The International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF) is the world association of Conformity Assessment Accreditation bodies and other bodies interested in conformity assessment in the fields of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar programs of conformity assessment. Its primary function is to develop a single worldwide program of conformity assessment which reduces risk for business and its customers by assuring them that accredited certificates may be relied upon.

IAF members accredit certification or registration bodies that issue certificates attesting that an organization's management, products or personnel comply with a specified standard.

Accreditation is an essential ingredient for competitiveness, access to new markets, productivity improvement, innovation of new products and environmental protection, as well as the health and safety of populations. An efficient and effective quality and standards infrastructure, underpinned by accreditation, is key to a country’s growth, as well as being essential in creating a safer, cleaner, and more equitable and well-integrated world.
Accreditation provides confidence in the quality, safety, and environmental credentials of goods, services, and processes. It is required for the effective operation of domestic markets, and its international recognition is important to enable access to foreign markets. Accreditation is a critical element in promoting and sustaining economic development as well as environmental and social well-being, as it provides confidence in metrology, standardization, and conformity assessment (which comprises testing, calibration, inspection, and certification).

IAF has prepared an informative brochure which provides general information about IAF, its activities, membership and programs.

Role of the IAF

The primary purpose of IAF is two-fold. Firstly, to ensure that its accreditation body members only accredit bodies that are competent to do the work they undertake and are not subject to conflicts of interest. The second purpose of the IAF is to establish mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs), known as Multilateral Recognition Arrangements (MLAs), between its accreditation body members which reduces risk to business and its customers by ensuring that an accredited certificate may be relied upon anywhere in the world. The MLA contributes to the freedom of world trade by eliminating technical barriers to trade. IAF works to find the most effective way of achieving a single system that will allow companies with an accredited conformity assessment certificate in one part of the world, to have that certificate recognized elsewhere in the world. The objective of the MLA is that it will cover all accreditation bodies in all countries in the world, thus eliminating the need for suppliers of products or services to be certified in each country where they sell their products or services.

According to the World Bank, accreditation and the wider quality infrastructure, serve the needs of governments, businesses, and consumers. For governments, it provides a mechanism to support relevant trade and industrial policies and ensures enforcement of mandatory technical regulations. Further information can be found on Public Sector Assurance. For businesses, it helps limit the cost of production, by increasing productivity and enabling firms to be more competitive in domestic and foreign markets. More information can be found on Business Benefits. For consumers, it ensures public health and safety as well as environmental and consumer protection.
Accreditation is closely linked to the United Nations goals of promotion of sustainable development, to protection of human rights, and advancing economic prosperity. The work of ILAC and IAF is strongly aligned to key projects of UNIDO and UNECE, which promote the adoption of accreditation to facilitate trade, provide employment opportunities, and to facilitate exports and foreign direct investment.
Maintaining strategic partnerships and technical cooperation, together with the use of standards and compliance related activities, forms an important part of UNIDO’s approach. The relationship between UNIDO, the IAF and ILAC aims to enhance the impact of industrial development on economic growth and achieving the SDGs.

IAF CertSearch

IAF launched IAF CertSearch so accredited certifications from around the world can be validated. IAF CertSearch is a global database where users can search and validate the status of accredited certification issued by a Certification Body which has been accredited by an IAF signatory member Accreditation Body.
IAF CertSearch also provides organisations with information about the accredited network, which includes a list of all Accreditation Bodies and Certification Bodies across the globe.

•	Organisations seeking to become certified can browse a list of accredited Certification Bodies here.

•	Organisations seeking accreditation can browse a list of Accreditation Bodies here.

•	Organisations seeking to trade with a certified company can browse companies on the voluntary trade marketplace here.

Structure of the IAF

The highest level of authority in IAF is the Members in a General Meeting. General Meetings make decisions and lay down policy in the name of the members. The Board is responsible for legal actions to be carried out on behalf of the members, for developing broad policy directions for IAF and for ensuring that the day-to-day work of the IAF is carried out in accordance with policies approved by members. The terms of reference, tasks and duties as defined by the Bylaws and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) remain unchanged for the members at a General Meeting, the Board of Directors and the Secretary. The Executive Committee is responsible to the Board of Directors for the day-to-day work of IAF on the basis of decisions made by the Members and directions by the Board of Directors. The operations of all IAF Committees and Subordinate Groups, including the Executive Committee, are subject to the IAF General Procedures.

Membership
The International Accreditation Forum is a global association of Accreditation Bodies, Conformity Assessment Body associations, Regional Accreditation Groups, and Industry associations, including scheme owners.
  Accreditation Body Membership: Open to Bodies developing, or conducting and administering, accreditation of entities that perform conformity assessment such as management system certification, product certification, certification of persons, verification/validation, or similar conformity assessment.
  Association Membership: Open to groups of entities that engage in , are subject to, make use of, accept or rely on, conformity assessment results from bodies accredited by Accreditation Body Members of IAF.
  Regional Accreditation Group Membership: Open to regional groups of Accreditation Bodies whose aims include the maintenance of Regional Multilateral Recognition Arrangements recognising the equal reliability and/or equivalence of their members’ accreditations.
An official list is available online.

World Accreditation Day
The IAF and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), the global associations for accreditation with members from 103 economies, established World Accreditation Day to take place each year on June 9 to act as a springboard for awareness-raising actions and to promote accreditation to governments, the public and private sectors, and, more generally, citizens. It also provides national organisations the opportunity to organize activities related to the theme of the day.
World accreditation days since 2009

See also
IAF MLA

External links
 Accreditation Auditing Practices Group
 International Accreditation Forum
 IAF Newsletter

References

International professional associations
International standards organizations


Richard Wayne Merritt (born September 26, 1967) is an American LGBT activist, adult film actor, writer, and attorney. Merritt has been a public figure since he was featured on the cover of The New York Times Magazine on June 28, 1998, in an article by Jennifer Egan entitled  Uniforms In The Closet: The Shadow Life Of A Gay Marine.

Biography

Early life
Merritt was born in Greenville, South Carolina to fundamentalist Christian parents.  Merritt attended the elementary and secondary schools of Bob Jones University. During his high school summers he worked in various positions at The Wilds, a fundamentalist Christian camp.  He attended Bob Jones University for two years and in 1988 transferred to Clemson University.

United States Marine Corps
Soon after his eighteenth birthday, Merritt enlisted in the United States Marine Corps (the Marine Forces Reserve) and in January 1986 he shipped off to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina.  After completing boot camp he attended a brief occupational school at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.  Merritt returned to Greenville where he joined his Marine Corps Reserve unit, a company of ammunition technicians.  Merritt attained the rank of sergeant in May 1990, but because he was transitioning to the officer program, he did not deploy to Operation Desert Storm with the reserve unit. Merritt left the Marines in August 1998.

Adult films
While in the Marine corps, Merritt appeared in 5 adult films under the stage name Danny Orlis.

Law
In August 1998 Merritt enrolled at the University of Southern California Law School in Los Angeles  and graduated with a Juris Doctor in May 2001.  He was a summer associate at the LA office of the international law firm Jones Day and became an associate after law school.  He was admitted to the California Bar Association in December 2001.

In late 2003 Merritt's father was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal disease known also as Lou Gehrig's disease.  The diagnosis and the nature of the illness prompted Merritt to give up his San Diego law practice in early 2004 and return to the South to be near his family in this time of crisis.  He obtained employment at the former Powell Goldsten, an Atlanta law firm now part of Bryan Cave.  His father died in 2005 and a year later Merritt moved to New York where currently he works as an attorney in Manhattan.

Controversies

Fundamentalism
According to his memoir, Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island was the first time he had any significant experience away from the fundamentalist enclave of Greenville and the BJU campus.  During basic training his rack mate was Catholic, the first time he had befriended someone outside his faith.  Bob Jones University has in its past had racially discriminatory rules.  At boot camp, Merritt had an African-American drill instructor, the first time a black man had been in authority over him.  Merritt has described boot camp as a "liberalizing experience."

When he left his initial active duty training assignments and returned to BJU, Merritt began having problems with the rules and policies of the school.  A year later he withdrew while on a disciplinary status known as "spiritual probation."

Sexual orientation
Merritt had not yet grappled with the issue of his homosexual orientation.  In his memoirs, Merritt claimed that when he attended Bob Jones Junior High School, Bob Jones III, then-president of BJU, said at a White House anti-gay protest that "homosexuals should be stoned to death as the Bible commanded."
In June 1998, Merritt was featured on the cover the New York Times Magazine in a story about gay people serving the US military under the don't ask, don't tell policy. Merritt was only identified in the article by his initial R. Military authorities soon identified Merrit as the subject of the article, but because Merritt was not explicitly named in the article, he was not charged with sodomy under the Uniform Code of Military Justice

In August 1998 Merritt received an honorable discharge from the Marines and immediately enrolled at the University of Southern California Law School. That fall, a freelance writer named Max Harrold, approached Merritt about interviewing him for a story he planned to pitch to The Advocate, the leading national news and interest magazine serving the lesbian and gay community.  Merritt agreed and he and Harrold met with Judy Wieder, The Advocate's editor-in-chief.  She agreed to publish the story in the end-of-the year double issue featuring a roundup of notable events from 1998.  The cover story for the issue featured George Michael, the singer who had just been arrested for public masturbation.

The February 16, 1999 edition of The Advocate exposed Merritt's secret career in gay pornography in a cover story titled The Marine Who Did Gay Porn.

In 2002 Merritt began working on his autobiography.  In a cover story for A&U Magazine, Merritt described his motivations for writing the memoir, saying he wanted to set the record straight about his activities in gay porn and at Bob Jones University, but that writing the memoir was also therapeutic.

Periodicals
From 1996 until his resignation from the Marines in 1998, Merritt wrote an op-ed column for the Navy-Marine Corps Times, a Gannett-owned newspaper distributed on US military installations throughout the world.  The Times had a section called "Back Talk" where one Sailor and one Marine shared their opinions on different aspects of the service. So that he could write candidly without fear of repercussion, the Times encouraged Merritt to write under a pseudonym so he chose the name "Buster Pittman," the name of his boyfriend's dog. For his columns, the Times editors allowed Merritt to use his column to advocate controversial positions such as allowing women to serve in combat, reducing the penalty for adultery from a felony conviction to a misdemeanor and repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" to allow lesbians and gay men to serve openly in the military.

This last column caught the attention of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a watchdog group in Washington, DC who provided or arranged for legal aid to members of the military who needed assistance under the "Don't ask, don't tell" law.

Published books

Secrets Of A Gay Marine Porn Star
Code of Conduct
Spiritual Probation

Media coverage
In January 2008, to launch the media blitz for Code of Conduct Merritt was interviewed for CBS News on Logo (TV Channel) by Itay Hod.

References

Clemson University alumni
American gay writers
American LGBT rights activists
University at Albany, SUNY alumni
United States Marine Corps officers
USC Gould School of Law alumni
LGBT people from South Carolina
American LGBT military personnel
1967 births
Living people
Gay pornographic film actors
American male pornographic film actors
People from Greenville, South Carolina
American lawyers
American autobiographers


"Keep in Touch" is the debut single and first song by British jazz-funk/dance band Freeez. Self-funded and released, the idea for the song came from lead artist John Rocca, while playing with another informal group led by Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick, who was then in between UK brit funk projects Light of the World and Incognito. Derived from the group, the personnel performing on the recording were Maunick (guitar), Peter Maas (bass), Paul Morgan (drums), Jason Wright (keyboards), and Rocca (percussion).

The song was created in one night at a studio in London's West End, and the first pressing was on Rocca's own Pink Rythm Records, with deliberate artistic misspelling. The label artwork was designed by his brother Danny and the record sleeves were collaboratively spray painted by hand. It sold several thousand units under this first guise before being licensed to Pye Records soul sublabel Calibre. "Keep In Touch" reached number 49 in the UK single sales charts.

This was followed up with another 12-inch single "Stay" b/w "Hot Footing It", released only on Pink Rythm after Pye opted to not release it. John Rocca next invested in the self-funded production of "Southern Freeez", after which Freeez signed to Beggars Banquet Records, which at that time was a small, rising company.

Track listing
Pink Rythm 12" release:
 "Keep In Touch" – 6:50
 "Keep In Touch (Edit)" – 5:48

Pye/Calibre 12" release:
 "Keep In Touch" – 6:50
 "Keep In Touch (Re-Mix)" – 7:52

Chart performance
"Keep in Touch" sold over 35,000 copies and entered the UK Singles Chart for 3 weeks in June 1980.

Credits
Produced by John Rocca for Pink Rythm Productions
Arranged by Freeez

References

1980 debut singles
Freeez songs
1980 songs


Crescent City Orchestra was a semi-professional symphonic jazz orchestra  in New Orleans, United States

References

Musical groups from New Orleans


Anabarsky District (; , Anaabır uluuha, ) is an administrative and municipal district (raion, or ulus), one of the thirty-four in the Sakha Republic, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the republic and borders with Bulunsky District in the east, Olenyoksky District in the south, and with Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai in the west. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the rural locality (a selo) of Saskylakh. As of the 2010 Census, the total population of the district was 3,501, with the population of Saskylakh accounting for 66.2% of that number.

Geography
The district is washed by the Laptev Sea in the north. The landscape of the district is mostly flat. The main rivers are the Anabar, with its tributaries the Suolama and Udya, as well as the Uele. The Anabar and Uele have their mouth in Anabar Bay. There are numerous lakes, the largest one is Lake Sappyya.

Climate
Average January temperature ranges from  and average July temperature ranges from . Average annual precipitation is .

History
The district was established on December 30, 1930.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Anabarsky District is one of the thirty-four in the republic. The district is divided into three rural okrugs (naslegs) which comprise three rural localities. As a municipal division, the district is incorporated as Anabarsky Municipal District. Its three rural okrugs are incorporated into two rural settlements within the municipal district. The selo of Saskylakh serves as the administrative center of both the administrative and municipal district.

Inhabited localities

Economy
The economy of the district is mostly based on mining, reindeer husbandry, fishing, and hunting. There are deposits of diamonds in the district.

Demographics
As of the 2021 Census, the ethnic composition was as follows:
Dolgans: 44.4%
Evenks: 30.9%
Yakuts: 19.3%
Russians: 2.5%
Evens: 0.6%
Yukaghirs: 0.5%
Ukrainians: 0.5%
others: 1.3%

The village of Yuryung-Khaya is the only settlement in the Sakha Republic where Dolgans form a majority of the population.

References

Notes

Sources
Official website of the Sakha Republic. Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic. Anabarsky District.

Districts of the Sakha Republic


Bulunsky District (; , Buluŋ uluuha) is an administrative and municipal district (raion, or ulus), one of the thirty-four in the Sakha Republic, Russia. It is located in the north of the republic and borders Ust-Yansky District in the east, Verkhoyansky District in the southeast, Eveno-Bytantaysky and Zhigansky Districts in the south, Olenyoksky District in the west, and Anabarsky District in the northwest. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the urban-type settlement of Tiksi. As of the 2010 Census, the total population of the district was 9,054, with the population of Tiksi accounting for 55.9% of that number.

Geography
The district is washed by the Laptev Sea in the north. The main river in the district is the Lena, with its tributaries Eyekit, Molodo and Syungyude. Other rivers include the Olenyok, with the Khorbusuonka and the Kyuyutingde, as well as the Omoloy and the Khara-Ulakh. There are many lakes in the Lena River delta. The Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve is located in the district.

Climate
Average January temperature varies from  on the coast to  in the interior and average July temperature varies from  in the north to  in the south. Average precipitation ranges from  in the north and from  in the south.

History
The district was established on December 10, 1930. Initially, its administrative center was in the selo of Kyusyur. In 1957, the administrative center was moved to Tiksi.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Bulunsky District is one of the thirty-four in the republic. It is divided into one settlement (an administrative division with the administrative center in the urban-type settlement (inhabited locality) of Tiksi) and eight rural okrugs (naslegs), all of which comprise nine rural localities. As a municipal division, the district is incorporated as Bulunsky Municipal District. The Settlement of Tiksi is incorporated into an urban settlement, and the eight rural okrugs are incorporated into six rural settlements within the municipal district. The urban-type settlement of Tiksi serves as the administrative center of both the administrative and municipal district.

Inhabited localities

Economy

The economy of the district is mostly based on reindeer husbandry and fishing. Tiksi is a sea port on the Northern Sea Route.

Demographics
As of the 2021 Census, the ethnic composition was as follows:
Russians: 28.8%
Evenks: 27.4%
Yakuts: 24.6%
Evens: 13.4%
Ukrainians: 1.2%
Kyrgyz: 0.6%
others: 4.0%

References

Notes

Sources
Official website of the Sakha Republic. Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of the Sakha Republic. Bulunsky District.

External links

Districts of the Sakha Republic


Suburban Roulette is a 1968 American drama film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and starring William Kerwin and Allison Louise Downe as characters who are involved in wife swapping to overcome the boredom of living in the suburbs. It was produced as an independent film by Lewis and was shown in Chicago area movie theaters during the summer of 1968. It contains implied sex, boozing, adult themes, fighting, but is without nudity (which would have prohibited mainstream movie theater distribution).

It was filmed in Wood Dale, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago during the summer of 1967.

Plot
The Fisher family, which makes up of Bert and Ilene Fisher and their 13-year-old daughter Cindy, move into the seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood to get away from the nearby city of Chicago. Private marital troubles between the Fishers include Bert's drinking problem, and Ilene's propensity for other men. On their first day living in "suburbia", they meet the neighbors, Ron and Margo Elston, who invite them to a pool party at the Elston house. Bert and Ilene have cocktails, partake in a cookout, and flirting with each other's mates, but not without guilt and repercussions. The Fishers fall into a dangerous game of wife swapping until the unwilling Bert can't take it any more. Ignoring the presence of the other guests, including Ron's wife Margo, Ilene succumbs to the advances of Ron and has sex with him in a bedroom.

In the weeks that follow, Ilene and Ron's secret affair heats up as the Fishers and Elstons join a third couple, Fran and Marty Conley, whom appear to be the perfect conservative suburban family complete with raising four kids, but they are in fact closeted swingers. The three couples partake in drunken parties at each of their houses which eventually leads one evening to them playing a form of roulette in which the prize is someone else's marital partner for the night.

Outraged by everyone's immorality, including his own, Bert demands to Ilene that they move out of the neighborhood, but Ilene refuses for she has quiet confidence that Ron will divorce Margo and marry her to make a new life for themselves. But one evening, when Ilene confides in Ron about her choice to leave her husband, Ron makes is clear to Ilene that his interest in her is only physical and that he has no intention of breaking up his family.

Depressed over this turn of events, Ilene attempts suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills, but is saved from death by Burt and their daughter, Cindy, who find her in time and rush her to the hospital. In the final scenes, Ilene and Burt and their daughter move out of the neighborhood to another location to resolve to try to save their marriage, while the debauched Ron and Margo, Fran and Marty, begin to look for new participants in their continuing game of suburban roulette.

Cast
Lewis was known for using everyday people instead of actors in his films.

 Elizabeth Wilkinson as Ilene Fisher
 Ben Moore as Bert Fisher
 Ione Rolnick as Fran Conley
 William Kerwin (credited as Thomas Wood)) as Marty Conley
 Allison Louise Downe (credited as Vicki Miles) as "Mattress Back" Margo Elston
 Tony McCabe as Ron Elston
 Debbie Grant as Cindy Fisher
 Richard Mark Oliver as Conley Child
 Joseph Trucco as Conley Child
 Michael Shallop as Conley Child
 Paul Shallop as Conley Child
 Ray Woods as Police chief
 Bob Roth as Card Buyer

External links

1968 films
Films directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
American independent films
1960s English-language films
1960s American films


This list of tallest buildings in Regina ranks skyscrapers in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada by height. The tallest building in Regina is the Mosaic Potash Tower, which rises 84.5 m (277 ft). Regina is the capital city of Saskatchewan.

, the city contains 5 skyscrapers over  and 40 high-rise buildings that exceed  in height.

, there are 3 high-rises under construction, approved for construction, and proposed for construction in Regina.

Buildings
This list ranks buildings in Regina that stand at least 30 m (98.4 ft) tall, based on CTBUH height measurement standards. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts.

Timeline of tallest buildings

Projects
List of high-rise buildings under construction, approved, proposed and on-hold in Regina.

See also

 Canadian Centre for Architecture
 Society of Architectural Historians
 Canadian architecture
 List of tallest buildings in Canada
 List of tallest buildings in Regina
 List of tallest buildings in Winnipeg

References

External links

 Emporis.com
 saskMAPS.ca interactive tallest buildings map

Regina
Tallest buildings in Regina