Yes, that's Roman and Leo playing in the picture.
What started out to be a fun project has turned out to be an amazing episode and it has been by far my highest downloaded episode to date…I'll be doing more of these at various conferences and FinTwit gatherings in the future.
Once I finished up the podcast, it was time to get caught up on all things RLSWM. But, here we are and I finally have the chance to share the highlights of my trip to Dana Point.
Although the first day was only a half day, it was packed with great panels and keynote speakers.
The first three panels focused primarily on investing, which makes sense given this is the EBI/Global Indexing &ETF conference, but in the later days, there actually were two tracks of panels: one for investing and one for financial advisors dealing more with practice management, communicating with clients, and messaging.
After the panels, Barry Ritholtz sat down with Annie Duke to talk about decision making when you don't have all of the information. This was a continuation and a bit of a revisit to his Masters In Business interview with Annie when her book, Thinking In Bets, was released. Despite having heard their podcast conversation, I really enjoyed listening to Annie speak in person. I was even lucky enough to talk with her for a little bit afterward with my friends Tadas Viskanta and Joey Fishman. She was as enjoyable to talk with as she was to listen to on the stage with Barry.
While Aaron was on stage, I had the opportunity to finally meet and talk with Nick Maggiulli and Morgan Housel. This opportunity was worth the price of admission; both of these guys are at the top of my favorite writers and they were so down to earth. It was a lot of fun to get to know them beyond the occasional interactions on Twitter. Both are stand up dudes!
Be authentic–people work with people they like.
Creating your own brand and following is crucial.
Blogging has been huge for RWM–not only with new clients but with new advisors and bloggers. They are well on their way to becoming the Golden State Warriors of financial services.
It's been important for each of the RWM writers to maintain their individuality with their writing; he used the example of the Wu-Tang Clan, which as a hip-hop fan I appreciated.
You better practice what you preach–clients will call you out if you don't.
Following Josh's presentation was Ryan Holiday, of whom I am a huge fan. I discovered him when I found The Obstacle Is The Way, and I've read all of his books with the exception of his newest, Conspiracy, which is on my bookshelf to read soon. If you are not familiar with Ryan, he is most known for his writing about stoicism and the Stoics. His presentation focused on stoicism and how its principles can apply not only in life in general, but also in the work we do with our clients and in the investment field. After he was done on the stage, I was able to get a copy of his book, The Daily Stoic signed, which was pretty a cool experience.
Top the first day off with some time chatting it up with friends from FinTwit, and I was able to say Day One far exceeded my expectations.
We started the morning off with a conversation between Barry Ritholtz and Ken Fisher; it was another extension of an earlier Masters In Business episode. Only this time, it was unedited and a little uncomfortable. We were able to see many sides of Mr. Fisher: the genius, the ego-maniac, and the improper. If you know anyone who attended the conference, ask them about Ken Fisher and I'm sure they'll have a few stories to tell…I'll keep those for private conversations to keep this blog post rated PG for the kids.
Later in the morning, we were fortunate to hear from Gerard O' Reilly, the Co-CEO and CIO of Dimensional Funds followed up a little later by Joseph Davis, who is Vanguard's global chief economist. Both men work for firms highly respected in the investment community and they discussed the current state of investing and what to expect in the economy in the coming year. This was another opportunity to spend time talking with fellow FinTwit members, so I only caught a little of each of the presentations, but from what I heard and the reviews of others, both were great speakers.
The afternoon began the split tracks, one investment focused and one advisor focused. I chose mostly advisor focused panels and listened to friends on panels discuss the future of financial advice and learning from "competition". I want to take a second to talk about "competition"; one of the things I respect most about the FinTwit community and those in attendance at the conference is I don't feel as if we view each other as competition. Sure, we're all in the same industry and looking to take on new clients, but it seems as if we all realize there are more than enough people who need help, need good financial advice and need to be protected from the crooks out there for all of us to succeed. It's not cutthroat in our community; instead, it's really uplifting and trying to help each other succeed. It's really a unique and special thing.
I managed to take some personal time and escape to the pool to hang out with my wife and boys for a while as well; balance is important!
The final session in the advisor track was a treat; Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson recorded a live episode of Animal Spirits. I'm not sure if it will actually make it to iTunes because it was more of a visual episode; they covered the history of the markets if Twitter had already been around. It was beyond clever; they created screenshots of tweets from Jesse Livermore, J.P. Morgan and other famous people and sprinkled in tweets from current contributors like Phil Huber, anonymous Jake, Cliff Asness and more. I'm not sure if everyone in the room got all of the inside jokes, but it was great; I know they worked hard on the episode and it showed!
Day Two concluded with a presentation from Paolo Sironi about the future of Financial Innovation. This was another presentation I left early from to hang with FinTwit friends; Paolo is extremely smart, but hearing what other advisors are up to, trading best practices and just talking shop is priceless. Plus, I did not attend any of the group dinners because I decided to hang back at the hotel with my crew each night.
The morning got a great start with a medium size group of advisors joining the Ritholtz Wealth Management team for breakfast and talking about practice management; it was great to be in a room of advisors with similar goals for the future of our industry and to hear the different ways we're all improving the way we work with clients, the planning we are providing, different service models being used and more. Plus, we all received more time with the Ritholtz team, which is a treat in and of itself.
Tuesday morning was the morning of my panel, so I missed a decent amount of the first presentations. Personally, I wanted to make sure I was on my 'A' game during my time on stage and the group decided to get together and do some last minute planning so we could provide the most value in our time in front of everyone. Being on stage was a tremendous honor and I had a lot of fun talking about how I'm using my blog, podcast, video, and social media to communicate with clients, future clients and other advisors. I will admit that it was a humbling experience being on stage next to Winnie Sun, who has a social media empire underneath her. As she talked about her approach and presence I couldn't help but wonder how I made it up on the stage. I think I did alright!!
While I was busy preparing for my panel, Josh Brown shared with the audience that Mr. Abnormal Returns, Tadas Viskanta, was joining Ritholtz Wealth Management as the Director of Investor Education. Another huge addition to an already strong team.
The final panel for the day was another advisor focused panel, and it highlighted advisors who had recently broken away to start their own firms. I was proud to see a couple of my XY Planning Network members up there in Taylor Schulte and Grant Bledsoe; in addition to fellow XYPNer's, my friend Bill Sweet did a great job using his Army experience to relate the feeling of leaving to join an RIA. I've said this many time, but Bill Sweet is such a smart advisor and he is a tremendous speaker…he's a hidden treasure at Ritholtz Wealth Management.
The finale to the conference was Mike Lombardi speaking about The Patriot Way and how that applies to business. I'm not really an NFL fan, and as a Colts supporter I'm supposed to hate anything Patriot related, but Mike was a great presenter and had a good story to share.
If you're thinking about attending future EBI events, assuming the New York version is still a go for the fall and it returns again out west next summer, you should go. As you can see, the panels, keynotes, fireside chats and other speakers are all top-notch; they'll all be worth the price of admission. I'll be at every single one, unless a family emergency keeps me home, as long as Ritholtz Wealth Management has a hand in the organization and FinTwit continues its strong presence at them. As great as the speakers are, I'd spend all day talking and hanging out with FinTwit. At this year's EBI West I was able to meet many of the people I read weekly (if not daily), see friends, and meet new people…it was priceless. I can't wait to do it again.
I want to take a moment to publicly thank everyone who contributed to my special podcast episode; I truly appreciate your generosity with your time and willingness to help me put out an episode with a lot of great nuggets that will hopefully inspire some listeners to get started early with their saving and investing. I'm planning on making this a regular at conferences and get-togethers, so I hope you'll be willing to do it again. And if I missed you this time, please know it was not intentional–hopefully, I can catch you in the next one.
The Reformed Broker: EBI West 2018 The Pics!
Reversion To The Mean Ep. 004: What's Enough?


text:
State historical society gives $250,000 grant to UNC to replace five slate roofs
The University of Northern Colorado will get a quarter-million dollars from the Colorado Historical Society to replace slate roofs on five historic campus buildings.
Gordon, Belford, Decker, Snyder and Sabin halls are Central Campus residence halls between 9th and 10th avenues and 19th and 20th streets. Central Campus was designated to the State Register of Historic Places in January 1999, during a massive renovation of the area.
The $250,306 State Historical Fund grant will help restore the dorms' roofs to the original standard.
Gordon, Belford and Decker halls — all constructed in 1921 — still have their original slate roofs. All the slate will be removed and the subroof will be repaired or replaced. It is hoped that enough slate can be salvaged from the three buildings to re-roof two of the buildings, UNC spokesman Ken McConnellogue said.
Snyder and Sabin were built in 1936, and have cheaper roofs of ceramic tiles made to look like slate. They and the third building from the first group will be roofed with slate from an off-campus source.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Curriculum vitae (CV) as a document provides the minutes of experiences and qualifications of a person has very important value in the process of recruitment of personnel required for a job / activity. Specifically in the procurement process of a project, the qualification of personnel (experts) has increasingly prioritized weight rating in the process of evaluation of the project bidding documents. One of the instruments used to evaluate the qualifications of the proposed personnel / experts is the curriculum vitae.
In an effort to facilitate the process of CV evaluation, the procurement committee has provided a standard format of the CV that must be fulfilled by the bidders. The presence of qualified and standardized CV's format that has been specified in the bidding process, the consultants (individual / company) are required to present the CVs of the proposed personnel / expert candidates to be more informative and easier for the procurement committee in conducting the evaluation process.
For additional information, the consultants (especially companies) in the preparation of bidding documents related to the composition of a proposed team of experts (personnel) are required to attach the CV and it completeness (diploma, certificate, reference work, etc.) in accordance with a the specified format. In present the CVs, the level of difficulty will depend on the format of the original CV submitted by the expert candidates to the consulting firm.
The original CV can be said as a a basic substance in the process of preparing the CV in accordance with the specified qualification and format. If the provided basic substance is relatively good, then for the preparation and presentation of the CV is relatively easy. Conversely, if the availability of basic substance is very minimalist, it will be more difficult in the process of preparing and arranging of CV.
Although the basic substances of CV relatively minimalist, we should readjust the CV becomes more informative, so the key qualifications in accordance with requested requirements, at the same time presenting the CV in accordance with the specified format without changing the substance of the CV. A ccondition that need to be avoided in the preparation of CV with a minimalist basic substance is manipulate the substance of CV of experts candidates, thus their qualification imposed to match with the specified requirements. Even in extreme conditions, CV manipulation can be performed by replacing their working experiences with working experience of others that better meet the requirements.
CV manipulation activities could be a serious problem for the consulting firm and the concerned expert candidates, especially if the consultant has been declared as winner. The hardest risk is blacklisted by procurement committee or the project donors.
Based on the above description, it can be said that a safe way in the preparation and presentation of CV of the proposed experts is by readjusting, while manipulating CV is an activity that is relatively easy and fast but more dangerous. Readjusting CV is an art and requires perseverance, while manipulating CV is a shortcut but misleading.


Wazdan releases 9 Lions and Double Tigers slots.
Online games developer Wazdan has added two new games to its line-up of video slots.
The new releases, 9 Lions and Double Tigers, were initially introduced at this year's G2E Asia in Macau, back in May.
9 Lions even managed to win the acclaimed Hot Product Award at the show, while both operators and players around the world were eagerly looking forward to its official debut.
9 Lions draws its inspiration from the Chinese culture and features probably the two most important creatures in the mythology of the world's most populous country – lions and dragons.
The game is set in a Zen Garden and features 9 separate reels forming a 3×3 grid, combined with a number of potentially lucrative special features: Lion Bonus, Dragon Bonus, Blocking symbols and a very special Gamble game. All of these entertaining extra features offer intriguing possibilities of exciting wins, while the luckiest among players will be able to win the game's 5,000-coin jackpot.
Double Tigers is another Chinese-themed slot, inspired by the symbolism of yin and yang. This is a 3-reel 3-row slot with a total of 8 paylines that will take players on an epic adventure set in a remote mountain temple. Be on a lookout for tigers whose roar will unlock the bonus feature, increasing the possibility of grabbing hefty rewards.
Double Tigers is an action-packed adventure you wouldn't want to miss.
Both 9 Lions and Double Tigers boast the company's latest innovative technology, known as the Unique Wazdan Features. This set of in-house developed solutions include the first-ever Volatility Level option, Energy Saving Mode, Double Screen Mode, and Unique Gamble Feature.
Commenting on the arrival of the new games, Head of Sales at Wazdan Andrzej Hyla said the company had launched some fantastic new slots this year, generating a significant amount of reaction from the industry.
He stated Wazdan was absolutely focused on delivering its partners the most immersive content in the market, and added he was looking forward to working more closely with all of them, especially on game development and enhancing the player experience with Wazdan's unique technology base.


This two-day workshop on Robots, Young Children, & Alternative Input Methods, was held at the Northern Illinois University. The workshop brought together a pool of the leading investigators interested in interaction design and technology development in this topic. The work goals included (i) to explore the current status of research on child/robot interaction, (ii) to discuss theoretical and technical aspects that can support the research, and (iii) to explore the potential for future research in the area from the social, emotional, cognitive, and educational perspectives. The goals required the assembly of distinguished researchers from a diverse array of interrelated fields, including learning sciences, computer science, engineering, psychology, and others. The participants were selected as those who understand the necessity of cross-disciplinary collaboration for inquiring into the development of a socio-technical partnerships between an embodied, humanoid robot and young children in ways that promote children's intellectual, affective and social development.
What are the current statuses of research and development efforts in child/robot interaction?
What are theoretical perspectives that may guide research on developing child/robot collaborative systems?
What are important research issues in engineering assistance for child development with a robot?
What technologies are available to design child/robot interaction and collect data to assess the efficacy?
What are the challenges and opportunities in developing such technologies and research programs?
In what way are the research issues aligned with the NSF goal of Broadening Participation in STEM education and STEM workforce (particularly, the NSF initiative INCLUDES, Human Technology Partnership)?
Summary: Dr. Cynthia Breazeal (Associate Professor at MIT Media Lab) presented social robots as personalized learning companions for early literacy. As AI becomes increasingly essential, Dr. Breazeal's team strives to design humanistic AI-enabled technologies (social robots) that empower all of us to become the people and society we aspire to be as part of daily life. She advocated that AI-enabled educational technologies should engage and support learners holistically, including emotion, cognition, social interactions, and physical interactions. Learning with personalized peer-like social robots provides friendly companionship, collaboration, interpersonal interaction and social cues, perspective-taking, social modeling, and emotional engagement. When including parents in the child-robot interactions, the robot fosters socially inclusive interaction with others, facilitates adult participation and scaffolding, and provides important opportunities for parent engagement at home. Some preliminary findings include the following results: (1) children express more joy, attention, and relational touch toward robots as pediatric companions than avatar and plush companions for in-patient care; (2) children retain more similar phrases and words, as well as longer storylines, with expressive robots than with flat robots; (3) children self-report having higher growth mindset after interacting with growth mindset robot; (4) children are more emotionally expressive with robots than with tablets; and (5) emotional data improves prediction of word-reading skill. So far, their team has a dataset for 218 hours of time-synchronized multi-modal interaction, including interaction data, surveys, sensor data, and assessments. Dr. Breazeal plans to continue with research and to design personalized learning companions for early literacy.
Summary: Dr. Yanghee Kim (Professor at Northern Illinois University) presented her research on educational affordance of embodied robots. Project DEAR aims to design an engaging and affable robot for 3-7-year-old ESL children to improve their early English literacy skills. Project IDEAL is an inclusive design that mediates children's collaboration. Based on the literature, Dr. Kim's team developed a theoretical framework for crafting interactions between robot and children. Their goals of robot design are three-fold. They wanted the robot to (1) consistently invite children into conversations, (2) provide opportunities for children to speak and engage in activities in either their native, second, or developing language, and (3) always demonstrate empathy with children. To do this job, they used human mediator sessions to develop scripts for robot mediation. They used the Wizard of Oz method, explicit and repeated invitation, opportunities for children to explore, and limited interaction sessions up to 20 minutes. Her team found the following findings: (1) children developed affectionate relationships and were very engaged with the robot, (2) children interacted with the robot like they would with a friend, (3) children were very forgiving of the robot's mistakes, and (4) children gradually learned to work with their peers, taking turns and listening. Dr. Kim also introduced more evidence of an affectionate relationship with Skusie, including physical (touching and hugging), words, and unwillingness to leave. The goal of the project was to design the robot to take over the mediation role from humans. She plans to integrate curricular content and artifacts into the child-robot interactions. To evaluate changes in children's engagement and collaboration skills, she needs computational models to design and assess children's behaviors.
Summary: Dr. Lixiao Huang (Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University) presented more examples from the US and internationally to complement Cynthia and Yanghee's research areas on ESL and emotional support. Dr. Huang showed one example of applying a social-educational robot in treating autism, and pointed out the problem of evaluating the effect of child-robot interaction in an isolated environment without testing it in a human-human interaction later. She also showed an example of applying a social-educational robot in treating stuttering, in which the human tutor played an enormous role in the facilitating process. In this stuttering treatment case, the learning activities and tutor's facilitation becomes more important than the robot itself. Dr. Huang used the examples to illustrate the importance of including other humans in the children's interactions with robots for three reasons. First, even the state-of-art robots are not robust enough to meet children's varied needs. Second, humans have the basic psychological need for relatedness to other humans that robots cannot replace. Third, the goal of child-robot research is to increase children's adaptability in the real world, so adding humans in the loop is ultimately good for children's well-being. Based on the issues existing in the examples, Dr. Huang raised three big questions all researchers need to consider in all child-robot interaction research, including 1) what specific areas (i.e., storytelling, moral training, emotional support in health care, playmate interaction, etc.) do children need help? 2) How do we design both robots and activities to include humans in the loop? 3) How do we measure the results effectively considering its transfer in real-life scenarios? Dr. Huang concluded with a big picture of various human-robot interaction applications in a lifespan (from infant to older adults; from personal usage to public use) that will all need to be informed by these three questions. She suggested human factors' methods such as task analysis to identify the critical issues in each application, and improve the design of child-robot interaction.
Summary: Dr. Insook Han (Assistant Professor at Temple University) presented embodied cognition. Embodied cognition is a relatively new theoretical perspective to emphasize perceptual and physical experiences in human learning. Compared to the traditional view of considering knowledge or conception as purely mental and independent of our abilities to perceive, cognitive linguists and cognitive psychologists have tried to examine human cognition from this new perspective. Based on embodied cognition, many educational interventions have been designed and implemented that involve multisensory experiences, perceptual/bodily interaction with physical worlds. Embodied cognition research in educational contexts has mainly focused on math, science and language learning as well as many adults and elementary students. Considering that young learners' learning is inherently perceptual and multi-modal, there is room for researching with younger learners with the embodied cognition framework. A social robot can be a good tool to facilitate young learner's physical interaction as well as to capture their movement, gestures, and verbal exchanges.
Summary: Dr. Ying Xie and Dr. Kyung Kim (Assistant Professors at Northern Illinois University) presented group cognition. Gerry Stahl defined group cognition as the study of group interaction. After discussing the three levels of group cognition and why this topic is important to the community, they introduced their cutting-edge text-based dialogue analysis tool, Graphical Interface of Knowledge Structure (GIKS), that can visualize written dialogue into network graphs. They showed how this tool can be used for exploring the interaction between robot and children. Previous analysis of group cognition mainly used college students and adults' written text. The database of children's writing in formal and informal settings is still lacking.
Summary: Dr. Vinci Daro (Researcher at Stanford University and Director of STEM learning at Envision Learning Partners) presented "social emotional learning" as a lens for exploring ways that social robots might be used in research and in interventions to support children in school settings. Dr. Daro presented a brief rationale for focusing on social emotional learning (SEL), and then provided a brief overview of the constructs that have become dominant in the field of SEL research and development. She identified three challenges in conducting SEL research for which social robots may be relevant: a tendency in research designs (and intervention designs) to isolate the instruction or assessment of SEL skills from academic content instruction; the difficulty of measuring SEL competencies, and growth in these competencies; the significant role of teacher and researcher biases in interactions with students from different backgrounds, including linguistically diverse students. The rest of Dr. Daro's presentation described the general outlines of how SEL frameworks might help situate research and interventions involving social robots, with a focus on students' identity development as learners, language development for multilingual students, and the equity considerations important in these lines of research.
Summary: Dr. Jiyoon Yoon (Associate Professor at University of Texas Arlington) presented early science learning and emphasized that children need to improve their abilities to "DO" science to enhance children's acquisition of scientific concepts and facts. There are three approaches for doing science: Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), 5E Instructional Model, and Questioning.
Summary: Dr. Xiaojun Qi (Professor at Utah State University) presented a talk to explain the current techniques for tracking faces and recognizing emotion in robot and children interaction. She explained two tracking methods that have been developed by her Computer Vision Research Laboratory. The first method is called structured multi-task multi-view sparse tracker, which casts face tracking as a sparse approximation problem in a particle filter framework to track one face. The second method is called multi-Bernoulli filtering technique, which applies the random finite set multi-target multi-Bernoulli filter to detect and track multiple faces simultaneously and without explicit detection. She further presented a deep neural network (e.g., custom version of the VGG13 network), which is trained on the facial expression recognition (FER+) database, to recognize two facial expressions (i.e., happiness and neutral) of the kids in robot and child interaction. She finally concluded her talk by presenting several challenges in tracking and emotion recognition.
Summary: Dr. Aaron Kline (Professor at Stanford University) presented a system developed by his research group that seamlessly integrates sensors, real-time social cues, and feedback in behavioral therapy. He described the approaches his research group uses to help reinforce emotional awareness for children with autism, including face tracking and emotion recognition. He also emphasized the importance of including learners directly in the design process to improve their engagement in the learning experience. Finally, he mentioned the same or similar technologies could be leveraged to help measure engagement during child–robot interaction.
Summary: Dr. Karthik Ramani (Professor at Purdue University) presented a talk to explain the latest in Ziro, which is a prototype of design-build-play robots for kids to motivate them in STEM learning. He demonstrated that kids can learn through design and making. Ziro has some vision components and is integrated with Amazon Echo (has voice integration) to do a variety of tasks. Finally, he explained the motion flow system for gesture recognition, and concluded that multimodal sensing, particularly human emotions, can allow new forms of AI-based interactions.
Summary: Dr. Chad Dorsey (President and CEO at the Concord Consortium) presented an overview, possibilities, and barriers for learning sciences research. Speech technologies are important for learning science research, and it can be broken down into the figure below. Audio data collection uses microphones, LENA device, Microphone arrays, and beamforming. When it comes to preprocessing, speaker diarization technology can help identify and separate individual speakers in a single audio track, while speech activity detection separates speech from the acoustic background. When it comes to speech signal analysis, word counting, turn counts, sharing, nonverbal sentiment detection, social signals detection (laughter, filled vs. unfilled pauses, and overlapped speech), and stress detection are all helpful. When it comes to lexical analysis, automatic speech recognition and keyword spotting are the two main techniques. Then use fusion method to sum the parts. These analysis methods apply to education research areas such as collaboration, argumentation and reasoning, teacher questioning, facilitation, and classroom ecology, student motivation and engagement. The method provides feedback for teaching, enables insider data collection, auto-extraction of argumentation instances, and enables longitudinal analysis of learning at scale. Finally, a few barriers include the following: error rates are still high for automated speech recognition of speech signals; youth speech development is an issue; linguistic variation is highly significant, both from youth to adults and across ages; naturalistic speech patterns are unexplored; naturalistic acoustic environments are challenging; few datasets of child speech exist.
Summary: Dr. Abeer Alwan (Professor at University of California-Los Angeles) presented speech processing techniques. Dr. Alwan argued that the variability in the way humans produce speech due to, for example, gender, accent, age, and emotion necessitates data-driven approaches to capture significant trends and behavior in the data. The same variability, however, may not be modeled adequately by such systems, especially if data are limited and corrupted by noise. Challenges in automatic speech recognition of children's' speech include the following aspects: (1) lack of large databases of children's speech Significant intra- and inter-speaker variability, (2) significant variability in pronunciations due to different linguistic backgrounds, and misarticulations, (3) low signal-to-noise ratio in the classroom, and (4) distinguishing reading errors from pronunciation differences. Due to these challenges, the processing of kid's speech has significantly higher error rates than that of adult speech. Dr. Alwan developed pronunciation modeling and hypotheses to deal with children's speech processing. Some preliminary findings showed characteristics of vowels and constants. Dr. Alwan identified the need for an "expert human" (Golden Standard) in the loop for designing and evaluating the system, as well as the importance of professional development and attention to ESL. Dr. Alwan plans to collect more data of both reading, story retelling, and other tasks. Dr. Alwan is interested in looking into shared datasets and also plans to measure in a longitudinal fashion how kid's speech changes with age, especially at the early ages (5-8). Dr. Alwan will also look into challenging cases, such as Autism and ESL learners, which might help develop better systems for all (the Edison example).
Summary: Dr. Ajith Alexander (President and CEO at the Oxford Wave Research U.S.) presented speech diarization. Dr. Alexander's team specializes in research and bespoke product development, speaker recognition, speaker diarization, mobile audio and voice analysis, media similarity and time-synchronisation, and forensic audio enhancement. He performed an analysis of sample audio from Dr. Yanghee Kim's child-robot interaction classroom recordings and was able to diarize the robot, facilitator, and two children. The major takeaways include the following aspects: (1) diarization works well for two speakers or one on one interactions of a child with a robot; (2) accuracy on multiple speakers tends to be low; (3) strong results distinguishing between "children's voices" versus robot and facilitator voices; (4) separation across each of the children yields weaker results; (5) ambient noise, including hum from robot movement, in a classroom environment poses challenges; (6) benefit of gender-based separation is weak when children are subjects; and (7) corpus of data is limited, diarization of children's speech as a field is largely nascent. Based on the analysis, Dr. Alexander proposed recommendations on future data collection for best diarization results: (a) constrain the recording environment to as few speakers as possible, (b) mic children individually during data collection phase to reduce post activity processing because post-processing is a harder problem, (c) use a room microphone to pick up background noises so that it can be subtracted from speech, (d) get children to speak longer phrases at least a few times in a recording versus getting yes/no answers because short clusters are harder to work with.
Summary: Dr. Walker (Professor at University of California-Santa Cruz)introduced her team's work on open domain dialog with Slugbot as part of the Amazon Alexa Prize Challenge. There are many challenges with building dialog agents for children still to be addressed; these include personalization, scaling conversational interaction, adapting to new domains, and multi-domain and multi-modal dialog systems. Because personalization is impossible with scripted behaviors, the goal is to develop technology that supports dialog interaction around any content, and to handle content that is narratively structured or expository, in addition to the most typical case of content from a structured database. They are also doing work on producing expressive linguistic and nonverbal behaviors. Currently, the NLDS lab at UCSC resources that can be useful for interacting with children around the content of a story, such as the DramaBank corpus of Story Intention Graphs (SIG) for Aesop's Fables, a corpus of gesture annotated stories, software for expressive personality generation of both verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and software for converting monologic story tellings to first person dialogic tellings of stories. They plan to specifically work on representations and dialogue management strategies for conversation with children using a robot in the context of the exhibits at UCSC's Seymour Marine Center, controlling the nonverbal behaviors of the robot to demonstrate personality, and make the robot engaging to the children. They also are working on an NSF Cyberlearning Grant for literacy that involves an animated agent interacting with children to improve their narrative comprehension and social language skills, with an initial focus on stories such as Aesop's Fables, but possibly expanding to other children's stories.
Summary: Tony Zhao (Doctoral Researcher at Carnegie Mallon University)introduced DialPort, a dialog system that produces natural dialog in prescribed subjects, such as weather, restaurants. They propose that one way to collect data of interacting with children would be to involve their mothers. In the past, this clever solution provided good quality audio and facilitated IRB approval. Maxine Eskenazi at CMU who is the PI on DialPort would be interested in collaborating on an extended version of DialPort that could help with the paucity of databases of children's speech. They would like to discuss this possibility further as an extension to their current NSF CRI grant in collaboration with others at the workshop.
Summary: Dr. Laura Johnson (Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University), provided a brief presentation on conducting qualitative ethnographic observations. She began with an overview of ethnographic fieldwork and a discussion of the levels of participation a researcher might take on within fieldwork. She also outlined different types of notes a researcher might utilize within fieldwork and how these can be used to record descriptive and reflective information and evidence about the setting and participants. In particular, she highlighted Spradley's matrix for descriptive observations and how these help researchers pay attention to many elements within observations, including spaces, actors, activities, objects, goals, time, events, and feelings. Dr. Johnson also discussed the use of particular theoretical and methodological approaches to observing children engaged in communication, such as Corsaro's (2012) work on interpretive reproduction and peer cultures, and the work of Hymes (1974) in the ethnography of communication. Questions after this presentation focused on how to ensure that observations are reliable and consistent across researchers/observers. Dr. Johnson emphasized the importance of researchers acknowledging their distinct lenses and perspectives, as informed by their disciplines and theoretical positions, and how these diverse perspectives can actually strengthen and enhance findings, providing more nuanced and complex explanations of particular phenomena and practices. Some researchers might also make use of procedures and processes, such as calculating inter-rater reliability, which helps a team achieve a degree of consensus regarding observations.


text:
See all Sport
Rugby Union home
Racing home
Rio Olympics 2016: Yulia Efimova pleads for forgiveness as Lilly King labels her a drugs cheat
Efimova is the poster girl for the IOC's spineless decision to avoid issuing a blanket ban on Russia Credit: EPA
Daniel Schofield, Rio de Janeiro
10 August 2016 • 12:39am
Daniel Schofield
It started with a childish splash and has encompassed finger wagging and "purple piss", all salvos in an internal battle against doping within swimming. While the combat sports are being staged elsewhere within the Olympic park, the verbal sparring in the pool has been every bit as brutal.
Had the IOC had slightly more wherewithal, they could have sold ringside seats for the press conference of women's 100m breaststroke on Monday night where the simmering tension between USA's winner Lilly King and Russian silver medallist Yulia Efimova was on full display. At times it made for painful viewing.
Efimova, who has served a 16-month ban for taking steroids as well as testing positive for meldonium, is the poster girl for the IOC's spineless decision to avoid issuing a blanket ban on Russia in light of the most venal system of state sponsored doping ever encouraged. Despite initially being banned as a Russian athlete who has been convicted of doping, Efimova was allowed through the back door at the 11th hour by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
King reduced the Russian to tears Credit: EPA
Her presence, though, was not welcomed by a crowd who vociferously booed her introduction in the final or King, who had already engaged in a battle of finger wagging before calling Efimova a drugs cheat. That, however, was just the opening skirmish as King went for the knockout blow in the press conference with Efimova just two seats away from her.
"I basically said what everybody's thinking," King said. "Other swimmers were glad I spoke out and had the guts to say that and I appreciate their support. There was a lot of pressure obviously. Even going into first Olympic final, the pressure is going to be on but especially standing up for what I believe is right I felt I needed to perform better than I have in the past."
A tearful Efimova pleaded for forgiveness and understanding. She admitted that she had "made a mistake" when she tested positive for steroids in 2013 from what she previously claimed was a mislabelled supplement. On the thorny issue of meldonium, for which she tested positive four times soon after it was added to WADA's banned list, she again argued her innocence.
"I have once when I made mistakes and I have been banned for 16 months," Efimova said. :For second time, it's not my mistakes. Like, I don't know actually I need to explain everybody or not. I just like have some question. Like if WADA say, like, tomorrow, stop, like, yogurt or nicotine or, I don't know protein, that every athlete use, and they say tomorrow now it's on banned list. And you stop. But this is stay out of your body six months and doping control is coming, like, after two months, tested you and you're positive. This is your fault?"
Phelps gave King his backing over the row
Reconciliation will have to wait. King, who is just 19, glared at Efimova before taking the starting blocks and conspicuously avoided offering any congratulations after winning the race in an Olympic record of 1min 4.93secs. Cody Miller, King's USA teammate, tweeted that it was like watching Rocky IV.
"I'm not this sweet little girl," King said. "That's not who I am." Her stance was applauded by 19-time gold medallist Michael Phelps who said: "I think people should be speaking out more. You know I think (Lily) is right. I think something needs to be done. "You know, we have some tough young kids in our team and I think that's something special.
"It's kind of sad that today in sports in general, not just in swimming, there are people who are testing positive and are allowed back in the sport, and multiple times. I think it just breaks what sport is meant to be and that pisses me off."
Who knows what would have happened if Sun Yang, the Chinese freestyler who served a doping ban in secret, had not decided to splash Mack Horton, his Australian rival, in a practice session. When asked about the incident, Horton said: "He splashed me to say hello, and I didn't respond because I don't have time for drug cheats."
It proved to be the spark that lit the fuse. "Total props to him for speaking out first, I admire that," King said. Chinese officials demanded a retraction and an apology, a call that Australia flatly rejected. Since then many other swimmers have been emboldened to speak out, particularly as FINA, swimming's governing body, has been so ineffectual in its policing of doping.
The latest to seize the baton was France's Camille Lacourt who said of 200m freestyle champion Sun: "He pisses purple. I am very sad to see how my sport is evolving. It's like I'm seeing athletics, with two or three dopers in every final," he was quoted as saying by French media.
"I hope FINA will react quickly and stop this massacre because it's becoming sad. They have nothing to do in sport. I'm disgusted to see athletes who cheated on a podium."
Rio Olympics - full medal table
Comment: Chelsea need to rebuild not just a team but an entire culture
Matt Law
Arsenal cancel contract of defender Sokratis as Mikel Arteta continues to streamline squad in January window
Why Chelsea are defensively vulnerable and how Frank Lampard can fix it
England head coach Eddie Jones forced to self-isolate for 10 days leaving Six Nations planning in disarray
Comment: Time will tell whether Zak Crawley has a cricket brain
Sir Geoffrey Boycott
Six steps to post-match interview perfection, starring James Maddison
How good is Wales' Six Nations squad? The ins and outs as Wayne Pivac looks to kick on after torrid year
If Frank Lampard fails to get Chelsea firing, who could replace him?
Lions v South Africa Invitational, 2021 tour: What time is kick-off, what TV channel is it on and what is our prediction?
Lions v Bulls, 2021 tour in South Africa: What time is kick-off, what TV channel is it on and what is our prediction?
Lions Tour 2021 fixtures in South Africa: Match dates, times and TV schedule
Super Bowl winners list: every NFL team to win the Vince Lombardi trophy, and the score they won it by
Super Bowl 2021: when is it, who is the half-time performer and how to watch in the UK?
Government under pressure to pull advert claiming those exercising are 'highly likely' to have coronavirus
Kyle Sinckler tells disciplinary hearing he 'feared for career' during referee outburst
Change to Prada Cup race schedule in wake of American Magic absence due to capsize damage
Join in with free online PE lessons: fitness techniques
How Leicester City reached the top of the Premier League by stealth
Comment: The Chiefs will struggle to beat the Bills without Patrick Mahomes
Osi Umenyiora
Comment: Newcastle, a club where the only thing you could rely on was entertainment, have become boring


Looking for a new home in Catskills Sullivan County? It is a great time to buy real estate in Catskills Sullivan County and our site is a great place to begin your search. You can check out Catskills Sullivan County schools, market statistics, the latest listings and more. Whether you are a first-time home buyer or you are already familiar with the home buying process, you can be assured that you have the best tools and the perfect agent available to help with your Catskills Sullivan County home search.
There are currently 2 Lands for sale in Catskills Sullivan County. The average price for Catskills Sullivan County properties is $2,275,000which is 4% higher than all Lands within a 20 mile radius. The highest priced property in Catskills Sullivan County is $3,750,000 while the lowest priced Land is listed at $800,000. Most of the properties available in Catskills Sullivan County are Lands . Compared to last month, the average price of real estate in the area has gone up 100%.


text:
Cyfrowy Polsat launches IPTV service
March 26, 2019 08.20 Europe/London By Chris Dziadul
Poland's Cyfrowy Polsat has launched a new cable TV in IPTV technology service, accompanied by a dedicated new Evobox IP set-top box.
The latter gives access to over 150 TV channels and is equipped with such state-of-the-art features as restart, timeshift and catch-up.
According to Cyfrowy Polsat, the new service will be available with a subscription under the same package offering as its DTH platform. Customers will need the new Evobox IP set-top box and fixed broadband access, with a minimum download speed of 8Mbps, from Plus, Netia or Orange networks.
Commenting on the development, Maciej Stec, a management board member of Cyfrowy Polsat and Telewizja Polsat, said: "The introduction of a new offer based on IPTV technology is another stage of development of our group as well as our response to the ever changing needs and expectations of our customers, who will now be able to decide which method of delivery of TV content – via satellite or IPTV – is most convenient to them. Since December last year, Plus network has offered fixed internet access based on Netia's infrastructure, which is an ideal tool to be combined with the new TV service from Cyfrowy Polsat".
The new IPTV service will offer various packages, priced from PLN20 (€4.65) a month, and include a total of 90 HD channels. Cyfrowy Polsat Go will be available for no additional fee simultaneously on three devices and multiroom will cost PLN5 a month. At the same time, the new Evobox IP set-top box will be offered for a starting price of PLN1. The service will be made available free of charge for a 14-day trial period.
Dariusz Dzialkowski, a management board member of Cyfrowy Polsat and Telewizja Polsat, said: "Evobox IP is the first device in the offer of Cyfrowy Polsat which will enable the reception of TV channels via the internet in a closed telecommunication network. For a few years already our set-top boxes have combined the satellite reception of TV channels with internet access to VOD content. Now, we are going to take another step and introduce a service fully based on IPTV technology. This is a next stage of the execution of our long-term strategy, the goal of which is to provide our customers with free and flexible access to content that they like and expect, regardless of the technology of its delivery. Furthermore, along with the set-top box we offer our subscribers a set of interesting, state-of-the-art features thanks to which they will be able to personalise the TV viewing experience even more".
Filed Under: Central & East Europe, DTH, Editor's Choice, IPTV, Newsline, Platforms Tagged With: Cyfrowy Polsat, Poland Edited: March 27, 2019 11:26


text:
Out of sync and out of it
Gary Olivar, oddly enough while defending his boss' non-attendance at the joint session of Congress last week that was supposed to review Presidential Proclamation 1959, let slip last Thursday (December 10) what he really thought about the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao.
One of the few Arroyo officials with at least half a brain, Olivar was explaining to the media why Mrs. Gloria Macapagal chose to attend to her other appointments last Wednesday (December 9) rather than show herself in Congress. Olivar harrumphed that neither the representatives of the people nor the senators of the supposedly strong but in reality limp Republic have any right to tell Her Majesty what she may or may not do.
Media power, media burden
At least one member of the Ampatuan clan seems to have recently discovered how important the media can be when the shoe's on the other foot, and you're being oppressed rather than doing the oppressing. Outraged over the supposed use of excessive force when Army troops stormed the hospital room of Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., an Ampatuan relative called ABS-CBN to complain about it.
The media had been barred by the military from covering the Army's decision to finally arrest Ampatuan, three days after he checked himself into the hospital, in a ruse that should by now be familiar to most Filipinos. To escape the discomforts of a Philippine jail, every politician or similar creature of influence who has troubles with the law nearly always pretends to be sick so he can be placed in what's known in this sorry country as "hospital arrest". Claudio Teehankee Jr. did it so he wouldn't have to spent a minute in Jejomar Binay's Makati City jail while on trial for murder. Convicted but pardoned rapist Romeo Jalosjos also did it before he found heaven in the comforts of, and in his own hamburger stand in, the National Penitentiary.
Tags Ampatuan Massacre, martial law, media
The central paradox of failing and failed states is their capacity to inflict the gravest harm on their perceived enemies, their own people, and on humanity at large, while being weak when it comes to protecting the innocent or observing their own laws. Such states may be paper tigers, but they do have claws and teeth.
Philippines is not yet exhibit A in the gallery of failed and failing states. In the contest for that distinction are such African countries as Rwanda, Somalia, the Sudan, the Republic of the Congo. In Asia, among the candidates, but still far behind these sub-Saharan states, are Burma and Sri Lanka.
Tags Ampatuan Massacre


Wine which was fermented with native yeasts and remained with its sludge in a 300 litres traditional ceramic pot for 5 months. Bottling followed without filtering. Plant derived, 100% recyclable, sugarcane based corks were used.


text:
Hackney Labour Mayor and Deputy Mayor Bramble call-out Tories' scrapping of free travel for under-18s
THE Labour Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville and Deputy Mayor Anntoinette Bramble have called on the Government to scrap their plans to end the free bus travel for under-18s in London.
Co-signing a letter alongside the Chair of Hackney's Youth Parliament to the Department for Transport, they highlight their concern that the decision will "have a disproportionate impact on the young people in Hackney, a borough which has the third-highest rate of child poverty in the country".
Mayor Glanville
The Tory Government forced the change on London as part of their bailout of TfL, despite the Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's mandate to keep TfL fares as low as possible.
Mayor Glanville and Deputy Mayor Bramble are calling on Hackney's residents to sign a Labour Party petition to save free travel on TfL bus services for under-18s in London.
SIGN THE PETITION: tell the Tories to keep free travel for under-18s in London
Mayor Philip Glanville said: "In a borough that puts sustainable transport first, our young people often rely on buses to get to school or college. Generations of young people have been able to benefit from the freedom this card brings. Hackney Labour wants to rebuild a better Hackney, where opportunity is accessible for all. But this scrap is a Tory tax on young Londoners at a time when Hackney's families need support the most."
Deputy Mayor Bramble
Deputy Mayor Anntoinette Bramble said: "Free bus travel is a lifeline for so many of Hackney's children and young people that rely on free ZipCards to get to school or college and get a good education. Without it, the Tories cannot claim they want equal opportunity for all."
The full text of the letter is here:
Dear Baroness Vere,
We are writing to you to express our real concerns about the proposed plans to suspend free travel for under 18s. We feel that this will have a disproportionate impact on the young people in Hackney, a borough which has the third-highest rate of child poverty in the country and which has been disproportionately impacted by the devastating effects of Covid-19 – particularly poorer health outcomes and increased levels of child poverty.
This measure would significantly restrict the choices young people could make regarding their education and engagement with extracurricular activities, particularly coming at a time when young people have spent months at home with limited access to education, health and leisure opportunities at such a critical time in their development.
This concern is not about encouraging young people to use transport when there are other options available. Far from it. As a borough, Hackney is very committed to encouraging young people to stay healthy; this includes promoting walking and cycling to school. In fact, we have plans for additional school streets and cycle routes in the borough, many of which will be in place for September. This concern is fundamentally about ensuring that every young person has equal access to opportunities to reach their full potential.
The views of young people in Hackney are critical to how we run our services, and they are shocked that this is being proposed, without any consultation. Members of our Youth Parliament, the chair of which is co-signatory to this letter, have confirmed through discussions with their peers and families, that access to free transport is very important for them.
Parents/carers state that it helps keep their children safe, allows them to engage in activities that otherwise they may not be able to afford if they had to pay for the transport, and also it may limit their ability to maintain relationships with friends and family.
Young people and their families/carers have made decisions about which schools or colleges to attend, or which trainee apprenticeship to join on the understanding that there was free transport for all under 18. If this proposal goes ahead, some young people may have to make a change to their choice of next steps at this late stage and with a much-reduced choice, further compounding disadvantage.
Our school community is very concerned that they have not been able to consult with parents/carers about any suspension of free travel in the run-up to September both for those returning to school and also for those pupils who will be making significant choices about secondary education for the following academic year.
We are all very keen not to add to parents/carers uncertainty about their children's return to school in September and this proposal will certainly raise that uncertainty for some families.
We urge you to do all you can to ensure that free travel for all those under 18 remains in place. This will ensure more equal access to education and to all those amazing cultural opportunities for every child and young person growing up in London.
Mayor of Hackney
Cllr Anntoinette Bramble
Deputy Mayor of Hackney and Cabinet Member for Education, Young People and Children's Social Care
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53694922
Free travel on London's transport for under-18s will be suspended after the October half-term, October 24 – 28 according to government plans seen by the BBC.
The plan to temporarily end free travel for 11 to 17-year-olds was a condition Transport for London's (TfL) £1.6bn lockdown bailout.
About 30% of children who currently travel by bus to school would still be eligible for free travel, TfL said.
The Mayor of London called on the government drop the plans.
A spokesman for Sadiq Khan said the policy "will hit the poorest Londoners hardest and place significant administrative and financial burdens on already stretched schools and local authorities".
"Rather than forcing this measure through, the Government should work with TfL to find a better solution that doesn't risk hitting the poorest Londoners hardest".


text:
Meryl Meisler was born 1951 in the South Bronx and raised in North Massapequa, Long Island, NY. Inspired by Diane Arbus and Jacques Henri Lartigue, Meryl began photographing herself, family, and friends while enrolled in a photography class taught by Cavalliere Ketchum at The University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1975, Meryl returned to New York City and studied with Lisette Model, continuing to photograph her hometown and the city around her. After working as a freelance illustrator by day, Meryl frequented and photographed the infamous New York Discos. As a 1978 CETA Artist grant recipient, Meryl created a portfolio of photographs which explored her Jewish Identity for the American Jewish Congress. After CETA, Meryl began a 31-year career as an NYC Public School Art Teacher. Upon retiring from the NYC public school system in 2010, Meisler began releasing large bodies of previously unseen work. Meryl's first monograph A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014), received international acclaim. The book juxtaposes her zenith of disco photos with images of the burned out yet beautiful neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in the 1980s. Her second book, Purgatory & Paradise SASSY '70s Suburbia & The City (Bizarre, 2015), contrasts intimate images of home life on Long Island alongside NYC street and nightlife. She is currently working on two more books in her series about the 1970s & '80s. Meryl lives and works in New York City, continuing the photographic memoir she began in 1973 – a uniquely American story, sweet and sassy with a pinch of mystery. Resources: Meryl Meisler Tequila Minsky Momenta Photographic Workshops Focus on the Story Photography Festival The Candid Frame Newsletter The Candid Frame Alexa Skill Lessons from the Street eBook by Ibarionex Making Photographs: Developing a Personal Visual Workflow The Candid Frame Flickr Pool The Candid Frame YouTube Channel Download the free Candid Frame app for your favorite smart device. Click here to download for iOS. Click here to download for Android Support the work we do at The Candid Frame with contributing to our Patreon effort. You can do this by visiting patreon.com/thecandidframe or visiting the website and clicking on the Patreon button. You can also provide a one-time donation via PayPal. You can follow Ibarionex on Instagram and Twitter.
The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography
TCF Ep. 458 - Meryl Meisler


text:
Natural Care of Affective Disorders
Dr Jerome Sarris has conducted a review of the most clinically-relevant latest advances in depression and anxiety.
Dr Jerome Sarris
Depression and anxiety unfortunately remain common in our society. These are rightly considered amongst the most disabling conditions and can be very difficult to manage. To keep us up to date in natural mental health care, Dr Jerome Sarris has conducted a review of the most clinically-relevant latest advances.
This webinar will give you clinical pearls that you can take into your practice today to help your patients better cope with what life throws at them.
Discuss the current evidence concerning nutrients for depression and anxiety
Review clinical considerations in respect to dosage, multiformula applications, and safety aspects
Discuss the moving towards a 'personalised-medicine' approach
Dr Jerome Sarris is Senior Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne and a founding Vice Chair of The International Network of Integrative Mental Health. Jerome moved from clinical practice to academic work and completed his doctorate at The University of Queensland in the field of psychiatry.
He completed his postdoctoral training at The University of Melbourne, Department of Psychiatry; The Centre for Human Psychopharmacology; and Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts General Hospital). Jerome has a particular interest in mood and anxiety disorder research pertaining to Complementary and Integrative Medicine and in nutraceutical psychopharmacology. He is co-editor of Clinical Naturopathy: an evidence-based guide to practice and has over 80 publications.


Disaster strikes and you are left with considerable property damage. It is a situation that no Floridian wants to deal with, but at least you have insurance. Your losses are covered, right? Unfortunately, it is not always that easy.
In far too many cases, homeowners have a hard time recovering fair compensation for their property damage.
To increase your odds of getting an efficient, full-value settlement offer, you need to know how to navigate the complex property damage claims process. To get you started, our experienced Broward County property insurance lawyers have put together a list of five of our best claims tips.
First and foremost, you need to take quick action after any damaging event. Of course, this does not mean being reckless, as you certainly do not want to submit a sloppy claim. Do not feel rushed. Still, you will want to immediately get to work. Start by documenting your damages, reviewing your specific insurance policy, assessing your claims options and determining your responsibilities as a policyholder.
If a dispute arises, you will want strong evidence that supports your claim. The more evidence you have, the better. Relevant evidence in a Florida property damage case will come in many different forms. Ideally, it will include photographs of your damages and of your property in its pre-loss conditions, extensive receipts and financial records, and even sworn testimony.
Under Florida law, property insurance companies have a legal obligation to settle all valid claims with homeowners without any undue delay. Indeed, insurers are contractually mandated to pay you the full value for your losses. Yet, at the same time, insurance companies are for-profit businesses. They have no intention of paying you even one penny more than they owe; and, when possible, they will use well-crafted tactics and strategies to try to limit your recovery. The bottom line: be skeptical of insurance companies.
When you do run into a problem during the claims process, do not deal with it solely over the phone. Instead, please make sure that all of your complaints are in writing. In addition, whenever writing something, you should be sure that your complaint very clearly articulates: 1) The extent of your problem 2) What exactly you want and 3) Why you should get what you want.
If you sustained major property damage, do not settle your claim for any less than you are owed under your policy. If your insurance company is not cooperating, or if your claim was denied, be ready to seek professional assistance.
At Geyer Fuxa Tyler, our experienced Fort Lauderdale property insurance lawyers have extensive experience handling all types of claims. To request a free, no-risk review of your claim, please call our team today at (954) 990-5251. We handle claims throughout Broward County, Florida, including in Hollywood and Pembroke Pines.


text:
Kościół Maryi Dziewicy w Ptujskiej Gorze (słoweń. Bazilika Marije Zavetnice s plaščem) – bazylika rzymskokatolicka w Ptujskiej Gorze, w Słowenii. Jest uważany za najpiękniejszy zabytek z okresu gotyku w Słowenii. Na placu przed kościołem znajduje się wiejskie targowisko i pozostałości umocnień z okresu walk z Turkami.

Historia
Na temat początków i powstania Ptujskiej Gory przekazy historyczne niemal całkowicie milczą. Zachował się jednak dokument, z którego wynika, że w ostatniej dekadzie XIV wieku (1398 r.) papież Bonifacy IX dał Ulrykowi IV von Walsee pozwolenie na budowę kościoła na Ptujskiej Gorze.

Budowa kościoła została zakończona w latach 20. XV wieku w stylu gotyckim. Kilkadziesiąt lat po jej zakończeniu okolicy zaczęli zagrażać Turcy, kościół otoczono więc murami, by go ochronić przed zniszczeniem.

Architektura
Kościół jest trójnawową budowlą z bogato wyposażonym wnętrzem. W skład wyposażenia wchodzą m.in. ołtarze i obrazy świętych. Jest skarbnicą gotyckiej rzeźby z początku XV wieku.

Płaskorzeźba Matki Bożej Patronki z Płaszczem
Powstała ok. 1410 r. i jest jednym z największych arcydzieł tamtych czasów. Wizerunek Maryi znajduje się w głównym, barokowym ołtarzu. Pod jej płaszczem przedstawiono 82 postacie, reprezentujące interesujący zbiór typów ludzkich z tamtej epoki. Wśród nich znajdziemy postać Bernarda III, fundatora Ptujskiej Gory, jego żony, dwóch braci minorytów, wielu przedstawicieli szlachty, hierarchii kościelnej oraz innych osób.

Ołtarz cylejski
Ołtarz Fryderyka II hrabiego Celje typu baldachimowego znajduje się w południowej apsydzie. Początkowo stał prawdopodobnie nad głównym ołtarzem i zajmował centralne miejsce w kościele. Po ostatnim remoncie prezbiterium, to wybitne dzieło rzeźbiarskie z pracowni Petra Parlera, ponownie trafiło na właściwe miejsce w kościele.

Ołtarz różańcowy
Ołtarz ten stoi z lewej strony przy drugiej kolumnie pokrytej pękiem służek. U góry, w środkowej części trójdzielnego, kamiennego ołtarza znajduje się postać siedzącej Matki Bożej wraz z Dzieciątkiem. Prawa ręka, w której trzymała berło, została odcięta. W węższych niszach bocznych znajdują się posągi św. Katarzyny i św. Andrzeja. Dzieło to, z początku XV wieku, przypisuje się następcom Petra Parlera.

Ołtarz Zygmunta
Stoi przy pierwszym filarze na południowej stronie kościoła. Wygląda podobnie od ołtarza różańcowego, od którego jest nieco młodszy. Jego nazwa pochodzi od św. Zygmunta, którego posąg stoi w środkowej niszy. Po bokach znajdują się posągi św. Barbary i św. Erazma.

Święty Jakub
Statua św. Jakuba stoi na konsoli środkowej kolumny pokrytej służkami po prawej stronie kościoła i pierwotnie był częścią poświęconego mu ołtarza. Jest doskonałym przykładem gotyckiej rzeźby i szczytowym dziełem ptujskogorskiej pracowni rzeźbiarskiej z początku XV wieku.

Barokowa ambona
Ambona ta jest cennym dziełem rzeźby barokowej z połowy XVIII wieku, podobnie jak dwa konfesjonały.

Św. Maksymilian Kolbe był polskim franciszkaniniem konwentualnym, który w czasie II wojny światowej oddał swoje życie za współwięźnia w niemieckim nazistowskim obozie koncentracyjnym KL Auschwitz. Płaskorzeźba z jego portretem została wykonana przez Viktora Gojkoviča w 1986 r.

Gotyckie freski zachowały się dobrze w południowej części podziemi, w dawnej Kaplicy Krzyża Świętego. Przedstawiają różne motywy, a w tym sceny z życia Jezusa.

Znaki kamieniarskie są widoczne na wszystkich elementach obrobionych przez kamieniarzy zarówno wewnątrz jak i na zewnątrz kościoła. Jest ich ponad 1000.

Witraże są dziełem słoweńskiej malarki Idy Brišnik-Remec. Wykonane zostały w latach 1981–1982 i ilustrują pieśń słoneczną, przypisywaną św. Franciszkowi z Asyżu.

Droga krzyżowa na wschodniej ścianie dzwonnicy jest dziełem Viktora Gojkoviča (1989).

Gotyckie płaskorzeźby: Anioł z herbami, Pokłon Trzech Króli i Śmierć Maryi były częścią oryginalnego wyposażenia kościoła z 1410 r. Obecnie znajdują się w kaplicy, która mieści się w dawnej wieży obronnej.

Barokowych schodów strzegą św. Florian i św. Jan Nepomucen. Wejście na szczycie schodów zdobią postacie aniołów z tarczami oraz bogato zdobione wazony.

Nad główny portal wróciła Matka Boża Patronka z Płaszczem. Na miejscu oryginalnej płaskorzeźby, która w okresie baroku została przeniesiona do ołtarza głównego, obecnie umieszczono płaskorzeźbę z brązu. Na prostokątnych skrzydłach wrót znajduje się podobizna papieża Jana Pawła II, który podczas pielgrzymki do Słowenii w 1999 r. beatyfikował biskupa Antoniego Marcina Slomška, uwiecznionego na lewym skrzydle drzwi. Na płaskorzeźbach przedstawieni są również czterej ewangeliści (dzieło Viktora Gojkoviča, 2002). Wokół płaskorzeźb zapisane zostały myśli i prośby Slomška "Okryj mnie swoim świętym płaszczem".

Dzwonnica zmieniała swój wygląd na przestrzeni dziejów. Z powodu uszkodzeń była poddawana licznym przebudowom i remontom. Obecny kształt dzwonnicy pochodzi z epoki baroku. Zawieszone są w niej cztery dzwony.

Wysokie gotyckie okna z wąskimi szprosami i bogato zdobionymi maswerkami ożywiają zewnętrzny wygląd kościoła, który jest szczególnie urozmaicony po wschodniej stronie, do której dostawiono trzy gotyckie apsydy.

Otoczenie kościoła z zachowaną południową wieżą obronną, przypomina czasy tureckich najazdów, kiedy Ptujską Gorę zamieniono w obóz wojskowy, co można zobaczyć na dobrze zachowanym miedziorycie z 1681 r.

Bazylika
W 2009 r. w kościele przeprowadzono prace remontowe i konserwatorskie w celu przygotowania go do nadania tytułu bazyliki. Renowacja wywołała szereg kontrowersji. 8 grudnia 2009 r. papież Benedykt XVI podniósł kościół do rangi bazyliki. 16 maja 2010 r. miało miejsce uroczyste nadanie tytułu bazyliki, będące kulminacją obchodów, ponieważ kościół jednocześnie świętował swoje sześćsetlecie.

Przypisy

Świątynie pod wezwaniem Najświętszej Marii Panny
Architektura gotyku w Słowenii
Zabytki Słowenii
Bazyliki w Słowenii
Gmina Majšperk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Big, substantial dog with strong head, expressive, high wither, firm back-line, well laid croup of good length. Straight front. Developed chest proportions, very good front and hind angulations, moves straight while coming and going. Gaits with far-reach stride with powerful hind thrust. Positive nerves. WA2015: Exhibited in excellent condition.


Trilateral cooperation on customs was established in 2007 to accelerate information exchange among customs offices of the three countries. They have been hosting the Tripartite Customs Heads' Meeting (TCHM) to actively discuss common agendas such as the creation of a safe environment for trade facilitation, intellectual property infringement and illicit drug trafficking. Based on the Action Plan of the Tripartite Customs Cooperation, the three countries continues to strengthen partnership to develop trade in the region.


With this blog I want to show the reader the old world, the real world. Maybe old world is a wrong term for it, since it is still here but only sleeping. Like everything in time does, it has at some point in the past fallen asleep and will at some point in the future wake up again, so although it seems to be an old world it also seems to be a new world. Let us therefor simply call it "the right world". This right world does not know cities and modern technology, it does not know civilisation, it does not know abrahamitic religions and it does not know money and thus modern slavery. What it knows is nature, mountains, forests, the power of one's own hands, the admiration of nature and everything natural, like night and day, the seasons of the year, the stars, the sky, the sun, the moon, the earth, the wind, the rain, the clouds, the grass, the snow, the trees, and finally it knows working for oneself, like e. g. hunting your own animals or producing your own clothes, weapons or tools.
Sometimes I think reading about this right world does not slightly bring you as near to it, as listening to music about it does. And this is why I made this article. I will try to share some really good music that will let you forget this twisted modern world and will make you remember a very different world in which you have lived long time ago and maybe soon again. Please feel not only free to share music that fits into this category in the comments, but feel rather asked to do so.
Running is the highest form of free time activity you can do in these modern times. It will keep your body healthy, so that you live longer and better, it will make you able to get rid of overweight, it will train you for surviving a world without modern technology, and maybe most important it is really fun, you can utterly enjoy it, if you do it right. Doing it right means not running too fast and not request to much from your body. You run rightly, if you would for the whole running time be able to normally talk to somebody who would run alongside you. You can get serious damage if you overburdon your body! My father lost about 25 kg (from over 100 to less than 80) by running almost every day up to 16 km for a year, now his feet often hurt when he only walks normally (he is 54). You should maybe consider to buy shoes that are specifically made for running, I recently bought some for 100 €. They are expencive, but they are worth their price, you can run over sharp stones without feeling them and your joints and your feet in generell are much more protectet from being damaged over time.
– I run every second day 5 km (as recommended by a friend of me), and I will not increase this distance, I will only increase the speed, but I will not actively do this, it will slowly come with time and automatically.
– I start to run at sunset. This time is pretty much perfect, the light is gone, but the darkness is not yet here, further at this point of the day it is not that hot in summer.
– I run at the fields (and sometimes in the forest) near my home village. The smell of fresh country air and nature is a major motivator for running.
– I wear running shoes and run with music (So I am using modern technology for a good cause, although I am against modern technology in generell). You can use any music you like, perfect would be something that is fast enough to motivate you to run, but not too fast, so that it motivates you to overburdon your body. Personally I often listen to Iron Maiden's "Somewhere in Time", especially the song "Long Distance Runner".
– When I for any reasons do not want or cannot run, I simply partially or wholly walk the 5 km.
Maybe one of the worst things of running wrong (i. e. too fast, overburdoning your body) is that you will not enjoy running and that you will not be motivated to do it anymore, it will feel as if you will go to work. The opposite is the case, if you run rightly (i. e. not too fast, slow enough to be able to talk normally), you will look forward to running the whole day and you will feel extremely good when you have managed to run the 5 km. It will physically and spiritually heal you from (some of) the symptoms of the rotten everyday life of this modern age.
So, all in all, there are 2 ways of proving, if you do it right or not. 1st You do it wrong, when you are so run out of breath that you could not talk normally for the whole running time. 2nd You do it wrong, if you do not enjoy it and if it does not give you an extremely good feeling.
If you encounter, that you do it wrong there is one simply way to correct it: Slow down (if necessary walk). If you are so motivated to run, so that you cannot wait 2 days, do a different but simmilar thing on days between the running days, but do not run every day. Such simmilar things would be riding your bike or go swimming.
The worst thing you can do is to think anything like this "I am to heavy for running. It will not work with me, and if it should work, it will be a torture to me, so never mind." It works with everyone, I am 21 years old, 1.75 m tall and had 103 kg. I went running and made 93 out of the 103, then I stopped, because I had no good running shoes and encountered that I was doing it wrong, that I was running too fast. This made 95 kg out of the 93. Now I go running again and I am doing it right this time (or at least I am pretty sure to do so). So I am pretty heavy and it works anyway. You might say "Well, you had 100 kg, I have 150 [or even more], it will surely not work with me." Well, then simply start with walking, instead of running, everything is better than nothing and big trees grow out of tiny roots.
There is something that fundamentally distinguishes our European mythology from the Hebrew mythology although the latter is based on the former and can just be seen as a twisted version of the former. Even the one almighty and omniscient Hebrew god stems from our European mythology. Many think that he originally was the sky god, but I think different. I think the Hebrew god was originally adapted by the Hebrews from our European concept of fate/destiny/wyrd, whatever you want to call it, the concept that everything is predetermined and will happen exactly like it is supposed to happen (and like it always happened before, because time is a circle and not a line, a circle which repeats itself and which never started and will never end). I will call this concept simply "Wyrd". Everything is subject to Wyrd, nobody can escape his Wyrd, it is omnipotent, like the one Hebrew god. The angels of the hebrew mythology are probably adapted ordinary European gods. The devil(s) are adapted ettins. What makes it (the Hebrew mythology, not the Hebrew religion, which is obviously very different) now different at all from the European mythology, except of the extreme underrating of the other gods who are not Wyrd and the linear view of time? The difference is that they do not really believe (or rather they do not really understand) Wyrd. Yet they claim that their religion is the only true religion while in reality it is the exact oposite.
Everything is subject to Wyrd, not only gods, but also ettins and this is what the Hebrews did not understand when they created their version of our mythology. The chief ettin, whom they call "the devil" is the ultimate evil, he works against God (=Wyrd). God is omnipotent and omniscient and yet there is the possibility that someone or something is working against him. There is something that may not be there, that cannot be there. They believe in the existence of something that is impossible to exist, which is obviously nonsense.
Our European mythology does not do this. There is no evil. As less as there is good. There are no such two sides that ultimately negate each other. Let me give an example* (I will use English/Old English names for the gods, because I write in English, or Icelandic/Old Norse names when I do not know the English/Old English ones). There is a myth about Woden (originally Tiw) who is eaten by the wolf Fenrir. Afterwards Woden's son Vidarr kills Fenrir by treading onto his underjaw and tearing both jaws apart. This probably meant that Woden would be able to leave Fenrir through the now open jaws and to live again. Originally this myth deals with sunset and sunrise. Tiw, the sky, is eaten by Fenrir, the night, – Sun sets and you are not able to see the sky anymore. Fenrir is killed and Tiw can live again – The night dissappears and you can see the sky again. The same accounts for the myth where Tiw (this time it is still him, he was not changed to Woden) binds Fenrir with Gleipnir (The sky defeats the night – Sun rises), and after some time Fenrir breaks Gleipnir (The night breaks free – Sun sets).
Now, does this mean that Tiw/Woden and Vidarr are good and Fenrir is evil? No, it does not. Would it be good to live in an endless night? Of course not, we would not see anything at all and we would die from the coldness in winter. Would it be good to live in an endless day? No, it would not either, we could not rest and sleep as good as at night and the sun would burn us in summer. So both sides work into different directions, but for the same course, just like your two hands will hit into two different directions, but still work together to create a sound, when you want to clap. They (Tiw/Woden/Vidarr and Fenrir) are both part of Wyrd and work for it. Of course they are, everything is, even the Hebrews themselves and this whole modern world are, we should not forget that. True pagans accept reality, they look forward for seeing the sun rise, but they do not blame the night to be here. We should also look forward to seeing our ancient Europe again, but we should not forget, that there is a reason for it to be absent in the moment. Be without fear, a real pagan has no fear, he may become panic when his life is in danger because of his instincts, but he won't be afraid of the future, for he knows that nothing can stop Wyrd and that everything will return to its old order and this fills him with hope instead of fear.
Our world instantly changes, but it always changes the same way, there is no change of the changes. You can imagine it like a car that drives in a circle. It instantly changes its position, but it will always change it in the same direction and with the same speed. You can also imagine it like a song, which is always repeated after played, it is made up of many different notes, but the order is always the same.
I miss the old days, although I cannot remember them (except sometimes in my dreams and emotions) but I know that I experienced them and that I will experience them in the future again. I am a part of Wyrd and Wyrd has never begun and will never end.
It is a weird (wyrd) coincidence that I have such thoughts and that my parents gave me the Hebrew first name "Michael", which means "He, who is like god". Well maybe this name even fits very well to me? I should only translate it into a more European language, such as Old High German, which would make me Wurtwin, the friend of the Wyrd.
*The example from above with Woden/Tiw, Fenrir and Vidarr is more accurately explained in the book "The Lost Gods of England" by Brian Branston.


text:
China Promises to Support Russia's Chairmanship of BRICS – Spokesman
BEIJING, Beijing will cooperate in with Moscow in every way during its chairmanship of the BRICS, an informal group of rapidly developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday.
Russia assumed the BRICS chairmanship from Brazil on January 1 stating its intention to facilitate the increase of the quality of life in the member countries.
"The Chinese side will support Russia's chairmanship of BRICS in every way, maintain close contact and cooperation with the Russian side and other BRICS countries to have a successful summit in St. Petersburg," Geng said during a press briefing.
He also expressed hope that BRICS would reach new heights under Russia's tenure.
In late December, Geng confirmed China's intention to continue strengthening its strategic cooperation with Russia for the benefit of both countries and international stability, saying that thanks to personal efforts by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping the relations between two countries had entered a new stage.
Source: African News Agency
Operation Festive Season operations continue attaining good results
TENNIS-ATP: South Africa's Lloyd Harris suffers defeat in ATP Cup opener in Australia


text:
AltcoinsBTCCryptoETHMiningStock
Bitstamp CEO: 'This Is A Pivotal Moment for the Crypto Industry'
As crypto exchange Bitstamp ramps up its expansion in the U.S., its CEO Julian Sawyer told Decrypt that the crypto industry faces a "pivotal moment" as it grows to encompass the mass market.
Source: decrypt.co
"We're in a really pivotal moment within the industry," Sawyer said on the Decrypt Daily podcast. "It's moving out from a crypto-dominated world to the mass market, where people down the high street are now talking about crypto and Bitcoin and Ethereum."
Amidst this growing crypto market, Sawyer took aim at zero-fee trading apps such as Robinhood. "We've seen people like Robinhood coming out there being free—but we know that free, actually, there is a cost associated with that," Sawyer said, adding, "For us, trust and transparency is the key."
That includes transparency on fees and the cost of trading and storing assets with an exchange, said Sawyer—as well as "trust around the regulatory framework".
Today we announced our expansion in the U.S. market with an increased financial commitment to the U.S. business, dedication to acquiring top talent and continued development of our best-in-class market infrastructure. Learn more: https://t.co/5h9QnpoLIf
— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) May 3, 2021
"This becomes super important when you think of financial services, you think about banking payments and crypto exchanges. It's all around trust: where are you going to put your money, where is it going to be safe?" he said.
Sawyer also noted the importance of consistent uptime for trading platforms. "When the markets change—and we know that they do on a daily basis—we want to make sure that we've always got liquidity, we've always got pricing, and our systems are always up," he said, adding, "It's a little bit about maturity."
BTC -1.40%$56,879.64 BTC Price
Outages during times of peak trading have been a recurring problem for crypto trading platforms. During Elon Musk's SNL appearance at the weekend, which saw a mass sell-off of Dogecoin, Robinhood experienced "issues with crypto trading," while crypto trading services on the app went down in April amid "unprecedented" trading volumes. And in January, when Bitcoin passed $40,000, Coinbase, Binance, Gemini, Kraken, and Bitstamp itself all experienced technical issues .
Crypto and the greater good
Speaking about the crypto industry in general, Sawyer said we are in a "different forum" than we were in three or four years ago.
Robinhood Overwhelmed by Dogecoin Selloff After SNL Mention For weeks, Dogecoin holders have been looking forward to Elon Musk hosting Saturday Night Live, anticipating that the token's most famous fan would use his appearance to promote the coin. Thou… News Coins Jeff Benson
He suggested that much of the conversation today revolves around different use cases for crypto, and how it can be adopted and used meaningfully around the world.
"What are you using these cryptoassets for? And how? How can society—and that's a very grand word—use this for the greater good?" he said. "So: is this around payments? Is this about remittances? Is this about e-gaming?"
He argued that the opportunity around crypto is "much wider than just the price of Bitcoin and the volatility around that. And that is where it becomes really exciting to look beyond just the one asset class."
Bingbon Launches Anniversary Competition with Exclusive NFTs and 50,000 USDT
Total Inflow of Bitcoin On Bitfinex Rises to 21,250 BTC; Are Institutions Moving From Bitcoin to ETH


PRO Real Estate Investment Trust ("PROREIT" or the "REIT") (TSX VENTURE:PRV.UN) is pleased to report financial and operating results for the fourth quarter ("fourth quarter") and twelve-months ("year-end") ended December 31, 2014. The period was characterized by strong growth in property revenues, net operating income ("NOI") and adjusted funds from operations ("AFFO"), and by strong operating performance.
"Our accretive acquisition of fourteen new properties early in the fourth quarter had an important impact on our annual results, and will continue to do so in the year ahead. We are reporting strong comparative financial and operating results in the fourth quarter and for the full year in 2014," said James Beckerleg, President and Chief Executive Officer of PROREIT. "This performance has continued into 2015."
Mr. Beckerleg added: "Year-over-year, we have more than doubled our assets, cash flows, and gross leasable area, while further diversifying our property and tenant profiles. As a result of these accomplishments, we have created a stronger, more stable platform for the future and established PROREIT as a focused and active participant in the Canadian commercial REIT industry."
(1) Non-IFRS financial measure. See "Non-IFRS Financial Measures".
In October 2014, PROREIT completed the accretive acquisition of fourteen new properties from eight separate and independent vendors for $65.6 million. Total assets more than doubled to $141.5 million and gross leasable area ("GLA") more than doubled to 1,044,095 square feet.
The acquisitions were financed by new first mortgages of $37.5 million and the assumption of an outstanding $8.1 million existing mortgage, the issuance of Class B limited partnership units ("Class B LP Units") of PRO REIT Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of the REIT, in the amount of $4.25 million, and a significant portion of the $26.4 million (gross proceeds) from a new public equity issue and concurrent private placement with Lotus Crux REIT LP ("Lotus Crux"), completed on September 30, 2014.
Concurrent with the financing, the REIT entered into a new strategic relationship with the Lotus Crux group, who have significant experience and expertise in Western Canadian markets and in the Greater Toronto Area. The relationship with Lotus Crux complements the REIT's strengths and enhances its growth opportunities going forward.
Mr. Beckerleg noted: "This latter transaction is a good example of a vendor taking back some of our units in full or partial consideration for acquisitions, a financing method we have used successfully in several transactions. We hope to continue to do more of this in the future."
The REIT's strong operating performance resulted in solid financial growth for the fourth quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2014 compared to the fourth quarter and thirteen months ended December 31, 2013. The acquisition of 14 properties in October 2014 led directly to significantly increased property revenues, NOI and AFFO.
On a per unit basis, the AFFO payout ratio temporarily exceeded Management's target for the fourth quarter.
The REIT's strong operating performance has carried over into fiscal 2015. The REIT has already successfully leased more than 75% of the space coming due in 2015, and entered into a new lease with a major retailer for a previously vacant 23,000 square foot premises in Woodstock, N.B. Management is working diligently on filling space for the balance of the leases coming due in 2015, and also on some additional densification opportunities.
For PROREIT, these conditions underpin significant potential for new growth in 2015. The REIT's current pipeline of potential acquisitions remains very healthy and debt markets provide the continuing opportunity for competitive offerings.
Management focus continues to be the delivery of accretive growth through acquisitions, by expanding deeper into existing geographical markets where the REIT has a presence, and into adjacent markets. This strategy will capitalize on the REIT's existing market knowledge and help achieve economies of scale.
With respect to PROREIT's existing portfolio, Management is focused on the opportunity provided from the lease-up of vacant spaces acquired in late 2013, and generally on increasing the quality and term of the portfolio.
Mr. Beckerleg concluded: "PROREIT made significant progress during 2014 and we are confident that we will continue to experience success in the year ahead. Our accretive acquisitions, along with the support that the REIT has received from investors, represent a strong affirmation that PROREIT is achieving its growth strategies and objectives, to the benefit of all Unitholders."
PROREIT (www.proreit.com) is an unincorporated open-ended real estate investment trust established pursuant to a declaration of trust under the laws of the Province of Ontario. PROREIT was established in March 2013 to own a portfolio of diversified commercial real estate properties in Canada, with a focus on primary and secondary markets in Québec, Atlantic Canada and Ontario with selective expansion into Western Canada. At December 31, 2014 the portfolio was comprised of 23 properties with approximately 1 million square feet of commercial gross leasable area. PROREIT's portfolio is diversified by property type and geography across Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Alberta.
The REIT's consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). In this press release, as a complement to results provided in accordance with IFRS, the REIT discloses and discusses certain non-IFRS financial measures, including AFFO, NOI and debt to gross book value as well as other measures discussed elsewhere in this release. These non-IFRS measures are not defined by IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other issuers. The REIT has presented such non-IFRS measures as Management believes they are relevant measures of the REIT's underlying operating performance and debt management. Non-IFRS measures should not be considered as alternatives to net income, cash generated from (utilized in) operating activities or comparable metrics determined in accordance with IFRS as indicators of the REIT's performance, liquidity, cash flow, and profitability. For a full description of these measures and, where applicable, a reconciliation to the most directly comparable measure calculated in accordance with IFRS, please refer to the "Non-IFRS Financial Measures" section in the REIT's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2014, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes, without limitation, statements pertaining to the execution of the REIT's strategy and the financial performance of the REIT. PROREIT's objectives and forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, including that (i) PROREIT will receive financing on favourable terms; (ii) the future level of indebtedness of PROREIT and its future growth potential will remain consistent with PROREIT's current expectations; (iii) there will be no changes to tax laws adversely affecting PROREIT's financing capacity or operations; (iv) the impact of the current economic climate and the current global financial conditions on PROREIT's operations, including its financing capacity and asset value, will remain consistent with PROREIT's current expectations; (v) the performance of PROREIT's investments in Canada will proceed on a basis consistent with PROREIT's current expectations; and (vi) capital markets will provide PROREIT with readily available access to equity and/or debt.


Organizational change, change management, comes in many forms. One, initially based on the Toyota Production, is Lean Thinking. This approach focuses on process improvement by eliminating waste and seeking perfection. Bob's emphasis with Lean Thinking has been on people; how to enable people to enhance their interactions, not to perfection probably, but so that everyone contributes, best ideas rise to the top and everyone is emotionally engaged. The theme of his books is: support the people and the people will support the business.