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The overall objective of BioNexGen is to develop and test on pilot scale a new class of functional low fouling membranes for membrane bioreactor technology with high water flux and high rejection of organic pollutants with low molecular weight. The field tests with these newly developed membranes will be carried out with wastewater from 3 different industries (cosmetics, textiles and olive oil industry) which play an important role in the MENA countries and will be compared to conventional, commercially available membranes for benchmarking.

Overall strategy of BioNexGenOverall strategy of BioNexGen

The project is broken down into 11 work packages with each contractor having a clearly defined role. Each work package is assigned a lead contractor, who is responsible for the coordination of the respective tasks in his or her work package and for communication to the coordinator.

BioNexGen is co-financed by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme


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Revision [978]

This is an old revision of MorgansNotesOnAbstractCritiques made by MorganAdmin on 2015-08-31 09:22:57.

Morgan's First Responses to the First Abstracts-Critiques

Abstract-Critiques are not an essay, so you're not aiming at a) demonstrating or arguing a point, b) coming to a final conclusion, c) engaging a general reader. It's an abstract and critique of another's work, so you need to stand clear of their work. What connects or impresses is the deftness and sophistication of the connections you can make between the ideas of the work you're reading and what we're studying as a group.

In short: Not about you. Not about stylistics. About ideas. You manage the connections.

Unasked For Advice

Assume a critical stance: One outside the rhetorical interaction. Respond not as an immediate (unmediated) reader in the middle of reading, but from a balcony view: post reading.

The abstract = a description of the article, and it needs to be
Your critique, then, builds on the fair, neutral, &c abstract and draws in or applies another way of understanding the phenomena. That is, How would Ong look at this? How do Ede&Lundsford look at this? Until you get more reading behind you, making the connect will be tricky. It will come.

Critique, for our use, can stay with analysis of the work and interpretation of its significance. Your critique doesn't have to move to evaluation. It can just end. If you want to rant, do so under a separate heading.

You don't need an intro, just start with the centerpiece of the summary/abstract.

You don't need a conclusion, but you do need a way of ending and leading into more discussion. Opening out rather than closing down.

People tend to summarize by arranging the summary in the same order the piece is arranged. Better to organize a summary/abstract is by the significance of ideas or dominance of argument, not by order of presentation in the original. Again, stand outside the sequence the ideas were presented in.

L&E argue that audience is best thought of as a synthesis of an actual, physical audience addressed, and a cognitively constructed audience that the writer invokes. Not one nor the other, but both.

You have to get to this kind of summative centerpiece as a starting point, which probably requires notes and re-reading.

Keep the language of the summary/abstract fair and neutral - non-evaluative. In the example above L&E, "best" is a term from the article and attached to L&E by way of "argue" - and argue is a more neutral term than "opinion."

Strategies for handling critique

You could add parathentical statements to suggest where an evaluation might go.
L&E argue (pretty pedantically) that audience is best thought of as a synthesis of an actual, physical audience addressed, and a cognitively constructed audience that the writer invokes. Not one nor the other, but both.

This starts to look less like a thoughtful critique and more like snark.

The better option is to keep your critique outside the summary. Specify a heading for a critique and evaluation, and spend some time on critiquing the argument itself on its own terms. That is, in what way is their argument pedantic, and so what if it is?

Keep the language of your critique and connections unpacked: precise. Clichés and advertising prose will get you every time because we use them to skim over the sense of connection and specificity. "Writing in the New Millennium" is ok for an article title, but a critique will specify the nature or features of the terms to draw out the issue. "Writing is more difficult in the new millennium" says less than little; it confounds because it doesn't specify what in the new millennium makes writing more difficult. It begs the question, sure, but it begs the question because the characteristics suggested are not specified.

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Find out secrets behind Your birthday date:
Day: Month: Year:
Spiritual support is welcome:
In my timezone its
Sunday, 23. Feb
Monday, 24. Feb
In my timezone its
Tuesday, 25. Feb

3. September 1948. - Birthday Scan

Virgo, 3. September 1948.

If you were born on 3rd September 1948., your age is Seventy-One years and One Hundred and Seventy-Three days. 26105 days passed since day of Your birth (or 3729.3 weeks). But you are not alone with this! In world 305000 babies was born on that day.

You were born on Friday, and your zodiac sign is Virgo.

You haven't had birthday in this year yet., next birthday will be in 193 days. Your previous birthday was 173 days ago.

The "big bum" was on ≈12th December 1947. (if you were born on time), but for details, ask your parents, they may have some interesting story for that day ;-)

  • Why not celebrate every 100-th day of your life? Next one will be in Ninety-Five days ( Thursday, 28th May 2020.), when you will be 26200 days old.
  • Every 1000-th day sounds better? OK, next one will be in Eight Hundred and Ninety-Five days (Saturday, 6th August 2022.), your age will be 27000. days.
  • When will you reach the retirement age of 65 years?: 3rd September 2013.. Remaining number of days: -2365 ≈ -6.5 years (The age limit already exceeded)
  • If your hair were never cut since b-day, today, it would be 9.14 meters long.
  • Heart beats since your birth: 2631.4 millions.
  • Since your birth, in Danube (at Bp.), 5300.4 billion m3 water flowed.

What happened more on that day in September?

We found 4 event that happened on 3. September 1948.
  • Don Brewer, American singer-songwriter and drummer (Grand Funk Railroad and Terry Knight and the Pack) [category: Births]
  • Fotis Kouvelis, Greek lawyer and politician [category: Births]
  • Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Zambia (d. 2008) [category: Births]
  • Edvard Beneš, Czech politician, 2nd President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1884) [category: Deaths]
Click here, if you want to see what happened more on 3. September date (Not only in 1948. year).

Biorhythm for visitors born on 3. September 1948.

If Your birthday is on 3. September 1948, check below your Physical, Emotional and Intellectual biorhythm calculator for next 20 days. What is biorhythm? Read more on FAQ page.


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 Roll forming machine - Shanghai Zhongji Machinery

roll forming machine

Made by Korean Technology and Design

roll forming machine

The most reliable roll forming machine in the world

  • ZJM designs, builds and manufactures Roll forming lines. ZJM also updates machines already in operation to align them to the EC regulations and manufactures mechanical parts such as rollers, heads and dies on obsolete profiling plants. In addition to profiling plants, we can provide the production of profiles in compliance with customer's design. This experience, besides providing a useful service for the customer, has proved important to understand and solve processing problems that can occur in production and consequently to improve the manufacturing technology of our profiling plants.
  • Through the network of contacts within the sheet metal processing, production of aluminium profiles and metal shelving, stainless steel, copper etc ... we can search for you specific machines or production lines at our customers.
  •     Our clients work on different sectors:
  • metal shelving,metal furniture,cabinets,partitionsreinforced doors,fire stop doors,counter pocket door,false ceiling,plasterboard's profiles,ceiling lamps,lighting optics,shutters,guardrails,scaffolding tables,plumber's profiles,corrugated sheets,sandwich panels,profiles for ventilated facades,profiles for photovoltaic,Profiles for fences,profiles used on wine and agriculture industry,C-U-Z C U Z profiles.

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No.5931, Huyi Road,Jiading Industry District 201800, Shanghai, China
COPYRIGHTS (C) 1992-2018 ZHONGJI MACHINERY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. E-Mail:info@blakeology.com  Whatsapp:0086 13916868669


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Wheel Alignments: Why It’s Important

Wheel Alignment

Tires are expensive, so why would you want to go through set after set of tires only to drain your wallet more? That’s right, you don’t. What you can do to prevent having to replace your tires due to wear and tear so often is aligning your wheels every 12,000 miles, or once a year. If you have noticed that your vehicle either pulls to either direction of the road and or your steering wheel shakes while driving, it’s probably due to unaligned wheels.

Tire Balancing

Wear and Tear

Driving regularly with unaligned wheels will not only wear down your treads, but after long use of your vehicles tires while unaligned you will start to notice that your tires appear rough, or slightly torn. The last thing you want while on a road trip or business trip is for your vehicle to have a blow out and you end up late to an appointment. Our employees at Asher Auto can guarantee you an even alignment of all four wheels to keep you on the road longer without any issues regarding your tires. Another cause of vibrations and bumps in your ride is due to the tires being off balance. We at Asher Automotive check tire balance with a wheel balancing machine that senses anywhere down to a one-quarter ounce difference in weight on your wheels. The reason to worry about such a small amount of weight is because the tires and wheels of your car are traveling at high speeds around the axle, hundreds of times a minute. This amount of momentum can cause serious vibrations of your car, now multiply that by 4 wheels and you will have a very unpleasant experience. Tires being off balance will sometimes even cause a blowout due to heat gathered from the wear, along with your tire health, the bearings also start to deteriorate with imbalance. To extend the life of your tires, you can also rotate them, even though this task is very simple to complete, it can be one of the most important. If done correctly, it will extend the life of your tires greatly, improve your fuel economy, and ensures your car will handle in an appropriate manner when you need to make a sudden turn or stop. Tire rotation is recommended to be completed from every 3,000 to 7,000 miles. A good estimate for rotating your tires is having them rotated after every other oil change or so to keep them wearing evenly. To provide quick and easy service, Asher Auto can determine if your vehicle is due for tire balance and or rotation to get you in and out, saving you precious time.

Alignment and Angles

In most cases, your vehicle will leave the factory with perfectly aligned wheels. Over time this will start to change with wear on your tires. Bringing your vehicle into Asher Auto every 12,000 miles to be inspected by our trained employees is a great choice on your part. Failure to re-align your wheels after long use can lead to your camber and toe specifications to drift outside your manufacturers limit, thus leading to your vehicle “pulling” to either side of the road. Bringing your vehicle in for alignment to Asher Automotive gets you serviced with an inspection and wheel alignment, which increases the life of other parts of your vehicle such as braking equipment and tires. Factors being affected by offset wheel alignment can be anywhere from your brakes, ride quality, and fuel economy. Fuel economy can also be improved by keeping your tires inflation in check. When making turns, if you can hear your brakes squeal, it can very much be due to unaligned tires. Angles being adjusted on your vehicle start with the Primary angles. The primary angles are the basic alignment of the wheels in relativity to each other and the body of the car. Parts being adjusted with these angles include the camber, caster and toe. On some specific vehicles these angles may not be able to be adjusted on every wheel. All three of these can be categorized into front and rear; there is no caster on the rear because the rear wheels do not turn. The secondary angles include various other adjustments such as Steering Axis Inclination on the left and right wheels, along with this is the wheelbase difference. All sorts of other adjustments such as front and rear ride height are adjusted as well in match to your vehicles factory specifications to provide you a smooth ride. If your vehicle has been in either a collision or if your left and right casters are offset, car handling is not affected. This is not a problem because when your car is turning, one wheel is usually several centimeters in front of the other therefore the setback is not a problem.

Process in Detail

The process of aligning your wheels is quite simple and easy, most average cars brought into Asher Auto will be done with the process within the hour. Times may vary due to the vehicle being a performance car, or if parts are damaged. When aligning tires, we place a camera unit with a special clamp to each wheel of your vehicle. These cameras communicate their positioning to a computer which will then calculate appropriate angles for your vehicles wheel position.
Safety and Weather Conditions
Driving without aligned tires is not only detrimental for tire health, but also for your safety. Traveling in unsatisfactory road conditions such as rain, mud, or snow can be even more dangerous with unaligned tires. Stopping your vehicle could be difficult due to worn down treads, adding in bad weather to this equation could cause you or others to get seriously hurt, which is why we at Asher Auto want to keep you safe, and in an reliable vehicle.
So why not keep yourself and others safe on the roads at any given moment, whether you are driving in hail, sleet, or snow, Asher Auto is definitely your go-to automotive service to keep you safe, and on the road to wherever you need to go!

This entry was posted in Wheels And Tires and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

10 Responses to Wheel Alignments: Why It’s Important

  1. Ridley Fitzgerald says:

    Thanks for the info about wheel alignment. You’re right, the last thing I want is a blowout on the freeway, or when I’m in a hurry. I can’t remember the last time I had my tires rotated, so I need to get that done!

  2. Dave Anderson says:

    I have always wondered how a wheel alignment could make a difference on the way you car drives. Now I know that alignments are not only so that the car drives better but also so that you save the lives of your tires. Because of that, it would definitely be worth it to make sure that you align your tires as often as needed.

  3. justin says:

    I just noticed my front alignment must be off because my tires are wearing funny. I’m really dreading taking it to get it looked at.

  4. Paul Langley says:

    This is some really great information for any car owner. I had never thought about alignments as a sort of investment, in that it can save you over time by saving your tires. I also appreciated that you explained the process, because I’ve been looking for some better explanations. Thanks so much for writing!

  5. I agree, aligning the tires on your car can help to save a lot of money down the road. You’re right, it seems like a good way to keep your tires in good working condition, since replacing tires is really expensive. It’s good to know to align tires ever 12,000 miles. I’ll also be sure to have them aligned anytime I notice that the steering on my car seems a little shaky.

  6. Eric Blaise says:

    Here is a story related to ignoring wheel alignments, not having your wheel alignment done can put a strain on suspension components, that is, upper and lower ball joints, tie-rod ends, steering rack,.. etc. I learned that lesson the hard way; one very obvious sign that your wheels are unaligned would be the steering wheel. Sometimes you might not notice your vehicle pulling to one side or the other, but if your vehicle is travelling strain and there is too much play in your steering wheel, or if it is crocked, that is a sure sign that the steering that your alignment needs to be adjusted. I ignored the signs and had my driver side lower ball joint fail while travelling on the freeway. Of course, there where other signs, but it failed prematurely because it was under strain. Luckily, the damage was not to bad and I had the car back on the road with everything back in order.

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DOE EERE Looks To Fill Vacant Positions
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By Lynn L. Bergeson

On February 4, 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced that it is searching for professionals to fill vacant general engineer and physical scientist positions. Resumes can be submitted directly to EERE’s hiring staff with information on the position of interest and EERE office (Solar, Geothermal, Vehicles, and Buildings, among others). Should EERE be interested in a particular resume, DOE’s Human Capital Office will reach out to the applicant requesting a transcript demonstrating educational background. Further information on vacant positions at EERE can be accessed here.


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Friday, June 5, 2009

Planestrike table: Imperial Defence Network

It seems that GW will sell the new Planestrike scenery and a Realm of Battle table together at a discounted price, a friend of mine just sent me a picture taken from official GW site.

From a previous post on BOLS in seems that this is the Imperial Defence Network

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The Modi Effect – Reviewed

The Modi Effect - Inside Narendra Modi's Campaign To Transform IndiaThe Modi Effect – Inside Narendra Modi’s Campaign To Transform India by Lance Price
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I knew little of Modi before I read this book, which I picked up on a whim. What I learnt was that, he is a highly arrogant, egomaniac with delusions of grandeur. He refers to himself in the third person (which is a red flag right there) and takes advice from his astrologer. What kind of person has a suit tailored that has your name stitched into it over a thousand times? Worryingly, you can draw many parallels with Trump’s campaign for America: divisiveness, attacking the media/using social media, thin skinned and a populism strategy. Though at least Modi’s modus operandi is a little more subtle and less extreme.

On Godra, Price gives both sides to what happened, the reader will likely draw the conclusion that Modi did not do enough as Chief Minister to stop the violence quickly enough. It is difficult to say whether Modi really holds nationalistic views himself. It appears he does condone divisive rhetoric by his subordinates but is this to pacify the Sangh and win elections or is it because of his ideology?

Whatever your opinion of Modi or his politics, the man knows how to run a highly successful national campaign. Borrowing tropes from the Clinton, Obama and Blair campaigns and building on these with his own ideas. In sum, he made the whole election about himself, that rather than electing an amorphous party, the BJP, you were electing him. He embraced technology, beaming holograms into distant villages, where they didn’t even own a TV, he held umpteen rallies throughout the country and unleashed blistering attacks on Congress. Don’t forget to add in a couple of catchphrases into the mix as well. And it seems to have worked for him again in 2019 too.

It was quite impressive to see a man of humble beginnings (low caste, Dalit) and chai wala be elected Prime Minister with a majority in a country with over 1 billion in population. Let’s not forget that after Godra he was very much a pariah and there was resistance in the BJP against his selection. All this notwithstanding, the final chapter sees Price unleash his most blistering critique yet in The Modi Defect. As with any populist, it is likely that Modi has over promised and will under deliver as Price says. Not to say the PM hasn’t made some modest progress but his first budget wasn’t very radical and more in line with something Congress would do. Modi is essentially a crony capitalist, giving government jobs to friends and businessmen who helped him on his campaign trail, a different form of corruption than the usual cash for state jobs. The defect is the qualities that helped him get elected will stop him being successful in office.

Whether in his heart Modi has moved on from his more hardline interpretations of Hindutva ideology is impossible to judge.

Sometime after 1500 BCE, in the early Vedic period, republics governed by assemblies became common. So much for the idea that the benevolent British who first bequeathed India democracy as a last act of generosity before leaving the country to fend for itself.

“I believe your life is pre-decided so why worry?”

– N. Modi

He has an ambivalent relationship with the journalists’ profession. He is desperate to know what they are saying about him and puts in enormous effort to ensure they write about him in the way he wants.

The Supreme Court expressed dismay that thirteen thirteen of the 45 ministers in Modi’s first government were facing pre-existing criminal charges, including rape, attempted murder and intimidation. […] The number of ministers implicated grew to 20 out of 66, almost a third.

View all my reviews

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DiversityNursing Blog

Nurses Should Have Influence on Hospital Designs

Posted by Erica Bettencourt

Thu, Jun 13, 2019 @ 02:08 PM

hospitalbuildingNurses see firsthand how facilities are being used every day. They observe what furniture is being used or not used by visiting families and friends. They see how patients move about the hallways, patient rooms, stairs, elevators, cafeterias, bathrooms, etc. Nurses see the pros and cons of the infrastructure of the building(s) and should have a say in how they're built in order to provide the best care possible.

"Input from Nurses and other healthcare professionals are mirroring the health professions' renewed focus on quality and safety in their designs. Nurses might not know how to read architectural drawings or use computer-assisted drafting tools, but they have a very important role to play in helping plan and design physical spaces that support the delivery of safe, effective patient care.", said Matt Freeman a spokesman for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation briefing, some design choices being used across the country as a result of input from Nurses include:

  • Ventilation and filtration systems to improve air quality and remove allergens, pathogens and more;
  • Ergonomically designed patient rooms, including patient lifts and handrails, as well as beds and Nursing stations designed to reduce patient falls and staff injuries;
  • Decentralized unit layouts so as to increase the time Nurses spend at the bedside;
  • Better lighting to ward off medical errors;
  • More natural sunlight, in part because studies show that it helps blunt the perception of pain, improves the quality of sleep and leads to shorter hospital stays, while allowing Nurses to better assess skin tone;
  • Noise reduction features, such as carpet, acoustical tiles, handheld pagers as a substitute for overhead systems, to improve sleep and reduce stress;
  • Better way-finding systems, including maps, landmarks, signage, information kiosks, directories and more, to help patients and visitors while allowing staff to focus on their clinical duties instead of giving directions; and
  • Access to nature, water features and works of art, all to reduce stress.

With a new work space, a new work flow should follow. The Nursing team at Stamford Health in Stamford, CT, helped design their new hospital. Ellen Komar, MPA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer said “Old, inefficient habits are not allowed to invade our new workspace. Given such a different layout, the way we work will have to change. A few members of our Nursing team are retooling every workflow process."

It takes time and resources, but this kind of collaboration between Nurses and architects provides the opportunity to give patients the best possible care.

Are you a Nurse who has been involved in the design of your new facility? Do you have some great design ideas you’d like to share? Please comment below, we would love to hear them!

Topics: nurses, hospital designs, building hospitals

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Weekly update!

Good morning everyone, the kalahari is turning into a paradise! The grass is getting longer and the riverbeds are transforming into green fields with yellow flowers! Also thunder and lightning storms are frequent, almost every day in the late afternoon! The heat is unbearable at times, and if you in a tent like us, its a uncomfortable and sweaty affair!!!!

The bugs are increasing, especially at night. The storks & bustards are loving the grasshoppers, so is the Spotted Eagle Owls, as seen in the photograph below!!!!!! If u want to come to the kalahari for birding, beginning march is the best time!! Enjoy and see you soon!

4 Responses to “Weekly update!”

  1. Pragtig! Sal wAt wil gee om nou daar te wees. Dankie vir ‘n pragtige foto!

  2. Great snap Hannes……hoop om jou te sien eersdaags?

  3. Well Spotted! 😉

  4. Ongelooflike fotografie!

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Cheap pet supplies flea medications, pet medicine

How to Strengthen Your Cats Immunity
Posted on : 03/02/2014 08:37:42 AM

The Daily Cat: Illness and Disease How to Strengthen Your Cat’s Immunity By Susan McCullough for The Daily Cat Most people don’t think of a cat as a four-legged war machine. A feline that is nap

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Sampling CSV headers from the Data Hub

Recently, I decided to check how useful column headers in typical CSV files are. My hunch was that in many cases columns would be labelled ambiguously or that the header row would be simply missing from many CSVs. In such cases data may be near to useless, since hints how to use data are lacking.

To support my assumptions about the typical CSV file, I needed sample data. Many such files are listed as downloadable resources in the Data Hub, which is one of the most extensive CKAN instances. Fortunately for me, CKAN exposes a friendly API. However, an even friendlier way for me was to obtain the data by using the SPARQL endpoint of the Semantic CKAN, which offers access to the Data Hub data in RDF. Simply put:
This is the query that I used:
PREFIX dcat:    <http://www.w3.org/ns/dcat#>
  ?s a dcat:Distribution ;
    dcat:accessURL ?accessURL .
  FILTER (STRENDS(STR(?accessURL), "csv"))

I saved the query in query.txt file and executed it on the endpoint:
curl -H "Accept:text/csv" --data-urlencode "query@query.txt" http://semantic.ckan.net/sparql > files.csv

In the command, I took advantage of content negotiation provided by OpenLink's Virtuoso and set the HTTP Accept header to the MIME type text/csv. I made curl to load the query from the query.txt file and pass it in the query parameter by using the argument "query@query.txt" (thanks to @cygri for this tip). The query results were stored in the files.csv file.

Having a list of CSV files, I was prepared to download them. I created a directory for the files that I wanted to get and moved into it with mkdir download; cd download. To download the CSV files I executed:
tail -n+2 ../files.csv | xargs -n 1 curl -L --range 0-499 --fail --silent --show-error -O 2> fails.txt
To skip the header row containing the SPARQL results variable name, I used -n+2. I piped the list of CSV files to curl. I switched the -L argument on in order to follow redirects. To minimize the amount of downloaded data I used --range to 0-499 to fetch only a partial response containing the first 500 bytes from servers that support HTTP/1.1. Finally, I muted curl with --silent and --fail to turn error reporting off and redirected errors to fails.txt file.

When the CSV files were retrieved, I concatenated their first lines:
find * | xargs -n 1 head -1 | sort | perl -p -e "s/^M//g" > 1st_lines.txt
head -1 outputted the first line from every file was passed to it through xargs. To polish the output a bit, I sorted it and removed superfluous characters with perl -p -e "s/^M//g". Finally, I had a list with samples of CSV column headers.

By inspecting the samples, I found that ambiguous column labels are indeed the case, as labels such as “amount” or “id” are fairly widespread. Examples of other labels that caught my attention included “A-in-A”, “Column 42” and the particularly mysterious label “X”. Disabiguating such column names would be difficult without additional contextual information, including examples of data from the columns or supplementary documentation. Such data could be hard to use, especially for automated processing.


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Informed sports

Four ways exercise may affect your sleep

We all know the pain of getting up early after a sleepless night, but the key to changing all that could be exercise rather than more rest. A study of over 2,000 people published by the National Sleep Foundation found that just 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week improved 65% of people’s quality of sleep. So how can working out make a difference to your sleeping patterns?

You sleep for longer periods

The more active you are during the day, the more energy your body is required to expend. If you combine this with being conscious about what you are putting into your body, by the end of the day, you should begin to feel tired and ready to relax in bed. This is especially true if you make exercise part of your regular daily schedule, as the consistency will help your body get into a routine.

Stress levels drop, so it’s easier to sleep

When you are in a good frame of mind, it is far easier to fall asleep and even a small amount of daily exercise can help you deal with the little stresses in life. Anxiety is one of the key factors in broken sleep, but you can help remedy that with working out. As we begin to push our body, chemicals known as endorphins are released which create a feeling of positivity.

By creating regular releases of endorphins, your stress levels are calmed, and you’ll find it easier to nod off. As well as this, when we are working out, our body temperature rises and when it drops back to its normal temperature, this can cause feelings of drowsiness, which will help you doze off.

Your quality of sleep can be improved

When sleep is peaceful and sound, you are more likely to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to get out of bed, rather than hitting the snooze button. The timing of your exercise may matter more than you think, if you exercise too close to bed, your body and brain may be too stimulated meaning that you might struggle to drop off.

Why not work out a couple of hours before bed and then spend the remaining time getting ready and relaxed for bed, if you have the chance? Have a warm bath, read a book, turn off electronic devices and get into bed with a hot drink – having a full routine is a great way of setting up a good sleep.

Daytime sleepiness is minimised

Feeling sleepy during the day can lead to naps, which in turn have a negative effect on nighttime sleep routines. According to research presented by the National Sleep Foundation, it is clear that being active during the day reduces the tendency to doze off for a quick nap. It is thought that this happens because of the way in which exercise impacts on the root causes of feeling tired in the daytime.

From a lack of energy to stress, working out can relieve these problems and their symptoms, leaving us more enabled to enjoy a great night of restful sleep. Read more about trying to ease sleeping problems through exercise.


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Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Brand New Brochure!

The new POS Tapes Brochure is here.

With an improved layout, the brochure gives our customers an easy and extensive overview of all of our new products

If you don't want to wait for your sample in the post - just click on the link here to view it online.

If you would like a manual version along with samples of products, please contact us on 0191 2697810 or via the details found on our website.

We are looking forward to hearing form you.

Monday, 20 January 2014

Euro Shop

POS Tapes will be attending the EuroShop The World leading Retail Trade Fair.

During the exhibition our dedicated team will be positioned at Stand 3B36 in Hall 3 from Sunday the 16th February till Thursday the 20th February.

Our dedicated team are on hand to help with any enquiries you may have and enable you with order and setting up business accounts with ourselves.

We have an exciting new brochure with many new products to view and order while at EuroShop to meet your every need.

Please find the Link to register to EuroShop here. Along side the link to preview our products and online brochure here.


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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Actual Conversation #69 ~ where we avoid an obvious pun and study the affects of pizza on programming.

(Discussing a series of drawing I did to try and visually explain how things worked with C programming, which were lost in my computer crash.)
me: ^_^
I remember the public lollipop.
I remember a raptor leaping out of the dark (but not why)
And I remember the boomerang.
gru: And the news broadcasters!
for function calls
me: yes! Back to you Jan!
What was the raptor about??
gru: I...I have no idea but I'm fascinated now
me: It was about being surprised over something.
You don't want a public lollipop because if everything accesses that data it slows stuff waaaaay down, right?
gru: More you can unintentionally pass things along
me: Like bits of programming in other sections?
gru: Yup, if everyone can touch it you have no control over it
me: I know we've discussed this, but I can't remember why that's a bad th....some fucker has pizza near me....
And I can smell it!!!
gru: Bastards!!!
me: /tangent

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Rusty Lake

We are Rusty Lake:

Creators of the praised Cube Escape series and the premium point-and-click adventures Rusty Lake Hotel and award-winning Rusty Lake: Roots.

Dear visitor,

Welcome to Rusty Lake, a surreal place where anything can happen. We offer you the most mysterious game series you'll ever play.

Why not try out our praised Cube Escape series first? Let the cubes guide you the eerie and atmospheric point-and-click adventures with an "escape room" feeling. Currently we have ten Cube Escape games taking place in the Rusty Lake universe. Cube Escape: Paradox is our latest installment which is combined with a short film! Download them for ten on iOS, Android or play on Desktop.

Next to our Cube Escape series we created three premium adventure games with unique story lines taking place in Rusty Lake as well. Serve deadly dinners to five animal-headed guests in Rusty Lake Hotel, expand the bloodline of the Vanderbooms in our award-winning adventure Rusty Lake: Roots or stop the ten plagues on a small island in Rusty Lake Paradise.

On the right, you can find a list of all our games sorted by release date.

On our game portal you can play our free games but also find other adventure, room escape and puzzle games. We selected games with a fascinating story, ambiance or unique game-play made by more forward-looking developers.

Check out our blog, social media or newsletter for new updates and content.

We wish you a pleasant stay in Rusty Lake!

Read more about the studio
  • AwardIndie Prize, Best Narrative Award ‘16
  • AwardTop 10 Google Play Indie Games Contest ‘17
  • AwardPremiere Paradox - A Rusty Lake Film @ LIFF '18
  • Award"Most Inventive" App nomination Google Play Awards ‘18

Update on the Trailer / Gamescom

Update on the Trailer / Gamescom

We just came back from Gamescom and we want to thank everyone that played the demo and gave feedback. Of course we also want to thank everyone at the Indie Arena Booth for having us on such a great showcase!

We also want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support on the teaser trailer we released last week 🙂
We have been very excited to share it with you. The White Door has a bit different style than our previous games, interactions and narrative play important role in the overall gameplay experience. But we are making sure it feels like a Rusty Lake game, but this time the focus is a bit more on the narrative part.

We are now going back to work! The exact release date is still depending how much we get done next month. Feel free to wishlist the game now on Steam, this will help us a lot!

Ps. Don’t worry, the story has (a lot of) connections with the Rusty Lake universe.

15 responses to “Update on the Trailer / Gamescom”

  1. Tatsu says:

  2. Garrett says:

    Looking forward to playing!

  3. Lizzy says:

  4. Melanie Gehrmann says:

    I had the chance to play it at Gamescom and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it! <3 I can‘t wait for the release. It is very different from the other Rusty Lake games, but in the most wonderful (and addictive) way!

  5. Nati says:

    Great teaser!!

  6. etien says:

    Have been waiting whole summer for this. I ended up playing all other rustylake games to pass my free time. Hope it gets released soon. Thanks for all your hard work!

  7. alexi says:

    omg, im excited as fuck. You guys should make comics o fanzines. I think that could be great

  8. alexii says:

    oh, you already have comics hahaha sorry xx

  9. ynes says:

    I’d like to know whether this game would be released on iOS store?

  10. Hally Phạm says:

    The man is in the White Cube (I think)

  11. Zoe says:

    I‘m aready to explore the story of Robert Hill！！！

  12. Bill says:

    Ynes, the teaser trailer description on youtube says that it will be released on iOS, Android and Steam.

  13. dove says:

    oh, i can’t wait anymore.I think that paly this game will
    be a very wonderful journey forme.Thanks your hard work.I
    know it’s not easy to coding a game quickly,so please asquickly as you can!hahaha

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Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Spring Sunshine On The Tay

What a glorious day it was today and this is a truly exciting time of the year with warmth slowing starting to come into the equation. Great to be giving the sunglasses a polish !!Things always start to happen after mid March on the Tay each season and days like this will only encourage fish to start moving into the river.

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Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Innovation and Housing Options

An article on CBC news caught my eye the other day. A "young" senior couple have come up with a cohousing model for their retirement. Recognizing that while they are healthy now, things may change down the road, and aware of the existing options for seniors which they are not keen on, they have come up with their own model community to support them in their later years.
They want to buy a large house that can be divided into several apartments which will have shared space and private units. And, to ensure that everyone gets along, they are meeting and interviewing others who are interested in the idea. The plan is to get to know each other over time so they can be certain that the group will function well together.
While senior cohousing exists and is a relatively new concept in Canada, it is not available in many provinces. These innovative seniors have taken it a step further by wanting to create their own retirement living arrangements without the involvement of a third party which tends to be how most cohousing models are established. The article points to something that is a new idea for most, however in Scandinavian countries it is very well known and far more common a concept.
The phrase "necessity is the mother of invention" very much applies to this situation and I venture to guess that in the coming years, we will see more and more innovation in models for senior care and housing as people start to 'think outside the box' and plan for a retirement that will work for them both financially and socially.
Right now options for seniors who need care and need to relocate are limited to primarily retirement home and long-term care but there are those who may want or need something different to the typical. While there are several alternatives like condos for seniors, life lease structures and even some senior cooperatives, there is the scope for other models that will meet the changing needs of seniors and the approaching "silver tsunami". The people involved in this personal project are being proactive and clearly thinking ahead and it is people like them that will move us toward greater options for senior care in the future.

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Daylight Saving Is Here. Suppose We Made This Time Change Our Last?

March 9, 2019
Kirk Johnson
The New York Times
Lexile®: 1300L-1400L

A day is a day, with so many hours of darkness and so many of light. It’s a hard reality that no powerful king or brilliant philosopher has ever found a way around. And yet, every year, bless our hearts, we try.

Compelled by the augustly named federal Uniform Time Act of 1966, most Americans will leap ahead–or stumble blearily–from one configuration of the clock to another this weekend, as daylight saving time clicks in at 2 a.m. Sunday [March 10].

But many people are saying it’s time for time to be left alone. State legislatures from New England to the West Coast are considering proposals to end the leaping, clock-shifting confusion of hours lost or gained, and the conundrums it can create.

Could 8 a.m. somehow, somewhere in the universe, really still be 8 a.m., even if now you’re suddenly calling it 9?

“I cannot change the rotation of the earth and sun,” said Kansen Chu, a California lawmaker who is sponsoring a bill to keep the state permanently on daylight time–one of at least 31 states that are addressing some aspect of daylight saving and its discontents. “But I am hoping to get more sunlight to the people of California.”

Proponents of setting the clock once and being done with it, like Mr. Chu, a Democrat from the San Jose area, said that shifting back and forth in the spring and fall, if it ever really made sense, no longer does.

California voters agreed last fall, approving a ballot proposition for year-round daylight time by a wide margin.

Lifestyles and patterns of work are different now than they were when daylight saving first became entrenched nationally during and after World War II. Research, Mr. Chu and others said, has shown that human beings just aren’t as flexible about their daily rhythms as they once seemed; accidents, heart attacks and strokes tend to occur in greater numbers around the time shift.

The 1966 law allows states to opt out of daylight saving, and Hawaii and Arizona do so, staying on standard time all year; so does Puerto Rico. But for reasons that historians say remain murky, the law does not allow states to opt in all the way, and choose daylight time year-round. So the California proposal, and a similar bill passed by the Florida Legislature last year, would require an act of Congress to take effect.

Josh Yokela, a Republican state legislator in New Hampshire, is working on a way around that problem. He is the lead sponsor of a bill, passed by the State House last month, to request that New Hampshire be shifted into the Atlantic time zone, which by fine coincidence would do exactly what daylight saving does now: put the state an hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Then the state would opt out of seasonal clock changes, as the 1966 law allows.

The key is that moving to a different time zone does not require an act of Congress–all it takes is an order from the Transportation Department, the federal agency that oversees time (a legacy of its duties regulating railroad schedules).

“We would be on the same time as the rest of the Eastern time zone for eight months of the year, because they accept daylight saving time–and when they fall back in the winter, we wouldn’t,” Mr. Yokela said.

Of course, it matters what your neighbors’ clocks say, and not just your own. Regional considerations played a role both in how daylight time first appeared a century ago, and in the debate over what to do about it now.

New Hampshire’s bill, for example, says that because the state is so closely tied economically with the other New England states, especially Maine and Massachusetts, it would only try the jump to Atlantic time if the others did as well.

Proximity also had ripple effects in the 1920s, when New York City, having tasted daylight saving as a temporary measure during World War I, decided to keep it in peacetime. Retailers found that people shopped and spent more on their way home from work when there was more evening light, and Wall Street investors liked gaining an hour of overlap with trading on the London financial markets.

Supporters also argued that nudging the clock forward to have more of a summer’s daylight fall in the evening would save energy by reducing the need for artificial light.

Once New York was doing it, places like Boston that needed to stay in sync economically decided to follow suit. A similar domino effect led Detroit to petition in 1922 to move to Eastern time from Central, followed by most of the rest of Michigan. And now, with California inching toward a change, time bills are being considered in Washington, Oregon and Nevada.

The early days of experiments with time changes brought on a lot of head-scratching, said Michael Downing, a novelist and lecturer in creative writing at Tufts University who has written a social history, called “Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.” Some people worried that an extra hour of light in the evening would dry up and brown their lawns, or that cows would become confused and not give as much milk.

“The idea of losing or gaining an hour is itself such a fantastically bad philosophical proposition that nobody knows what they’re talking about,” Mr. Downing said. “Most people don’t even understand whether moving the clocks forward gives them more sunlight or less sunlight in the morning. They just can’t remember what it does, because it so defies logic.”

Scott Yates, a technology entrepreneur in Colorado who runs a website dedicated to staying on daylight saving time year-round, predicted that most of the state bills would go nowhere. Though he believes the idea has gained some legitimacy, with lawmakers thinking especially about the health effects of time changes, it is hardly a top legislative priority for anyone. At the same time, it is not a bitterly partisan issue, which in these days of divided politics feels pretty rare.

“It’s sort of odd, in that it doesn’t have any natural political division to it, but it doesn’t have a natural constituency, either,” Mr. Yates said. “It’s actually kind of refreshing in that way.”

Questions Using Close Reading and Critical Thinking:

  1. The first section of an article should answer the questions “Who?”, “What?”, “When?”, and “Where?” Identify the four Ws of this article. (Note: The rest of the news article provides details on the why and/or how.)
  2. Does this article have any bias? Why or why not?
  3. What is the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966? Why was it created? Look here for more information if needed:
  4. California and Florida are pushing for daylight time year-round. What step or steps must be taken in order to do this?
  5. Republican state legislator Josh Yokela is requesting that New Hampshire switch from Eastern Standard Time to Atlantic Standard Time. What is his reasoning? What does that do for the state? Are there any other advantages? Explain your answer.
  6. In the ’20s during World War I, New York City temporarily implemented daylight savings time and then continued it after the war ended. According to the article, why were retailers and Wall Street investors in support of this?
  7. Kansen Chu, a California lawmaker, stated that there is an increase in health problems during the time shift: heart attacks, strokes, and other accidents. Why do you think these health problems occur? Does shifting the hour forward or backward affect your health or sleep? Explain your answer.
  8. Do you think daylight savings time should be abolished? Why or why not? Support your reasoning with evidence from the article or reputable online sources.
  9. Was waking up Monday morning more difficult and/or did it affect your attentiveness at school, or did it not affect you whatsoever?

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5 Tips on Succeeding at College

Ok, you definitely DON’T want to drop out or quit before you graduate. Doing so will only leave you with a debt to pay back and no degree to support a better job or give you employment options. But, there are a lot of pressures on you: family, work, relationships, parents, kids, car problems, sitter problems, and on and on and on, which definitely can make quitting seem like an option.  IT IS NOT AN OPTION (say that a couple of times). You have invested too much to quit, and you are strong enough and smart enough to make it through to the end.

Here are a few tips that have worked for me.

  1. Don’t forget to pray. It may sound simple, even cliche`, but God does give strength and help. Praying can be a casual conversation that you can have at any time.  I also highly recommend some stray moments when you find a quiet place and write out your thoughts and concerns. I have found God really uses these times to help me find a perspective which can be easily lost in all the day-to-day pressures. Trust me in this, PRAYER does make a difference.
  2. Don’t miss a class except in an emergency. I know you can potentially miss a class without it affecting your grade, but when you do you are only short-changing yourself. The information in that class session could unleash the thought that could transform your understanding of the subject or even your life. Part of the benefit of any class session isn’t just the lectures and discussions, but how God works through them to give you epiphany’s of thought that be transformative.
  3. Take notes. You may not think you need to take notes, but that would be WRONG. Taking notes helps embed the information more firmly in your brain, allowing you to have better retention for tests, but more importantly allowing your brain to have fuel for solving real-life problems outside of class. Taking notes is one of the major secrets of those who succeed.
  4. Keep in mind that “all of life can be reduced to relationships.” This is something I believe with all my heart and soul.  No matter where you are at, God will use the relationships you have with those around you to improve you, or so that you can benefit them. We are never alone in our walk, although it can seem that way sometimes. Take a risk and reach out to the other students in your classes.  Begin to connect with them and you will find the class itself more enjoyable and your ability to stay the course enhanced.
  5. Speak up. Ask a question, get clarification, share an example that agrees with or disagrees with the point the Instructor is making. Make it a point to speak up, relative to the course, at least once each class session. There are several benefits that you reap by doing this: 1) You are more engaged in the discussion and will gain a better understanding, 2) You will retain the information better because you are making it more relevant to your own life, 3) Depending on your attitude, the Instructor will begin to see you as someone who wants to learn which creates a positive impression. Be genuine, but speak up!

Hope these tips help.  We are ALL pulling for you to finish the race and get that degree.


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Recently in Computer Science Category

<<   <   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   >   >>

March 04, 2015

Girls Deterred From STEM Classes by Biased Teachers, Study Finds

Teacher bias influenced Israeli girls' performance in STEM subjects and their decision to pursue further studies in the subject, according to researchers.

February 26, 2015

Arkansas Gov. Directs High Schools to Offer Computer Science Classes

Arkansas schools will be required to offer computer-science classes in the 2015-16 academic year, under a new law.

February 25, 2015

Google Bringing 'Scratch' Computer Programming to Boys & Girls Clubs

Google, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, AmeriCorps VISTA, and others will bring an after-school computer coding program to more than 100,000 students.

February 20, 2015

Tiny Raspberry Pi Computer Hits Big Sales Milestone

The group that created the credit-card-sized computers used to teach coding announced that it has sold more than 5 million units.

February 13, 2015

STEM Gender Gap in K-12 Evolving, Data Show

The gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics may be starting to turn, according to new 2009 data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

January 16, 2015

Fellowship Brings Coding, Computer Science Skills to Teach for America Teachers

A partnership between a New York City computer science school and Teach for America aims to bring more opportunities for improved coding instruction to students.

January 13, 2015

Popular Language-Instruction App Duolingo Targets Schools

Duolingo, which uses digital games to teach languages, hopes to translate its consumer success into dominance of the K-12 education market.

December 17, 2014

'Big Data' Skills Not Being Taught in K-12, Experts Say

A new "occupational skills profile" for big-data specialists outlines the relevant knowledge that professionals say is not being provided in K-12.

December 11, 2014

Apprentice Programs in High-Tech Fields Get $100M Boost From Dept. of Labor

The U.S. Department of Labor will award 25 grants totaling $100 million to public-private partnerships that develop registered apprenticeship programs.

December 08, 2014 Kicks Off Computer Science Education Week at White House and the National Science Foundation have forged a public-private partnership that will use $20 million in new funding to expand computer science education in U.S. schools.

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U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said that striking teachers in Oklahoma shouldn't let "adult disagreements" get in the way of serving students.

In what was billed as a victory for the school choice community, the Every Student Succeeds Act allowed districts to apply for the "weighted student funding pilot." But it may not turn out that way, at least as far as a few districts are concerned.

The move would leave Puerto Rico with 828 public schools in a system that currently serves about 320,000 students. The planned closures would fuel growing debate over the direction of the island's school system after Hurricane Maria.

A new blueprint for fighting opioid addiction from Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., would focus on youth prevention and recovery, and create a new task force to help children cope with trauma related to opioids.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been thinking of tossing or tweaking Obama-era guidance that seeks to address serious discipline disparities between racial minorities and their white peers.

The department's investigative office suggested new controls, like clearly marking documents that are not intended for public release and regularly training employees on the protection of confidential information.

Trump has reportedly discussed with House Republican leaders the idea of effectively cutting some spending out of the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill he signed late last month.

The Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, which represents nearly 30,000 teachers working in the U.S. territory, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in response to a new education law signed by Gov. Ricardo Rosselló late last month.

What will ESSA look like when it really hits the classroom? Will ESSA really feel different from the No Child Left Behind Act? Those topics and more in a new Education Week report.

The pilot, which was initially one of the most buzzed about pieces of ESSA, allows states to try out new forms of testing in a handful of districts, with the goal of eventually taking them statewide.

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« Going Back to Hogwarts After All These Years | Main | Book Recommendation: Differentiating the High School Classroom »

Teaching Grit Through Sportsmanship

baseball.JPGThe batter approaches the plate. This is the moment. Head down, the batter takes a practice swing. He/she is ready. The ump kneels down and says a resounding, "batter up!"

The pitcher is ready too. The pressure is on for both of them in this minute. The other players will have their moments or not depending on how this first show down goes.

The first pitch comes in. Looks like a good one. No swing. "Strike!" The pitcher is building momentum and the batter looks a little deflated, but is able to shake it off and get ready for the next pitch.

The next pitch comes and hits the plate. "Ball 1." The coach shouts, "it's a okay, just take a breath and slow down."

Next pitch, the batter swings and it's a miss. The count is 1 and 2. And before too long, the batter is walking away from home plate, dragging the bat and trying hard to not let the disappointment be evident to everyone else.

My son plays baseball, a lot of baseball. On two teams, he spends nearly every day at the ball park and through his experiences over the last few years, I've noticed him changing for the better and also, I've noticed how much we can teach students about grit from playing sports.

Here's what they can learn:

  • Striking out happens. It stings and it sucks, but it happens and we have two choices when it does, either let it get us down and then quit or take what we learned from the strike out and try even harder the next time we get up to bat. This is the same as students in our classroom learning a new skill. Most students don't get important new skills on the first try, so failure is a part of the process. We need to learn to bounce back quickly.
  • Practice is essential for growth. If a player wants to improve his/her swing or arm movement for a throw, he or she practices, a lot. He/she watches Youtube videos or works with a coach who knows more about the skills and helps with feedback and allows them to keep trying. This is true of learning. We take in a new skill. We practice it. We get feedback and then we take the feedback and apply it and continue to practice.
  • High stress situations require focus. Students and players will learn that some situations are more taxing than others and this is so in life as well. When there is a playoff game and there is a lot riding on the outcome of how one plays (or a standardized test or a job interview), we need to bring our A game and stay focused. This is an important lesson to learn. We hope for a win, but sometimes we strike out.
  • There are always winners and loser, but we can all be winners with our attitudes. Whether we win or lose, get the high score or low score, the way we react is what matters the most. When we win, it's important to be good sports and not rub it in the faces of the losers. It's okay to be happy about winning, but gloating is obnoxious and mean. The younger the child, the harder losses feel. Being a bad sport is equally as unbecoming. Losing stinks, but it shouldn't define you. We need to teach kids to cope with winning and losing well, on the field and in school.
  • It's important to have fun when you play. Regardless of how good you are, playing sports and learning is only as good as the amount of fun you're having while you're doing it and we can't lose sight of that. Too much pressure or too focus on being the best ruins the experience. It's important to strive to be the best, but it is more important to have fun and stay interested.

So many kids these days lack the perseverance to succeed. Sports is a great way to start teaching them these lessons and the more we connect the lessons to classroom learning, the better students grow as learners.

What important lessons have you learned from playing sports that you can apply to learning? Please share

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donate blood
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need of blood
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indian database of blood donors

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.
- Albert Schweitzer

Blood Request : O+

Patient NameRaghu Kapoor
Patient Blood GroupO+
Date when blood is required18-Aug-2019
Units Required10
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PurposeNeeded blood as soon as possible.
The blood you donate is separated into components. Thus by donating one unit, you save three lives.
Disclaimer & Privacy Policy  |  Set bloodhelpers as my homepage  |  Report a Bug  |  Links
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IVC Filter Lawsuits Seek Compensation For Device Injuries

Over 400 injured patients, some of whom will live permanently with broken medical devices inside their own bodies, have chosen to pursue legal action, suing the manufacturers of IVC filters – small implants that act as a net for blood clots inside one of the body’s largest veins.

IVC Filter Lawsuits Seek Compensation For Device Injuries

Lawsuits Accuse Companies Of Promoting “Defective,” “Dangerous” Device

Instead of forestalling the incredible risks of pulmonary embolism, IVC filters are prone to failure. The devices can break apart inside the vein, releasing dangerous shards of metal to threaten vital organs. Even filters that don’t fracture in this way are liable to pierce the vein in which they are implanted, increasing the risk of internal bleeding. IVC filters can even “migrate,” moving out of position along with blood flow and entering chambers of the heart.

Some models have been found to “fail,” either breaking apart or migrating entirely from the site of implantation, in up to 32% of patients.

The general public was alerted to these dangers in 2010, when the US Food & Drug Administration announced that it had received more than 900 reports of serious filter failure in the span of only five years. Patients, on the other hand, have been aware of these risks for much longer – many through tragic personal experiences. IVC filters have been linked to numerous deaths; at least 27 fatal events were associated to just one model, C.R. Bard’s Recovery IVC filter, by an NBC News investigation. Survivors have now begun to file wrongful death lawsuits, seeking compensation for the loss of their loved ones.

Broken Filters, Pierced Organs Spur Legal Action

Robert Boddorf, a 49-year-old from Hilliard, Ohio, says an IVC filter, a Günther Tulip manufactured by Cook Medical, punctured his blood vein. The device, equipped with 12 “struts” to grip the inferior vena cava and trap blood clots, was implanted in November of 2011. But Boddorf only suspected there was a problem one year later, on December 18, 2012, when he presented to a hospital run by Ohio State University with strange pain in his groin.

After a CT scan, Boddorf was told that three of the filter’s struts had perforated his vein. One of the components ultimately pierced his duodenum, a cavity of the small intestine. Now more than three years after he learned of the filter’s failure, two struts remain “embedded” in Boddorf’s psoas muscle and a bone of his vertebrae. His doctors, fearful of causing more damage, have proved unwilling to remove the device.

Boddorf filed a lawsuit (PDF) against Cook Medical on December 1, 2014, accusing the company of promoting a “defective” implant as “safe and effective,” despite meager clinical trial results “[in]adequate to support [either] long or short term efficacy.”

Lawsuits Against Cook & C.R. Bard Consolidated

His story is not unfamiliar. More than 230 other patients have chosen legal action against Cook, a response so overwhelming that their lawsuits have been consolidated in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Together, these plaintiffs, who make similar allegations as Boddorf, will progress through pre-trial proceedings simultaneously.

C.R. Bard, a company that has found itself under considerable scrutiny from the media, is in a similar position. Over 210 lawsuits have been filed against Bard, manufacturer of the wildly-popular Recovery (before its withdrawal from the market in 2005) and G2 series IVC filters.

Emily Landress, a woman from Georgia, underwent a placement procedure on February 20, 2012, receiving one of Bard’s G2 filters. Like Boddorf, Landress claims she learned of the IVC filter’s risks more than one year after her procedure. Suffering from severe chest pain, a commonly reported omen of filter failure, she rushed to the hospital. Radiologists were able to locate her filter on an X-ray – but the device was missing one of its struts. The device had “fractured,” and further tests discovered the broken component in the right ventricle of Landress’ heart.

Emergency surgery was scheduled for the very same day, August 1, 2013. Surgeons successfully removed the broken IVC filter, but decided that the strut lodged in their patient’s heart “could not be safely extracted.” It’s still there, three years later, and Landress says she may live forever at an increased risk for cardiovascular complications.

Did Bard’s “Silent Recall” Hide Filter’s Failings?

C.R. Bard, Landress and more than 200 other plaintiffs claim, was well aware of its device’s risks. The G2 filter was designed to replace an earlier implant, the company’s Recovery Filter, which had been associated to numerous adverse events, including a growing number of reports involving filter fracture.

Bard recognized that its Recovery device was flawed in both manufacturing and design, patients say, and in 2004, began redesigning the implant secretly. Soon enough, the G2 filter was born and Bard quietly introduced it onto the market. The “new” G2 implant, substantially similar to its predecessor, was a hit, and its popularity overshadowed the problems that had been identified with the Recovery model. As for the previous device, Bard “quietly stopped selling” it, Landress writes in her complaint (PDF).

But the company chose not to issue a recall, despite the fact that thousands of patients were now harboring potentially life-threatening medical devices inside their bodies. Landress claims the company “failed to make any effort” to warn patients or physicians of the Recovery filter’s significant dangers. The G2 Filter, which was removed from Landress under emergency circumstances, proved no safer than its predecessor, she claims.

Landress is still waiting for justice. Her lawsuit has been consolidated along with 200 others in the US District Court of Arizona, under the guidance of federal Judge David G. Campbell.

A Virtually “Untested” Device, Patients Say

Facing the significant risks of pulmonary embolism, thousands of American patients have been implanted with IVC filters. It’s an old concept, used primarily in patients who don’t react well to anticoagulants, the industry standard treatment for people at risk of developing blood clots. But it’s also an almost completely untested concept.

To date, only one major study has even looked into the relative benefits of IVC filters over blood thinners. That paper, titled PREPIC, tracked 200 patients with IVC filters, and another 200 who used only anticoagulants, over a course of 8 years. In the end, the filters appeared to prevent more blood clots from reaching the lungs, but ultimately failed to prevent any more deaths than blood thinners were able to prevent. The researchers found that any benefits presented by IVC filters were canceled out by an increased risk for deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot that develops in the “deep veins” of the legs).

Most manufacturers have been loath to admit that their implants, which seem like they should work, have never been proven effective by medical researchers.

What’s Wrong With IVC Filters?

Many of the device’s problems, including its apparent tendency to break, have been associated with the length of implantation. IVC filters, at least the new generation of these devices epitomized by Cook Medical’s Günther Tulip and Bard’s G2 models, are designed to be “retrievable.” Implant them fairly painlessly with a catheter, and then remove them once a patient’s risk of pulmonary embolism has subsided.

That was the idea at least – but when the retrievable filters hit the market, manufacturers provided no guidelines on when to take them out. It’s not uncommon to read about patients who have had IVC filters for five, six or even seven years at a time, far longer than the 29 to 54 days now advised by the FDA. Plaintiffs claim the companies behind these implants were perfectly aware of the dangers associated with longer “indwelling” periods, but concealed that information from the public.

Alleged Design & Manufacturing Defects

Patients have also pointed to a number of design and manufacturing “features” (which they dub “defects”) that could explain the extraordinarily high failure rates.

Most IVC filters are made of either conichrome or Nitinol. Conichrome is an alloy of cobalt, chromium, nickel, iron and molybdenum, used most notably to construct Cook Medical’s devices. Nitinol, used mainly by C.R. Bard, is an alloy of nickel and titanium that was created by the US Navy for ordinance. Both of these materials, plaintiffs claim, are insufficient to withstand even the normal ebb and flow of human circulatory and respiratory systems.

Conichrome, despite the fact that Cook advertised its use of the material as a way to “reduce[…] the risk of fracture,” is unable to withstand the standard pressures of being inside the human body, plaintiffs say. Nitinol, on the other hand, was designed in part to bend under heat and pressure, then spring back to its former shape. But during Bard’s manufacturing process, patients have discovered, the struts of its devices are machined with miniscule grooves. Rather than responding elastically to circulation, the implant’s develop tiny stress fractures – and eventually break.

Plaintiffs point to an even more recent device, Bard’s Eclipse filter, which is taken through an additional manufacturing step, known as “electro-polishing,” to suggest the company has long known the grooves present a significant problem.

Manufacturers Face Allegations Of Fraud, Illegal Promotion

At least 7 companies currently manufacture IVC filters that are sold in the US. We’ve already discussed the world’s largest filter manufacturers, Cook Medical and C.R. Bard, because most of the lawsuits involving filters have been filed against those companies. Many smaller companies make their own versions of the device, including:

  • Rex Medical, a Pennsylvania-based company, designed two Nitinol IVC filters, the Option and OptionELITE models. The devices are now manufactured and marketed by Argon Medical Devices, a company in Texas.
  • ALN, a French manufacturer, produces and markets the ALN Optional Vena Cava Filter. It’s the only medical device ALN makes.
  • B. Braun, another Pennsylvania corporation, manufactures two IVC filters: the Vena Tech LP and the TempoFilter.
  • California’s Volcano Corporation makes the Crux Vena Cava Filter, which is very different from the other filters we’ve discussed. The Crux makes use of a spiral design, rather than spider-like struts, to hold itself in place inside the vein.

Despite differences in design and manufacturing, none of these devices have been excluded from scrutiny. The FDA’s multiple warnings on the subject pertain to retrievable IVC filters in general, not specific manufacturers or models.

Is This A Class Action?

No. Our team of experienced attorneys intends to file only individual personal injury lawsuits. While several class actions have been filed, against both C.R. Bard and Cook Medical, we believe individual lawsuits are a more appropriate choice under the circumstances.

Recall that hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed, and most are now “consolidated” in two federal courts. This legal mechanism, which takes individual lawsuits filed across the country and then transfers them to a central court, is known as “Multi-District Litigation,” or MDL. MDL recognizes that multiple lawsuits make very similar allegations against one defendant, but unlike a class action, consolidation allows individual plaintiffs to retain complete control over their own lawsuits.

We think that’s the best way to handle these claims, since every plaintiff’s situation will be different, and their needs will be, too.

Breaking IVC Filter Lawsuit News

Joseph Osborne, Esq. - IVC Filter Lawyer
Looking for updates on IVC filter litigation, research and public health? Check our breaking news section regularly to learn the newest information first.

January 10th, 2018 – First C.R. Bard Bellwether Trial Scheduled

The first bellwether case involving C.R. Bard Incorporated has been scheduled for March 14th, 2018. Pre-trial orders have been issued including the mailing of case-specific questions to 200 jurors, a pretrial conference, and the schedule for opening statements.

December 11th, 2017 – Plaintiffs Argue Company Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Seal Records

Plaintiffs involved in IVC Filter lawsuits filed against C.R. Bard Inc have requested that a judge deny the manufacturer’s request for internal documents to be sealed. The plaintiffs are arguing that the company failed to prove that there were “compelling reasons” to withhold the information in those documents from the public record.

November 13th, 2017 – IVC Filter Placement At New Low

According to the American Heart Association, since hitting an all-time high in 2010, the use of IVC Filters has continued to decline nationally. Researchers believe that the decline began because of the released of an FDA warning against the long-term use of IVC filters.

October 9th, 2017 – Indiana Man Files IVC Filter Lawsuit

One of the latest IVC filter lawsuits has been filed by an Indiana man. In his lawsuit, he has alleged that he has suffered because, despite the fact that the device was supposed to be retrievable, his doctors have performed complex medical procedures and have been unable to remove it. He claims that the manufacturers knew about the risks associated with the medical device and failed to disclose the issues to the medical community and patients.

September 29, 2017- Plaintiff Accused Of “Cherry-Picking” Depositions Ahead Of IVC Trial

Cook Medical Inc, has accused a plaintiff of “cherry-picking” video depositions in an upcoming trial by a woman who claimed the company’s vein filter caused her serious pain and injuries. Cook Medical Inc has asked a federal judge to bar the use of the video depositions. Cook presented arguments to the judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, stating that 13 of the plaintiff’s 31 witnesses for trial were located in the state. Cook argued that the court has subpoena power to demand live testimony during the trial.

August 17, 2017- IVC Filters Noted For Becoming More Dangerous The Longer They Are In Place

US RecallNews has stated that retrievable IVC filters need to be removed soon because the danger of developing blood clots passes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends having the filters removed between 29 and 54 days after they are inserted in patients who are no longer at high risk. However, most retrievable filters are not removed and this increases the likelihood of failure with time and the longer they are in place the more difficult it is to remove them. A study published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, revealed that after a seven month period of insertion, the rate of failure for retrieval procedures was over 40 percent.

July 28, 2017- Usage Of IVC Filters Reportedly Dropped

A study has recently indicated that there has been a steady drop in use of inferior vena cava (IVC) filters.The drop reportedly started in 2010, was not due to less venous thromboembolism (VTE)- related hospitalizations nor was it due to reduced reimbursement. The drop is reportedly from an FDA device safety alert, according to another study. Authors of the study also stated that a lot of U.S. patients may still be getting the devices because the 2014 rate stayed nearly 10 times greater than in Europe. Click here for more information about the study.

June 20, 2017- Vena Cava Filter For Blood Clot Prevention Ends In Lawsuit

A woman residing in Texas recently filed a lawsuit against B. Braun Medical Inc. for the injuries she suffered due to an Inferior Vena Cava Filter (IVC Filter). The woman had the filter implanted in Flint, Michigan at Hurley Medical Center, in order to prevent thrombotic events after she was hit by a car in a pedestrian accident. The IVC Filter was implanted in 2003 and in 2015 she underwent a CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis that showed two wire legs of the IVC Filter had punctured her vein. Doctors determined that the VenaTech filter had failed to operate correctly and left her at risk for future pulmonary embolisms, migrations, vein perforations and even death. The lawsuit accuses B. Braun of selling a defective medical device.

May 30, 2017- Injured Woman Files A Vein Perforation Lawsuit Against Cook Medical

A Virginia woman filed a lawsuit against Cook Medical Inc. after she was injured by the Celect Retrievable Inferior Vena Cava Filter (IVC Filter). She had the filter implanted on January 11, 2012, at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, West Virginia. She later underwent a CT scan in 2016 as a follow-up for her ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2012. The scan showed that the Celect IVC Filter had tilted and punctured through the vein. According to the lawsuit, her doctor confirmed that the Celect IVC Filter had punctured through the wall of her inferior vena cava and he was not going to attempt to remove it. The lawsuit accuses Cook Medical of failing to properly warn of the dangers and risks of harm linked with the Cook IVC Filter.

April 14, 2017- North Carolina Man Dies From IVC Filter Injuries

A lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Charlotte, N.C. over a North Carolina man’s death. The lawsuit alleges that the man died from injuries he suffered from an IVC filter and the medical device maker B.Braun Medical Inc. is being sued for selling a defective implantable blood clot filter that failed. The man’s device was implanted in 2015 and ended up breaking apart and the broken pieces lodged in his heart and lungs. The lodged parts caused the formation of blood clots that the filter was intended to prevent. The lawsuit alleges that manufacturers B. Braun and Aesculap were negligent in producing and selling the filter and should be held liable for the device’s alleged design defects, manufacturing defects, failure to warn of possible risks, breach of warranty and fraud. The man’s family is seeking unspecified damages for personal injury, medical expenses, and lost earnings.

March 30, 2017- New York Woman Files IVC Blood Clot Filter Lawsuit For The Lifetime Risks She Faces

A woman from New York recently filed an IVC filter lawsuit after she was surgically implanted with the Option Retrievable Inferior Vena Cava Filter at Rochester General Hospital. She had the Option IVC filter implanted in her body for prophylactic reasons prior to her undergoing bariatric surgery for weight loss. At the time she did not have any blood clots. Three years later when she underwent a procedure to remove the IVC filter, doctors found that the filter legs had punctured through the vena cava and perforated her left kidney. More complications ensued as doctors tried to remove the Option IVC filter. The woman now faces a lifetime risk of complications because the fractured hook is now embedded in her body and could possibly break loose and travel to her heart which can result in her dying. She is suing the manufacturers for the failure to warn people about the safety and integrity of the Option IVC filter.

February 28, 2017- New York Man Files IVC Filter Lawsuit

A New York man who was implanted with a C.R. Bard 52 Vena Cava Filter on April 16, 2008, has filed a lawsuit. The man filed his lawsuit on February 23, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. The plaintiff alleges that he was injured by a vascular blood clot filter that is known to break in 38 percent of patients within 5 years. This particular lawsuit was centralized with nearly 1,470 other IVC filter lawsuits that are now pending against C.R. Bard in Multi-District  Litigation.

January 27, 2017- Study Questions The Use Of IVC Filters In Patients

A study published in the scientific journal JAMA Surgical reveals that IVC filters may not help people who are at risk of dangerous blood clots to improve their chances of survival. Researchers looked at medical data from patients who have IVC filters implanted at Boston Medical Center between August 1, 2003, and December 31, 2012. Of the 451 patients with an IVC filter and the 1,343 matched controls without a filter, the average age was 47.4 years. The results showed that over a period of nearly four years, there was no significant difference in overall mortality or cause of mortality in patients with an IVC filter compared to those without.

December 21, 2016- Pennsylvania Woman Files IVC Filter Lawsuit After Option Elite Filter Was Removed

A Pennsylvania woman has filed an IVC filter lawsuit after multiple procedures were performed on her to remove the filter trapped in her body. She was implanted with the Option ELITE Retrievable Vena Cava in 2015 at Wellspan York Hospital in PA. She had to go back to the hospital 10 months later to have the filter removed, where her doctor discovered that the filter was tilted and the retrieval hook was embedded in the wall of her blood vessel. For more details about this lawsuit go here.

November 25, 2016- Woman From Alabama Files Bard Eclipse IVC Filter Lawsuit

An Alabama woman states that she was injured by a blood clot filter and has subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging that C.R. Bard sold a defective medical device and failed to warn about possible health risks. The Alabama woman was implanted with the C.R. Bard Eclipse Vena Cava Filter on January 13, 2011. Eclipse is a newer member of a long line of IVC filters that were linked to safety risks and pulled off the market without a recall. The filters were replaced by “new” filters that had nearly identical designs and defects.

October 27, 2016- Timing Of Bellwether Trials Ruled By Judge In Cook IVC Filter Litigation

On October 18, 2016, District Judge Richard Young issued a ruling for the first three Cook IVC bellwether trials. The first two bellwether cases have been ordered by the court to be ready for trial by October 2, 2017, and the third one to be ready by April 2, 2018. The Court noted in a recent ruling that the purpose of choosing bellwether cases for trials is in order to enhance the settlement prospects of the multitude of pending cases involving the Celect and Günther Filters.

September 15, 2016- IVC Filter Lawsuits Prove Devices Require Immediate Removal

The hundreds of lawsuits filed in connection with the IVC filters have shown that one of the serious problems with the filters is their design. The devices were designed to be used as a temporary measure, however, they are left in a patient’s body longer than they should be. What is more concerning is the fact that the longer they are left in a patient’s body, the harder it is to remove them. This also increases the likelihood of the device fracturing or migrating to other parts of the body and causing serious injury. Right now it is still being questioned why the IVC filters are left in a patient’s body for months and even years if they were only meant to be in for a brief period of time. There is also the problem that even within the brief period of six-weeks, IVC filters have been noted to have already migrated and lodged in tissue.

August 31, 2016- California Woman Files Lawsuit For Failed Cook Celect IVC Filter

A California woman recently filed a product liability lawsuit, stating that she experienced serious health problems after a Cook Celect IVC filter failed. The IVC broke into small pieces and lodged in her heart. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California stating that the blood clot filter was defective and unreasonably dangerous. Due to the IVC filter complication, the complainant had to undergo extensive medical care and is now facing on-going problems.

June 28, 2016- New Jersey Woman Files Lawsuit For Injuries Caused By IVC Filter

On June 20, 2016, a woman from New Jersey filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Arizona for injuries she allegedly suffered because of the Meridian Vana Cava Filter made by C.R. Bard and Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. The woman is accusing the makers of the filter of negligence for creating and selling a defective medical device and then for failing to give warning about the side effects as well as breaching implied and express warranty.

May 26, 2016- IVC Filter Lawsuit Has Been Filed In PA

A man from Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit after his IVC filter broke and ended up embedded in his heart. The man had the device implanted at Wellspan Health Hospital in York, Pennsylvania in June 2012. He ended up having surgery to remove the filter in December 2015 and his doctors discovered that the filter was tilted. An arm of the filter had broken and traveled into his heart. He has filed his lawsuit on the basis that Cook Medical concealed the risks of the filter and falsely promoted it as safe.

April 29, 2016- Bellwether Trials To Be Prepared For More IVC Blood Clot Filter Litigation

As the numbers increase of lawsuits filed in connection with IVC blood clot filters in courts all over America, U.S. groups of cases against Cook Medical and C.R. Bard are due to be chosen as “bellwether” claims. The bellwether claims will be prepared for early trial dates that will help gauge how juries might respond to some evidence and testimony that might be repeated in the course of the trial. At the moment, there are almost 700 product liability lawsuits that are pending against Cook and Bard in connection with problems associated with some versions of their blood clot filters.

March 9, 2016 – No “Clinically Meaningful Benefit” In 91% Of IVC Filter Placements, Yale Researchers Find

IVC filter use continues to puzzle medical researchers. Most of the devices, around 91% actually, are being used in pulmonary embolism patients in stable condition, a group in whom filters show no “clinically meaningful benefit,” according to new research out of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Analyzing Medicare data for patients 65 years or older, researchers at Yale discovered that 94,427 patients hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism between 1999 and 2010 had received IVC filters. Over the course of the 11-year study period, the number of patients hospitalized for PE increased reliably on an annual basis, but the rate of filter placement held steady. In other words, the number of patients receiving IVC filters rose in step with the number of total patients being hospitalized for pulmonary embolism.

The same trend, however, was not observed in specific patient groups. Patients over 85 saw a large increase in IVC filter placement while African American patients saw a drop in the device’s usage. Doctors in the Atlantic South, states from Florida to Delaware, were more likely than doctors in Western states to opt for IVC filters in their treatment plans.

Whether or not IVC filters are helping anyone remains in question. The researchers noted that mortality rates fell between 1999 and 2010, in both patients with filters and those without. Patients for whom the devices may present most clinical benefit, those considered in unstable condition, only receive IVC filters 27% of the time, according to an editorial that accompanied the study’s publication.

February 16, 2016 – “Absolutely […] Should Have Been Recalled,” Says Filter Removal Expert

Dr. William Kuo, an associate professor at Stanford University’s Medical Center, has come to prominence among professional circles as an IVC filter specialist. The Stanford-educated physician even developed the surgical technique now used to remove the small, spider-like implants from patients. Since 2006, he’s “retrieved” over 1,000 of the devices, which have a notable tendency to break inside people, causing all sorts of damage.

Kuo even heads a special office at Stanford, the IVC Filter Clinic. He’s often a patient’s last hope when it comes to repairing the harm caused by a filter, or preventing further damage. It’s safe to say that Kuo has made his name, and any wealth that may go along with that name, on IVC filters – specifically ones manufactured by Indiana’s C.R. Bard, Inc. But that hasn’t stopped Dr. Kuo from coming out against the devices in a big way.

In a recent interview, Kuo said:

“all of the data that we’ve seen in our own studies, as well as other clinician researchers’, is that this device consistently fractures, consistently causes major complications. The number of complications, the frequency of severe failures makes it obvious that it was never safe to be implanted.”

He’s now advocating for a recall. In fact, he says the FDA and manufacturers had a “moral obligation” to recall IVC filters at the first sign of trouble, according to The Ring Of Fire, a prominent watchdog media service.

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reportNo house is perfect, and not every problem decreases the value of a home. Even the best built and best maintained homes will always have a few items in less-than-perfect condition.When you receive your Blue Heron Inspection report, we’re available to help you understand the differences between any “big” problems and those items that are simply maintenance or upkeep related.

Here are some of the most common potential problems that appear on inspection reports:

Roofs: Missing or damaged tiles or shingles are typical and don’t always mean a roof needs replacing; maintenance or repair may be all that’s needed.

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Mold: When houses sit empty the chances for mold to grow increase. An air quality test and inspection by a mold specialist may be needed, depending on the age and condition of the home.

Chinese Drywall: Sadly, there are homes in our Sarasota and Manatee regions that were built with defective drywall from China. It’s high sulfur content affects air quality and corrodes fixtures and electrical lines. We’re always looking for evidence of this defective drywall–it creates a major defect as the only way to “repair it” it to “gut” the home and replace both the drywall and any affected systems.

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Sarasota home inspectorInspector Joe Cockey
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Proteus is a complex game played with trivial rules and equipment.   The complexity arises from the way the rules of the game change as you play.

Opening: The board starts empty.  Players alternate placing one of the 9 tiles, or one of their three pieces.
All tiles and pieces are either round, square, or triangular.   When a player piece is combined with
a tile the same shape, a rule associated with that tile is activated.  Moves in the opening phase are constrained by the rule that exactly one tile of each color must be activated.

Red tiles change the rule for moving player pieces.
Blue tiles change the rule for swapping tiles.
Yellow tiles change the rule for winning the game.

Play: after the pieces have all been placed, and all three rules selected, players alternate either moving one of their pieces, or swapping two of the tiles in accordance with the current rule.   Where the new tile/piece combinations have the same shape, the corresponding rule is activated, and the previous rule is deactivated.    There are a couple of not-quite-elegant subtleties: If two inactive rules would both be activated at the end of a turn, then neither is activated.  If both players would be in a winning position after a move, then neither player wins, and the game continues.

The official rules.

Robots:  Humans can't cope with change.  The robot looks nearly unbeatable.
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Kadon enterprises publish a remarkable number of rare and beautiful board games.  Their catalog has been on my short list "since forever".

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