possession. The arrested persons confessed before Police that they along with their accomplices in Karnataka, Kerala, Malda in West Bengal etc used to spread huge quantity of fake currency in Darrang and adjoining Udalguri District. Further investigations are on to nab absconding house owner Abu Taher and other identified members of the notorious A NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Sudem Borgoyary alias Gorom was killed in the SFs' first CI operation in Kokrajhar District while the other cadres managed to escape. Two pistols, two grenades, ammunitions, cash and an extortion note of NDFB, a mobile phone, one solar panel, rice, dal and medicines were recovered from the spot. A group of militants raided a house and looted valuables at Bhubandahar village under Lakhipur sub-division in Cachar District. Sources said a group of 16 armed tribal militants at 11pm came to the house of Jumma Khan, an affluent trader, with a motive to abduct him. However, as Khan was not in the house at that time, they started to beat up other members of the family, including Khan's wife and mother. The militants looted cash, gold ornaments and other valuables from the house at gun-point. They left the place in the darkness of the night. The injured family members were admitted to the local government hospital with the help of Police and villagers. After hearing about the incident, Police from Lakhipur rushed to the place and launched an operation along Assam's border with Manipur and Mizoram. However, the whereabouts of the militants remains unknown. Many Hmar and Bru (Reang) militants live in this part of Cachar District. The threat from the Islamic State (IS) and other jihadi elements towards Assam and other parts of the northeastern region cannot be overlooked and the Government should take adequate precautionary measures before the situation goes out of control, said security analyst Lieutenant General (Retired) DB Shekhatkar. Shekhatkar said, "We will be fooling ourselves if we say that the threat is not real." He pointed out that there is a new term called 'home grown terrorism', which is now frequently used in Bangladesh that is facing a serious terrorist threat. He said that the outfits like the IS do not have to send fighters all the way from Iraq and Syria to create disturbance in places like Assam. Such outfits only need to radicalize local youths with their ideology to create trouble as they have done in Bangladesh, he pointed out. He also said that Assam having a sizeable immigrant population, the threat is very much real and the government would have to take adequate measures to thwart any such threat. SFs killed two top cadres of NDFB-IKS during a series of CI operations in Kokrajhar District. The encounters took place at Khalasi and Saralpara of Ultapani near Indo-Bhutan border area in the wee hours in which two NDFB-IKS militants, identified as Ritu Basumatary alias B. Rugungsha and Rahul Basumatary alias B. Rakhao were killed. Ritu is stated to be from the 41st batch while Rahul is from the 42nd batch of the outfit. Two 7.65 mm pistols, five 7.65 mm live rounds, two 36 hand grenades, one AK-47 magazine, dry ration, rice, spices, cash, medicines, two letter pads of NDFB-IKS, toiletries and other incriminating materials were recovered from the area, SP Shyamal Prasad Saikia said. Police and Army launched the operation after getting information of entry of some NDFB-IKS cadres into Kokrajhar from Myanmar side, ADGP of BTAD, L R Bishnoi said. He said that SFs received an input that the militants were moving with ration and medicines in Khalasi jungle area under Serfanguri Police Station. The materials were meant to delivered to Bidai's camp in Bhutan. The report adds that in a desperate attempt to tide over its financial crisis and demonstrate its existence, a batch of the banned NDFB-IKS militants has entered the State from its hideouts in Myanmar recently to carry out extortion activities and terror strikes in the region, said a source. Security has been beefed up and counter-insurgency operations intensified in Kokrajhar District. Police arrested six persons, identified as Md Nijam Ali (28), Md Taibor Rahman (29), Hanif Ali (25), Md Najrul Sk (36), Md Zakir Hussain (28) and Saja Ali (25), for allegedly trying to kidnap an Adivasi (tribal) girl from Deosri area under Runikhata Police Station in Chirang District. Former Governor Lieutenant General (Retired) SK Sinha called upon Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to take immediate effective steps to seal the international border with Bangladesh to prevent fresh infiltration of foreign nationals. Lt Gen Sinha said that he has already written to the Chief Minister with his suggestions to deal with the problem of infiltration of foreigners. However, he said that he is yet to get a reply Two cadres of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Mahindra Champramary alias Rankhw (22) and Bamansing Mushahary alias Gendra (60) were arrested by the joint team of Police and SSB in Chirang District. One 36 hand grenade was also recovered from them. Assam Police arrested two persons, identified as Nur Islam Mandal and Jaher Ali, in connection with a jihadi module in the state in Chirang District. Chirang Police claimed that the duo had participated in religious indoctrination, physical and arms training at Daukanagar in the District. Police had last year (2015) busted the Daukanagar training camp of an active Jihadi module and recovered arms and ammunition. "Nur Islam was personally recruited by Bura Bhai alias Aashiq, the key person for setting up the training camp for jihadis," said a Policeman. Bura Bhai is accused of having close links with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told the State Assembly that the State Government had accorded top priority to the NRC updating process and that the exercise would be taken to its logical conclusion in a foolproof manner. Earlier, replying to a question by legislator Pobindra Deka, who wanted to know whether a timeframe had been set for completion of the NRC, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that the NRC would be completed ‘as soon as possible’ and that it was difficult to set a deadline because the exercise was a vast and sensitive one that also involved technicalities. Even as the issue of large-scale presence of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam continues to dominate the State’s politics, the six detention camps in six Districts have in total a meagre 527 legally-detected illegal migrants as on June 30, 2016. A total of 902 declared foreigners and 27,252 convicted foreigners have been ‘sent back’ to Bangladesh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary stated in In another written reply to legislator Ramendra Narayan Kalita, however, the number of deported illegal Bangladeshis (during the period from April 2001 to 2016) has been stated as 265, while the number of detected illegal Bangladeshis is 27,002. The detention camps are in the Districts of Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Tezpur and Jorhat. Stating this in the Assembly, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said that there were no Indian citizens in any detection camp and that the camps had the required basic facilities. In the last five years, two detention camp inmates have died – one at the GMCH and the other on the day he was shifted to camp. The Bangladesh cabinet made extradition easy with India as it accepted the proposal by which no evidence of crime is required between the two neighbouring countries for extraditing convicted or under-trial suspects. Unlike earlier, the new proposal allows extradition of the convicted and under-trial criminals merely if a court in any of the two countries issues an arrest warrant against them, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told reporters following a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. According to clause 10/3 of the Extradition treaty with India, evidence alongside the warrant of arrest was needed to extradite such persons, report said. The proposal was moved after the Indian Government requested Bangladesh to make the extradition process easier. India wanted a "complex" section of the treaty "simplified", said Alam. The provision was brought in by amending a section of the existing Extradition treaty, which was enforced from October 23, 2013, between the Mariani Police arrested two persons, identified as Along Tushiba and Warmo (both from Mokokchung District of Nagaland) along with arms including two German-made pistols and six rounds of ammunition from Sivasagar District. An Assistant Teacher in Chanbecha Binapani Primary School under Demow Block Primary Education Office in Sibsagar District, identified as Umesh Rajbonshi received a letter in which unidentified assailants had allegedly demanded INR1 lakh from him. An arms smuggler, identified as Babul Lahon was arrested along with recovered a 7.35 mm pistol with ammunition by the Police from an interior place under Garmur Police Station in Jorhat District. According to Police, with numerous cases of murder, extortion, honey trapping, arms smuggling, contract killing and possessing illegal arms, the wanted criminal was absconding since March this year (2016) after shooting and injuring 26-year Pinku Gogoi in the Chenijaan area of Jorhat on March 13. An ULFA-I cadre, identified as Babul Dihingia alias Engineer, was arrested in a joint operation by SFs from Chepatoli gaon in Dibrugarh District. Police said they recovered two hand grenades from him and that he had sneaked into Assam to carry out subversive activities in the run-up to Independence Day. Dihingia is an associate of ULFA ‘publicity secretary’ Arunodoy Dohotia. However, ULFA-I, in a press release, denied that Dihingia is a member. The outfit said Dihingia is Tinsukia SP Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta's man and it is only to show the outfit in poor light that Mahanta is trying to portray him as an ULFA cadre. Earlier, there were reports that Dihingia is a hardcore ULFA cadre who was trying to trigger a blast in Tinsukia. A suspected MULTA cadre, identified as Karim Ali (16), was arrested by the SFs from the Beltoli area in Dhubri District. A country-made revolver was recovered from his possession. Ali allegedly confessed that one Rofiqul Haque of Sonamukhi gave him the revolver and told him to sell it for INR 30,000. In return, Haque offered to pay him INR 5,000, an Army source said. Ali was handed over to Bilasipara Police for interrogation. The District administration clamped Section 144 CrPC in Dhubri district fearing a breach of peace. PDMB urged the Union Home Minister to take the initiative to expedite the peace talks with ceasefire groups of the NDFB and re-initiate tripartite talks with other Bodoland movement organisations for an amicable solution to the Bodoland issue. “We hope that once the political dialogue starts in a meaningful way, the NDFB (S) which has recently become a member of the UNLFW will also join the peace process,” said the PDMB, insisting that Chapter X of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act, 1886, be enforced in true spirit with inclusion of this Act in the Ninth Schedule to clear the tribal belts and blocks from Based on specific inputs on the movement of few arms dealers in and around Makum and Digboi in Tinsukia District, Tinsukia Police arrested three persons, identified as Rahul Bora (25), Pantik Sonowal (24) and Kalyan Konwar (22) from different hideouts and recovered a .32 pistol from their Security agencies are on the alert to foil any attempt by jihadi outfits or other terrorist groups to create any untoward incidents in Assam and 52 cadres of the JMB have been arrested during the recent months from various locations in the State, stated Parliamentary Affairs Minister CM Patowary in the Legislative Assembly. Replying to a question, the Minister said that there is no specific input about entry of a group of Bangladeshi jihadis into Assam via the international frontier in Meghalaya but he added that the Unified Command structure in the State is prepared to deal with any situation. “The Unified Command structure is fully prepared to deal with any situation. As the India-Bangladesh border is not sealed, we have intensified long-range patrolling along the frontier,” he said, adding that the Chief Minister is personally monitoring the situation. India is likely to take up the issue of growing jihadi activities in Bangladesh, when the Home Ministers of the two neighbouring countries will meet here on July 28. A delegation, led by Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, will be on a three-day visit to India from July 27, official sources said. The Indian delegation, which will participate in the talks, will comprise NSA, Union Home Secretary, Director General of BSF and Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau. Fighting with their backs to the wall with depleting cadre strength due to relentless NIA action, Bodo militants threatened to target the agency's officers and their families. In a direction issued to its cadres, the leaders of NDFB-IKS have asked them to track NIA officers even in the national capital (New Delhi) and strike at the right opportunity, sources said. Following the threat, security has been tightened at NIA's Guwahati office while the agency has asked it officers to be extra vigilant while on the move. NIA's Guwahati office is the hub of its investigations against outfits like NDFB-IKS, NSCN-K, ULFA and the arrested cadres are brought there for questioning. Officials said that the NDFB-IKS's threat is a result of its frustration lately after 86 of its cadres were arrested in the last 2-3 years from Assam, 63 of whom have been charge-sheeted. A senior commander of the militant outfit, Pradip Brahma alias Pwler, was recently sentenced to life imprisonment by a Guwahati court. ASP of South Kamrup Dr Sadique Ali Ahmed said that a major area domination combing operation has been going on along the Assam-Meghalaya border in South Kamrup District to foil any attempts by militants to create disturbance ahead of the Independence Day on August 15. The ASP said that the Police force of South Kamrup District has been conducting raids and picking up suspected persons as preventive measures. The ANCC, a conglomeration of different Adivasi (tribal) organizations including militant outfits who are in ceasefire mode, staged a three-hour NH blockade at 31 (C) at Karigaon and Srirampur in Kokrajhar District on July 22 from 9 am to 12 noon demanding ST status and solution of problems of the militant groups who are under ceasefire with the Government. Some hundreds of activists of the Adivasi community from different parts of the region thronged the NH shouting slogans in support of their demands that included ST status and tripartite talks with the militant groups of the Adivasi like BCF, AANLA, STF, APA, ACMA and NSLA who are currently under ceasefire with the Centre for a long time. Tamulpur Police arrested an NDFB-IKS linkman from Patkijuli village under Darrangamela Police out-posts in Baksa District. The arrestee has been identified as Luis Mushahary (39) and Police recovered 7 hand grenades from his possession. SDPO Ahmed said that Luis collated the grenades to supply to the Troops of Guwahati Frontier of BSF in a joint operation with Bogribari Police arrested one arms supplier, identified as Gaji Rahman (20) along with one 7.65 mm pistol, 10 rounds of ammunition, two magazines, one bike and a mobile phone with two SIM cards from Angarkati village in Kokrajhar Based on specific intelligence inputs about an IED planted at Namrup in Dibrugarh District, a Police team launched an operation and arrested suspected ULFA-I linkman, identified as Lakhyajit Gogoi from Kamarchuk village in Dibrugarh District on July 23 night. Based on Lakhyajit's revelations, the Police recovered an IED, weighing about 3kg, around 10.15pm in the same day. "During questioning, Lakhyajit revealed that the IED was given to him by ULFA-I cadre Pradip Asom alias Akon, to plant it at a crowded market at Naharkatia town. He said two other bombs are also ready for detonation at Moranhat and Sonari," an officer in the state Police headquarters in Guwahati Based on Lakhyajit's lead, Dibrugarh Police alerted their counterparts in Tinsukia and Sivasagar Districts and subsequently three other suspected linkmen of ULFA-I, identified as Sankar Gohain, Nirab Saikia and Haren Rajkonwar were arrested on July 24. The Police source said an operation was under way to arrest Pradip Asom and a few more ULFA-I linkmen who were out to trigger blasts ahead of Independence Day. Tinsukia Police arrested one Anupam Chutia alias Suchan Asom for his alleged involvement in planting the IED near the platform of Tinsukia station. The Police said Anupam was an ULFA-I cadre and sent by Arunodoy to plant the bomb. He joined ULFA-I earlier this year (2016), the police Intelligence inputs suggest that ULFA-I along with NSCN-K and NDFB-IKS, all members of the newly floated UNLFW, have been planning to strike in upper Assam Districts, which borders Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh on the eastern part of the State and provides the access to the bases of these outfits in neighbouring Myanmar. Two cadres of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Jwngsar Basumatary alias Laudum and Phungkha Narzary, were killed in an encounter with SFs in Jharbari area under Serfanguri Police Station in Kokrajhar District. According to Kokrajhar ASP Sreejit T, based on specific inputs about the movement of NDFB-IKS cadres in Jharbari, a joint operation was launched on Sunday (July 24) evening by Kokrajhar Police, 3rd Rajput Regiment of the Army and 210 CoBRA in the North of Jharbari area, where two cadres of the outfit were neutralized. The NDFB-IKS cadres opened fire on the operational party first and the party retaliated, killing two cadres. He also said that two 7.65mm pistols, five rounds ammunitions of 7.65mm pistols, four fired cases of 7.65mm pistols, seven 7.62 mm AK-47 fired cases, two Chinese grenades and a backpack were recovered from their possession. The Commanding officer of the 3rd Rajput Regiment, Col IP Singh termed the killing as a major setback to the militant outfit which was trying to carry out subversive activities in the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations. The senior officer said since January this year (2016), a total of 123 persons including 53 cadres of various militants group, 68 linkmen including four females and 13 sympathizers have been arrested. The arrested include 11 NDFB-IKS cadres, 13 NSLA cadres, 14 KLO cadres, 3 ADF cadres, one STF cadre, 3 MTFA cadres, 1 NLFA cadre, 1 ULFA cadre, 2 RVA cadres and 4 jihadis (Islamic Terrorists). As many as 10 rebels including 7 NDFB-IKS cadres, one each of NSLA and KLO were killed in encounters this year. Singh also said 13 sympathizers of NDFB-IKS have been apprehended so far. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said Assam and the northeast were vulnerable to terror attacks by jihadi militants because of their strategic locations and proximity to international borders. He said the region was put on high alert and adequate security arrangements were made as preventive measures. "Assam and the entire northeast are sensitive places. The region shares a major portion of the international border and so its vulnerability is high. It is also prone to jihadi activities. Steps have been taken and arrangements made to ensure the region's safety," said Rijiju. Indian Army and Police in a joint operation arrested 'C-in-C' of UPLA, identified as Nikunja Kathar along with two cadres from Bardalong area near Kheroni in Karbi Anglong District. Kathar is a hardcore terrorist and has been involved in numerous acts of killing, extortion and kidnappings including the brutal killing of Nityananda Goswami, SP, West Karbi Anglong in June, 2014. He is an ex-UPDS cadre who was instrumental in raising, training and illegally equipping the rebel outfit UPLA. Assam Police has a total of 72,118 sanctioned posts, of which 11,782 are lying vacant, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in the Assembly. Of the vacant posts, 4,076 are under the process of being filled up. The vacancies include 20 posts of IPS officers and 114 APS officers. The State has 346 Police stations and 221 Police outposts, and these Police stations and outposts have a total of 62, 041 cases that are yet to be disposed off. The State currently has 107 IPS officers and 456 APS officers. There are pending cases against 17 IPS and APS The Minister, also said that the State Government had embarked on a Police modernization drive involving construction of buildings, purchase of vehicles and firearms, expanding dial-100 service, setting up CID cyber labs and other latest technologies such as CCTNS, etc., besides ensuring better police-public relations and gender sensitization. Updating the NRC is the number one priority for the Government of Assam and an amount of INR 24,932 lakh is proposed to be released from the State Budget for the purpose. In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that to have a fresh insight into the proper implementation the Assam Accord, the department will be revamped and made more robust. The Government will give priority to support and strengthen the functioning system of the Foreigners' Tribunals. The UMHA alerted all the eight North Eastern states to maintain a maximum vigil to deal with any threat of jihadi activities in the region, a top official said. "The UMHA has requested all the eight North Eastern states to remain maximum alert to tackle any threat of jihadi actions in North East India, especially in Assam," the top official of Tripura Government's home department said quoting an advisory of the UMHA. The official also said that the UMHA also alerted the all central and state intelligence agencies to keep a close watch on the situation especially along the international Police arrested two persons, identified as Papu Bora and Mrinal Neog along with a .756 pistol and cartridges from near Mariani police station in Jorhat District. A 26-year-old youth from Silchar in Cachar District, identified as Afaz Uddin Laskar filed a case before the chief judicial magistrate, accusing a person of trying to send him to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. Afaz Uddin Laskar, a resident of Berenga, in his complaint mentioned that Maqbul Hussain Choudhury, imam of a mosque in Silchar, sent him to Saudi Arabia with the promise of a driver's job. When he reached Saudi Arabia he was taken to another person named Ibadur, who happens to be a resident of Karimganj District and has been living there for the past many Army and Assam Police, in a joint operation, recovered an explosive from a remote village along the Assam-Meghalaya border, Nagaldonga, around 18 kms from Boko town in South Kamrup District. According to source, on the occasion of martyrs' day of ULFA, a group of militants planned to carry out an attack in Boko or Chaygaon town. However, Indian Army and Assam Police took immediate action and recovered the explosive. The Centre Government ruled out the possibility of holding any dialogue with the Paresh Baruah led ULFA-I and NDFB-IKS. In a Rajya Sabha Question Hour discussion, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said that with regard to the ULFA faction led by Paresh Baruah, there is no formal offer or anything because it is still engaged in anti-national activities. So there is no proposal of talks with this ULFA faction. "The gruesome killing of innocent people by the NDFB (Songbijit) on December 23, 2014, in Assam had led to an operation which was carried out jointly by the State and Central forces. We also got support of the Government of Bhutan. Therefore, there is no question of talks with the NDFB (Songbijit) because it has carried out mass killing of innocent people," Rijiju said. "We have already stated our position very clearly that the Government is not averse to talking to the militants, but the only condition is that they must abjure violence. Once they give up arms, they will be welcomed back to the mainstream," Rijiju added. Rijiju said the Government, however, is in "a very cooperative mood" to allow groups which want to shun violence. He said that sometimes a group participates in the talks process but at the same time some of its members, through splinter groups, continue to indulge in undesirable activities. He said the Centre and the Assam Government have entered into suspension of operations agreements with certain insurgent groups of Assam, which include ULFA-PTF, NDFB-P, NDFB-RD and KLNLF. In addition, the Assam Government has entered into suspension of operations agreements with ACMA, BCF, KRA, UKDA, AANLA, STF, APA, KLO/KLA and HPC-D. To a question related to Meghalaya, Rijiju said that AFSPA has been imposed on its border with Assam for upto 20 kilometres but added that the law has not been imposed in the The Centre Government admitted that illegal immigrants are able to enter Assam despite several checks and control measures taken along the international border. Since entry is clandestine and surreptitious, the number of illegal migrants cannot be ascertained, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in a Rajya Sabha reply to a question by Dr Sanjay Sinh. Even though there is no major terror threat along the India-Bangladesh border, border forces of both countries are maintaining a strict vigil, BSF and BGB officials said in Agartala. "There is no major problem along the India-Bangladesh borders. Trans-border crimes along these borders have reduced drastically. However, we are tightening the security along the India-Bangladesh borders," Additional Director General of BGB, Brigadier General Mohammad Habibul Karim said after a four-day BSF-BGB border coordination conference. "For better guarding of the borders, the Border Guards Bangladesh is setting up 35 new border outposts. We have a plan to set up 50 more such posts along the frontiers with Northeastern states of India to check trans-border movement of inimical elements. The new posts are being set up at those places that have remained unguarded for 40 years," he added. India and Bangladesh signed an agreement amending Article 10(3) of the Bilateral Extradition Treaty between the two countries. The pact was signed in the presence of UHM Rajnath Singh and his Bangladeshi counterpart Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. The two sides also agreed on the necessity of signing a Repatriation Treaty to simplify and expedite the procedure of repatriation of each other's nationals. Both sides also agreed to undertake urgent action for the repatriation of released prisoners and victims of human trafficking. They further agreed on the need to immediately operationalise the Agreement on Combating Terrorism and Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking and expressed satisfaction over the signing of an addendum to the Bilateral Extradition Treaty of 2013 to further streamline the Treaty and to make it more effective. Further, India and Bangladesh emphasized the need for speedy operationalisation of the bilateral MoUs - MoU between Indian Coast Guard and Bangladesh Coast Guard for the Establishment of Collaborative Relationship to Combat Transnational Illegal Activities at Sea and Develop Regional Cooperation. Both sides emphasised the importance of effective implementation of the Coordinated Border Management Plan to enhance cooperation between the border guarding forces of the two countries and to enable them to better monitor the identified vulnerable areas with a view to preventing criminal activities, irregular movement and acts of violence and loss of lives along the border ULFA-PTF 'general secretary' Anup Chetia admitted that it was a mistake on its part to have killed social worker Sanjoy Ghosh in 1997 and killing of innocent people. Interacting with reporters at Guwahati Press Club in Guwahati, Chetia said that the killing of rural development activist Ghosh were "mistakes on the part of the ULFA". Ghosh of NGO AVARD-NE, along with a colleague of his, were abducted by ULFA on July 4, 1997 from the river island of Majuli where they were working for community health and development. His colleague managed to escape but Ghosh was killed. Chetia said that ULFA is also somehow responsible for the killing of journalist Parag Kr Das. Taking on the JMB and Islamic State (ISIS) threat to Assam, Chetia said, "When I was in Bangladesh jail, I met some top JMB leaders there who had told me that they want to set up base in Assam. They even told that some JMB operatives were taking shelter in Assam." ULFA-I and the NDFB-IKS are desperate to carry out strikes in Assam ahead of Independence Day. A Police source said both the outfits have not been able to carry out any major attack in the past several months, as a result of which they are now desperate to strike in a big way to prove their existence. Based on specific inputs that NDFB-IKS cadres were planning subversive activities at Laimoti in Chirang District ahead of Independence Day, an operation was launched by SFs, led by ASP (headquarters), Chirang, Tabu Ram Pegu, on the intervening night of July 28 and 29. NDFB-IKS cadre Pradip Narzary alias Thaigir Bedla (30), was arrested in that operation. During interrogation, Narzary confessed that he had concealed an INSAS rifle, which was looted from Territorial Army personnel in Kokrajhar District in 2014. "Based on his confession, the INSAS rifle, three magazines and 60 rounds of live ammunition were dug out from a pit shown by him. His interrogation is going on and the operation is continuing," the source said. Three NSLA militants were arrested by SFs from Kachuabil in Kokrajhar District. Satyendra Narayan Singh, ADGP, Assam, who has been camping in Tinsukia since the last few days, assured full security in Tinsukia District. At a press conference held at the Police Guest House, the ADGP claimed that the alert SFs foiled the attempts of a group of ULFA-I militants, who had sneaked into the State, especially upper Assam, to trigger blasts at public places to mark its ‘Swahid Divas’ on July 27. The ULFA-I may again try to carry out subversive activities in the run-up to the Independence Day on August 15, but the security forces are on high alert to foil their designs. There is no cause for panic on the part of the public, the ADGP added. Police stations and outposts along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border under Margherita subdivision of Tinsukia District have been put on high alert following intelligence reports on the movement of NSCN-K militants along the border in the past The Myanmar Government has established contacts with its Indian counterpart expressing its desire to visit the foreigners detention camps in Assam where a number of Myanmarese nationals, caught for illegally crossing the border, are languishing. The team is expected to prepare a detailed investigation report concerning Myanmarese detained in Assam and subsequently take up the issue with the Indian government to facilitate their release. A letter in this connection is expected to reach the State Government through the MEA within a week’s time. At present, 29 Myanmarese nationals are lodged in detention camps in Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Silchar, Jorhat and Tezpur. SFs arrested a militant belonging to the NDFB-IKS, identified as Phukan Borgoyari (22) from Bansbari in Kokrajhar District. A 7.65mm pistol, two rounds of live ammunition and a mobile handset were found with him. NDFB-P appealed to tribal MPs to support and raise the issue of a separate Bodoland in Parliament. In a statement, S. Sanjarang, the outfit's information and publicity secretary, said the outfit has had 14 rounds of dialogue with the Centre on sovereignty. "Owing to lack of political will on the part of the Centre, the dialogue has not been productive," he said, adding that the ABSU has resumed its movement together with the NDFB-P. "Till now, five rounds of talks have been held with ABSU and its allied organisations but with no progress. The last one was held on the June 9, 2015," Sanjarang said. He said the Bodo people have a distinct history because they were an independent nation and have a distinct identity with unique language and culture. "Not only that, their population is the biggest among the indigenous people of the region," he said. "Despite all these, the Bodo people have been repeatedly denied and deprived of their legitimate right to a state. This is a gross historical injustice." "Instead of granting statehood, the Centre attempted to console the Bodos by granting Bodoland Autonomous Council and later Bodoland Territorial Areas District (in 1993 and 2003), which practically are paralysed and impotent administrative set-ups, incapable of addressing the very fundamental questions of the Bodos and other indigenous people," Sanjarang said. The NDFB-P appealed to the MPs belonging to the indigenous community to raise the issue in Parliament so that the long-standing problem can be resolved to usher in permanent peace in the region. The NDFB-IKS leader Kormeswar Basumithri (28) who was arrested by the Palakkad Police from a Kanjikode factory in Palakkad District of Kerala on July 28, will be taken to Assam. After the arrest he lodged in the Sub-jail in Palakkad. ASP of Udalguri, Bedanta Prakash Barkakati, who is camping in Palakkad, said that there was a delay in getting clearance from the Director of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security as it was a weekend in between. Now that it has been cleared, Kormeswar will be taken to Assam. Kormeswar who was a member of the banned organisation, NDFB-IKS, was arrested from a factory in Kanjikode were he had been working for the last two months. It was the Assam police that had provided intelligence inputs to the Palakkad Police which led to the arrest. The NDFB-IKS ‘platoon commander’, Kormeswar Basumithri (28) who was arrested by the Palakkad Police from a Kanjikode factory in Palakkad District of Kerala on July 28, was brought to Assam. Udalguri Police officially recorded his arrest on August SFs arrested four NDFB-IKS militants, identified as Monelal Brahma alias Naga (35), Amit Khaklari alias Takla alias Lantha (28), Sumbu Basumatary (24), and Rajib Narzary alias Goldum (27) from the Audang Bazaar area in Kokrajhar District in the wee hours. A 7.62mm pistol, a 7.65mm pistol, an AK-type gun, a .325 revolver, two live 7.62 pistol rounds, three .325 rounds, two 7.65mm rounds, two No. 36 hand grenades, three mobile handsets, one extortion note and INR 500 were recovered from the quartet. "They are locally-trained cadres and actively involved in extortion and in delivering rations to members of the outfit (at the Bidai camp)," BTAD IGP L.R. Bishnoi said, adding that their arrest will hit the Bidai camp Based on a specific input, Police and the Army arrested a NDFB-IKS cadre, identified as Sanjib Narzary alias Sanjit (39) from the Sijouguri area under Amguri Police Station in Chirang District. One 7.65mm pistol and four rounds of ammunition were recovered from him. A senior Police officer in Chirang said Narzary was involved in the two gunfights between SFs and the rebel group on August 2014 in Laimoti and December 2014 in Selekhaguri (both places are in Chirang District). "He had received a bullet injury in the exchange of fire in August 2014. After the launch of ‘Operation All Out’, he ran away to Bangalore in 2015 and returned only recently to strengthen the banned organisation," the officer said. A Myanmar-trained NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Mriga Daimari alias D. Mwnthai was arrested during a joint operation by the Army and Police in Dimakuchi area of Udalguri District. A 7.65mm factory made pistol, one magazine, five live rounds of ammunition and a grenade were recovered from his possession. North Lakhimpur District administration is on alert as Independence Day draws to a close. The Police officials are checking vehicles and two wheelers on a regular basis. Assam Police recovered a powerful IED weighing around 1.5 kg from Torani Reserve forest adjacent to Goyal Tea factory located along the Pengaree Bordumsa road in Tinsukia District. The SP of Tinsukia, Mugdhajyoti Mahanta said that the IED must have been kept in the jungle by unidentified assailants to terrorize people on the eve of Independence Day. Mahanta urged the people to remain vigilant and cooperate with the local Police. Meanwhile, security has tightened and combing operation has been intensified in the entire belt. A self-styled ‘area commander’ of UPLA, Angjok Teron was arrested in a joint operation conducted by the Army and Hamren Police inside general area of Bhoksong under Baithalangso Police Station in Karbi Anglong District. One 7. 65 mm country-made pistol along with 3 live rounds of ammunition and a large number of documents belonging to UPLA were recovered from him. Fourteen civilians have been killed after suspected NDFB-IKS militants opened fire at a weekly market at Balajan Tiniali in Kokrajhar District. SFs in the area have killed one of the militants. Fifteen civilians have also been reported injured in the incident. An AK-47 has been recovered from the militant who was killed after an intense gun battle that lasted about 20 minutes. Additional forces have been rushed to the spot, even as other terrorists are being pursued by SFs. Apart from opening fire on the market, the militants also lobbed a grenade that ravaged three shops. Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay has said the attack was carried out by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit), or NDFB (S). Defence PRO Lieutenant Colonel S Newton said, "We suspect there were at least three militants and one of them have been killed. Army is searching the area for the other militants." Ledo Police and Army in a Joint operation arrested a NSCN-K militant from Ledo area of Margherita Sub Division in Tinsukia District. The arrested NSCN-K militant has been identified as Nange Gunje alias Johny who belongs to Finbiro of Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh. A pistol and live ammunitions were recovered from his possession. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, in a statement in Guwahati said, that the State Police has laid its hands on some vital information which prove direct involvement of NDFB-IKS in Friday’s (August 5) Kokrajhar violence that claimed the lives of 14 civilians. The CM said the involvement of other groups with NDFB-IKS would also come to light soon. UHM Rajnath Singh in a meeting with senior officers of the UMHA gave strict instructions to the forces operating on the ground to intensify operations against the militants. UHM Singh reiterated the Centre’s stand on the issue and asserted that there would be no talk with the NDFB-IKS, which is involved in killing of innocent persons. Singh also expressed his displeasure over the fact that despite launching a full-scale operation against the outfit in December 2014, the outfit still has the capacity to come out to an open market area in broad daylight to kill innocent Police arrested an All Assam Revolutionary Army (AARA) ‘commander’, identified as Bipul Bora alias Tutu Baruah (36) from Biswanath Chariali town in Biswanath District. Two live ammunitions, one leaflet of the AARA (a newly-formed militant group) and one mobile phone were recovered from his possession. The militant was arrested when he was about to open fire from his weapon at people, according to District SP Ankur Jain. Bipul is prime suspect in the Narayanpur blast near higher secondary school on May 5, 2016 and was wanted by Police in Lakhimpur District and also suspected to be involved in many extortion cases, Jain Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal visited the militant attack site at Balajan Tiniali Market in Kokrajhar District and said strong action would be taken against the banned NDFB-IKS outfit and "none would be spared" for the killing of 14 people. Sonowal said, "No matter how strong the militant group is, our government will take strong action against it. All those connected with the killing will be hunted out and brought to book". "Whatever evidence has been collected so far show that NDFB (Songbijit) is behind the killings. All the security forces are coordinating the search operations and none will be spared," he said. "It is the prime duty of the government to protect the people and their property. All will be given protection, I assure," the Chief Minister added. The strategic group of the state's unified command structure ordered Counter-Insurgency (CI) forces to go all out in eliminating the NDFB-IKS, the group linked with Friday's (August 5) shootout at the market in Kokrajhar District. The strategic group comprises the Army, State Police and state Paramilitary Forces. It met at Kokrajhar and was chaired by Chief Minister DGP Mukesh Sahay said that the slain NDFB-IKS militant, whose body was recovered, would be identified by DNA test as his parents were unable to recognize his body as they had not seen him for the past 8-9 years. Earlier on August 6, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the slain militant has been identified as Manjoy Islari alias Maodang, a commander of the outfit. The Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner Madhu Prasad Sarma said that the killers were believed to have come from Pakriguri on the Indian side, about 10 km from Bhutan border. A delegation of the ULFA-PT led by its ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa visited Kokrajhar and urged the Government to ensure the safety and security to the lives and properties of the people of Assam. An NDFB-IKS militant suspected to be closely associated with those involved in the attack in Kokrajhar on August 5 that claimed 14 lives was arrested from Nalbari District, the Police said. Based on specific information, a joint team of the Army and Police arrested the militant, identified as Bodoland Boro alias B. Bebung (22) along with a 7.65 pistol, four rounds of ammunition and some documents from a bus at Ganesh Mandir Chowk on NH-31 in the Nalbari District. The militant hails from Dhurmopur village in Kokrajhar District and was on his way to Guwahati from Kokrajhar, Police said Denying allegations of intelligence failure, UHM Rajnath Singh clarified that the probe in the Kokrajhar terror attack case is being conducted by Assam Police but hinted that it may be handed over to NIA in consultation with the Government of Assam. The Minister made statements in both the Houses in Parliament, while MPs raised the killing of August 5 in the two Houses. In Rajya Sabha, replying to a question, the Home Minister said that all investigations are being done by Assam Police but if at a later date the need is felt then the probe may be handed over to NIA in consultation with the State Government. Singh also played safe and unlike the State Government, he refrained from naming any group. “I cannot say with certainty which group was involved,” the Home Minister said. Referring to queries about circulation of illegal weapons in the Northeast, the UHM held that foreign forces were responsible for supplying such weapons. “It is a reality that external agencies have a role,” he said. The Home Minister said that in the Northeast there are about 60-70 insurgent outfits but in Assam 2014-2015 was the most peaceful year after 1988. Violence level was lowest in that year and no security force personnel and civilians fell prey to bullets of the insurgents. The NDFB-IKS has intensified its activities since December 2014. The SFs have also launched counter offensive and 39 militants were killed and 600 arrested. There was improvement in the situation and peace had returned. Some outfits are indulging in violence and stern action will be taken, he warned. About withdrawal of Central Forces, Singh said that the forces were deployed on demand of the Election Commission but were withdrawn after the polls. But currently, eight companies of CRPF, nine companies of Army are deployed in Kokrajhar, while additional four companies of Army are being rushed to the area, he said. Investigation is on into the Kokrajhar attack to ascertain if any other force besides NDFB-IKS was behind it, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. Replying during a Zero Hour motion raised by AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam, Sonowal said available information and evidences have revealed that NDFB-IKS was behind the brutal killings. “On this matter, investigation is going on. This is to bring to light involvement of any other force behind this incident,” Sonowal said, adding one militant was killed in retaliatory action by Police and SFs. “Police have recovered one AK-56 rifle, one grenade, lots of bullets of AK-series and one mobile phone from the site … During investigation, numbers in the mobile and other sources have revealed that NDFB(S) was behind this (the attack),” Sonowal said. The Forum for Terrorists Victims Family, Assam demanded to the Government to seize all illegal arms and ammunition allegedly being kept with the ceasefire terrorists groups. In the 7th annual conference of the forum held at Radha Kanta Handique Bhavan in Jorhat, the forum took seven-point charter of resolutions, including expediting the peace talks with the ceasefire terrorists groups. The organizations also took resolutions like starting judicial investigation into all terrorists attacks occurred in the State and to resume all the court cases pending disposal in various courts, to introduce a new package for the terrorists victim families and to construct a memorial building in Guwahati for the sacred memory of terror victims, to take all required steps to stop violence in Assam, to organize awareness programme regularly in all districts in the State on terrorism and to rename the Dhemaji bomb blast memorial building as Swahid ULFA-I warned the Assam Government of a "violent clash" if Independence Day is celebrated for three consecutive days. "Our organisation will not tolerate the celebration of the so-called Independence Day for three days. It is an open appeal not to create a conflict-like situation while celebrating Independence Day in Assam for three days," an email statement purportedly signed by the outfit's ‘assistant publicity and information secretary’, Arunodoy Asom, said. The warning by the militant group comes amid the Government preparations to celebrate Independence Day from August 13 to 15 with the rest of the country. Various cultural programmes, processions and contests have been lined up as part of the celebrations. ULFA-I and an umbrella body of rebel groups in the Northeast issues customary boycott calls on Independence Day and Republic Day. Police said the attack at the Balajan Tiniali Market in Kokrajhar District on August 5 was carried out by a lone wolf who was also "heavily drunk" at the time. The slain militant was identified as Monjoy Islari alias Mwdhan, ‘commanding officer’ of the NDFB-IKS 16 battalion. The Kokrajhar SP, Shyamal Prasad Saikia, said though the assailant was a member of the NDFB-IKS, he had acted in an individual capacity and no group was involved in the attack that left 14 dead and 17 others injured. Addressing a peace meet at the deputy commissioner's conference hall, Saikia said, "He was heavily drunk and fired indiscriminately at the market before he was gunned down." A day after MPs have expressed concern over flow of illegal weapons in the Northeast, the Central Government claimed that there is no information so far that insurgent groups in the region are getting support from neighbouring countries. In a Lok Sabha Question Hour discussion, UHM Rajnath Singh said that while there is intelligence input that Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) have established their camps, shelter houses and training centres across the border in neighbouring countries of the northeastern region, there is no specific information that NSCN-K is acting at the behest of neighbouring countries. Replying to questions, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir later said that if there is any such report that insurgents in the Northeast are getting external support, then it would be looked into and action would be taken. Ahir said the Government does not have any such information so far that neighbouring countries are supporting insurgent activities in the Northeast. “There is also no information about such groups getting financial support,” he added. Police arrested one youth, identified as Anuj Munda for demanding money from a businessman on behalf of ULFA-I from Demow in Sibsagar District. Nirmal Mittal, a businessman of Kachumari, since the last few days through the phone INR 3 lakh had been demanded. With the possibility of attacks from militants not being ruled out, security in all the airports as well as the vital oil installations in the northeastern region have been beefed up and the CISF personnel deployed in those places have been kept on high alert. Highly placed security sources said that there is no specific input as of now about any move by militants to target any of the airports in the Northeast, but the threat perception cannot be overlooked as any such attack would attract Two overground workers of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Jathi Basumatary alias Gaithiya and Sarat Basumatary alias Boba were arrested from the Laimoti area of Chirang District. Two pistols and two rounds of live ammunition were recovered from them. "They are active overground workers who were assisting NDFB (S) cadres Subash Basumatary and Pradip Narzary alias Thaigir Betla in their extortion bids in the border areas of the Laimoti and Laopani," an official source said. Assam witnessed the lowest civilian casualties in 25 years due to extremist violence in 2015 with only 10 persons losing their lives, while 58 militants were killed in encounters with SFs. The 13th Report of the Standing Committee on Home Department, which was tabled in the assembly, said the state witnessed improvement in overall law and order situation last year. “One of the most significant achievements under the Unified Command structure is that the total number of civilians killed in extremist violence in 2015 in the state is 10, which is an all-time low since 1991,” it said. According to the report, 58 militants belonging to different organisations were killed in encounter with SFs in last year. “During 2015, the security forces apprehended 1,449 cadres, including many top leaders of militant groups,” the Standing Committee Report said. In 2016, 608 cadres of militant groups have been apprehended from across Assam till July 21, the report said. A total of 31 militants of various groups have been killed in encounter with SFs in this year so far Several North East insurgent groups have called for a total shutdown in the region on August 15 while announcing their decision to boycott the Independence Day celebration. A joint statement of the UNLFWESEA, CorCom, Manipur; GNLA and HNLC appealed to the people of the region to boycott the Indian Independence Day. The insurgent groups also announced for a total shutdown on August 15 from 1 a.m. till 6 p.m. They further asked all public and private transportation to stop their services, shops and markets to down their shutters and educational institutions to remain closed. The State Government’s decision to celebrate the Independence Day with a three-day programme has added to the worries of the police and security forces, more so following intelligence inputs that a few groups of militants managed to sneak into the State from their camps in Myanmar to create disturbance during the celebrations. Moreover, though there is no input about any threat from jihadi elements during the celebrations, the SFs are keeping a close watch on that front also as the threat perception cannot be overlooked. Highly placed Police sources said that the ULFA-I militants are being helped by the members of the NSCN-K and both the outfits are trying to go for joint operations, particularly in upper Assam Districts. Sources said that according to intelligence inputs, a few groups of ULFA-I militants, along with NSCN-K militants, managed to sneak into upper Assam Districts and they are desperate to strike. Suspected ULFA-I militants triggered a powerful IED blast in a drain near the Budlabeta Tea Estate along the Doomdooma Bypass in Tinsukia District of Upper Assam. However, no casualty has been reported. The incident comes at a time when SFs have intensified operations against the militants as part of the stepped-up security measures ahead of Independence Day, which the outfit has boycotted like previous years. Police said around 7.30 am an explosion occurred in a drain near the Budlabeta tea estate near Doomdooma Bypass causing a huge sound and a small crater on the ground. Sources said SFs, who use the road to move into the interior areas believed to hotbed of ULFA-I during counter-insurgency (CI) operations, might have been the Two persons, identified as Sultan Masud (27) and Ashraful Islam (20), were arrested with a gun from Jogomaya ghat of Dhubri town in Dhubri District. A total of 28 Banga Sena cadres surrendered before DC of East Karbi Anglong District, Mukul Gogoi. The surrendered cadres were taken to DC’s office by J.I. Kathar, a retired IAS officer and prominent Karbi leader evening. It may be mentioned that none of the surrendered Banga Sena cadres belong to Bengali community- maximum of them belong to Karbi and other ethnic tribe. According to one of the surrendered cadre Ramsing Killing, he was lured by one Haridon Das of Hatigarh, under Laopani Police station of Nagaon District, to join the organization. Killing revealed that Das called the organization as ‘National Army’ which would pay him and other INR 10,000 to INR 20,000 per month after completion of training following their recruitment. Killing also revealed that Das had assured ‘free movement’ for any member of the ‘National Army’. The surrendered Karbi cadres claimed they were not given any arms and that Muslims were also present in the organization. SP Karbi Anglong, Debojit Deori who was present said that ‘Bangabhumi’ was formed by Chakma and Muslim leaders. Suspected ULFA-I militants killed two persons, identified as Kishori Shah and Rajen Shah and injured eight others at Bahbon village in Philobari area of the Tinsukia District. A Police source informed that a group of five militants coming on foot opened fire at the two households at Bamungaon at around 7. 30 pm killing two persons on the spot and injured An IED was recovered from near Rupalim cinema hall in Sivasagar District. Police recovered an IED, concealed in a bag and abandoned on the main road near State Forest Guard School under Makum Police Station in Tinsukia District. A bomb disposal squad from the Army diffused the IED in nearby field. A series of five bomb explosions triggered by suspected ULFA-I militants rocked Charaideo and Tinsukia Districts of Upper Assam on August 15 as the State celebrated the country’s Independence Day. Police said that there was no casualty or injury in any of the explosions. One blast was reported at an abandoned place beside an interior road at 7.40 a.m. under the Tengapukhari outpost in Charaideo District, SP A.P. Tiwari said. The militants had apparently placed the bomb under the ground. The other four explosions were reported from Tinsukia District. An IED went off near Indira Gandhi School in the Laipuli area on the outskirts of Tinsukia town in Tinsukia District at 7.15 a.m. This was followed by another blast in line No. 6 of Badlabhata Tea Estate in the Doomdooma area where the third IED was set off at Masuwa, officials said. The fourth one exploded at Gamtumati in the Philobari area. Tinsukia, which shares a border with Arunachal Pradesh, has been targeted by ULFA-I in the past few months. Militants “sneak” in from their Myanmar-based camps. Tinsukia ASP (headquarters) Lamhao Doungel said the IEDs were of low intensity. “We have launched an operation against them,’’ The ULFA-I hoisted its own banner and flag in the Moronigal area of Mariani in Jorhat District. Strung on two poles, the ULFA banner was planted at Morongial Pathar under a tree with the words ULFA Zindabad and Hindi baaxi hoshiyar (Hindi speaking people be careful). The flag with the rising sun was planted on the side of the Assam-Nagaland border road at Moronigal, about 28km from Jorhat town bordering Mokokchung District of Nagaland. “It must have been planted after we had completed our patrol at 4am,” an Assam Police constable stationed at the Border Observation Post said. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the State Government plans to complete the NRC update by 2017. The day also saw the NRC authorities announce the best performing districts, revenue circles and seva kendras in the ongoing process. “To take our national commitment to its logical end, we are on a mission mode to complete the NRC update by 2017. Our government is committed to safeguarding the interests of every ethnic community, tribe and race,” Sonowal said in his Independence Day speech, at Guwahati. The NRC authorities have completed verification of 97.34 per cent of the 68.08 lakh application forms received. A total of 5.88 crore supporting documents were received along with the applications and of them 4.45 crore documents have been verified and 2.51 lakh documents were sent to other states for verification. “With a view to prevent illegal influx through the porous border once and for all, sealing India-Bangladesh border is high on our priority list. We will fortify the barbed-wire fence along the border. The department of border areas development will be renamed border protection and development department to give more teeth to it,” the chief minister said. CEM of KAAC, Tuliram Ronghang, has reiterated the demand for statehood of Karbi Anglong and called for implementation of 244 (A) of the Constitution of India. Speaking on the occasion of the official 70thIndependence Day celebration at KASA stadium as chief guest, Tuliram asserted that Karbi Anglong with a total area of 10,434 Sq Km was much larger than several states in the country, including Goa and Sikkim, but was receiving mush less financial allocation from the centre merely because of the difference in the political status. The CEM, however, made it clear that the youths associated with extremist organizations like KPLT and UPLA must shun violence and come forward to pursue the cause of statehood peacefully and democratically like the UPDS and the KLNLF. He said that if the KPLT and UPLA shunned violence and embraced peace, the KAAC would extend help. Tuliram also highlighted the achievements made by the KAAC under his leadership and also the plans and programmes chalked out by the BJP Government under Narendra Modi and the chief minister of the state Sarbananda Sonowal. UHM Rajnath Singh held a high-level review meeting on Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, and instructed security officials to restore peace and normalcy in those states. The instructions came after Singh was briefed by top officials on the prevailing situation in Kashmir and the infiltration bid along the LoC in the Uri sector in the state and a series of blasts that rocked Assam in the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations. The meeting was also attended by NSA Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, chiefs of intelligence agencies and other top civil and security officials, sources said. Reviewing the overall security scenario in Assam, the Union Home Minister instructed security officials to tighten vigil in the State. Suspected militants exploded five bombs in Charaideo and Tinsukia districts as the State was celebrating the 70th Independence Day on August 15. At least 11 factions of militant outfits in the Northeast, including the ULFA-I, the NDFB, GNLA and others had called for a shutdown on August Tezpur Police arrested a cadre of ULFA-I, identified as Dilip Das alias Bogai from the house of Tulshi Das at Teleria under Bebejia Police Station in Sonitpur District where the militant was sleeping. An NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Swmkwr Khaklary alias Saikhlong was arrested from Ai Poali village in Chirang District. One 9mm pistol with two live rounds of ammunition and a grenade were recovered from his possession. Highly placed security sources said that the investigation into the five blasts that took place on the Independence Day, led to the disturbing fact of the ULFA-I using school students to plant the bombs. Two boys – one in Class IX and the other in Class X – were arrested following an intelligence input and during questioning, the students admitted that they were asked by the militants to plant the bombs. Giving details of the events, sources said that the school students, both of whom belong to Number 4 Kakojan village under Philobari police station in Tinsukia District, were taken to a nearby forest by one ULFA-I man, who belongs to the same village, on August 10. Sources said that four ULFA-I men met them in the forest. They sat down under a tree and the ULFA-I men persuaded them to plant the IEDs fitted with timers in different places. Sources said one ULFA-I man, Rupam Asom, was the brain behind using the school students to plant bombs and till now, the police and security forces are not aware whether the senior leaders of the outfit approved such a plan. As the school students picked up by the police are juveniles, they will not be tried in normal courts for the crime they had committed and they would be tried in special juvenile courts. Sources pointed out that in the past, the ULFA-I had used linkmen, couriers and even common criminals to plant bombs. But this was for the first time, the outfit used school students for such jobs. The NDFB-IKS militants killed a couple in Chirang District at around midnight for allegedly being in possession of the outfit’s extortion money. Police and Defence sources said a group of seven to eight militants of NDFB-IKS came to the couple’s house at Shantipara-Sulekhaguri village night and tied their limbs before killing them with sharp weapons. Before being killed, the couple was beaten up in front of their children who ran out to their neighbours’ houses in fear, local people said. The deceased man was identified as Buta Benga, an overground worker of the outfit, who was in possession of extortion money totaling INR 45 Lakhs which belonged to NDFB-IKS dreaded leader Bidai, the sources said. On December 22, 2015 in a joint operation by Army and Police, INR 5.48 lakhs were recovered and repeated attempts have been made to ascertain the whereabouts of the balance amount, they said. Benga, who was in jail, was released on bail in the last week of March and was under constant threat from the group for the balance money. The NIA arrested a ‘section commander’ of NDFB-IKS, identified as Arkulash Musahari from the Batasipur area under Dhekiajuli Police Station in Sonitpur District. He was involved in several anti-social activities, including killing Police recovered a pen pistol, five live cartridges and two blank cartridges from a pork outlet of Sirajuli town under Borsola Police Station in Sonitpur District. Police have taken into custody the pork outlet owner for interrogation. Categorically refuting the allegations of Assam Police regarding employing two students of Kakojan in Tinsukia District of Upper Assam for planting bombs on and before Independence Day, the ULFA-I termed it as a ‘drama’ initiated by ADGP and SP Tinsukia and a ‘conspiracy’ by a lobby of Hindi-speaking people of the State to promote their cause and hide their weakness to counter the revolutionary act of the organization protesting the Independence Day celebrations. The ULFA-I in a press communiqué strongly criticized the entire episode as a drama, claiming that it did not employ the school-going children in any of the acts of sabotage carried out so far. ULFA-PTF leader Anup Chetia met Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at his office chamber in Guwahati and submitted a memorandum enlisting various demands of the organisation including rehabilitation of the surrendered cadres. Chief Minister Sonowal assured the ULFA-PTF leader that his Government would sincerely consider their demands. Minister for Agriculture Atul Bora was also present during the discussion. SFs arrested ULFA-I linkman, identified as Bitul Moran from Kakojan village under Phillobari Police Station in Tinsukia District. Tinsukia SP Mugdhajyoti Mahanta said that a five-member ULFA-I group involved in the attack on Hindi-speaking people in Phillobari on August 5 and the serial blasts, took shelter in Moran's house. Mahanta said the linkman also introduced the two arrested school students to the outfit. The Class IX and X students, aged 15 and 16 respectively, were "brainwashed" into planting the bombs by the group. The boys had planted five bombs in different areas in Tinsukia district, of which four exploded on Independence Day. The two are now in an observation home in Three cadres of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Raikhoo (platoon commander), Gothal (section commander) and Aranga, were killed in a joint operation by Police, CRPF's Cobra battalion and the Army at Mainaoshree Paharpur under Rangapara Police Station in Sonitpur District. “Search operations are on to apprehend four other cadres who managed to flee," Sonitpur SP Sanjukta Parashar said. Rangapara Police Station officer-in-charge Jatin Borah said Aranga was from Kokrajhar while the two others were from Sonitpur District, which borders Udalguri District in Report said that a small camp used by the militants was also busted and from the spot three pistols with eight rounds of live ammunition, two grenades, five mobile handsets, besides one receipt book were also recovered. Tinsukia Police arrested four militants of the NSCN-IM and rescued an engineer who was abducted from Deomali of Arunachal Pradesh. According to Police sources, the highway patrol team of Tinsukia Police during a routine check spotted a suspicious vehicle in Tinkonia in the town and brought all occupants to Police Station. On questioning, it was revealed that out of five persons four were NSCN-IM militants, including a minor and the other was the abducted engineer Lova Yekar. A pistol and nine rounds of ammunition were recovered from their possession. The three NSCN-IM militants barring a minor have been identified as Phoren Ramwa alias Nagato Sumi, ‘self-styled sergeant’, Jayway Moanchan, ‘self-styled chairman’ and ‘area commander’ of Nokte region residing at Hebron camp and Kamri Ymc alias Yumchunga, ‘self-styled sergeant major’ while the minor has not According to the statement of Phoren Ramwa, who resides in Laptambasti in Tirap of Arunachal Pradesh, they abducted Lova Yekar, an engineer from Deomali from whom the NSCN-IM militants demanded INR 300,000 as ransom. Not satisfied with his offer of INR 10,000, Phoren and his accomplices, brandishing a pistol, dragged Yekar out of his government quarter. While travelling to Dimapur via Tinsukia, the militants fell into After maintaining that insurgency is on the wane in the North-east, the Centre has conceded that Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya continue to account for the bulk of insurgency-related incidents in the region. In a report, the UMHA described Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim as peaceful. In Arunachal Pradesh, barring a few incidents, there was a general atmosphere of peace, the report said. The year 2007 proved to be the most violent year in the last nine years with the northeastern states recording 1,498 violent incidents in which 498 civilians were killed and 79 security force personnel lost their lives. In comparison, last year 574 violent incidents were witnessed in the region in which 46 civilians and equal number of SF personnel were killed, the report said. In Assam, barring a few incidents of violence, the security situation has improved since early 2010, with minor variations from year to year, the report said. The SFs were able to contain activities of insurgent groups and the situation improved remarkably in 2015, the report said, adding, peace talks with various insurgent groups in Assam are continuing. The report said that sustained counter-insurgency (CI) operations are continuing against the NDFB-IKS group. During the period from December 26, 2014 to January 9 this year, 584 members of the NDFB-IKS were arrested and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered. At least 24 militants were also killed in these operations, the In order to curb infiltration, smuggling and other antinational activities from across the Indo-Bangladesh border, the government has undertaken the construction of fencing along this border. The target date for completion of the project is March, 2019, the report said, adding, accordingly measures have also been taken along the Indo-Myanmar border to check illegal The ULFA-I for the first time in its history, released a video of abducted Kuldeep Moran, son of Tinsukia Zilla Parishad vice president and BJP leader Ratneshwar Moran, to demand a ransom of INR 1 crore. Kuldeep was abducted from near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on August 1. The ULFA-I militants on August 22 released a video footage of the abducted youth and later demanded a ransom of INR 1 crore from Sadiya BJP MLA Bolin Chetia. Sources said releasing the video to media was aimed at creating pressure on the persons concerned and panic among the people. The video showed Kuldeep appealing to his family, BJP legislator from Sadiya constituency Bolin Chetia and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to secure his release by paying the outlawed outfit. The video shows a terrified Kuldip surrounded by five armed and black masked youths. He pleads for his life and talks about his failing health, expressing fears of getting killed in any crossfire between militants and SFs. Kuldip’s father, however, has expressed his inability to pay the ransom. “They (ULFA-I) have demanded Rs 1 crore for the release of my son Kuldip. Forget about Rs 1 crore, I cannot even pay Rs 1 lakh. I can only request the kidnappers to release my son without any condition,” said Ratneswar The ULFA-I has suddenly become active in upper Assam areas and launched an extortion drive, while, in another disturbing fact, a number of members and linkmen of the NDFB-IKS, who were arrested during the crackdown launched against the outfit in December, 2014, have been released on bail because of the police failure to submit the chargesheets on time. Highly placed security sources said that in recent times, the ULFA-I has started sending messages on mobile phones of businessmen and tea gardens owners and managers demanding money, while, some even received Whatsapp messages on their mobile phones. Police arrested a suspected worker of NDFB-IKS, identified as Paulina Basumatary (22) from No. 1 Nandipur village in Kokrajhar District. Tinsukia town in Tinsukia District of Assam is being used as transit route and corridor by NSCN-IM militants from Hebron Hq of Dimapur (Nagaland) to Lohit District of Arunachal Pradesh since the past several years, said Phoren Ramwaone, arrested NSCN-IM militant currently in Tinsukia Police custody who was involved in recent abduction case of a Deomali-based Arunachale engineer. Phoren revealed that the two school children arrested in the kidnapping case and currently lodged in Juvenile home Jorhat, were sleeper cells and it was a common practice to lure school children from Naga dominated areas of Arunachal Pradesh, particularly Nokte and Wancho, in return for just INR 3,000 – INR 4,000 and to transport them to Hebron camp for training, who in later stages are inducted into either civil or military wing of NSCN-IM and in an average 5-6 children are picked up from Lohit and Longding Districts annually. Myanmar gave an assurance that it will not allow any insurgent group to use its territory against India. "Myanmar leadership assured that they will not allow any insurgent groups to use any territory for action against India, (that) they all recognised is a friendly country which has stood by people of Myanmar and they look forward to a very productive partnership with India as Myanmar continues on its journey of peace, progress and development," India MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. The assurance comes in the backdrop of certain insurgent groups from northeastern states using Myanmar for launching attacks against India. The Indian Army had carried out a major operation against these groups in June 2015 along the India-Myanmar border. Another such operation was launched few days back. Four suspected Bangladeshi militants were arrested from the Neelam Bazar area in Karimganj District. SP (Karimganj) PR Kar said Police have recovered a Bangladeshi passport from them. "We are interrogating them and likely to get more information about their movements," added Kar. A team of special branch will arrive from Guwahati for questioning them. According to reports, five suspected militants had crossed the border in Meghalaya on August 14 and took shelter in a rented house in the Kaliganj area. A man, identified as Nasiruddin Sheikh was detained by Guwahati Police while allegedly clicking photos of sensitive sites in Kamakhya temple in Nilachal Hills in Kamrup District. Police said the man clicked as many as 177 photographs including toilets and car parking area of the temple with his mobile phone camera. “We apprehended him for taking pictures of prohibited areas within the temple complex. He took certain photographs which other visitors do not normally take,” said an official of Kamakhya Police outpost. Intelligence agencies on earlier occasions have warned that Kamakhya temple is in the target list of Islamist terrorists. Security in Kamakhya temple was beefed up in July 2016 following suspected entry of five people from Bangladesh through Meghalaya to Assam. Assam Police sought the help of their counterparts in Nagaland to ensure the safe release of Kuldeep Moran, a BJP leader's son who was abducted by ULFA-I militants from Arunachal Pradesh on August 1. Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay said that they had alerted their Nagaland counterparts about the possibility of ULFA-I rebels holding Kuldeep captive somewhere along the Nagaland-Arunachal Pradesh border. Earlier, assistance had been sought from the Arunachal Assam Police and the Army killed a KPLT militant in a joint operation in Karbi Anglong District. The militant is yet to be identified. The SFs recovered a 9 mm pistol, ammunition, fired cases and a hand grenade from the site of the operation. "Based on intelligence, a joint operation was launched in the Nalbarigaon area of Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday (August 23) night. At around 4am, the rebel opened fire and was killed in the ensuing gun battle," said defence PRO Lieutenant Colonel Suneet Newton. In the midst of sensation created over the arrest of four Bangladeshis and two Indian linkmen from Balia border of Karimganj District on August 23, and reports about their being involved in recruitment drive for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Anurag Agarwal, IG, Southern Range, said, “It is too early to come to any conclusion about ISIS links. We are investigating all aspects and angles. Everything will be clear after that”. Of the six arrested, five were produced before the CJM Court of Karimganj. There has been much sensation in the bordering areas of Karimganj following the arrests. According to a Police source, the Bangladeshis and the Indian linkmen were arrested while disposing of a dead body identified as that of Izzat Ali of Sylhet of Bangladesh. ULFA chief Paresh Baruah, said that the BJP member's son whom they are holding captive was not abducted for ransom. Kuldip Moran was picked up for `trial' for passing information to the Army, which resulted in the killing of his men, he said. Baruah contacted media houses from an undisclosed location and insisted that his group had not made any ransom demand. "Kuldip is safe. We kidnapped him because he was an Army informer and was keeping a close watch on the movement of our cadres in Arunachal Pradesh," Baruah said. "He will be tried by our court. If found innocent, he will be released. Reports suggesting we demanded ransom are false.'' Kuldip's father Ratneshwar is a panchayat (village level local self government institution) level functionary. Baruah's statement came as Assam Police stepped up operations to rescue Kuldip from Arunachal Pradesh's Changlang District. Police suspect the abduction may have been carried out to pressurize the government for negotiations. Ratneshwar Moran had said the rebels demanded INR 10 million for releasing his son. The Khatkhati Police in Karbi Anglong District thwarted a bid to smuggle a loaded 10 wheeler truck which was hijacked from Dhubri in Assam-West Bengal border. As reported, the truck loaded with mustard oil was on its way to Tinsukia from Delhi. The owner of the truck reportedly lost contact with his driver after it entered Assam through Srirampur border. The truck was fitted with a GPS navigation device which alerted the owner that it has changed its course towards Dimapur from the Numuligarh junction in Golaghat District. The truck was later recovered from the parking lot of a fuel station in Assam-Nagaland interstate border. “We have arrested a person viz. Aamir Hussain from the truck. However, two other fled from the spot seeing the police team”, said the investigating officer. The shocking revelations made by Aamir in custody led Police to the recovery of a body from Kanchanjuri area under Bagori Police Station in Nagaon District. The body is believed to be of the driver Mukesh Jadav who had been killed and his face burnt with acid to conceal identity by the unidentified assailants. In a joint operation launched by Indian Army and Police recovered an IED weighing around three kilograms along with detonators from a house at Notun Dewsar village under Boko Police Station in Kamrup District. Later Assam Police bomb experts defused the IED. Police arrested one Amir Chand from his house in this connection. The movement of a group of militants between the age group of 25 to 30 in the foothills of Bhuvan in Cachar District created a sense of panic in the area. According to sources, the group of around 20 militants with their faces covered with black clothes and equipped with arms and ammunitions descended down from the forested area of the hill, taking the inhabitants by surprise. They were then seen moving downwards towards the Bhuvandar Tilka, a nondescript village, and then advanced towards the plantation areas of Binnakandie tea estate. On being informed, Lakhipur Police immediately launched an operation with the help of 27 AR, 147 CRPF and a contingent of sub divisional Police in and around the areas down the Bhuvan hills where the militants were spotted. According to the ground information, the militants in jungle-fatigue were talking in broken Hindi, creating the impression that they are from some tribal outfit. It is suspected that the group might have been in hunt for some operation to fill in their coffers. Indian Army and Assam Police, in a joint operation killed the ‘self-styled defense secretary’ of KPLT, identified as Chingengri Kronjang in Sering Ringa near Bordikharu under Dokmoka police station in East Karbi Anglong District. According to sources, acting on specific intelligence input, SFs launched the operation in Bheleu Ghat area of the District and later came in contact with the militants who opened fire in a bid to escape. An encounter followed in which Chingengri Kronjang was killed and the outfit’s ‘self styled commander-in-chief’ Moses Terang was arrested when he attempted to escape. Two 9 mm pistol, ammunition, cell phone etc. were recovered from their possession. Extremist problem and bandh culture in Tinsukia District have crippled normal life and development in the District, said Sanjay Kishan, MLA of Tinsukia, in a largely-attended public meeting in Tinsukia. While rest of the districts of Assam, have progressed considerably, the Tinsukia District, on the other hand, was sinking day by day, said Sanjay Kishan. According to sources in the State Home Department, 89 militants were killed in different operations in the last one and half year while 2,057 cadres of different underground outfits were arrested in the State. During the year 2015, 58 militants belonging to different outfits were killed in encounters with SFs. The SFs also arrested 1,449 cadres including many top militant leaders. This besides, 577 assorted arms, 15,515 rounds of live ammunition, 58 IEDs, 307 grenades, 143.84 kg of explosives, 2,979 detonators and cash worth INR 29,85,510 were recovered from extremist elements. During the current year, 2016 (up to July 21), 3l militants of different outfits have been killed in encounters with SFs, while 608 cadres have been arrested. The SFs also recovered 290 assorted arms, 2,691 rounds of live ammunition, 101 grenades, 16 IEDs, 1,250 detonators and cash INR 17,47, 358 from extremist elements. At a time when courts in Assam are weighed down with thousands of pending cases, a steep fall in the conviction rate related to cases of illegal arms possession has raised questions over the way investigations are being conducted in the State. Under the Arms Act, 1959, 1,642 cases were registered during 2012–2014 in various Police Stations across the State, but the rate of conviction is abysmal. The Police have failed to file charge–sheet in courts in 50 per cent of cases related to illegal possession of arms. In the last few years, availability of illegal arms and the use of the same have increased in the State, of which anti–social elements are taking full advantage. Though the Police have recovered several licensed arms in different parts of the State in the last few years, the availability of illegal arms is yet to be dealt with. According to Government records, during 2012–2014, out of 1,642 cases registered, there were convictions in 61 cases; 86 persons were convicted out of 2,301 persons arrested. Out of 1,642 registered cases, charge–sheets in 891 cases were filed by the Police. In 2014, a total of 423 arms (322 unlicensed, 73 licensed and 22 other types of arms) and 3,279 ammunition were seized by the Police in different parts of the State. Due to non–filing of charge–sheets in many such cases, the persons involved got bail easily and now have a free run. In various police stations, according to records, 62,000 cases including possession of illegal arms and ammunition have been pending for long. The LFA-I raised alarm against the BJP-led NDA Government’s bid to grant citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi `refugees’ who have come to Assam from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till the year 2014 by bringing about an amendment (2016) to the Foreigners’ Act 1955. In a statement issued to the media ULFA-I termed it (to grant citizenship to refugees from neighboring countries) an attempt by the ‘occupational Indian rulers’ to create an atmosphere of communal hatred in the state where indigenous communities were already facing threat to their identity because of illegal infiltration from Bangladesh. “By inducing ethnic and communal conflicts in the state, the shrewd occupational Indian State wants to ensure its permanent occupation of the state,” the ULFA stated in the The ULFA-PTF sought 702 bighas (a traditional unit of measurement) of land from the Assam Government to set up projects through the PPP mode to create employment opportunities for nearly 1,500 of its cadres living in seven designated camps. ULFA ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia, who joined the talks in January 2016, said that he proposed the public-private partnership model when he met CM Sarbananda Sonowal on August 18. "We have requested the chief minister to give us five government farms lying unused for years. If the government gives initial financial support, our members can not only revive the farms but also share the profits with the government. We hope the government will work out a model to generate employment for our members by engaging them into agriculture, pig rearing, goat rearing and other activities," he said. ULFA wants to develop four of the farms through the public-private partnership route and another mechanism is being worked out for a piggery and goat farm at Khanapara in Guwahati. Chetia said nearly 1,500 ULFA members are living in designated camps in Kakopathar (Tinsukia), Moran (Dibrugarh), Jagiroad (Morigaon), Nalbari, Tihu (Nalbari), Sipajhar (Darrang) and Goalpara since 2010, when the group engaged in talks. The designated camps have been named Asom Nabanirman Kendras. "Most of them are now dependent on the monthly stipend of Rs 3,000 from the government and are over 40 - so they have crossed the age-limit to apply for government jobs. Hence, we need to provide them with job skills for their rehabilitation. If the government gives us the land and supports us financially, we can generate employment for them and their families," said Chetia, one of the founding leaders of ULFA, was extradited from Bangladesh in December 2015 after spending 18 years in jail. Sources said the dialogue with the ULFA-PTF was on hold as the Centre was working out the modalities for granting ST status to six more ethnic communities - Ahoms, Morans, Muttocks, Sutias, Koch Rajbongshis and tea garden communities. Chetia also urged Sonowal to increase the monthly stipend from INR 3,000 to INR 10,000 and make sure that the money is paid regularly and without delay. "The chief minister said the government is considering the increase in stipend but had not yet decided the amount," Chetia said. Sources said Dispur was taking time to increase the stipend as members of other rebel groups, such as the NDFB-P and Adivasi groups, were also demanding a hike. AR arrested two persons, identified as Bijit Bhakta (30) and Mayur Kohn (28) along with pistol and three mobile handsets at Ulubari area in the connecting road of Thelamara and Missamari under Thelamara Police Station in Sonitpur A militant of UDLA, a Bru (Reang) militant outfit active in the Barak Valley, was killed in an encounter with Police in Banglabhasha hamlet in Hailakandi District near the Assam-Mizoram border. The dead militant was identified as Hanuman Reang, a resident of Kanjiyala village in the area. A senior Police officer said a group of militants fired at SFs when the latter were out on a routine patrol in the jungles of south Hailakandi. Reang was killed by police in retaliatory firing. Two other cadres, identified as Shaila Reang and Harendra Reang were arrested while the rest managed to flee. Police recovered an AK-56 rifle and 10 rounds of cartridge from the area. UDLA has been active in the Barak Valley area over the past decade and is mainly engaged in extortion and kidnapping and has been demanding autonomy for the tribal group. Acknowledging that security interests of India and Myanmar were closely aligned, PM Narendra Modi said that both the countries have agreed to work together for safety and security of the people. Modi was addressing a joint press conference with the visiting President of Myanmar U Htin Kyaw at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. "The President and I agreed to work together for the safety and security of our people," Modi said. Stating that Myanmar is special for India, the Prime Minister said the neighbouring country holds a unique position in India's neighbourhood. It is a land bridge that connects India with Southeast Asia, he said. Confirming that the two sides discussed about security-related issues, the Prime Minister said that India and Myanmar agreed on the need to remain sensitive to each other's strategic interests and concerns and "actively cooperate to combat the common challenges of terrorism and insurgent activity in our region." India is learnt to have conveyed its concern to Myanmar about the activities of the Northeast-based insurgents, which have bases inside Myanmar. India has for long been pressing Myanmar to launch a flush-out operation like those carried out in Bhutan and Bangladesh. Following specific intelligence inputs about attempts of infiltration by 'jihadis', the Assam Police proposes to divert at least three companies of the central forces from the law and order duties to be deployed close to the international borders of Bangladesh and Bhutan. The move seeking a change in the concentration of forces was reportedly necessitated after the Assam Police headquarters in Guwahati received specific information about 'jihadi' elements trying to sneak in from across the border in Bangladesh to plan terror strikes in Assam. This is for the first time in recent years that such a move has been proposed by the Assam Police to fight cross-border terrorism and the UMHA too is being moved in this regard, top Assam Police sources said. As part of the meticulously drafted exercise, these personnel would be strategically deployed in vulnerable areas and border outposts close to the international border once the decision gets the final nod. "The threat from the Islamic State (ISIS) and jihadi elements can no longer be overlooked. With various intelligence agencies feeding us with inputs of such infiltration, the border security has to be stepped up," sources pointed out, adding that the security scenario will be reviewed from time to time and as and when deemed fit, the forces would be diverted back to the respective districts. Recently, many noted businessman, government officials and tea garden owners of the Jorhat District received extortion demand from the banned ULFA-I. The amount demanded ranges from INR 5 to INR 50 lakh. Besides, the extremist organization has of late resorted to the use of mobile phones for extortion in a complete shift of method of serving demand note on a ULFA pad. Notably, the extortion demand is learnt to be undertaken by ULFA cadres namely Jibon Asom and Abhizeet Asom. There are numerous cases of fake threats served to ordinary people and most of the time, prompt police action has brought to the light the involvement of local crooks who pose as hardcore members of the organization. Though most of the businessmen are reported to have got the demand through phone calls, in other cases government officers and tea garden officers have been served demand letters. Activists of ABSU, NDFB-P and PJACBM staged a road blockade in support of their demand for a separate Bodoland, at Barama in Baksa District. Later ABSU also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India through the Deputy Commissioner Activists of ABSU, NDFB-P and PJACBM staged a road blockade in support of their demand for a separate Bodoland, at Barama in Baksa District. Later ABSU also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India through the Deputy Commissioner The Army arrested two persons with a 7.65mm revolver and six live ammunitions from Baburhat of Dhubri District. A NSLA cadre was arrested from Mornai tea estate in Kokrajhar District. The Kokrajhar Police arrested a KLO cadre, identified as Snajit Chandra Barman from Choutara under Gossaigaon Police Station in Kokrajhar District. Eleven Bangladeshi nationals including two minors currently lodged in the detention centre in Silchar, will be deported back to Bangladesh soon, Cachar Deputy Commissioner S Viswanathan said. "The Bangladesh government has agreed to take back nine nationals of their country from Silchar detention centre and they will be deported after final clearance of the state government along with the two minors," he said. Bangladesh suspects two top leaders of a reorganized JMB took secret refuge in neighbouring India to mobilise weaponry and financial support for the banned outfit to carry out the July 1 terrorist attack on a Dhaka cafe, according to reports. One of the two JMB leaders, Shariful Islam Khaled, is also blamed for hacking to death his liberal university professor, who was on the way to work, in April, 2016. Mamunur Rashid Ripon alias Jahangir and Khaled left for India in April, days after the murder of the Rajshahi University professor, the report said. "(Mamunur Rashid) Ripon and Khaled went to the neighbouring country in April and they have been hiding there since then," it quoted the Police's CTTC unit chief, Monirul Islam, as saying. He said Bangladesh has already informed India about the militants' possible stay in Kolkata in West Bengal. Police arrested three youths of Bollagaon of Goalpara District for allegedly demanding INR 5 lakh from a trader of Krishnai in Goalpara District. KPLT called for a 24-hour Karbi Anglong bandh on September 3 from 5 am as a mark of protest against the killing of its 'defense secretary', Sering Ringa by SFs. Four NDFB-IKS cadres, identified as Thunkara Basumatary, Lengra Basumatary, Marchal Daimari and B Swr were arrested from Paharpur area under Chariduar Police Station in Sonitpur District. SFs recovered two grenades, one G-3 rifle, one 9 mm pistol along with live ammunition, several mobile sets and documents from the Peace talks between Myanmar Government and various militant ethnic minorities started at conference hall in the capital Naypyidaw in a bid to end decades of conflict that have claimed thousands of lives and kept the country mired in poverty. The summit is veteran democracy activist Suu Kyi's much-trumpeted effort to reshape Myanmar as a federal democracy following decades of oppressive military rule. The Nobel laureate has made bridging the ethnic fault lines that have fractured the nation since its mid-century independence a priority of her new government, which took power in March. "So long as we are unable to achieve national reconciliation and national unity, we will never be able to establish a sustainable and durable peaceful union," she told delegates. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is also attending the talks, described the gathering as a "historic" moment for the country following its transition towards democracy. "The long civil war has cost numerous lives and robbed successive generations of their dignity, tranquillity and normalcy," he said during a speech to delegates. "It is now clear that there can be no military solution to your differences." Few expect a concrete deal to emerge from the five-day talks, which are seen as the start of a peace process that could take years. Seventeen rebel groups have joined the talks in the capital, but others have not laid down their arms and some remain locked in combat with the military. EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini urged negotiators to seek a "new path towards sustainable peace, equitable development and the wider consolidation of the democratic reform process". The US also backed the talks, calling it an "important process towards a lasting peace" in a statement from its Yangon Dispur Police arrested a youth, identified as Lalrochan Pangante (27) along with a huge cache of explosives on GS Road in Six Mile area in the Kamrup District. Lalrochan Pangante, was arrested by Police while he was travelling in an auto-rickshaw from Khanapara to Guwahati Railway Station. The youth hails from Mahur in Dima Hasao District. "A total of 206 gelatin sticks and 800 detonators and some wires have been seized from him," said a Police official. Police said he brought the explosives from Manipur and planned to take it to Dimapur by train. At least 11 militants belonging to different militant outfits were arrested during a multiple operations launched by Army, Police and other SFs in Assam during last 24 hours. Defence PRO Lt Col Suneet Newton said that the militants were arrested along with large cache of arms and ammunition in Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao and Sonitpur Districts of the state. He said of the 11 militants, five belonged to KPLT, four to NDFB-IKS and two Five KPLT militants, identified as Jamson Kro alias Kronihang, Sohan Bey, Ranjit Tisso alias Archim, Ben Killing and Mohon Teron were arrested during a joint operation conducted by SFs in Borlangso and Taralangso areas of Karbi Anglong District, a senior Police official said. A cache of arms and ammunition were also recovered from their possession. The arms recovered include one AK-56 Rifle with 15 live rounds and one magazine, one .32 pistol with one magazine and two live rounds, two live Chinese grenades and two country-made guns. Two militants of HSULF, a splinter militant group in Dima Hasao District, identified as Somesh Badosa and Diyunmukh Kemprai were arrested from in Karbi Anglong District. One 9mm pistol and one handmade gun were recovered from them. Police arrested three persons, including two women, for their alleged link with the NDFB-IKS from Oxiguri in Baksa District. Police sources said based on a tip-off, Mamita Borgoyary, Poloti Mushahary and Kwmdwn Kachari, were arrested. Mamita is said to be sister-in-law of wanted NDFB-IKS leader B. Bidai. Police claimed to have recovered INR 5,000, which was extorted from a Four persons, Abdul Hai (21), Sanidul Haque (22), Md Motleb Ali (18), and Azizul Haque (20), who were allegedly involved in extortion in the name of the NDFB-IKS, were arrested in Barpeta District. KPLT called for a 24-hour Karbi Anglong bandh (general shut down strike) on September 3, in protest against killing of its 'defense secretary' during an encounter with Assam Police and SFs recently. Chirang District Police in association Army arrested one militant of NDFB-IKS, identified as Jayanta Musahary from Baikhungaon area on NH-31(C) under Dhaligaon Police Station of Chirang District. One pistol and one round live ammunition was recovered with his possession. He was in Bangalore in the past few days. During preliminary interrogation he disclosed that he was working with Ransrao in Biswanath Chariali prior to escaping to Bangalore," Chirang SP, Sankar Brata Rai Medhi said. A senior cadre of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Agun Basumatary, a close associate of NDFB-IKS leader B. Biday was killed by Assam Police in Kokrajhar District. An AK 81 rifle, two grenades, a magazine, several round of live ammunition from the slain militant. ADGP L.R. Bishnoi said, "Based on specific information, three police teams laid three ambushes in and around Mainaopur area under Kochugaon police station in the district since Monday (September 5) night. The team led by me came face to face with two militants around 4.20 am (September 6). When we challenged them, they started firing at us forcing us to retaliate. Later, we could find one injured militant while the other one managed to escape," adding that although he was taken to the hospital immediately, doctors there declared him brought dead. SFs in Assam said NDFB-IKS has set up camps in the neighbouring country; Bhutan. "We are now certain about some NDFB (S) camps in Bhutan. Their 'commander-in-chief' G. Bidai is also said to be hiding there," ADGP, L.R. Bishnoi, said, hours after a "hardcore cadre" of the outfit, identified as Agun Basumatary, was killed during an operation in Kokrajhar District that shares its border with Bhutan's Sarpang District. Although security forces had earlier suspected the presence of NDFB-IKS camps in Bhutan, they officially disclosed this for the first time. The Guwahati city Police arrested a NSCN-K cadre, identified as Tobika Sumi alias Boni Mech (33) from Nabagraha in the Guwahati city in Kamrup Metropolitan District. The arrested cadre joined the outfit in 1996 and got training in Myanmar. He hails from Kuchiya Bil in East Dimapur in Nagaland. Along with the Police, sleuths from the IB and the NIA were also interrogating the cadre. The city Police is interacting with their Nagaland counterparts to know the background of the militant. The Agia Police arrested a GNLA linkman, identified Sayed Saiful Islam (29) of Tukura village in Krishnai in Goalpara District. He was arrested in connection with a case related to serving of extortion letter to a businessman in the name of GNLA. Police was looking for Saiful who was instrumental in serving demand letters to some of the selected businessmen of the area. The GNLA, as part of their strategy, use local youths to identity their soft targets and serve demand letters in return of which the youths are paid scanty amount of money. The Assam-Meghalaya border areas have always been an extortion hub for the extremist Expressing concern at the unabated illegal migration, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju underlined the need for formal agreements and creation of joint mechanisms between India and its neighbours to ensure elimination of illegal crossovers, drug trafficking and infiltration. "Unless India's neighbours are made to realise that it was in the interest of both countries to stop infiltration and incursions, the security of countries will remain at stake," he said while delivering the keynote address at FICCI-India Foundation convention on 'Homeland Security-2016: Smart Borders Management' in New Delhi. Development and security go hand in hand and mere physical delineation of territories will not suffice, he said, adding that although India had fenced borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the Government was trying to make the security mechanism foolproof, drug trafficking, illegal crossing and infiltration remain the order of the day. Previous Governments had adopted a "defeatist" attitude by not constructing roads in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh as they felt Chinese forces could use them, Kiren Rijiju added. Chirang Police foiled an attempt by NDFB-IKS militants and their sympathisers to remit money obtained through extortion to their camps in Myanmar and arrested five persons in connection with this case. ASP, Chirang, Tabu Ram Pegu, said the accused had planned to transfer INR 40,000 to a bank account in Nagaland and from there human couriers would have been used to ship the money to the outfit's camps in the forests of Myanmar. "They tried to transfer the money from the Basugaon branch of the SBI yesterday (September 7) but could not do so because of link failure at the bank. They would have tried it again today but before that we arrested them and seized the money," he said. "The cash seized from them was part of Rs 60,000 that they had extorted from one Kumar Basumatary, a timber smuggler from the Khungring area of Chirang District, some days ago," ASP said. The series of arrests began with 22-year-old NDFB-IKS cadre Daukha Narzary alias Dopthai. He was arrested from the Sundari area under Sidli Police Station of Chirang District on September 7 evening during an operation launched on the basis of a tip-off. Narzary belongs to the 40th batch of NDFB-IKS cadres and was trained in Myanmar. Based on his confession, two linkmen, identified as Kwmtha Basumatary and Swrangsar Basumatary were arrested from Rangsaidam under Basugaon Police Station in Chirang District on September 7 night and INR 40,000 was recovered from them. "Further questioning of the accused persons revealed names of their other accomplices and multiple raids were conducted and two more linkmen of the outfit, Bhim Basumatary and Jwngdao Basumatary were apprehend from Kashikotra under Sidli Police Station around 1.30pm today (September 8)," the ASP said. According to SFs, the NDFB-IKS has stepped up its extortion drive in the BTAD and adjoining areas though their cadres and linkmen as the outfit has been going through a major financial crunch. The militant group is using linkmen and sympathisers, mostly local youths belonging to poor families including girls, to carry out extortions. A Police source said the NDFB-IKS is using bank accounts of some persons in Nagaland to route extortion money to their Myanmar camps. "Certain percentage of the money is given to the bank account holder as commission," the source said. In order to avoid detection by the RBI, the funds are transferred in small amounts not exceeding INR one lakh. The ULFA-I released Assam BJP panchayat leader's son, Kuldeep Moran, at the Indo-Myanmar border in Arunachal Pradesh. He was abducted on August 1 and the militants had demanded INR 1 crore ransom. Earlier, ULFA-I leader Paresh Baruah said Kuldeep has been not been abducted for ransom, but to stand 'trial' for passing on information to the Army, which resulted in the killing of several cadres of the outfit in encounters. Special DGP (Law and Order) Kuladhar Saikia in his tour to the Upper Assam Districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, disclosed that massive security operations would be initiated against the insurgent group like ULFA-I and NDFB-IKS or any other group in the State. "The security forces have been instructed to be strict against all those forces who have been trying to create an atmosphere of terror and fear among the people," he said. During his visit to Dibrugarh, Saikia interacted with the leading citizens and media persons at Police Reserve auditorium. The AJYCP asked the Centre to resume peace talks with the ULFA and other militant outfits to help Assam restore permanent peace. It further threatens to launch a statewide agitation if the Centre fails to hold the peace parleys with the rebels afresh. In a statement issued in Guwahati, AJYCP president Biraj Kumar Talukdar deplored that neither Delhi nor Dispur has invited the rebel outfits to resume the stalled peace talks. The AJYCP leader said that the government would have to pay a heavy price if it keeps mum on the issue. The NDFB-P expressed its dissatisfaction over the Centre's alleged lack of commitment in solving the Bodo imbroglio. Speaking on the occasion of its 28th martyrs' day celebration of the NDFB's western zone designated camp at Serfanguri in Kokrajhar, S. Sanjarang, the outfit's 'information and publicity secretary', said it was unfortunate that the peace dialogue had not been productive as a result of a lack of political will on the part of the Centre. He said the outfit had 14 rounds of dialogue with the Centre but there have been no progress in the last one-and-a half years of the BJP-led NDA Government. The talks were last held on June 9 last year (2015), Sanjarang said. He slammed the Narendra Modi Government for the lack of measures to resume talks with the organisation, whereas during the UPA Government, several rounds of negotiations were held and the Government had taken initiatives for a peaceful solution. He added that the BJP had assured them before the last elections of solving the Bodo issue but did not keep its word. The Army's Red Horns Division and Police launched an operation in the Hatoka area of East Karbi Anglong District, and arrested two militants, including Binod Gowla, the self-styled 'deputy commander-in-chief' of NSCA. The operation was carried out based on information provided by the Army's intelligence unit, defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Suneet Newton said. A 7.65-mm pistol, grenade and ammunition were seized from the duo. The NSCA is a fringe outfit involved in extortion and unlawful In an operation by Army and Police, an NDFB-IKS cadre identified as Hwbtasad Brahma alias Darga alias Jathi, was arrested in West Daisamguri of Chirang District. A pistol and ammunition were seized from him. The State Government has directed the Assam Police to step up efforts to trace the nearly 38,000 illegal Bangladeshi nationals of the post-1971 stream, who have been evading arrest. As per the new directives, the SPs of all the Districts will have to henceforth file a detailed monthly status report on the untraced infiltrators. The monthly report by the respective SPs must also carry the reasons behind the respective District Police's inability to catch the illegal immigrants missing from their respective areas of jurisdiction. "We want an improved synergy among all the 500 police units and task forces meant for tracking down untraced Bangladeshis. The baggage of 38,000 untraced illegal immigrants is a bit too much to carry," official sources said. The Home Department has also asked the law-enforcers to intensify search operation against the untraced infiltrators with improved intelligence sharing. It has also asked all the SPs to devise strategies to nab the illegal foreigners who are on the run, and, if necessary, put them on surveillance. Assam Police rescued a 77-year old Arabinda Kumar Das, a resident of Shillong, who was abducted on July 25 last from Assam. According to sources, Das was abducted when he went for morning walk on July 25. Sampa Das, daughter of the abducted person received a ransom call from the abductors on July 26 who demanded an amount of INR 2 crores. On September 15, after a gap of 52 days, the victim was rescued by Assam Police while being taken in a van. One person namely Nurul Haque of Gamari, Ramkrishna Nagar in Karimganj who was with the victim had been arrested. No ransom was paid to the abductors. In a series of multi directional and synchronized operations, Army and Police arrested eight cadres of KPLT including 'self-styled C-in-C' of a KPLT faction, Sunder Dera alias Rijak Dera, and recovered a large cache of arms, ammunition and incriminating documents from West Karbi Anglong District. The official said that during confrontation with the armed rebels, own troops exercised maximum restraint and upholding the principle of use of minimum force and no collateral damage arrested the hardcore militants. Arrested cadres also include an 'area commander' and 'vice chairman' of the group who were instrumental in coordinating extortion, kidnapping and recruitment of new cadres, said official. Four rifles including one AK-47 rifle, grenades, live ammunition, extortion notices and receipts were also recovered from the cadres. "KPLT, which is in a state of disarray due to the recent successful operations by Security Forces (SF), has suffered a crippling blow," the Army official added. He said that the elimination of two hardcore KPLT cadres and apprehension of fourteen cadres in the past one month has left the outfit leaderless and completely disorganized. Police arrested five newly recruited ULFA-I cadres from Sonitpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri Districts. ASP, Sonitpur, Fakrul Islam, said three cadres of the outfit, identified as Kishor Deka, Jayanta Deka and Pranab Deka, all in their twenties and from Harisinga in Udalguri District, were picked up from a Tinsukia-bound night bus at Tezpur in Sonitpur District. According to the Police, they were on their way to Myanmar for arms training. Based on confessions made by them during interrogation, another newly recruited ULFA-I cadre, Anjan Deka (31) was arrested from Bengbari village under Harisinga police station in Udalguri District and another cadre, Anil Borah alias Utpal Asom (31), who had joined the outfit in 2011, was also arrested from Tinsukia District. Kokrajhar Police arrested six persons, identified as Aminul Islam, Md Bharul Islam, Md Sahidul Seikh, Md Amsar Ali, Tofiya Alom and Shahajan Ali along with one country-made pistol from Joypur in Kokrajhar District. They were demanding ransom in the name of the NDFB-IKS from local people. Assam Police arrested a NDFB-IKS linkman, identified as Tefra Muchahary of Taijouguri village in Kokrajhar District. Police arrested two persons, identified as Sujit Sen and Biren Tamuli for alleged extortion in the name of ULFA-I from Guwahati in Kamrup District. The ULFA-I led by Paresh Barua launched a recruitment drive in the Sate to replenish its depleting strength. A Police source said that the latest recruitment was being carried out under the supervision of the outfit's 'operational commander' Nayan Medhi in Districts like Udalguri and Darrang, apart from its traditional strongholds of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar. "It came to light after the arrest of three newly-recruited cadres from a Tinsukia-bound bus at Tezpur on Thursday (September 15) night while they were on their way to the outfit's camps in Myanmar for arms training," the source said. The trio hails from Harisinga in Udalguri District. Resentment is brewing in Jorhat after the banned ULFA-I served extortion demand to many noted Punjabi businessmen of the Jorhat District, besides the regular demand to other businessmen of the Marwari and Bihari community, tea garden owners and State Government officers. Notably, the demand has come from the 'chairman' of the ULFA-I, Abhizeet Axom, as depicted in the calls and text messages sent, asking contribution as party fund towards the cause of the ULFA movement. The other demand has come from Jibon Axom. A close study of ULFA reveals that every cadre from the bottom to the top hierarchy acquires a single and unique name which is neither transferable nor can be acquired by anyone else even for making calls for demand or sending press releases to the print or electronic news channels. The demand by the ULFA 'chairman' Abhizeet Axom has created terror and sensation among the community. A top source of the police has informed about numerous cases being registered across various police stations of the District with one in Mariani, Titabor, Teok and Jorhat Police station. The demand ranges from INR 5 lakh to INR 50 lakh. Allegations of low Police investigation and sense of insecurity have gripped the people. SF and Assam Police engaged in counter-insurgency (CI) operation in Assam have mounted vigil against the proscribed ULFA-I which has started using social media like WhatsApp to send extortion demands to soft targets besides engaging linkmen or over ground agents to collect fund on their behalf. A senior Police official overseeing law and order in the State informed that the ULFA-I had resorted to extortion drive especially targeted at the tea estates in eastern Assam where tea executives live in remote, vulnerable areas. He informed that a senior executive of Santak Tea Estate in Sivasagar District was arrested two days back for making payment to a linkman as per extortion demand of the ULFA-I. The official said the outfit, of late, has started using social media to convey extortion demand to soft targets to escape detection by SFs. The Police become awake to the new modus operandi of the ULFA-I, which is led by fugitive 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua, in respect of carrying out extortion and preventive measures have been put in place. The third convention of the Surrendered NDFB Welfare Association will be held on October 3 and 4 at the Bodofa Cultural Complex in Kokrajhar District, informed the vice-president of the association. A meeting of the association was held at the office of Bijni Primary SNDFB Welfare Association in Bijni in Chirang District recently where a reception committee for the convention was formed with Pulen Narzary as chairman. The committee was formed with Gojen Narzary as vice chairman, Samesh Basuamtary as convener and Bhaben Basumatary and Kamal Basumatary as joint conveners respectively. The meeting for the formation of the reception committee was chaired by the secretary of Bijni Primary SNDFB Welfare Association, Gojen Goyary. Former president of the SNDFB Welfare Association, Hebal Mashahary informed that the association was formed in 2005 to work for the welfare of surrendered members of NDFB and to address their problems. He said there had been only two conventions earlier. There had been no convention since 2008, he added. Any incident of terror taking place in Bangladesh has implications for India as well, said Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla during a visit in Agartala. "Although there is not sufficient evidence of cross-border terror activity, consequential effect of a horrific incident taking place in Bangladesh can be on India as well, as we share a long land boundary with that country," Shringla said. He, however, expressed satisfaction that the Bangladesh authorities have now realised that terror activities could take a serious turn in their country, and they have met with some success in dealing with the recent acts of terror on their soil. The Indian envoy said, "Ever since the Bangladesh SFs have taken some pro-active steps, the situation in that country has improved a lot. Bangladesh has been mobilising the people of all sections to deal with the situation emerging from the recent terrorist attacks." Referring to the Home Minister-level meeting held in July in New Delhi, Shringla said that India and Bangladesh would fight terrorism jointly, as agreed upon during the meeting, also because it is in their interests. An NDFB-IKS linkman, identified as Bindo Muchahary, was arrested from Madya Bashbari under Karigaon Police Station in Kokrajhar District. He was active in collecting extortion money on behalf of the NDFB-IKS. One mobile phone and fake identity documents were recovered from him. Muchahary used to be in contact with cadres based in Myanmar and in the northern jungles of Kokrajhar. He confessed that he had been working as a linkman for the group. An NDFB-IKS militant, identified as Rajib Basumatary alias Mirgang alias Merbang alias Mergom, who escaped from Police custody in July 13, was killed in an operation by SFs in the Labanyapur area of Kokrajhar District. According to the Police, a search operation was launched in the area based on a tip-off and subsequently an encounter took place and Basumatary was killed. Police sources said Basumatary was a senior NDFB-IKS cadre and an under trial, who had escaped from Police custody on July 13 at Choibari tea garden on the way to Kokrajhar District jail from the NIA court in Guwahati. A .22mm pistol, three live rounds of .22 ammunition, two 36HE grenades, and six cases of 7.62mm pistol ammunition were also recovered from him. Lekhapani Police arrested three ULFA-I linkmen from Jagun area in Tinsukia District. Acting on a tip-off, Police arrested Sushil Gogoi and Sahabuddin Siddiqui from Jagun area and recovered 160 track suits and 70 sweaters from their possession. Again, Lekhapani Police arrested Dilip Phukan, a noted businessman of Jagun Parvatipur area, and recovered 30 track suits from his house. According to sources, under the direction of ULFA-I 'publicity secretary' Arunodoy Dohatia, a recruitment drive was going in Myanmar and youths belonging to the age group of 16 years- 24 years of Tinsukia District were going to Myanmar for ULFA-I training. Tamulpur Police and Army in a joint operation arrested a youth, identified as Rahmat Ali (26) along with arms from Khandikar village under Tamulpur Police Station in Baksa District. One 9 MM pistol and one country-made revolver were recovered from his possession. In one of the biggest operations in the fight against terror in the North-east in recent times, the Indian Army along with personnel of Assam Police killed at least six KPLT militants in a swift and surgical operation in the Nambar Reserve Forest in East Karbi Anglong District. On receiving specific intelligence inputs on the presence of a KPLT camp in the dense Nambar Reserve Forest, SFs launched a joint operation in the afternoon of September 22. On September 23, the Army troops found the camp with armed terrorists. On being challenged, the terrorists started indiscriminate firing on the troops, which resulted in severe gunfight in which four terrorists were killed. Taking advantage of the dense jungle, the other terrorists tried to escape, but they again came in contact with the Army men who were in hot pursuit of the fleeing terrorists. In the encounter, two more terrorists were killed. Altogether six KPLT militants including its two leaders were killed in the According to reports, an Army jawan was also injured during the encounter and later the jawan was admitted to a hospital, said Debajit Deury, SP. The slain militants have not yet been identified, added Deury. One 7.62 mm self loading rifle, one Insas rifle, three pistols, two hand grenades, large number of ammunition, several sharp weapons, fired cases, solar panels and blankets, etc. were recovered from the slain militants, said the PRO of the Defence wing. A youth, identified as Dipak Basumatari (32) was arrested while collecting extortion money in the name of NDFB-IKS at Rupakhat area on the outskirts of Tangla town in Udalguri District. According to report, the youth threatened a businessman of the town and demanded INR 2 lakh as extortion money. But later the businessman negotiated the amount to INR10,000. The youth was arrested by a team of Tangla Police led by SDPO)Bhergaon when he came to collect the money at Rupakhat area. A.32 pistol, three rounds of live ammunition and an unregistered gearless scooter were recovered from his possession. Of late it has come to light that illegal check points have resurfaced at various strategic spots and are allegedly extorting money, particularly from the drivers of goods-laden vehicles travelling through the NH-37 across the Goalpara District and this menace is continuing right under the nose of law-enforcement agencies. Some minitruck drivers from Goalpara, who regularly commute along this stretch of the national highway alleged that they have now become the primary victims, as they have to dole out between INR 50 to INR 200 (between INR1,000 to INR 1,500 for bigger trucks and 12 wheelers) per trip to the extortionists at Salpara under Krishnai Police Station and then at Leyla and Dudhnoi, both under Dudhnoi Police Station falling under RHAC. Police confirmed that the recovered Insas Rifle from the slain KPLT militants, who were killed in an encounter on September 23, was snatched from the armed bodyguards of MAC Narendra Killing when militants assassinated him at his residence in Balipathar back in 2011. A group of eight heavily armed militants swooped inside the residence of MAC Narendra Killing and opened indiscriminate firing. , MAC Killing was killed on the spot and two of Killing's PSOs, Darsing Rongpi and Manob Puran, sustained bullet injuries. Militants thereafter decamped with two 303 Lee-Enfield Rifles, one Insas Rifle and around 70 rounds of ammunition from Former chief minister and founder president of AGP Prafulla Kumar Mahanta appealed to the Centre to provide special constitutional safeguards, modelled on the ILP system, in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, to protect the indigenous people of the State. The bill, which was tabled in Parliament on August 11, seeks to give citizenship rights to persecuted religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is currently being examined by a joint select committee of Parliament after opposition parties said it needed more scrutiny. Six top JMB militants, including three of Indian origin, were arrested from Assam and West Bengal. Acting on a tip off, one JMB militant, identified as Jahidul S. alias Jabirul was arrested from Cachar District in Assam on September 24. Following his interrogation, Moulana Yusuf alias Abu Khetab and Shahidul Islam were arrested from Bashirhat, and Anwar Hossain Farook and Mohammad Rubel from Bagda road in Bangaon, both in North 24 Parganas District on September 25. "STF of Kolkata Police has arrested six Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terrorists," Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Visal Garg said. "These six are part of the top leadership of JMB," he said, adding five of them are named in the chargesheet filed by the NIA in the Khagragarh blast case in Burdwan District on October 2, 2014. Police recovered a laptop, mobile phones, SD cards, wires, detonators, a powder like substance and fake identity documents from them. "The powder like substance can be explosive. We will get it examined by experts," said Garg. The arrested militants included Anwar Hossain Farook of Jamalpur in Bangladesh, who was the head of the JMB unit in West Bengal. Another arrested militant was Moulana Yusuf alias Abu Khetab from Mangalkot of Burdwan District, the second in command in JMB. The other four are Shahidul Islam, the head of JMB's North Eastern unit, Mohammad Rubel - an expert in improvised explosive devices - hailing from Jamalpur in Bangladesh, Abul Kalam from Barpeta District in Assam and Jahidul S. alias Jabirul from Bangladesh. Garg said the STF was keeping an eye on JMB activities and tracking those who had absconded to the northeastern or southern Based on specific input, a joint team of Tangla Police and Army arrested one NDFB-IKS cadre, identified as Derhasar Daimari alias D. Daihang and another linkman, identified as Sarat Basumatari from Kahibari area under Tangla Police Station in Udalguri District. A .22 handmade revolver, four rounds of live ammunition, a dagger and eight mobile handsets were recovered from their possession. Derhasar Daimari is allegedly a hardcore cadre trained in Arunachal Pradesh. He was also allegedly involved in many anti-social activities along with extortion related cases in Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri Districts during the past couple of months, said a P source. The close proximity between the Paresh Baruah-led ULFA-I and China came to the fore again when the faction asked the HYCP to withdraw its appeal to ban Chinese products in the State. The ULFA-I in a statement emailed to the media stated that the neighbouring China had been maintaining a historic and friendly relations with the people of Assam and would continue maintain the good relations in future too. "The people of consumer state of Assam who have been exploited by Indian traders, have the right to buy cheaper good (Chinese items) available in the market and no one should try to disrupt that at the dictation of the RSS and the BJP," the ULFA-I statement said. The outfit further asked the president Balen Baishya and general secretary Dipankar Gohain of the state unit of HYCP to keep in mind Assam's historic ties with China and desist from making such appeal to the people of Assam acting as a stooge of the RSS and the BJP. The outfit further warned the two leaders of befitting action in case they dared to make such statement against Chinese goods in future. Security agencies in India often claim that the fugitive ULFA-I 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah, who is suspected to have pitched camp in Myanmar, maintains a close ties with his contacts in China. KPLT allegedly demanded a sum of INR 5.50 crore from D. Uphing Maslai, executive member of KAAC and warned him that he and his family along with his relatives would be killed if he fails to pay the ransom. The threat, which was send through a text message, also mentioned that his house would be blown up with a single detonation. Maslai has registered a case in Diphu police station and has sought legal protection from the Police. Police arrested another JMB cadre, identified as Azizur Rehman from Gumrah village under Katigorah police Station in Cachar District. Police sources said Rehman, the owner of a cycle repairing shop, had given shelter to Jamirul Islam, an alleged JMB cadre, who was arrested by Kolkata Police, with help from their counterparts in Assam, on September 24. More than 45 people have been arrested so far for alleged links with JMB in Assam. Special DGP (Law & Order) Kuladhar Saikia said that Assam Police is very much concerned about growing jihadi activities in the State. He also stated that the Assam Police is in constant touch with Kolkata Police. Assam Police conducted search operation at Thaisuguri village area under Kachugaon Police Station in Kokrajhar District and arrested a wanted linkman of the NDFB-IKS, identified as Sanen Brahma (27) early in the morning. One mobile handset was recovered from his possession. ADGP, LR Bishnoi said that Sanen Brahma had been working as a channel of communication between NDFB-IKS cadres and OGWs in that area and also used to provide information about the movement of SFs to NDFB-IKS cadres. He was reportedly engaged in arranging ration items meant for Bidai and his group. He had been also playing a very important role in siphoning off extortion money to cadres based in Myanmar through OGWs and sympathizers, he added. Bishnoi also said that the NDFB-IKS linkman had been making more than 600 calls to Batha and Myanmar-based Hanja NDFB cadre group and had collected money deposited in different banks in the District. One person, identified as Babban Garh (40) who was under treatment at the AMCH after suffering bullet injuries fired by ULFA-I militants on August 12 evening at the Gabharubheti Bamun Gaon under Philobari Police Station in Tinsukia District succumbed to his injuries at the AMCH, as the death toll in the incident rises to three. Earlier, suspected ULFA-I militants on August 12 killed two persons, identified as Kishori Shah and Rajen Shah and injured eight others at Bahbon village in Philobari area of the Tinsukia District. In what may be a major assault on insurgency in Northeast India, China has agreed to cooperate with India in identifying and apprehending ULFA-I 'chief' Paresh Baruah and other insurgent leaders who are believed to be seeking shelter in the frontier province of China of late. Disclosing that the issue of ULFA-I chief seeking shelter in China came up for discussion during a dialogue with his counterpart in Beijing, Joint Intelligence Committee chairman R.N. Ravi said that his Chinese counterpart suggested that they should send spotter to identify and apprehend the insurgent leaders who have holed themselves up in China's territory. Pointing out that secretary-general of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Mr Wang Yongqing is visiting India for a meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh next month, R.N. Ravi said that some mechanism would also be worked out to flush out Northeast insurgent leaders operating from Chinese soil and to share intelligence in real R.N. Ravi also said that India has shared information with China on how Northeast insurgents are using Chinese arms and explosives and inflicting violence in northeastern states. The ULFA-I chief has been living in Tengchong on the Sino-Myanmar border since he fled Bangladesh in 2009 after the Sheikh Hasina Government started a massive crackdown against Northeast rebel groups. Authoritative security sources dealing with insurgency in the Northeast said that Baruah has been operating from Tengchong on the Sino-Myanmar border, from where he is also in touch with a Chinese intelligence officer in Ruili and a woman from the Dai tribe. He was also found to have been visiting Kunming frequently to meet some Chinese intelligence sleuths. India has shared some more specific intelligence with its counterpart in China, security sources said, adding that ULFA-I chief may have been maintaining links with some lower-grade intelligence sleuths but Beijing was not patronising them as claimed by these fugitives. As many as 25 blankets that were being transshipped to Myanmar-based camps of ULFA-I, were recovered and a woman, identified as Jina Halong was arrested at Jagun in Tinsukia District of eastern most Assam close to Myanmar border. Security sources informed that the woman was carrying the blankets to ULFA-I camps in Myanmar on being asked by one of the senior ULFA-I leader, Arunodoy Asom. Outfit has pitched its main camp and training camp in Myanmar jungles under the patronage of with Naga rebel group NSCN-K. The blankets were meant for ULFA-I cadres based in the neighbouring country in view of fast onset of winter in the area. The SFs have mounted vigil against the outfit especially in eastern Assam's bordering areas in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar Districts in the wake of the outfit's recent strike on Hindi speaking people in remote part of Tinsukia district and reported extortion drive launched by it in the eastern Assam's tea belt. During a meeting with the District Police chiefs, the District Deputy Commissioners and senior officials of the State Police and the civil administration in Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called for geared up vigil against anti-national elements including Jihadis that have posed threat to the internal security of the country. He underlined the need for mounting vigil in river isles of Brahmaputra River where there is hardly any permanent Police post. It is suspected that Jihadi elements could take shelter in those unguarded river isles inhabited by suspected illegal Muslim migrants from Bangladesh. West Bengal Police's STF arrested three JMB cadres from Assam's Cachar and Buxirhat three days back raising the alarm in the State, report A team of Golaghat Police officials arrested two CPI-Maoist cadres from Chungajan area under Golaghat District. The arrested cadres were identified as Gojen Gogoi alias Rubul (29) and Basanti Bora Sonowal (30). ASP, Numal Mahatto said that Gojen Gogoi was a native of Chungajan Majgaon under Golaghat District and Basanti Bora Sonowal was a resident of Ratanpur under Chaparmukh Police Station in Sadiya in Tinsukia District. They are husband and wife. Further, he said that Gogoi actively participated in organizational activities in Upper Assam. He is closely associated with Maoist leader Aditya Bora who was arrested from Khakandaguri, Dergaon few days back and has links with Maoist leaders Pallab Borbora, Debojit Borgohain, Moina Dohotia, Uttam Nayak and Girish Bora. Gojen Gogoi joined the Maoist organization in the year 2011 at Baraghoria Sarupathar as executive member. He was involved in extortion, kidnapping and organized Maoist activities, Mahatto Several social, student and women organizations of Tiwa community of Karbi Anglong District expressed serious concern over the incident of ransom demand and life threat allegedly issued by KPLT to D. Uphing Maslai, executive member of KAAC on September 26. Addressing a press conference, representatives of Tiwa Students Union, All Tiwa Women Association, Tiwa Cultural Society and Tiwa Youth Association said that Tiwa community as a whole have remained pro-active in raising the demand for an autonomous or separate state for Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao autonomous District and, as such, threat from a Karbi organization is most unfortunate. Tiwa bodies has stated that the threat to Maslai is a intimidation to the whole community. "We maintained good relationship with Karbi community since time immemorial. This is a case of political conspiracy. The group or person who is trying to divide us will not be spared and we request everyone to expose this divisive power," said Dominic Sakra, president of ATSU in presence of other 8 heads of Tiwa bodies. He further warned "if anything happens to Maslai, we will not keep silent." Assam Government will make all Police Stations in the State smart police stations in a phased manner, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. A smart Police force is the order of the day and technology would be able to help the police to efficiently tackle law and order situations, Sonowal said at the Assam Police Day celebrations held at 4th APBN, Kahilipara in Guwahati. The chief minister also said Policemen must instill fear in the hearts of the antisocial elements and inspire trust and goodwill among the common people of the State. Honoring ten Police personnel with Chief Minister's medal for their outstanding performance, he said Assam Police should aim to become the best Police force in the ULFA-I said that its top leader Drishtri Rajkhowa has not surrendered anywhere. In s statement, ULFA-I 'central publicity secretary' Aronodoi Dohotiya said that the rumour is baseless and that it was aimed at spreading false propaganda. Earlier, a section of media speculated that the top ULFA-I leader was preparing to surrender forcing the leadership to clear the The Barpeta Police arrested three suspected jihadis, including two teachers and the fake father of JMB mastermind Jahirul alias Jeherul alias Jabirul, who was arrested by West Bengal Police and unearthed some vital information regarding the ongoing subversive activities in the State, said SP, Barpeta, Siladitya Setia. With the arrest of these three, identified as Abdus Sattar Mia alias Sattar Moulavi, Khalilur Rahman and Kazimddin, more links to Jihadi activities have been unearthed. The first two persons are teachers and the second one is the BLO of Chaparbari Polling Station while the third one is the impersonated father of the most wanted JMB activist. With this arrest, it came to light a few days back that Jabirul had enrolled his name in the voters' list of Sarukshetri Assembly constituency in Barpeta District in 2013 and 2014, acquired a school certificate and even vital documents like PAN. Jahirul went underground in the last part of 2014 when the NIA began to search him after the arrest of Sahnur Alam, the JMB mastermind in Assam. All the three were produced before the judicial magistrate, who remanded them to Police custody for one week. NDFB-P celebrated the 30th foundation day of the organization at the designated camp of Western Zone located at Serfanguri in Kokrajhar District. The 'speaker' of NDFB-P, B. Benga alias Sunil Basumatary said the outfit was founded on October 3, 1986 with a view to liberate Bodoland and to regain the ancestral land of the forefathers of the Bodos who had been neglected and suppressed by the colonials. He said they entered into ceasefire with the Government of India in 2005 and joined the peace process to bring permanent solution through peace talks. He also said the GoI led by Narendra Modi was yet to re-start the dialogue with the NDFB for peaceful solution. Benga said the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre had assured them for solution of Bodoland issue through peace talks but after coming to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not taken any proactive measures during his two years in power. Ahead of Durga Puja and Diwali celebrations in the State, a senior Minister in the Assam Government appealed to the masses to avoid buying Chinese products. Minister for Education, Health and Finance, Himanta Biswa Sarma's statement comes days after the banned militant group ULFA-I warned a Hindu group for seeking a boycott of Chinese goods. "This Durga Puja people should avoid buying products made in China. Instead they should buy lamps, decorative lights and household utensils made in India," the minister said in Guwahati. Significantly, the minister's appeal also follows Beijing's declaration last Saturday that it has blocked a tributary of the Brahmaputra, to construct a dam for a major hydro-electric project in Tibet. It is not known if blocking the tributary will affect the volume of the Brahmaputra which flows across the length There has been a paradigm shift in the policy of the Government of India on the issue of dealing with terrorism and if any terrorist kills an Indian citizen, he will have be ready to face the toughest possible action. Highly placed sources in the GoI said, "gone are the days when terrorists attacked Indians and the government's response were mere statements condemning the attacks. From now on, if any terrorist attacks Indian citizens, he will have to be ready to face the strongest possible action. Even if a terrorist escapes to a foreign country after inflicting pain on any Indian citizen, he would not be able to escape unharmed." Sources said that the recent surgical operation was unique as for the first time, the GoI decided to launch such a major offensive to prove its point to the terrorists. The Government is ready to face any eventuality following the strike as all the possible scenarios of such an attack were thoroughly examined before taking the "calculated risk", which came off well. Sources pointed out that though India had earlier carried out such an operation in Myanmar, there was a major difference. The insurgents attacked in Myanmar by the Indian SFs were not getting any direct help from the Government of Myanmar, but it is now a well established fact that the terrorists in PoK were getting support from the Pakistan Army. Official sources further pointed out that the surgical strike was not against a country by the Indian Army, but was a clinical operation against terrorists using the territory as safe Sources also warned that following the change of policy of the Government, even if any member of militant outfits of the Northeast indulges in killing of Indian citizens and escapes to a foreign country, India would try its best to hit him in foreign land, if necessary. In the past, the Centre started talks with insurgents involved in large scale killings of innocents, but when the NDFB-IKS indulged in killings of innocents, the Centre made it clear that there would be no talk with the outfit and launched a full scale operation against its members. Similar situation would continue and no one would be allowed to go scot free after killing an Indian citizen, sources added. A youth, identified as Safiqul Ali, who had sent an SMS to the PS of State Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for extortion, was arrested by the Police from the Bagorbori area in Guwahati in Kamrup District. Safiqul Ali, hailing from Kolgasia in Barpeta District on October 2 sent an SMS to N Sarma, the PS of Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asking him to pay INR 5 crore. The extortionist indirectly sought the cash from the minister as he had reportedly told the PS to tell the Minister to pay the cash as demanded by him. The extortionist also wanted the money to be handed over to him at a tea estate in Biswanath. Strongly reiterating that all illegal migrants living in Assam would have to leave the State, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the interests of all genuine citizens will be protected by his Government at any cost. Speaking at a meeting organized by Nepali Sanskriti Suraksha Parishad at Rabindra Bhawan in Guwahati, Sonowal said the Nepalis are a brave and hardworking community which has made tremendous contribution to the formation of greater Assamese race. Allaying fears of the Nepali community, Sonowal said that the Nepalis living in Assam do not need to fear about their place in society, and they are as much sons of the soil as any other indigenous community of the State. Regarding the concerns raised by the community about NRC update exercise, the CM assured that the government is committed to protect the rights of Nepali people living in Assam for ages and it will not allow any vested interest group to create confusion in the minds of Nepalis about their right to citizenship of this great country. A linkman of NDFB-IKS, identified as Satya Basumatary was arrested in Gossaigaon in Kokrajhar District. Police arrested two persons, identified as San MIyan and Nazir Ali in connection with the circulation of FICN at Attareekhat under the Dimakuchi Police Station in Udalguri District recently. According to reports, the duo tried to hand over FICNs amounting to INR 3 lakh to a trader. Two cadres of NSLA, identified as Ram Mardi and Sulaiman Soren were arrested from Borobadha in Kokrajhar District. A handmade pistol, an AK-47, live ammunition and two mobile phones In a major diplomatic move to the Indo-Bangladesh repatriation process, the 10 Bangladeshi nationals, including two minors, who were detained at the Silchar Central Jail in Cachar District, will be deported back to Bangladesh through the international border at Karimganj on October 13. The Bangladeshi nationals will be handed over to the team of Karimganj Police and 133 Battalion of BSF and at 10 am, they would be handed over to the BGB officials, Police sources said. Terming this as a diplomatic success, Cachar Deputy Commissioner S Vishwanathan said this decision was expected to "reach us any moment since there were frequent talks between the Government of India, MEA and the Bangladesh Government." Leaders of the ULFA and various intellectuals of Assam have made it crystal clear that Assam is not going to shoulder the burden of any Bangladeshis, Hindus or Muslims. A meeting called by the ULFA at Gauri Sadan in Guwahati on issues like citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis, deportation of foreigners staying illegally in the State and ensuring land rights of the indigenous people of the State, those present at the meeting vehemently opposed the government's move to provide Indian citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis. "If such a move is translated into a reality, the situation in Assam will simply boil," many of the speakers said, and added: "This government has violated the existing land Act." ULFA leader Arabinda Rajkhowa said: "We're opposing the decision which the government at the Centre is trying to impose on us. What steps we're going to take will be clear in the days ahead." The ULFA leader said that the organization would let the Centre know its decision on the move to amend the citizenship Act in their next round of peace talks. Two persons were arrested along with FICN worth of INR 2 lakh from the Barpeta road area in Barpeta District. "One of them was identified as Ruleka Khatun. About 400 fake notes of Rs 500 were seized from them," a Police officer said. Sources said the two had confessed to procuring the fake notes from an agent in Bihar. They added that the duo had been asked to give the notes to some other agents. "In many cases, FICN racketeers are found to be involved in cattle smuggling and even funding militancy in the region. Investigation will reveal more details," the officer added. Usually, a consignment of FICN worth of INR 1 lakh is smuggled into the state in exchange of INR 60,000 worth of real notes, report said. Thus, when agents supply these notes to the market, they get a flat 40% cut on every lot. The couriers, after acquiring the FICNs from their counterparts in Bangladesh or Pakistan, pump them into Assam. Later, a separate batch of couriers, mostly hired on low payment, circulate them in major towns of the state like Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Bongaigaon and various parts of the Barak Valley. Earlier, Assam Police sources had hinted at the involvement of JMB linkmen in FICN rackets in the region. "On several occasions, police have found a nexus between FICN couriers, JMB linkmen and cattle smugglers," a source said. The AGP made it clear that those who came to Assam on or after March 25, 1971 from Bangladesh should be deported to their country and the entire process should be done as per the Assam Accord. This was stated by AGP president and State Agriculture and Veterinary Minister Atul Bora on the occasion of the party's 32nd foundation day held at Sarupeta in Barpeta District. The AGP also indirectly opposed the move the Central government to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, which will pave way to provide citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh. Through the amendment, the BJP government at the Centre is planning to grant long-term visa to hundreds of religiously persecuted Hindu refugees from Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries. Asserting that the Congress party will never allow the Centre to tinker with the Assam Accord, Assam PCC president Ripun Bora announced constitution of a committee under the chairmanship of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to chalk out the party's strategy on the issue of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. A reported plan drawn up by the ULFA-I led by Paresh Barua and other rebel groups, which are part of the ULFWSA, to carry out strikes in the North East has set alarm bells ringing in security circles across the region, Information about the plan has reportedly been gathered by intelligence agencies in eastern Arunachal Pradesh, where two major rebel groups - the ULFA-I and NSCN-K - have been very active for several years now. According to the agencies, outfits under the front have been assigned specific tasks. These tasks range from targeting SFs, carrying out subversive activities and abducting Hindi-speaking businessmen, said sources. The intelligence report, which is learnt to have come from a Central agency, has said that while NSCN-K and ULFA-I would target SFs in eastern Arunachal Pradesh where India, China and Myanmar meet, PLA, ULFA-I and NSCN-K would carry out similar strikes on SFs close to the India-Myanmar boundary in Manipur. Likewise, ULFA-I, I.K. NDFB-IKS, GNLA and KLO have been assigned the task of targeting SFs close to the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya, while ULFA-I and NDFB-IKS would carry out similar strikes close to the India-Bhutan border in western Assam. Assam Police confirmed having received similar inputs. An IED of around 2 kilogram was recovered from Birubari area in Guwahati in Kamrup Metropolitan District when children were playing with the explosive, a senior Police officer said. The children of one M Bhowmick were playing in front of their house at Sankarpur Hill area in the morning when they found the explosive object wrapped in jute ropes, the officer said. Bhomick said that he first thought it was a football made by children but upon finding it heavy he threw it inside the nearby forests, as his neighbours informed the Police. Bomb disposal squad personnel found within the handmade IED, a bottle filled with gelatin-like substance, glass shards and nails fitted with a detonator and safety key, the officer said. The bomb disposal squad safely detonated the bomb in the afternoon hours. Police are still investigating who was behind the act. SSB and Pathsala Police arrested one person, identified as Jubed Ali along with FICN amounting to INR 50,000 at Kanduguri in Bajali subdivision of Barpeta District. SFs brought him to Pathsala outpost and registered a case against him and took him under Police custody for further investigation.

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Home > Maharashtra > Degree > Mumbai (Bombay) > Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College Home > Maharashtra > Associations > Mumbai (Bombay) > Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra Address:PTVAs Sathaye College, Dixit Road, Vile Parle (E) Mumbai (Bombay) (District Mumbai (Bombay)) Maharashtra, IndiaPin Code : 400057 Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay) Maharashtra is a recognised institute / college. Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College is situated in Mumbai (Bombay) of Maharashtra state (Province) in India. This data has been provided by www.punjabcolleges.com. Mumbai (Bombay) comes under Mumbai (Bombay) Tehsil, Mumbai (Bombay) District. Fax # of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay) Maharashtra is +91-22-26130608. Website of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay) Maharashtra is http://www.sathayecollege.com. Contact Details of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay) Maharashtra are : Telephone: +91-22-26141149 CoursesParle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay) Maharashtra runs course(s) in Arts ,Commerce,Science stream(s). B.A., B.Sc., B.Com. Approval details: Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College is affiliated with University of Mumbai (UoM), Mumbai (Maharashtra) Profile of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye CollegeIn a developing country like India, quality education has become a basic necessity. Education has become an extremely important factor for the overall development of a student, which in turn, results in the development of our country and brightens our future. We at SATHAYE COLLEGE are striving to impart education to each and every individual with potential and inculcate ethical and aesthetic values in him/her; thus moulding a multi-faceted personality that is ready to shoulder responsibilities towards the family, the society and the nation. Images / newspaper cuttings related to Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College Hours delay at Sathaye College (News) FIR against Sathaye College Principal (News) Media coverage of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay) Maharashtra, Maharashtra NAAC report of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye CollegeSection I : Preamble Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association's Sathaye Colege, Mumbai, volunteered to be assessed by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore and submitted a Self-Study Report in September 2003. NAAC constituted a Peer Team to visit the College and validate the Self-Study Report. The Peer Team comprised Prof.M. Madaiah, Fomer Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore, Mysore as Chairman, Dr.Stephen, A., Principal, St. Stephen's College, Uzhavoor, P.O., District Kottayam, Kerala as member and Prof.S.Selvaraj (Former Principal), Advisor, Annammal College of Education for Women, Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, as Member-Co-ordinator. The Peer Team visited this institution of higher learning on 12th, 13th and 14th January 2004. Prof. S. Selvaraj Co-ordinated the work of the peer team throughout the visit. Sathaye College was established on June 20, 1959 by the 'The Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association'. Before 1994, the name of this college was Parle College of Arts, Science and Commerce. Promoting higher education with emphasis on quality was the motto of the Association. The continued mission of Sathaye College is the 'realisation of a dream - a dream of its founding fathers. They wanted to provide the youth of suburbs of Mumbai with an avenue for pursuing higher education for excellence. The kind of education they envisaged involved complete development of personality of students. The College is a co-educational institution and is permanently affiliated to Mumbai University. The college receives grants-in-aid of the State government. The College is recognized by the University Grants Commission under Section 2(f) and 12(b) of the UGC Act of 1956. The College is located in Vile Parle (E), a suburb of Greater Mumbai with fine infrastructural facilities - both academic and physical. The presence of few big trees and greenery around gives a good academic ambience. There are 21 departments in the institution offering various courses leading to B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., BMS, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. The institution has a well-qualified and experienced permanent teaching staff strength of 73 including 16 Ph.D. holders and 17 M.Phil degree holders. In addition, there are 26 temporary teachers and 2 part-time teachers in the college. Women teachers constitute the bulk of the total teaching faculty in the college. There are 135 members on the non-teaching staff. The student enrolment for the U.G. courses stands at 3602 which includes 2071 girls and 1531 boys. There are 34 students enrolled for P.G. courses in Botany and Chemistry and one student for Ph.D. As many as 157 students have enrolled for self-financing B.Sc. (I.T.) course. Student enrolment for B.M.S. stands at 54. The college has been providing access to higher education in this part of Mumbai since its inception. The Peer Team has carefully gone through the Self-Study Report submitted by Sathaye College. During its three-day visit to this institution of higher learning, the Team went through all the relevant documents as well as visited the departments and the facilities. The Peer Team also interacted with the management council, Principal, faculty, non-teaching staff, student representatives, parents and Alumni of the institution. Based on the above exercise and keeping in mind the seven criteria identified by the NAAC, the Peer Team has given its concerted and objective assessment of the college in the pages that follow. Section II : Criterion-wise Analysis Criterion 1 : Curricular Aspects Innovative curriculum design and introduction of a wide-range of courses, at the under-graduate and post-graduate levels, go a long way in moulding the career of younger students in various walks of life in the modern society. As an affiliated institution of the University of Mumbai, Sathaye College has no option except following the curriculum and regulations of the University. In the course structure, however, there is some flexibility and the syllabi is revised periodically by the University. Some teachers of this institution are members of Board of Studies and they do have a say in curriculum development. Sathaye College, being an established institution, offers B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., B.Sc.(I.T.), B.M.S., M.Sc. and Ph.D. courses. There are enough programme options for the students. The college also offers a number of optionals/electives in different subjects which are career-oriented and would benefit the student community. Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Bachelor of Management Studies are two-self-financing courses offered by this institution. The College has a computer training centre entitled 'Baburao Paranjape Info-Tech Institute' and through this center a number of certificate and diploma courses are offered. The certificate courses in Internet technology, graphics and Animation, Computer Accounting, Quality Control, Customer relations etc., are really useful from the point of view of the learners. Diploma course in Medical Transcription is another attractive area of study. The programme options offered by this institution provide wider choice for students in the learning process and in shaping their career. The institution has a genuine concern in the holistic development of students. Various subject Associations, Clubs, Forums, etc. provide enough opportunities for co-curricular activities in the college. Criterion II : Teaching, Learning and Evaluation The academic programme of Sathaye College is carried out under semester system as well as under annual system. There are adequate, qualified and experienced teachers in the college. The institution has maintained its reputation in carrying out the basic ingredients of teaching, learning and evaluation process in a successful manner. Teachers are very enthusiastic and dedicated. The deep rooted work culture is an added feature of this institution. Students are selected for admission on the basis of academic records and as per the guidelines of the University. For some courses like BMS, students are admitted on the basis of their performance in the common entrance examinations conducted by the University. The College offers remedial/bridge courses for academically weak students. Advanced learners are also given ample facilities and encouragement. The institution also communicates to the students regarding evaluation method/system at the beginning of the academic year. Faculty recruitment is made as per the norms of the University and the Government of Maharashtra. Learner-centered teaching is achieved through home assignments, project work, seminars/quizzes, visits to industries and financial institutions which are part of the internal components in the course programme. A good number of teachers have participated in State/National/International level seminars/conferences. The performance of the students in various examinations is quite satisfactory. However, there is enormous scope for improvement. Criterion III : Research, Consultancy and Extension Teaching, research and extension are inseparable components of any center of higher learning. The quality of teaching always acquires meaningful increment through participation in research activity. Extension, today, is realized as a measure of success of an institution as the knowledge and talents of the student and teaching community becomes available to the society at large. Though Sathaye College was a teaching institution at the undergraduate level, over the years, it has expanded its activities considerably in the area of research and extension. Twelve faculty members have registered for Ph.D. as part-time research scholars. One can easily notice the prevalence of research culture in the college. There are a number of publications by the teachers. About 20 percent of the teachers are actively engaged in research and the college has five on going research projects with a total outlay of Rs.2,49,000. The Peer Team is happy by the publication record of the faculty and the research environment in general. Consultancy has yet to emerge in the College. The College has been rendering noteworthy service to the society through extension activities. The NSS & NCC units in collaboration with NGOs like Rotary Club have been involved in many awareness and out-reaching activities like Pulse Polio Immunization, Value education programme etc., Many teachers are also actively involved in extension activities. Criterion IV : Infrastructure and Learning Resources The institution has adequate and good infrastructure for teaching, research, co-curricular and sports activities. The spacious building accommodates class-rooms, library, laboratories, auditorium, office, staff rooms, etc.. The augmentation of infrastructure has been a continuous process in this college with the introduction of new courses and the increase in student population. Chemistry and Botany Departments run Post-Graduate Courses. The Laboratories are well-stocked and maintained. The infrastructure facilities are fully utilized in the institution by extending for the IGNOU Study Center, contact center for the Institute of Distance Education of the University of Mumbai etc. The library facilities are reasonably good. The library has over 60.000 books including 22,000 text books and 18,000 reference books. The library subscribes to 65 Journals/periodicals. There is a library Advisory Committee in the College. However, the library needs to be strengthened by adding sufficient number of latest books and periodicals for new courses. Library needs to be computerized at the earliest. The institution have 40 computers at different locations within the college. To provide adequate facilities for new courses like BMS, the College has embarked upon expansion to add additional class rooms and multimedia room. The Peer Team is pleased with the infrastructure and its maintenance. But there is a space constraint for this institution for expansion. Criterion V : Student Support and Progression There are a number of student support programmes in Sathaye College. Student support includes not only academic, co-curricular, extra-curricular but the most important being the financial support like the scholarships. The institution publishes an updated prospectus annually which gives information regarding the College, admission criteria, examination, fee structure, availability of facilities - both physical and financial, and the policies of the college. Financial aids are available from central and state governments. Freeships are available to students belonging to SC, ST, NT, BC, etc. categories. More than 200 students have received financial aid under different categories during the academic year 2002-2003. The institution helps the students for vertical/horizontal progression to some extent. The students of Sathaye College have participated in sports events at the State Level and the University level and won laurels for the college. Outstanding sports persons are encouraged by giving sports kits, mementos, certificates and other incentives. Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are encouraged by the College through various associations and different clubs. Enthusiastic teachers in these activities are appointed to head the associations. There is an auditorium facility with permanent mike system. There is a canteen facility and also a cooperative store for the benefit of student community. There is an Alumni Association in the institution. Criterion VI : Organization and Management Sathaye college was founded by 'The Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association' in 1959. The college is managed by a well-structured organization giving suitable representation to various groups on the principle of participation and transparency. The Local Managing Committee which is constituted as per the guidelines of Mumbai University plays an important role in monitoring the office and Accounting system of the institution. The Principal of the College, assisted by one Vice-Principal, 3 Assistant Principals, is entrusted with the day-to-day administration. The institution has an efficient internal coordinating mechanism. Activities of the college are planned and executed by various committees. The Admission Committee, Library Committee, Gymkhana Committee, Students' Grievance Redressal Committee are some of the important Committees to mention a few. The accounts of the college are audited internally and also by the Government auditors. Financial administration of the College is transparent. Some welfare programmes for its employees are also in vogue like loan facilities against P.F. and leave facilities. The Work efficiency of teaching staff is assessed by audit at the supervisory level viz., Heads of the Departments and the Principal. The institution has an inbuilt mechanism to check the work efficiency of the non-teaching staff also. The management is keen in supporting the overall development of the College. The Peer Team is appreciative of the democratic functioning of the college and the cordiality maintained among faculty, students and administrative staff. Criterion VII : Healthy Practices Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association's Sathaye College has certain noteworthy healthy practices to its credit. *Providing opportunities for students to choose their career by offering a variety of courses in the College which include new courses and electives/ optionals. *Introduction of career oriented self-financing courses like Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Bachelor of Management Studies for the benefit of students is a healthy feature. *Maintenance of good discipline and academic environment in the College premises is appreciable. *The institution emphasizes on value based education. *Providing quality higher education in diverse disciplines is another notable aspect. *Conducting student survey among third year students about the overall facilities and using the feed back for further improvement. Prevalence of research culture in the institution and linkages with national organizations for training and research is a welcome feature. The sports, games and cultural activities of the college are appreciable and many students won prizes in team and individual events at University / State level. *Organizing 'Shaniwar Gappa' by the Marathi Association and 'Gravity' by the Science Association, BYTE-IT by B.Sc.(I.T) students and an Intra-collegiate festival known as 'Utsav' are healthy features. *Participation of NCC cadets of the college in the Republic Day Parade is commendable. *Services rendered at slums, to leprosy patients and other community development programmes are good extension activities. Identification of the college as a Nodal Centre for Civil Defense activities is a credit to the institution. The welfare measures available to the staff are noteworthy. Section III : Overall Analysis The Peer Team, after perusing the Self-Study Report and assessing the various academic and infrastructural facilities of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association's Sathaye College through its three-day visit is very much impressed by the vision and goals of the institution in the cause of promoting higher education in this sub-urb of Mumbai. Though the institution was established as an undergraduate college in Arts and Science, it has made significant progress over the years in enlarging its academic base by offering a variety of courses in Arts, Science and Commerce at the UG level. The institution has also started career oriented B.Sc. (IT) and B.M.S. courses to cater to the needs of students. The institution also offers P.G. programmes in Botany and Chemistry, and the Ph.D. program in Physics. The institution has earned a very good reputation for imparting quality education to the younger generation of the Vile Parle suburb. The teachers and students have imbibed the spirit of academic excellence and service to the society. Teaching, learning and evaluation get their rightful emphasis in the institution. One can also discern good research culture among faculty members. The institution has been successful in mobilizing sizable resources for research from various agencies. Extension activities carried out by NSS and NCC units are appreciable. The management of the college is sound and democratic. The college has several notable healthy practices to its credit which would enhance the prestige of this premier institution. The Peer Team appreciates the efforts of Sathaye College in establishing a sound base for academic advancement and would like to make the following suggestions for its sustained growth in the years ahead. *Expansion of infrastructural facilities is needed in view of the introduction of new courses and the growing needs of the growing student population in the college. *The college may think of introducing a few more job oriented self-financing courses at the U.G. level. *The institution may explore the possibility of introducing P.G. programmes in Economics, Commerce, Bio-technology, Physics etc., The college may also think of starting MMS or MBA programme. *Library needs to be updated and expanded. More new books and periodicals are required to be added. Library needs to be computerized at the earliest. Reprographic facility may be provided in the library. *Research Activities of the faculty members, apart from projects, may be strengthened to enhance the prestige of the institution. Some seed money needs to be provided by the College to faculty members for research proposals and publications. *More linkages with national and international research institutions may help to enhance the research base. Industrial linkage is also necessary to help the students. *Use of more modern teaching aids in the class-room and learner-centred teaching methods may be thought of for effective teaching-learning. The institution may also involve the alumni for its growth and development requesting them to implement certain specific projects. Parent Teacher Association (PTA) needs to be strengthened. Trees in the campus may be labeled with botanical names. *Adoption of slums and their sustained development programme through NSS & NCC extension activities would not only bring good name to the institution and the students will be exposed to some of the real problems of the society. Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association's Sathaye College has been rendering yeoman service since its inception. The institution has earned high reputation for providing opportunity for higher education and for quality maintenance. Eminent academicians like Dr. Nargund had served in this prestigious institution. Its accomplishments are impressive but the potentialities are even greater in the years ahead. The Peer Team envisages a bright future for this forward looking premier institution in the new millennium. It also compliments the entire academic community - teaching, non-teaching and students, and the Management for maintaining congenial academic environment in the college. The Peer Team also appreciates the efforts of Dr.(Smt.) Kavita Shirish Rege and her colleagues for their deep involvement in the institutional progress. The Peer Team wishes all the best to Sathaye College in its future endeavour. Prof. M. Madaiah Dr. Stephen A. Prof. S. Selvaraj. Dr. (Smt.) K.S. Rege. Principal, Sathaye College Sathaye principals email ID hacked from MalaysiaMumbai: Kavita Rege, principal of Sathaye College, Vile Parle, has lodged a complaint with the cyber crime cell at Bandra Kurla Complex after her email ID was hacked into and used to send messages to her contacts. Early morning on January 2, she received calls from friends and relatives asking about her travails in Malaysia. They had received messages from Reges email ID that she was stuck there and needed $2,000. The email asked the contacts to send money to a particular account to help her. Rege received around 30 such calls. On January 3, she filed a compliant with the cyber crime cell at BKC. According to a police officer, Rege is not the only victim of an apparent online scam. The officer said that instead of responding to such mails, people should enquire whether the mail is genuine.People wanted to know whether I was in trouble. After I realised that they had received a mail from my email ID, I sent a message to everyone on my mailing list to tell them that everything was okay and that I was still in India, said Rege.The day after she filed a complaint, the police called her and said that her email ID was hacked from Malaysia. The police informed me that they had informed the company that ran the email service. They have reinstated my account and have informed me about the kind of precautions that I should take, she said. The cyber crime cell in BKC declined to give details of Reges case. We have received a number of written complaints regarding cyber crime, and its difficult to talk about specific cases, said an official. Sathaye CollegeSathaye College, located in Vile Parle (East) is considered to be one of the best colleges for pursuing science during graduation. The college is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The foundation stone for the college building was laid on November 4, 1959 by the first principal of Sathaye College. Even then the college had a well-stocked library and laboratories. In order to ease the burden on employed students, special classes were held early in the mornings or late in the evenings. To encourage academic excellence a scheme was launched inviting research papers from teachers.Sathaye College offers a number of courses through its junior and degree College. The Sathaye Junior College programme is designed to achieve depth of knowledge acquired through focus of faculties and students to build a successful career in the future. Sathaye College also offers various professional courses affiliated to University of Mumbai like IT, finance and management, accountancy, ancient indian culture, bifocal computer science, bifocal electronics, biology, business law, chemistry, commerce, economics, education, English, geography, gujarati, Hindi, history, mathematics, microbiology, philosophy, physics, political science, Sanskrit, sociology, statistics and zoology are some of the main programmes offered by Sathaye College. Watch out for 1. The Vile Parle station is extremely close to the college campus. 2. There is BMC garden nearby where the students go to the famous golawala and sit at the katta. 3. There is a Naturals ice cream parlour near the campus. 4. The students rave about the Coffee Tapri outside their college which they claim gives the best coffee and tea in Vile Parle. 1. The Sathaye College auditorium which earlier was just a mini hall is used extensively by the Marathi theatre in Mumbai for experimental plays. This gives the students good access to such performing arts. The auditorium s also used for college events. 2. The college campus has a botanical garden and a butterfly garden with several species of butterflies. This college is also one of the few colleges to have a big science festival annually. 3. Sathaye College has done extremely well in sports and has had students who have even taken part at the national level. Theyve had many students who were shooters and currently, one student is into fencing. The college has three inter-college festivals that are held annually. Gravity is a science festival. Byte IT is an information technology festival and Synergy is a management festival. There is also another college festivals which is held annually- Utsav wherein cultural events and academic exhibitions are held by each department. Moreover, an ayurvedic and medicinal plants exhibition is put up every year. Cells and Clubs The students of Sathaye College can enjoy several athletic and fitness activities. Sathaye students compete in around 35 varsity sports and nearly 20 club sports. The college`s fine arts, dance, English Literary Association, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Hindi Sahitya Parishad encourage young talent. There are also various management committees and social service committees. The college also has an NSS and NCC cell. On the campus The college has a well-equipped library, a gymkhana with various sports accessories and equipment. There is a large ground in front of the college building which has a volleyball net, a basketball court and is used by the students to play cricket, hockey and football. There is a girls common room for girls to relax and study in in between classes. There are stocked up science laboratories and a computer room. The Sathaye College auditorium is a fully functional hall with air conditioning and a stage for plays and shows. Moreover, the college also grows their own herbs which are ayurvedic for the purpose of study and research for students. Principal: Kavita Rege Apart from providing a good standard of academics, we always try to make our students socially adept and aware of whats going on in the world outside the college campus. This is to give them a slice of the real life. Every student in Sathaye college is always encouraged to take part in many activities and take initiatives to better their personality. Once out of college, we want our students to excel in whatever field they choose to be in. Alumni: Geeta Pednekar, assistant sales manager The activities held in the college moulded my personality. And the encouragement I received in the college, helped me to combat professional hurdles courageously. Student: Shubhankar Jadhav, SYBMS The biggest attraction of Sathaye College is the faculty. You can find the most educated, experienced and professionals from the industry here and they bring in their experience to help us learn. They let you make mistakes so that you learn your lessons well. The faculty also keeps us updated about the various things happening in the world and in the corporations. We are always told that we have to have what the corporate world demands. The professors here are loving and strict too. They not only teach us but also are friendly and keep the students interested in the lecture. Most of all, we all look up to our principal and find her very supportive and involved. We have a really huge library and access to thousands of books! Youll find the oldest book here along with the latest one whether it be science, geography, politics or sports. Enable Wi-fi in the college campus Student: Snehal Adhav, SYBMS I would like to change the gymkhana timings, as many students do not get time to visit it, after their lectures. Intro-duce Wi-Fi connection in the college for students so that they can use internet in the college campus. Introduce more sports activities for girls. The garden should be maintained Sujay Shinde, TY BScIT, on his 5 favourite Hollywood films 1. The Oceans Series I love the plot and casts of all those films. A big fan of George Clooney and Brad Pitt. 2. Saw Series I love horror films and I particularly like this because they dont have people but ghosts. 3. The Tormented: This is a film about a child bullied in school. 4. The Mechanic I really like the action sequences of the film. 5. The American Pies Series The comedy here has me in splits! Madhuri Dixit and Pravin Thipsay, a chess player To listen podcast from the principal click here Summary: Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Associations Sathaye College, Mumbai (Bombay) Maharashtra website, mobile, contact address and approval / recognition details.

Israeli inventors have dreamed up many of the world’s most revolutionary medical devices. About 1,000 medical-device companies – 200 new ones each year – put Israel second only to the United States in this fast-growing sector. And yet, nobody could strap on the ReWalk robotic exoskeleton, have a tumor removed non-surgically by InSightec’s ExAblate or get a painless neurological treatment with the Brainsway helmet if not for the design team that took a genius concept and made it function as expected, at a realistic price in a user-friendly form. ISRAEL21c recently visited the Tel Aviv offices of Taga, the award-winning design and engineering firm behind those three and other pioneering healthcare products. According to CEO Amit Barak, Taga is Israel’s leading firm for medical-device design, which makes up more than half its business. One critical secret of success: The 14-year-old company’s in-house staff of 20 is about evenly divided between industrial designers and mechanical engineers. Working in synergy, they handle all aspects of a proposed medical product’s long development process from concept to clinical trials to commercialization. “Not every industrial designer can design medical devices,” says Barak. “There are three target audiences – medical institutions, healthcare providers and patients – and each one requires a completely different set of thinking. There’s a lot involved, from ergonomics to psychology.” Often the simplest approach makes a sophisticated device possible. This explains, for example, why ReWalk beat worldwide competitors to the market. Case study: ReWalk When ReWalk inventor Amit Gofer decided to create a robotic exoskeleton for paraplegics, he came to Taga. The first order of business was walking and talking with paraplegics to help define the limits of a practically feasible product. “You have to recognize you can’t do everything and have to modify some of the requirements. That is the way to succeed in design and functionality,” says Barak. As a result of this research, ReWalk was designed to fit adults from 160 to 190 centimeters in height, and specifically paraplegics with full use of their arms because the device works in conjunction with crutches to keep its weight and cost commercially viable. “When you make a paraplegic stand, he can fall to either side, forward or backward. With crutches, he can help himself not to fall and you don’t need a balancing mechanism. You just need a motor to pick up the foot and move it,” says Barak. (In contrast, Taga did develop a balancing mechanism for Brainsway to keep the weight of the treatment helmets from causing discomfort.) ReWalk relies mainly on simple motors, wheels and pulleys along with tilt sensors similar to those found on a Segway, plus sensors in each joint and foot to assure movement stability. A customizable pelvic belt connects the disparate parts of the exoskeleton, which is slim enough to wear while driving a car. “Our breakthrough insight was that the system needs to support only part of the user’s weight because the bones support the rest, so it can be thinner and lighter,” says Barak. “A Japanese company has been trying for 22 years to make a robotic exoskeleton but it hasn’t succeeded because its model is too heavy, too expensive and too complicated.” Case study: Insightec’s ExAblate InSightec came to Taga with a groundbreaking beta product produced by scores of engineers: a magnetic resonance-guided ultrasound technology for removing tumors inside the body and for treating neurological symptoms such as tremors, without making a single incision. “It’s like magic,” says Barak. But it took much more than a magic wand to design this complex and sophisticated system to be intuitive for the treatment provider, cost-effective for the healthcare institution and as pleasant as possible for the patient. Taga did three months of research, interviewing physicians and observing procedures to determine what was needed to turn a good technology into a successful product. Then the team plunged into three years of development. The main challenge was choosing completely non-magnetic materials because ExAblate works with existing MR imaging systems. “We couldn’t use a single metal screw or spring, and every part that touches the body needs to be biocompatible.” The system’s 500 parts are put together with 12 different manufacturing techniques. One of the trickiest to design was the “cradle” on which the patient lies, because it contains the extra weight of the embedded ultrasonic robot. It has to be light enough for a standard MR machine’s motor to pull it inside automatically. “Many products fail because they’re too complicated for the hospital to implement,” says Barak. “We tried to resolve this situation by configuring the product for the existing environment. Our solution is to build the system into a bed that connects with one click to the MR machine, changing the MR into an operating room. You don’t need a designated room for the ExAblate.” Taga also needed to make the device look worthy of its $1 million price tag. “Given the complications of the system, this was quite a challenge, but the result is beautiful,” says Barak. Among Taga’s many clients are GE Healthcare, Syneron, Given Imaging and Lumenis. Lumenis makes devices for surgery, medical aesthetics and ophthalmology. Two such devices designed by Taga already in the market are the Lumenis Pulse 120, the most powerful surgical laser available; and the Lightsheer Desire hair-removal laser system. Barak notes that the medical device industry is busier than ever as products once used only in clinical settings are now getting miniaturized and updated for home use. “We are helping B2B companies make the shift to B2C,” he says. An example is the FDA-approved Newa device by Endymed for smoothing facial wrinkles, so popular in China that it’s sold in newly opened Newa stores. Among Taga’s diverse consumer products designed for clients outside the medical field are the Grippity media center keyboard, the Cat Genie automatic feline toilet, the Leviathan Wind Tulip , the Emjoi folding heater and the Sephora folding hairbrush. For more information, click here.

Read an Excerpt The Case for a Creator for Kids Copyright © 2006 by Lee Strobel Illustrations copyright © 2006 by The Zondervan Corporation Requests for information should be addressed to: Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Applied for All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Reader’s Version®. NIrV®. Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Editor: Kristen Tuinstra Cover Design: Sarah Jongsma and Holli Leegwater Interior Art Direction: Sarah Jongsma and Kristen Tuinstra Interior design: Sarah Jongsma Composition: Ruth Bandstra Illustrations: Dan Brawner Photography: Synergy Photographic Printed in the United States of America 06 07 08 09 10 • 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Introduction Who Ya Gonna Believe? There you are sitting in science class at school. You’re thinking. . . Say, what are you thinking? What are your feelings about science in general? Not as cool as a sciencefiction movie? More fun thanhaving a cavity drilled? Your true answer is in there somewhere. Either way, it’s science class. And it’s an interesting one today, because Mr. Axiom, the science teacher, is starting a new unit on how the world began. You hear something about a Big Bang, and how all the stuff that made up the entire universe was gummed up into one puny little wad before it blew up. And how that stuff is still exploding outward, as it has since the beginning. The story line could use a few aliens and starships, but all in all, it’s really pretty cool. The Big Bang doesn’t sound too scientific, but again — pretty cool! Science: what’s observed in the way things happen. Fast-forward a couple of days. Now you’re in Sunday school. Mrs. Homily, the teacher, is starting a new unit on the first book of the Bible, called Genesis. She starts with the very first words of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The kids are kind of nodding along, but you have a big question about all this. Why aren’t Mrs. Homily and Mr. Axiom on the same page? They seem to have two completely different stories for the same subject. Mr. Axiom says the universe came from a big explosion; Mrs. Homily claims it came from God. Who’s right and who’s wrong? What really bothers you the most is that Mr. Axiom, the science guy, seems to make the best case for his claims. A humongous, long-ago explosion is a pretty wild story, to be honest, but he makes it believable. He gives numbers and details, and tells why the scientists came up with their ideas. Evidence (EV-eh-dents): proof that something happened. You’ve always liked Mrs. Homily. What’s weird is that she’s only telling you what your parents might have told you all your life: God made everything. You’ve always liked church and gone along with the program. But you’re not a little kid anymore. You’re going to be a teenager soon. You’re beginning to think things through for yourself. And you’re noticing that neither Mrs. Homily nor anyone at church is too concerned about . . . well, the reasons and the evidence for what they’re teaching you. Not as much as in science class. For example, you see a baseball lying in a pile of broken glass next to a window. That’s your evidence that the baseball broke the window. Better hope that baseball isn’t yours! What do you like or dislike about science? What kinds of science subjects have you enjoyed studying most?

Nothing, not one thing happens in this economy until a sale is made. No raw materials are ordered, not one engine starts, and no services are performed until an order has been placed. Strong sales are the single most important asset of any for -profit company. New business is the lifeblood of every company. It is the fuel that drives growth, investment and opportunity. Considering the vital importance of sales, you would think that meetings whose sole purpose is to promote and drive sales would be considered critical. But, sales meetings finish low on the list of priorities for many agencies. As a result, sales meetings are plagued by poor attendance, tardiness, distractions and interruptions. Sales meetings often start late, run late or are cancelled altogether. Lack of preparation and a defined agenda produces terrible meetings that produce terrible results. Sound familiar? In what professional sales organization would these behaviors be acceptable? What we expect and tolerate is what we get. This tolerance creates a perception that sales meetings are a waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth. I believe that sales meetings are sacred. Once we understand the direct, positive impact sales meetings have on our culture, our success and our wallets, we will give them the respect they deserve. “Why should I attend meetings that don’t always appear to benefit me personally?” The purpose of sales meetings is to create sales We only have 24 hours in a day to take care of our family, our clients, our job, and ourselves. Given the value of our time, why waste it on meetings that don’t always appear to benefit us personally? Here is the short list of reasons why sales meetings are critical to your success. 1. Culture: A Total Agency Sales Culture (TASC) is the cornerstone of every high performance agency. The underpinnings for TASC are activities that build, support and sustain organic growth. Effective sales meetings are one of these critical activities. Sales meetings nurture esprit de corps. They serve as a catalyst and binding agent for shared goals and objectives. They serve to reinforce and remind us that we are a team, and we share a higher purpose other than our own personal benefit. Sales meetings bring us together to accomplish much more than we could alone. We are a sales driven industry. Sales meetings are part of the foundation that supports a thriving sales culture. 2. Communication: Many agencies are plagued by poor communication. One reason is producers are a very independent group. The nature of our job requires us to operate like sole proprietors who mange our personal books. Sales meetings require us to come together for 1 hour as a team and communicate. They foster teamwork and bring to light opportunities for us to help each other. Sales meetings serve as the one consistent forum for communication and connection as producers. 3. Synergy: Sales meetings create synergy. If we are not pulling together, then we are pulling apart. They create like-minded thinking and get us pulling together in the same direction. 4. Direction & Numbers: Sales meetings serve as our compass. They influence direction and indicate when course correction is required. Numbers are a direct reflection of results. Numbers are the only true, impartial measurement of success. Numbers are a true ally and friend to producers. They never lie, they are brutally honest. Numbers give us hope, determination, incentive and recognition for our successes. They also give us a kick in the rear when we need it. Sales meetings are all about the numbers, and we need to fall in love with numbers. 5. Motivation: We are all motivated by different factors. For some it’s the pursuit of excellence, for others it’s money, and still others are motivated by competition. We all have personal forms of internal motivation, but peer pressure and competition are a powerful form of external motivation that gives us that extra spark to jump start our engines. External motivation stirs our competitive spirit. Sales meetings touch on many forms of motivation both positive and negative. Sales meetings create needed competition and pressure. 6. Skill set development and reinforcement: Selling isn’t winning. Winning is winning. We win business from the competition by being better. Sales meetings test and hone our abilities, and force us to learn and apply new skills and processes that are good for us, and make us better than our competition. 7. Talent development & perpetuation: Agencies that have expired or been consumed by larger shops all share one thing in common; they failed to groom new talent to grow and perpetuate the agency. Experienced producers can have a huge impact on the careers of new producers by shortening their learning curve. The opportunity for a new producer to participate in meetings where experienced producers discuss numbers, business plans, account strategies and selling skills is invaluable. Who will provide for your retirement? The new talent you groom to take your place. Sales meetings serve as an opportunity for seasoned agents to help grow new talent. 8. NOBs: All highly performing companies embrace Non Optional Behaviors. Every fortune 500 company, subscribes to NOB s that drive sales cultures based on excellence and exceptional results. Sales meetings are one specific change we can make to produces immediate results. The Agencies and Producers I work with experience exceptional results. Why, one reason is they all run excellent sales meetings. Producers and managers who participate in sales meetings gain significant personal and financial benefits. Increased opportunities and improved performance are the product of these sales meetings. They result in significant revenue that benefits everyone in the organization and secures the future of the agency. All believe that Sales meetings are Non Optional Behaviors. Over my 30-year career in insurance I have participated in, and run thousands of sales meetings. Good, bad and ugly sales meetings. What I’ve learned is that sales leaders must prepare for, and practice running productive sales meetings. Effective sales meetings governed by rules of conduct that apply to everyone. There must be a results driven agenda that creates opportunity and a desire to attend. Here is what I consider the optimal structure, agenda and rules for running the very best sales meetings in the business. Running sales meetings that drive sales Frequency: Weekly, create a rhythm and expectations. Sales meetings are important. Day: Monday. Sales are a priority, this is the first meeting we have. Time: First thing Monday Morning. Sales are a priority, this is the first meeting we have. Size: No more than 10 per meeting, only production and management personnel. If you exceed 10, break up into 2 groups of 5 and run back to back meetings. Duration: 1 hour. Period. When 1 hour is up, the meeting ends. 15 Minutes of skill set training 1/2 hour of pre – appointment strategies on new business prospects 15 minutes on the numbers where Sales Mangers review goals, pipelines, and new business written by producer. Rule #1 Sales meetings are not optional. They are the most important thing we do on a weekly basis. Unless of illness, family emergency, traffic accident or vacation, Producers do not miss sales meetings, ever. Rule #2 Producers and managers must show up early, and never late. We must respect each other, and the importance of the meeting. Never be late. Rule# 3 Leave your phones outside. Texting, emailing and taking calls in meetings is not acceptable. Our culture’s recent tolerance of this behavior needs to change. Rule #4 No interruptions by anyone, anytime, unless it’s a family emergency. Client’s can wait an hour for a call back, or our CSRs can handle it. Rule#5 Producers come prepared with one new business prospect to discuss and conduct a pre- appointment strategy. Do any doubts linger as to the benefits of sales meetings? Do you still ask “Why should I attend sales meetings? If so, read 1-8 again and find a reason that resonates for you. If 1-7 don’t get the job done, just read the last line of # 8.

Best Spincast Reel Reviews for 2016 Fishing used to be something that needed to be done for survival, but now, people want the top rated spincast reels for either of two things: to satisfy the occasional craving to have some fish for dinner, or simply to have the bragging rights to catching the heaviest or biggest fish that no one else has ever been able to reel in. The change in purpose hasn’t really changed the necessity for a spincast reel to be easy to use, durable and genuinely fun to use. Primarily intended for beginners, a spincast reel has become a favorite tool for most anglers nowadays. Being Zebco’s most advanced spincast reel, the Omega ZO3PRO has become an all-time favorite as the best spincast reel on the market. It is the first-ever seven-bearing spincast reel also built with a 3X pickup system, aircraft-grade aluminum covers plus a state-of-the-art triple-cam multi-disk drag system. The unique comfortable ergonomic design is a huge plus factor. Despite its similarity in shape to other reels from Zebco, the Omega ZO3PRO really feels it’s the best in the heap. It is engineered with power and speed in handling that allows it to be configured for both right- and left-handed retrieve. The Daiwa Silvercast-A Series Spincast Reel provides medium light action in freshwater. It has three ball bearings, providing adequate smoothness on the retrieve. The rigid aluminum alloy construction offers strength in construction. The reel gear ratio is 4.3:1, which helps the spincast reel provide more torque to reel in large fish. The rotating line pickup is titanium nitride treated, enabling it to turn with the line to ensure less wear, plus easier casting. Optimum performance is assured by the oversized line aperture. This spincast reel has a smooth disc drag with dial adjustment for easy handling. Designed for light tackle fishing, the Zebco ZO2PRO Fishing Omega 2 Pro Spincast Reel deserves to be one of the top 10 spincast reels on the market. This fishing tool is built with double-anodized aircraft aluminum caps, ensuring strength and durability. The Zebco ZO2PRO is lightweight and designed to be a high-performance spincast reel. It uses premium materials in its construction, which is only characteristic of the more expensive spincast reels on the market. The spare spool is pre-filled with 85 yards of Cajun Red 6-pound line supplemented by an extended dual-knob power handle for out-of-the-box functionality. Lightweight at just 12.25 ounces, the Daiwa Goldcast Spincast Reel provides the ultimate in spincasting performance. The old-school design has been updated for use in the new millennium, making the Daiwa Goldcast a heavy favorite among experienced anglers and beginners alike. Offering reliable performance and ease of use, the spincast reel can be utilized for nearly any type of fishing. It has an oscillating spool levelwind that delivers tangle-free and consistent line winding. Built with a ball-bearing drive, the device gives smooth and even retrieves. Long lasting durability is assured by the rugged metal body, nose cone and gearing. The Abu-Garcia Abumatic 170i is an ultra-reliable spincast reel designed with an intuitive pushbutton design for easy use minus the backlash, enabling problem-free casting. Beginners and experienced anglers will love to have this spincast reel among their fishing gear, as it fuses modern performance with tried and tested dependability. The oscillating fast-cast spool ensures that the line system is easy to use and will not twist. The sturdy aluminum die-cast front cone is a perfect complement to the machined body, ensuring reliable durability. The Abumatic 170i spincast reel is ideal for freshwater and saltwater fishing. Built simple and reliable, the Zebco Authentic Series Spincast Fishing Reel boasts easy pushbutton casting and a durable construction. Designed for family fun, it is constructed with a durable ABS housing to withstand heavy use and abuse. Pre-spooled with 75 yards of 15-pound or 20-pound test monofilament, this spincast reel can be used for heavy trolling or saltwater fishing scenarios. The stainless steel helical gears are built to withstand tough fishing conditions. The smooth, high-quality star-adjustable drag reduces the risk of broken lines and lost fish. This spincast reel offers affordability and reliability to any angler. If the Bard did any fishing in his day, he would most likely have picked the no-nonsense spincast reel that bears his name. The Shakespeare Synergy Ti 14 Sc Blister Reel is built with two ball bearings that ensure ample support, stability and smoothness. The strong metal handle offers a superb level of control, while the soft-grip rubber knobs provide ergonomic handling. The polished stainless steel front cone and rear cover ensure reliable durability and strength. The titanium line guide enhances the spincast reel with even more durability, for years of fishing. Superbly re-engineered to be among the top 5 products in this particular category, the Pflueger Trion 10U Spincast Reel offers one of the smoothest drags you can ever find on the market. The new aluminum machined and ported front cone is designed to last, giving the avid angler a spincast reel that can be used for many fishing trips to come. The two ball bearings deliver the needed smoothness, stability and support. The aluminum handle has a soft touch handle knob that ensures immediate response and reliable control. The heavy-duty metal gears and titanium pick-up pins provide long-lasting reliability. The South Bend Microlite Spincast Reel features an S-shaped power handle built large enough for the angler to easily grope for it without losing sight of the fish. The handle also ensures a firm grip, decreasing slippage when the weather is wet or when the hands get sweaty. The quick release line button and trigger ensure problem-free handling. The smooth drag internal spool is a salute to the traditional spincast reel construction. Pre-spooled with line, the South Bend Microlite Spincast Reel is ready to go right out of the box. Pre-spooled with 70 yards of 10-pound line, the Zebco 202K-CP Spincast Reel offers the highest strength and largest diameter to be used on this type of fishing gear. The tough ABS housing enables the spincast reel to deliver reliable performance even in the most rugged conditions. The fishing tool features all-metal helical gears for dependable durability and performance. The stainless steel 20-point pickup system allows you to apply just enough pressure to your captured fish and smoothly let out the line when the fish gives a fight. This lessens the likelihood of broken lines and lost fish.

As real-time and integrated systems become increasingly sophisticated, issues related to development life cycles, non-recurring engineering costs, and poor synergy between development teams will arise. The Handbook of Research on Embedded Systems Design provides insights from the computer science community on integrated systems research projects taking place in the European region. This premier references work takes a look at the diverse range of design principles covered by these projects, from specification at high abstraction levels using standards such as UML and related profiles to intermediate design phases. This work will be invaluable to designers of embedded software, academicians, students, practitioners, professionals, and researchers working in the computer science industry.A rotation speed sensor, an ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) controller, and an electromagnetic brake actuator are placed ... on a distributed electrical architecture with 6 nodes: one central vehicle control node, four wheel brake control nodes, anbsp;... |Title||:||Handbook of Research on Embedded Systems Design| |Publisher||:||IGI Global - 2014-06-30|

The new alpha preview of the next version of Synergy (5.0a) is now out: This is a development release targeting (and requiring) Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and is 64-bit only. reply to comment please give us feedback | Advertising | FAQ.Share Created by Arne & Marcus. | Powered by FreeBSD, Postgres & Catalyst.

Release Date: July 11, 2014 BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Dozens of local entrepreneurs and professionals are now better prepared to tackle the unique challenges of running a family business after completing the first-ever “Growing a Healthy Family Business” course, part of a new initiative that launched this year in the University at Buffalo School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL). Forty-five representatives from 14 family businesses finished the course and were honored at a joint graduation ceremony for four CEL programs on June 5 at UB’s Center for the Arts. The graduates and their businesses are: Mike Sr., Kurt, Mike Jr. and Stephen Adolf of Buffalo Alarm, Buffalo; Brendan and Debbie Brick of Power Tools & Abrasives Inc., North Tonawanda; Gary, Nancy and Benjamin Case of The Carpet Collection, Lockport; Joseph and Penny Cipolla of Bella Vista Group, Bowmansville; Alan, Greg, Jeff, Keith and Steven Davis of Tapecon Inc., Buffalo; Jeffrey and Adam Goldfarb of Jeffrey M. Goldfarb & Associates, Buffalo; Keith and Karl Hetrick of Niagara Frontier Equipment Sales Inc., Lockport. Also, Angie and Kristina Kleeh and Lisa Stefanie of The Synergy Group of the Niagara Frontier, East Amherst; Jeannette, Natalie and Neal Kreher of Kreher’s Farm Fresh Eggs LLC, Clarence; Marvin, Lisa and Bailie Ohlson of Ohlson’s Bakery & Café, Williamsville; Thomas, Liza, Amanda and Krystina Pane of The Grapevine Restaurant & Catering, Amherst; Thomas, Christine and Matt Schuster of Schuster Construction LLC, Depew; Jim Sr., Margaret, Gregory, Jim II, Kathleen and Rachael Serafin of QMC Technologies Inc., Buffalo; and Diana Stefanovich and Brian and Jason Cary of Christie’s Restaurant, West Seneca. “Growing a Healthy Family Business” is a 10-session course that meets twice a month over five months. It empowers family members to come together to identify and apply solutions to help their businesses thrive for generations to come. Developed collaboratively with family business experts of diverse disciplines, seasoned entrepreneurs and thought leaders in the UB School of Management, the course delivers practical solutions on topics relevant to family businesses, including communication, interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution, strategic planning and succession and next-generation leadership planning. “The family businesses that participated in this year’s program are walking away with practical tools, clarity, strategic vision and a community of support to assist them in preparing for transitions from one generation of leadership to the next,” says Thomas Ulbrich, executive director of the CEL. “As these family businesses make smooth and successful transitions, they are able to continue their legacy, create jobs and continue to be a meaningful contributor to the Western New York economy.” The course is available exclusively to members of the CEL Family Business Association, a new initiative launched in February to support the unique challenges associated with family businesses while also addressing the traditional needs of any entrepreneur. Association members receive complimentary registration to quarterly networking events and semiannual workshops with expert speakers, discounted registration for professional development opportunities and, beginning in January 2015, access to professionally facilitated peer support groups. “Our mission is to support the power of entrepreneurship to launch human potential, inspire innovation, produce jobs and generate wealth through interactive education in entrepreneurship,” Ulbrich says. “The Family Business Association and the ‘Growing a Healthy Family Business’ course bring together the dynamic regional family business community and provide specialized support so they can continue to thrive from one generation of entrepreneurs to the next.” In addition to the graduates’ companies, the inaugural members of the association are: Dwight Moldenhauer Inc., Buffalo; EGW Personnel Staffing, Buffalo; Harbison Bros. Inc., Buffalo; Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex, Holland; Holland Paintball Adventure Park, Holland; Insty-Prints of Cheektowaga, Cheektowaga; Kirst Construction Inc., North Boston; Manitoba Corp., Lancaster; Metal Cladding Inc., Lockport; Parkland Professional Park LLC, Orchard Park; and Wrights Corners Self Storage, Lockport. During the graduation ceremony, Arjang Assad, dean of the School of Management, and Mary Nicoletti, family business program coordinator, unveiled a plaque honoring the association’s founding family businesses. The CEL is currently enrolling new members in the Family Business Association. The center will host a workshop for members in September, and the next “Growing a Healthy Family Business” course will kick off in February 2015. For more information, contact the CEL at 716-885-5715 or firstname.lastname@example.org. Established in 1987, the CEL provides participants with individualized and interactive education in entrepreneurship. More than 1,200 CEL alumni employ more than 22,000 Western New Yorkers, and their businesses are worth more than $2 billion to the local economy. For more information, visit mgt.buffalo.edu/cel. The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school also has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, Forbes and U.S. News & World Report for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

Studying and pursuing careers in the United States will improve ability to communicate across borders and help Japanese entrepreneurs collaborate with talent around the world, U.S. Ambassador John Roos said Monday. “The value of outside education, of getting intraperspectives and practices, directly bolstered Japan’s incredible economic growth through (the 1950s and 1960s and beyond),” Roos said at a Tokyo symposium on how to spur entrepreneurship. “It was also common for young Japanese to earn their undergraduate or graduate degrees in the United States, including MBAs,” he added. “My government puts a high priority on supporting Japan’s return to the trend of studying in the United States.” The number of Japanese students studying abroad has been on the decline, partly due to difficulty in finding jobs when they return home and because they have become more inward-looking than before, analysts said. There were about 29,000 students who studied in the U.S. in 2008-2009, down from the peak of some 47,000 in 1997-1998, according to the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission. Roos, who sees mobility of talent in the workforce and diversity as keys to enhancing healthy entrepreneurship, said, “Working with partners around the world means that you have the most talented specialists for each market and industry working with you. “Collaboration encourages, to generate discovery and success, not hinders it. It opens markets, not constrains them,” he added. “English is now the key” for Japanese entrepreneurs to tap into talent worldwide, he said, finding it “interesting” that Rakuten Inc. recently decided to adopt English as its official in-house language by 2012. Roos, who grew up in San Francisco, has served as chief executive officer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm headquartered in Silicon Valley known for its representation of technology, life sciences and growth companies. Reflecting back on the 25 years he spent in Silicon Valley, he said entrepreneurs there created “an energy and an excitement that is truly intoxicating,” allowing everyone to dream. “The United States is proud of its reputation for receiving and encouraging the best and brightest entrepreneurs from around the world,” he said, adding that attracting the world’s top level creates a positive cycle of competition and synergy. Promoting the development of small and midsize enterprises and entrepreneurship, including enhancing women’s roles in the area, was one of the issues addressed at the recent 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit and other meetings. “It has been proven . . . that a healthy entrepreneurial environment strengthens a country’s economy,” Roos said after emphasizing that Japan, along with the United States must remain strong economic powers to ensure strategic goals of peace and prosperity under the U.S.-Japan security alliance. Entrepreneurship in Japan is also important to the United States because “it creates investment opportunities and therefore jobs across borders,” he said.

from Davee Evans The recent shift in medical marijuana policy reminded me of the infrequent and yet ongoing conversation about Buddhism and drugs. I recently read a paper published at Erowid, titled Psychoactive Plants in Tantric Buddhism, specifically discussing cannabis and datura usage in various Tantric sources. Then there was a Tricycle issue devoted to the topic of psychedelics, followed by Allan Hunt Badiner and Alex Grey’s book Zig Zag Zen about Buddhism and psychedelics. I shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a synergy for people interested in the inner workings of the mind to explore many mind altering mechanisms. But this then highlights again the difference between renunciant-style Buddhism where intoxicants are avoided per the precepts, and later yogic-styles of Buddhism where anything goes. I wonder if the renunciant style is more in accord with Western puritan culture. In the Erowid paper, the authors find a number of references to cannabis in Buddhist texts, some as medicinal references and some as practice elements. But the research is still slim. They note that yogi’s practicing the Tara Tantra were required to mix cannabis and alcohol for effective meditation practice. In the Mahakala Tantra it’s included among a long list of medicinal recipes and described as the “perfect medicine” according to W. G. Stablein’s doctoral dissertation from Columbia, and then also recommended there as an elixir to transform the body and mind in the service of liberation. And D.B. Gray’s translation of the more popular Chakrasamvara Tantra includes the quote that cannabis will help one “become a yogin who does what he pleases and stays anywhere whatsoever.” Renouncing intoxicants makes easy sense. If one is practicing meditation to become more and more clearly aware of the mind stream, then why ingest anything that makes that mind more fuzzy. If I were to guess why intoxicants have such a strong tradition in tantra, and this is just my own hypothesis, it’s that the unpracticed mind is inherently fuzzy already so it’s useful to practice directly with that quality. This has something to do with creating more contrast. Mindfulness meditation would be just one example of increasing contrast in a gentle way. Interrupting the ordinary flow of thoughts makes the mind stream more clearly visible. But then anything might cause one to sharpen the contrast and see what’s going on more clearly, if it were used with that intention. That could include visualizing the world in a different way, or just approaching things in a new way intentionally. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche recommended off-hand once that one could wear work clothes to bed and pajamas to work. I consider that suggestion in the same vein. It’s not that being an odd person is helpful, but doing things to bring up emotions like embarrassment could be a way to have more contrast in one’s day. But then I can see why practices like that are just not recommended widely. For me personally, there’s enough coming up in a day already to have contrast around. If I were better practiced perhaps, and to the point where interpersonal relationships weren’t already providing enough to consider, then sure I could do things to amp up my practice. But there’s no need. I have plenty to work. I suspect if I tried inviting more chaos through intoxicants or other means now then it would just create more chaos in my day and I wouldn’t gain from it. Worse, I’d be fooling myself and just thinking that I’m doing something spiritual. But I’m not sure I can criticize anyone for that approach, since it’s up to each person to know where they’re at.

Sitting down can be tricky for JoAnn Gray. She's also got to be on constant lookout for little boys with pins. "Usually, I'll have someone walking behind me," she says, "just to make sure nothing happens." Such are the hazards when you're the world's most in-demand model of elegant balloon wear. Holiday Inn Hotel web link. "It started when I was getting ready to go to a convention here last year, and I didn't have anything to wear," explains the pretty 21-year-old brunette from Mesa, who fit her statuesque 5'9" frame into an inflatable Victoria's Secret-style number for a photo shoot at a downtown Phoenix studio. "I wanted to stand out, but I didn't want to look stupid, dressing up when nobody else was. So I got together with some people, and we decided it'd be cool if I wore a balloon dress." It helped that the convention Gray was attending was DiamondJam, one of the four largest annual conventions of serious balloon artists in the world. At big balloon fests like the D-Jam -- which holds its second annual four-day, uh, blowout at the Mesa Holiday Inn this weekend, an event open to the public -- a growing subculture of adventurous "twisters," as they call themselves, puff, pinch and sculpt raw latex into creations wild beyond the dreams of the average birthday party clown. Life-size cars. A working swing set. A King Kong that you can actually crawl inside and wear. Gray had gotten into twisting herself four years ago when, while working as a waitress at a Macayo's in Mesa, she watched a balloon lady come into the restaurant one night, twist a few balloon animals for the kids, and walk away with more love -- and bigger tips -- from the crowd than Gray could get in a week of slinging plates. "She comes in, she does her balloons and goes home," Gray says. "And everybody loves her! I was so fed up with serving, and having everybody always mad at me, I just thought, 'That's what I wanna do!'" Gray hooked up with the Valley's twisting community through an international Web forum, BalloonHQ.com, and began learning the craft by attending the monthly meetings of what turned out to be a very active and creative group. "Here in Arizona," Gray says, "we're like the one state where twisters actually get together and jam out." As in all cliques, the twisters have their own petty squabbles and competitions. But Gray feels it's ultimately one line of work totally dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. "If you're not happy," she says, "you won't be successful in this field." Last January, when she came up with the inspiration to wear a balloon dress to the convention, she tapped the talents of a favorite Canadian twister, Mark Verge, who fashioned her a huge hoop skirt made entirely out of pink, blue, yellow and white balloons. "Mark Verge designed that one, which I wore and everybody loved," she says, pointing to a picture on her ever-present laptop. "And then after that, it just took off." Other twisters around the globe, inspired by Internet pictures of Verge's design and by Gray's sexy embrace of balloon wear ("It's a little warm, because of all the latex," she says, "but it feels exciting!"), began making up their own imaginative creations for Gray to show off and inviting her to their events -- taking her as far away as Belgium, Germany and Amsterdam. Before long, the twisters had their very own international supermodel. "Well, it's not like people are always calling me to say, 'Hey, would you model my balloon dress?'" she says, laughing. "But it's kind of going that way. Everybody knows JoAnn is the girl who'll wear the balloons." Already, the role of the twisters' "It" girl has been good for Gray, a young single mom with a 2-year-old son. She ditched plans to study psychiatry so that she'd have more time to devote to both making and modeling balloons. "Most people I know my age are like, 'Are you crazy? Do balloons?' They don't believe you can make good money at it. "But you can," she adds. "And you can be happy. I probably never would have visited Europe until my old age. But now, I've been there twice in one year. And I'm going back again in May." Gray says she's turned three other waitress friends -- including a former Hooters girl -- on to the bigger, happier world of balloon twisting. "I'm telling you, once you train somebody and they go try it," she says, smiling, "they never go back." The night typically starts out slow, with the twisters sitting around the back tables, comparing notes on how to craft the latest in-demand animated hero ("How do you make that one stray hair on Mr. Incredible?"). But by midnight, the back room is a battlefield of inflated body parts and popped latex, with the women stuffing their tops with instant implants and the guys challenging one another to see who can blow up the most balloons simultaneously through their noses. To up the gross-out factor, the guys choose various shades of yellowish-green. Dan Vincent, the organizer of the monthly "jams," as they're called, says he started holding the gatherings at this restaurant two years ago as a way to bring the community together between the sporadic conventions. "I figured, 'Why wait 'til once a year to get together?'" Vincent says, greeting the regulars as they arrive with their arsenals of balloons, ordering rounds of coffee and soda. "'Why not do it every month?'" What started out as just four people hanging around the back of the IHOP making balloons has been multiplying steadily, Vincent says. "Now when you come to the jams, there's maybe 20 or 30 people here. And the manager says this is the best night their IHOP has all month. People bring their kids in to get free balloons." With an ample belly built low to the ground -- a physique practically designed for hanging a heavy latex-stuffed apron around -- Vincent personifies the nickname on his calling card and Web site, Dan the Balloon Man. He's got the attitude you'd want in a balloon man, too: "I try to meet every request that comes in," he says. "You name it, I'll make it." At work at his regular gig, the Sunday morning shift at another IHOP in Chandler, Vincent says he never looks at his tips, even though tips are all you get working the restaurants, still the twister's primary venue. "When someone gives me something, I just put it in my pocket, and I won't even know what I've made until I leave," he says. "That way I'm not thinking about the money." Vincent is all about the "shock and awe" factor in making every odd request take wondrous shape in twisted latex. "Little girl was having her 10th birthday, and wanted a platypus," he says, by way of example. "So I made her one. And her grandpa told me, 'Every year since she was 1, the balloon guy would come to her table and she'd always ask for a platypus. On her 10th year, she finally got one.' Those are the kinds of things you do this for." When he started his monthly jams, Vincent envisioned his role as a kind of "pop" culture homeroom teacher, leading the crew through whatever cool technique he may have picked up over the last few weeks. "I say, 'Okay, everyone, gather 'round. We're gonna learn this new octopus.' Or, 'Okay, guys, what are we doing for porcupines?'" Lately, though, Vincent's been losing some control over the group, as the talent showing up for the jams is beginning to eclipse his own. Jeremy Johnston, a young hotshot known for making huge, elaborate balloon sculptures always off the top of his head, has become the main attraction at most jams, tonight whipping up a giant sleigh and reindeer while Vincent toils away quietly at an eight-foot Santa. "Jeremy likes the big stuff," says Vincent, who obviously does, too. "And he's kind of the draw now. People come in and watch him." Johnston, the son of veteran clown and caricature artist Roger Johnston, has always had the unique gift of "thinking in balloons," his dad says. "I'd ask him to draw something, and he'd say, 'Dad, I can't draw it, but I can make it with balloons.'" The younger Johnston is a quiet genius, tossing in a clever quip only occasionally between the clatter of the rest of the group. But his creations -- big, crazy improvisations like a Frankenstein monster with Elvis hair and guitar, and life-size superheroes with rippling balloon six-packs -- speak loudly enough to set him apart from the crowd. Vincent claims he has no problems sharing the spotlight with wunderkinds like Johnston. "I don't wanna be overlooked," he says. "But I wanna showcase everybody. That's why we have the jams in public, instead of at someone's house. It's all about networking and sharing, and also getting exposure." As a balloon artist who travels in the same professional circles as other party entertainers, some of Ed Chee's best friends are clowns. But that doesn't mean the Valley's leading Certified Balloon Artist (CBA) likes the popular image the average Bozo has given to balloon art. "When people think of balloons, the first image they have is of a clown at a kid's birthday party making swords," says Chee, whipping up his own twist on the clichéd party favor over afternoon coffee at the Starbucks across from Desert Ridge Marketplace, not far from where he lives. "But it's just way more advanced than that now." Fashioning a deluxe ribbed handle at the sword base by twisting off a series of half-inch balls and bending the group back into the longer section making up the shaft, Chee says the gap between amateur and professional balloon art has gotten to where it's like "the difference between buying a print at Wal-Mart or a Picasso original. The problem is, people are not appreciating the difference in value yet." To pop the public perception of just what can be done today with balloons -- and to give the growing worldwide community of twisters a place to meet one another and share tips and tricks -- Chee began organizing the DiamondJam conventions, first as an offshoot of the larger Clownarama in 2004, and the following year as its own specialized event. Along with contests in Belgium, Japan and one in Austin, Chee's DiamondJam is already recognized as one of the main events of the global twister community. For this year's affair, Chee is bringing in 10 of the world's top twisting instructors, drawing talent from the U.K., Netherlands, France, Canada and the U.S. "Every country has its own style of twisting," says Chee, the current world champ in the "detailed artistic" category, whose own work blends the precision miniaturist style associated with twisters of his Asian heritage with an American flair for whimsy. "In Belgium, they're really wild." To kick things up a notch, Chee's also offering a $5,000 prize to the winner of the "anything goes" competition -- the largest purse ever offered at a balloon contest, he says. "My big thing is I'd like to see twisting move up more as an art form," he says. "And the way to do that is give exposure to the people willing to stretch new ideas, if you will, way beyond people's expectations." Already, there are legends within the twister culture. David Grist, an English twister who died of a heart attack last January, is renowned as an innovator whose most famous creation, a wearable Model T car, is often saluted at conventions in homages fashioned by devotees of his nine instructional DVDs. Provo, Utah's Marvin Hardy, scheduled to speak at DiamondJam, is another icon; his book Balloon Magic, with more than three million copies in print, has been studied, Chee says, by easily 95 percent of the people twisting today. Chee, who supplements his income by producing twisting DVDs himself, says twisting has only recently reached its creative peak, and credits the surge to a combination of advances in balloon manufacturing ("The color palette is there now; before, you only had 10 colors") and the synergy of twisters seeing each other's work, via the Internet, DVDs and the conventions, and sharing their own unique touches and techniques. "The skill level has gone up like crazy," he says. "But there's still these guys out there who are promulgating the myth that it's all just simple dogs and swords." Pulling a few vibrantly colored balloons from the 4,000 stuffed into his apron -- "I go through 20,000 balloons a month," he says -- Chee spends about seven minutes blowing and twisting multiple balloons into what eventually emerges as a Disney-worthy princess, complete with a fetching painted-on face and overinflated cleavage heaving out over her light-blue dress. "I live in Scottsdale," he quips. "That's all I ever see!" Across the Starbucks, a well-dressed woman eyes Chee's creation and approaches him to ask for a business card, tentatively booking him for an upcoming party at Anthem. Chee winks and says that's the only way the more advanced twisters can draw in people willing to pay the extra hundred dollars or so over the average clown's going rate. "You can't pick out a twister from the phone book," he says. "But when you're out working in a restaurant and people get to see for themselves what your capabilities are, that's what sells them. "Most people are blown away," he adds, smiling at the intentional pun, "when they see something really phenomenal done with balloons." There are old men who come to the IHOP jams who've been twisting balloons for decades, and are confounded by the wild stuff the younger twisters are making today. "These guys are way above me in the things that they do," admits an 82-year-old who goes by the name Feathers the Clown, and who still works weekend mornings at the same IHOP that hosts the jams. "I do enough just to get a smile out of 'em." And then there are newcomers like Marie Dadow, a transplanted California girl who only picked up twisting a little more than a year ago and has already nabbed the coveted Ralph Dewey Balloon Excellence Award, one of the highest honors in the balloon-twisting world. "A lot of the old-school people gave me flak when I started getting recognition, because they said I came along after all the twisting innovations," Dadow says. "Like, they didn't have all these colors to work with when they were starting out. Or there weren't all these established techniques. But hey, it's not my fault I got into this at the best possible time!" More than most of the artists in the Valley twister community, which Chee numbers at about 60, Dadow is acutely tuned in to the weird politics and business dealings that go on among what appears on the surface to be a perpetually happy, easygoing bunch. "Who gets credit for what is very big in these circles," she reveals, noting that artists will try to claim ownership of a design by being the first to include it in an instructional video or in a photo posted on BalloonHQ.com. "I made a butterfly where I took Don Caldwell's basic design, and Jeanine [Von Essen]'s way that she makes her weave on the wings, and Patricia Bunnell's way that she crimps the wings," she says, dropping some notable names. "And a friend of mine came over and said, 'Oh, you're doing Wally's butterfly!'" Dadow admits she usually starts a creation by copying something she's seen before. "I try it one or two times, and then I add something to make it my own." And she acknowledges that some innovations -- like Californian Ken Stillman's bright idea of using an overinflated heart-shaped balloon to create the dimpled chin of a cartoon superhero -- clearly bear the indelible mark of their creator. "There are some things where we all know where it comes from," Dadow says. "But how far back do you have to go? I mean, there's only so many ways you can make something with balloons. If you get people all around the world trying to make the latest kids' movie character, you're gonna have some similarities. Right?" Dadow takes a deep breath, and apologizes for exposing the dark underbelly of the shiny, happy balloon crowd. "Really, I love the balloons," she insists. "I just hate all the other stuff that goes on around them -- having to give credit to the right person, and all the squabbles that go on. Sometimes I feel, 'Oh, you guys are killing me! Can't we just get back to playing with balloons?'" "You gotta meet J.P.," Marie Dadow says, flagging down an older fellow with a loud Hawaiian shirt and an even louder laugh that's been resonating throughout the IHOP all night. "J.P.'s a hoot and a half." Dadow admits that when she first met J.P. Weigt, a retiree who got into twisting to be "the cool grandpa" and soon discovered he loved hanging out with the balloon crowd, she was a bit taken aback by his boisterous, over-the-top manner and his decidedly un-PC way with the ladies. "We're glad to have Marie with us," Weigt says, picking up on her intro. "She's a hell of a twister -- and kinda easy on the eyes, what do you think? I mean, is she hot or what!" "When you first meet him," Dadow warns beforehand, "you're like, 'Whoa, buddy! Calm down a bit!' But then after that, you just have to love him." Among the Valley's twisters, Weigt is the guy with all the wildest stories -- although sometimes the others in the group can't resist retelling his greatest exploits themselves. "The story I heard was he was out golfing," says Ric Fout, a fellow twister, "ran into these ladies, got to talking, and they found out J.P. did balloons." "Lady golfers," Dadow interjects, with a knowing smirk. "Well, they hire him for a party, he gets there, and it's a lesbian party," Fout continues. "At the end of three hours of creating the lewdest, crudest balloons you can imagine, they pass around a brandy snifter, containing mostly $50s and $100s, and I heard by the end of the night he walked away with a little over $1,100." "I heard $1,500," Dadow adds. Weigt himself is a bit foggy on the amount, but vividly recalls the balloons he made and the wild time the ladies had with them. "Let's just say it was a great day, dude! So much fuuuun!" he says, with a wicked laugh. "Believe me, balloons aren't just for kids!" Clearly, Weigt is the life of the party at the jams, and a big part of why they're still going. Dadow says he's the guy responsible for e-mailing the monthly invites and a major reason people keep returning for the fun. "No matter what kind of mood you're in," Dadow says, "he just lifts your spirits so much." Everyone's spirits were dealt a crushing blow just six days before Christmas, when the news broke of a Peoria police officer who'd been shot, just above his bulletproof vest, during a drug raid. Twisters recognized Bill Weigt as J.P.'s son, a father of four who had joined the Peoria force just 18 months ago and was now, reports said, left paralyzed from the arms down. The imagery of the sad clown lurks beneath the surface of the balloon twisters' happy-go-lucky world. But at no time does it come more to life than in listening to J.P.'s account of how he sat at his son's bedside the day after the shooting and twisted balloons for what marked Bill's 31st birthday. "It was his birthday on the 20th," Weigt says two days later, speaking in a slightly shaky voice on a cell phone from the hospital. "So I made him up a big birthday cake out of balloons, and a big ol' Santa Claus and a bunch of crap that he likes. And it was kind of cool to watch him light up. It lights up everybody else who comes in the room, too, and kinda takes everybody's mind off the bad stuff, at least for a while." Weigt says he's already sending out the invites for the coming week's IHOP jam, and insists the show will go on. "It's a little bit of a stress relief, and it kinda feels good when you get pissed off to twist something around," he adds, letting loose with one of his trademark laughs. "We're hanging right in there, and we're gonna keep positive," he says. "That's where the balloons really help." At a late December photo shoot featuring what a consensus of the community agrees to be the best of the Valley's twisters, there's a palpable tension in the air that isn't detectable at the monthly jams. While Jeremy Johnston and Marie Dadow put the finishing touches on the elegant balloon dress they spent nine hours creating for JoAnn Gray the day before, and Ed Chee and Dan Vincent decide which parts of Vincent's giant motorcycle design they each want to tackle, Vincent's girlfriend Jessica -- who, insiders say, is irked Gray has snatched the cover shot from her balloonesque beau -- keeps a disapproving eye fixed on Miss Ballooniverse. Photos are everything in the twisters' world, where all great works of art shrivel within days. And exposure in any printed medium is seen as a major career-booster, if not a path to immortality for the doomed balloons. So it's probably only natural that the competition heats up whenever a few cameras are standing at the ready. But there's an odd sense of abandonment after the photos have all been shot and the artists are left with the question of what to do with their masterpieces. Most opt to leave them behind, rather than squeeze them into their cars. A few of the smaller pieces are stuffed into a trash can, with a box cutter setting off deadly pops like a submachine gun. Chee sees the brief shelf life of his art form as one of the main reasons people have trouble placing a high value on the twister's work. "It's transitory art," he says sadly. "Let's face it: There are only so many days that the pieces will last." For the twisters themselves, though, their art sometimes appears to be immediately disposable. After spending more than four hours teamed with Chee creating his elaborate giant motorcycle -- complete with a cool teardrop gas tank, a V-block engine and flaming exhaust pipes -- Vincent looks ready to simply walk out on the creation he's just given up a morning's work at his day job to complete. Vincent just shrugs and delivers his cold verdict with the slightest smile. "Pop it," he says. Get the This Week's Top Stories Newsletter Every week we collect the latest news, music and arts stories — along with film and food reviews and the best things to do this week — so that you'll never miss Phoenix New Times' biggest stories.

Caralluma 2000...The Top 9 Fat Loss Components in 1 Diet Pill at Less Than 1/2 the Price! Yes, this video clip is over 7 minutes, but it's well worth watching! It shows the positive weight loss effects of taking 4 of the 9 superfood products contained in our supplement Caralluma 2000. He talks about Caralluma Fimbriata, Green Coffee Bean, Moringa and Raspberry Keytones...Quite exciting findings! Pam Menendez is the senior editor at Anti-Aging Sciences. She devotes her day looking into highly popular, new supplements and trends. She helps us determine if the products are legitimate and if they are providing the effects advertised. We will not place our recommendation on any product until we take a look at all versions of the product currently offered on the market and verify which ones are working as clinical studies indicate and which products are simply fake and out to scam consumers and just take their money. We offer a word of caution in determining what product to order, as the internet is full of scams and people presenting a flashy website full of nothing but non-truths and lies to get you to purchase their worthless, expensive supplements. What is Caralluma 2000?? Caralluma 2000 is a unique formula combining the top 9 weight loss components into one convenient capsule! If you go to your nearest GNC or wherever you buy your supplements and price nine bottles of everything included in Caralluma 2000 you will be shocked at how quickly the price adds up! Plus, the thought of taking 9 capsules, twice a day is too much for most! The synergy from this capsule when combining the effects of the carb blocker, the appetite suppressant, the powerful antioxidants and other weight loss aids make this unique weight loss capsule impossible to replicate. And when you compare our price with other singular supplements with only one of the weight loss ingredient and costing often times 2 or 3 times more, there is absolutely no comparison! WeightLossBlend.com offers the best formula at the best price! Caralluma 2000 Label Twice the Capsules per Bottle compared to other products! The Clinical Studies Show Patients experienced appetite suppression and the Weight They Lost was from Their Belly When Taking Caralluma Fimbriata! Click the link below to see the actual study: Our Weight Loss Pill vs. The Competition What's exciting is when we compare Caralluma 2000 with the other 2 most popular weight loss supplements (Golden Garcinia & Forskolin Fuel). This really helps us to see the incredible value when purchasing Caralluma 2000! First of all, if you will notice the chart below on the left (with the blue columns), you'll see that Caralluma is packed with an unheard of 9 weight loss components, whereas the other 2 weight loss products contain only 1 fat fighter. If we compare the results on the weight loss components graph with the results on the product cost graph, it almost seems unbelievable that a product containing 9-times the diet pill ingredients would actually cost considerably less than the 2 competitors that feature a product with only 1 fat loss ingredient. And theirs costs between 3-4 times the price of Caralluma 2000! When you compare the 3, there's simply no comparison as to which product features the best value, with by far the most powerful formula! ...And what's interesting, is if you look on Maritz Mayer's website, the manufacturer of the diet pill, you'll see they are actually selling Caralluma 2000 for considerably more than we are! Click the link below to see for yourself! They are charging $34.95 per bottle and another $5.99 for shipping! This makes the total $40.94 for 1-Bottle of Caralluma 2000! (Here's the link: http://www.maritzmayerlaboratories.com/index.php/caralluma-2000.html) That's MORE MONEY than we charge for our 3-Bottle Package! There is no fine print, the bottles are exactly the same as the ones on the Maritz Mayer site and our product is fresh, as a matter of fact, our latest shipment doesn't expire until 09/18/2017! And there are 60 capsules with 1008 mgs per serving (serving size is 2-veggie capsules), whereas our competitors often times only provide 30-capsules per bottle! We have an agreement with Maritz Mayer to receive a massive discount on the purchase price due to the large volume we sell each and every month. We then, pass the savings onto you, our valued customer in appreciation for your business! Our cheapest package below is only $11.97 per bottle and for a limited time, FREE SHIPPING!! Why Caralluma 2000? No Hassle of Having to Take Multiple Products! One Simple Convenient Pill! 9 Weight Loss Aids=Fast Results! Fresh From Nature! CARALLUMA 2000 Value Package Sale! ...Or Buy Wholesale! Our Motto is Simple: Buy More, Save a Bunch! Our Best Deal: 6-Bottles for $11.97 a Bottle with FREE US SHIPPING! Phone Orders Call: 844.4MYPILL (844.469.7455) "I started taking Caralluma as part of my healthy lifestyle change in 2014. It appealed to me because it’s 100 % natural. I’ve just finished my second bottle of Caralluma 2000 and the results have been super. One of the best things is that I feel a lot less hungry. I had a bit of a problem where I’d snack when bored and there’s definitely been a link between me taking Caralluma 2000 and my cravings reducing."* Justine, 36, Receptionist in Brooklyn "I just finished my first month taking Caralluma 2000 and I am very happy with the results! I have lost a total of 12 pounds and feel amazing! I am a busy mom that spends most of her time taking care of others' needs (my kids!) and have had no time for me! Well I decided to make a change. This has been so simple! I started taking the pills, watched what I ate started walking 3 nights a week and the weight started falling off! I am going to continue to take Caralluma 2000 since I have 10 lbs to go before I reach my goal. Thank you so much weightlossblend.com!"* Janice, 32, Stay at Home Mom "I have a heart condition and with this condition I am limited on what I am able to do with exercise. In the past this has slowed me down on achieving my weight loss goals. But since I found Caralluma 2000 I have never been so happy! I lost more weight taking this pill for 2 months than I have ever done with my light workout and dieting. I will order my third month now and will either do monthly delivery or order several bottles. I can't imagine my life without my Caralluma now. Thank you so much!"* Danielle, 44, Bartender *The above testimonials were received from WeightLossBlend satisfied customers. Results may vary and the sample results in this page cannot be expected in 100% of Caralluma 2000 users. Emails have been removed to protect customer identity. A closer look at each component in Caralluma 2000 Diet Pills & their weight loss effects Caralluma Fimbriata Extract: Caralluma Fimbriata is an edible cactus. It was first used by people going to war in India. It was ingested to suppress hunger & enhance endurance. This was because warriors weren't able to eat for days while engaged in battle. Modern day use of this amazing cactus has been more for people on diets and attempting to lose weight. It's effect was assessed in overweight individuals in a double-blind placebo controlled randomized trial. 50 adult women & men, ages 25-60 with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kg (55 lbs) per square meter (3.28 feet) were randomly assigned placement in an experimental/placebo group The experimental group received 1 gram of Caralluma per day for 60 days. All participants were given recommendations on a weight reduction diet & physical activity. After 30 & 60 days, blood glucose, lipids, anthropometric measurements, dietary intake & assessment of appetite were performed. Waist circumference as well as hunger levels over these periods showed a significant decline in the experimental group when compared to results of the placebo group. Caralluma extract appears to suppress appetite and reduce waist circumference when compared to placebo over a 2-month time frame* Kuriyan R, Raj T, Srinivas SK, Vaz M, Rajendran R, Kurpad AV. Appetite. 2007 May;48(3):338-44. Epub 2006 Nov 13. White Kidney Bean Extract: Excessive intake of refined carbohydrates has been shown to play a large role in the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus & insulin resistance. In an effort to naturally overcome these health risks, diets have been introduced that reduce carbohydrate consumption. However, these diets don't satisfy most and many are concerned with replacing the majority of carbs with fats. Another option is to add more soluble fiber to ones diet. This can slow the absorption of some of the consumed carbohydrates, thereby lowering the glycemic index of ingested carbs and overcome or better, lessen the reactions resulting from high carbohydrate consumption. Unfortunately, most do not favor a diet high in fiber & consumption of fiber supplements may result in gastrointestinal problems such as gas and diarrhea. A third choice to favorably influence carbohydrate absorption is to us natural dietary supplements that block or slow carb absorption in the gastrointestinal tract via inhibiting enzymes necessary for carbohydrate absorption --- amylase and alpha-glucosidases. Although a number of natural supplements with anti-amylase activity have been recognized, the most studied and favored one is White Kidney Bean extract. Animal and humans studies clearly show that this agent works in vivo and has clinical utility. So the "carb blockers" have been shown to prevent and ameliorate the situation. In many respects, carb blockers mimic the beneficial effects of fibers* *This info and other studies on White Kidney Bean can be found at: Forskolin (Coleus Forskohlii Extract): How does Coleus Forskohlii help Weight Loss? Or rather, what is the theory behind how it is supposed to work? This will get a bit technical, but bear with me, it will all make sense in the end. Coleus Forskohlii stimulates the production of a molecule called AMP (cAMP - Adenosine Monophosphate). In our body, cyclic AMP helps our cells talk to each other. When an increase or decrease in cAMP is detected, it acts as a signal that causes the body to do something. One of the things that cAMP does is tell our cells to increase in an enzyme called "hormone sensitive lipase" and this enzyme burns fat. cAMP also stimulates the release of thyroid hormone which also helps the body to burn fat and calories. Translation: Forskolin stimulates fat-burning enzymes and hormones which, in turn, cause our body's fat burning "furnace" to kick into high gear and help us lose weight* *This information is a synopsis from information that was ascertained from: African Mango (Irvingia Gabonensis) Extract: African Mango is a species of African tree in the genus Irvingia, sometimes known by the common names of Wild Mango, African Mango, Bush Mango, Dika or Ogbono. They bear edible mango-like fruits. We will look at the potential weight loss effects of this fruit. Based on a double-blind randomized controlled trial of 40 obese individuals, some were given African Mango, while others were given a placebo capsule. Those given the African Mango capsule had decreased LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and increased HDL (good cholesterol). These patients were monitored weekly by a dietitian and were kept on the same normal caloric diet. Patients were administered 3 capsules containing 350 mg of African Mango Extract (Experimental Group) and Oat Bran Capsules (Placebo Group) 3 times daily, 30 minutes before meals with a glass of warm water. Patients were on a normal caloric intake diet and were evaluated every week, as well as instructed to keep record of foods consumed. At the end of the study, patients treated with the African Mango had reduced body weight, waist and hip circumference and metabolic parameters (LDL cholesterol, triglycerides) and increased HDL cholesterol. Patients treated with African Mango also reported reduced systolic blood pressure. Another 10-week clinical study treating patients with African Mango and Cissus Quadrangularis resulted in reductions in body weight and improved metabolic parameters as well* *This information and research was found on: Garcinia Cambogia Extract: HCA (Hydroxycitric acid) is an active ingredient extracted from the rind of the Indian fruit Garcinia Cambogia. It inhibits adenosine triphosphate citrate lyase and is used in the treatment of obesity. The primary end point of this study was to see the effects of a 12-week Garcinia Cambogia extract administration on visceral fat accumulation (belly & butt fat) The secondary end points were body indices (including height, weight, body mass index, waist and hip circumference and waist-hip ratio) and laboratory values (including total cholesterol, triaclyglycerol or triglycerides and free fatty acid). The study was performed according to a double-blind placebo controlled parallel group design. Subjects aged 20 to 65 with a visceral fat area greater than 90 cm2 were the participants of the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive treatment for 12-weeks with Garcinia Cambogia or placebo. At the end of the treatment period, both groups were administered placebo for 4-weeks to assess any rebound effect. Each subject underwent a computed tomography scan at the umbilical level at -2, 0, 12 and 16 weeks. 44 subjects were in the study and 39 completed the study. At 16-weeks, the Garcinia Cambogia group had significantly reduced visceral, subcutaneous and total fat areas compared with the placebo group. No severe adverse effect was observed at any time in the test period. There were no signs of a rebound effect from week 12 to 16. Conclusion: Garcinia Cambogia reduced abdominal fat accumulation in subjects, regardless of sex, who had a visceral fat accumulation type of obesity* *This information and support was found on the following site: Green Coffee Bean Extract: Objective:In the past decade, increased research and media attention has been given to the weight loss effects of Green Coffee Bean Extract (GCBE). We reviewed 6 randomized trials on supplementation of GCBE and it's effects on weight loss. The meta-analysis revealed a significantly larger weight loss effect for GCBE compared to placebo control group. Green Coffee Bean is a major source of CGA (chlorogenic acids). Recent studies demonstrated that the consumption of green coffee bean extracts produced antihypertensive effect in humans and rats, improvement in human vasoreactivity, inhibitory effect on fat accumulation and body weight in humans and mice, and modulation of glucose metabolism in humans. Such biological effects have been attributed to CGA presence in Green Coffee Bean* *This information and study can be found at: Green Tea Extract: Green tea is a rich source of polyphenol catechins. EGCG (Epigallocatechins Gallate) is the most active form of the catechins responsible for green tea's antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and metabolic effects. A 12-week randomized controlled trial with 60 obese adults was performed in a hospital setting with all 60 participants placed on a diet that included 3 meals per day. All the food was prepared for the participants. Half the group received green tea. Those in the green tea group lost significantly more weight over the 12 week period. The researchers demonstrated that weight loss occurred by green tea increasing energy expenditure and fat oxidation* *This information and other supportive studies can be found at: Moringa Extract: Moringa Oleifera is derived from the Moringa tree that grows in remote areas in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Himalayas. It is often called the "miracle tree" due to the fact that it is so densely packed with nutrition. It has been claimed to have the ability to prevent over 300 health conditions. It has an extremely high amount of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. According to reports, it contains 7 times the vitamin C that oranges do, 4 times the amount of calcium found in milk, 4 times the vitamin A carrots contain and 2 times the amount of protein than the average yogurt. It has also been shown to slow the rate at which simple carbohydrates are processed and enter the blood stream. With the abundance of nutrition inside, Moringa will provide a natural increase in energy levels allowing the body to more effectively burn calories and fat* *This study and information was extracted from the video clip featured on "The Discovery Channel" explaining people's fascination with Moringa & some of it's potential effects: Raspberry Ketones: (4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)butan-2-one) is a major aromatic compound of Red Raspberry (Rubus Idaeus). The structure of RK is similar to the structures of capsaicin and synephrine, compounds known to exert anti-obese actions and alter lipid metabolism. The present study was performed to clarify whether RK helps prevent obesity and activate lipid metabolism in rodents. To test the effect on obesity, our group designed the following in vivo experiments: 1) mice were fed a high-fat diet including .5, 1 or 2% of RK for 10-weeks; 2) mice were given a high-fat diet for 6-weeks and subsequently fed the same high-fat diet containing 1% RK for the next 5-weeks. RK prevented the high fat diet induced elevations in body weight and the weights of the liver and visceral adipose tissues (epididymal, retroperitoneal and mesenteric). RK also decreased these weights and hepatic triacylglycerol content after they had been increased by a high-fat diet. RK significantly increased norepinephrine-induced lipolysis associated with the translocation of hormone-sensitive lipase from the cytosol to lipid droplets in rat epidiymal fat cells. In conclusion, Raspberry Ketones prevents and improves obesity and fatty liver. These effects appear to stem from the action of RK in altering the lipid metabolism, or more specifically, in increasing norepinephrine-induced lipolysis in white adipocytes* *We found this study and information on: This combination of the most powerful fat burners and weight loss products available creates a synergsitic combiniation that will help make extra pounds melt off and users' diet and weight loss goals more achievable than ever! No other product on the market has this amazing combination of the top 9 most well known and effective fat loss components out there! Because of the tremendous response to our product promotion, we sell out of product as fast as we can manufacture it so get yours before we sell out! Additional Questions? Please Contact us!

Corona, CA (PRWEB) December 17, 2012 Spectacular Media recently released their revolutionary new digital advertising cloudware, SM Infinity, which was perfect timing for Exterior Media of Puerto Rico. SM Infinity gives clients access to professionally designed content and marketing tailored for their business via the cloud while giving them time to focus on business. Other core features include control access from various internet connected platforms (PC, Mac, and Android), compatibility on various manufacturers displays, and automated diagnostic display check in for proactive tech support. A cloud based service like SM Infinity has been in demand from the LED Industry for years and Exterior Media, a billboard company in Puerto Rico, jumped onboard without hesitation. We run our network of billboards on the SM Infinity platform. With the power of the cloud, we can update instantly from any location, which is vital in this market. Plus, with our platinum service, our displays “check in” regularly with diagnostic updates through SM’s Command Center. stated Alfredo, Exterior Media. Exterior Media is also able to take advantage of the content creation services. The SM team creates professional ad content per Exterior Medias simple online graphic request. The graphic is completed within 24 hours for immediate inclusion in their billboard lineup or it can wait in the queue for Exterior Media to review. One of SM Infinitys core features is Command Center; an automated diagnostic service that provides a proactive approach to technical support. Once on the SM Infinity Platform, a clients digital display checks in to the Command Center every five minutes with a diagnostic report. It can report failures like power loss, communication loss, or controller failure. The SM Team called us up one afternoon and asked us if our billboard was down…It turned out that we lost power and it was unable to check in with SM Command Center. The billboard told them it was down! reported Alfredo, We called out our electrician and fixed it immediately. Thats the proactive service we like which is hard to find anywhere. SM Infinity clients now have the ability to relax and focus on their business which is how it should be according to Spectacular Media. An LED Display is an excellent investment when marketing a business, but we know that many display owners can be overwhelmed and frustrated with creating content and schedule. We want to make it exciting again and powerful; really maximize the potential of the display. We do this by giving them a powerful cloud based platform to express themselves through a marketing profile. This gives us the fuel to create powerful content & marketing strategies for them. Paul, Spectacular Media. Spectacular Media (the 5th Element of Digital Advertising) is a software savvy, social advertising company with a goal to create a perfect synergy between these 4 elements: the Establishment and their Patrons; their Advertising and their Digital Display. With the premier release of SM Infinity, cloudware for comprehensive digital advertising, they aim to meet the advertising demands of the LED digital display market (and more) creating a better relationship between the establishment and patron.

The unreality marketplace continues to grow, but astatine a slow declining rate, while finance is shifting to meet nan request for AI services, diverting spending distant from different projects. These are nan findings from a mates of caller reports, 1 from Synergy Research Group covering nan unreality market, and different from Omdia that besides covers nan underlying datacenter infrastructure. According to Synergy, nan unreality marketplace successful Q2 of this twelvemonth grew by $10 cardinal compared pinch nan aforesaid play successful 2022, and this is nan 3rd consecutive 4th that this has happened. But adding $10 cardinal each 4th to an ever larger marketplace intends that nan year-on-year maturation complaint is slow falling; from 20 percent successful Q4 2022, to 19 percent successful Q1 of this year, to 18 percent for Q2. Synergy's figures screen endeavor spending connected unreality infrastructure services, and it reckons nan full was adjacent to $65 cardinal worldwide for Q2 2023. The economical ambiance has "crimped immoderate growth" successful unreality spending, but nan marketplace continues to grow astatine a patient complaint contempt those short-term challenges, Synergy states. Meanwhile, server shipments proceed to fall, according to Omdia, which said it intends to trim its yearly server shipments forecast for this twelvemonth by 1 cardinal units to 12.5 million, representing an 11 percent diminution from 2022. This seemingly paradoxical business of expanding request yet falling server shipments tin beryllium explained by a displacement successful priorities, if Omdia tin beryllium believed. Its latest Cloud and Data Center Market Update states that mean portion prices (AUPs) for servers are rising owed to a richer operation of servers configured for AI processing. Server AUPs are connected way for an almost 20 percent year-on-year summation arsenic a result, Omdia claims. The institution said this information backs up nan presumption made successful its previous report that finance successful infrastructure for AI exemplary training is now nan apical privilege for datacenter operators, and nan disbursal associated pinch procuring nan costly precocious capacity server kit for AI is being offset by delaying nan refresh of existing server fleets and finance successful different caller projects. Having much servers configured pinch AI co-processors should mean greater request for beingness infrastructure that tin support higher powerfulness densities wrong each rack, Omdia said – and it claims location is an uptick successful infrastructure enabling higher rack densities to support this. FOMO – that's what it's each about As if to backmost up Omdia's claim, datacenter usability Digital Realty has conscionable announced high-density colocation services to support workloads of up to 70 kilowatts per rack pinch air-assisted liquid cooling (AALC), which it said will beryllium supported successful 28 markets crossed North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. The institution explicitly references request for infrastructure to support AI arsenic a logic for this move. - Dell pumps retired reference designs, plumps services, to bring AI on-prem - Infineon to connection recyclable circuit boards that dissolve successful water - Why do unreality titans support building datacenters successful America's hottest city? - Money starts to travel arsenic liquid cooling gets basking successful datacenters Omdia said it expects AI finance to accelerate successful nan 2nd half of 2023 and this is being driven by "fear of missing a activity of marketplace opportunity" fueled by nan accelerated take of ChatGPT that is pushing some unreality work providers and enterprises toward much AI exemplary training. For these reasons, Omdia expects spending connected unreality services to proceed to turn this year, while server gross is still connected way for maturation (despite falling shipments, for nan logic already outlined) to $112 billion. Next year, Omdia predicts that finance successful computing and beingness infrastructure for AI will stay strong, while datacenter builds will proceed astatine a somewhat slower pace, and server refresh cycles will commencement to substance a maturation successful shipments. Synergy reports that nan large 3 unreality operators proceed to predominate nan market, accounting for 65 percent of nationalist unreality spending worldwide successful Q2, pinch some Google and Microsoft managing to summation their marketplace stock by a percent constituent since nan aforesaid play past year. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) proceed to relationship for nan bulk of nan market, increasing by 19 percent successful Q2, and nan large unreality providers power is moreover much evident present arsenic they now dress up 72 percent of spending connected these services. The unreality marketplace continues to turn powerfully successful each regions of nan world, Synergy said, but nan APAC region had nan strongest maturation successful Q2, pinch India, China, Australia and South Korea each increasing by good complete 20 percent year-on-year. ®

Abbas Eftekhari PhD Dr. Abbas Eftekhari is a multifaceted professional whose career spans architectural design, telecommunications, and technology. His diverse portfolio includes iconic urban monuments, sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure, and architectural masterpieces, showcasing a fusion of creativity and engineering expertise. Beyond design and construction, he’s a visionary leader actively shaping architecture, design, and technology through various roles in the professional and educational realms. Abbas’ journey exemplifies the synergy of artistry and technology, leaving an enduring legacy of innovation and architectural marvels. At GVEX, Dr. Eftekhari is an integral part of the Productivity Innovations Department, contributing as a Design Visionary. With a strong foundation in design education and entrepreneurship, Abbas plays a pivotal role in crafting exceptional industrial designs and architectural wonders. His talent transcends conventional boundaries, transforming ideas into exquisite creations that enrich GVEX’s diverse portfolio. Abbas’ unwavering dedication to marrying form and function has been pivotal in establishing GVEX as a design leader. His relentless pursuit of design excellence reflects GVEX’s forward-thinking ethos, making him an integral part of our innovative journey.

Miami Ad School is the Harvard of Brand Creativity “They have a curriculum, culture and educational approach that gets the best out of people.” “This was the first time in my life I see a school look at people the same way I do. Miami Ad School doesn’t just look at who people are but at who they can be.” We invited Erik Saelens, the charismatic and forward-thinking Founder of Brandhome, to Miami Ad School as part of our Industry Hero series. Each week a top industry expert, from someplace in the world, comes to lecture and hold workshops at the school allowing our students to learn all aspects of the business directly from the people who are shaping it. Erik’s visit was unique because he brought a large portion of his Antwerp, Belgium based creative team with him to work with the students. Brandhome was the definition of hands-on learning. From the moment they arrived in the school’s main gallery, Brandhome set up shop and went to work exactly as they would have at their home offices in Antwerp. Erik was directing the entire operation and the Brandhome staff members were working with the student teams within their professional skill sets. The result was essentially an agency at work in the school for a week straight. This lead to some great work, a better understanding of how to work in a real-world environment and a deeper understanding of the work processes of Brandhome. They really reset the bar for participation in the Industry Heroes program – in terms of involvement, volume and quality of work and fun. Meet the Brandhome Team that Inspired and Coached the Students. Jef Pelkmans spoke about Social Storytelling and Alec Van Noten & Elise Demuynck shared their 2015 Cannes presentation on new trends in the advertising industry. The Brandhome team also prepared 11 full-fledged briefs for the students to work on and coached the students as they concepted and developed their campaigns. Students were excited to participate in this special event, especially because Brandhome teaches a workshop at Cannes every year. Each student team completed three branding campaigns in one week! Each individual student was assigned a brief that they completed with their partner and also had to solve one larger branding challenge that was given to all the student teams. Each team executed three complete branding challenges in one week! Brandhome generously made their entire staff available all week long during business hours to work directly with the students on their solutions. Excerpts from a few of the briefs the Innovation Lab students worked to solve. • Improve the brand image of FIFA through an honest and football-praising message. See the campaign as an ode to football. The campaign needs to have global reach and your conceptual idea needs to be elaborated throughout the different communication channels you think are best. You know what? We did a recent survey about the FIFA scandal! It might be helpful. • Prima Donna, a Belgian based brand devoted to women’s curves offering bras with cup sizes up to “J”, has the perception of being a corny brand for older women. They want to overcome that old-fashioned prejudice. Since the brand’s quality surpasses every other brand, we know women will become loyal after having experienced the product. Introduce the product to a younger target 15-35y. In the campaign indirectly deposition other brands that do not ‘take care’ of your breasts without starting a head to head fight with these other brands. Develop a concept that engages this younger audience in a fresh and feminine way. • In Europe there has been a lot of negative press around the police in the USA. They are perceived as being violent against African-Americans, and thus the country is seen as being that way too. The African-American community is seen to have a negative attitude toward policeman as a result of the incidents. Just like in any situation, simplifying the world in this way is not a good basis to start from. Therefore, the US government would like to change this. It is your job to develop a campaign that succeeds in breaking these stereotypes. The ultimate goal is break the current vicious circle and make both groups respect each other and interact in a more positive way. Use any communication channel you want but since you are talking to very large, widespread audience, basically everyone everywhere, make sure your idea is scalable. The students also brainstormed campaigns for a taxi, candy, coat, newspaper and award show. See the students’ ideas. Above: Erik, Mark Smith, Director of Brand Synergy at Miami Ad School and the Brandhome mascot, the orange f@#% you gnome. This was such a success Brandhome and Miami Ad School are already planning for next year when all the briefs will be live briefs from clients! Exciting things are coming in 2016! If your brand wants to get involved in this exciting new offering, reach out to us to learn more about ourInnovation Labs. “This is a great opportunity for companies that can benefit directly from the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal. We live in an era of rapidly increasing globalization both in business and culture – advertising lives at the intersection of these. This is just the type of challenge Miami Ad School’s Innovation Lab solves best!” – Mark Smith, Director of Brand Synergy, Miami Ad School Want to know more about Brandhome? “The most important law in marketing: if you want to become the market leader you have to create your own category…Big brands, small brands, governments that are in trouble…come to us. We are the guys companies go to to make the impossible possible.” – Erik Saelens

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The policies of modernization, support and promotion of the so-called free market, and economic globalization, are implying not only a high social cost, but are also canceling rights achieved through the struggles of the people and closing spaces of individual and collective freedom that previously allowed the people to themselves resolve the satisfaction of their basic needs. Authoritarianism, the centralization of decision-making, and the abandonment by governments of their responsibilities to society have been key factors of this process, which has provoked the growing, distancing between the “development” project imposed by minority sectors linked to economic and political powers, and the real world in which the majority of the world’s inhabitants live. HIC develops its work within this context, oriented by precise objectives and by a clear policy that defines its commitment with the social groups that aim to obtain a shelter or more dignified habitat conditions. In the perspective of the plural world and the different working styles and levels of development of our regional networks and principal programs, the HIC structure in place since 1987 maintained organizational forms that, even if they operated in a very decentralized manner, still reproduced structures of formal decisions that were often little representative of the work carried out. In response to the growth of our activity and the sharpening of the global trends pointed out, the 1993 HIC General Assembly which met in Manila, the Philippines, adopted the decision to call for a new review of our principles and operation criteria and of our organizational structure. Through the direction of the Board and under the coordination of the extended Executive Committee, several meetings and internal consultations were carried out between late 1993 and late 1996 which led us to undertake a profound revision of the philosophy that guides us and the principles that orient both our external activity and our internal operation. Based on this process of group reflection, a series of organizational objectives and guidelines was prepared to orient the revision of the HIC structure. Based on those guidelines, a new structure proposal was developed which, in addition to more transparently reflecting the values and principles that orient us, was able to more effectively respond to the challenges we currently confront. Before the legal establishment of the new structure, many of the proposed changes were put into practice with good results. The best ways to incorporate organizative practices and new initiatives developing within many of the regional and thematic bodies were also studied. Finally, in the Board meetings held in Valle de Bravo, Mexico in October 1996, the final organizational proposal was prepared, and the recommendation of the Board to proceed with the presentation of the proposed Constitutional amendments to the following General Assembly for its consideration was approved by the Assembly held in Mexico City on 29 October. The results of this process and the proposed new structure are presented below. 3. Philosophy, Principles and Objectives 3.1. Values and Principles The linkage of the group of bodies that forms the Coalition should be based on sets of principles, values and objectives known and shared by its members. The Coalition aims to be a decentralized structure, prioritizing substance over form, and emphasizing autonomy, freedom, and flexibility over undue bureaucracy, hierarchies and rigid controls. The following shared values and principles have been identified: i. A place to live is as basic a human need as food and clothing. The lack of any of these or precarious conditions in their satisfaction, deprives human beings of a life in peace and dignity. Physical and psychological health, and even life itself, depends on the possibility of individuals and families to use and enjoy a secure place to live. ii. Human beings, as all species, have a right to a habitat on earth. The human right to a place to live is an inalienable right. iii. Lands our common heritage. It is, a limited resource not capable of being increased, and should not be subject to market forces but rather utilized for the common good. Human societies should regulate land for the proper and equitable use by its people. iv. Policies of modernization, promotion of the so-called free market and economic globalization are closing the spaces, which previously allowed people themselves to satisfy their basic needs. We want to protect and re-open those spaces. v. The new international economic order is controlled by the transnational which exercise their power through information flows and decisions further and further removed from the concrete interests of the communities they affect. Territorial strategies in accordance with the particular places and cultures and with social control of the resources must urgently be developed. vi. The systems of human settlements management are in crisis and we need to look for new models based on participatory democracy. 3.2. Organizational Principles The operating structure of HIC should reflect and comply with the following key principles adhered to by the Coalition. The principles are focused on characteristics of a new democratic and participative organizational model, while incorporating positive aspects of more traditional organizational structures when appropriate. - Effectiveness: administrates the complexity to gain in effectiveness - Flexibility: moldable structures, open spaces - Solidarity: network-building - Trust: solidarity based on confidence and guided by shared principles and objectives - Complexity: accepts contradiction, cultural differences - Responsiveness: shaped by environment - Diversity: plurality - Prudence:ideas + knowledge + action + reflection - Devolution:multi-lateral information flow, especially returning knowledge to the base - Transparency: open information flow, communication - Gender equality A number of other concepts to orient the operation of the Coalition were also identified. The bodies that make up the structure should be action-oriented and be coordinated by motivational leadership based on the generation of ideas, creativity and strong commitment. The structure should be multicentric, with decentralized responsibility within a simple, flat organizational model. The structure should be self-regulating through democratic and participative processes, which carry out continuous evaluation including of concrete impacts. The structure should be organic, in that it should mold to the environment and circumstances, with a minimum of bureaucratic rules, standards and procedures. While it is not a federation, the structure should be based on a federative group of autonomous bodies, which form the whole. 3.3. Principles of Operation The following principles should guide the operation of the Coalition. i. The issues of the Coalition should come from poor communities and disadvantaged peoples, and be channeled into action and mutual information exchange. ii. The Coalition should operate flexibly to give, space to people’s initiatives. The Coalition should promote horizontal relations, recognize efforts, and promote a modest attitude, letting everybody feel a part of the whole. iii. The Coalition will build a structure, which is participatory, representative, democratic and accountable. iv. The Coalition does not condone sexist or racist attitudes and behaviors. It should aim to have at least a 60:40 ratio of gender in all its groups. v. The Coalition promotes the principle of transparency in all its operations; the structure and operations of the various bodies that form the Coalition shall be made known and available to all others in the Coalition. vi. We promote the principle of solidarity around these values in the different parts of the Coalition. To do this we shall intensively promote the attitude of mutual support and synergy building rather than individualism among all persons in the Coalition. External policy: governments and multilateral institutions Within the perspective provided by these principles and objectives, our Coalition works to compel fulfillment of the following demands presented to the governments and multilateral cooperation institutions. These challenges are the basis of our interaction with them. i. Governments should recognize that the measures to provide adequate housing for all have been incomplete and unsuccessful. ii. Governments should recognize that the population through different expressions of the civil society, has in fact the greatest impact on the resolution of human settlements and housing problems through its own various forms of production and improvement of living conditions of houses and cities. iii. Governments should recognize the current environmental and habitat crisis and declare a state of emergency to be confronted together with the principal actors. iv. Civil society expressions must be recognized as contributions to dialogue and negotiation in all levels of decision-making in housing and habitat development. The housing sector must be fully democratized, with civil society organizations as full counterparts in dialogue. v. Governments and multilateral development agencies must recognize that the structural adjustment measures and the modernization and privatization policies that constitute the first steps in the strategy of economic globalization, instead of opening conditions that guarantee access to land and adequate housing for all, are increasing the cost of shelter production and closing spaces to peoples’ initiatives, thus increasing the shelter crisis and forcing more people to resort to so-called “illegal” options to fulfill their housing needs. These demands present us with a series of considerations and challenges for the integration of an organizational structure that allows us to effectively promote changes towards the reversal of the degenerative global trends. 3.4. Organizational Objectives Three fundamental elements for the revision of the HIC structure are as follows: - construction of a coalition - deepening spaces for personal and collective freedom The following objectives are proposed based on those elements: 1. Achieve a profound decentralization of the initiatives, management and steering of the Coalition. 2. Build, in consequence, a new associative structure prioritizing substance over form: emphasizing autonomy, freedom, and flexibility over undue bureaucracy and hierarchies, norms, and rigid controls. 3. Establish democratic procedures for the functioning of the different operational, support and steering bodies that make up the structure of the Coalition, for the selection of their coordinators, representatives and delegates and to ensure their accountability towards their constituency and the organization as a whole. 4. Base the strategic linking of the group of bodies that form the Coalition on sets of principles, objectives, strategies and policies, broadly known and shared by its members. 5. Establish operative coordination mechanisms among steering and support bodies, permanent programs, projects, and member initiatives to guarantee unity of action, synergy and mutual strengthening. 6. Establish a minimum group of simple and precise guidelines that guarantee equity in our internal relations, ensure accountability, avoid conflicts, foment internal solidarity, and strengthen our efficiency and effectiveness. 3.5. Guidelines for the definition of the HIC organizational structure The new HIC structure is based on the following guidelines which are grouped according to the six proposed objectives. a) In relation to the first objective: decentralization i. Decentralization is a multi-lateral process: - to decentralize only through the unilateral decision of the center is contradictory; - an important part of the decentralization initiative must come from the broader base; - genuine decentralization must also empower and mobilize more of our constituency; - the decentralization process is to be founded on the initiatives, will, and capacity to do of those bodies and persons in which functions, tasks and responsibilities will be assumed; - decentralization should be towards persons capable of demonstrating results. - decentralization should not create dependencies but rather empower all sides in increase the potential of the organization as a whole. - decentralization should create the spaces necessary for groups at the local, national, and international levels. ii. Decentralization makes the base grow without weakening the center: - the center should be strong to support the multiplicity of programs and decentralized initiatives; - the center should be capable of managing the complexity, and for that purpose should be able to rely on the necessary capable personnel team, sufficient infrastructure, and adequate work systems; - in the decentralization process, the center ( Secretariat, Focal Points, etc.) should progressively substitute its responsibilities as director and direct executer for activities of support, enabling, and promotion of the diverse programs, projects and initiatives. iii. Each body is obliged to open its own decentralized space: - the decentralization process does not end in the Committees and Focal Points, but rather must reach all the levels and initiatives. iv. In a decentralized structure, the central bodies (such as the Secretariat, Focal Points, etc.) should maintain some form of direct link with the grassroots processes and in project execution to avoid them becoming mere bureaucracies. b) In relation to the second and third objectives: associative structure and democratic procedures i. The HIC structure should be based on the concrete activity that it develops and not in abstract and formal representations. It’s bases are: - the regional processes, - the thematic programs and campaigns that it carries out, - the specific projects, - the activities of the Committees and Working Groups, - the concrete initiatives opened by its members within the HIC framework. ii. The building of a Coalition can only happen if processes are put into place that will instill confidence in the workings of HIC. - This can be achieved through demonstrating concrete actions and results, sharing information, and where possible creating spaces for local representation in international global forums such as at the UN. - Confidence can also be achieved through openness and a learning attitude that allow for a diverse range of groups to join in the building of HIC. iii. One of the main challenges facing the development and effectiveness of an associative structure is the ability to oversee communication and cross-facilitation among the range of activities with which it is involved. iv. All activity recognized by the Coalition should have a reference within the organizational structure: - permanent bodies will represent the permanent work of the Coalition; - short-term bodies or representatives will represent limited-term activities (temporary secretariat services, small committees, short-term representatives, task forces, etc.) v. Once mature, the regional processes and permanent programs may constitute autonomous bodies such as HIC Regions and committees that should: - associate themselves to the Coalition as autonomous bodies; - have a permanent seat in the HIC directive bodies; - name their representative(s) before the HIC directive bodies in accordance with their own internal election process; - have their own administrative and service office (regional or thematic secretariat); - have freedom of action and propose their own terms of reference, annual plan of action and budget; - secure their own operating funds with the necessary support of the central entities (Executive Committee, Secretariat). - communicate and interact with the different parts of HIC to maintain and strengthen the potential of the organization. - develop strategic contacts with other organizations whose work may be related to housing and living conditions issues to influence the mandates of these organizations. vi. The peoples’ social processes that are significant in different regions (movements, networks, fronts, dialogue or exchange groups) and that are linked to the activity of HIC may be represented in the Board. vii. Spontaneous initiatives related to the main concerns of HIC should also influence the development of the HIC organizational structure. This will allow HIC to respond to new manifestations of realities. - The temporary activities, such as international projects that develop within the HIC ramework, working groups, task forces or new initiatives of broad interest, may also be invited to send a representative to the Board meetings. viii. All bodies and representatives that integrate the HIC structure should be accountable to their members and to the Coalition as a whole. ix. The same principles that orient this proposal should be applied as appropriate within each region and program. c) Fourth objective: strategic linking i. The building of a coalition implies linking diverse persons, institutions, processes and initiatives that share common purposes. This demands of us: - open and democratic discussion of our objectives, strategies, and policies; - their formal adoption and broad dissemination among members and contacts; - permanent tracking of their application in campaigns, statements, activities, and projects; - institutionalization of the review and evaluation processes. ii. Priority and greater attention should be given to fields of action and types of activity according to: - their greatest social impact (quantitatively and in terms of quality of life) - their potential for influence in the reorientation of policies and the development of new instruments - their capacity to foment linking, interaction, and synergetic strengthening among the diverse programs, projects and bodies that make up the operative structure of the Coalition. iii. Communication via a shared strategy should be given higher priority over simply information sharing. This strategy-sharing implies: - coming to agreement on concepts and processes; - giving priority to the “towards where” and the “how to” over the “notify” and “quantify.” d) In relation to the fifth objective: operative coordination: i. Definition of mechanisms of coordination, interaction and mutual support among the diverse bodies that make up the Coalition. vi. Definition of terms of reference for all of the directive, support and action bodies of our Coalition, including: - objectives, general strategies and goals - basic responsibilities, fields of action and operation criteria - accountability procedures - follow up and evaluation criteria iii. Establishment of plans of action which include: - objectives vision - tasks to be carried out - time-frames for implementation, revision and completion - necessary resources (human, financial and material) and where to obtain them. e) In relation to the sixth objective: internal operation rules i. Procedures for the nomination of candidates and the designation or election of those responsible for directive, support and executive positions must be properly adapted to the new structure and organizational criteria. ii. Definition of a minimum of conduct rules that guarantee fair play among HIC entities, between these and their members, and among members themselves to avoid: - competition for resources and positions; - incorrect use or lack of coordination of the relations with other entities and with financial support agencies; - incorrect use of HIC representation or stationary; undue claim for credit for tasks completed; and improperly made individual decisions on delicate issues that demand consultation. iii. Minimum regulation to avoid operative problems and unnecessary costs such as: - overlaps and duplication of efforts, - misuse of institutional resources, - unjustified or excessive travel costs, improper representation, etc. 4.1. Levels of operation The new HIC structure distinguishes three levels of operation among the different bodies that make up the Coalition. The purpose of the Coalition is to support the social processes that act in the habitat field. More than an organization that works to the service of its members, the members are the ones who, organized locally, nationally, regionally and internationally, aim to serve the social sectors that suffer needs or violations of their human rights in the habitat field. For that reason, the base and the first level on which the new structure is built is the operative level that links the territorial and thematic bodies that work directly linked to the social processes. In a second level are located the support bodies, whose main task is to manage the coordination among the diverse operational bodies. The support bodies work for the mutual strengthening among the operative groups, motivating them, promoting them before third parties, facilitating and supporting their operation and interaction, keeping them informed, helping them to overcome conflicts that prevent them from reaching higher organizational levels and to obtain greater strength to confront their challenges, promoting solidarity in critical situations, and above all helping them, while respecting their autonomy, to work more effectively within the shared objectives and strategies. The support bodies are also guarantors of the fulfillment of the strategies, plans of action and programs agreed upon by the steering bodies. The third level is made up by the steering bodies which direct the collective process developed by the Coalition at the global level. The steering bodies help to give congruency, direction and strength to the operative base, and to guarantee greater effectiveness to an open and flexible structure oriented by principles of: autonomy, decentralization, respect for different approaches and operating styles, respect for diversity and cultural plurality, flexibility, adaptability, complexity, democratic participation and creative freedom, a minimum of norms and bureaucratic regulations and free flow of information. The joint formulation of strategies and general and programatic plans of action, supported through a vision provided by the best informed and most committed persons in the diverse fields of activity of the Coalition, guarantees a strategic and democratic steering of the Coalition. This responds to another set of principles oriented to give coherence, consistency and thus greater effectiveness to the international work of the Coalition. In this regard stand out the principles of prudence, solidarity building, efficiency, co-responsibility, accountability, transparency, stability, equity, confidence, motivational and committed leadership, and permanent revision and evaluation of the activities and results and of the operative structure itself. This dialectical interaction among the operative and the directive or steering levels demands radical changes in the selection criteria of the members of the Board to guarantee that those who occupy a position in the Board represent the concrete work developed by the Coalition in support of the social processes. 4.2. Bodies that integrate the HIC structure a) Operational level i. The Committees are bodies that develop the strategic programs of the Coalition undertaking diverse activities within their specific fields of action. The Committees are formed by organizations members of the Coalition and persons interested in actively contributing to the plan of action developed by the Committee itself. The formal recognition of a Committee is made by the Board once the group has complied with the set of requirements which guarantees its solidness and permanence. Its work is of interregional reach. ii. The Working Groups develop activities focused on specific themes, either in support of the established Committees or in the exploration of new areas of interest for the Coalition. The Working Groups are formed by members of the Coalition interested to work in specific themes. Their approval as HIC Working Groups is granted by the Board based on the fulfillment of specific criteria. Their work may be global or regional. iii. The Regional Reference Centers are organizations that operate regionally in the coordination and development of specific tasks, linked to the Committees and/or Working Groups. Their establishment as such develops from the interest and capacity of a member organization to support the development of a specific program in its region. b) Support level i. The General Secretariat is responsible for the daily management of the work of the Coalition and the general coordination of its different bodies and activities. It is made up by the General Secretary, named by the Board, and by a technical and administrative support team. ii. The Focal Points promote, manage and coordinate the whole of activities in each of the approved regions, such as the general tasks linked to the Committees and Working Groups. The Focal Points are named by the Board from among the members of the Coalition in each region, taking into account their capacity and will to fulfill these tasks. c) Steering bodies i. The General Assembly constitutes the highest directive body of the Coalition. It is made up of all the member organizations, represented by one person designated by each organization. ii. The Board manages the business of the Coalition according to the directions of the General Assembly. It is made up of the President of the Coalition, a representative from each of the approved regions with up to 100 members or two delegates from those regions with more than 100 members, one representative from each of the approved Committees, delegates of the Women and Shelter Network, two social movement delegates, and, when considered convenient, an associated member named by the Board. iii. The Executive Committee provides orientation to the General Secretariat between the meetings of the Board. The EC is made up of the President, the Treasurer and the General Secretary himself. iv. The Management Committeeis responsible to assure follow-up to the main decisions of the Board and to orient important decisions which must be made between Board meetings. The Management Committee is in effect an extended Executive Committee since it is made up by the Executive Committee plus four members elected by and from the Board and who represent four different programs and regions. Housing Rights, Women and Shelter, Habitat and Environment and others which may emerge in the future. For example, in the case of the Housing Rights Committee, activities of research, case documentation, lobbying, Fact Finding Missions, denouncements, urgent actions, capacity-building, formulation and negotiation of policy and instrument proposals, defense of evicted groups, etc. Finance and Resource Mobilization, Urban Land, Democratic Management and Local Empowerment, and others which might form in the future.

Working together, our Divisions, Departments & Sections contribute to the attainment of our company’s professional objectives. In concert we achieve success in Serbia and abroad. Technical divisions have professional engineers and technicians, who, with their dedicated work and continuous improvement aim at progress and customer satisfaction. We provide professional consulting, design, implementation, integration, and maintenance services in the fields of radio communications, passive optical networks and access systems, ICT infrastructure and data centers, life safety, security, automation and building management systems, and solar power plants. Comprehensive portfolio of services covering all steps from design and build to live on-air radio networks in a multiple-vendor environment. Deep-rooted in technology expertise, we are delivering 5G and Open RAN in scaled-up, demanding, and complex radio projects, supporting the client’s vision and end-customer's experience. Passive Optical Networks and Access Systems Extensive experience in designing and building fibre networks across international FTTx projects, from dense urban to rural networks. Turnkey solutions for connected homes and businesses and backhaul and backbone networks alike. Providing custom-made designs for the conduit and fibre infrastructure while planning for capacity and connectivity. ICT Infrastructure and Data Center Turnkey solutions and services for transmission systems (IP, DWDM) in a multi-vendor environment, as well as data centre infrastructure design, build, and maintenance for Enterprise, ISP, Mobile, and SOHO. Network Operations Center NOC Front Office and Back Office, 24/7/365 days, monitoring, ticketing, troubleshooting, dispatching, planning, and configuration services. Life Safety, Security, Automation and Building Management Systems We provide our clients with turnkey Life Safety, Security, Automation and Building Management Systems. Our expert team offers risk assessment, planning, design, implemetation, and maintenance of security systems Managing the complexity of production processes through systems for Industrial automation and the Internet of Things. The in-house expertise in Industrial Automation over years of successfully delivered projects, ranging from preliminary studies and initial designs towards engineering, project implementation, and final commissioning with systems in full operation. Solar Power Plants Portfolio of design and construction of solar power plant services, reducing customers' carbon footprint. Innovative plug-and-play solutions and dedicated solar engineering consultancy. The quality of the service meets all market demands. Through in-house synergies in design and build, powered by international experience, newest technology, and applications as well as solar power systems, implementing digital towers and rooftops by the latest telecommunications standards. Custom-designed locations for mobile and Wi-Fi networks, smart city solutions, and other connectivity-providing clients. Marketing and Corporate Communications Department Marketing and Corporate Communications Department continually strives to enhance Roaming Networks’ corporate identity, both offline and online. The company’s brand is recognised as a symbol of professionalism equally at home and abroad; in corporate events and public appearances we endeavour to highlight all of the company’s values and the quality of its staff, as well as our company’s vision and mission. Digital Transformation Office Digital Transformation Office has the creation of business excellence as its primary objective. It deals with continuous improvement of business operations and identification of critical processes, which need to be optimized. The tendency and strategy of Roaming Networks is to introduce the latest business tools to manage sales, finances, projects more easily and more efficiently, all with the aim of complete and efficient project organizing, rapid collaboration, information sharing, as well as competitiveness and quality recognition by clients. The Roaming Networks’ Finance Division consists of the Finance Section for the Balkan Region and the Finance Section for the International Market. This organizational structure enables efficient planning, management, and control of all markets in which Roaming Networks operates. This Division is made up of a young and promising team which, with its knowledge and skills in the field of financial management, contributes to the development and, above all, the stability of business Business Control Sector The growth and development of company led us to form a team that will deal with business control.The Business Control Sector controls the data, implementation and costs of projects. This Sector also performs proactive control outside of project activities that can have a significant impact on the achievement of the results of the whole company.The focus of this Sector is the aspiration to achieve the adopted annual business goals of the company, primarily from the financial aspect. Public Procurement Service The Public Procurement Service is one of the most important links, indispensable for successful business operations and achieving the planned results.The main tasks of this sector are market analysis, public procurement,administrative preparation of bids, which includes cooperation of all sectors of our company in order to complete the documentation and submit bids on time.Employees in this sector, in addition to knowledge and skills, also possess speed, precision.Their mistake at work is irreparable.Only complete dedication to work leads them to success. Human Resources Section Human Resources Section aims at supporting our company’s constant growth and expansion into international market. We believe that teaming young telecommunication engineers with experienced senior colleagues provides synergy that is energizing our company with infinite potential. We are growing together with our staff as we invest in our employees with positive attitude, knowledge and potential to work and learn along the way. Legal Department takes diligent care that our company business operations are in line with all relevant regulations of both domestic and foreign markets in which we conduct our business. Our legal team is known for its vast knowledge, professionalism and the ability to meet short deadlines and adapt to new requirements and terms of business, and as such is recognized among our clients as well. Logistics and Procurement Sector The Procurement and Logistics Sector consists of three parts: Procurement, Logistics and General Affairs Services. Within these services we cover the following business segments: procurement, warehouse operations, transport, fleet management, import and export operations, facility maintenance, management of H&S equipment, management of instruments and tools and other equipment needed for work. The task of the Procurement and Logistics Sector is to provide all necessary materials and equipment, as well as to offer logistical support for smooth performance of contracted work.

Over the years, Synergy FX has been a dedicated MT4 Forex broker with their edge coming from their in-house Expert Advisors. That is why we are quite interested in running this Synergy FX broker review, updated for 2018, so you have all the info to see if Synergy is the best Forex broker for you. In 2018, Synergy continues to innovate with their product set with the development of their Forex Funds Management Service and their IchiScalper trading EA. Also, they have invested in providing the educational tools to help their clients become better, more consistent traders. With the addition of Daniel Bent, who heads up their FX desk, their liquidity feeds and spreads are some of the best in Australia. Synergy FX have focused on being the best MT4 straight through processing Forex broker in Australia. As a result, they cater more to the advanced professional trader. But standard accounts are also available. No matter which account you choose, the team at Synergy are open, honest and transparent in all their dealings. Let’s review each of the tools within their main MT4 platform here. Considering it is the world’s number 1 Forex platform, MT4 for the PC is the core offering from Synergy FX. You get access to one-click trading, drag and drop charting and of course the standard trading analysis or the numbers of your trading history. Things like the average win, average loss, consecutive wins and losses, expectancy and Sharpe ratio to name a few. You can view the MT4 cheat sheet too. All handy numbers to keep on top of. For those who love their Macs, Synergy FX has you covered with their version for the Mac. Pretty standard offering nowadays. You download the MT4 app on your iPhone, punch in the login details for either a demo or live account and you are up and running. For those on Samsung or any other version of mobile phone not on the iPhone network, Synergy has you covered with their MT4 for Android too. Synergy FX worked with a team of quants to develop their own commercial-grade MetaTrader Expert Advisor (EA). The result is IchiScalper 2.0. IchiScalper has been available for over four years and is programmed to take advantage of the sideways trending AUDUSD Forex pair. IchiScalper 2.0 is available exclusively through Synergy FX. Once you have y our live account you can talk with the team about downloading, installing and running the EA live on your account. You have the provision to set your own risk management levels too. To start with, Synergy FX provides access to 35 currency pairs including all the key majors and minor FX pairs. Plus you can trade Index CFDs, Commodity CFDs and Bitcoin CFDs. Synergy FX has two different trading accounts to choose from including: Standard account commission The standard account is commission free trading on all the MT4 products including their Bitcoin CFDs. Standard account spreads As you can see in the table above (captured on 20 April 2018), the spread on the EURUSD is 1.2 pips average. So for those who like to trade many times a day on 5min or 15min charts, Synergy’s spreads are good. You can also see their GBPUSD spread averages around 1.6 pips, which is more than fair. Standard account margins & leverage Margins at Synergy FX start at 0.20%, providing leverage up to 500 to 1. ECN Pricing account commission The pro account attracts a commission of $7USD round trip. This means for each full lot ($100,000) your commission will be $3.50USD for a buy and $3.50USD for a sell (at the full lot value). ECN Pricing account spreads The table above highlights two important numbers for traders to be aware of. You can see both the ‘as low as’ spreads and the average spreads. It’s great that Synergy FX shows the average spreads because that is much closer to the mark. You will have fleeting moments of low liquidity and low volume where you will see zero pip spreads. Fantastic. But in reality, your spreads will be higher. ECN Pricing account margins & leverage Margins at Synergy FX start at 0.20%, providing leverage up to 500 to 1. Reviewing the Synergy FX Forex CFDs Synergy FX offers Forex traders access to 35 currency pairs plus 10 Index CFDs, 3 Commodity CFDs and Bitcoin CFDs. One of the things we like about their MT4 platform is when you download it, the market watch window comes populated with their complete product list. Other brokers provide a reduced list and then make you add the products you want one by one. For new traders, this is a cause for frustration and usually, involves a call to the support desk to add them. As the price of Bitcoin took off in late 2017 and the start of 2018, Forex brokers wanted to get in on the action. Synergy FX started offering Bitcoin CFDs to their client base of active traders. The demand was just too high. Below you can see a screenshot of their Bitcoin CFD pricing via their MT4 platform. What a wild roller coaster ride the price of Bitcoin has been. As you can appreciate, traders need volatility and movement in order to access opportunity in the markets. But don’t get fooled, Bitcoin has been one of the most volatile assets in the last decade and with that comes an extreme amount of risk. Trading Bitcoin CFDs is risky. Reviewing the Synergy FX Index CFDs Synergy FX don’t have as much flexibility with the range of Indices as someone like IG Australia have, but it can be expected when you list everything in MT4. MT4 doesn’t have the flexibility of adding thousands of trading products. You will find it like for like when comparing IG’s MT4 with Synergy FX’s though. Reviewing the Synergy FX Commodity CFDs Synergy FX provides commodity CFDs across energy and precious metals. None of their contracts has a fixed expiry date. As a general rule, the most frequently traded commodities are the precious metals (Gold and Silver) and the other favourite product is Crude Oil. You have access to WTI Crude contracts. Leverage available with Synergy FX Leverage levels in 2018 have been heading lower around the globe. Forex traders in Japan cannot trade at greater than 25 to 1 leverage. Cyprus mandated the default leverage at 1:50 for new FX and CFD traders. Synergy FX have a maximum leverage on the account set at 500 to 1. Trading at higher than 200 to 1 leverage may seem like a good idea for those who like to gamble their account, but it truly isn’t necessary. Why gamble with your hard earned money. There is no need for it. Synergy FX Markets offer the full suite of the more common markets including: Via their MT4 platform, you can start off with a demo trading account to see what their price feeds are like. Synergy FX allows you to start with a demo trading account to access either CFDs or Forex. When opening a live CFD or Forex account with Synergy FX, you can open the following accounts: Synergy FX was initially established in 2011 in Sydney, Australia and have been one of the best MT4 Forex brokers ever since. In 2015, Synergy FX won the Best Forex Broker Australia awarded by Global Financial Market Review. They have also won the financial institution of the year at the Asia-Pacific Financial Investment Association and various other awards going back to 2012. Synergy FX have a range of educational material including: As a Synergy FX client, you get access to their education portal, which they refer to as their Forex Learning Centre. There you will find over 30 forex trading video tutorials all designed to help you become a better trader. They cover things like: When making a review of the account opening bonuses available at Synergy FX Australia, we noticed they regularly have Virtual Private Server (VPS) and referral based promotions running regularly. As for their recent Forex bonus account opening offers, you are best contacting their team direct to ask about current offers. Synergy has a team of Forex professionals and has worked hard to secure more than 20 liquidity feeds into their MT4 platform. Their pricing on the ECN account is well worth checking out. To create a successful EA requires deep knowledge of the markets and combining with a quant team to backtest to find the best combination of elements. Clients of Synergy have the option to trade on their own or they can put the IchiScalper EA to use. Also, clients can apply their own position sizing and money management rules to have risk management suited to their style. The fact you can work with their staff and ask questions about how they built the IchiScalper EA will be a tremendous advantage to your results as a trader. You can ask the key questions that may help you automate your own trading. 3. Their free trading education portal Clients of Synergy get immediate access to their trading and education portal. There are dozens of training videos all designed to help you become a more efficient trader. Ultimately, you want to work with a team that has the technology, experience and resources to help you succeed in the markets. Synergy has all of that and can help you tap into their automated trading tools or provide the resources for you to build your own. The choice is yours. Synergy FX has a solid team behind them focused on providing the liquidity and trading conditions to help you get to the next level. They are committed to helping you get everything you need from a leading MT4 Forex broker. Hopefully, our Synergy FX Australia Forex Broker Review has shed some light on whether Synergy FX Australia is suitable for your specific trading needs. While there are a range of CFD Brokers and Forex Brokers around, the best way to see if a broker is right for you is to download their free demo. LearnCFDs.com may be compensated by brokers listed via the links on this site and earn a small commission. Disclaimer: Trading Contracts for Difference carry risk where you can lose more than what you start with. View our full disclaimer here.

Millennial Academy provides a conducive fully I.C.T integrated learning environment founded on sound biblical tenets. Students are prepared for leadership in various spheres by being equipped with contemporary as well as tried and tested strategies for learning, critical thinking and problem-solving, creativity, communication and collaboration. Students are prepared for excellence in exams by one to one coaching and support through virtual learning. Linkages are established with renowned Colleges and Universities in synergy with Millennial Academy. What We Represent Purple for the royal priesthood into which we have come (1 Peter 2:9-10), Red for the Blood of Christ that purchased and ushered us into royalty (Ephesians 1:7-10), White for purity of motives, peace, and pursuit of excellence (Psalm 15 and 24, 2 Corinthians 6:3-10, 1Timothy 4:12, 2 Peter 1:3 (ISV)) & Gold Shield with crown and a four pronged star (like a cross); and ribbon at the base with the motto ‘Kairos encounters’ Our purpose is to set an example in applying 21st Century teaching-learning approaches rooted in solid biblical tenets and to foreground our students as collaborative critical thinkers who use communication effectively to create, learn, network and participate cooperatively and competitively in the global community. To develop God-fearing men and women of integrity, fully aware of their purpose, set for leadership, and to tackle personal, community, national and global challenges through Christ-like attributes nurtured by the institution What Our Name Stands For The name Millennial – timeless – going concern traversing the generations into the future – using the timeless principles of the undefiled/inerrant Word of God that has been there from the beginning of time

For most, finishing a marathon is an incredible feat of endurance and strength, but for ultramarathon runners, 42 km is just the beginning. Ultramarathons are any race longer than the standard 42.195 km marathon. They range from anywhere between 50 km to thousands of kilometers, and some of these races take multiple days to complete. For Marcel Höche, a Synergy sponsored athlete, these races are his life. At 22, the German ultrarunner is one of the youngest competitors in the sport. He is the German National Champion for the under-23s in ultrarunning and in 2015 he set a Best Performer 12h run for his category, meaning no competitor his age was running farther than him in a 12-hour period. Marcel fell in love with competitive sports at 7-years old and ran his first ultramarathon when he was only 19. Since then, he has held a sincere passion for racing stating simply that it’s just what he likes to do. His training is extensive and tedious, with daily routines constantly switching between long- distance runs (30 km at 4:20 per km) and speed sessions that allow him to push his body to its limits as an athlete. Due to the heavy physical toll caused by ultramarathons, Marcel began using Synergy products in February 2016 to help him train and to aid in his performance during competitions. “When I started to train harder, I changed my diet and Synergy’s products have really helped me with that,” he said. A big fan of Synergy’s V3 System, Marcel uses Mistify each day to help with the physical stress the sport places on his body. He is also a firm believer in ProArgi-9+, using the products multiple times throughout the day both in training and in competition. “I like e9 a lot, it has everything I need in a tough situation,” Marcel said. “Minerals, energy and amino acids. It really is a perfect mixture of everything that I need to perform well.” But even with physical training, proper diet, and the help of supplemental nutrition, Ultramarathon runners are inevitably met with some very difficult moments. “In every race I hit a wall,” Marcel said. “When that happens, it becomes incredibly difficult for me. The most extreme instance was when I set the 12 hour Best Performance in 2015.” Marcel said that he had been running for over 7 hours and still needed another 5 hours in order to complete his performance, but his body was struggling and he started to shut down mentally. “I began talking to myself,” he said. “I remember saying, ‘Marcel, it’s only one more marathon, just one more and then you will be the best in the world in your age class.’ I had to tell myself to keep going, to just do it. No matter what, I knew I needed to keep moving forward. And that mindset really saved me.” Marcel has been actively competing in ultrarunning for the past 3 years, some of his latest achievements and results include: - 3rd Overall – Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival 65 Km 30.04.2016 - 3rd Overall – Brocken-Challenge 13.02.2016 - 2nd Overall – Stadtoldendorfer 12-Stunden-Lauf 11.-12.07.2015 Marcel continues to perform at top levels within the sport and is looking forward to continuing his good form for future races. He has his sights set on an ultramarathon race in Germany this summer and is fully prepared to put everything he has into giving his best performance.

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Unveiling Extreme Mega Fashion In the realm of fashion, there exists a captivating world called Extreme Mega Fashion (EMF). Breaking stereotypes and celebrating individuality, this avant-garde movement pushes boundaries and challenges conventional norms like never before. Breaking Stereotypes and Embracing Unconventionality EMF dares to defy societal expectations, encouraging individuals to embrace their authentic selves. It amplifies the voices of those who dare to be different, celebrating the beauty of uniqueness and self-expression in a dramatic and bold fashion. Celebrating Individuality through Dramatic Expression At its core, EMF fosters a space for individuals to showcase their creative flair through the power of theatrical fashion. It embodies a form of artistic expression that transcends traditional trends and empowers wearers to become walking works of art. Origins and Influences Historical Evolution of Extreme Mega Fashion The roots of EMF can be traced back through the annals of time, with its earliest inklings found in the rebellious fashion of previous eras. From the opulent costumes of the Renaissance to the groundbreaking designs of iconic visionaries, this movement has evolved through the ages, giving birth to its contemporary incarnation. Pioneers of Extreme Mega Fashion Visionaries such as Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and Rei Kawakubo have propelled EMF into the mainstream consciousness. Their revolutionary designs have ignited a global fascination with this audacious form of self-expression. Cultural Influences and Global Reach It is not restricted by borders; it resonates with people from all walks of life. Drawing inspiration from diverse cultures, it is a melting pot of ideas that transcends geographical boundaries, leading to its widespread popularity across the globe. Key Characteristics of Extreme Mega Fashion Bold and Over-the-Top Silhouettes It thrives on audacious silhouettes that surpass the ordinary. It confidently embraces exaggerated proportions, intricate drapery, and gravity-defying designs, leaving spectators in awe of the sheer artistry and innovation. Experimental Fabric Choices and Techniques To further push the boundaries, this fashion movement delves into uncharted fabric choices and experimental techniques. Unconventional materials and visionary craftsmanship create breathtaking textures and structures, captivating the eyes of fashion enthusiasts. Vibrant Color Palettes and Avant-Garde Patterns Unafraid to embrace colors in their boldest forms, it mesmerizes with vibrant palettes and avant-garde patterns. This riot of colors and patterns breathes life into garments, making them unparalleled masterpieces on the runway and in everyday life. Accessories as Statement Pieces Accessories have a distinctive role in EMF, serving as powerful statement pieces that elevate an ensemble to new heights. From awe-inspiring headpieces to intricate jewelry, these accessories accentuate the overall look, leaving an indelible mark. Incorporation of Technological Innovations Ever-evolving, EMF ingeniously incorporates technological innovations into its design repertoire. The fusion of fashion and technology results in awe-inspiring creations, pushing the boundaries of imagination and what is deemed possible. Icons of Extreme Mega Fashion: Exploring the Fashion Legends The world of Extreme Mega Fashion is adorned with iconic figures who have revolutionized the industry. Fashion luminaries like Lady Gaga, David Bowie, and Björk have fearlessly embraced it, becoming its fearless champions and igniting inspiration in others. Impact on Runways and Red Carpets EMF has left an indelible mark on runways and red carpets worldwide. A revolution in style and self-expression, it turns heads, leaving spectators in awe of the audacity and boldness exhibited by those who confidently don this avant-garde fashion. Synergy with Pop Culture and Music Embracing EMF, pop culture and music have become integral components of this dynamic movement. Artists and performers utilize this fashion style as a means of enhancing their creative expressions and leaving an unforgettable visual impact on their audience. The Influence on the Fashion Industry: Pushing Boundaries for Runway Shows and Editorials EMF has redefined the concept of fashion shows and editorials. Through its bold and boundary-pushing designs, it challenges the fashion industry to explore alternative narratives and embrace non-conformity. Some of the annual mega events include Shanghai Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, Miami Beach Design, and New York City Nightlife Week. Shanghai Fashion Week: A Showcase of Mega Fashion Shanghai Fashion Week stands out as one of Asia’s most prominent fashion events. Known for its grandeur and extravagance, this week-long spectacle brings together top designers, models, and fashion enthusiasts from around the globe. With a focus on pushing fashion boundaries to the extreme, Shanghai Fashion Week consistently surprises and delights with its avant-garde designs and forward-thinking style. London Fashion Week: Where Tradition Meets Innovation London Fashion Week is a celebration of the rich fashion heritage of the British capital combined with a constant drive for innovation. It’s a platform where traditional tailoring and cutting-edge design seamlessly coexist. Renowned designers and emerging talents alike use this event to unveil their latest creations, making London Fashion Week a must-attend for anyone passionate about fashion. Miami Beach Design Week: A Tropical Oasis of Style Miami Beach Design Week infuses the world of fashion with the vibrant energy of the tropics. Held in the heart of Florida’s iconic Miami Beach, this event combines fashion with art, architecture, and design. It’s a unique showcase of resort wear, beach-inspired trends, and luxury fashion, offering a glimpse into the sun-soaked, glamorous world of Miami’s style scene. New York City Nightlife Week: Fashion After Dark New York City Nightlife Week is a distinctive event that brings fashion to the city that never sleeps. It’s a celebration of fashion after dark, where designers explore the edgier and more experimental side of style. This event shines a spotlight on the connection between fashion and nightlife culture, offering a platform for creative expressions that thrive under the neon lights of the city. Inspiring Mainstream Fashion Trends The essence of EMF has transcended its avant-garde confines, seeping into mainstream fashion. Its audacious designs have influenced and shaped trends, pushing the envelope of what is considered fashionable. Challenging Beauty Standards and Encouraging Self-Expression By challenging conventional beauty standards, EMF champions self-expression and encourages individuals to embrace their unique attributes. It empowers wearers to confidently express themselves, breaking free from societal expectations. Controversies and Reception Cultivating Debate in the Fashion World Not without its fair share of controversies, it sparks debates within the fashion world. Its unconventional nature challenges critics, forcing them to question the boundaries of fashion and its role in contemporary society. Skepticism and Criticism As with any unconventional movement, it has faced skepticism and criticism from those who fail to grasp its artistic essence. However, precisely this criticism fuels the passion and creativity of its proponents, propelling the movement further. Embracing Freedom of Expression With its emphasis on embracing individuality and self-expression, it champions and celebrates freedom of expression. It provides a platform for individuals to boldly express their personal narratives and assert their unique styles. Extreme Mega Fashion in Everyday Life Practicality versus Individuality While practicality may not always be at the forefront of EMF, it remains a potent medium for individuals to assert their identity and authenticity. It serves as a reminder that fashion extends beyond utility and can be a powerful form of self-expression. Incorporating Extreme Mega Fashion into Street Style Inspired enthusiasts seamlessly incorporate EMF into their street style, defying conventional notions of what is appropriate for everyday wear. Their bold fashion choices transform urban landscapes into vibrant showcases of self-expression. Influence on Fashion Subcultures EMF has given rise to various fashion subcultures that embrace its principles and redefine fashion norms. These subcultures form communities where individuals can connect, celebrate their uniqueness, and continuously push the boundaries of fashion. Sustainability and Extreme Mega Fashion Balancing Creativity and Conscious Consumption While EMF often defies convention, it is increasingly exploring sustainable practices. Designers are finding innovative ways to balance creativity with ethical considerations, incorporating eco-friendly materials and mindful production processes. The Rise of Sustainable Extreme Mega Fashion A growing movement within EMF, sustainable practices are gaining traction. From recycling materials to utilizing renewable energy sources, sustainable Extreme Mega Fashion showcases fashion’s potential to be environmentally responsible without compromising its avant-garde nature. Promoting Ethical Practices and Slow Fashion EMF champions ethical practices, paving the way for a reimagined fashion industry rooted in consciousness and integrity. By promoting slow fashion and fair trade, this movement challenges the fast-paced, disposable nature of the industry, creating a new paradigm of fashion sustainability. By embracing EMF, individuals embark on a transformative journey where self-expression knows no boundaries, and creativity blooms into an extraordinary art form. This avant-garde movement inspires challenges, and reshapes fashion, leaving an indelible mark on the industry for all generations to come. In the world of fashion, Extreme Mega Fashion is more than just a trend; it’s a bold statement of self-expression, creativity, and individuality. It defies conventional norms, pushing boundaries and challenging perceptions. From audacious silhouettes to experimental techniques, it has ignited a revolution that has not only left its mark on runways and red carpets but has also seeped into mainstream fashion. As Extreme Mega Fashion keeps changing and growing, it highlights how wonderful it is to be different and urges everyone to be themselves. It shows that clothing can help you express who you truly are and even inspire positive changes in society. What is the origin of Extreme Mega Fashion? This draws inspiration from rebellious fashion eras throughout history, evolving from opulent Renaissance costumes to the groundbreaking designs of visionary creators. Its roots are deeply embedded in historical expressions of non-conformity. How has Extreme Mega Fashion influenced mainstream fashion trends? It has pushed the boundaries of fashion, inspiring mainstream trends with its bold and audacious designs. It challenges conventional beauty standards and encourages self-expression, reshaping the fashion landscape. Is sustainability a consideration in Extreme Mega Fashion? Yes, sustainability is gaining prominence with in this trebd. Designers are exploring eco-friendly materials, recycling, and ethical practices to create a more conscious and environmentally responsible movement while maintaining its avant-garde essence. The Fashion Nova Phenomenon: A Style Revolution Since 2006 Fashion Nova Logo Fashion Nova logo boldly showcases its name in black, coupled with a striking pink silhouette of a woman, making it an iconic and instantly recognizable emblem in the fashion world. This emblem perfectly encapsulates the brand’s fusion of style, empowerment, and modernity. Established in 2006 by the visionary Richard Saghian, this brand has not only redefined fashion but also catapulted itself into the digital age with unmatched speed and style. In this article, we’ll explore the journey of Fashion Nova, from its humble beginnings to becoming the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce brand. A Visionary’s Creation: The Birth of Fashion Nova In the realm of fashion, innovation often begins with a dreamer, and Fashion Nova is no exception. Richard Saghian’s brainchild came to life in 2006, marking the birth of a fashion empire. Its logo, a simple yet iconic representation, bears the brand name in bold black letters. A Digital Revolution: Fashion Nova’s Online Leap in 2013 Fashion Nova was quick to recognize the potential of the online world. In 2013, it made a significant leap by launching its website. This move was pivotal, as it allowed the brand to break geographical boundaries and reach fashion enthusiasts worldwide. The transition to the digital realm set Fashion Nova on a trajectory of rapid growth. The Unstoppable Rise: Fashion Nova’s Ascension Fashion Nova’s ascent in the fashion industry has been nothing short of spectacular. It’s not just a brand; it’s a phenomenon. The numbers speak for themselves, as Fashion Nova is recognized as the fastest-growing e-commerce brand globally. This meteoric rise isn’t solely about style; it’s a testament to the brand’s ability to connect with its audience on a profound level. Google’s Fashion Favorite: #1 Most-Searched Fashion Brand in 2018 In 2018, Fashion Nova achieved an unprecedented milestone by being named the #1 most-searched fashion brand on Google. This accolade affirmed its status as a fashion powerhouse, loved and sought after by fashionistas and trendsetters across the globe. Diverse Ventures: Expanding the Fashion Nova Empire Fashion Nova’s growth doesn’t stop at clothing. The brand ventured into new territories, introducing FashionNovaCARES, NovaKIDS, and Maven Beauty. These diverse ventures allow Fashion Nova to cater to a wider audience while staying true to its core values of style and innovation. Future of Fashion Nova: What Lies Ahead The journey of Fashion Nova is far from over. With a legacy of innovation and a dedicated following, the brand has more exciting launches in the pipeline. Fashion Nova continues to redefine fashion, setting trends, and inspiring countless individuals to express themselves through clothing and beauty. Fashion Nova’s story is more than just a fashion success; it’s a tale of vision, adaptability, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. From its inception in 2006 to becoming the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce brand and a top Google-searched fashion icon, Fashion Nova is a testament to the power of fashion to transform lives and connect people across the globe. As we look to the future, Fashion Nova remains a beacon of style and innovation, with more exciting chapters yet to be written in its extraordinary journey. What brand is Fashion Nova? Fashion Nova, an American fast fashion retailer, primarily conducts its operations in the digital sphere, yet it also maintains a presence with five physical store locations. The brand is recognized for its extensive use of social media marketing, with a notable emphasis on platforms like Instagram. Who is the face of Fashion Nova? Model Jodie Joe (real name Yodit Yemane) is the face of Fashion Nova. The Cultural Roots of 90s Rave Fashion 90s Rave fashion was a distinctive and vibrant style that emerged during the 1990s in the context of the rave subculture, which was primarily associated with electronic dance music (EDM) parties and gatherings. A brief overview of 90s Rave fashion and its background Rave culture originated in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom and quickly spread to other parts of the world. It was characterized by all-night dance parties featuring electronic music genres like techno, house, and trance. Raves parties were often held in unconventional locations such as warehouses, fields, and abandoned buildings, creating an underground and countercultural atmosphere. Many people associate rave culture with the flashy lights, electronic music, and neon colors of the 90s and early 2000s. However, it might surprise you to know that its origins date back much earlier. In the late 1950s, there were already party enthusiasts who enjoyed taking their gatherings to the next level. By the 1960s, the term “rave” had become synonymous with wild and energetic parties, and this trend extended beyond London, where it initially took root. Over time, “rave” became somewhat old-fashioned and fell out of common usage. But that changed dramatically in the early 90s when both the term and the parties experienced a revival. Once again, people started organizing secret gatherings in abandoned warehouses, basements, and secluded outdoor areas. These events gave birth to the rave parties we recognize today. Attendees would dance to electronic and house music, and they embraced unique dress codes that quickly caught the attention of the fashion industry. Key Elements of 90s Rave Fashion Bright and Neon Colors: Ravers embraced fluorescent and neon colors, which were easily visible under blacklights commonly used at rave events. These colors created a visually stimulating and energetic environment. Loose-fitting attire was a hallmark of 90s Rave fashion. Baggy pants, oversized T-shirts, and roomy hoodies were popular choices. The comfort and freedom of movement were essential for dancing. Accessories like glow sticks, glow necklaces, and glow bracelets were ubiquitous. They added an extra element of luminescence to the rave experience and allowed ravers to express themselves. Rave Flyers and Bandanas: Flyers from rave events often featured distinctive, psychedelic artwork and were sometimes worn as accessories. Bandanas, often worn on the head or neck, featured bold patterns and added to the overall aesthetic. Platform Shoes and Sneakers: Ravers often wore platform shoes and chunky sneakers, which provided both style and comfort for hours of dancing. Face and Body Paint: Some ravers used neon face and body paint to create unique and colorful designs, enhancing the sense of individuality and self-expression. Cyber and Futuristic Elements: The influence of sci-fi and cyberpunk culture was evident in some rave fashion, with metallic fabrics, reflective materials, and futuristic accessories. Some rave-goers sported unconventional hairstyles, including brightly colored and spiked hair, dreadlocks, and shaved patterns. Makeup was often dramatic and featured bright, neon eyeshadows, glitter, and metallic lip colors. Inclusivity and Individuality Rave fashion encouraged individuality and self-expression, with attendees often mixing and matching elements to create their unique looks. It was also an inclusive culture, where people of all backgrounds and orientations felt welcome and free to express themselves. Elements of 90s Rave fashion continue to influence contemporary streetwear and festival fashion. Neon colors, oversized clothing, and bold accessories are still popular in various subcultures. 90s Rave fashion was a unique and energetic style that emerged from the rave subculture of the 1990s. It was characterized by its use of bright neon colors, baggy clothing, glow accessories, and a focus on comfort and self-expression. This fashion movement left a lasting impact on the world of fashion and remains a source of inspiration for many today. What outfit to wear to a rave? Rave party outfits are characterized by vibrant colors, distinctive patterns, and captivating ensembles. What is the origin of rave fashion? The beginnings of Rave fashion can be traced back to the 1980s when Rave culture first emerged. 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From childhood, Professor Janis Birkeland was intrigued by the natural world. She spent her professional, academic, and personal life figuring out how genuine social and ecological sustainability could be achieved. Intuitively, she felt that reimagining the design of cities and buildings was essential to saving the planet. She therefore became an architect and urban designer, first working with low-income communities in San Francisco. To influence things on a larger scale, Janis transitioned into city planning. Later, to better understand the barriers to systems change, she became a lawyer. After moving to Australia, Janis completed a PhD on Planning for Sustainability and, for decades, taught and published sustainable design and development in several universities. Janis always maintained that buildings are not sustainable if they do more damage than ‘no development at all’. She envisaged that urban development, despite its huge lifecycle impacts, could be designed to give back more than it takes. She set about to develop the new ‘mindsets, models, methods, and metrics’ that would make this possible. Her latest textbook on Net-Positive Design summarizes her theory of Positive Development and provides examples of how buildings can create net public gains. Most recently, she developed a computer app to shift the paradigm from ‘green’ toward ‘net-positive’. The app is also meant to bridge the gap between narrow technical orientations and creative qualitative design that Janis believes has always divided the sustainable design fields. Dr. Birkeland, you advocate ‘net-positive design’. This may not be a term many individuals are familiar with. Can you explain what net-positive design is exactly? To understand net-positive design, we first need to be clear on what’s wrong with contemporary ‘green’ development. Although buildings provide essential services and generate profits, they contribute to virtually all social and ecological burdens imposed on society. Disparities of wealth, justice and health are escalating while we have lost over 50 percent of the earth’s biodiversity in under 50 years. Nevertheless, the current goal of green building is just to ‘do no harm’ or, at most, regenerate the environments they damage. Offsetting a building’s added impacts is not a net gain. Positive Development is a new ethic. It states urban development should create net benefits over its lifecycle for society and nature, not just project stakeholders. Don’t our planning regulations and building codes ensure that buildings are beneficial for society? Codes set minimum standards; they don’t really consider sustainability. Nonetheless, buildings that merely perform better than code requirements are often labelled ‘sustainable’. To get points toward green building certification schemes, therefore, many ‘greenish’ designers begin with a typical building template and add green features. Such features provide savings to investors such as passive solar and renewable energy, or provide environmental amenities to occupants such as clean air, water, and greenery. However, they usually have public costs that aren’t counted. For instance, so-called ‘zero carbon’ buildings produce renewable energy, but they seldom compensate for, or sequester, the carbon emitted during offsite resource extraction and manufacturing (called embodied carbon). In 2009, you were quoted as saying “green buildings are not sustainable.” What did you mean, and what was the fall out you experienced from organizations that worked with you? I meant they do not increase our natural and social life support systems in absolute terms. Representatives of several organizations attempted to get me fired or blacklisted, even though they had not read my material. They had a big investment of time, money and energy in certification processes and criteria that aim for incremental improvements over past ‘unsustainable’ building practices. Since then, some certification companies have adopted net-positive terms, but only as synonyms for regenerative design. They have yet to engage with the ideas behind the headlines or taglines. In your opinion, then, are architects truly making “sustainable buildings” or is it more of a PR term used to sell them to the public? Most greenish architects believe they are doing enough, judging by their many awards schemes. This is probably because sustainable design is still new to many mainstream professionals. The 1970s green design movement aimed to increase life quality through design that respected nature and community, although just one house at a time. However, most were constructed by owner-builders using passive solar design, organic materials, and vegetation. Many architects derided these buildings as ‘hippy’ or ‘ugly’. From about 1990, however, green building organizations sprang up to promote better design and forestall the expansion of environmental regulations into the building industry. Have these green building organizations contributed to the broader sustainability movement? In some ways, certainly. They were successful, over time, in disabusing many practitioners and consumers of the false belief that green buildings must cost more or look whacky. In fact, these organizations have made green design totally prestigious among many practitioners. However, they aimed for mechanical efficiency through resource reduction and durability – not increasing future options through multifunctional and adaptable design. Depleting resources and degrading nature more efficiently is not genuine progress. As I used to say, green buildings are like smoking ‘lite cigarettes’ to get healthier. More is sometimes less. Unless we address population growth, we need radical changes to the urban environment. You introduced the standard: ‘buildings that give back more than they take – ecologically socially and economically’. What did you mean by that? That means buildings need to increase the natural life-support system or ‘ecological base’ beyond pre-urban conditions, and increase the social life-support system or ‘public estate’ beyond existing regional conditions. Green buildings that don’t give back economically are seldom built, but few buildings do much to reduce economic hardships and social inequities. Currently, urban development tends to isolate the underprivileged. Cities prevent direct access to the means of survival and well-being – especially in crises. They create dependency on government or corporate authorities that set taxes or prices without increasing the ‘ability to pay’. Are you suggesting that net-positive design could fix what the economy has broken? Conceivably, yes. Design is about synthesis, symbiosis and synergy: not choosing among existing options, but creating opportunities. It is not limited by the laws of economics that require increasing supply and demand through population growth to sustain itself. It is not limited by the laws of politics that require tradeoffs of competing interests or balancing the good with the bad. It is, paradoxically, not even limited by the laws of physics that require equal actions and reactions, because design can make everyone better off. It can create net-positive ripple effects throughout a system by using multifunctional, nature-based, adaptable, and other low-cost design strategies. Can you unpack those design strategies out a bit? Sure. ‘Multifunctional’ products and spaces can provide far more public benefits than conventional single-function approaches to efficiency. Even basic green roofs can provide two dozen building and environmental functions that measurably benefit the community and nature – while saving money. ‘Nature-based’ designs and technologies are not only eco-productive and health-giving; they can support natural systems that provide important ecosystem functions and services. COVID 19 increased general awareness of how being in nature is good for human mental and physical health. Yet, parts of most cities still look and feel like dismal cemeteries alleviated only by smatterings of plastic flowers. ‘Adaptable’ urban environments can respond to changing social, technical, climatic, and demographic forces. This avoids the costs of early demolition and reconstruction. Nevertheless, we still design ‘permanent’ buildings for current codes, climates and conditions, even though change is upon us. ‘Low-cost’ sustainable design can make any living environment feel like an opulent resort or health spa without the expense. Many now understand that luxury ‘by design’ doesn’t require high-priced materials or technologies. Those are positive strategies, but how can building materials be truly net positive over their lifecycle? Multifunctional, nature-based and adaptable materials can overcompensate for their impacts. One of my favorite examples are products made from mycelium, or mushrooms, that can work and look like ordinary wall panels, bricks, timbers, or insulation. Mycelium bricks are strong and repel fire, water, and pests – while also sequestering carbon and waste. Many such products are coming onto the market. Similarly, for decades, many homes have been built entirely from non-narcotic hemp boards, insulation, and ‘hempcrete’. Although it’s a low-impact crop, hemp uses land and water. Mycelium, in contrast, can be grown in low-impact vertical warehouses or abandoned urban structures. This could preserve land that would otherwise be used for harmful mining, forestry, or agricultural processes to manufacture building materials. Many foresaw the magical properties of mushrooms and hemp in the 1960s. Since buildings have so many different components, can a whole structure be ecologically net positive? Yes. For example, buildings can double as native gardens, as opposed to merely having green walls and roofs. Such buildings could generate ecosystems and biodiversity incubators that reflect and support their bioregion’s unique natural and cultural landscapes. One way to retrofit buildings and cities for net public benefits using few resources is called Green Scaffolding. These are custom space frames that create an ecological envelop around all or parts of buildings and public spaces or serve as structural facades themselves. They can provide literally dozens of benefits, including passive solar energy, endangered species habitats, and water treatment and storage. Even if design can create net-positive buildings, can such buildings fix big problems like climate change? In fact, to be net-positive, a building would need to aid in reversing climate change. My co-researchers proved quantitatively that permanent building-integrated vegetation could sequester more carbon than emitted throughout the lifecycle of the building and its supply chains. Another carbon-positive building element, algae-based systems, are already being used in building facades. These systems draw down carbon and produce energy and oxygen, while serving traditional façade functions such as translucent shading. People are increasingly appreciating how nature solves man-made problems brilliantly. We next need to recognize that just mimicking nature’s regenerative systems is no longer enough. So why doesn’t green or regenerative design have net-positive gains? The term ‘net’ means whole systems. It includes all impacts – cumulative and remote, upstream and downstream, ecological and social – within and beyond the project’s borders. Sustainable design has always been contextual. It respects the surrounding heritage, culture and environment. However, the solutions are based on ‘circular systems’ or recycling-writ-large. This closed-system model defines solutions as ‘closing resource loops to turn waste into a resource’. This is essential but balancing inputs and outputs does not go beyond zero. This closed-system paradigm is reinforced by assessment tools that exclude things they cannot measure precisely using imaginary ‘system boundaries’. Actually, this circular model has been around since at least the 1960s. The shift to net-positive has to happen much faster. Why aren’t circular or closed loop systems adequate? Recycling and restoration processes can reduce, reuse and renew materials, but cannot, in itself, produce actual environmental gains. In the context of global deficits caused by past development, such as climate change, resource insecurity and water scarcity, we must do more than make ecosystems, communities, and economies more resilient. For intergenerational justice, cities must be retrofitted to offset their share of ALL development and increase ecology, ethics, and equity in absolute terms. Fortunately, it can be shown that eco-positive retrofitting pays for itself from the public and private savings alone. However, traditional economic accounting discriminates against sustainability. What tools are available to enable architects to assess whether buildings produce net benefits? There are two basic types: green building rating tools and assessment tools. Neither are very relevant to net-positive design. Few developers and designers use them yet, since they are voluntary, and ‘unsustainable’ design is not penalized. Instead of assessing impacts, rating tools list generic, prescriptive rules based on time-honored green design principles. Designers use them to score enough points for their buildings to be certified as green. This means, generally, only developers that want a classy green building for marketing purposes use rating tools. Their standards are slow to be upgraded, since most require industry buy-in. However, local government building departments are increasingly adopting them as project review mechanisms. This is a two-edged sword, because rating tools seldom even consider the ecological and social context. If rating tools just set design rules, do assessment tools encourage design for social and ecological benefits? Lifecycle assessment tools aim to quantify all negative impacts, but they don’t yet count net-positive impacts. They were developed back when it was assumed that impact reductions were all that was possible, so reductions in negative impacts were considered gains. Designers will tend to focus on things that ‘count’, and net-positive benefits don’t count. Also, quantitative tools usually apply to building components, not communities. There are some new tools that claim to assess positive impacts and take a whole system view, but they don’t really. For instance, some tools count the quantity of materials recycled, instead of the benefits they provide per amount of resource used or even the total materials consumed. Some tools count landscaping the remainder of a greenfield site, after putting a large building on it, as ‘net-positive biodiversity’. However, the new net-positive computer app can assist both assessment and design. Your STARFish design app ‘aids urban design and architecture professionals, educators and students in designing urban environments that create net public sustainability gains.’ How is the STARFish app different than other design tools? The STARfish app basically reverses the rubrics of ordinary rating and lifecycle assessment tools. The app was designed to correct about three dozen conceptual errors in the criteria, scales and indicators that most rating tools and some lifecycle assessment tools share. For instance, it provides a genuinely whole-system view. The user can expand the STARfish diagram in a fractal pattern to display myriad cumulative and remote impacts that are summed automatically. This enables designers and assessors to visualize the effect that alternative design improvements would have on the project and its region. How does the app help professionals understand sustainability gains as opposed to restoration, regeneration or resilience? For one thing, STARfish does not count mitigation as a gain. Some tools have given more credit for reducing gas or toxic materials than for not using any. Yet once pollution escapes into the environment, the damage is usually irreversible. To show the importance of the initial plan and design in reducing impacts, therefore, STARfish displays negative, regenerative, and net-positive impacts separately. Other tools, in effect, hide negative impacts behind remedial measures. Also, most tools give a top score for crossing a threshold, beyond which design improvements usually stop. In contrast, the STARfish defines ‘beyond zero’ gains for each impact factor to incentivize continuous improvement. How often are professionals using STARFish or other sustainability apps in the creation of designs these days? I am unaware of other actual sustainable design apps. Few established planners and architects have the time or energy to question the methods that they spent years perfecting. STARfish is primarily geared for university students and young graduates. Since the young generally embrace digital technology and tools, STARfish creates a game. The design team competes with itself to achieve a higher, if not net-positive, ‘score’. Since the app is aimed at the unadulterated, it is free. Positive Development theory also provides new planning analyses, processes, and design guidelines, to help designers achieve ‘genuine’ sustainability at all stages and scales. You were professor of Architecture at QUT and at University of Auckland, and are now an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. How has teaching and working with students impacted your career and work in design and architecture? I learned more from teaching than my students did. I had taught regenerative design throughout the 1990s, but when I started teaching net-positive architecture in the early 2000s, I found that some students did not realize I was asking them to make a paradigm leap. After they graduated, some students reported back that their employers were not interested in even greenish design. Some are doing amazing things, but are up against entrenched conventions in a complex, disaggregated building industry that traditionally has resisted change. Perhaps the app will enable them to show their employers or clients how their designs create measurable net-positive gains. Dr. Birkeland, you have written several textbooks used in high-level education. What led you to writing textbooks and books in general? I wrote textbooks hoping to assist architecture teachers and students in bringing about change faster. Also, there was a need, back then, to add academic credibility and theoretical depth to a field that was ridiculed as naïve and insubstantial. There were technical books that explained how ‘contemporary’ green design was practiced, but I was more interested in diagnosing the causes of institutional, structural, and intellectual barriers to sustainability. We need to adopt systems of decision making, planning and design without waiting for politicians to evolve to a higher state of consciousness. Will there come a day when countries stop allowing economics to dictate ecological policies? Hopefully, because some economists are beginning to shuffle in that direction. The World Economic Forum recently started advocating ‘nature-positive’ development, which is Positive Development without the social dimension. This provides real grounds for optimism since economists rule. However, mainstream economists are barely beginning to grapple with the limits to growth. The sustainability movement championed the ‘limits to growth’ argument in the 1960s and 70s, but the backlash was overwhelming. There is now a so-called ‘donut model’ or a diagram that shows social justice integrated with economics. However, it is couched in the outdated limits to growth framework which involves trade-offs. Reframing things in positive terms – not struggle or sacrifice – might ultimately work better. How might economists reframe things in more positive ways? Like planners and architects, economists need to improve their accounting methods. Most accounting tools underestimate the long-term ‘public’ benefits and costs of development. For instance, green infrastructure has a good return on investment if we count the public benefits gained and costs avoided. Yet many economists still call sustainability investments ‘subsidies’ while treating loans, grants or tax breaks to risky, harmful business enterprises as ‘investments’ – although they never ‘pay back’ their environmental and social costs. There are many kinds of credit and trading schemes or cross subsidies that could be applied to support the upfront costs of eco-positive investments. What is next for the STARFish app and yourself? Will the app be welcomed by the building industry? There is a lot of interest, but it is early days. Paradigm shifts could happen almost instantly, but they usually take over 20 years to sweep through a society. That is about the time span that it takes graduates to begin to influence their profession. I am trying to assist future leaders rather than those with stakes in current practices or lay consumers that have no meaningful sustainability choices yet. Meanwhile, I will be adding sustainable design ideas and benchmarks to the tool. Being semi-retired, I can assist those who want to use it in teaching or practice or want their own architects to use it. Is there a chance for a non-textbook writing in the future? If I can find the time, I would like to write an anonymous comedy based on my life in the trenches. Janis, how is a day in your life? I am still trying to save the planet, but I now live on a large bush property outside of Melbourne. I spend increasing amounts of time creating biodiversity habitats to support the surrounding bioregion. For me, therefore, every day is like ‘tip-toeing through the tulips’, only it’s through Australian bush, bugs and birds. What is something most people don’t know about you? I worked briefly as a ski bum, go-go dancer, art teacher, cowpoke, and of course a waitress, before the architecture field opened up to women. What makes you smile? Being in nature, and looking at toddler pictures of my now grown children. Despite occasional slings and arrows, I have always been euphoric about the privilege of visiting Earth. I got to heaven without dying first. What scares you? People already have the latent design ability to fix climate change, poverty and, in fact, all basic economic, social, and environmental problems. The design solutions already exist. However, I fear that we will destroy billions of years of compounding natural miracles and amazing human cultures before we ‘try’ to save even ourselves. If you had the power to change just one thing in the world what would it be? Dominance relationships and zero-sum decision-making systems seem to underly most barriers to sustainability. Design thinking enables us to step outside the box of built-in lose-lose ‘choices’ to create win-win solutions. We can recalibrate systems to enable everyone to enjoy ‘total prestige environments’ at low-impact by design. For more information on net-positive design or contact Janis, please visit www.netpositivedesign.org

Etimine USA, Inc. is the North American, Caribbean and Central American sales office for Eti Maden, the largest producer of boron products in the world. Eti Maden, owned by the government of Turkey, possesses 72% of the world’s known boron reserves and supplies nearly 50% of the world’s boron needs. Products include ground mineral ores and various grades of boric acid and sodium borates, as well as specialty products such as DOT (disodium octaborate tetrahydrate). Reliability: To act ethically, dependably and responsibly in dealings with customers. Customer Oriented: To provide quality products and services that meet customers’ requirements and exceed their expectations. Team Spirit: To have a working culture that promotes and stimulates institutional synergy. Adaptability: To keep pace with technological innovations and changes in the environment and marketplaces in which we operate. Courage: To embrace the innovations and developments which help to promote the use of boron. Social Responsibility: To carry out activities that are environmentally friendly and supportive of the local community. Etimine USA’s mission is to help companies in North America, Caribbean and Central America benefit from the efficient supply of high quality, value-added boron products. We will utilize Eti Maden’s sustainable development of national boron resources, and provide regional services that help our customers prosper. Learn more about our… Etimine USA is committed to providing its customers high quality products reliably and safely. Our quality program includes our commitment and plans as follows: Etimine USA and Eti Maden respect the environment. Together and separately, we each take measures to minimize our respective operational effects on the environment, and to create the highest level of a healthy environment. Key objectives of our environmental control program are: Etimine USA provides technical support services to help customers solve specific technical challenges they may encounter with our products. Let us know how we can help you with product selection, formulations and more. Our access to fundamental boron research and applications development is unparalleled, given our ties to R&D conducted by Eti Maden in Turkey and their collaborations with Turkey’s prestigious National Boron Research Institute and numerous universities worldwide. Etimine USA actively supports numerous industry organizations that are devoted to help businesses innovate and thrive. Eti Maden’s plans for expansions and improvements at their main operating sites in Turkey include the following major projects: To learn more about these and other project and investment initiatives designed to make Etimine USA and Eti Maden an ever-more valuable supplier for your borate needs, click here. Eti Maden Works G.M. – Global headquarters Etimine USA, Inc. – North America & Central America Etimine SA – Western Europe and Africa Etimine GMBH. – Germany Eti Products OY – Scandinavia and Baltic countries Eti Products RUSSIA – Russia, Kazakhstan and nearby countries Etimine ASIA – Asia

Researchers 3D Print First High-Performance Nanostructured Alloy That’s Both Ultrastrong and Ductile Aug 03, 2022 — Atlanta, GA A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Georgia Institute of Technology has 3D printed a dual-phase, nanostructured high-entropy alloy that exceeds the strength and ductility of other state-of-the-art additively manufactured materials, which could lead to higher-performance components for applications in aerospace, medicine, energy and transportation. The research, led by Wen Chen, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at UMass, and Ting Zhu, professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, was published in the August issue of the journal Nature. Over the past 15 years, high entropy alloys (HEAs) have become increasingly popular as a new paradigm in materials science. Comprised of five or more elements in near-equal proportions, they offer the ability to create a near-infinite number of unique combinations for alloy design. Traditional alloys, such as brass, carbon steel, stainless steel and bronze, contain a primary element combined with one or more trace elements. Additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, has recently emerged as a powerful approach of material development. The laser-based 3D printing can produce large temperature gradients and high cooling rates that are not readily accessible by conventional routes. However, “the potential of harnessing the combined benefits of additive manufacturing and HEAs for achieving novel properties remains largely unexplored,” says Zhu. Chen and his team in the Multiscale Materials and Manufacturing Laboratory combined an HEA with a state-of-the-art 3D printing technique called laser powder bed fusion to develop new materials with unprecedented properties. Because the process causes materials to melt and solidify very rapidly as compared to traditional metallurgy, “you get a very different microstructure that is far-from-equilibrium” on the components created, Chen says. This microstructure looks like a net and is made of alternating layers known as face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) nanolamellar structures embedded in microscale eutectic colonies with random orientations. The hierarchical nanostructured HEA enables co-operative deformation of the two phases. “This unusual microstructure’s atomic rearrangement gives rise to ultrahigh strength as well as enhanced ductility, which is uncommon, because usually strong materials tend to be brittle,” Chen says. Compared to conventional metal casting, “we got almost triple the strength and not only didn’t lose ductility, but actually increased it simultaneously,” he says. “For many applications, a combination of strength and ductility is key. Our findings are original and exciting for materials science and engineering alike.” “The ability to produce strong and ductile HEAs means that these 3D printed materials are more robust in resisting applied deformation, which is important for lightweight structural design for enhanced mechanical efficiency and energy saving,” says Jie Ren, Chen’s Ph.D. student and first author of the paper. Zhu’s group at Georgia Tech led the computational modeling for the research. He developed dual-phase crystal plasticity computational models to understand the mechanistic roles played by both the FCC and BCC nanolamellae and how they work together to give the material added strength and ductility. “Our simulation results show the surprisingly high strength yet high hardening responses in the BCC nanolamellae, which are pivotal for achieving the outstanding strength-ductility synergy of our alloy. This mechanistic understanding provides an important basis for guiding the future development of 3D printed HEAs with exceptional mechanical properties,” Zhu says. In addition, 3D printing offers a powerful tool to make geometrically complex and customized parts. In the future, harnessing 3D printing technology and the vast alloy design space of HEAs opens ample opportunities for the direct production of end-use components for biomedical and aerospace applications. Additional research partners on the paper include Texas A&M University, the University of California Los Angeles, Rice University, and Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. Story by Melinda Rose, Associate News Editor at UMass Amherst. Catherine Barzler, Senior Research Writer/Editor

An important step to more sustainability: European Customer Synergy S.A. and Tana Chemie GmbH enter into strategic cooperation “In facility management services for international customers, ECS emphasizes sustainability, environmental protection and quality in its use of resources and materials. To support those efforts, the company entered into a partner agreement with Tana-Chemie GmbH, the Mainz-based manufacturer of hygiene and cleaning products. The products convince users with their quality, low-dosage use and – unique to the market – packaging made of 100% recycled plastic. We look forward to our close cooperation, » says Thomas Fastenrath, CEO at ECS. « From now on we will include the Tana products in our sustainability concept for new and existing customers. » About European Customer Synergy S.A. (ECS): European Customer Synergy S.A. (ECS) is a Pan-European facilities management company, headquartered in Brussels (B), delivering a full suite of facilities management services varying from single services to integrated facilities management solutions. ECS proactively manages its customers’ facilities management operations and real estate portfolios by exploiting its local expertise, European experience and technology. The goal is to be the leading local owner-driven pan-European facilities management services provider, appreciated for delivering peace of mind, top quality, and value enhancement for owners and tenants. Each customer is different. That is why ECS offers tailored integrated facilities management solutions. Based on a thorough analysis of customer needs, requirements and strategic objectives, ECS develops an industry-leading solution.

As part of Design Week Birmingham 2015, the Museum is excited to welcome Natalie Chanin for our annual Hiden Lecture on Wednesday, October 21 at 6PM. Chanin, of Alabama Chanin, strives to achieve complete sustainability at every stage of the manufacturing process – from materials and processes, to cultural sustainability in the form of preserving hand-sewing skills. In her lecture at the Museum, she will discuss mid-century modern design in a talk entitled Mathematics, Magic, and Mid-Century. To learn more about Chanin’s background and the talk, click here. Before Chanin comes to Birmingham, the Museum had a few questions about her work, the mid-century aesthetic, and the design community in Alabama. Read along in our interview below. Birmingham Museum of Art: Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get started in the design world? Natalie Chanin: I’m a native of The Shoals community in northern Alabama. In the mid-1980s, I pursued a degree in Environmental Design at North Carolina State University. The philosophy of my learning program — in the vein of the Bauhaus movement — was to teach design theory alongside manufacturing methods. I learned to ask why things are made in one specific way. Are there alternatives? And what are the consequences and results of changing manufacturing systems? This was the beginning of my understanding of sustainability and the role it could potentially play in my designs. The greatest education – on life and design – I could have hoped for, I found as a stylist in Europe. That taught me almost everything I know about fabric, shape, and fit. It allowed me room to experiment I might not have otherwise had. BMA: What inspires your work? NC: I’ve just received a fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts to explore inspiration over the next year. Inspiration is a fleeting concept, and it can be completely different from one person to another. I’m in the process of exploring if there are similarities and absolute differences among and across disciplines. My friend Rosanne Cash recently wrote to me: “85% of my success is because I’m tenacious and I show up for work.” I love that. Inspiration can be as simple as just getting up every day and showing up. BMA: In a feature by NPR last year, you described the “ugly history” of cotton and how your work is part of “making a new story for cotton.” Does creating this “new story” extend to the South as a whole, and how has your design work accomplished this? NC: To better articulate that sentiment, I think it’s important to say the ugliness isn’t with the cotton itself. People were not enslaved by cotton; they were enslaved by other people. Cotton is just a commodity – but this commodity created a system where society benefitted from the free, absolutely dehumanizing labor of other human beings. That being said, I wouldn’t say that our work has accomplished this, but I hope that we are part of a growing story that looks to the past and writes a new future. And our story is one of community, both local and global. Though we are located in the South, I see us living in global times, and we have a responsibility to the global village. Purchasing a cotton t-shirt in America today can have either positive or very negative outcomes on the other side of the globe. As consumers, we become part of the story whether we want to or not. As producers, we have some choice as to what role we want to play in that story. BMA: For your talk at the BMA, you’ll discuss the mathematics and magic behind mid-century design. Why do you think the mid-century modern aesthetic has been particularly popular in design, from architectural to graphic, today? NC: I think that it is part excellent design and part nostalgia. Design and manufacturing processes found a time of great synergy during this period. Designers were digging deep into research, looking for how to make something brand new – innovative, but lasting. Great products were made that stood the test of family homes and resisted decay. Much of what is made today, whether you are talking about a garment or a chair or even a home, is made with the idea of the item being eventually disposable. This was not the case with great mid-century designs. BMA: Your talk in Birmingham is part of this year’s Design Week Birmingham. What does it mean to you to see the excitement and innovation of the design community in Alabama? NC: It is wonderful to have so many talented designers in our community, and I feel lucky to be a part of this beautiful and growing conversation. We have an opportunity to inspire and promote our rising talent and also show other communities what Alabama has to offer. Smart design can promote better, longer lasting products and, at the same time, work towards social change and economic empowerment. On a smaller scale, Birmingham (and Alabama at-large) has a lot of hidden talent to be shared. This is a wonderful chance to look around and appreciate our amazing designers.

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Changing the face of learning: a success story at Al Khubairat We have previously discussed how teachers at The British School – Al Khubairat, located in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, have recently welcomed the deployment of G-Suite for Education and 720 Acer Chromebooks Spin 11 for their students to use on a 1:1 basis and how the upgrade has changed classroom time and administrative tasks for the better. But a school would be nothing without its students, so now it is time to hear their voices. What does this transformation look like from the other side of the teacher’s desk? A one-stop shop for learning Students at Al Khubairat have been interviewed about their experiences using their Chromebooks and G-Suite in the classroom and have given a positive response in general, but there is one aspect they seem to have appreciated the most: Google Classroom, Calendar and the synergy of the several other G-Suite applications have created a single, efficient place to go for all their learning and organisational needs. With a little help from Google in remembering their homework assignments and schedules, students are more independent and free to focus on learning without the need to be constantly reminded about their daily duties: G-Suite and Acer Chromebooks are helping them take their education in their own hands and explore their interests and talents with a wealth of apps for any endeavour, all while never missing a deadline or losing an important piece of material again. No subject is left out Another interesting aspect that tends to emerge from student interviews is that they have definitely noticed that technology is no longer its own subject, but a fact of life that pervades all other areas of learning: the examples they brought up when asked to describe their day-to-day experience with the devices go from languages to science and all the way to visual arts. Students have been exploring the full range of possibilities offered by Google’s educational products. From drawing with Google Canvas, to charting and graphing experiment results in science, to improving language and digital literacy skills in one fell swoop by editing their own videos in language classes, students at Al Khubairat are learning the most important lesson of all: no part of life can do without technology in this day and age and school is no exception. By applying technology equally to all lessons and using G-Suite as a great, unified hub for all their learning, students are also given the chance to see with their own eyes that all human knowledge is interconnected and that even in today’s highly specialised world, there is value in knowing a little bit of everything and in staying curious. It is plain to see that Acer Chromebooks and G-Suite have made a positive difference in these young people’s lives and we would like to take the time to express our wish that such a difference may carry over into their adult years and shape them into men and women who can build a better future for all of us.

At Synergy Healthcare, we want you to feel and look your best so we offer the best in antiaging skin treatments. We paired Skin Pen, the leader in Microneedling with Selphyl and ReGen, the leaders in PRP to soften your pores, minimize your scars, regenerate your collagen and refine your skin to look your best. Microneedling is also known as collagen induction therapy. It is a minimally invasive skin rejuvenation procedure with maximum results. PRP (platelet-rich plasma) provides growth factors, nutrients, vitamins and more, which stimulate stem cell proliferation, migration, and new tissue generation. The new skin cells produce collagen and elastin necessary for youthful skin. Skin pen is used on all skin types and can reverse years of sun damage, improve the appearance of scars, stretch marks and hyperpigmentation and more. Bio identical hormones. safe. effective. Menopause doesn't have to be difficult. Epionce Skincare and Nutrimed Medical Weight Loss Programs We don't offer anything we don't firmly believe in. We are now carrying the finest skin care line available. Epionce® is an evidence-based professional product line sold exclusively to physicians and other licensed skincare professionals to ensure you receive a comprehensive and effective skincare program specific to your needs. Epionce Renews your skin from the inside out. Visit www.epionce.com to learn more about Epionce and their entire skincare line. When you visit their website, you can create a personal account to enable you to order products that will be shipped directly to your door. Please call our office at 913-727-1013 for additional information or to schedule an in-office demo. Free gift with seleft purchases

SMS with AOD and continuous caster Automated wire rod mill Precision Heat treatment Wire drawing facility Bar processing facility Advanced testing infrastructure If a company dreams of becoming an example for others to follow, it needs a clear vision, a strong value system, an unshakeable work ethic and service that is impeccable. Founded by my father, Synergy Steels is a symbol for impeccable steel. But we are the result of dedicated individuals and professionals who love all the qualities that stainless steel evokes. India is a leader in stainless steel long products and we represent a fair share of this contribution in India and overseas. In the coming years, we will be further integrating our product range. We are ambitious, grounded and focused. That is the persona that every individual working at Synergy embodies. Mr. Anubhav Kathuria We constantly strive to be brave enough to try new things and we want to create an atmosphere of positivity – in our relationships with our clients, intra-organizational relationships and in our attitude towards environment. We want to build our firm on a foundation of trust and integrity and seek to empower communities to help themselves and others. We aspire to become one of the largest manufacturers of stainless steel and by venturing into new avenues of steel production, diversify our product portfolio. We aim to be the favorites and one of the global leaders in the stainless steel industry. We envision a consistent yet sustainable growth and make constant improvements on this journey towards excellence Our customers are the most important stakeholders and our purpose is to make sure they get only the best. We have some of the best creative minds and an experienced workforce. Using a combination of both we want to achieve flawlessness. We have an eye for detail and we leave no stone unturned when it comes to execution. We understand our customers and we believe that in order to gain their trust, it is important to deliver quality. We hope to perfect these characteristics going forward. For a company to become an example for others to follow, it must have a clear vision, a strong value system, an unshakeable work ethic, and impeccable service. Synergy has all these traits. Synergy also has a green heart because we care deeply about the planet. So, we take steps to be sustainable and reduce the strain on the Earth’s limited resources. In our journey to the top, we believe that hard work, dedication, loyalty, holding close our customers and our dedicated workforce is the path to achieve and maintain perfection.

K-Pop idol group 2PM have become the new faces for fitness wear brand XEXYMIX. A XEXYMIX official stated, “The 2PM members are known to like and enjoy fitness and working out in real life. This is not only in line with the energetic brand image of XEXYMIX, but they also have a strong fan base in Korea and abroad, and we can expect to create a synergy in the brand’s global market.” 2PM recently succeeded in bringing back their 2015 hit song “My House” back to the charts through YouTube. Recently, the members have completed their military service and are preparing for their comeback with all members.

Muscles & Joints Pure Heat Roller - Tell Us More - Shake well before use and only apply to the intended area. Adapt the amount of product to produce the desired sensation of warmth, up to one application a day maximum, i.e: 1.2g/day = 20 roll swipes. • IMMEDIATE HEATING EFFECT: to help soothe stiffness and tension, and perform a relaxing massage. Helps to effectively relax and soothe localised areas (neck, shoulder, knee, calf ...). To be used during the day or after exercise. Recommended for athletes, or people suffering from muscle and joint pain. • INNOVATIVE FORMULA: 97.6% natural formula containing a phyto-aromatic blend of 14 essential oils and two plant extracts, Arnica and Harpagophytum. Vegan & Cruelty-free. Dermatologically and Physio tested. • UNIQUE SYNERGY: with soothing fragrance, combined with massage, helps facilitate relaxation and provides an immediate intense feeling of warmth that last up to 2H*. • ROLLER BALL: ideal for self-massaging by acupressure effect; allowing a direct and targeted action on painful areas and muscle relaxation. If needed, complement with a manual massage. In this case, thoroughly massage onto skin and wash hands after use. Quick absorption, pleasant and light texture, penetrates quickly. Does not stain. • 14 essential oils:Cajeput, Roman Chamomile, Clove, Eucalyptus globulus, American Wintergreen, Juniper, Lavandin, Marjoram, Peppermint, Niaouli, Nutmeg, Scots Pine, Rosemary cineole, Turpentine. • 2 plants extract: Arnica, Harpagophytum For adults only. Not to be used by pregnant or breastfeeding women. Do not use it if you are allergic to salicylates or to one of the ingredients. Do not use it for medical purposes. Do not use together with blood-thinning medication unless medically indicated. Avoid all contact with the eyes and mucous membranes. If contact occurs, rinse with vegetable oil. Do not use it on damaged skin. Do not apply to the face. Keep out the reach and sight of children. External use only. If discomfort occurs, discontinue use.

It’s been 86 days or 2,064 hours since the San Antonio Spurs last played basketball, if you’ve been counting. Over the course of those 12 weeks, the franchise’s trajectory has changed drastically. The excitement surrounding the team is at an all-time high, and that hype should follow the team into their summer league run. The Spurs travel to Sacramento for two games in the California Classic Summer League. Fans will get to see a variety of rookies, returning players with something to prove, and guys looking to earn a spot in the NBA. Noticeably absent from the roster in Sacramento is number one overall pick Victor Wembanyama, who will join the team in Vegas on July 7. Both California Classic games can be seen on ESPN. San Antonio will face the Charlotte Hornets on July 3 at 7 p.m. CT for their first game. Number two overall pick i NBA Draft, Brandon Miller, headlines a tough Hornets team loaded with young talent. Nick Smith Jr., Amari Bailey, James Nnaji, Bryce McGowens and James Bouknight are all players to watch for Charlotte. Miller will have a lot to prove after being selected over Scoot Henderson, who many expected to be the better NBA player. After a Fourth of July break, the Spurs will be back at it with a matchup against Los Angeles Lakers on 5 July at 19 CT. The Lakers roster has less NBA experience, but features some interesting players who will look to catch the team. Watch for D’Moi Hodge and Colin Castleton as two undrafted free agents who could make a big splash. The Spurs roster also brings a lot of talent to the table. It can be divided into the following groups: Returning NBA players - Dominick Barlow - Great Branham - Julian Champagne - Blake Wesley Of the returning four, Wesley and Barlow probably have the most to prove. Branham has earned his place on the team with his strong play towards the end of the season. Champagnie just signed a 4-year, $12 million contract and shot the lights out at the end of the year. For Branham It will be important to see improvements from him on the defensive end and to shoot the ball from deep. Branham has all the tools to dominate the summer league, as a solid shot creator and an improved playmaker. The best case scenario here is that he plays so well that the Spurs don’t need to send him to Vegas. Champagnie has apparently grown two-inches (??) since last season. It will be interesting to see if his motion shooting can continue to improve. If the 6-9 wing can consistently hit shots and draw defenders with his gravity, he could play a big role with the team in the regular season. If anyone has a lot riding on this summer, it’s Wesley, who has a real path to playing time next year. The sophomore guard must improve as a finisher at the rim and cut down on turnovers if he is to handle primary ball-handling opportunities. According to Wesley, he has already added 10 kilos of muscle this summer. If true, it could help him finish on the edge where he shot just 38% last season per. Synergy. Barlow has yet to sign a new deal with San Antonio, but will play a big role in summer league. Last season he emerged strongly as an interior defender and finisher on the edge. He also has a soft touch in the midrange. Will the big man take threes this summer? In a roster looking for versatility on both offense and defense, Barlow has a chance to show how he fits that need. Rookies with invitations to training camp - Sidy Cissoko - Charles of Bedia - Seth Miller - Sir’Jabari rice San Antonio brings an exciting crop of rookies to summer league. All eyes will be on Cissoko, who has been hyped for a second-round draft pick. He played well for the G League Ignite last year, averaging 11.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 45.5% from the field. The big question with Cissoko is his three-point shooting and defensive consistency. He has a lot of tools at 6-7, but never really put it all together last year. The main thing to watch for Cissoko is how much he makes mistakes and how Spurs unleash his passing skills. Bediako and Millner are on exhibition-10 contracts and will be with the team through summer league and into training camp. Bediako is a threat in the paint who can erase shots at the rim and throw down thunderous dunks. Millner is a sharp-shooting wing who hit 42% of his threes in Toldeo last season. Rice was one of the most exciting players in college basketball who could light it up off the bench at Texas. He is an older rookie who will be 25 years old when the season begins, but will be on a two-way contract with the Spurs. Rice was a knockdown shooter at UT, shooting 37% from three. That shooting ability made defenders consistently fall for his amazing pump fake. It will be fun to watch him fool opposing defenses in summer league. - Josh Carlton - Justin Gorham - Sadik pretty much In classic Spurs fashion, the summer league will have some international flair. They have brought three exciting prospects from Turkey, France and Lithuania. Kabaca is the one I have my eye on. At 6-10, the forward hit 44% of his three point attempts with Galatasaray last year. He has a good feel for the game and is a talented passer. Carlton played for the Houston Cougars in college and is a physical big man at 240 pounds (or 108 kilograms using the metric system.) He will add some needed veteran physique to the squad. Gorham is another former Cougar who averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds in international play last year. - Chaundee Brown - Justin Kier - Javante McCoy Austin’s influence will be felt on the summer league roster, especially with Brown and Kier, who are alumni of the Spurs’ G League program. McCoy will join the team from the South Bay Lakers. Last season he averaged 14 points while shooting 37% from three. McCoy and Kier bring shooting, while Brown is a big 6-6 guard who can play inside. Undrafted rookies looking for deals - Logan Johnson - Erik Stevenson Johnson and Stevenson are both 5-year college guards who played for great basketball programs. Johnson spent his senior year at St. Mary’s, and Stevenson was one of West Virginia’s best sharpshooters. Stevenson in particular will be interesting to watch. He was a skilled pull-up shooter in college shooting 42% on those attempts. His shooting could land him a spot in the NBA. If he gets hot in summer league, expect teams to be excited about the 6-4 guard. There’s a lot of talent to be excited about on the Spurs’ summer league roster, and a handful of players who should see time with the NBA team come October. This summer will be an important test for players who want a chance to be part of what the team is building around Victor Wembanyama going forward.

Perspective and Maldives Promotion House Announces Strategic Partnership and Appointment of Ali Naafiz as Editor of Hotelier Maldives MALE, MALDIVES, June 1, 2023 — Perspective Pvt Ltd is pleased to announce the appointment of Ali Naafiz as the Editor of Hotelier Maldives, following the strategic partnership with Maldives Promotion House Pvt Ltd, publisher of Maldives Insider. This collaboration marks an important milestone in the travel media landscape of the Maldives, as it brings together two prominent entities with a shared vision for excellence and growth. The partnership between Perspective Pvt Ltd and Maldives Promotion House Pvt Ltd will facilitate a seamless integration of resources and expertise, leveraging their collective experience in publishing, media, and management, amounting to almost three decades. This union sets the stage for innovative growth and synergy, enabling the companies to deliver even greater value to their readership and partners. Ali Naafiz brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his new role as the Editor of Hotelier Maldives. With his extensive experience in the media industry, he is poised to lead the publication towards new horizons of success and recognition. Ali Naafiz’s deep understanding of the Maldives’ hospitality sector will be instrumental in providing insightful and impactful content, further solidifying Hotelier Maldives’ position as the premier source of information for the industry. Ali Naafiz will also retain his roles at Maldives Insider and Next Media Group. In addition to this exciting appointment, Perspective Pvt Ltd is thrilled to announce that the annual GM Forum hosted by Hotelier Maldives will undergo a significant revamp. This strategic decision reflects Perspective Pvt Ltd’s commitment to continuously evolve and innovate its product portfolio to cater to the evolving needs and demands of the industry. The revamped GM Forum will provide a platform for industry leaders, professionals, and stakeholders to engage in meaningful discussions and collaborate on shaping the future of the Maldives’ hospitality landscape. Perspective Pvt Ltd and Maldives Promotion House Pvt Ltd, are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. We remain steadfast in our dedication to delivering exceptional value to our esteemed readership and partners, while striving for continuous improvement and innovation. For media inquiries or more information, please contact: About Perspective Pvt. Ltd. Perspective Pvt. Ltd. is the publisher of Hotelier Maldives, the premier hospitality magazine in the Maldives. Dedicated to providing an exceptional platform for industry professionals to connect, share insights, and discover new opportunities, Hotelier Maldives is a trusted source of information and inspiration for the vibrant hospitality community. About Maldives Promotion House Pvt. Ltd. Maldives Promotion House Pvt. Ltd. is the publisher of Maldives Insider, a leading travel platform exclusively dedicated to showcasing the beauty and wonders of the Maldives. With a passion for excellence and an unwavering commitment to promoting the Maldivian tourism industry, Maldives Promotion House provides insightful information and engaging content to its global audience.

A lot of little ones who end up in wilderness systems don’t arrive voluntarily. Rather, they’re sent away after their moms and dads feel they have actually tired other options. Katelyn Haruko Schmisseur got out of bed in a desert home with a restroom that was composed of a tarpaulin tied to a plant. She was actually 16. She had actually been delivered to a wild program. 1. Experiencing All-natural Effects Many wilderness programs rely on all-natural repercussions rather than a device of discipline or psychological misuse to generate improvement. The shortage of distraction in the wild (no damaging peers, no rap popular music, no adolescent lifestyle) permits the restorative atmosphere to focus on training students social as well as personal obligation. The 1st step is a cleaning phase that clears away trainees coming from the compounds as well as harmful environments that have brought about their chemical dependency. wilderness program After the cleansing stage, it is actually crucial that trainees discover just how to decide on their own. This is accomplished by means of a wide array of activities, including primitive skills, and also via hands on knowledge that are actually bolstered through logical all-natural effects. For instance, if a trainee does not established a tarp as well as it storms they will definitely get wet. This technique instructs pupils that there is a direct relationship in between their selections and also the consequences that observe. Aside from making it possible for students to cultivate innate motivation, it additionally makes it possible for students to get confidence in their capability to make good selections, even when they are not assisted by their friend or families. 2. Cultivating Intrinsic Inspiration When a young adult gets the green light to participate in a wild plan, they need to be intrinsically inspired to take part in activities that will definitely help them work through their concerns and also create beneficial problem management mechanisms. To create this occur, wild therapy courses integrate difficulties that are actually promoted through therapists and often occur in the native environment. wilderness therapy program North Carolina The problem experiences included in to wild treatment generate psychological ideas like growth, guts as well as flow perspectives and also promote individual change. They likewise show the skills of self-questioning and self-evaluation. Relying on the form of wild system, the individuals could be put in peer groups to learn about well-balanced relationships and also strengthen their loved ones dynamics upon returning residence. Along with installing scientific end result research as well as testaments from lots of teenagers and moms and dads, Wilderness Therapy has actually shown to be successful for a variety of behavioral worries and mood disorders. Nonetheless, it is vital for moms and dads to find a risk-free as well as therapeutic wilderness-based system for their straining little one. To help, a trade team that keeps an eye on the industry of wilderness-based programs keeps a checklist of what it thinks about reputable courses. 3. Building Independence Since they really want to sustain their household privacy, a lot of households are reluctant to discuss their expertises along with wilderness systems. Nevertheless, you can discover a lot regarding whether a wilderness program corrects for your teenager through reading testimonials from folks that have actually been positively influenced through it. Wilderness therapy is actually a form of experiential knowing that integrates exterior activities with restorative sessions led through counselors. It is commonly utilized to assist teens with personality issues. The philosophy responsible for it is actually that adolescents need to have to become taken out from the interruptions of day-to-day life and also tested in a manner that helps them to identify their personal self-confidence. The counselors at these wild plans utilize a wide array of approaches consisting of journey tasks, survival skill-sets instruction and also group bonding exercises to aid teenagers review their maladaptive behavior and replace it along with additional successful thought and feelings patterns. They also possess therapy treatments that pay attention to coping with the mental damages that may be actually triggering your kid to impersonate. Educational experts can assist you get through the nuances of wilderness systems and find one that are going to be actually an excellent suitable for your daughter or son. 4. Establishing Unity Abilities Building teamwork skill-sets is a large component of engagement in wilderness programs. This teaches teens to operate all together and also cultivate a shared feeling of reason. It’s certainly not rare for adolescents to have some problem adjusting to lifestyle in the wild. So as to flourish in this setting, they require to learn healthy and balanced problem management actions as well as create a powerful sense of self-efficacy. This are going to help them handle their mental problems and discover effectiveness in academic, social & expert setups. If you have an interest in finding a wilderness system for your teen, educational consultants may help you browse the subtleties of various plans and also make certain that they are actually the greatest fit for your family members. They can easily likewise highly recommend emotional testing or even a wilderness specialist assessment to find out if the program pertains for your child. 5. Developing Self-Awareness Getting to know on your own is actually an essential facet of a therapeutic wild course. Individuals manage to participate in both team and private treatment treatments where they function to build healthy and balanced coping strategies and also self-awareness when faced with erratic and daunting circumstances. These dealing capabilities and also skills are crucial to success in lifestyle. They may help to boost college functionality, enhance job productivity and also develop tough connections. They may additionally be utilized to beat psychological challenges and also deal with damage. These troubles may be hard for families to deal along with. Wilderness therapy is actually a wonderful way to receive them back on monitor. The majority of contemporary wild programs are actually based on the initial Outward Tied institutions established through German instructor Kurt Hahn. They follow his pedagogical approach of Experiential Learning. This method teaches adolescents to conquer their cope exterior adventures as well as challenges. In a secure, helpful group specifying they learn to get in touch with others as well as cooperate to complete jobs. Most wild programs count on all-natural repercussions rather than a system of discipline or psychological misuse to bring about adjustment. Depending on the style of wild system, the participants can easily be actually put in peer groups to learn regarding healthy and balanced relationships and improve their loved ones mechanics upon returning property. The therapists at these wilderness courses use an assortment of procedures consisting of adventure activities, survival abilities training and team connecting exercises to aid youngsters review their maladaptive habits and change it with more productive idea patterns. Educational experts can aid you navigate the distinctions of wild courses and discover one that will certainly be an excellent match for your son or child. Cultivating synergy skill-sets is a major component of involvement in wild plans.

Are you looking for the @kathilipp BetterHelp Discount Code ? Click this link to claim the 15% discounted rate and a bonus from this influencer…. YouTubers Promoting Betterhelp: The Increase of Influencer Marketing and the Influence On Mental Health Assistance In recent years, a noteworthy pattern has emerged on YouTube, where prominent YouTubers have actually partnered with Betterhelp, an online counseling platform, to raise awareness about psychological health and provide assistance to their viewers. This post explores the increase of influencer marketing on YouTube and the significant function that Betterhelp is playing in assisting people with their mental well-being. The Power of Influencer Marketing: YouTube has actually become a powerhouse of influencer marketing, where material developers with large followings hold significant sway over their audience. By working together with brands and promoting services or products, YouTubers have established themselves as prominent voices, capable of forming public opinion and driving customer habits. YouTubers Promoting Betterhelp: Numerous prominent YouTubers have actually stepped forward to promote for mental health and back Betterhelp’s online counseling services. Amongst them, significant personalities such as [YouTuber name], [YouTuber name], and [YouTuber name] have partnered with Betterhelp to share their own experiences and motivate their audiences to seek professional support. Their individual stories, integrated with the transparent and available nature of YouTube, have actually assisted destigmatize mental health concerns and encourage open conversations. By leveraging their impact and reliability, these YouTubers have successfully reached out to a broad audience, developing awareness about the significance of psychological health and the advantages of looking for professional aid. The Increase of Betterhelp: Betterhelp has become a leading platform for online counseling, linking people with certified therapists who can supply assistance for a wide range of mental health issues. The platform’s easy to use user interface, convenience, and anonymity have made treatment more accessible and attractive, especially to more youthful generations accustomed to digital interactions. Betterhelp’s partnership with YouTubers has actually contributed in extending its reach and engaging with varied demographics. The power of these collaborations depends on the authenticity and relatability of YouTubers, as their followers often see them as friends or mentors. By actively discussing their own mental health struggles and recommending Betterhelp as an important resource, YouTubers have played a vital role in promoting favorable mindsets towards treatment and self-care. Social network platforms have actually revolutionized the way we interact and take in material. Instagram, in particular, has become a hub for influencer marketing, where popular influencers work together with brands to promote product and services. This short article explores the journey from discovering psychological health support through Instagram influencers to signing up for platforms like Betterhelp, leveraging the power of influencer marketing. What Youtubers are sponsored by BetterHelp? Finding Influencer Content: Scrolling through your Instagram feed, you stumble upon a post by a prominent influencer sharing their personal mental health journey. The influencer’s captivating image and appealing caption capture your attention, prompting you to dive deeper into their content. Credibility and Vulnerability: As you explore the influencer’s profile, you discover that they routinely share their experiences with psychological health obstacles and discuss the value of seeking professional assistance. Their genuine and vulnerable method resonates with you, evoking a sense of connection and relatability. Highlighting Mental Health Assistance Platforms: Within their stories or posts, the influencer discusses their partnership with psychological health assistance platforms like Betterhelp. They highlight the advantages of online therapy, such as availability, anonymity, and the availability of certified therapists. Engaging with Influencer Recommendations: Interested by the influencer’s recommendation, you navigate to their Instagram bio or swipe-up link, which directs you to a devoted landing page or the Betterhelp website. These platforms provide detailed information about the advantages, functions, and user experience of the psychological health support service. Evaluating Your Mental Health Requirements: As you find out more about Betterhelp’s services, you review your own mental wellness. The platform’s website provides thorough details about the different areas they resolve, including stress and anxiety, depression, tension management, and relationship concerns. You examine whether the platform aligns with your specific needs. Utilizing Influencer Discount Rate Codes: While checking out the influencer’s material, you observe they have provided a special discount code for their fans. This code grants you a discounted rate for the initial treatment sessions, making expert mental health support more accessible and inexpensive. Signing up and Matching with a Therapist: Inspired by the influencer’s endorsement and the opportunity for affordable therapy, you proceed to sign up for Betterhelp’s services. The registration process generally involves finishing a survey to provide insight into your mental health requirements, allowing the platform to match you with a licensed therapist specializing in your specific concerns. Starting the Therapy Journey: After signing up, you eagerly anticipate your first interaction with the designated therapist. Betterhelp’s user-friendly interface and communication alternatives, such as messaging, telephone call, or video sessions, make sure flexibility and convenience as you embark on your therapy journey. In the world of mental health assistance, influencer marketing on Instagram has actually paved the way for individuals to find and access services like Betterhelp. The credibility, vulnerability, and relatability of influencers’ content assistance break down barriers and motivate conversations around mental health. By leveraging influencer discount rate codes, platforms like Betterhelp improve ease of access, empowering people to prioritize their wellness. This synergy in between Instagram influencers and psychological health platforms highlights the evolving landscape of assistance, where relatable experiences and digital connections combine to foster a much healthier society. Assisting Individuals with Mental Health: Betterhelp’s services have actually favorably impacted countless individuals battling with mental health concerns. The platform provides a series of counseling choices, including text-based chat sessions, phone calls, and video conferences, allowing users to pick a format that matches their preferences and comfort levels. Through Betterhelp, people can access licensed therapists who focus on locations such as depression, stress and anxiety, stress management, relationship concerns, and more. The convenience of online therapy gets rid of geographical barriers and time constraints, making it much easier for individuals to look for help when they need it the most. The marriage of influencer marketing on YouTube and the important services offered by Betterhelp has actually produced an effective alliance in the realm of psychological health support. By working together with YouTubers, Betterhelp has actually successfully reached and engaged audiences that may have otherwise hesitated to look for therapy. As influencer marketing continues to evolve on YouTube, it is heartening to witness its positive impact on mental health conversations. Through the shared efforts of YouTubers and Betterhelp, the message of seeking professional assistance for psychological wellness is being spread out everywhere, breaking down barriers and using intend to those in need. In the digital age, YouTube has actually become an influential platform where people look for home entertainment, education, and, significantly, mental health material. This article checks out the journey of watching a YouTube video about therapy, finding the advantages of platforms like Betterhelp, and registering for their services using a discount code. Discovering the YouTube Video: Envision you stumble upon a YouTube video titled “My Journey to Mental Wellness” by a popular material creator. The YouTuber shares their personal experiences, talks about the effect of therapy, and highlights the value of looking for expert aid for mental well-being. Highlighting the Advantages of Online Counseling: As you enjoy the video, the YouTuber discusses their partnership with Betterhelp, an online therapy platform. They highlight the privacy, accessibility, and convenience provided by the platform. The YouTuber explains how Betterhelp connects people with certified therapists who can attend to various mental health issues. Checking out Betterhelp’s Website: Interested by the YouTuber’s positive endorsement, you check out the Betterhelp site. The platform’s easy to use interface instantly captures your attention. You browse through the website’s useful pages, learning more about the different therapy options available, the certifications of the therapists, and the versatile interaction techniques they use, such as text-based chat, telephone call, or video conferences. Evaluating Your Mental Health Requirements: Reviewing your own psychological health journey, you consider the areas in which you might benefit from expert assistance. Betterhelp’s comprehensive services cover a wide variety of issues, consisting of anxiety, depression, tension, relationship issues, and more. The website’s clear and succinct info assists you examine whether the platform lines up with your requirements. Joining a Discount rate Code: Impressed by the ease and accessibility of Betterhelp, you decide to sign and take the next step up for their services. As luck would have it, the YouTuber supplied a discount rate code in their video, offering a decreased rate for the preliminary sessions. You enter the discount rate code during the registration procedure, grateful for the chance to get therapy at a more budget-friendly expense. Getting in touch with a Therapist: Upon finishing the registration process, Betterhelp triggers you to complete a short survey to better comprehend your psychological health needs and choices. Based upon your reactions, the platform matches you with a licensed therapist who specializes in the locations you highlighted. Starting Your Therapy Journey: With the sign-up procedure total, you excitedly await your first interaction with your designated therapist. Betterhelp’s communication methods enable you to engage with your therapist in a way that suits your comfort level, whether it’s through text-based chat, telephone call, or video conferences. In a period where digital platforms and personal experiences link, the journey from enjoying a YouTube video about therapy to registering for a psychological health platform like Betterhelp is both impactful and seamless. The genuine recommendations and relatable stories shared by YouTubers assistance people acknowledge the benefits of seeking professional assistance. By offering discount rate codes, Betterhelp boosts availability, empowering people to prioritize their mental wellness with minimized monetary constraints. This pathway represents the progressing landscape of mental health assistance, integrating the influence of online material developers with the convenience of innovative platforms.

THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING An ideal solution that combines both sophisticated analytics with robust technology is necessary to overcome the regulatory burden and rising cost of compliance. “We bring a proven global credit information management platform to community banks—combining Fintellix’s powerful technology and Ardmore’s credit risk consulting expertise—to solve the compliance problems along with more information to be publicly released for financial institutions,” says Peter Cherpack, CEO, Ardmore Fintellix Solutions. The firm helps community banks easily manage their regulatory compliance matters and also focus on investment strategies and profitability, while maintaining high levels of security, transparency, process control and operational scale. The Fintellix-Ardmore alliance encompasses global expertise, local experience, and next generation solutions to lower the cost of compliance for community banks. The synergy has created a Credit Portfolio Management suite that offers a Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL)-ready Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL) solution, along with credit portfolio analytics and portfolio stress testing solutions, all of which leverage the next-generation credit data-mart and data management platform to provide immediate results to banks. ALLL Manager is powered by a comprehensive credit data warehouse and serves as Software as a Service (SaaS) for credit professionals to instantly access all the reference documents for customized reports based on each bank’s specific needs. We bring a proven global credit information management platform to community banks to solve compliance problems along with more information to be publicly released The company’s innovative credit portfolio analytics solution is also capable of providing real-time insights into the business based on data streams that was traditionally considered being of no value. This edge translates profitable growth, better customer relationships, improved operational efficiency, and superior resource management for capital market firms. Ardmore Fintellix Solutions ensure that there isn’t any data duplication and obviate the need for reconciliation related overheads. Providing credit risk consulting and credit management solutions for over 25 years in the community bank market, Ardmore Fintellix Solutions has successfully implemented its industry-leading regulatory compliance, risk management and reporting solutions in over 11 countries. Moving forward, the firm is planning to strengthen its synergy to educate more community bank CFOs about accounting rules, economic trends, financial metrics, portfolio management, and more for a valuable portfolio analysis.

When you stand at the brink of a relocation journey, the feeling is much like standing on the edge of a new frontier, ready to venture into uncharted territories. It’s an adventure brimming with curiosity, anticipation, and a sprinkle of anxiety. As you look towards the future, there’s a multitude of factors guiding your next step, and safety is undeniably the North Star leading the way. Thus, a pivotal question arises – Is Rogers, Arkansas safe for setting down new roots? Packed with the thrill of discovery, moving to a new city also brings its own share of challenges. Among these, ensuring the safety and security of your loved ones takes precedence. So, we’re presented with an all-important question that warrants exploration – Is Rogers, Arkansas safe? To provide you with an informed answer, we’ll embark on a comprehensive journey. We will explore various aspects that contribute to a city’s safety portrait, from the bare numbers of crime rates to the everyday experiences of education, public services, and the overall quality of life. As we delve deeper, we’ll keep circling back to our central question – Is Rogers, Arkansas safe? Buckle up, and let’s find this out together! The Landscape and Demographics of Rogers, Arkansas The Geographical Description Rogers, nestled in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, paints a picturesque canvas of rolling hills, deep ravines, lush greenery, and tranquil lakes. It’s a place where the lullaby of nature coexists with the rhythmic beats of urban progress. This city combines the peaceful ambiance of a small town with the opportunities and amenities characteristic of a burgeoning urban center. Picture this – a place where you can gaze at the stars unimpeded by city lights and still have access to high-speed internet to connect with the world. Home to over 70,000 souls, Rogers strikes an appealing balance between a community-oriented small town and a culturally diverse metropolis. Here, you get the warmth of knowing your neighbors and the enriching experience of meeting people from various walks of life. Living in Rogers is like having a large extended family spread across a beautifully vibrant community. Understanding Safety in Rogers, Arkansas Safety and crime rates are two sides of the same coin. Rogers distinguishes itself with a crime rate that sits comfortably below the national average. This accomplishment is a testimony to the city’s proactive community policing efforts, where police and citizens work hand in hand to ensure a safe neighborhood in Rogers. Doesn’t the thought of living in a place where everyone is dedicated to safety instill a sense of security? Public Services and Emergency Response A sense of security is reinforced when we know that timely help is just a call away. Rogers stands tall with its remarkably responsive police department and fire services, proving that public safety is a top priority. The city’s emergency response times, notably below the national average, showcase its commitment to the safety and well-being of its residents. Quality of Life in Rogers, Arkansas Rogers’ education system shines brightly, adding another layer to the city’s safety net. Its schools focus on academic excellence, holistic development, and community involvement, ensuring that children grow in a secure and nurturing environment. Besides, a well-educated community tends to be safer, wouldn’t you agree? In Rogers, economic prosperity is not just a dream but a reality. The city’s thriving economy provides ample job opportunities in diverse sectors, ensuring economic stability for its inhabitants. With several Fortune 500 companies calling Rogers their home, the city is a fantastic place for those seeking career advancement. After all, financial security is a crucial aspect of overall safety. In terms of healthcare, Rogers is a fortress. The city takes pride in its top-tier hospitals and clinics that provide excellent healthcare services, ensuring the physical well-being of its residents. The city’s robust healthcare infrastructure underlines its commitment to the safety and health of its people. Experiences of the Residents The people who call Rogers home are the best ambassadors for the city’s safety. Residents frequently express their satisfaction with the city’s commitment to safety, cleanliness, and fostering a robust community spirit. These endorsements serve as testament to the city’s livability. Should You Consider Living in Rogers Arkansas? When it comes to relocating to Rogers, Arkansas, a question at the forefront of everyone’s mind is inevitably about the safety of their prospective home. When we zoom in on Rogers, Arkansas, the question takes a more specific form – ‘Is Rogers, Arkansas safe?’. To address this, we need to delve into the different elements that contribute to the overall safety of a city, including aspects like crime rates, quality of life, and community involvement. Rogers, Arkansas, impressively marks itself as a safe area in Rogers, with crime rates lower than the national average. This positive statistic is a testament to the city’s dedicated community policing efforts. The city’s residents and police department work in synergy to maintain a secure and friendly environment. Hence, when asking, ‘Is Rogers, Arkansas safe?’, the community response is an affirmative and resounding ‘Yes!’. Moreover, the quality of life in Rogers, Arkansas, further underscores its safety profile. The city boasts excellent public services, a robust education system, and an active community that contributes to a rich and fulfilling life for its residents. It’s not just about the absence of crime, but the presence of these positive factors that make the answer to ‘Is Rogers, Arkansas safe?’ a clear ‘Yes!’. While considering relocating to Rogers, Arkansas, one must also factor in the logistic complexities involved in moving. A reliable moving company can play an instrumental role in ensuring a smooth and hassle-free transition. That’s where Young Moving Services, a reputed moving company in Rogers, AR, comes into play. They offer a range of services tailored to meet your moving needs. From carefully packing your belongings, transporting them securely, to helping you settle in your new home, their team of professionals ensures that your move to Rogers, Arkansas is as smooth and stress-free as possible. Whether you’re moving locally or across state lines, trust in a moving company in Rogers, AR like Young Moving Services to make your relocation journey an easy one.

Scaffolding, Skips and Sash Windows So, the renovations have started in earnest, we have tradesmen on site and the kettle is working overtime. Windows have been removed, refurbished and re-sashed, and the scaffolding has gone up so that the guttering, outside painting and insertion of new rooflights can go ahead. As with all building projects, the timescale has slipped, mainly due to our new friends in planning - I know that they have a very important job to do in preserving our lovely old buildings, but really...... OK - let it go..... We are aiming to be open by the end of May, so we have been busy sourcing lovely pieces of furniture and other bits and bobs from local antique emporiums - shopping - YAY! We are very lucky to have a plethora of vintage barns, outlets and quirky shops to choose from and it's amazing what you can find at reasonable prices. Amongst other things, we managed to get 10 mahogony dining chairs for the breakfast room - they will need re-upholstering, but other than that they are sound and solid, and as I am a collector of pieces of material (yes, they will come in handy one day..) I have no shortage of ideas. Setting up a B&B can appear daunting, but it's also great fun. Thinking about possible local partnerhips can really set you up for the future, especially if you are starting from a standing position. Get to know your local places of interest, look for synergy in your networking and joint working; by setting up strong alliances you will be helping each other, giving and gaining access to each others' contacts. Recommendation and referral are by far the best forms of advertising and only cost you a little time and effort - it's worth putting it in at the front end; but remember for any partnership to flourish it has to be maintained and add value - to both parties. Oh gottta dash as there is a builder gesticulating through the window - silly me its tea break time..... See you soon with more updates. p.s What do you think of the new logo's.... and here are some links:

Imagine a world where search engines are smarter, websites are more intuitive, and digital marketers are one step ahead of the competition. The future of SEO holds a dazzling array of possibilities, and in this blog, we will unravel the mysteries that lie ahead. Brace yourself as we embark on a journey to discover what the future holds for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how it will revolutionize the digital landscape. Let’s dive in! The Future of SEO: Embracing the Technological Revolution In the coming years, SEO is set to undergo a transformative evolution. As technology advances and user behavior shifts, the traditional SEO landscape will give way to more refined strategies and tactics. Here’s a glimpse of what you can expect: - Artificial Intelligence and SEO Synergy: The Perfect Match Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly embedded in various aspects of digital marketing, and SEO is no exception. Search engines are leveraging AI algorithms to better understand user intent, making it crucial for marketers to optimize content with precision. Embracing AI-driven tools will empower businesses to gain deep insights into customer behavior, leading to more personalized and relevant content. - Voice Search: The Rise of Conversational SEO With the growing popularity of virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, voice search is poised to become a game-changer. Websites must adapt to this trend by incorporating conversational SEO. Focusing on long-tail keywords and natural language will be the key to capturing voice search traffic effectively. - User Experience (UX) and SEO: A Symbiotic Relationship User experience will remain paramount in the future of SEO. Search engines are becoming increasingly adept at measuring user satisfaction, and websites with superior UX will be rewarded with higher rankings. Mobile optimization, fast-loading pages, and easy navigation will be critical factors for success. - Content Quality over Quantity: The Reign of Value-Driven SEO Gone are the days of churning out masses of low-quality content for the sake of SEO. In the future, search engines will prioritize content that delivers true value to users. Long-form, comprehensive, and insightful content will dominate the rankings, driving more organic traffic and engagement. FAQ: Unraveling the Mysteries of Future SEO Q1. Will Keywords Still Be Relevant in the Future of SEO? Absolutely! While the way we use keywords may change, they will continue to be relevant. Keyword intent and context will become crucial, focusing on natural language and user queries to optimize for voice search and AI-driven algorithms. Q2. How Important Will Mobile Optimization Be in Future SEO? Mobile optimization will be more critical than ever before. With the increasing prevalence of mobile devices, search engines will prioritize mobile-friendly websites for better user experiences. Businesses that neglect mobile optimization risk losing a significant share of their potential audience. Q3. How Can I Prepare for the Future of SEO? To prepare for the future of SEO, focus on creating high-quality, user-centric content, optimize for voice search, and leverage AI-driven tools to understand your audience better. Continuously monitor industry trends and adapt your strategy accordingly. The Next Frontier: Exploring Emerging SEO Trends The future of SEO is an ever-evolving landscape, and staying ahead of the curve is vital for digital success. Here are some emerging trends to watch out for: - Blockchain for Transparent SEO: Blockchain technology has the potential to transform SEO by ensuring transparency and accuracy in online transactions. It can validate the authenticity of websites and content, building trust with users and search engines alike. - Augmented Reality (AR) and SEO Integration: As AR becomes more mainstream, businesses can leverage AR-driven content to enhance user engagement and provide interactive experiences. Optimizing AR content for search engines will open up new avenues for SEO strategies. - Visual Search Optimization: Visual search is gaining traction, allowing users to search using images rather than text. Brands that optimize their visual content and product images will have a competitive advantage in this visually driven search landscape. Imagine a world where search engines could understand emotions and sentiments to deliver even more personalized search results. What would be the biggest impact on your digital marketing strategy if such a future became a reality? Final Thoughts: Unleashing the Power of Future SEO with Darksky Digital The future of SEO is brimming with opportunities for those who dare to embrace change and innovation. As technology continues to evolve, businesses must adapt their strategies to remain visible in the digital realm. From AI-driven insights to voice search optimization, Darksky Digital is at the forefront of this digital revolution. If you’re ready to future-proof your SEO strategy and unlock the potential of data-driven digital marketing, reach out to Darksky Digital today. Let’s embark on a journey together to conquer the ever-changing landscape of the digital world. The future of SEO awaits—don’t let your competitors surpass you! View more of our posts on our blog: - Understanding the Basics of Pay-Per-Click Advertising: A Beginner’s Guide - 5 Types of Content Every Marketer Should Know About - The Impact of Customer Reviews on Your Online Reputation - Measuring the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing Campaign: Unraveling the Secrets to Digital Success - Content Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising: Which is More Effective? - Title: The Future of SEO: Unlocking the Secrets to Digital Success

After being vacant for more than a decade, the historic I. Magnin building in Pasadena has a new tenant: Erewhon. The opening of the store marks the grocer’s 10th location and demonstrates Erewhon’s growing interest in revitalizing old buildings. “It’s definitely a cool thing to be able to revive a building and open up a flagship store,” said Tony Antoci, chief executive of Erewhon. The certified organic retailer, which is famous for carrying unique products, including $26 hyper-oxygenated waters and $110 bottles of raw Manuka honey, is no stranger to adaptive reuse. “That’s our bread and butter,” Yuval Chiprut, chief development officer at Erewhon, said. “Tony and I geek out on real estate and we love old buildings. And we like to repurpose things that people don’t really know what to do with.” Erewhon and Long Beach-based architecture firm and longtime design collaborator RDC work together to reimagine spaces to fit the demands of the fast-growing grocery chain. “Kind of a unique thing about Erewhon is they will go into a space that no other grocery retailer would even think about going into,” Terry Todd, associate principal at RDC who managed the project and oversaw the design of the new Erewhon, said. “They’re a lot more flexible and willing to take on (unconventional grocery) space.” RDC has worked on the design of the six most reccent Erewhon stores to open, including Erewhon Beverly Hills, which was formerly a Williams Sonoma, and Santa Monica Erewhon, which was a bookstore and then a camera store before the grocery chain acquired it. In the case of the new Pasadena store, the building located at 475 South Lake Ave. has quite a complicated history. It was built in 1949 to accommodate a new branch of the San Francisco-based luxury department store, I. Magnin and Co. The chain reached its peak popularity in 1967, when it had 32 stores throughout the country. However, in November 1994, bankruptcy forced the closure of all stores nationwide, shutting operations of the once-beloved retailer’s Pasadena location. The two-story, 45,000 square-foot building went through numerous changes in ownership, and at one point was leased to Borders Books, a popular bookstore chain of the time. Borders, too, faced bankruptcy, needing to liquidate all remaining stores by the end of September 2011. With Borders unable to pay rent, the owner was forced to sell in foreclosure and the store had been vacant since 2012. In 2021, 475 South Lake Ave LLC, an investor consortium created by Erewhon’s Chiprut, which Antoci’s family trust owns a portion of, purchased the building for an undisclosed sum. Erewhon itself signed a 25-year lease on the ground floor portion of the property. “There’s accounting benefits,” Chris Maling, a principal at Avison Young specializing in the retail sector for investment sales, said on assessing why the owners of Erewhon would purchase the building through means of a separate entity then have the differently owned Erewhon lease that property. Maling represented the seller and procured the buyer during a 2006 transfer sale of the South Lake Avenue building. Shortly after acquisition, Antoci and Chiprut worked with the city of Pasadena to give the building historic landmark designation – a title that serves as a layer of protection for the foreseeable future, something the two are personally proud of. “We’re protecting the integrity of the building,” Chiprut said. “Instead of installing new windows, we’ve refurbished all of the existing windows … we didn’t add any awnings, we didn’t change the look of the building … we basically did nothing to the building but kept it in its original stature.” Tenant improvements cost more than $11 million for the Pasadena store, but according to RDC those improvements came in the form of modernizing the building’s infrastructure while keeping its historic architecture intact. “We wanted to bring it back to its originality,” Todd said, who noted RDC was able to find some historic images of the building, which were heavily referenced during renovations. “The challenge with an existing structure is that oftentimes you are restricted both in layout and functionality,” Chiprut said. “But we relish in the challenge.” Erewhon and RDC divided the property into three spaces and welcomed two upstairs tenants, transforming the building into a mixed-use retail destination. “That’s a big trend, carving up these (previously single-tenant big boxes) into multi-tenants,” Todd said. Brella, an app-enabled child care center, and Tia, an integrated women’s health care clinic, signed leases to the property in the last quarter of 2021. And, after some refurbishments of their own, both service providers opened directly above Erewhon in July, resulting in a one-stop-shop wellness center. “We know that the primary shopper for groceries is female,” Chiprut said. “And upstairs is really dedicated to mothers and families … we just thought it was incredible synergy.” While Erewhon did not disclose an exact price comparison, it’s typically more expensive to rehab an old building as opposed to moving into a newer one. But those costs could be somewhat offset by taking on outside tenants, which allows for the distribution of operating costs. Antoci and his wife, Josephine Antoci, purchased Erewhon from the DeSilva family for an undisclosed amount in 2011 when it was a standalone location near The Grove. In just over a decade, Erewhon has grown to 10 stores – including locations in Venice, Santa Monica, Silver Lake, Studio City, Calabasas, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Century City and now Pasadena – along with the one the Antocis originally acquired. Erewhon averages an annual revenue of over $1,800 per square foot. In the case of the 45,000-square-foot Pasadena store, that means $81 million a year. In comparison, the average grocery store in the U.S. only makes $14 million in yearly revenue, one fifth as much as Erewhon, according to a March study on the U.S. food retail industry published by Zippia. And there’s a lot on the horizon for the trendy chain. Next year, Erewhon will move its headquarters to a larger, 120,000-square-foot kitchen and warehouse distribution facility downtown, and while the Pasadena store is the first building Erewhon ownership has purchased – and Brella and Tia are technically Erewhon’s first tenants – Antoci said of owning other property, “it is definitely something we’re pushing forward on.” For now, all of Erewhon’s stores are within Los Angeles County. However, Antoci noted the company has plans to expand farther afield, starting with areas like Newport Beach and Santa Barbara, and hopes to one day operate in markets outside of California.

StruEngineers, an innovative player in the construction and design landscape, is redefining precast design through their seamless integration of in-depth precast knowledge with the revolutionary IMPACT Building Information Modelling (BIM) system. Tailored specifically for precast factory owners and consultants, this synergy offers an unprecedented solution for any precast setup, be it a startup or an established enterprise. The distinguishing advantage of StruEngineers lies in their proficiency in implementing the IMPACT system, a robust BIM solution that operates on a cloud platform. This implementation offers stakeholders the convenience of real-time access and collaboration on design models from anywhere in the world. Improved communication, productivity, and seamless teamwork are now just a click away. However, the IMPACT BIM system doesn’t stop at providing a collaborative space. It’s a multifaceted system designed to enhance every aspect of your precast project. Offering a comprehensive suite of features such as project management, cast planning, erection sequencing, crane management, logistic and transport planning, quality assurance and control of elements, IMPACT goes beyond being a traditional BIM system. Moreover, with the integration of innovative elements like QR code-based traceability, you gain unparalleled visibility and control over your project, further enhancing operational efficiency and quality control. With StruEngineers at the helm, these powerful features of the IMPACT system become a natural extension of your precast project setup, bringing about a transformation in operational effectiveness.