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Click here for extreme cuteness!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Cuteness Alert!
UPDATE! On Flood Victim Nancy Punches
As I posted back in December, beloved Foxhound breeder, Nancy Punches narrowly survived the massive floods in Washington State. Here is an update, courtesy of The American Foxhound Club.
Nancy is doing good. She is still in the hospital but they have moved her to another room and she has a room mate so she is not alone. There had been reports of a foxhound found on sat, however this was not true, however there is good news there was a live foxhound found and rescued and airlifted out with Nancy. Nancy just didn't remember it. It was found in her front yard buried up to his neck in mud. He has been vetted and is doing fine and is staying with a close friend of Nancy's and mine Sarah Ann. She is also keeping the puppies.
Sarah Ann is a Dalmatian Breeder from Washington State and she also owns a foxhound from Nancy. So the puppies are in good hands. On a sad note...... Sarah Ann went to Nancy's house on sat and found 7 dogs that had died in the house and 8 that had died in the kennel. There are few more unaccounted for but at this time we all feel that they too have perished. Please keep Nancy in your prayers.
FYI: The puppies are named: Faith, Moses, Noah and Spirit. We wish Nancy and the puppies well!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sink or Swim?
SWIM!! Can you believe it!! Dead of winter! BOL! I can't say I "loved" it..but all the pups were so cool!! At least the pool was warm!
I met LOTS of Labs (they are cuckoo for the water!!), a Shepherd, a NS Duck Toller, 2 JRT's and the coolest pup was a Bulldog puppy named Juice!! In his bright yellow life jacket, and he was such a good swimmer!!! Every human fell in love with him!! BOL!
I don't think I'll ever have a sports career as a DockDog..but I'm now on the honorary "Fun Police" crew!! (all the dogs that don't like to jump..we still go to the events and make sure everyone/pup is, well, you know - having fun!) The leader of the fun police is Spencer, a fun little Jack Russell.
*photos to follow...a DD member who is also a photographer was taking pics and promised to post them on her website!*
UPDATE: Visit the Ontario Dock Dogs website to see the photos! Under "Fun Swim", focus on photos 1, 2, 10 and 20 to see me and HM in all my glory! Also..image 18 is of Juice...isn't he cute!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Cool Runnings
Haliburton Highlands Dogsled Derby is being held this weekend, and there's one cool team making waves! Damion Robb from the Jamaican Dogsled Team continues to break barriers and buck trends that folks from the Caribbean don't enjoy winter sports! (I really like this, as both my pawrents roots are Caribbean-based!)
They train mostly on dryland, in Jamaica, with strays they rescue from "death row". Then during the race season, they move to colder climates and work with their snow dog team mates. To meet the dogs...visit their site here.
Paws up to this very cool team!!
If you want to help support the team, visit their website to purchase their documentary, Sun Dogs. Proceeds go to team training and the JSPCA (Jamaican SPCA).
Saturday, January 26, 2008
All Wet...
Tomorrow's the day...the dreaded "fun swim".
I'll let you all know how it goes! *gulp*
Friday, January 25, 2008
Is Your Computer Screen Dirty??
BOL! Click HERE to clean it!
Happy Friday!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Fighting BSL to Save Puppy
From the Toronto Star today:
A pit bull puppy in Mississauga has won a five-week stay of execution, while his owner contests the charges, in one of the first challenges to Ontario's ban on the breed.
The 10-month-old dog, named Rambo, was caught by animal control officers on Christmas Day after he ran away from the back yard of his owner, Gabriela Nowakowska.
The puppy was born after a province-wide ban on new pit bulls took effect Aug. 29, 2005. By law, the city must put the dog down.
According to the Dog Owners' Liability Act, pit bulls born more than 90 days after the ban took effect must be put down.
"It's so sad that a simple thing like your dog escaping can mean your dog is killed," said King, spokesperson for the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Canada, part of a coalition that protested the ban. "It's incredibly heartbreaking for the people forced to live with the consequences of a bad law."
Details of the ban
When did the amended Dog Owners' Liability Act take effect?
Aug. 29, 2005.
Which breeds are banned?
Pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers and any other dog with traits "substantially similar" to those breeds.
What are the terms of the ban?
The legislation prohibits the ownership, transfer, import, breeding and abandonment of pit bulls.
Dogs that belonged to an Ontario resident when the ban took effect, or were born within 90 days after the ban, are allowed but must be spayed or neutered and muzzled in public. ("Public" includes everything but the owner's property.) The muzzle must be strong enough to prevent the dog from biting through but can't hinder the dog's ability to breathe, see, pant or drink.
The dogs may not be trained to fight and must be kept on a leash shorter than 1.8 meters.
What happens if you break the law?
The dog will be confiscated and euthanized.
The owner could face: up to six months in jail; a maximum fine of $10,000 ($60,000 for corporations); a court order to compensate a victim.
For more info on BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) visit the Dog Legislation Council of Canada.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Building a Great Foundation!
Well, I wrapped up my Agility Foundation course yesterday, and WOW was it ever great!
We did our first mini sequence, and I TOTALLY ROCKED IT! HM was very proud of me and our teacher Brandi was too! We had to go over two jumps, then through the tunnel.
We practiced weaves again, and we're doing channels to help us get used to it, and I had no problems with it this week!
I was very confident on the teeter too! (it was just stationary on the ground...) But it's great practice for the Dog Walk too!
I can't wait, the next round of classes starts in two weeks!
PLUS!! After HM tries to get me to swim next week, I get to go to a real agility trial!! Brandi is competing with her dogs Soshi and Zona in the same area that our swim session will be!!! So pop over to her blog and wish her luck!!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Even Dogs Have Bad Days!
Now every pup knows I'm full of energy and love to put HM through her paces! I love to run around and go crazy, especially when I'm at the park with my pals. HM has recently been looking into pet insurance for me. When one loves zoomie's and agility as much as I do, anything could happen and my pawrents want to protect me the best they can. Even my buddy Johann and my best girl Denali have experienced some recent health issues that have landed them at the vets office. Pet insurance is a pawesome way they can get dog insurance just for me!
They've been comparing pet insurance on a few websites, including About Your Money. That site is a good comparison website so they don't have to do more work than necessary to find me the best policy! You can even compare car insurance too. You know I ride in style when I'm off on my adventures and my pawrents want all bases covered.
Pet insurance is important for every dog because vet appointments can get pricey, and isn't it better to spend that money on treats for us??
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Bulldog cracks the Top Ten
Did you make the list?
10. Bulldog
9. Shih Tzu
8. Poodle
7. Dachshund
6. Boxer
5. Beagle
4. Golden Retriever
3. German Shepherd
2. Yorkshire Terrier
1. Labrador Retriever
HM says we didn't crack the Top Ten cause we're the best kept secret in the dog world! BOL!
Who Loves Snow??
Bailey does!!! This is one of the cutest dog video's I've seen. It's Bailey the Unknown Reindeer! BOL! Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
What was she thinking???
HM has really done it this time. She was all excited coming home to tell me she planned a really cool play date for me. Yaaay! Right??
The play date is to go SWIMMING!! The Ontario DockDogs club is having a fun swim in 2 weeks for members.
HM thought it would be "fun" to let me get comfortable with water again. She's determined to get me to jump off the stupid dock. I won't do it! I don't mind going to sniff some new butts and make new friends...but no way am I going in.
Here's a shot of me last year, in my stupid life jacket. Do I look impressed?
Here's video of the #1 DockDog in Canada, Diesel. His owner, Heather McLeod tried to help HM get me off the dock last summer. Hrmpf. Not cool. But whatever, Diesel is a pretty sick dock jumper.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Best Sunday! (ie: Dog Tired)
Well, the day started off great! AGILITY!! Whoot whoot!
I had a great class, we even had an extra half hour of class! I practiced the Bang Game (on the teeter), weaves, and one of my favourites: TUNNEL!
My instructor had her new puppy Brix there too! Soooo cute!!
If that wasn't enough...I got to go to Westney today for a play date with Denali!!
I also met 2 German Shepherds, 2 Golden Retrievers and a Boston Terrier. We all had sooo much fun!!
I'm pretty pooped now...off to snuggle under the covers.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Human Mom's first article published!
Big news! HM is very excited today! She is the co-ordinator for the Breedlines section in Dogs In Canada magazine for the Canadian Manchester Terrier Club and her first article has been published! Breedlines is a monthly feature that showcase articles of interest from breed clubs in Canada. She will be publishing articles every other month, all about Manchester Terriers!
If you have access to it, pick up the January issue!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Agility Countdown: 4 days to go!!!
Yaaaayyyy!!!! First class of 2008 is THIS SUNDAY!! I've missed agility! I've missed my teacher, Brandi!
I've been practicing the tunnel (we have a small one at home), my targets, table and jumps (over HM's legs)!!
Oh agility, how I've missed you!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Great new Toy!
My pal Gibbon sent me a great new toy for Christmas! It's a stuffed stocking that squeaks! I just LOVE it!! Thanks Gibby!!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Winter Hike!
Sooo pawesome! HM and I went on a pawesome hike yesterday! Since our camera is still dead...she took video and photos on her cell phone. Sorry for the quality.
Check out pics of my new coat!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Product Review: PAWZitive Therapy!
Since the temperature is rapidly dropping where I live and the snow, ice and salt seems to be accumulating, like many dogs, my paws are feeling it!
It was a blog entry by my pal Johann that set my human mom in motion! He barked about having sensitive paws to the snow and cold, and now wears booties to protect his paws.
While my own paws seem to stand up fine in the cold temperatures, it's the increase in salt and walking in deep snow that has started to bother me, and dry out the pads on my paws. When the snow gets caked in between my toes I pull up my paw and hobble until my human helps clear it out.
So off to the store she went last night in search for a solution. She found it.
So if you are not ready to don the boots just yet, try one of many conditioning and protection sticks out on the market!
"A convenient way to provide year-round soothing, moisturizing relief for cracked pads and skin abrasions in addition to shielded protection from ice, salt and rough surfaces. The benefits of EFA's, and especially GLA, for healthy skin makes hemp seed oil a highly effective skin care additive. Hemp oil contains an unusually high concentration of EFA's, making it an ideal natural ingredient for treating dry skin and abrasions. Hemp's lipid constituents allow it to permeate through intact skin to nourish cells directly while also carrying therapeutic substances with it into the skin. More than 75% of its fatty acids are polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (EFA's). These impart excellent emollient, lubricating, moisturing and protection properties to the pads of both cats and dogs."
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
New Sister?
Ahhhh, a boy can dream...but check out my buddy MJ's blog..they are fostering a girl who is either a German Pinscher or a Manchester mix (her tail is docked and her fur is kinda chocolatey black).
She lives in British Columbia, which is on the west coast of Canada.
My human is going to help spread the word and find her a good home. She sounds just like me, very active and full of energy. So if you or someone you know is interested, just drop MJ a line at her blog!


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As the dust settles from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's bombshell indictment of a number of Russians for their social media interference operations, the extent of their reach and influence remains an open question.
Nonetheless, the argument that the Facebook operation coordinated out of St. Petersburg was sloppy, and thus ineffective, gained new prominence this week — even though the little data we have on hand points to a reach that would make other groups blush with envy.
The New Yorker's Adrian Chen kicked off the line of argument with an appearance on MSNBC this week, noting that the Russian operatives behind the fake accounts had a "bare grasp of the English language, and not a full understanding of who they're targeting, what they're targeting."
Chen — whose 2015 dive into Russia's Internet Research Agency introduced many Americans to the group — added on Twitter that they were simply "shitposting on Facebook." His New Yorker colleague, Masha Gessen, further pointed that the social media efforts were "not at all sophisticated."
To be sure, both Chen and Gessen are correct; it's difficult to look through all of the egregious typos, the bizarre syntax, and the coloring-book ads for "Buff Bernie Sanders" and conclude that the Russian social media operations were somehow sophisticated.
But a lack of basic English skills or use of perplexing sentence structure is by no means a barrier to gaining a massive online following, and influence therein. (See: Donald Trump's Twitter feed.) And when it comes to the Russian social media operations, it's worth keeping a couple points in mind about their reach, their success, and their spread — at least, from what Facebook has deigned to share with reporters and researchers thus far.
- The fake Russian "Blacktivist" Facebook account — which had just as many typos, odd sentence constructions, and laughable posts as the others — managed to gain tens of thousands more followers than the official Black Lives Matter account, as CNN found. For good measure, the Russian "Sincerely_black_" Instagram account also had tens of thousands more followers than the most popular Black Lives Matter account on the platform.
- At one point in 2016, the Russian "Heart of Texas" Facebook account — the one that organized armed white supremacists in downtown Houston — boasted more followers than the official Texas Democrat and Texas Republican pages combined.
- Before it was taken down, the Russian "United Muslims of America" Facebook account had hundreds of thousands more followers than the official account for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). And on Instagram, the Russian "Muslim_voice" account had nearly 100,000 followers before it was pulled. CAIR currently has about 4,000.
- All told, nearly 150 million Facebook and Instagram users were unwittingly exposed to Russian propaganda — all on a budget that ran only a few million dollars.
- And that's only on Facebook; on Twitter, the Russian Internet Research Agency managed to see one of their accounts, @TEN_GOP, end up as "the seventh most mentioned user on Election Day Twitter," per The Daily Beast.
Further, these highlights are only among the Russian Facebook pages that we know about. In September, Facebook announced that it had identified "about 470 inauthentic accounts and Pages" that were "likely operated out of Russia."
However, according to ThinkProgress' calculations, only 30 fake Russian Facebook groups have thus far been identified and confirmed. That is to say, either the Russian Internet Research Agency created an additional 440 accounts posing as individuals or there are dozens, and potentially hundreds, of other Russian Facebook pages that Facebook hasn't yet announced, and that journalists haven't yet discovered.
As with every other step along the way — from providing numbers on how many users were affected, to notifying those users that they'd been following fake Russian accounts — Facebook has dragged its feet when it comes to transparency. Questions from ThinkProgress about the total number of Russian pages, or whether Facebook would release a comprehensive list of fake Russian pages, went unanswered.
Some six months after Facebook first announced it had discovered these hundreds of fake Russian accounts and pages, we still have only a small window into the operations. Questions remain regarding their reach, the full extent of their impact, and the other legitimate American groups whose follower counts were dwarfed by those sitting in St. Petersburg. We also have no answer as to how these pages impacted the election. Nor will we likely find one: as Gessen noted, "It is exceedingly unlikely that we will ever have a clear understanding of whether Russian meddling affected the outcome of the election."
And she is, again, correct. Yet we do know that these fake Russian pages exceeded, sometimes by multiple magnitudes, the reach of their American counterparts, pushing their messages along the way. These fake Russian pages may not have contained clear English, or been at all sophisticated. But as we've learned over the past few months, a lack of sophistication hardly means you'll find a lack of success.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Arnold Denoiser is a stand-alone program post-process denoiser executable. It works on EXR files with multiple layers (merged) and outputs an EXR file with the denoised layers. It takes into account multiple frames and multiple light AOVs. Like most denoisers, it considers a neighborhood around the current pixel and looks for similar neighborhoods inside a given search area to blend together. To use the Arnold Denoiser, you will need to render images via the Arnold EXR driver.
The path to the image or image sequence to be denoised. Use # characters in the path to define an image sequence (for example: /path/to/myscene_####.exr).
The Arnold denoiser can denoise input images rendered via an EXR driver with specific settings. To create the driver open the Input field and click on Create EXR driver, or go to Plugins > C4DtoA > Arnold Driver > EXR driver for Arnold denoiser.
Set the denoised output file path. The output file will include the denoised layers with the same names as the original layers. For each file, a new one is saved, postfixed by '_denoised' (the denoised images).
Note that the file output size differs from the input files because only the main RGBA layers are saved (without the auxiliary AOVs).
Frame Range
Choose to render the complete Sequence, a single frame or a frame range (e.g. 1 to 10).
Complete sequence: Denoise all frames of the given image sequence.
- Single frame: Denoise only a single frame of the image sequence, specified in Start Frame.
- Start/End Frame range: Denoise the given frame range, specified in Start Frame and End Frame.
Start Frame
Set the sequence start value.
End Frame
Set the sequence end value.
Temporal Stability Frames
The number of extra images to be used for temporal stability. Multiple additional frames can be specified to increase temporal stability (for instance
render001.exr, render002.exr, render003.exr).
noice is in removing noise can be controlled by setting a variance threshold with the command line argument
-variance (
-v). The default value is 0.5, higher values will make the denoising more aggressive by considering similar neighborhoods that have bigger color disparities.
Pixel Search Radius
noice will search a square area with a radius set with the command line argument
-searchradius (
-sr). The bigger this area the bigger the denoising stability and the higher the chance that similar neighborhoods to be considered will be found. The default value is 9, which gives a 19x19 square neighborhood. Setting it to 21 (a search window of 42 x 42) will look over a pixel area equivalent to loading 5 frames.
Pixel Patch Radius
This increases the softness of the denoising (while always preserving the features). The default is 3 (on the big side), but a low value would be maybe 0 or 1, middle 3 and high 5.
For every pixel
noice will consider its neighborhood patch and look for other pixels with similar neighborhood patches. The radius of this neighborhood can be controlled with the
-patchradius (or
-pr) command line argument. The default value is set to 3, which gives a 7x7 square neighborhood.
Light Group AOVs
Additional light AOVs to be co-denoised can be specified.
Read Available AOVs
Reads the layers of the EXR and sets the Light group AOVs field.
Custom Feature Layers
Specifies which AOVs will be used as features to guide denoising. For instance
volume_albedo will use
volume_albedo for denoising instead of the default
diffuse_albedo. That will improve the quality of denoised volumes.
Autodetect Threads
Use an optimal number of threads based on the number of hardware processing cores.
If autodetect is disabled, this will let you manually set the number of threads used by the denoiser. Negative numbers are also allowed. If specifying 0 threads means use all cores on a machine, then negative numbers can mean use all but that many cores. For example, threads=-2 means use all but two cores, while threads=2 means only use two cores. This is useful when you want to leave one or two cores for other tasks. One example of this is so that Cinema 4D can be more responsive while the images are denoised in the background.


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I am trying to download a large Mp4 (which I paid for). The download fails on Firefox and the resume function does not resume, it starts over and fails again.
The download indicates 'interrupted' in Internet Explorer and the same thing happens with its resume function. I have temporarily disabled my malware software, turned off my firewall, shut down all other non essential processes, updated Internet Explorer and Firefox.
No luck. Running Windows 8 on a laptop and have been at this ALLLLLLLL day.
The file is a download of a DVD which I purchased directly from the site who created it.


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Reserve management
Administrative management structure and staff
Federal State Institution "State natural biosphere-tion reserve" Uvs Nuur Basin "is a legal entity, financed from the federal budget, off-budget sources, as well as its own funds allocated for the implementation of the main tasks.
The reserve is located on its own balance sheet, it has accounts in banks of the Russian Federation and the seal with the coat of arms of the Russian Federation.
The reserve is part of the system of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation within the jurisdiction of the Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources for the Republic of Tyva (Rosprirodnadzor). Management, information and communication functions between departments and district reserve inspections are carried out via the control unit and the Scientific and Technical Council (STC) of the reserve, located in the Kyzyl there.
The total number of employees of the reserve as at 25 11.2013g. - 83 people. The reserve has the following departments: the management of the reserve, and 7 regional inspectorates, created for the protection of the nine clusters in the territory of the seven administrative regions of the republic. The following divisions are allocated a part of the reserve: the territory of the protection department, 37 state inspectors, including 31 - in the inspection area and 6 people. in combat units; Science Division 9 pers., environmental education department of 9 people., welfare department operating activities 32 people., and the financial and economic department of 5 people.
The main structural units of the reserve are seven regional inspectorates clusters Protection: Erzin, Tes-Khem, Mongun-Taiga (in the same district), Kara-Khol (in Bai-Taiga district), Abaza and Sut-Khol (in Sut-Khol district) and Chaa-Khol (in Chaa-Khol district). Management of each regional inspectorate carries out the senior state inspector with the district and state inspectors and technical staff (from 4 to 17 people). Inspections are carried out work on the protection of the territory, environmental management in protected areas, implementation of measures for ecological education, eco-tourism, assistance in monitoring and research projects.
Directorate office located in Kyzyl there.
The management of the reserve and the regional inspections are minimally necessary material and technical base: cars, trucks, snowmobiles, motor boats, radio communication equipment, office equipment. Of the seven regional inspectorates vehicles (UAZ) are six: Chaa-Khol, Tes-Khem, Erzin, Sut-Khol, Kara-Khol and Mongun-Taiga.
In connection with underdeveloped telecommunications network in remote areas of the country, the reserve is used short-wave radio station "Angara", cellular communications, develops satellite communication system (including for raiding operations group).
Protection of the territory
To ensure the protection regime areas in seven administrative-governmental areas, where there are seven regional clusters Reserve inspections organized, the total number of 31 state inspector. In addition, the reserve has a number of Task Force 6 people. The average size of protected areas per one state inspector of protection of the territory in the areas of:
- Preserve the core - 7516.2 ha .;
- Protected areas - 13,998.5 ha .;
- All protected areas - 21514.7 hectares.
When management of the reserve established Task Force amount to 6 people, equipped (with the support of the UNDP / GEF) trucks, motor boats, mobile and wearable HF radios, satellite phones, PDAs, satellite navigators, cameras, night vision device, the field of clothing, tabor property and spets.sredstvami. Visits to areas of combat units are carried out in a planned manner during the periods and seasons of special protection (spawning, hotels, surveys, etc.), as well as information from the field and applications rayinspektsy.
On clusters in the areas of protection are state inspectors, carrying out daily or periodic patrols, cordons arrival on a rotational basis. Most state inspectors rayinspektsy living in the vicinity of protected areas.
State inspectors of the reserve do business on violations of the regime of protection of the reserve and protected areas, collect (either voluntarily or through the courts) administrative fines and lawsuits from reserve status violators, leads outreach and environmental education activities. To the list of the main responsibilities of state inspectors also includes activities and measures to prevent and combat forest fires and wildfires in clusters, and security zones.
The main types of violations of the protection of the territory are: violation of the rules and terms of fishing and hunting rules, fire safety rules in forests, illegal presence, passage and passage of citizens and transport the reserve.
In the course of daily work, state inspectors conducted interviews with local people, visitors to the natural, cultural and historical sites in protected areas, participate in environmental actions held reserve, local authorities and non-governmental organizations, to address the media, perform economic activities cordons and beautification of places of mass recreation .
At the same time, the reserve guard service have the following problems and shortcomings:
Preparation of materials reserve forest management started only in 2013. Phase III will end in 2015 with the issuance of project documentation.
Lack of equipment protection service territory of vehicles, communications equipment and communications, office equipment. There is an acute shortage of cordons in key areas, ensuring uniforms and field clothes.
Staff turnover. Reasons - low wages. The difficulties in finding qualified personnel in remote areas.
Inadequately controlled land users, leading economic activity in protected areas of the reserve (agricultural enterprises, herders, forest enterprises, commercial hunting and fishing, etc.).
Natural Resource Management
Natural complexes reserve management is based on functional zoning of the territory in accordance with the established regime of protection for each area of the cluster and their protected zones. The structure of natural complexes, owls reserve includes wetlands, steppe, forest-steppe, mountain taiga, Lednev-kovye ecosystems and cluster "Yamaalyg" - a unique object of cultural and historical values, as well as geological features, wildlife, creating not only a natural nye landscapes, but also a wide biodiversity and aesthetic values.
Due to the fact that the reserve clusters located in remote and inaccessible locations (category 1A and 1B), they are not carried out and other silvicultural CELEBRATION-ment, with the exception of construction cordon for recreation and residence state inspectors, scientific purposes. Occasionally held rassolka solonetzes and biotehmero-acceptance in particularly snowy years. In areas directly clusters is set to strict protection, they do not have human settlements and economic entities. As an exception, the Regulation on the reserve prescribed individual routes and proho-dy in clusters, such as the two climbing routes on the mountain Mongun-Taiga, the passages in the hunting grounds and medicinal springs with a pass and accompanied by state inspectors.
Within the borders of the security zone of the reserve are economic activities of other land users, in particular, forestries, hunting grounds users, public and private farms mainly engaged in transhumant. Monitoring compliance with environmental legislation and the regime of security zones of the reserve these land users is hindered considerably due to the imperfection of the laws of the servational base, in particular, the lack of financial and legal obligations of land users in the data. Basically, the inspection activities of the reserve amount to a controlling functions, such as regulation of grazing, hunting and rybolovst Islands within the approved quotas and limits, limiting plowing water protection zones, the prohibition of spring selhozpalov, dumps, etc.
Clusters of the reserve entered in the State Register with registration certificates for the right to a permanent and perpetual use.
The animal world is an integral part of natural ecosystems. Sistematiches-kai work on wildlife conservation is a priority deyatelnos-minute reserve. Winter route surveys are conducted regularly, biotechnical issues incorporated that allow to improve the quality and increase the number of land animals. Hunting grounds in protected areas transferred to hunting users, whose operations are controlled in accordance with the allocated quota.
Reserve conducted monitoring of the state of natural complexes, rare vie-ing animals, including Snow Leopard and Argali ( "flagship species"), two subspecies tarbagan, three subspecies of the beaver, Bustard, Saker Falcon, Manul. Less explored Mountain Goose, Siberian ibex, gazelle, span and birds of prey, etc. Monitoring work is carried out with the use of GIS, together with Altays-kim reserve with support from UNDP / GEF and WWF projects. Work is underway to improve the use of GIS in the reserve replenishment database and user training.
Guarding activities conducted on their own reserve, as well as the forces of inter-departmental anti-poaching brigade in accordance with the quadripartite agreement-it (with the Ministry of Interior, the Office of Rosprirodnadzor and Rosselkhoznadzor for Republic of Tuva). Overall interagency team of 10 persons, fully technically equipped with the support of UNDP / GEF project. Contracts on cooperation with the Border Guard, Customs and Tuva district administrations, which are located on the territory of the reserve clusters.
In order to organize study and recreational pressure regulation on transboundary lake Tore-Khol - natural monument of regional significance -Located in the buffer zone "Els Tsugeer" cluster reserve is designed, and the administration and representative body of the Erzin district in 2006 approved the zoning of the coastal strip of the lake. Obtained recreation, commercial fishing, livestock watering, rest areas and nesting birds (IBA). Reserve initiated the creation of a local authority in the area memory-nick nature management for the implementation of the established mode of protection and use of the natural object.
Reserve concluded in 2004 and in 2006. prolonged the Agreement on cooperation with the neighboring state of Mongolia natural reserve "Uvs Nuur". The purpose of this contract and received an annual joint work plan is the study and protection of the landscape and bioraznoob-Razia transboundary ecosystems Nurskoy Uvs Basin, conducting joint-governmental conservation and research work. The development of these relations, preparing an intergovernmental agreement on the establishment of a transboundary biosphere reserve.
Neighboring reserves agreed and adopted a common logo:
Logo reserve:
white - a stylized image of the cluster - the mountains Mongun-Taiga
zelenym- mountain taiga areas
yellow - sand "Tsugeer Els"
blue - Lake Uvs Nuur


text:
Posted on 02 August 2017
The C02 powered race cars were the focus of our classes across Semester 1. Students followed the design process from broad concept to solution. The final step was the 3D printing of their cars. This then culminated in the hotly contested "race day" where the students were finally able to witness first-hand how their 6 months of designing performed in real life. There were a number of very tight races but in the end Dominik Puljic triumphed and took out first place. Samuel Lee was second followed closely by Stephan Muller in third.
Michael Hiratos
Secondary School Teacher


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It's been a while since my last post about the Signia Primax Pure. Planning my Digital. 2016 event sure took a lot out of me, but I'm back and ready
A few days ago I attended a conference known as Traction Conference here in Vancouver, BC. This was a loaded conference full of people and it was loud. Luckily for
So I've just come back from the beautiful Las Vegas, NV where it wasn't too hot but too cold, it was just the perfect temperature. Las Vegas is known as


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Product Description
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Inside IWM, March 9-12, 2015: Big Thoughts, Big Wines, and Lots of Nebbiolo
Posted on | March 13, 2015 | Written by IWM Staff | No Comments
This week was all about serious thinking here at Inside IWM. We kicked off the week with part two of Francesco Vigorito's series on building a serious Italian wine collection. He laid the foundation in part one, and in part two, Francesco talked Piemonte wines that every collector should have. As if picking up Francesco's cue, Robin Kelley O'Connor took a long look at Barolo and explained why this wine is hot on the auction and collector market. On Tuesday, David Bertot gave his impassioned take on the Donnas' under $25 "Mountain Barolo." And on Wednesday, Emery Long took on the divisive topic of natural wines in the effort of helping you decide when you should go natural–and when you should reach for its opposite.
As much as our writers were taken by big thoughts about big wines, our experts were gripped by spring fever and the sheer joy of enjoyment. Garrett Kowalsky poured out a pair of 1998 Super-Tuscan icons from Tenuta dell'Ornellaia and Tenuta San Guido. On Thursday, Garrett's brother Justin reveled in the spring weather and chose two classic white Burgundies, one from Gilbert Picq and the other from Domaine Leflaive. Crystal Edgar appreciates unusual wines, and she picked a pair from Fantinel's boutique estate, La Roncaia, that offer full flavors of Friuli. And like Crystal, David Gwo opted to celebrate a single estate, but he chose the Rhône Valley's E. Guigal, selecting Hermitage–one white, one red, both gorgeous.
Cheers to you, whether you're simply enjoying the weather or thinking big thoughts with big wines!
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Reviews on Bleach Blonde(#613) COCO REMY EXTENSIONSThe hair extensions in this video are:
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happyshopperGood extensions, slightly strawberry blonde in color thoughPosted on 8/29/14The quality is pretty good, secure bands of hair & clips. Cons, the color is a bit too strawberry blonde for my hair (2 months later) from highlighting and changing the color a little (I would still consider it a "dark blonde" though) & the ends of all the strands are pretty thin, I was hoping to have gained some thickness to my ends after destroying my dark brown hair to blonde (bleached and over processed ;-P) but the extensions didn't give me much more hair at the ends since they are not very thick all the way down. Good luck out there all you blondies
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While the 2017 edition of the award and €15,000 cash prize went to Romanian artist Ciprian Muresan on 23 March at the Salon du Dessin (Paris), the Centre Pompidou has just opened a show featuring the 30 winning and runner-up artists who have been recognised by the prize since 2007.
The Drawing Prize, an initiative of the Daniel & Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation, has been active since 1996 but only redirected its energy fully towards the prize in 2007. Initially a biennial event, it became annual as it strove to nurture contemporary drawing, which has flowed in and out of popularity in recent years. Based on the choice of a six-collector jury, the award goes to France-based international artists whose practices heavily involve non-mechanical, non-computer-based works on paper. Exceptionally, artists who live outside of France can be considered if they have a strong cultural link through institutional exhibitions.
This year's winner creates stylised, bordering on illustrative drawing that are darkly ironic interpretations of present day Romania. Displaying the nation's ambivalent relation to recent history, the end of communism, loss of culture, and a fascination with the West, Muresan's works also suggest the end of Utopia, speaking of a uniformity sparked by globalisation and consensual culture. However, his critique of the present does not idealise the past, rather, "I think more about how to negotiate with history or manage the legacies and traces of the past," Muresan said in an interview with Marie Maertens following his win.
Previous winners include Silvia Bächli, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Catharina Van Eetvelde, Marcel Van Eeden, Jorinde Voigt, Susan Hefuna, Tomasz Kowalski, Jockum Nordström, and last year's Cameron Jamie, whose works will be on display alongside each iteration's two runners-up.
The Drawing Prize exhibition runs 14 June-11 September at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. For more information visit centrepompidou.fr


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Yeti Smash
|Yeti Smash
Full: Lose all adrenaline. Attack all adjacent foes. If this attack strikes a foe suffering from a condition, that foe is knocked down. (50% failure chance with Hammer Mastery 4 or less.)
Concise: Attack all adjacent foes. Knocks down foes suffering from a condition. You lose all adrenaline. 50% failure chance unless Hammer Mastery is 5 or more.


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Roosevelt 's New Deal and had strong faith in the merits of civil service professionalism. Finally, the perceived threat of the Soviet Union in the late s created a community of interests for the occupiers and for conservative, social order-conscious administrators. In a article, political scientist Chalmers Johnson quotes a retired vice minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry MITI who said that the Diet was merely "an extension of the bureaucracy".
The official claimed that "the bureaucracy drafts all the laws All the legislature does is to use its powers of investigation, which for about half the year keeps most of the senior officials cooped up in the Diet.
Conclusions: The Demystification of High Bureaucratic Office
In the years since this official made his proud boast, however, it became apparent that there were limits to the bureaucrats' power. The most important was the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan 's growing role in policy formation. Political scientist B. Koh suggested that in many cases members of the LDP policy-oriented tribes zoku had greater expertise in their fields than elite bureaucrats.
Before the latter drafted legislation, they had to consult and follow the initiatives of the party's Policy Research Council.
Many analysts consider the role of the bureaucracy in drafting legislation to be no greater than that of its counterparts in France , Germany , and other countries. Also, the decision of many retired bureaucrats to run as LDP candidates for the Diet might not reflect, as had been previously assumed, the power of the officials but rather the impatience of ambitious men who wanted to locate themselves, politically, "where the action is. An intense rivalry among the ministries came into play whenever major policy decisions were formulated.
Elite civil servants were recruited by and spent their entire careers in a single ministry. As a result, they developed a strong sectional solidarity and zealously defended their turf.
Nonbureaucratic actors—the politicians and interest groups—could use this rivalry to their own advantage. The Ministry of Finance is generally considered the most powerful and prestigious of the ministries. Its top officials are regarded as the cream of the elite. Although it was relatively unsuccessful in the s when the deficit rose, the ministry was very successful in the s in constraining government spending and raising taxes, including a twelve-year battle to get a consumption tax passed.
The huge national debt in the early s, however, may be evidence that this budget-minded body had been unsuccessful in the previous decade in curbing demands for popular policies such as health insurance, rice price supports, and the unprofitable nationwide network of the privatized Japan Railways Group.
Ministry of International Trade and Industry MITI frequently encountered obstacles in its early postoccupation plans to reconsolidate the economy. It has not always been successful in imposing its will on private interests, politicians, or other ministries. Still another factor limiting bureaucratic power was the emergence of an affluent society.
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In the early postwar period, the scarcity of capital made it possible for the Ministry of Finance and MITI to exert considerable influence over the economy through control of the banking system see Monetary and fiscal policy. To a decreasing extent, this scarcity remained until the s because most major companies had high debt-equity ratios and depended on the banks for infusions of capital. Their huge profits and increasing reliance on securities markets in the late s, however, meant that the Ministry of Finance had less influence.
The wealth, technical sophistication, and new confidence of the companies also made it difficult for MITI to exercise administrative guidance. The ministry could not restrain aggressive and often politically controversial purchases by Japanese corporate investors in the United States , such as Mitsubishi Estate 's October purchase of Rockefeller Center in New York City , which, along with the Sony Corporation's acquisition of Columbia Pictures several weeks earlier, heated up trade friction between the two countries.
The whole issue of trade friction and foreign pressure tended to politicize the bureaucracy and promote unprecedented divisiveness in the late s and early s. During the Structural Impediments Initiative talks held by Japan and the United States in early , basic changes in Japan's economy were discussed: reforms of the distribution and pricing systems, improvement of the infrastructure, and elimination of official procedures that limited foreign participation in the economy.
Although foreign pressure of this sort is resented by many Japanese as an intrusion on national sovereignty, it also provides an opportunity for certain ministries to make gains at the expense of others. There is hardly a bureaucratic jurisdiction in the economic sphere that is not in some sense affected. Internationally minded political and bureaucratic elites have found their market-opening reforms, designed to placate United States demands, repeatedly sabotaged by other interests, especially agriculture. Such reactions intensified United States pressure, which in turn created a sense of crisis and a siege mentality within Japan.
The "internationalization" of Japan's society in other ways also divided the bureaucratic elite.
An estimated , to , of them worked illegally for small Japanese firms in the late s. Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture revision of guidelines on the writing of history textbooks, ostensibly a domestic matter, aroused the indignation of Japan's Asian neighbors because the changes tended to soften accounts of wartime atrocities see Japanese history textbook controversies.
Civil services in Japan underwent significant changes and reforms to work more efficiently in severe budget situation of the government.
Fler böcker av författarna
In , Central Government Reform was implemented to merge existing ministries, strengthen the operation of cabinet and achieve more efficient work. Criticism to civil services from media and people has got stronger against some scandals, amakudari practice to assure the advantages of high-rank officials after retirement, salary standard and many other factors.
Decision-making style in the government and ministry in Japan is changing significantly. He reformed Independent Administrative Institution staff as privatizated officer, which reduced a half of civil service. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article has multiple issues.
Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. Learn how and when to remove these template messages. This article includes a list of references , related reading or external links , but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations.
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October Learn how and when to remove this template message. This article needs to be updated. Monar permission to work on a dual degree arrangement with a university in the United States, which he hopes will pave the way for more American students to attend.
The school also hopes to unveil in September an agreement with the Chinese government to finance a scholarship. The shift away from Western Europe has also been prompted by the admission of new member states into the European Union in and , which has encouraged young Eastern Europeans to attend. One of these students, Andrei B. While Dr. Rimanelli said. Monar said that this enabled the college to ensure that courses deal with contemporary issues, either by changing professors or encouraging them to adapt their material. Recently introduced courses include those on European Union-China relations and European energy security.
Michele Chang, who co-teaches a course on European economic and monetary policy, said that she had increased the focus on European Union financial regulations in her class after the eurozone crisis.
Chang said. She added that interest in her course had more than doubled in recent years. Monar said. The location of the Bruges campus, just off a picturesque canal about an hour from Brussels, also allows it to easily attract top government officials for guest lectures. The college is also getting closer to the private sector, both in terms of placing its students into jobs and in soliciting donations.


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Clostridium difficile spores can survive extended heating at 71°C (160°F), a minimum temperature commonly recommended for adequate cooking of meats. To determine the extent to which higher temperatures would be more effective at killing C. difficile, we quantified (D values) the effect of moist heat at 85°C (145°F, for 0 to 30 min) on C. difficile spores and compared it to the effects at 71 and 63°C. Fresh (1-week-old) and aged (≥20-week-old) C. difficile spores from food and food animals were tested in multiple experiments. Heating at 85°C markedly reduced spore recovery in all experiments (5 to 6 log10 within 15 min of heating; P < 0.001), regardless of spore age. In ground beef, the inhibitory effect of 85°C was also reproducible (P < 0.001), but heating at 96°C reduced 6 log10 within 1 to 2 min. Mechanistically, optical density and enumeration experiments indicated that 85°C inhibits cell division but not germination, but the inhibitory effect was reversible in some spores. Heating at 63°C reduced counts for fresh spores (1 log10, 30 min; P < 0.04) but increased counts of 20-week-old spores by 30% (15 min; P < 0.02), indicating that sublethal heat treatment reactivates superdormant spores. Superdormancy is an increasingly recognized characteristic in Bacillus spp., and it is likely to occur in C. difficile as spores age. The potential for reactivation of (super)dormant spores with sublethal temperatures may be a food safety concern, but it also has potential diagnostic value. Ensuring that food is heated to >85°C would be a simple and important intervention to reduce the risk of inadvertent ingestion of C. difficile spores.
Clostridium difficile is a spore-forming enteric pathogen associated with increasing outbreak frequency and disease severity in humans worldwide (23, 27, 41). Since 2006, molecular studies have shown that subtypes of C. difficile isolates recovered from food animals and retail foods are genetically indistinguishable from human-derived strains (namely, PCR ribotypes 027, 077, and 078), indicating that foods could be a source of inadvertent infection for humans (3, 30, 32–34, 38). Although ingestion of spores may not necessarily result in disease induction, the presence of C. difficile spores in a large proportion of raw and ready-to-eat meat products in North America (6 to 42%) highlights the need to consider this potential risk factor in disease epidemiology (30, 38). Identification of effective measures to reduce C. difficile exposure, especially among higher-risk individuals (e.g., the elderly or individuals consuming antimicrobials or antacids), would further reduce the likelihood of this organism becoming an important food-borne pathogen.
Although interventions to control food contamination with C. difficile may be applied both during production and at harvest, little is known about this pathogen in food animals and their environment. Thus, until additional information about the epizootiology and ecology of this pathogen is better understood, postharvest strategies, such as proper cooking and handling, may be among the most effective measures to control food-borne exposure to C. difficile in the short term. Minimal internal meat cooking temperatures ranging from 63 to 85°C (145 to 185°F) have been promoted by government and industry organizations to control other food-borne pathogens (e.g., Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157) (5, 12, 40). For ground meats, a frequent target is to reach 71°C and maintain that temperature for a few seconds to reduce between 6 and 7 log10 units of most recognized non-spore-forming pathogens (12, 39). However, C. difficile produces spores which are more thermotolerant than vegetative cells. Recent thermoresistance studies on C. difficile where spores were heated at 71°C for 2 h (31), as well as studies with other clostridia (35), indicate that C. difficile spores survive cooking temperatures recommended for ground meats, and if heated spores survive, they could possibly proliferate during the postcooking chilling phase (35). Previous thermal studies with C. difficile have been single-time-point studies and conducted largely with human-derived strains (24, 46). However, effective comparisons often required multiple-time-point experiments and the determination of D values (19). The main objective of the present study was to quantify and compare the inhibitory effects of moist heat at 63, 71, 85, and 96°C on C. difficile spores, from food animals and retail foods, in liquid media, and in ground beef. In addition, we tested similar thermal treatments on spores aged under different conditions and preliminarily determined whether the mechanism of thermal inhibition was by impairing spore germination or by impairing cell division after germination.
Clostridium difficile strains.Progressively, three experiment types—(i) thermal inhibition in liquid culture media, (ii) mechanism of thermal inhibition, and (iii) thermal inhibition on ground beef and gravy—were conducted with multiple C. difficile strains (n = 22; 13 genotypes). Genotypes tested included toxigenic PCR ribotypes 014, 027, 033, 077, and 078 and toxigenic strain ATCC 9569 (see Fig. S1 in the supplemental material). All strains, except the ATCC strain, were isolated from food animals and foods and represent genotypes of public health relevance in North America (32, 33).
Spore production and aging.Prior to testing, spores were produced by using the nutrient exhaustion method (47). To enhance heterogeneity and thus external validity (29), spores were produced in two nutritious broths. In brief, frozen C. difficile isolates were revived and purified on tryptic soya agar (Acumedia, Lansing, MI) supplemented with 5% defibrinated sheep blood (Hemostat Laboratories, Dixon, CA) (blood agar). Single, 72-hour-old colonies were used to inoculate broth supplemented with sodium taurocholate and antibiotics for C. difficile as in previous studies (2, 22, 32, 45). Alternatively, for some experiments, spores were produced in antibiotic-free brain heart infusion broth supplemented with 5% yeast extract (Acumedia, Lansing, MI) (BHI broth). Inoculated broths were incubated anaerobically at 37°C for 10 days to allow C. difficile to grow and produce spores following nutrient exhaustion of the media. In all cases, spores were harvested (7,000 × g for 10 min) after 10 days of incubation and resuspended in plastic transparent tubes using phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and left on a bench top to age at room temperature (23 ± 3°C). If the spores were heat tested within 2 days of production, these spores were considered fresh spores. However, to simulate aging conditions likely to occur in food, feces, or the environment, some spores were left at this temperature an additional 20 or 52 weeks: these are referred to as aged spores.
Thermal inhibition in liquid media.Thermal testing was conducted in PBS containing the spore suspensions using conventional PCR microtubes (210 ± 10 μl) which were submerged in automatic water baths synchronized to the desired temperatures using the average of two external thermometers (EU620-0918; WVN International). Temperatures tested were 63 and 85°C, which encompass the thermal spectrum of widely publicized food safety guidelines for household minimal internal cooking of meat meals (5, 12, 40). Based on pilot trials, timing started 10 to 15 s after the PCR tubes were immersed in the water bath, when the temperature inside tested tubes reached target temperatures. Then, at specific time intervals (0, 15, and 30 min for 63°C and 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 30 min for 85°C), the heated aliquots were removed, cooled in icy water, and enumerated using the spread-plating method on blood agar. Colonies were plated in duplicate and counted after 72 h of anaerobic incubation at 37°C. To confirm that survivor colonies corresponded to the strains tested, PCR ribotyping (4, 32, 33) was used to verify that the genotypes of the inoculum and heated recovered organisms were identical. The D values (decimal reduction times; i.e., time needed to inhibit 90% of spores) were determined using at least two linear equation fits of the inhibition curves excluding the graph shoulders, i.e., the initial and final time points (19). Because precedent enumeration studies of C. difficile in feces indicate that spore recoverability during storage decreases over time (43), we also determined if refrigeration (4 ± 2°C) would reduce the recoverability of heated and nonheated spores over time. Thus, replicate aliquots of all nonheated strains and replicate aliquots of heated PCR ribotype 078 strain (85°C) at multiple time points (3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 min) were enumerated after 14 and 18 days of refrigeration. Paired analysis and D values derived from PCR ribotype 078 aliquots were used to assess variability.
Mechanism of thermal inhibition.To determine if heat inactivation of C. difficile spores was due to impaired germination or to inhibition of cell division following germination, as has been reported for Bacillus species (13, 15), we first used germination studies to determine if heated spores could germinate in a nutritious broth and then followed those studies with outgrowth studies to determine if these (germinated) spores would then be able to divide to produce visible colonies on blood agar. Normally, during early stages of germination, often within 30 min of incubation, most spores release dipicolinic acid and calcium from their core, changing its refractancy and reducing the optical density of the liquid medium that contains them (25, 26). If germination pathways are affected with heat, no germination-related optical density (at 600 nm [OD600]) changes would occur in the incubation broth. If germination occurred normally and the cell had normal division, the formation of colonies in agar surfaces would also be as expected. However, if heat impaired cell division mechanisms, a reduced number of colonies would then be visible or not at all apparent on the agar.
In brief, the complementary germination and outgrowth experiments were conducted as follows. First, aged spores from C. difficile PCR ribotypes 027, 078, and 077 and the toxigenic strain ATCC 9569 were resuspended and heat shocked individually in BHI broth at 63, 71, and 85°C for 15 min. To prevent inadvertent spore germination, spores suspensions were maintained in icy water in a cold room set at 4°C. Spore suspensions were seeded in replicates (210 μl; OD600, 0.78 ± 0.03) in microtiter plate (Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY) wells to monitor the OD600 during subsequent anaerobic incubation in the BHI at 37°C. Although germination of C. difficile spores is not impaired with room air (17), the wells were layered with 40 μl of 0.2-μm (pore size)-filtered prereduced heavy mineral oil (28) to minimize potential confounding effects due to air diffusion into the BHI during the OD600 readings outside the anaerobic chamber (<4 min). An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) reader (Spectra max 340PC; Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA) was used to assess the OD600 changes of the spore suspensions after heat shock (time zero) and thereafter at 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 h of anaerobic incubation. Nonheated spores (controls) were concurrently tested to document normal-germination OD600 changes. The mean OD600 time point values were derived from results from at least four replicates. To quantify the ability of heated spores to divide and produce countable colonies (outgrowth study), spores were plated and enumerated on blood agar before and after incubation in BHI. However, because the production of daughter vegetative cells from spores could have been possible during the 7 h of incubation, the BHI broths were treated with 96% ethanol (1:1, vol/vol, 30 min) (7), washed, and resuspended in PBS prior to enumeration to eliminate potential vegetative cells and infer the number of dormant spores capable of normal division.
Thermal inhibition in ground beef and gravy.Thermal resistance data from PBS or culture broth studies should not be directly extrapolated to food matrices due to the physicochemical complexity of foods (18). Therefore, we also quantified the extent of spore inhibition using retail ground beef (2-kg packages purchased at a local retailer) and a beef gravy model (5% beef extract, 1.7% soluble starch, 1.5% proteose peptone, and 0.5% yeast extract) (20). In these experiments, the strains studied in the above-mentioned germination outgrowth study were tested following a protocol for E. coli O157 reported by Juneja et al. (20) with minor modifications.
In brief, Juneja et al. (20) used a mixture of four strains of E. coli (a "cocktail"), experimentally inoculated single random aliquots of ground beef (3 g), and individually heated those aliquots using Whirlpack bags and a water bath. Here, we used the same Whirlpack bag technique, but we assessed the effect of heating for a 1:1:1:1 (107 spores · ml−1) mixture of four C. difficile genotypes (PCR ribotype 027, 078, and 077 and an ATCC toxigenic strain). We determined the D values in a complete block design using three food matrices (i.e., a nutritious fat-free gravy model, retail "lean" 7% fat ground beef, and retail 30% fat ground beef) (18) and four heating temperatures (63, 71, 85, and the purportedly more effective 96°C). The 96°C was chosen as a subboiling water temperature for the city of Wooster, OH, where the altitude-adjusted boiling temperature is about 98.8°C. These experiments were conducted in duplicate with spore enumeration conducted in triplicate; the spores used here had been aged for 52 weeks at the time of testing. We used Juneja's gravy model to control and quantify the effect of spore entrapment within the beef, which shrinks with heating. Following experimental inoculation of the 3-gram beef aliquots, these were heated for 0, 2, 5, 7.5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 min and then mixed with 3 ml of PBS (1:1, vol/wt), stomached for 1 min, and enumerated as mentioned above for D value determination. To control for the natural level of C. difficile contamination that could be present within the retail meats, we also quantified the spore concentration of noninoculated nonheated aliquots of both ground beef types purchased.
Statistics.Univariate and multivariable analyses of repeated measures of transformed (log10) and normalized enumeration data were conducted as indicated by Davis (9), using STATA (College Station, TX, v.10) and Minitab 15 (Upper Saddle River, NJ). Comparisons among D values were analyzed with generalized linear regression; relevant descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) with pooled errors are reported. Percentages of effect were computed as 10 exponentiated to the log10 unit of interest.
Thermal inhibition in liquid media.Controlling for strain variability, heating C. difficile spores in PBS at 63°C for 30 min was not as effective as heating at 85°C in reducing the spore counts (Fig. 1). However, the effect of heating at 63°C depended on whether the spores were fresh or aged. While heating fresh spores at 63°C resulted in a steady significant inhibitory effect over time (median reduction of 0.37 log10, i.e., 57.3% spore reduction after 30 min, 95% CI = 0.13, 0.67 log10; generalized linear model [GLM]; P = 0.002), heat treatment of aged spores resulted in a 30% increased recovery compared to baseline counts within 15 min of heating (GLM, P = 0.049). Heating at 85°C resulted in much faster inhibition for all strains (99.9998% of spores after 15 min) with the estimated D value at 85°C ranging from 6.0 to 8.5 min, irrespective of spore aging (median reduction of 5.6 log10, 95% CI = 4.48, 5.94 log10; GLM; P < 0.0001; Fig. 1).
When the effect of refrigeration on the recovery of nonheated aged spores was assessed, storage significantly reduced the spore counts by day 18 (median reduction of 0.28 log10, i.e., 42.5% of spores, 95% CI = 0.045, 0.915 log10; Wilcoxon signed; P = 0.014; Fig. 2A). At the strain level, two isolates had a 2-log10 reduction by days 14 and 18. Complementarily, repeated quantification of heated aliquots of PCR ribotype 078 at 85°C showed that refrigeration did not affect spore enumeration and the D values therein derived (Fig. 2B).
Heat treatment at 85°C affects cell division but not spore germination.Assessment of heat-shocked spores (15 min) in BHI during 7 h of incubation demonstrated that the OD600 germination curves of all heated strains were normal, as they were similar to the germination curves of nonheated controls (GLM; P > 0.1; Fig. 3A). However, when we assessed the effect of heat shock on cell division, determined as the number of countable colonies on agar after normal germination (curves), multivariable analysis indicated that 15 min of heat shock at 85°C was the only temperature that significantly reduced the number of countable colonies. On average, 85°C induced a 4.2 log10 reduction (99.994% of spores) compared to results for nonheated controls (95% CI = 3.9, 4.5; GLM; P < 0.0001; Fig. 3B).
Thermal inhibition at 85°C can revert during incubation in broth.Paired analysis (before versus after 7 h of incubation in BHI) of ethanol-resistant spores showed that 85°C resulted in complete inhibition of most isolates immediately after 15 min of heat shock (Fig. 4A, panel 85°C, 0 h). However, when those heat shocked spores (85°C) were left incubating in BHI, the number of countable colonies after 7 h of incubation increased significantly (Fig. 4A, panel 85°C, 7 h), indicating that the thermal inhibitory effect observed immediately after heat shock can be reversed during subsequent incubation. In contrast, heat shock with 63 and 71°C increased the rate of spore recovery compared to that of nonheated controls immediately after heat shock. These two temperatures also enhanced the rate of spore germination (assessed as the number of ethanol-susceptible cells) during the subsequent 7 h of incubation in BHI. The highest rate of germination was observed with 63°C (0.4 log10 increase, 95% CI = 0.1, 0.9; GLM; P < 0.01; Fig. 4B).
Thermal inhibition of C. difficile in ground beef and gravy.Quantification of C. difficile contamination in the ground beef packages indicated that natural contamination was present in both products (different processing plants), varied within the packages, and ranged from 0 to between 0.5 and 3.3 log10 · g−1. Mathematically, the highest level of natural contamination corresponded to less than 0.02% of the spore concentration achieved with experimental contamination and was deemed minimal to bias the estimation and interpretation of the D values. Multivariable analysis of D value data indicated that 85 and 96°C have the highest inhibitory effects against C. difficile experimentally inoculated in beef matrices (GLM; P < 0.001; Fig. 5). In contrast, 63 and 71°C had comparable and minimal effects, respectively, in inhibiting the C. difficile mixture (see D values in Table S2 in the supplemental material). Although significant differences were observed among the matrices tested (which varied in up to 30% in fat content), the direction of such effects varied with temperature, indicating matrix-temperature interactions (Fig. 5).
This study quantified the inhibitory effects of moist heat at 63, 71, 85, and 96°C on C. difficile spores in liquid media and in ground beef. Our quantitative report also evaluated for the first time fresh and aged spores, the latter of which are likely to occur naturally in the environment and within contaminated foods. To contribute to food safety validation protocols, temperatures tested included widely publicized food safety guidelines of minimal internal cooking temperatures for meat meals (5, 12, 40). Briefly, publicized temperatures range from 63°C (for 30-min batch milk pasteurization, for preparation of fish, and for preparation of steaks/roasts of beef, veal, and lamb as "medium-rare") to 85°C (for whole poultry and turkey meals). However, cooking at 71°C is often cited in the "safe handling instructions" of most retail meat labels and is indicated for "well-done" cooking of beef, veal and lamb steaks, for ground beef, and for pork products (5, 6, 10, 37, 40). Of concern, recent data indicate that 71°C results in only a 2 log10 reduction in C. difficile spores after heating for 2 h (31).
Under the conditions of our experiments, moist-heat treatment at 85°C, irrespective of spore aging and test media, markedly inhibited (up to 6 log10) spores from most C. difficile strains within 15 min of heat treatment. Considering that the concentration of C. difficile spores in naturally contaminated retail raw meat products may be less than 3.3 log10 · g−1 of product, which is in agreement with Weese et al. (42), cooking at least 85°C could markedly reduce human exposure to C. difficile. Here we found that heating aliquots containing less than 4 log10 at 85°C in liquid media always yielded no cultivable spores after 15 min of heating. For other more susceptible food-borne pathogens, such as Salmonella spp., it is known that there is a greater risk of pathogen persistence in the final ready-to-eat meat products after heat treatment if the initial pathogen load in the raw products is high (39). However, it is unknown whether this applies to C. difficile because it is unknown whether C. difficile proliferates in retail meals and if bacterial proliferation reaches more than 4 log10 · g−1. Likewise, it is uncertain to what extent spore aging within food matrices parallels the aging process induced in culture broths in our study and the subsequent magnitude of thermal tolerance.
To date, most studies assessing C. difficile germination and sporulation have used freshly prepared spores, leaving aged spores largely uncharacterized. As aging of C. difficile spores could occur in the environment or in foods, studying the effect of heat is critical for understanding spore survivability patterns. Here, we showed that 85°C was markedly inhibitory for aged and fresh spores; however, of food safety relevance was the finding that temperatures of 63 and 71°C enhanced germination in aged spores. The food safety concerns are that heat treatment is a well-known germination factor that triggers the synchronic activation of most spore-forming organisms associated with food and that spore germination during the subsequent chilling period is possible in other clostridia (35). Furthermore, sublethal heat shock of spores in other clostridia is known to significantly enhance the thermal tolerance of surviving spores (21).
Storage under refrigeration resulted in lower spore counts over time. Although there are no comparable studies assessing aging of C. difficile in pure suspensions under refrigeration, our finding is comparable to that of a study assessing the C. difficile recoverability in inoculated feces (43). In that study, the rate of isolation of C. difficile decreased over time (43). Although another similar study stated that there was little effect (11), our findings indicate that factors associated with decreased recovery (e.g., superdormancy) might be enhanced during storage. Superdormancy is a recently described characteristic in Bacillus species (13) and a rising concern for the food industry, as superdormant Bacillus spores have higher moist-heat resistance, have lower water core content than regular spores, and can recover from heat stress injuries during refrigeration (14, 15, 44). Understanding the properties of superdormancy in Bacillus spp. could also indicate ways to reduce the potential impact of C. difficile on food safety.
To date, some epidemiological studies assessing C. difficile contamination of foods have used thermal treatment (80°C for 10 min) to reduce contaminants and facilitate spore recovery (38). However, the observed inhibition with 85°C in our study indicates that culture-based studies based on thermal methods for spore selection that use temperatures between 71 and 85°C might introduce selection bias, favoring more thermoresistant spores. Hence, it is advisable to use temperatures below 71°C, with 63°C being a pasteurization temperature potentially beneficial for spore selection in diagnostic settings.
Thermal inhibition at 85°C is a promising preventive measure, since cooking guidelines at this temperature are readily available for preparation of whole-turkey meals and could be easily adopted. However, this study indicates that more than a few seconds are required to lower the number of C. difficile spores to the desired 5 to 6 log10 reduction. It is expected that extended cooking at 85°C could maintain the nutritional quality of the cooked foods, but it is uncertain how extended heating would impact the nutritional and palatability characteristics of nonturkey meals. A balance between food safety risks, nutritional value, and food sensory quality needs to be taken into consideration. The marked inhibitory effect of 96°C documented here further highlights the potential benefits of revising cooking time and temperature recommendations, at least for individuals at risk. This study generated the first D values for C. difficile in a food matrix. These data can be used for policy and management decision making relevant to food safety and infection control strategies to disinfect hospital reusable materials (1).
Comparing our estimated D values at 85°C (<8 min) to those reported for other clostridia, it becomes evident that C. difficile appears to be more susceptible to heat. For instance, the D values at 100°C for C. perfringens, the most common spore-forming food-borne pathogen in the United States (36), in beef gravy vary from 16 to 21 min (21), and in distilled water the D value at 85°C was 55 min (16). Thus, cooking guidelines for industrial purposes against C. perfringens (8) may also be a good basis for the refinement of household guidelines against C. difficile.
In summary, we quantified the inhibitory effect of heat on C. difficile spores, estimated D values (63 to 96°C) with confidence intervals for ground beef and gravy, and mechanistically determined that the inhibitory effect of heat shock at 85°C, the highest recommended internal minimal temperature for cooking, is due to inhibition of cell division but not germination and that it can be reversible. Spore germination and recoverability were enhanced with 63°C, especially in aged spores. However, with concern, but as expected, we documented the sublethal effect of 71°C and its moderate effect to enhance germination. Thermoresistance experimentation also indicated that spore superdormancy, an increasingly recognized characteristic in Bacillus species, is likely to occur in C. difficile as spores age. Ensuring that food is heated to more than 85°C would be a simple and important intervention to reduce the risk of inadvertent ingestion of C. difficile spores.
This study was partly supported by state and U.S. federal funds allocated to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH. A.R.-P. is a research fellow supported by the Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Diseases (Targeted Investments in Excellence) Program, The Ohio State University.
Special thanks to Pamela Schlegel and Jennifer Brock for technical assistance and Michele Williams for comments during the final revision of the manuscript.
We declare no conflicts of interest.
- Received 4 July 2010.
- Accepted 6 March 2011.
- Accepted manuscript posted online 11 March 2011.
↵† Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01589-10.
- Copyright © 2011, American Society for Microbiology


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Risk of "electrocution" led to Ricciardo infringement
Daniel Ricciardo didn't replace his Renault steering wheel because he felt it would be dangerous after being told not to touch his stopped Formula 1 car to "avoid potential electrocution".
Ricciardo retired from the Bahrain Grand Prix with just a few laps remaining, reporting that his car had switched off completely as he approached the first corner.
He was summoned to the stewards after the race for not leaving his steering wheel in place.
However, no further action has been taken, because the stewards heard that Ricciardo did not replace his steering wheel for safety reasons.
After stopping on entry of Turn 2 with "power unit issues", his car's energy recovery system alert light turned red, signifying the car was "electrically unsafe".
Ricciardo was told by the team to shut down the engine and the electrical system and "to jump from the car".
He was told not to touch the car, which the stewards noted is "the normal safety procedure in such circumstances to avoid potential electrocution".
They said that Ricciardo felt it would be dangerous to try to replace the steering wheel in these circumstances.
Avoiding any penalty is little consolation to the Australian, who has retired from his first two grands prix with Renault since switching from Red Bull.
To make matters worse for Renault, Ricciardo's retirement occurred moments after teammate Nico Hulkenberg had retired at the same corner.
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December 19, 2018
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Everything in God's kingdom has a process to it. Faith has a process (Romans 1:15-17) that needs to be followed. The calling of God has a process.
There simply are no shortcuts.
The life of Moses is an excellent example of the process in which God changed Moses to be the effective leader of His people that He needed Moses to be. The wilderness experience in Moses' life was the process.
In Noah's life, the ark was his process;
By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Hebrews 11:7
Many confuse the favor of God with shortcuts or overriding the process.
Even Jesus did not take shortcuts but folwed God's process for His life and ministry (Luke 1:29-56, Luke 2, Luke 3, Luke 4, Luke 5)
Jesus had to choose His Father's plan and submit to His process;
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39
The moment we try to take a detour or shortcut, we land up in trouble and lose our peace. At times the process may be painful and difficult, however, the rewards are so amazing.
If you are battling today by not understanding the circumstances you are or are buffeted, remember the process of faith and God's hand on your life.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrerws 11:6
Stay blessed
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Chillin' out till it needs to be funded
RBS posted gross profits of GBP 1.3 bln from its insurance on GBP 4 bln in Gross premium even as 2011 revenue fell an expected 13% to GBP 28 bln, NII billing top class GBP 12.7 bln while the Op Profits of GBP 1.9 bln and the Net losses of GBP 2 bln were along expected lines with a high Cost income ratio of 62%, giving shares quite a good start in the afternoon ahead of the Jobless claims report. unfortunately it will be rid of modst of its profit making advisory operations if it finds the right price this year. Other European majors doing well report next week (HSBC / StanC) while Lloyds reports tomorrow.
Jobless claims ticked down 11 times in 12 weeks keeping the averages busy nose down, making it look a nice recovery. This week's numbers look rosy at 351k announced right now, same as last week's 351,000 and the 4 week moving average down from last week's 365k to 359k.
The day is busy as the FHFA House Price Index reports in barely an hour, the bloomberg Consumer Indices getting ready to go into positive and more news of drawdowns in Oil and Nat Gas accounts n the EIA reports as prices are steady and go before the spring break jump to $5
Midday Update: Arizona and Michigan, a study in contrasts go to the primaries Tuesday and that home Michigan is the likeliest to jilt Romney, Newt back in a debate where more people, like in Michigan all month, have been trying to take a peep at Rick Santorum. Super Tuesday counts for only 22% of the number you need to become the candidate, everyone waiting to see the Super PACs negative campaigns against the new challenger to Romneycare.
Retailers reported sad numbers but Sears picked up on its final nod for restructuring starting with a piddly 11 to be sold down from its stores nationally. the Californian ( West Coast based) Safeway lost a pot of gold this season and retail sales have defined a new good number at 0.3% M/M and 3% Y/Y
House Prices were much better than expected with the FHFA House Price Index ( Hopi index , anyone) up 0.7% in December, while Y/Y comparisons just leave it down 0.3% now.


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Think of me think of me fondly,
when we've said goodbye.
Remember me every so often -
promise me you'll try.
On that day that not so
distant day
when you are far away and free,
if you ever find a moment,
spare a thought for me ...
And though it's clear
though it was, always clear
that this was never meant to be
if you happen to remember,
stop and think of me ...
Think of August
when the trees were green -
don't think about the way
things might have been ...
Think of me, think of me waking,
silent and resigned.
Imagine me,
trying too hard
to put you
from my mind.
Think of me
please say you'll
think of me
whatever else you choose
to do
There will never be
a day,
when I won't think of you ...
Flowers fade
The fruits of summer fade ...
they have their seasons so do we ...
But please promise me that sometimes
you will think of me.