Datasets:

mekaneeky

/

fineweb-sample-18

like 0

The launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana is now planned for October 31, 2021. NASA has announced the decision, based on a recently completed schedule risk assessment of the remaining integration and test activities before launch, accounting for impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and technical challenges. Previously, Webb was targeted to launch in March 2021. Testing of the observatory continues to go well at Northrop Grumman, the mission’s main industry partner in Redondo Beach, California, despite the challenges of the coronavirus situation. The factors for the new launch date include the impacts of augmented safety precautions, reduced on-site personnel, shift work disruption and technical challenges. This year, a final set of complex environmental tests of the full observatory will be completed followed by a final deployment of the telescope and sunshield. “Webb is an unprecedented endeavour in space science, requiring utmost ingenuity in both the scientific and technical domains, in a very strong international partnership,” said Prof. Günther Hasinger, ESA Director of Science. “The breakthrough science enabled by Webb will revolutionize our understanding of the Universe.” The observatory will detect light from the first generation of stars and galaxies that formed in the early Universe and will study the atmospheres of habitable exoplanets. As part of the collaboration with NASA, Europe is contributing to the Webb observatory with two critical scientific instruments — the NIRSpec spectrograph and the MIRI mid-infrared instrument — and the launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. In addition, there is a contingent of ESA scientists and engineers supporting the observatory development and science operations. Next year, Webb will be will folded in its launch configuration for shipment to the launch site and fitted inside the Ariane 5 launcher fairing (about 5 m wide). On its journey into space, Webb will be the first mission to complete an intricate and technically challenging series of deployments — a critical part of Webb’s journey to its orbit about one and a half million kilometers from Earth. Webb will unfold its delicate five-layered sunshield until it reaches the size of a tennis court. It will then deploy its 6.5 m primary mirror that will detect the faint light of distant stars and galaxies. Webb will be next great space science observatory, and will build on the success of another international endeavor, the Hubble Space Telescope, to solve the mysteries of our Solar System, to explore distant worlds around other stars and to uncover the origins of our Universe. The James Webb Space Telescope is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency.

|Angular momentum: Mass: Max radius:| The display above shows, from three different physical perspectives, the orbit of a low-mass test particle, the small red circle, around a non-rotating black hole (represented by a grey circle in the panel at the right, where the radius of the circle is the black hole's gravitational radius, or event horizon. Kepler's laws of planetary motion, grounded in Newton's theory of gravity, state that the orbit of a test particle around a massive object is an ellipse with one focus at the centre of the massive object. But when gravitational fields are strong, as is the case for collapsed objects like neutron stars and black holes, Newton's theory is inaccurate; calculations must be done using Einstein's theory of General Relativity. In Newtonian gravitation, an orbit is always an ellipse. As the gravitating body becomes more massive and the test particle orbits it more closely, the speed of the particle in its orbit increases without bound, always balancing the gravitational force. For a black hole, Newton's theory predicts orbital velocities greater than the speed of light, but according to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, no material object can achieve or exceed the speed of light. In strong gravitational fields, General Relativity predicts orbits drastically different from the ellipses of Kepler's laws. This page allows you to explore them. The panel at the right shows the test mass orbiting the black hole, viewed perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. The path of the orbit is traced by the green line. After a large number of orbits the display will get cluttered; just click the mouse anywhere in the right panel to erase the path and start over. When the test mass reaches its greatest distance from the black hole, a yellow line is plotted from the centre of the black hole to that point, the apastron of the orbit. In Newtonian gravity, the apastron remains fixed in space. The effects of General Relativity cause it to precess. You can see the degree of precession in the displacement of successive yellow lines (precession can be more than 360°; the yellow line only shows precession modulo one The panels at the left display the orbit in two more abstract ways. The Effective Potential plot at the top shows the position of the test mass on the gravitational energy curve as it orbits in and out. The summit on the left side of the curve is unique to General Relativity—in Newtonian gravitation the curve rises without bound as the radius decreases, approaching infinity at zero. In Einstein's theory, the inability of the particle to orbit at or above the speed of light creates a “pit in the potential” near the black hole. As the test mass approaches this summit, falling in from larger radii with greater and greater velocity, it will linger near the energy peak for an increasingly long time, while its continued angular motion will result in more and more precession. If the particle passes the energy peak and continues to lesser radii, toward the left, its fate is sealed—it will fall into the black hole and be captured. Spacetime around an isolated spherical non-rotating uncharged gravitating body is described by Schwarzschild Geometry, in which spacetime can be thought of as being bent by the presence of mass. This creates a gravity well which extends to the surface of the body or, in the case of a black hole, to oblivion. The gravity well has the shape of a four-dimensional paraboloid of revolution, symmetrical about the central mass. Since few Web browsers are presently equipped with four-dimensional display capability, I've presented a two-dimensional slice through the gravity well in the panel at the bottom left. Like the energy plot above, the left side of the panel represents the centre of the black hole and the radius increases to the right. Notice that the test mass radius moves in lockstep on the two charts, as the radius varies on the orbit plot to their right. The gravity well of a Schwarzschild black hole has a throat at a radius determined solely by its mass—that is the location of the hole's event horizon; any matter or energy which crosses the horizon is captured. The throat is the leftmost point on the gravity well curve, where the slope of the paraboloidal geometry becomes infinite (vertical). With sufficient angular momentum, a particle can approach the event horizon as closely as it wishes (assuming it is small enough so it isn't torn apart by tidal forces), but it can never cross the event horizon and return. By clicking in the various windows and changing values in the controls at the bottom of the window you can explore different scenarios. To pause the simulation, press the Pause button at the right; pressing it again resumes the simulation. Click anywhere in the orbit plot at the right to clear the orbital trail and apastron markers when the screen becomes too cluttered. You can re-launch the test particle at any given radius from the black hole (with the same angular momentum) by clicking at the desired radius in either the Effective Potential or Gravity Well windows. The green line in the Effective Potential plot indicates the energy minimum at which a stable circular orbit exists for a particle of the given angular momentum. The angular momentum is specified by the box at left in terms of the angular momentum per unit mass of the black hole, all in geometric units—all of this is explained in detail below. What's important to note is that for orbits like those of planets in the Solar System, this number is huge; only in strong gravitational fields does it approach small values. If the angular momentum is smaller than a critical value (, about 3.464 for a black hole of mass 1, measured in the same units), no stable orbits exist; the particle lacks the angular momentum to avoid being swallowed. When you enter a value smaller than this, notice how the trough in the energy curve and the green line marking the stable circular orbit disappear. Regardless of the radius, any particle you launch is doomed to fall into the hole. The Mass box allows you to change the mass of the black hole, increasing the radius of its event horizon. Since the shape of the orbit is determined by the ratio of the angular momentum to the mass, it's just as easy to leave the mass as 1 and change the angular momentum. You can change the scale of all the panels by entering a new value for the maximum radius; this value becomes the rightmost point in the effective potential and gravity well plots and the distance from the centre of the black hole to the edge of the orbit plot. When you change the angular momentum or mass, the radius scale is automatically adjusted so the stable circular orbit (if any) is on screen. In the early 17th century, after years of tedious calculation and false starts, Johannes Kepler published his three laws of planetary motion: Kepler's discoveries about the behaviour of planets in their orbits played an essential rôle in Isaac Newton's formulation of the law of universal gravitation in 1687. Newton's theory showed the celestial bodies were governed by the same laws as objects on Earth. The philosophical implications of this played as key a part in the Enlightenment as did the theory itself in the subsequent development of physics and astronomy. While Kepler's laws applied only to the Sun and planets, Newton's universal theory allowed one to calculate the gravitational force and motion of any bodies whatsoever. To be sure, when many bodies were involved and great accuracy was required, the calculations were horrifically complicated and tedious—so much so that those reared in the computer age may find it difficult to imagine embarking upon them armed with nothing but a table of logarithms, pencil and paper, and the human mind. But performed they were, with ever greater precision as astronomers made increasingly accurate observations. And those observations agreed perfectly with the predictions of Newton's theory. Well,… almost perfectly. After painstaking observations of the planets and extensive calculation, astronomer Simon Newcomb concluded in 1898 that the orbit of Mercury was precessing 43 arc-seconds per century more than could be explained by the influence of the other planets. This is a tiny discrepancy, but further observations and calculations confirmed Newcomb's—the discrepancy was real. Some suggested a still undiscovered planet closer to the Sun than Mercury (and went so far as to name it, sight unseen, “Vulcan”), but no such planet was ever found, nor any other plausible explanation advanced. For nearly twenty years Mercury's precession or “perihelion advance” remained one of those nagging anomalies in the body of scientific data that's trying to tell us something, if only we knew what. In 1915, Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity extended Newtonian gravitation theory, revealing previously unanticipated subtleties of nature. And Einstein's theory explained the perihelion advance of Mercury. That tiny discrepancy in the orbit of Mercury was actually the first evidence for what lay beyond Newtonian gravitation, the first step down a road that would lead to understanding black holes, gravitational radiation, and the source of inertia, which remains a fertile ground for theoretical and experimental physics a century thereafter. The force of gravity is so weak compared to the electromagnetic force which binds objects on the human scale, and the speed of light so great compared to velocities with which we're familiar, that calculating the effects of general relativity, which involve both the gravitational force and the speed of light, using conventional units like grams, centimetres, and seconds usually results in enormous or minuscule quantities cumbersome to manipulate and difficult to understand intuitively. If we're interested in the domain where general relativistic effects are substantial, we're better off calculating with units scaled to the problem. A particularly convenient and elegant choice is the system of geometric units, obtained by setting Newton's gravitational constant G, the speed of light c, and Boltzmann's constant k all equal to 1. We can then express any of the following units as a length in centimetres by multiplying by the following conversion factors. |Electric charge||e||1.381×10−28 cm/e| |Temperature||° Kelvin||1.140×10−65 cm/°K| The enormous exponents make it evident that these units are far removed from our everyday experience. It would be absurd to tell somebody, “I'll call you back in 1.08×1014 centimetres”, but it is a perfectly valid way of saying “one hour”. The discussion that follows uses geometric units throughout, allowing us to treat mass, time, length, and energy without conversion factors. To express a value calculated in geometric units back to conventional units, just divide by the value in the table above. The gravitational effective-potential for a test particle orbiting in a Schwarzschild geometry is: where is the angular momentum per unit rest mass expressed in geometric units, M is the mass of the gravitating body, and r is the radius of the test particle from the centre of the body. The radius of a particle from the centre of attraction evolves in proper time τ (time measured by a clock moving along with the particle) according to: where is the potential energy of the test mass at infinity per rest mass. Angular motion about the centre of attraction is then: while time, as measured by a distant observer advances according to: and can be seen to slow down as the event horizon at the gravitational radius is approached. At the gravitational radius of 2M time, as measured from far away, stops entirely so the particle never seems to reach the event horizon. Proper time on the particle continues to advance unabated; an observer on-board sails through the event horizon without a bump and continues toward the doom which awaits at the central singularity. Circular orbits are possible at maxima and minima of the effective-potential. Orbits at minima are stable, since a small displacement increases the energy and thus creates a restoring force in the opposite direction. Orbits at maxima are unstable; the slightest displacement causes the particle to either be sucked into the black hole or enter a highly elliptical orbit around it. To find the radius of possible circular orbits, differentiate the gravitational effective-potential with respect to the radius r: The minima and maxima of a function are at the zero crossings of its derivative, so a little algebra gives the radii of possible circular orbits as: The larger of these solutions is the stable circular orbit, while the smaller is the unstable orbit at the maximum. For a black hole, this radius will be outside the gravitational radius at 2M, while for any other object the radius will be less than the diameter of the body, indicating no such orbit exists. If the angular momentum L² is less than 12M², no stable orbit exists; the object will impact the surface or, in the case of a black hole, fall past the event horizon and be swallowed. Click on titles to order books on-line from

The 3 types of Sleep Apnoea Sleep apnoea is a sleeping disorder where a person has trouble breathing when asleep. They experience pauses in breathing that can last longer than 10 seconds. When oxygen levels in the blood dip, the brain sends a signal known as an arousal to awaken the sleeper, and he or she will partially awaken with a gasp. The sleeper is not aware of this, and it can happen up to thirty times or more per hour. Sleep apnoea can happen every night unless treated. This seriously disrupts the sleep cycle, resulting in severe fatigue and drowsiness during the day despite the person thinking they’ve had enough hours of sleep. It is a serious disorder that is commonly a risk factor for other health problems and can lessen the quality of life of those suffering from it. If left untreated it can lead to heart problems and high blood pressure. There are 3 different types of sleep apnoea: obstructive, central, and complex. Sleep apnoea is diagnosed through a medical test known as a sleep study. 26% of people between 30 and 70 years suffer from sleep apnoea and 2-3% of children. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea This is the most common type of sleep apnoea and is sometimes called OSA. This is when the tongue and throat muscles relax and collapse, creating a narrow passage and obstructing breathing. When air travels through the narrowed passageway, it causes vibrations in the tissues producing sounds we know as snoring. OSA is one of the most common risk factors for obesity. Statistically, men are at higher risk of OSA. The most common symptom is snoring, although not all people who suffer from sleep apnoea are snorers. While regular snoring can be caused by factors such as weight, age, and alcohol, those with sleep apnoea tend to: - snore louder - take shallow breaths and have lengthy pauses between breaths (over 10 seconds) - choke, gasp, and puff - awaken and are restless throughout the night This results in the low flow of oxygen to vital organs and irregular heartbeat, which is dangerous if left untreated. Forms of treatment The easiest way to treat OSA for some people is changing sleeping positions. Lying on one’s side instead of lying on the back can fix the obstruction in the throat. Other lifestyle changes such as losing weight if appropriate, becoming more physically active, and reducing alcohol can also reduce symptoms. Medical treatments include: - using a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine during sleep to keep the airways open using pressurised air - surgery to remove excess tissue and reshape the airways - wearing dental appliances during sleep to prevent the tongue from collapsing on the throat Complex Sleep Apnoea Complex sleep apnoea is a combination of OSA and Central sleep apnoea. The cause is unknown, but it presents itself in the presence of airway collapse combined with interruption of signals telling the lungs to breathe. Besides being diagnosed in an initial sleep study, complex sleep apnoea is usually diagnosed if the symptoms are not resolved by either a CPAP machine or other traditional OSA treatments. Symptoms are very similar to OSA such as: - constant waking from sleep - confusion when waking - headaches and dry mouth when waking - daytime fatigue Forms of treatment A combination of interventions may be used to treat complex sleep apnoea, but a device called ASV (Adaptive Servo-Ventilation) is best. This device learns your breathing patterns and uses pressure to normalise the breathing pattern when it detects a pause in your breathing. Surgery is a last resort if other forms of treatment don’t work. Types of surgery can include: - Removal or shrinkage of excess tissue in the throat - Jaw repositioning - Nerve stimulation - Tracheostomy (i.e. creation of a new airway) Central Sleep Apnoea This is the rarest form of sleep apnoea. It is a neurological condition where the normal signals that the brain sends out to tell your lungs to breathe, fail. For this reason, the cause is a fault in the signaling of the central nervous system and not obstruction in the airways so there is no snoring. It occurs mostly in people who have a neuromuscular disease such as Lou Gehrig’s disease, or those who’ve had a stroke or suffer from heart, kidney, or lung disease. It can also occur in a pattern known as Cheyne-Stokes breathing, which causes a person to alternate between hyperventilating and not breathing at all. This type of breathing occurs typically with congestive heart failure. Other causes include sedating drugs such as opiates and sleeping at high altitudes. Forms of treatment Supplemental oxygen is a common treatment for central sleep apnoea. This supplies you with extra oxygen using a device that can help deliver it straight to your lungs. Also, since central sleep apnoea is caused by heart or neurotransmitter disorders, treating these underlying conditions may resolve the problem. Sleep apnoea is a serious disorder that has lasting and debilitating effects on the sufferer. The good news is that it is highly treatable. Treatment options include lifestyle changes such as losing weight and cutting back on alcohol, using dental appliances or CPAP machines while sleeping to help keep the airways open, and surgery. Surgery should only be a last resort if all other options fail At Sleepwise Clinic, we supply the best available, medically proven, custom-made appliances to help treat your sleep apnoea. Make an appointment with us today and experience the life-changing result of a restful night’s sleep without breaking the bank. - Sleep Apnoea, Better Health Channel, viewed 5 June 2022, https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/sleep-apnoea - sleep apnea, Mayo Clinic, viewed 5 June 2022, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20377631 - sleep apnea, WebMD, viewed 5 June 2022, https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-apnea/sleep-apnea - Rakicevic, M, 31 Important sleep apnea Statistics You Should Know in 2022, disturbmenot! viewed 5 June 2022, https://www.disturbmenot.co/sleep-apnea-statistics/

New And Precise Environmental Issues And Ethics Schools of Thought Worksheet Write brief descriptions for each of the terms in the table below. If you use an outside source to define them, include an APA citation for the source. |Schools of Thought| Select two environmental schools of thought from the completed chart and apply them to a local environmental issue. Write a 350- to 700-word response and include the following: · Explain how this local environment issue is affecting your community. · Explain how your chosen two environmental schools of thought view this local environmental issue. · Address any ethical concerns or controversies surrounding this environmental issue. · Explain how ethics influence the human course of action regarding principal environmental issues.

In this episode with the help of Dr. Bryan Dicken, Pediatric General Surgeon, 4th year medical student Alessia Gallipoli discusses intussusception, an important cause of bowel obstruction in young children. After listening to this episode, learners should be able to: - Define intussusception - Be able to recognize the signs and symptoms in a patient you think might have intussusception - Identify some key features to help differentiate intussusception from other causes of bowel obstruction - Be familiar with the diagnostic and treatment options

Right about now most of us are gearing up to prep our gardens for planting. Whether its a veggie, herb, or perennial garden (or all three together in a beautiful design), you need to “make the bed” before any of your plants can get in it. This means prep the soil. I am often asked why a garden bed hasn’t thrived even though the gardener has made sure the plants are fed and watered, etc. The answer more often than not is that the soil itself needs the TLC. If you haven’t already amended your soil, now is the time. So here are a few basic, but very important, things to do before planting. Add Peat Moss Adding peat moss is a time-proven method of binding sandy soil or breaking up clay soil. Clay soil literally acts like a clay pot, holding water which eventually breaks down the root and kills the plants. Peat moss breaks up the clay soil so that the water drains properly. Peat moss also binds thin, sandy soil so that it will hold the water, and the soil nutrients. You need not add it every year. Once and done, whether its a raised bed or a traditional garden bed. Where to Add Peat Moss If you are planting a new perennial garden bed and removing lawn to do it, add it to the garden soil you purchase from your garden center. Often times the helper at the garden center will tell you that it’s not needed because the garden soil has sand or gravel already added to it. Trust me, add it! You’ll thank me later. If you are just planting a few bushes, or trees and not preparing an entire bed, just add a couple of shovels of the peat moss directly into the hole you just dug. If the soil is thick with clay, first break up the clay in the hole with your shovel and then add the peat moss. Then fill the hole with water and let your bush, tree, etc. sit in the mixture before filling the hole back up. The next step for your veggie or herb garden bed is to add any compost you’ve created over the winter, or mushroom compost or worm castings (yep – its worm poop). Over time the living material in your beds, seen and unseen, will create the perfect environment for all plants. You will find the healthier your soil the less fertilizer and pesticides you will need. This is because your plants will be healthier and therefore resistant to disease. How to Add Compost Do not till or turn over the beds. Just gently rake in the good stuff. If you till each year, you risk compacting the soil and cooling off the microbes and good bugs who are nice and warm in their homes. Your plants need these microbes and bugs. The bugs will loosen the soil and add nutrients which the microbes thrive on. The microbes work to help your plants absorb the nutrients. If just thinking of adding the compost to the whole bed makes your muscles sore, then you can add a bit of compost in the row you’ve created for the seeds or seedlings. I add it to the whole bed because I layer my plants throughout the season, so I prefer the one and done method. But I also have teenage boys who will do the dirty work for me for a few bucks, or anything from the kitchen. After you’ve prepared your soil and planted your seeds or seedlings, flowers, bushes and trees, you need to lay mulch. Mulch helps to keep the temperature of your beds even – not too hot to kill the seedlings but warm enough to germinate the seeds. Mulch also keeps the beds moist on a hot day, and keeps your plants from floating away in the spring rains. The texture of the mulch should vary with the size of your plants. The more tender the plant (seeds, seedlings) the finer the mulch. Some gardeners use grass clippings on their veggie garden beds to add nutrients and as a seriously cheap mulch. But, if you have allergies or don’t like the smell of decomposing grass clippings, I’d steer clear of this method. We are so close to our neighbor’s yards that I’d lose a friend if I used this method. Now You’re Ready to Plant! Many of us can start planting now. Use the list below in my previous blog to see who can start what where. If you start early you can layer your plants so that early stuff is ready to harvest when the seedlings that like it hot are ready to go in. Remember to keep the short stuff (radishes and some salads and herbs) in the front and the tall stuff in the back. Keeping your bed full will actually limit your weeding time!! Here’s a few photos for inspiration. Enjoy! And,as always, send any Q’s you have this way. Before and after pics of my veggie garden behind my garage. Over the next few days I will post design combinations for perennial gardens in the R & J tab for those of you who want to knock adding to or creating new garden beds in your yards this year off your “to do” list. Until then, happy planting. Enjoy the sun wherever it may be for you.

Europe’s forests are growing, but tropical areas are losing tree cover at a massive scale due to EU demand for imported products. Here’s how to redress the imbalance. Warm autumn weather has produced dull leaf colors across the eastern US this year, but climate change isn’t the only way that humans have altered trees’ fall displays. Two forest researchers whose own communities were threatened by fires in 2021 explain how historic policies left forests at high risk of megafires. Paying attention to tree seed to enhance forest landscape restoration: new resources for Africa are available. Hooking trees up to internet-connected sensors provides a new way to study how they interact with the environment - and how the public interacts with their tweets. A growing number of countries and companies have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier. But there’s a catch – they still plan to keep emitting greenhouse gases. A staggering 17,500 tree species are at risk of dying out. As the risk of fires rises in areas once considered too wet to burn, it creates hazards for mountain communities and for downstream water supplies. Observations collected since the 1980s in the Amazon, Central Africa and Southeast Asia show we are not giving tropical forests enough time to recover after logging. Towering trees in African tropical mountain forests are a vital, overlooked carbon store threatened by deforestation. This is the first time researchers have calculated the amount of carbon released from the world’s decaying wood. They found insects play an enormous role. Biological control strategies curb pests using other species that attack the invader. A biologist explains why it can take more than a decade to develop an effective biological control program. Not all forests respond to hotter and drier conditions in the same way. Madagascar seems to be heading towards a new political crisis, much more complex and probably more violent than the previous ones. The audio version of an in-depth article on why there aren’t enough trees to offset society’s carbon emissions – and there never will be. Hundreds of computer simulations point to a few best strategies for keeping homes safe from fire in a warming climate. Scientists are urging the Biden administration to protect mature US forests as a climate change strategy, starting with the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. This kind of research, with consistent data collection at the same locations over time, helps support global understanding of climate change. More than 40 fire scientists and forest ecologists in the US and Canada teamed up to investigate why wildfires are getting more extreme. Climate change is part of the problem, but there’s more. Without enough water, trees can develop embolisms, similar to blockages in human blood vessels, and they’re more likely to die from drought or fires.

Art. A single word that can describe the seemingly effortless strokes of a paintbrush or the smooth sound of a singer. In a non-scientific Oracle conducted survey, out 291 students 77 percent said that art impacts them. But what is art? Co-choir director Daniel Ermel compares art to a family where the different aspects of art are similar to cousins. Though they may not communicate with each other as much as they should, at the end of the day, they are still family. “I think [every art form is] the same in the sense that it’s a tool for self expression,” Ermel said. “BB King expresses the blues through his guitar and […] voice, but Picasso displays the blues through the actual color blue and through different shapes […]. They’re the same in that they’re all self expression, but they’re different in how the expression takes form.” According to Art teacher Stephanie Fuja, self expression is a common theme in the quest for the meaning of art. She explains that art stems from her own being. “Art for me is a way to express and expose that side of me in a way that I want with no restrictions or boundaries,” Fuja said. For senior Nurul Hana Mohammed-Raffee, whose free time is filled up with painting, drawing, speech and theater, art is a way to spread a message to the world. “Art is like being naked,” Mohammed-Raffee said. “Like, ‘Everyone, look at me and my feelings.’” For sophomore Jack Sundstrom, member of jazz band and orchestra, playing music allows him to channel emotions. He explains that when he writes music, his main goal is to share his personal views on something or capture a feeling. “I think every piece brings about its own different emotion,” Sundstrom explains. “If you’re doing original music, then it’s pouring your emotions […]. If you’re performing something […] by someone else, then it’s trying to draw out the emotion they were feeling when they wrote it.” Sundstrom’s music expresses his views on a range of topics like politics. “Music is the supreme force of peace,” Sundstrom said. “[Music has] the potential to really bring people together. Music inherently has no competition. It’s something we can all agree on as people. It has the potential to change the world.” Ermel elaborates on this point, explaining how another powerful aspect of art is its timelessness. He explains that, for example, a painting like “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” is still as alive today as it was the day it was created. “Somebody can go to the art institute downtown and see something created in China 28 hundred years ago and feel something,” Ermel said. “There’s life in something inanimate, and I think that’s really interesting.” For people whose life is not greatly influenced by art, Sundstrom explains all people have something in common: a passion. According to Sundstrom, the way he feels about art is the exact same feeling other people feel about their respective interest. “I think everyone has their calling in this life, mine happens to be art,” Sundstrom said. “For some people it’s sports [or] other things […]. Art is mine.” Mohammad- Raffee explains that, although her friends may not relate to the impact that art has on her, they notice the happiness it brings her. “I feel like eventually you don’t have to say anything [to people whose lives are not impacted by art],” Mohammad-Raffee said. “They see how much happier you are with your expression or they see how much it impacts you.” For Fuja, it is not the fact that art doesn’t impact people that is bothersome, but the idea that people think they are incapable of doing it. “I always tell people, if they don’t think they’re capable of doing something that looks aesthetically pleasing […] you can [as long as] you want to and you’re taught right,” Fuja said. “I think everyone is teachable, if they want to be taught.” Ermel added that another powerful aspect of art is its diversity. According to Ermel, no matter who you are, you can find something in art that appeals to you. “I think, as a whole, art is really underappreciated, but […] there’s [something] for everybody […] it’s just taking the time to realize [it].”

A personal narrative is an item of writing in which a person narrates concerning his/her life. They are often composed as essays, and also each phase works as its very own standalone piece of writing. Personal narratives are usually humorous, with the most effective understood examples being those by David Sedaris. Many personal narratives focus on one identifiable occasion, but can likewise be based on a loose style. Along with being composed for enjoyment, personal narratives are commonly suggested to motivate, provoke, or provoke the visitor. Numerous writers of these types of items also target Gen Z. Prior to writing your personal narrative, take into consideration the purpose of the item. Will the target market recognize your tale? Is it something you wish to share? Will viewers have the ability to connect with you or your topic? What are the attributes of a good personal narrative? What kind of target market will be most thinking about finding out about it? What is your tone? There are 2 basic types of personal narratives: those that are suggested for publication and also those that are developed to be maintained exclusive. The primary function of a personal narrative is to check out the significance of a particular event in the writer’s life. Due to the fact that personal narratives are reflective, they concentrate on the writer’s internal life and also weave individual insights throughout the text. Unlike other sorts of literary texts, personal narratives do not have a fixed size, so they can vary anywhere from a couple of hundred words to a number of quantities. So, if you’re creating a personal narrative regarding your life, ensure to keep this in mind! Writing a personal narrative is hard, however it’s worth it. Composing a story concerning on your own is a way to reflect on your life and also examine your moral selections. It can make you feel excellent or bad, and can be an efficient means to work through problems in your life. A personal narrative is an important tool for promoting creative thinking as well as accomplishing your objectives. But do not be afraid to discover your imagination as well as experiment with different sorts of contacting learn what fits your style best. Something you need to bear in mind when composing a personal narrative essay is that it is essential to be unbiased as well as subjective. The most effective personal narrative essays are the ones that alter the viewpoint of the writer as well as those who review them. When writing a personal narrative essay, you must bear in mind the adhering to suggestions: A personal narrative is a piece of composing that discovers a subject via an author’s very own eyes. It is often reflective, and is commonly concerned with the author’s interior life, and also weaves personal understandings right into the message. A personal narrative normally includes chronology and also significant occasions. Listed here are some pointers to help you write a compelling personal narrative. This post will help you begin. If you require even more assistance, please look into the resources below. When creating a personal narrative, you can begin with events that took place to you as a child and move on in time. This sort of creating usually wraps up with a lesson discovered. This lesson does not always need to be positive. It can be something that you actually experienced as well as changed as a result of the occasions. However, your lesson needs to be reasonable, and also ought to also include just how you changed. This sort of creating is an essential and effective kind of individual expression. Themes and frameworks of personal narratives differ, but they are typically based upon the cashier’s very own life experiences. As an example, stories based upon terrible and terrifying occasions will usually show a moral style. Other themes will include unpleasant, paradoxical, and/or inconsistent events. In either instance, the story will usually address some kind of individual problem. Motifs might likewise be nonreligious, such as family members problems. Personal narratives have a lengthy history. Check over here A personal narrative essay should have a start, middle, as well as end. It needs to include all the items of the tale, consisting of the lessons found out, and an orgasm or end. A personal narrative essay ought to be written in the initial individual. As an example, if you’re creating a memoir, list the events that lead up to the climax. The climax is the most integral part of the story. This is where the visitor reaches see what the author is assuming.

The Satyricon (or Satyrica) is a work of fiction that is generally attributed to Gaius Petronius Arbiter, one of Nero's courtiers. It follows the criminal misadventures of three vagabonds: young Roman citizen Encolpius, his teenage slave and catamite Giton, and his friend (and sometimes rival for the favours of Giton) Asciltos; as they wander the earth; getting into all kinds of bizarre situations, often sexual in nature, and running afoul of the law. Only fragments of The Satryicon survive, so the plot is incomplete. Scholars believe that Encolpius is forced to wander the earth after offending Priapus—a Roman fertility god—or possibly that he was ritually expelled from his home city to prevent a plague. From there, the fragmented narrative follows the trio's escapades before ending abruptly. While The Satyricon is infamous for its grotesque sexual content, it does have literary merit. It is a satire of the Neronian court, a possible early example of the novel, and an insight into the lives of ordinary Romans and its class structure (if one can read past the satirical-cum-pornographic elements that make up the bulk of the story). While most Latin text are serious works of oratory or poetry, The Satyricon provides a rarer example of a comic narrative about low-brow subjects. Despite its sordid reputation, The Satyricon has inspired many famous authors. F. Scott Fitzgerald references The Satyricon in The Great Gatsby, and originally planned to name it "Trimalchio in West Egg", after a character. It is also referenced in The Waste Land, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Tropes in the work include: - Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Lots. Although it is usually very unsexy. - The Loins Sleep Tonight: Encolpius has this problem at one point. - Nouveau Riche: Trimalchio is a wealthy freedman who spends his money on ridiculous extravagance, like purple napkins and elaborate mosaics of himself. - Walking the Earth: The main trio spend the book wandering around Rome, possibly after Encolpius angered the god Priapus, or because Encolpius was ritually expelled from his home city.

This project is testing urban ecologic theories, specifically seeking to learn: 1) Does increased management intensity reduce prey availability and increase Linyphiidae competition? 2) Does increasing niche breadth and reducing niche overlap support more rich and abundant Linyphiidae communities? Urbanization largely contributes to biodiversity loss, however, cities can support rich arthropod communities. Shrinking cities such as Cleveland, Ohio are gaining greenspace through the creation of vacant lots and management decisions regarding these lots, such as mowing frequency, can influence their value for biodiversity. The species richness of arthropod generalist predators able to coexist within a habitat patch is predicted to be driven by their extent of niche partitioning. Management of vacant land could influence the breadth of prey available for generalists and influence the intensity of exploitative competition that occurs among them. To understand how niche partitioning affects the species richness and abundance of sheet web spiders (Linyphiidae) we tested the hypotheses that (1) increased management intensity will reduce prey availability and increase competition among Linyphiidae and (2) increased dietary niche breadth and reduced dietary niche overlap will support increased Linyphiidae species richness and abundance. In 2014, four focal competitors (Glenognatha foxi, Calymmaria emertoni, Erigone autumnalisand Tenuiphantes tenuis) were hand collected and their DNA was extracted, amplified with universal primer and tested for prey with gut-content analysis. Community traits for the Linyphiidae spiders were gathered from data collected with pitfall traps in the same year. The abundance and richness of the communities was determined with these identified spiders from a mix of control (mowed monthly) and meadow sites (mowed biannually). I predict that increased management will result in more niche overlap and less niche breadth. I also predict that increased breadth and decreased dietary overlap will result in richer and more abundant spider communities. Understanding if ecological theories like niche partitioning hold true in urban areas is critical to properly conserving and working in urban areas.

Utah is an expansive state in the western United States of America, defined by vast desert expanses, snow-capped mountain ranges (with first-rate ski resorts), astounding national parks and an accessible and popular capital: Salt Lake City. Many choose to study in Utah for its diverse, beautiful landscapes, but many more also choose it for an exceptional education, especially at The University of Utah. The state’s flagship university, located in Salt Lake City, has a very highly regarded English Language Institute, where students from the world over join to improve their language skills and enjoy the delights Utah has to offer. So consider studying in Utah for some of the most natural beauty the United States can offer, endless opportunities for adventure and a first-rate English language education. Explore Utah’s Natural Beauty The name ‘Utah’ is derived from the Utes, a Native American tribe, and it translates to ‘people of the mountains’, so it makes sense that so much of the Utah landscape is defined by sublime cliffs, valleys and mountain ranges. While southern Utah is more defined by its sandstone, red rock and deserts, northern Utah is dominated by pine forests and the snowy peaks of the Wasatch Mountains. Throughout the state are remnants of the Old West, ancient art and ruins, and occasionally the odd dinosaur bone or fossil. Utah is renowned for its diverse and fascinating terrain, in which there is much to explore and enjoy. Ranging from thick pine forests, rocky trails to red rock mesas, canyons both narrow and wide, broad, dry deserts and ice covered mountains, Utah is both beautiful and full of opportunity for exploration. The mountain biking, camping, hiking and skiing are some of the best in the world, while there are also opportunities for fishing, hunting, mountaineering and snowboarding. The United States has many known national parks, like Yellowstone and Yosemite, but Utah is home to an astounding five, known as ‘The Mighty 5’. They are Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches. - Arches National Park is so named for its natural red sandstone arch structures; there are over 2000, ranging from 3 feet to 306 feet wide. Arches National Park - Bryce Canyon is famous for its unique geology - distinctive red rock pillars called hoodoos that form bizarre formations. Especially fascinating are horseshoe-shaped natural amphitheaters. Bryce Canyon National Park - Canyonlands is replete with spires, buttes, arches, rivers and most appropriately of all, vast canyons. Each area of the park has its own feeling - some more remote leading to a feeling of imposing solitude, others richer and more full of life. Canyonlands National Park - Capitol Reef National Park preserves the 100 mile long Waterpocket Fold, a wrinkle in the earth’s crust known as a monocline, a green and historic geologic feature everyone should take the time to see. Capitol Reef National Park - The first visitors to Zion National Park initially explored the region looking for food but now, thousands of years later, millions of people visit Zion looking for spiritual nourishment among waterfalls, hanging gardens, valleys, cliffs, a petrified forest, desert swamp, springs and more. Zion National Park Utah, despite its hot summers, is also well known for its winter activities, when snowfall is frequent. There are 13 major ski resorts throughout the state with many of the best located just outside of Salt Lake City. Utah’s most famous resorts include Alta, Deer Valley and Park City (host of the Sundance Film Festival). Utah is home to the United States Ski Team and Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002, so there are chances to try your hand at the ski jump, bobsleigh and speed skating too if you so wish. Ski Salt Lake Salt Lake City - Modern, Diverse and Growing Ranked by Forbes as one of the top 10 cities in America for business and careers, Salt Lake City stands out as progressive and vibrant. The best thing about Salt Lake City is perhaps how much there is to do and experience. Now, lots of cities have plenty of things to do, but Salt Lake City in particular has just the right surroundings, people and is the perfect size to mean that you will never run out of things to do. It’s an outdoorsy city, being so close to the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains and as mentioned previously, there are plenty of opportunities for hiking, skiing, biking, fishing, boating and more. But for those less adventurous, there is an excellent music scene in SLC, with a wide variety of genres and venues, as well as great food options around, particularly for sushi, Vietnamese, Greek and of course American. Salt Lake City isn’t as big as Los Angeles or New York, but there are still lots of good museums, an orchestra, ballet, parks - everything you would expect of a city. Its smaller size also comes with a great deal of benefits - it’s incredibly clean, the people are more considerate and pleasant of one another than in a larger city and perhaps most importantly, Salt Lake City is a great deal more affordable than many other student destinations. According to Numbeo, the average rental price for a one bed apartment outside the city center is $905.35, hundreds of dollars less than Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Auckland, Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne. This is also over half the cost of New York (!). Similarly, food, utilities, clothing and entertainment are all far more affordable and public transportation is included in tuition! So often, international students miss out on great experiences as they inaccurately measure costs. New York is very tempting to study in, for example, but it is very easy to spend money there and deplete one’s bank account. Salt Lake City remains a true American city experience, an exceptional one for those studying abroad in which money is unlikely to become such a problem. If your interest in the state of Utah and the English Language Institute has been piqued, then fill in the form below to receive a brochure with more information!

FNA 2007, Utah Flora 1983, Field Guide to Forest & Mt. Plants of N Ariz 2009 Common Name: crested wheatgrass Duration: Perennial Nativity: Non-Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Introduced perennial, densely tufted, stems 25-110 cm tall, with spikes to 10 cm long consisting of 2-ranked overlapping spikelets. Vegetative: Sometimes rhizomatous, stems 25-110 cm tall, often less than 40 cm tall, often variable in height, often bent at the lower nodes; blades flat, 5-20 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, glabrous or pubescent; ligules <2 mm long, membranous, sheaths glabrous, but lower on Inflorescence: Spikes 1-10 cm long, 5-25 mm wide, lanceolate or ovate, with 2-ranked, closely overlapping spikelets, 7-16 mm long, spikelets with 3-6 florets, glumes 3-6 mm long, 3-veined, glabrous or with hairs on the keels, usually awned, awns 1-3 mm long, lemmas 5-9 mm long, glabrous or with hairs, with acute and usually awned apices, awns 1-6 mm, anthers 3-5 mm. Ecology: Found on dry range lands and disturbed soils, is shade and drought tolerant, grows early in the season, then becomes dormant and will resume growth in the fall if there is sufficient moisture; grows at an elevation of 1500-3700 m (5000-9000 ft); flowers Distribution: Throughout the western and northern United States. Notes: Is easy to establish so has been widely used throughout the West to restore productivity in overgrazed, disturbed, or burned areas. However, since it is very long-lived, persisting for decades, it may interfere with establishment of both native and non-native species. Is highly palatable to livestock, particularly during the spring. Is native to Europe, the eastern Mediterranian, Mongolia, and China. It is differentiated from A. fragile by having awned lemmas and having spikelets diverging from the rachises at 30-95 degree angles, while A. fragile have unawned lemmas, and spikelets diverging at angles of less than 30 degrees. Also, it differs from A. cristatum by having spikelets that are strongly ascending (vs ultimately diverging from the rachis at wide angles), stems are often more than than 40 cm tall and are uniform in height (vs. less than 40 cm tall and of variable heights), and are straight, not bent. Ethnobotany: Is used to reestablish vegetation in disturbed areas and is planted for winter forage and for agriculture. Etymology: Agro is from Greek agros for field, and pyron is from Greek puros, wheat. Cristatum means crested or comb-like. Editor: Lkearsley, 2012 Plants 3-8 dm; lvs 1.5-6(-10) mm wide; ligules very short; spikes short and stout, 3-7(-10) cm; spikelets 7-10 mm, variously glabrous or scabrous to evidently rough-hairy; glumes and lemmas short-awned or nearly awnless; 2n=14, 28, 42. Eurasian sp., widely planted in w. U.S. as a range grass, and locally established here and there in our range. (A. pectiniforme, with subglabrous spikelets; A. sibiricum and A. desertorum, with relatively small spikelets not quite so closely crowded and not so strongly divergent from the rachis. These segregates perhaps to be recognized at some level, but the taxonomy still not clear.) Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp. ©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = null, non-native Wetland Indicator Status: N/A Diagnostic Traits: Spikes mostly 3-7 cm, their numerous 2-ranked spikelets 1 per node; spikelets 3-6 flowered; glumes awned, subequal, shorter than lowest floret. Citation: The vPlants Project. vPlants: A Virtual Herbarium of the Chicago Region. http://www.vplants.org Copyright © 2001–2009 The vPlants Project, All Rights Reserved. Powered by Symbiota.

A major player in the world's efforts to learn about and live with extreme weather is the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, funded by NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences. Central to NCAR's activities is the use of supercomputers to develop large-scale simulations of atmospheric and ocean dynamics. These models help to explain the formation of tornadoes, windstorms, and hurricanes, as well as more mundane climatic events. For example, in the late 1970s, NCAR researcher Joseph Klemp, working with Robert Wilhelmson of the NSF-funded supercomputing center at the University of Illinois, developed the first successful model of the most dangerous of all thunderstorms, the "supercell" storm. In a thunderstorm, air moves up and down in a turbulent mix. A single-cell storm means that there is just one updraft/downdraft component, which generally produces only moderately severe weather. A multicell storm can kick out the occasional tornado, but sometimes a main, intensely rotating updraft develops within a multicell storm and transforms it into a supercell storm capable of producing the most devastating weather, complete with violent tornadoes, raging winds, hail, and flooding. The model developed by Klemp and Wilhelmson confirmed other researchers' observations that this special, rotating brand of thunderstorm could develop by splitting into two separate storm cells. According to their simulation, the southern storm in the pair was the most likely to concentrate its powers to make a tornado. Meteorological modelers have since improved these simulations to the point where researchers can study the ability of rotations midway up in a thunderstorm to develop tornado-like whirls at the ground. Such work, coupled with NSF-sponsored ground reconnaissance of tornadoes, may eventually solve the mystery of how tornadoes are born, which, in turn, could lead to better warning systems. Warning systems can save lives, but whether or not a building survives a tornado's onslaught depends largely on how it was constructed. Since the 1970s, scientists and engineers at the NSF-funded Texas Tech (University) Institute for Disaster Research have been picking through the aftermath of tornadoes' fury for clues about what predisposes a structure to survival. When the researchers first began their work, it was common for emergency preparedness manuals to recommend that during a tornado building residents open their windows so that pressure inside the building could equalize with the low-pressure interior of the approaching twister. But after much dogged detective work, the Texas Tech researchers were surprised to learn that rather than exploding from unequal pressure, the walls of homes destroyed by tornadoes appeared to flatten when winds pried up the roof, just as aerodynamic forces will lift up an airplane wing. Wind was also discovered to contribute to structural damage by blowing debris from poorly built homes into homes that were otherwise sound. The key to survivable housingat least in all but the worst cases of tornadoesturns out to be roofs that are firmly anchored to walls and walls that are firmly anchored to foundations. Wide eaves along the roofline, which can act as handles for powerful winds, should be avoided. And the researchers found that weak points in the structure, such as garage doors and opened windows, actually increase the risk of damage by inviting in winds that will blow down the opposing walls, exposing people to injury from breaking glass and flying wreckage. The advice might be simpleshut your windows during a tornado rather than open thembut it is rooted in the long investigation of complex physical forces.

Dirty data is a major problem running rampant across the US healthcare industry. It is already a prevalent concern for the US economy in general. IBM, for example, states that the American economy is shrinking by at least $3 trillion a year thanks to data issues. But what is the true cost of dirty data in healthcare? This article will examine and explain the cost of dirty data in healthcare. Big data in the healthcare industry is only likely to grow and grow. Even when people die, data does not disappear. As babies are born, new data emerges. Unless such data is organized efficiently, it can lead to a variety of concerns. Let’s examine these concerns in closer detail and how we can help turn the tide for healthcare data quality. Related: Top 5 Data Hygiene Tips What Is The Cost Of Dirty Data In Healthcare? According to recent statistics, dirty data costs the US healthcare industry around $300 billion each year. This is based on figures from the US Attorney, suggesting that around 14% of industry expense disappears through data mismanagement. There are multiple pressure points for data problems to arise in the healthcare industry. Eularis estimates that there are more than 1,300 different medical databases in the US. That doesn’t include data.gov medical repositories, which are more likely to number around 85,000. That is a lot of data and a lot of organization. However, as Eularis further states, big data collections don’t always guarantee smart data arrangement. Data laking, for example, could be an issue prevalent in more extensive databases in the healthcare industry. Data laking occurs where data duplicates and piles on top of each other with no apparent organization. Furthermore, such occurrences cause confusion for operatives, which leads to potential mistakes. These potential mistakes can lead to delays to treatments and potential problems for US citizens in need of medicine. Dirty data, as a term, refers to inconsistent, confusing records. It can refer to duplicates, outdated information, and even that which may be corrupted. Ultimately, it is data that is no longer relevant and which is, in the grand scheme, useless. However, to better understand the legitimate effects dirty data has on US healthcare, we need to look at a few clear examples. Even if we cannot see the effects of unclean data on US citizens in the here and now, the potential effects further down the line could be devastating. Dirty Data Problems In Healthcare Here are examples of how unclean data affects the healthcare industry and its patients. Duplicate Data In Healthcare As Just Associates advises, duplicate data breeds more duplicate data, especially in a healthcare setting. When approached with multiple patient profiles, for example, staff may not know which records to update. The confusion can lead to patients having multiple profiles in any one medical database. This occurrence implies that one file or record may include out-of-date information on hospital admissions, for example. The danger with duplicates in healthcare data is that the wrong information could cause serious harm. Patient Care Itself is Compromised Just Associates, again, puts it plain and clear. When data in a healthcare setting is dirty, it can harm the quality-of-care patients receive. As stated above, duplicate data could send some records out of date. However, it could also mean that some data is unaccounted for. This could mean patients have to wait even longer to receive test results. It could delay treatments and increase expenses for both patients and businesses. Even worse, delaying treatments could cause serious harm. Value Analysis Impacts As Bruce Johnson, CEO for GHX, states, poor quality healthcare data can seriously impact the program and equipment value analysis. Value analysis is a crucial part of US healthcare administration. Many patients and hospital analyses rely on data that shows how effective specific treatments are. If this data is missing, duplicated, or simply misleading, this could seriously harm research and development. Of course, this means medical facilities may not be able to diagnose and treat specific patients in the future confidently. Why Is Data cleaning In Healthcare Important? Data cleaning in the healthcare sphere is vital as there are potential lives at stake. Duplicate data or incomplete information do not purely add up to minor inconvenience. As the healthcare industry revolves around people’s lives, it is clear that data refinement is essential. However, many sources also state that medical data cleanliness is essential in terms of cost. As examined earlier, the industry is reportedly losing more than $300 billion each year through inadequate quality information resources. The cost of dirty data in healthcare is only rising. This may be seeping through compounding gaps due to unnecessary testing, record updates, re-issuing bills, and more. With a clear, simple data organization, as opposed to a lake model, the need to cover every gap is removed. What’s more, as Innovu states, every healthcare organizational need will differ. It’s important to consider cleaning healthcare data purely for the need for customization. More importantly, as Innovu further states, data cleaning in healthcare is essential to improve services. This echoes Bruce Johnson’s statement. Without clean, concise data management, value analysis is positively pointless. Clean data in healthcare offers straight answers and no need for additional queries. What Is High Quality Data in Healthcare? High-quality data in healthcare is that which is clearly organized and easy to retrieve. It is singular records and files which update regularly. Data lakes are incredibly problematic, but sadly, they are all too familiar. WinPure works with healthcare providers to help ensure data is clean and easy to retrieve. With a simple cleaning solution and a single database, it is entirely possible to manage siloes of patient data. This, according to the information discussed in this article, can help to protect revenue and may even save lives! The cost of dirty data in healthcare is astronomical. As a result, more bodies in the US need to consider new ways to clean and reorganize their siloes. Big data in healthcare will never stop growing!Find Out More About WinPure Data Quality Tool

The word education comes from the Latin e-ducere (to lead out). In ancient Greece Socrates argued that education was drawing out of a student or person what was already within them. The latest definition of education is: The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. This definition is not particularly helpful when we talk about educating people to understand the importance of a company initiative such as BIM, because the word education can mean different things to different people. The dictionary definition of the word education will have little relevance to some, for when you get past this definition then it is a person’s belief of what that word conveys or what they think the company believes is education that is more important. Once a company has embarked on a mobilisation strategy it is generally accepted that there will always be a number of people within that company or organisation who will be opposed to changes or shifts in the organisations business practices. We think it is important to give a little page space to this in order to try to understand the possible negative responses to this company initiative, in this instance BIM, and why educating and informing a workforce is as important as the concept itself in ensuring a successful outcome. Why is there resistance to change? There are levels of resistance to change. At the outset it may be due to a lack of information, confusion or disagreement with the key information offered. The next level may be an emotional and psychological reaction to the change which could be based on fear of loss (job, status) or incompetence. The last level will be beyond the immediate situation and will be on a personal level. What this change means to the individual may well be deeply ingrained in them. It may not be about the idea itself, they may have no problem with the idea, it may be they do not like you or the people making the proposals, or what you and they represent and that is a considerable hurdle to cross. In order to involve/empower a workforce to get excited about any initiative they will need to understand why it is important to them and the company. What benefits they may well derive from it, how the company benefits from it and how they can help to move it forward. The workforce must be open minded, but this is most important within the project team who are charged with moving the initiative forward, and is a must if a new way of business is to bear qualitative and quantitive fruit. This open mindedness can be seen as a form of education. Education need not be about lots of classes and exams, it can be as simple as sharing BIM experiences, articles, and good ideas etc. As long as people feel they can contribute and their efforts will be listened to that is a good starting point. There will be some members of the project team and company who will need to be educated in the more formal sense of the word. There are several avenues open to the company and individuals, some of these are listed below. CITB BIM Training. - BRE Level 2 BimTraining. PIM (Project Information Manager) TIM (Task Information Manager) PDM (Project Delivery Management) Training. - Autodesk Courses. Revit etc. - RICS Certificate in BIM Project Management. - MSc in BIM distance learning. - BRE BIM Level 2 Business Systems Certification There is no right or wrong way to implement a BIM strategy as the implementation will depend a great deal on what the company hopes to achieve, how collaborative its systems are already, and what is has decided are its business objectives.. Remember BIM is a method and a process and you can’t just say we are going to do everything in BIM starting next week. Unless there is an expert in the company who has experience of BIM implementation, or who has been trained up or educated as such, then the company may well wish to engage the services of someone who has the expertise. They can teach the company how to go about it. This will be invaluable to those staff members who are to be involved in the future and also for the person who the company will want to coordinate any further projects. No company will go from a standing start to full implementation of BIM, this will take time and will aggregate from the experiences they will go through with the projects they have earmarked to include BIM elements. Intellectual Property Rights Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind such as inventions, literary and artistic works and symbols names and images used in commerce. It is divided into two categories. Industrial property and copyright. The BIM model will consist of contributions from various parties. To avoid liability for infringement of third party intellectual property rights, the protocol should ensure that all contributors warrant that they hold the intellectual property rights over the contributions they make and provide an indemnity to all other parties who may use such contribution in the event of a third party intellectual property dispute. The Protocol includes sections that deal with this. It is also critical to define who has responsibility to ensure the quality of contributions to the model or models, as well as the level of reliance to be placed on such contributions. This is particularly important where the model contains intelligent objects that may change on account of information derived from other contributors. 1 The BIM Model is reliant on the information put into it. In order to ensure this reaches the standards required and continues to do so through the life of the project there are sections within the Protocol to deal with this. This is usually the domain of The Information Manager who will instigate the processes for testing, validating and incorporating information into the BIM. It is important to ensure that the parties take out the appropriate insurance to cover their engagement in the BIM process. Where a project wide insurance is available this should be adopted. The UK government has proposed the greater use of integrated project insurance in BIM projects. Where such cover is not available, parties should consider obtaining traditional coverage to protect against the liability for errors or omissions in their contributions to the model. 1 Article number 5 will include: The future of BIM. EBIM (existing buildings) HBIM (Heritage Buildings). In preparing this article we have made reference to and used information from several publications and websites. They are listed below. We recommend you use them for further reference. 1 Koko Udom NBS Contract and Law Manager. February 2012 BIM DEMYSTIFIED 2ND EDITION. STEVE RACE. RIBA PUBLISHING. MODERN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 7TH EDITION. FRANK HARRIS, RONALD McCAFFER AND FRANCIS EDUM-FOTWE. The BIM Task Group Published by Rod Arkle, Site Manager, Robert Woodhead Limited The content of this article should be considered as thought leadership.

The NRC report said one essential feature of informal studying settings is the absence of tests, grades, and different familiar approaches utilized by colleges to document the impact of schooling. Visits to science-rich cultural institutions, similar to zoos, aquariums, science centers, and pure-history museums instantly come to thoughts. Watching tv packages corresponding to “MythBusters” or turning to the Internet to learn extra about most cancers or international warming. Finally, the “attained curriculum” is the knowledge, expertise, and attitudes that individual college students purchase and are able to make use of. This final aspect of the curriculum is measured in TIMSS by way of paper-and-pencil and practical achievement checks in addition to surveys. Resulting from of a communal apply, scientific development is to some extent formed by the actual conceptions of the issues, goals and strategies of a area which might be shared by the members of the scientific community involved. Regrouping of scientists and the formation of a new community of practitioners mirror differentiation of the stated conceptions of methods, goals and problems. BY FOLASHADE CROMWELL SOLOMON, TRACEY WRIGHT, MARIAH STEELE, AND DIONNE CHAMPION While a variety of scholars suggest that dance represents an essential kind of embodied cognition, the notion of dance as a site for learning is beneath-explored. Embodied Physics constructed a physics course for highschool college students from two Boston-primarily based dance colleges. ECUdegree programssatisfy the skilled licensure and/or certification requirements in North Carolina and put together students to take a seat for these exams. These studies will give you an understanding of professional id and leadership as well as professional expertise through the completion of supervised placement in settings relevant to your teaching specialisation. PSCI 7800 – Intermediate Physical Science In conclusion, it appears that evidently as a nation, we need to rethink and reimagine the place and how the general public learns science. It suggests the importance of taking a complete, ecosystem-wide method that places equal worth on non-school sources. America should be striving to connect science studying experiences throughout the day and over a lifetime. Analyses of questions that evaluate important thinking, from faculty placement and medical faculty admission examinations, suggest enhancements to school instructing methods. Classroom lectures by experts in combination with journal clubs and Web-based mostly discussion boards assist graduate college students develop important reasoning abilities. The advantages of house learning environment and preschool are apparent years later in youngsters’s math achievement. Reforms which might be elevating the standard of IT in Croatian science and education aim to create a data-based society. Harmful misuse of biological research should be addressed via schooling, but such packages are briefly supply and could be improved. Science Education Degrees and Programs They also have to know tips on how to teach it nicely; within the lingo of the commerce, they want pedagogical content material information. For the purpose of helping students learn disciplinary literacy in science, pedagogical content material information additionally includes an appreciation of the particular difficulties science texts usually pose. By pursuing a career in science education, you’ll be utilizing your Boston College schooling and coaching in”service to others”and additionally, you will make the most of your data of science. Our PhD program in Science Education prepares you to conduct scholarly analysis and improvement tasks in science training, as well as to function a school member in a research-oriented college. The program also prepares you to show science training programs or to instruct other academics who teach science education. offers a number of programs that prepare graduates to teach science in New York State’s middle and secondary faculties. Students majoring in science on the undergraduate degree may full the coursework required to show science in grades 7-12. The integration of Hungary into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867–1918) strengthened the effect of German speaking European science, the results of which were quickly channelled into the Hungarian school system at all ranges. The Hungarian Academy as well as the University of Budapest (right now Eötvös Loránd University) played a leading role within the „nationalization” of European science in the instructional system. Scientific developments in Hungary strengthened the position of rational and secular considering in a highly spiritual society and contributed to the erosion of the psychological power of the church tradition, significantly that of the Roman Catholic Church. Toward World War I, influenced by the Protestant Churches, the Jewish custom, and agnosticism, the public picture of science grew to become more international, often prepared to contemplate challenges of the accepted world view, and sometimes less dogmatic. Emigration, mostly Jewish, after World War I, contributed to the curtailment of efforts to show science successfully as some of the greatest folks left Hungary for, principally, Germany, Britain, and the United States.

The development of the cerebellum involves a set of coordinated cell movements and two separate proliferation zones: the ventricular zone and the external granule cell layer (EGL), a rhombic-lip-derived progenitor pool . The EGL appears segregated during early cerebellum formation and produces only granule cells. Cerebellar granule cells (CGC) are the most abundant neurons of the brain . Their axons run as parallel fibres along the coronal axis, and the onedimensional spread of excitation that results from this arrangement is a key assumption in theories of cerebellar function. CGC receive inhibitory synaptic input from Golgi cells, which are mediated by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). During both in vivo and in vitro development, CGC depend on the activity of the NMDA glutamate receptor subtype for survival and full differentiation . Cultured CGC are widely used as a model system for studying neuronal apoptosis. It is recommended to use Neuronal Medium (NM, Cat. No. SC1521) for culturing MCGC in vitro. Mouse Cerebellar Granule Cells are for research use only. They are not approved for human or animal use, or for application in in vitro diagnostic procedures. Upon receiving, directly and immediately transfer the cells from dry ice to liquid nitrogen and keep the cells in liquid nitrogen until they are needed for experiments. Cells are only warranted if ScienCell media and reagents are used and the recommended protocols are followed. Hatten ME. (1999) “Central nervous system neuronal migration.” Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 22, pp. 511-39. Andersen BB, Korbo L, Pakkenberg B. (1992) “A quantitative study of the human cerebellum with unbiased stereological techniques.” J Comp Neurol. 326: 549-60. Monti B, Marri L, Contestabile A. (2002) “NMDA receptor-dependent CREB activation in survival of cerebellar granule cells during in vivo and in vitro development.” Eur J Neurosci. 16: 1490-8.

What is Tenof EM? Tenof EM belongs to a group of medications called Antiretroviral to treat and stop the further progression of the condition called HIV a disease that can cause AIDS (Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) a condition where the immune system of the human body gets compromised by the virus. Aids can compromise immunity making flu a fatal condition for such patients. Tenof EM helps in the management and progression of HIV making your immune system work better with patients having compromised immune systems. The active ingredient Tenofovir and Emtricitabine works to stop the viral spread. Buy Tenof EM online at Allgenericcure for the cheapest pricing. - Treat HBV - Stop infection of HIV in patients which causes AIDS an immunodeficiency which reduces the lifespan of patients by compromising the immune system where a cold or flu can be fatal for them. - Prevent HIV in patients working in environments where to can get infected. How does it work? Emtricitabine and Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate belongs to a group of medication called antiretroviral. It helps stop the spread of the virus which can make your immune system compromised. This drug is not a cure for HIV but helps in improving the lifespan by reducing the chances of occurring any kind of HIV-related complications. Sometimes it is prescribed to people who can acquire HIV while working in such conditions. Therefore it can also be referred to as Prep drug. The combination of emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) is used in treatment regimens for people living with HIV/AIDS. This combo pill is also known by its generic name, Truvada. This drug combination is used to treat people with HIV infection Tenof EM work together to block HIV replication in cells. They are both parts of an antiretroviral therapy regimen called highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART). HAART is recommended for everyone who has been diagnosed with HIV. It helps prevent the virus from replicating and spreading throughout the body. Tenof EM stops the spread of HIV This combination of drugs is used as part of HAART. It works by blocking the enzyme reverse transcriptase, which is needed to make new copies of the HIV virus. - Treating chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection - Stop the spread and improve the lifespan of patients with HIV - Prevent the spread/contraction of HIV in patients who are prone to getting it acquired - Disturbed sleep - Abdominal pain Dosage is one tablet of Tenof EM daily with water. You must consider taking it same time daily. Make sure if you are traveling you have your complete dosage. If missed take the missed dose immediately. If you take more than the recommended dosage, it won’t cure your disease therefore you must take the prescribed dose only. Missing your dose can cause the spread of infection therefore it is suggested to have the dosage daily at the same time. If it’s time to take the next dose then take only one don’t double dose. Is it safe in pregnancy? Tenof EM is considered safe in pregnancy. But make sure your share about your pregnancy with your doctor, studies have shown no adverse side effects on the users of this medication. What to avoid? - Patients with kidney conditions should consult their doctor’s before taking Where to buy Tenof EM online? Buy Tenof EM Online at Allgenericcure. We ship in - Hong Kong How to store? - Store it in a cool and dry place - Make sure you have no prior illness before taking such as kidney and heart conditions Available for the cheapest pricing Online at $1.33 per tablet/s Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

Varicose veins can be accompanied by several symptoms. Pain can cause vague and unpleasant pain by stimulating pain sensory receptors of Ad or C fibers through local inflammatory mediators when venous hypertension is transmitted to the microcirculation. Throbbing is believed to be caused by a hemodynamic mechanism. Tightness is thought to be related to increased pressure in the lower extremity compartment. Venous claudication manifests as severe venous outflow obstruction when the arterial inflow exceeds venous outflow. Heaviness and swelling are thought to be edema related to microcirculation. Itching is often associated with skin changes, but can also be a solitary symptom, and inflammation, cytokines, and MMP activation are implicated in pathophysiology. In addition, the exact causes of cramping, restless legs, tingling, and burning are not well known. However, these symptoms may appear in general and are not specific to chronic venous disease (CVD). Conversely, the absence of these symptoms does not exclude CVD ( Venous pain that can be experienced clinically can be triggered by physical stimuli (such as a needle, cathete-rization, or pulling a vein) or by chemical stimuli (such as hyperosmolar fluid injections or acidic or alkaline liquid solutions). Pain may also be caused by venous thrombosis and phlebitis ( Although patients with varicose veins also express pain, clinicians find it difficult to accurately assess pain in varicose veins. First, venous pain can manifest itself in association with other unpleasant sensations that are multifaceted and are often difficult to explain. Second, the pain intensity of venous disease varies from patient to patient, and varies even in a patient over time. Third, clinically and experimentally, the causal relationship between venous disease and pain remains difficult to explain ( To measure venous pain, various types of stimulation were applied to the veins of the back of the hands of participants through the human venous pain model, and the intensity of pain was evaluated ( To date, the prevailing hypothesis for the mechanism of venous disease pain is local inflammation associated with venous stasis. Local hypoxia associated with capillary stasis is believed to cause pain in venous diseases. Interestingly, these mechanisms appear to be involved in the structural changes of the venous wall and in the varicose remodeling process over a long period of time ( Interestingly, no correlation was found between venous disease and pain intensity based on the CEAP classification. In a cohort study of 132 patients with varicose veins, the visual analog scale (VAS) scores were 2.8 for C2, 4.5 for C3, 0.5 for C4, and 0 for C5 or higher. The reason for the lack of correlation is that in the CEAP classification, C2 can include all types of varicose veins, and C3 includes edema without distinguishing the cause, which can cause bias in the CEAP scale itself. Another hypothesis is that ischemia caused by microangiopathy may result in the loss of sensory axons and an elevated sensory threshold in the late stage of CVD ( In a study on postmenopausal women, no correlation was found between pain and the CEAP classification. However, pain showed a significant correlation with the osteoarthritis index and venous refill time. Associations with factors related to calf muscle dysfunction suggest that impairment of movement may affect pain ( Cold temperatures are believed to be much kinder to the veins. Cold temperatures cause the swollen veins to shrink. Contrastingly, the pain worsens in warm weather because the blood vessels dilate. However, there is an interesting study on temperature-related beliefs. This study compared cytokine expression between the autumn and spring groups. They found that eotaxin, interleukin-8, monocyte chemo-attractant protein-1, tumor necrosis factor-a, and vascular endothelial growth factor levels increased in autumn, but significantly reduced in spring. Interestingly, cytokine levels were significantly higher in autumn and downregulated in spring. Researchers speculate that these results may be correlated with the action of vitamin D ( Venous pain was not correlated with the CEAP classi-fication, reflux, or inflammatory markers. If hypoxia is an important factor in inducing pain, lower extremity pain may be experienced in various hypoxia-related situations, such as long standing or sitting for a long time, difficulty in walking at the end of the day or at certain times during the menstrual cycles, osteoarthritis, etc. As observed during the Edinburgh study, patients with no varicose veins on clinical examination and no reflux on Doppler may complain of symptoms, such as leg pain or heaviness. Pain occurs as a short-term consequence of venous hypoxia, while varicose dilatation occurs in the later stages of venous disease. The fact that pain does not correlate closely with varicose dilatation suggests that the site of primary activation of venous pain receptors may be absent in relatively large veins. Instead, the hypothesis of hypoxia-induced pain receptor activation in the microvasculature is more plausible, and methods to study pain receptors in microcirculation need to be developed. A previous study reported that transient blood reflux was cured and QOL increased when MPFF was prescribed for 3 months in C1 patients ( This paper was presented at the 41st Conference of the Korean Society for Phlebology on Nov 07, 2021. The author declares no potential conflict of interest.

Ideologies and Recruitment Organized hate groups are inherently fractious and are prone to infighting, leading to breakups and offshoots and name changes. It's for this reason that it is critical to understand that the underlying ideology that makes up the core messaging and agenda of hate movements. The threat of the network is greater than the threat of the formal group. Formal groups may split up, but the network remains. Name changes and rebrands of hate movements and groups can be confusing - sometimes intentionally. By understanding the underpinning ideology, community stakeholders can identify the threat and take action to protect the community sooner. - An example of this fractious rebranding is the Islamophobic biker style group the Soldiers of Odin. When it first came to Canada from Finland, it was a coherent group. However, over time, due to infighting, there have been numerous offshoots with different names - all with the same underlying ideology. - Another example is the alt-right movement, which rebranded after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Now, the "alt-right" is comprised of young men who call themselves "Groypers." Their language and how they describe themselves has changed, but the core ideology has not. Social Media and Recruitment Young people spend an enormous amount of time on social media, and are exposed to many different platforms that carry the potential for hate movements to recruit and organize. Wherever there are youth online, there are hate movements and actors there looking to groom and recruit them. Nearly every online platform aimed at youth has hate propaganda on it. Game and meme platforms like Roblox and iFunny -- whose core demographics are children -- have been used for recruitment into terroristic neo-Nazi networks. Popular platforms like TikTok feed hate propaganda to youth at alarming rates. And, in a study by investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat, 39 of 75 fascists whose online posts they reviewed cited the Internet, and specifically YouTube as their primary source of radicalization into hate movements. This section of the toolkit includes: - A detailed explanation of various hate ideologies, including white nationalism, the alt-right, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, misogyny and anti-feminism, and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate - Information and concepts about social media and recruitment How to use this toolkit

During harvest season, a significant labor workforce is required to meet fruit picking targets. However, with high labor costs and seasonal staff shortages, the fresh fruit industry is turning to agricultural robots to meet demands. While this reduces stress on orchards, for a harvesting robot, accurately locating fruit remains a complex challenge. Image Credit: mythja/Shutterstock.com Red Green Blue Depth (RGBD) cameras are considered a promising method to improve robotic perception and are a low cost, practical improvement for agricultural robots. In a study published to the MDPI journal Remote Sensing, a novel approach is proposed to improve the accuracy of fruit localization using RGBD cameras. The fruit recognition methods can be categorized into three types: deep-convolutional-neural-network-based, single-feature-based, and multi-feature-based. At present, the deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) has become the commonly used fruit recognition method. Many network models—YOLOv3, LedNet, Faster RCNN, Mask RCNN, YOLACT, and YOLACT-edge—were efficiently used in locating apple fruits (Table 1). Table 1. The summary of deep learning methods of apple detection. Source: Li, et al., 2022 mAP represents mean Average Precision; F1-score means the balanced F-score F1=2⋅precision×recall/(precision+recall). As the DCNN-based method is easily flexible to different kinds of fruits and can generalize to complex environments, it is employed in this study to propose the fruit recognition algorithm. The suggested detection and localization method for occluded apple fruits depends on deep learning and a point-cloud-processing algorithm, which is illustrated in Figure 1. The flow of the proposed approach includes the attainment of the fruits’ sensing images, recognition of apple fruit, fruit central line and frustum proposal, the point cloud generation for the visible parts of apples, and the identification of the size, centroid, and pose. Figure 1. The overall workflow of the proposed method for occluded apple localization. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 The proposed method was implemented based on the hardware platform, as depicted in Figure 2 (a–c). Figure 2. Hardware platform of the robotic system in the orchard experiments. (a–c) are the hardware platform of the robotic system; (d) is the verification platform with a Realsense D435i and a 64-line LiDAR to acquire the true values of fruits. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Two types of image datasets were used in this study to train the segmentation network for the suggested apple localization algorithm. One was the open-source MinneApple dataset and the other dataset was RGBD apple dataset obtained by the Realsense D435i RGBD camera. As illustrated in Figure 3, various conditions were considered in the preparation. Figure 3. The apple fruits under different illuminations and occlusions. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 The dataset was split in a ratio of 4:1, for the training and validation sets, respectively. The study employed pre-trained models to implement transfer learning. The results of the comparison are given in Table 2. Table 2. Performance comparisons of different networks on apple instance segmentation. Source: Li, et al., 2022 ||Average Precision (AP) Figures 4, 5, 6 provide the comparative test results of the networks. Depending on the analysis, YOLACT++ (ResNet-101) is chosen as the instance segmentation network for apples in this study, and certain test results are demonstrated in Figure 7. Figure 4. Performance of the detection and segmentation of YOLACT++ network in cloudy conditions. (a) ResNet-50; (b) ResNet-101. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Figure 5. Performance of the detection and segmentation of YOLACT++ network in front light in sunny conditions. (a) ResNet-50; (b) ResNet-101. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Figure 6. Performance of the detection and segmentation of YOLACT++ network in back lighting in sunny conditions. (a) ResNet-50; (b) ResNet-101. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Figure 7. Detection results of YOLACT++ (ResNet-101) under different illuminations and occlusions. The numbers on the bounding boxes denote the classes of the targets, Class 1: non-occluded, Class 2: leaf-occluded, Class 3: branch/wire-occluded, Class 4: fruit-occluded. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 In Figure 8, it can be seen that Target A and Target B had a poor depth filling rate to various extents, and can be seen in two different views. Point clouds on the Target A and Target B surface were not spherical, resulting in difficulties in the analysis of morphological features. Figure 8. Distortion and fragments of the point clouds of the partially occluded fruits (Target A and Target B). Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 To resolve this issue, the study proposes a pipeline for fruit high-precision localization with occlusions. The fundamental problem for a robotic harvest is determining the fruit’s center. however, there are outliers and deficiencies in the point clouds due to the sensors’ characteristics and mask segmentation inaccuracies, resulting in distorted and fragmentary results in a scenario where the acquired point clouds (Figure 9). Figure 9. distortion and fragments of the targets’ point clouds. a) Non-occluded fruits’ point clouds with little distortion and good completeness; (b) leaf-occluded fruits’ point clouds with considerable distortion and good completeness; (c) leaf-occluded fruits’ point clouds with considerable distortion and fragments. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 To obtain the coordinate on the z-axis, the bounding boxes of fruits on the RGB image can be lifted to a frustum and a 3D central line, by using the aligned depth image and the RGB camera’s intrinsic parameter matrix, as illustrated in Figure 10. Figure 10. 2D bounding boxes on RGB images and their corresponding point cloud frustums. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 In the frustum, there are point clouds of non-fruit, like the background, leaves and branches as depicted in Figure 11. t is essential to filter the point cloud of the fruit from non-fruit objects. Two steps are performed to end this issue. - Generation of point clouds under the fruits’ masks, as shown in Figure 12. - Selection of the most likely point cloud. Figure 11. The point cloud in a frustum of partially occluded fruits, including point clouds of fruits (in blue), leaves, the background, and noise. View 1 and View 2 are two different angles of view of the point cloud: View 1 (left front); View 2 (front). Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Figure 12. The generating process of point clouds and frustum from RGBD images. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Results and Discussion The study conducted three groups of tests at the distances taken from the row of trees and at the view of the right, left, and middle of the target tree, as illustrated in Figure 13. Figure 13. The fruits of the comparison tests at three different distances and views. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Table 3 shows the estimating errors of the center and radius using the proposed method and the bounding-box-based method in the total amount and different testing groups. Table 3. The experimental results of the locating performance with the proposed method and the bounding-box-based method. Source: Li, et al., 2022 ||Max. error (mm) |Min. error (mm) |Med. error (mm) |Mean error (mm) |Std. error (mm) ||Max. error (mm) |Min. error (mm) |Med. error (mm) |Mean error (mm) |Std. error (mm) Figures 14 and 15 are presented to explain the relationship between distances and center/radius error, where the x-axis represents the errors divided into five groups and the y-axis represents the number of samples accordingly. Figure 14. Quantities’ distributions of the center errors and radius errors with different sensing distances. a, b) are with the bounding-box-based method; (c, d) are with the proposed method. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Figure 15. Quantities’ distributions of the center errors and radius errors with the proposed method and the bounding-box-based method. a, b) are the results of Group 1; (c, d) are the results of Group 2; (e, f) are the results of Group 3. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Figure 16 and Figure 17 also show experimental results of localization and approaching vector estimations. Figure 16. The fit spheres of fruits and their approaching vectors at 800 mm. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 Figure 17. The localizations and estimations of approaching vectors of fruits with the proposed method. a–d) demonstrate four samples of experimental results with different apple trees. Image Credit: Li, et al., 2022 The study determined that the performance of fruit location accuracy was also based on the precision of central line extraction depending on 2D bounding boxes and 2D masks in our experiments. Furthermore, the results of the experiment revealed that the depth data filling rate went through degradation in the back-lighting condition, owing to the impact of RGBD sensor performance. The localization precision under good lighting conditions outdid the case with the back-lighting illumination by this proposed method. This study investigated the problem of localizing apple fruits for harvesting robots under occluded conditions. It also proposed a network for a frustum-based processing pipeline and apple fruit target instance segmentation for point clouds generated from RGBD images. In the case of partial occlusion, the experimental results in orchards revealed that the proposed method enhanced the performance of fruits’ localization. The success of the suggested method offers the following benefits: (a) strength to the low fill rate in an open-air setting; (b) precision when a partial occlusion is present; and (c) offering the forthcoming direction for the robotic gripper to pick for the reference. Li, T., Feng, Q., Qiu, Q., Xie, F., Zhao, C. (2022) Occluded Apple Fruit Detection and Localization with a Frustum-Based Point-Cloud-Processing Approach for Robotic Harvesting. Remote Sensing, 14(3), p. 482. Available Online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/3/482. References and Further Reading - Zhang, Z & Heinemann, P H (2017) Economic analysis of a low-cost apple harvest-assist unit. HortTechnology, 27, pp.240–247. doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH03548-16. - Zhuang, J., et al. (2019) Computer vision-based localisation of picking points for automatic litchi harvesting applications towards natural scenarios. Biosystems Engineering, 187, pp.1–20. doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2019.08.016. - Ji, W., et al. (2012) Automatic recognition vision system guided for apple harvesting robot. Computers & Electrical Engineering, 38, pp.1186–1195. doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2011.11.005. - Zhao, D., et al. (2019) Apple positioning based on YOLO deep convolutional neural network for picking robot in complex background., Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 35, pp.164–173. - Kang, H & Chen, C (2020) Fast implementation of real-time fruit detection in apple orchards using deep learning. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 168, p.105108. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2019.105108. - Gené-Mola, J., et al. (2019) Multi-modal deep learning for Fuji apple detection using RGBD cameras and their radiometric capabilities. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 162, pp.689–698. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2019.05.016. - Fu, L., et al. (2020) Faster R–CNN–based apple detection in dense-foliage fruiting-wall trees using RGB and depth features for robotic harvesting. Biosystems Engineering, 197, pp.245–256. doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2020.07.007. - Gené-Mola, J., et al. (2020) Fruit detection and 3D location using instance segmentation neural networks and structure-from-motion photogrammetry. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 169, p.105165. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2019.105165. - Quan, L., et al. (2021) An Instance Segmentation-Based Method to Obtain the Leaf Age and Plant Centre of Weeds in Complex Field Environments. Sensors, 21, p.3389. doi.org/10.3390/s21103389. - Liu, H., et al. (2021) Real-time Instance Segmentation on the Edge, arXiv:cs.CV/2012.12259. - Dandan, W & Dongjian, H (2019) Recognition of apple targets before fruits thinning by robot based on R-FCN deep convolution neural network. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 35, pp.156–163. - Kang, H & Chen, C (2020) Fruit detection, segmentation and 3D visualisation of environments in apple orchards. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 171, p.105302. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2020.105302. - Zhang, J., et al. (2020) Multi-class object detection using faster R-CNN and estimation of shaking locations for automated shake-and-catch apple harvesting. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 173, p.105384. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2020.105384. - Yan, B., et al. (2021) A Real-Time Apple Targets Detection Method for Picking Robot Based on Improved YOLOv5. Remote Sensing, 13, p.1619. doi.org/10.3390/rs13091619. - Zhao, Y., et al. (2016) A review of key techniques of vision-based control for harvesting robot. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 127, pp.311–323. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2016.06.022. - Buemi, F., et al. (1996) The agrobot project. Advances in Space Research, 18, pp.185–189. doi.org/10.1016/0273-1177(95)00807-Q. - Kitamura, S & Oka, K (2005) Recognition and cutting system of sweet pepper for picking robot in greenhouse horticulture. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference Mechatronics and Automation, Niagara Falls, ON, Canada, 29 July–1 August, 4, pp.1807–1812. - Xiang, R., et al. (2014) Recognition of clustered tomatoes based on binocular stereo vision. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 106, pp.75–90. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2014.05.006. - Plebe, A & Grasso, G (2001) Localization of spherical fruits for robotic harvesting. Machine Vision and Applications, 13, pp.70–79. doi.org/10.1007/PL00013271. - Gongal, A., et al. (2016) Apple crop-load estimation with over-the-row machine vision system. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 120, pp.26–35. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2015.10.022. - Grosso, E & Tistarelli, M (1995) Active/dynamic stereo vision. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 17, pp.868–879. doi.org/10.1109/34.406652. - Liu, Z., et al. (2019) Improved kiwifruit detection using pre-trained VGG16 with RGB and NIR information fusion. IEEE Access, 8, pp.2327–2336. doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2962513. - Tu, S., et al. (2020) Passion fruit detection and counting based on multiple scale faster R-CNN using RGBD images. Precision Agriculture, 21, pp.1072–1091. doi.org/10.1007/s11119-020-09709-3. - Zhang, Z., et al. (2018) A review of bin filling technologies for apple harvest and postharvest handling. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 34, pp 687–703. doi.org/10.13031/aea.12827. - Milella, A., et al. (2019) In-field high throughput grapevine phenotyping with a consumer-grade depth camera. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 156, pp.293–306. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2018.11.026. - Arad, B., et al. (2020) Development of a sweet pepper harvesting robot. Journal of Field Robotics. 37, pp.1027–1039. doi.org/10.1002/rob.21937. - Zhang, Y., et al. (2019) Segmentation OF apple point clouds based on ROI in RGB images. Inmateh Agricultural Engineering, 59, pp.209–218. doi.org/10.35633/inmateh-59-23. - Lehnert, C., et al. (2016) Sweet pepper pose detection and grasping for automated crop harvesting. In Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Stockholm, Sweden, 16–21 May; pp.2428–2434. - Lehnert, C., et al. (2017) Autonomous Sweet Pepper Harvesting for Protected Cropping Systems. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2, pp.872–879. doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2017.2655622. - Yaguchi, H., et al. (2016) Development of an autonomous tomato harvesting robot with rotational plucking gripper. In Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Daejeon, Korea, 9–14 October 2016; pp.652–657. - Lin, G., et al. (2019) Guava Detection and Pose Estimation Using a Low-Cost RGBD Sensor in the Field. Sensors, 19, p.428. doi.org/10.3390/s19020428. - Tao, Y & Zhou, J (2017) Automatic apple recognition based on the fusion of color and 3D feature for robotic fruit picking. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 142, pp.388–396. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2017.09.019. - Kang, H., et al. (2020) Visual Perception and Modeling for Autonomous Apple Harvesting. IEEE Access, 8, pp.62151–62163. doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2984556. - Häni, N., et al. (2020) A benchmark dataset for apple detection and segmentation, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 5, pp.852–858. doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2020.2965061. - Keskar, N S & Socher, R (2017) Improving generalization performance by switching from adam to sgd. arXiv 2017, arXiv:1712.07628. - Sahin, C., et al. (2020) A review on object pose recovery: From 3d bounding box detectors to full 6d pose estimators. Image and Vision Computing, 96, p.103898. doi.org/10.1016/j.imavis.2020.103898. - Magistri, F., et al. (2021) Towards In-Field Phenotyping Exploiting Differentiable Rendering with Self-Consistency Loss. In Proceedings of the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Xi’an, China, 30 May–5 June 2021; pp.13960–13966. - Bellocchio, E., et al. (2020) Combining domain adaptation and spatial consistency for unseen fruits counting: A quasi-unsupervised approach. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 5, pp.1079–1086. doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2020.2966398. - Ge, Y., et al. (2020) Symmetry-based 3D shape completion for fruit localisation for harvesting robots. Biosystems Engineering, 197, pp.188–202. doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2020.07.003.

What is globalization (G11N)? Globalization (G11N) refers to the gradual process of international integration that results from the exchange of ideas, views, products, services and other aspects of culture. This term describes the interplay of macro-social forces around the world, which include economics, religion and politics. Many people believe that technologies such as television, the internet, and social media have accelerated the pace of globalization. Globalization is nothing new. It started happening as soon as people traveled long distances exchanging ideas, mixing cultures and trading goods. As technology has improved, this communication between cultures has accelerated and become more common. As a result, different groups of people become more similar than if they were different groups unable to interact with each other. Technology has also created a more globalized economy by creating more work that can be done anywhere there is a computer and internet connection.

[Solution] Activity Involving Physical Exertion - Write a composition using ONE of the following topics. Your composition needs to be three to five paragraphs long. It must contain an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. - Argue for or against the limitation of speed limits. - Compare and contrast driving in the winter and driving in the summer. - Describe a single memorable day in your life. - Explain why a certain sport is your favorite.* *For the purpose of this examination, sport is defined as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment without a predetermined outcome.” If you choose to explain why a certain sport is your favorite, please ensure that the chosen sport fits this definition. - Write an email cover letter to submit electronically for a job application. The job can be anything you choose (it doesn’t have to be based on a real job listing), but it must be a specific position. For example, if the job is at a restaurant, you might apply to be a manager or a sous chef. Use full-block style for your email’s formatting. You can base your letter on your own qualifications, or you can make up all the details you need.

Period/Provinces/Banks East African Currency Board Catalogue reference : P.30b Alphabet - series : Z/1 n°87399 Detailed grade description : Joli In 1920, the East Africa Protectorate (East Africa Protectorate) was transformed into a British colony except for the coastal band which remained a protectorate until 1963, the year of independence of present-day Kenya..

If you’re a livestock farmer, then you know the importance of making hay. With several hay bales, you can always have peace of mind knowing that you are ready to face the unseen, i.e., prolonged drought. Without proper preparation regarding animal feeds preservation, you will end up making losses due to poor or no production at all. In case of a severe drought, you may even lose your livestock which is a double loss. To prevent all these, you need to make sure that you are preserving enough hay bales in times of plenty. But, how do you make quality netting? The question of making hay bales is an easier one or hard one depending on what you already know. If you already have grass or fodder that you want to preserve, then the process becomes simpler to explain. First, you need to cut the grass for preservation. Once you cut the grass, ensure that you give it time, for example, 3 to 5 hours to weather. After this, you are ready to make the bales. When making the hay bales, there is no better way than to mechanise the whole process. With a baler, it will be easy and fast to make the bales which are very helpful if you are a large-scale farmer. Besides the baler, you also need other baling supplies which include baling twine and net cover. The baling twine is what will keep the baled hay together. It will minimise waste as you bale. The twine comes in different colours and so when buying, be sure to get a balers twine with a colour that is easily distinguishable at the time of feeding. It is not advisable to feed the twine to your livestock as it is not digestible and will end up in the rumen. The work of the net wrap is to cover the hay bales. Unlike before where the bales used to be stored under shade to avoid weather-related spoilage, a net wrap ensures the safety of the bales on the farm. The net wrap has unique features/characteristics that keep the baled hay safe from weather damage. For example, the water shedding features will ensure that there is no rotting. The UV stability features, on the other hand, will keep the baled hay safe from harsh sun rays. Therefore, using net wrap means that you can make as many bales as possible since no storage is required. The whole process is affordable, and there is no wastage at the time of feeding since the farmer can sell the excess bales to other livestock farmers and make some extra dollars to cover some farm expenses.

Emerald Group Publishing Limited Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 41, Issue 4 Innovations that Nourish the Planet, which spotlights successful agricultural innovations and unearths major successes in preventing food waste, building resilience to climate change, and strengthening farming in cities. The report provides a roadmap for increased agricultural investment and more-efficient ways to alleviate global hunger and poverty. Drawing from the world’s leading agricultural experts and from hundreds of innovations that are already working on the ground, the report outlines 15 proven, environmentally sustainable prescriptions. Nearly, a half-century after the Green Revolution, a large share of the human family is still chronically hungry. While investment in agricultural development by governments, international lenders and foundations has escalated in recent years, it is still nowhere near what is needed to help the 925 million people who are undernourished. Since the mid 1980s when agricultural funding was at its height, the share of global development aid has fallen from over 16 per cent to just 4 per cent today. Serving locally raised crops to school children, for example, has proven to be an effective hunger- and poverty-reducing strategy in many African nations, and has strong parallels to successful farm-to-cafeteria programs in the USA and Europe. Moreover: […] roughly 40 per cent of the food currently produced worldwide is wasted before it is consumed, creating large opportunities for farmers and households to save both money and resources by reducing this waste, according to Brian Halweil, Nourishing the Planet Co-Director. In Kibera, Nairobi, the largest slum in Kenya, more than 1,000 women farmers are growing “vertical” gardens in sacks full of dirt poked with holes, feeding their families and communities. These sacks have the potential to feed thousands of city dwellers while also providing a sustainable and easy-to-maintain source of income for urban farmers. With more than 60 per cent of Africa’s population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, such methods may be crucial to creating future food security. Currently, some 33 per cent of Africans live in cities, and 14 million more migrate to urban areas each year. Worldwide, some 800 million people engage in urban agriculture, producing 15-20 per cent of all food. The State of the World 2011 report is accompanied by other informational materials including briefing documents, summaries, an innovations database, videos, and podcasts, all of which are available at: www.NourishingthePlanet.org. The project’s findings are being disseminated to a wide range of agricultural stakeholders, including government ministries, agricultural policymakers, farmer and community networks, and the increasingly influential non-governmental environmental and development communities.

गहराई, गंभीरता, मध्यमार्ग, गहरापन, गहरा स्थान, गहरा जल, मध्य भाग, विचार-गंभीर्यगहनता Noun(1) the extent downward or backward or inward(2) degree of psychological or intellectual profundity(3) (usually plural(4) the intellectual ability to penetrate deeply into ideas(5) the attribute or quality of being deep, strong, or intense (1) But I probably have spoken enough of this element since any real depth is completely overshadowed by the comedy.(2) She can use the whole depth of the cupboard with ease.(3) He thought he swam about one hundred yards before testing the river's depth again, this time with better result.(4) The humorlessness, self-importance, and complete lack of depth were horrifying but entertaining.(5) While fulfilling the page-turning requirements of the mystery novel, she also creates characters who have moral complexity and depth .(6) We think that as leaders we are supposed to show gravitas: depth , profundity.(7) You can also configure the amount of system memory used for the graphics, with more memory allowing for greater colour depth .(8) Although the depth of petal colour will vary, it is usually a deep shade of maroon, brown or near black.(9) third-year courses typically go into more depth(10) His professionalism, depth of knowledge, and kindness made him an inspiration to amateurs and professionals alike.(11) Tone until the required depth of colour is seen in the shadows, but remember that the lighter image tones will eventually start to colour.(12) And instead of adding depth to the work, the pattern appears merely decorative, like wallpaper.(13) If you have a deeper television set, the depth of the tabletop may also come into play.(14) I have spent days looking at the stone, it has such depth to the colour.(15) The intensity of colour tones, from light to shade and then dark gives depth and added dimension to the picture.(16) the depth of the wardrobe (1) in-depth :: में गहराई (2) depth of field :: क्षेत्र की गहराई (3) in-depth analysis :: गहरा विश्लेषण (4) color depth :: रंग की गहराई (5) in-depth knowledge :: गहरा ज्ञान (6) bit depth :: थोड़ी गहराई (7) defense in depth :: गहन सुरक्षा (8) depth perception :: गहराई का अंदाजा लगाना (9) in-depth study :: गहन अध्ययन 2. extent :: 3. profundity :: 4. complexity :: 5. intensity :: 6. deepest part :: 1. acme :: 2. apex :: 3. climax :: 4. crown :: 5. culmination :: 6. head :: 7. height :: 8. meridian :: 9. peak :: 10. pinnacle :: 11. summit :: 12. top :: 13. zenith :: Word Example from TV Shows The best way to learn proper English is to read news report, and watch news on TV. Watching TV shows is a great way to learn casual English, slang words, understand culture reference and humor. If you have already watched these shows then you may recall the words used in the following dialogs. Depending on the DEPTH... The Big Bang Theory Season 1, Episode 2 Is there any gallery at that DEPTH? Money Heist Season 3, Episode 8 I've been studying the two plans, Money Heist Season 3, Episode 2 then you're out of your length, width The Big Bang Theory Season 10, Episode 10 English to Hindi Dictionary: depth Meaning and definitions of depth, translation in Hindi language for depth with similar and opposite words. Also find spoken pronunciation of depth in Hindi and in English language. Tags for the entry 'depth' What depth means in Hindi, depth meaning in Hindi, depth definition, examples and pronunciation of depth in Hindi language.

The 58 km section of railway through the Semmering Pass between Gloggnitz and Murzzuschlag built in 1848-54 was part of the Sudbahn, the railway that linked Vienna, capital of the Habsburg Empire, with the principal imperial port at Trieste. It was the first main line railway to pass through one of Europe’s great mountain passes, and in 1998 became the first transport route to be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is a monument on a rocky slope near Semmering station to Karl Ritter von Ghega (1802-60), the Venetian engineer who directed the construction of the line. The Semmering Railway includes 16 tunnels, the longest of them being 6 km, and 16 viaducts, one of them 46 m high. A network of hiking trails has been devised to provide walkers with spectacular views of the engineering features of the railway. The UNESCO designation acknowledges that von Ghega provided outstanding technological solutions to the problems associated with the building of railways through mountains, but also that the line, by giving access to an area of great natural beauty, created a new cultural landscape of hotels and other facilities built for visitors. The most imposing of the hotels is the Sudbahnhotel-Semmering on the slope of Kartnerhogel, 2 km north of Semmering station.

As parts of the world are boiling under record heat, and as the Biden administration’s ambitious climate plans fizzle out, the White House has rolled out a new website to help communities prepare themselves for hotter, deadlier temperatures. According to the site, heat.gov, more than 39 million people in the U.S. faced extreme heat alerts when it launched on Tuesday, or about one in 10 residents. As one of its several interactive maps shows, that number includes people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the heat index, or what it feels like outside, reached 112; but also people in typically temperate places like Portland and Seattle, with record-setting highs in the 90s—life-threatening conditions for communities not accustomed to extreme heat. After last year’s blistering heat wave in the region, the more conservative estimates put the death toll at around 200 people, and across the U.S., heat is now responsible for over 700 deaths per year, making it the deadliest form of extreme weather. But we’re just warming up. “This summer, with its oppressive and widespread heat waves, is likely to be one of the coolest summers of the rest of our lives,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during a press briefing. “That’s pretty scary.” With the new online portal, she said, “you could be a mom trying to decide this summer, ‘Is it safe for your kids to play outside? To go to camp?'” The site, built with data from 11 federal agencies, is aimed at local communities, businesses, and decision makers, with an emphasis on the places most impacted by extreme heat. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), those are largely Black and Native American communities, as well as poorer urban neighborhoods and very rural places. Along with daily temperature data and a range of interactive maps showing real-time and future heat trends, there are links to government and NGO resources and tips on staying cool: avoid physical activity outdoors, find a safe cool place, take cool baths, and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. The centerpiece are the maps and data visualizations that bring together data from various agencies. The CDC-powered Heat & Health Tracker lets you scroll back in time to see previous heat advisories—last week, half the country was under a heat advisory—and forward. Between 1976 and 2005, residents of Tulsa saw an average of 66 days a year with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit; by 2050, that number is expected to rise to 107 days. By the end of the century, the average annual temperature for the continental U.S. is projected to climb by up to 8.7 degrees Fahrenheit. July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. The Extreme Heat hub uses maps to show literal hot spots and future forecasts of heat stress combined with data on vulnerable populations, including older adults, young children, and people with disabilities. A page called The Climate Explorer lets you see charts, graphs, and maps of extreme weather events, climate changes, and high-tide flooding for any locality, along with “social vulnerability” maps based on Census data. A section devoted to urban heat islands—areas with a high ratio of asphalt to green space that can be up to 20 degrees hotter than adjacent areas on hot days—contains links to maps and information for community groups who want to apply for funding to help map their own cities. There are also resources for city planners, public health officials, and hospitals struggling to cope with a surge in heat-sick patients. “Currently, few health systems have heat action plans, and heat exposure is rarely integrated into real-time clinical health decision-making for patients,” Dr. Cecilia Sorensen, associate professor and director of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University, said in a statement shared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “These new tools will allow health systems easy access to the information they need to promote climate-readiness and heat-resiliency, ultimately improving patient and community health outcomes while reducing system-wide impacts and improving the efficiency of health systems.” The website was one of the earliest initiatives of the Biden administration’s National Climate Task Force and its Working Group on Extreme Heat, one of a handful of interagency groups meant to bring together climate know-how from across the administration. The site itself was built by the National Integrated Heat Health Information System, or NIHHIS, a seven-year-old collaboration between NOAA and the CDC, with technical support from mapping company Esri. The data sets are open access, intended to boost their use by local decision makers or even app developers. “The creation of heat.gov is an exciting milestone for this interagency program because it is now the premier starting point for decision makers and the public to find important and timely heat-related information,” Hunter Jones, climate and health project manager at the NOAA Climate Program Office, said in an email. “We look forward to working with our partner agencies to continue to improve information and resources available to support heat resilience in the future.” Equity in an emergency The Biden administration’s heat maps are also being used inside the White House. Biden’s Council on Environmental Quality has been relying on extreme heat maps and other data analysis tools to more equitably dispense about $50 billion in federal climate funding, according to David Hayes, a White House climate adviser. President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, overseen by Congress, ensures that 40% of the benefits of those dollars goes to the communities that would benefit most from clean-energy projects and those predicted to be most imperiled by climate change. Extreme heat is only one of the nasty climate change effects now roiling the country, from massive flood events and coastal erosion to deadly wildfires and drought. NOAA has been charting the climate-related carnage on its Billion Dollar Disaster site: Last year, 21 extreme weather events caused over $145 billion in damage and over a thousand deaths. But, Hayes said, for every dollar of spending that is devoted to preparing for climate disasters, 10 to 11 are saved on post-disaster recovery. “Let’s spend this money wisely at the local level where one size does not fit all, where disadvantaged communities in particular have to be paid attention to,” Hayes told a conference earlier this month. The new website launches a week after Democrats failed to strike a deal on climate with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who recently rejected plans to include climate provisions in a broader spending bill. That disappointment, on top of a recent Supreme Court decision that curbed the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions, deflated Biden’s ambitious plans for addressing some of the worst effects of climate change. Still, Biden has vowed to continue pushing his climate agenda. In a series of executive orders last week, his administration directed $2.3 billion to FEMA’s resilient infrastructure program, which helps communities prepare for climate disasters, expanded the low-income energy assistance program to include cooling centers and energy-efficient air conditioners, and instructed the Interior Department to propose the first wind-energy sites in the Gulf of Mexico. Previously, Biden suggested he could declare an official climate emergency, which would unleash billions more in funding and enable the use of the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of renewable energy systems. “I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger, and that’s what climate change is about,” Biden said last week at Brayton Point, a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts. “It is literally, not figuratively, a clear and present danger. The health of our citizens in our communities is literally at stake.”

Laws and Regulations The following laws and regulations protect the McLean National Wildlife Refuge and its resources. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 directs Federal agencies to preserve, restore, and maintain historic cultural environments. The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act provides authority, guidelines and directives for the Service to improve the National Wildlife Refuge System; administers a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management, and restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and habitat; ensures the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of refuges is maintained; defines compatible wildlife-dependent recreation as appropriate general public use of refuges; establishes hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and photography, and environmental... The National Wildlife Refuge Volunteer Improvement Act authorizes cooperative agreements with nonprofit partner organizations, academic institutions, or State and local governments to construct, operate, maintain, or improve refuge facilities and services, and to promote volunteer, outreach, and education programs. Spells out wildlife conservation as the fundamental mission of the Refuge System; requires comprehensive conservation planning to guide management of the Refuge System; directs the involvement of private citizens in land management decisions; and provides that compatible wildlife-dependent recreation is a legitimate and appropriate use that should receive priority in refuge planning and management.

Intimate partner violence is the most prevalent form of gender-based violence worldwide.1 Domestic violence has been directly linked to numerous kinds of immediate and long-term physical and psychological injury to women.2 Such violence also may contribute to unwanted pregnancies and may increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections among victims by compromising their ability to dictate the terms of their sexual relationships.3 Moreover, domestic violence is a common problem during pregnancy4 and has been associated with increased risks of miscarriage, preterm labor, fetal distress and low birth weight.5 In light of mounting evidence of its varied and deleterious immediate and secondary effects, domestic violence is increasingly being recognized not only as an issue of human rights but also as a serious public health concern.6 Numerous studies have identified possible determinants, or "triggers," of intimate partner violence, many of which are salient across diverse cultural and social contexts. Theories to explain intimate partner violence remain relatively limited, however. This lack of a theoretical perspective may limit efforts to better understand intimate partner violence and to respond to it effectively,7 particularly at the level of primary prevention. Heise has proposed an ecological framework suggesting that intimate partner violence arises from an interplay among personal, situational and sociocultural factors.8 This framework draws on the cross-cultural literature to identify potential specific factors associated with abuse at each level of the social ecology.9 However, more empirical information and theory are needed regarding the relative importance of these various factors,10 how they are interrelated, and how they may interact with one another to influence women's risk of violence. We report findings on the prevalence, nature and potential determinants of domestic violence—that is, violence perpetrated against a woman by her husband—among married women in six Bangladeshi villages. We explore some of the complex processes underpinning domestic violence in this context by looking at relationships and interactions among variables and by drawing on both quantitative analyses and qualitative data. Domestic violence is common in rural Bangladesh. Among rural married women surveyed in 199211 and 1993,12 47% and 42%, respectively, reported having experienced physical violence at the hands of their husband; 43% of women in a 1999 study reported having been slapped and beaten.13 In addition, domestic violence appears to be an important cause of maternal mortality in Bangladesh.14 In Bangladesh, violence against women is closely linked to the institution of marriage, as it is in India.15 Marriage-related norms and practices reinforce women's relative powerlessness, often exposing them to domestic violence. Bangladeshi females frequently are married in childhood to an older man who is unknown to them. Despite a law prohibiting marriage for females younger than 18, rural women aged 20-49 reported a median age at marriage of 15 years in a 1999-2000 national survey.*16 At the time of marriage, young women usually know little or nothing of sex,17 and sexual initiation can be a traumatic experience. Domestic violence is often used to establish and enforce gender roles early in marriage, and very young women may be particularly vulnerable and unable to resist. Domestic violence is used in both Bangladesh and India to extort dowry payments and other property from the families of young married women.18 Violence—often of escalating severity over time—may be perpetrated against women in conjunction with demands for outstanding (often unaffordable) dowry payments or demands for additional amounts.19 In a study in India, perceived dowry inadequacy was one of the main reasons cited to explain domestic violence.20 In studies by Schuler and colleagues on the connections between violence and gender inequality and the factors that may influence these outcomes in Bangladesh, men often used violence to enforce their dominance and nonegalitarian gender norms, particularly in the initial years of marriage. This research suggested that the effects of interventions such as microcredit loan programs—which empower women economically and socially—on domestic violence are ambiguous. Participation in such programs can, on the one hand, reduce a woman's risk of domestic violence by making her life more visible and by increasing her perceived value in the family; on the other hand, if the woman's economic empowerment results in her acting more assertively, her husband may respond with violence.21 We report results from in-depth interviews, small group discussions and survey data collected in 2001-2002 in six villages in Bangladesh to document the types and severity of violence against women in marriage, and to explore the potential social determinants of domestic violence and the pathways through which social and economic factors might influence women's vulnerability in marriage. Key assumptions guiding this work are that marriage is an important site for the negotiation and expression of gender roles and relations, and that the prevailing marriage systems and practices in Bangladesh need to be understood in the context of strategies developed by individuals and families for economic survival. In this article, we focus on five potential social and economic factors that have been identified in previous studies, including our own previous qualitative research in these sites, as possible determinants of women's rights and vulnerability in marriage: women's education, women's participation in microcredit lending programs, women's contribution to covering household expenses, dowry arrangements and marriage registration. All these factors are evolving phenomena in the context of Bangladesh; related changes may work to subvert and redefine traditional gender roles, rights and responsibilities. Men may, in response, use violence to reassert their control and reinforce the prevailing gender order.22 Girls' education has been promoted extensively by the Bangladesh government and by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The proportion of girls enrolled in formal and informal schooling has risen dramatically; it is now nearly at a par with the proportion of boys.23 Simultaneously, women have increasingly become economically active; for example, many participate in income-generating schemes, such as microcredit loan programs, or seek paid employment outside the home, which can entail a departure from traditional gender norms mandating women's seclusion. In Bangladesh, a minimum legal age at marriage of 18 years for females was established in 1929, and the practice of dowry was outlawed in 1980.24 Although these laws have been publicized in recent years through various channels, families typically disregard them and enforcement barely exists. Similarly, a law requiring the registration of marriages has existed since 1974. The practice has recently been promoted by officials and NGOs interested in supporting women's rights because of women's profound dependence on marriage for economic survival. One requirement of Muslim marriage in Bangladesh (and in many other Muslim countries where laws pertaining to marriage are based on religious tradition) is that the husband must agree to provide mehr (or, colloquially, den mohor) at the time of marriage.25 Often translated as "dower," mehr is property or payment promised by the groom and his family to the bride—a practice originally intended to provide the wife with economic security and to limit the husband's arbitrary use of unilateral divorce. The amount is customarily recorded in the marriage contract and can be claimed in the event of divorce or death of the husband. (Theoretically, wives may claim this payment at any time, but in practice, they rarely do so.26) Thus, in theory, legal registration of a marriage provides the wife with a basis for filing suit to collect the dower if her husband deserts her or divorces her, or if he gives her grounds for divorce by habitually assaulting her. The data are drawn from six villages in three districts (Rangpur, Faridpur and Magura). Our criteria for selecting the villages were designed, in part, to ensure some geographic variation and to include areas in which the two largest microcredit lending programs in Bangladesh were well established. They were also selected to avoid areas near the capital city, which could be atypical of rural Bangladesh, and areas in which other studies were under way. Although we did not select the villages randomly, when we compared our survey data with rural averages from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey,27 the villages collectively appeared indistinguishable from others in Bangladesh, except that they had a somewhat lower mean educational level among women and a lower use of antenatal care. The villages are poor and somewhat conservative, but not unusually so for rural Bangladesh. The religious composition is typical of Bangladeshi villages—96% of women are Muslim. In or near the villages are schools operated by the government, NGOs or religious organizations. In 1991, when we began conducting research in these villages, NGOs providing microcredit loans were active in four of the villages; now at least one such NGO is present in each. Nongovernmental organizations working in these villages also promote girls' education and raise awareness about marriage- and family-related national laws. According to our own data, from 1994 to 2001-2002, the proportion of married women with no education decreased from 63% to 45%. Rice-processing centers and road maintenance projects employ women from some of the villages. The qualitative data come from semistructured, in-depth interviews with 76 women and from four small group discussions conducted among married female villagers in 2001-2002. Participants were selected to represent different groups of interest—for example, poor women; women, or mothers of women, who married at a relatively young or old age; and women whom the field researchers considered relatively empowered or disempowered. All participants were briefed in advance on the nature of the interview; they provided oral consent to participate in the study. No incentives were given. The study's qualitative components examined the social and economic processes underlying early marriage, gender inequality and violence within marriage. Much of the material pertinent to the topic of domestic violence emerged spontaneously during interviews on broader topics related to marriage and to women's rights and roles within marriage. To explore the range of potential social and economic factors shaping women's experiences of marriage, including violence, the interviewers asked women open-ended questions about the process of marriage formation and about their perceptions of what influenced it and women's status within marriage. Participants were also asked to describe their own experiences and those of women in general, especially whether and how they perceived women's circumstances in marriage to have changed over time. Experienced female Bangladeshi researchers conducted the in-depth interviews and small group discussions; each generally lasted 1-4 hours. The in-depth interviews were conducted one-on-one, usually in the participant's home. Two or three researchers facilitated each small group discussion, typically in a place where 5-8 participants were already gathered. The field researchers subsequently generated written transcripts in Bangladeshi by reviewing tape recordings and field notes. The transcripts were then translated into English by local translators unaffiliated with the project. The translations were checked for accuracy and corrected by the interviewer and, when needed, by another member of the research team. This process was designed to minimize the imposition of interpretations during transcription or translation. We subsequently reviewed and coded the transcripts (using open-ended and thematic codes); the field researchers provided clarifications and checked interpretations, as needed. During periodic meetings in Dhaka, the field researchers reviewed our preliminary analyses and provided evidence to confirm or refute these interpretations. The field researchers also offered alternative interpretations and suggested previously unidentified themes and patterns. •Data collection. The quantitative data come from a survey administered orally in 2002 to married women of reproductive age (younger than 50 years) in the six villages, plus 130 married women older than 50. The latter group had participated in a 1994 study by Schuler and colleagues involving all women of reproductive age in the villages. Our sample comprised 1,212 respondents, representing 86% of eligible women. After obtaining informed consent, female researchers administered the surveys according to World Health Organization (WHO) ethical safety guidelines for research on violence against women.28 Every effort was made to ensure privacy during the interviews; interviews were suspended during discussion of sensitive topics when interruptions by other household members or neighbors could not be avoided.† The researchers were trained to deal with reactions to questions on domestic violence. The survey covered a range of topics related to women's social, economic and physical well-being, including their capacities and access to resources, empowerment, marriage characteristics, experiences of domestic violence and health outcomes. Development of the questionnaire content was guided by the 1994 survey and the qualitative findings to date. The final questionnaire was pretested extensively in areas comparable but not adjacent to the study sites. All survey data were double entered into a database and analyzed by using SAS software. •Measures and data analysis. Our measures of domestic violence were consistent with WHO guidelines, and we adapted questions from the WHO Violence Against Women Instrument.29 Currently married women whose husband lived at home were asked six questions on whether their husband had committed violent acts of increasing severity against them ever or in the past 12 months. To minimize bias based on subjective perceptions of abuse, all these questions asked about specific behaviors. The primary outcome used in the main logistic regression analysis was any domestic violence experienced in the past year. Education, one of the independent variables, was measured as number of years of school completed. In addition, two variables were used for women's economic activity. The first, contribution to household expenses, was based on the woman's rough estimate of her relative economic contribution to meeting household expenses. The second such variable was an indicator of whether the woman currently belonged to an NGO microcredit loan program. The dowry variable is based on the woman's report of whether an agreement on dowry (in the form of cash or property) was made at the time of marriage. Marriage registration indicates whether her marriage was formally registered. Additional control variables were marital household socioeconomic status and age. Socioeconomic status was measured by an aggregate scale of seven dichotomous items based on household size; substances used to build the walls, roof and latrine of the house; presence of electricity in the home; and television and radio ownership. Age was ascertained by asking current age. For those who responded "don't know" (24%), we inferred the woman's age on the basis of additional information asked about age in relation to individual (e.g., menarche, marriage, childbearing) and national (the 1971 Liberation War) events.‡ With the exception of socioeconomic status and age, all variables used in the analyses were dichotomous. Logistic regression models were used to examine associations between domestic violence and the five primary variables of interest. To further explore the processes and potential influences suggested by the qualitative findings, we performed additional logistic regression analyses, which examined the relationships among key covariates. Many women recognized and were dismayed by the increasing practice of dowry throughout Bangladesh.§ (Until the 1960s, a "bride price" system of material exchange was customarily observed, in which the groom's family gave money and gifts to the bride's family at marriage.30) According to numerous respondents, women are highly vulnerable to maltreatment if the economic resources they bring to their marriage—usually in the form of dowry—are perceived as meager. Respondents universally condemned the practice of dowry; they recognized its common use as a tool of resource extraction and exploitation. A 40-year-old woman provided this explanation: "If the dowry is not paid, then a husband...beats his wife or usually says that he will marry again to a girl whose parents are able to pay dowry. Some men also send the(ir) wife to her parents' house to pressure them to pay the dowry." Despite their condemnation of dowry, most women seemed resigned to it, as they believed it affords young women an important degree of social legitimacy and security. As a 32-year-old woman with no education or income explained, "If a girl brings dowry, then she has a stronger position in her in-laws' home....Her mother-in-law cannot torture her, nor can her husband beat her. If they do, then she can say, 'Did I come here empty-handed?'" According to this interpretation, a dowry can raise a bride's status and improve her security in her husband's home. The practice is therefore perpetuated reluctantly, and often with considerable shame, by families to help ensure that their daughters are treated well in the marital home. Dowry demands and the stress and hardship they impose on many families and on new brides emerged as a paramount consideration in decision-making about marriage formation—a consideration that increasingly seems to dwarf all others, such as social status or the quality of the groom and his family (although these issues remained important). For most respondents, managing a daughter's marriage negotiations is an agonizing process fraught with tension and fear. The economic burden of dowry can be high—even exorbitant—but mothers often reported feeling that dowry is necessary for their daughters' well-being. The interaction of these concerns can clearly translate into downward pressure on age at marriage, because young women's marriageability is believed to diminish with age, not least because of concerns about "sexual purity";** mothers feared that they would have to pay higher dowry to find acceptable husbands for older daughters. Although numerous women expressed a strong desire to educate their daughters, the apparent social and, increasingly, economic imperative to marry daughters early is likely to compromise girls' educational attainment and undermine the potential for girls' increased education to translate into delayed marriage. Women often spontaneously mentioned females' increasing education level as a major change in recent years and an important determinant of women's experiences. Participants suggested that education can improve the circumstances in which females enter marriage—for example, by allowing them legitimate reasons to postpone marriage; by improving their marriageability and, therefore, their prospects for marrying a "good" man (by making them more desirable to prospective husbands and their families); and by increasing the affordability of marriage by acting, at least in part, as a surrogate for dowry. Many women perceived education as also improving women's status and opportunities in their conjugal households, thereby affording them more freedom and less dependence. In their view, education has both direct effects on women's status and indirect effects that operate through increased earning potential. Many participants argued that education can also help a woman speak on her own behalf and defend herself, regardless of personal earnings or family wealth. As one uneducated 32-year-old woman said, "Not only daughters of wealthy fathers can speak for themselves. Those girls with education who are aware can protest when their situation is bad." An employed woman with a secondary education believed that educated women's assertiveness can be contagious: "The act of protesting has...increased due to...education. [But] it is not like all who are protesting are [highly educated]. When I, an educated woman, protest against my husband's misbehavior, then my neighbor..., who has studied [only] up to class five, thinks...she will...protest against her husband's behavior as I protested. [She will think,] 'Why should I tolerate such oppression?'" Some women expected that education could translate into at least the potential for employment or earnings; the earnings would then afford women greater status and rights in the home and protection from abuse. A 40-year-old woman with a source of personal income noted, "If a woman earns, then she has to be treated as an equal to her husband, because both are earning members of the family. In that case, the husband can't beat her." A few women even suggested that with education, women have opportunities for independence from marriage: If they cannot change the nature of the marriage, they can leave it. An educated respondent explained: "If women are educated, they can get jobs, and they will be happy...because they themselves are independent. They don't need to tolerate the torture and oppression of their husbands. If [a woman] thinks she cannot go on, then she can leave her husband." However, this optimistic scenario contradicts most of our findings. Interviewed women who themselves were desperate (e.g., severely abused or neglected) were indeed better able to survive and support their children if they were earning money, but they did not achieve independence. Often these women earned money when their husbands did not, and in these situations, the wife was likely to use her earnings to support her husband and family rather than leave. Finally, some respondents saw a great potential for marriage registration, an increasingly common practice, to ensure marital security and protect families' financial investment in marriages. Many said that women with registered marriages felt more secure because their husbands would be unlikely to abandon or severely mistreat them for fear of financial repercussions. According to one participant, "...women can take shelter of law if their husbands beat them—it is written in the registry." Another participant provided this explanation: "If the marriage is registered, a man cannot leave his wife easily. He has to pay the amount of dowry given at his wedding time back to his wife....Now, if I have to pay this amount of dowry to get my daughter married, I will, of course, want the safety of registered marriage, so...they cannot send our daughter back without the money." Among survey respondents, the median age was 31, and the median age at marriage was 14. Forty-five percent of women had had no schooling, and 20% had completed more than five years (Table 1). Nearly half of women (49%) had ever belonged to a microcredit program (not shown), and 40% currently belonged to one. Twenty percent of women were contributing earnings toward at least some household payments. Forty-six percent had dowry agreements, and 62% had registered marriages. Use of marriage registration, like that of dowries, has increased considerably over a relatively short period: More than 70% of women younger than 30 had registered marriages, compared with fewer than 40% of those aged 45-49 (not shown). Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported ever having experienced domestic violence, and one-third of women reported ever having experienced major violence (i.e., involving kicks, burns or use of weapons; Table 2). Slightly more than one-third of women had experienced violence in the past year; 17% of respondents said that they had experienced at least one episode of major violence in the past year. Eighteen percent of respondents had experienced violence during pregnancy, and 3% of respondents said that violence they had experienced during pregnancy seemed worse than usual. About one-quarter of respondents reported ever having been injured by their husband; 17% of women said such an injury had interfered with normal work, 19% had had an injury that warranted medical attention and 15% had received medical care for such an injury. The proportion of women who reported experiencing domestic violence in the past year was significantly higher among women with a dowry agreement than among women with no such agreement (45% vs. 25%; Table 3). Domestic violence was also significantly higher among women with a registered marriage (39%, vs. 28% of women without a registered marriage), women who cover at least some of their household expenses with their own income (42%, vs. 33% of those who cover little or none) and women with a marital household socioeconomic status at or below the median for the sample (42% vs. 22%). The proportion experiencing domestic violence was nonsignificantly lower among women with more than five years of education than among less educated or noneducated women (30% vs. 36%). Members and nonmembers of microcredit programs had roughly comparable proportions reporting domestic violence (34% and 35%, respectively). In the main multivariable logistic regression analysis (Table 4), women with a dowry agreement were more likely than those without a dowry agreement to report experiencing violence in the past year (odds ratio, 1.5). This finding may be driven primarily by an effect of unpaid dowry: Women with outstanding dowry debt had significantly elevated odds of violence (1.7; not shown). In a further analysis, restricted to women without outstanding dowry obligations, the association between having a dowry and experiencing violence decreased in size and statistical significance (1.3). Compared with uneducated respondents, women with more than five completed years of education had significantly lower odds of violence (0.6). Moreover, current membership in a microcredit program was associated with lower odds of violence (0.8). In contrast, women whose earnings contributed more than nominally to covering their household's expenses were significantly more likely to report violence than were women who contributed very little or none (1.8). However, the odds of violence decreased as women's household socioeconomic status or current age increased (0.8 and 0.7, respectively). The difference in the odds for women with a registered marriage and those for women with a non-registered marriage was only marginally significant (p=.06). In the first of two additional logistic regression analyses exploring the processes and influences suggested by the qualitative findings, the odds of having a dowry agreement were significantly lower among women with more than five completed years of schooling than among those with no education (0.6; Table 5, page 196). The odds declined with rising socioeconomic status (0.9), but they increased with age at marriage (1.1). Age at marriage was also positively associated with the amount of the dowry (not shown). In the final logistic regression analysis, the odds of marriage registration were significantly higher for women with 1-5 or more than five completed years of education than for women with no education (1.6 and 2.3, respectively; Table 5). However, the odds were reduced significantly for those with a dowry agreement (0.6). This study has several important limitations. First, although the villages in this study generally are typical of rural Bangladesh, they were not selected randomly; the generalizability of the results is therefore limited. Second, because of our study's cross-sectional design, no cause-and-effect relationships could be established. In addition, the associations observed in the regression analyses could be the function of some common prior cause. For example, families with an increased likelihood of domestic violence may be predisposed to seek a less educated bride (perhaps because of cultural conservatism). Another potential limitation is reporting bias: Women may be differentially likely to report certain outcomes in ways that are systematically related to other characteristics of interest in the analyses. This may help explain, for example, the inverse association between dowry agreement and education or household socioeconomic status. Our qualitative data indicate widespread condemnation of the practice of dowry and shame among many who nevertheless felt compelled to perpetuate it. Relatively well educated and well-off respondents may have had an increased sensitivity to these views and, as a result, may have been less likely to report their practice of dowry. However, as other researchers have noted, Bangladeshi women are unlikely to falsely deny domestic violence, because such violence is widespread and, for the most part, socially sanctioned, at least in some circumstances.31 Furthermore, the research team included highly skilled interviewers who were already known and trusted in the communities; thus, they could elicit candid responses from participants. Finally, according to observations of the field researchers and feedback solicited from participants after the study, the questions on domestic violence seemed not to be troublesome to most participants. Despite these limitations, we believe this study contributes to our understanding of the prevalence and possible determinants of domestic violence in rural Bangladesh. Generated by using specific reference periods and concrete, behavioral measures of domestic violence, these data on the prevalence and severity of physical abuse can be compared with findings from other studies in Bangladesh. By integrating qualitative and quantitative data and examining the relationships among possible factors, we can begin to understand the interplay of complex economic and social factors that influence women's risk of violence in the evolving context of Bangladesh. Our study results highlight the centrality of marriage as a setting where various influences intersect—particularly gender inequality and poverty—and lay the foundation for women's vulnerability. The findings also highlight the complex and often contradictory nature of the relationships among factors at different levels, and the ways in which they may influence women's risk of violence. Another theme that emerges is the extent to which norms and practices in Bangladesh are in transition, and how that transition itself may be a risk factor. Our quantitative findings of a negative association between women's education and dowry agreement and also between household socioeconomic status and dowry agreement†† suggest that the practice of dowry disproportionately affects the disadvantaged. Poor men and their families may demand dowry to obtain resources by exploiting the vulnerability of brides' families. Perhaps, in turn, the poor are less able to leverage resources (including their daughters' education) against dowry demands. In this context of gender inequality and poverty, the practice of dowry appears to exacerbate women's risk of domestic violence. The association between dowry and violence probably reflects a selection process, at least to some extent, whereby families who demand dowry may also be more likely than others to perpetrate or tolerate violence. Formal dowry arrangements are associated with some social disapprobation; parents who can afford to give informal gifts instead often do so. The most economically desperate families may be the least likely to find brides whose parents will spontaneously give gifts, and more likely to press for a dowry agreement and then resort to violence or the threat of violence to obtain outstanding dowry payments or to add to the agreed amount. Consistent with the extortion interpretation, our qualitative and quantitative results suggest that unpaid dowry may put women at especially high risk of violence, as shown elsewhere.32 In addition, an alternative pathway could be at work. The qualitative findings suggest that women with dowries may feel more entitled and therefore may behave more assertively in the marital home, and such behavior may meet with a violent response. Other researchers have theorized that violence may occur in situations in which women's increased bargaining power threatens men's sense of control and superiority.33 This interpretation also may help explain the seemingly contradictory findings on marriage registration and domestic violence. Perhaps, as interviewed women contended, marriage registration does indeed give women some measure of long-term economic security (by decreasing their risk of abandonment and increasing their chances of securing access to money or property should abandonment occur); yet, as our survey findings suggest, marriage registration does not seem to protect women from domestic violence. If anything, marriage registration may be associated with an increased risk of domestic violence, possibly by undermining husbands' sense of control. Our survey results indicating that dowry agreement and marriage registration are inversely associated contradicts interviewees' stated rationale for marriage registration as a means to protect dowry investments in daughters' marriages. One possible interpretation of our quantitative findings is that families' agreement to give dowry reflects a degree of vulnerability and desperation in the marriage market that also makes these families willing to forego other measures, such as marriage registration, that might protect their daughter in the event of mistreatment or divorce. In our analyses examining associations with domestic violence, we found different results for the two measures of women's economic activity—participation in a microcredit program and contribution of personal earnings to the household budget. The effect of membership in a microcredit program on women's status and autonomy, and on their risk of domestic violence, is a subject of ongoing debate.34 Schuler and colleagues have noted that a reduced risk for violence among women in microcredit programs might not reflect a protective effect of program participation; instead, women whose husbands have a reduced inclination toward violence may be more likely than other women to enter such programs.35 Findings reported by Mahmud suggest a different selection process, whereby women in less equitable relationships may be pressured by their husbands to join credit programs; these women also may be more likely to experience violence, independent of their credit involvement, than women in more equitable relationships.36 It is also possible that participation in microcredit programs is becoming socially acceptable as a way for women to contribute resources to their household, not least because they often make the loan money available for their husbands' use.37 Khan and colleagues reported that physical abuse was slightly more prevalent among members of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) credit and savings program than among nonmembers; however, that abuse seemed to decrease with duration of membership.38 Koenig and colleagues' findings from Bangladesh highlight the importance of the normative context in shaping the effects of individual-level factors.39 Thus, our finding of no positive association between microcredit program participation and domestic violence may indicate that program participation has become normalized in the study sites and that, as a result, such participation today does not increase women's risk of violence because it is not seen as provocative. However, women whose income is substantial enough to make them more than marginal contributors to the household budget may be at increased risk of violence. The observed positive association between women's financial contribution to the household and their odds of domestic violence may, again, reflect a shift in the balance of power between husband and wife that leads to violence. However, it also may reflect a degree of material hardship not captured by our measure of household socioeconomic status that may, by itself, explain the increased odds of violence. Our study, like other research,40 indicates an association between poverty and domestic violence. In our sample, women who earned money and contributed meaningfully to the household budget typically were in the most economically deprived families. Particularly in the context of deprivation, women's economic contribution may increase the risk of violence by undermining male authority and established gender roles. This interpretation is supported by qualitative data suggesting that men's inability to provide economically for their families may place women at increased risk of maltreatment. Several respondents described conflict over scarcity as precipitating violence, a finding supported elsewhere.41 Our observation of a negative association between women's education and domestic violence seems less ambiguous, but its implications are limited. The odds of domestic violence were reduced only for women who had at least six years of education,‡‡ suggesting that the modest increases in educational attainment available to the majority of females in rural Bangladesh will not substantially alter their risk. The expectation expressed in the qualitative data that women's education would lead to higher status and security through increased economic participation appears less realistic in light of the quantitative results. Furthermore, our results indicate that education cannot be assumed to improve the terms under which women enter marriage. Findings of an earlier qualitative study in Bangladesh suggest that the role of girls' education in families' marriage decisions is largely dwarfed by other considerations.42 The social and economic environment in Bangladesh has been undergoing rapid change. In response to economic necessity, new opportunities and changing norms, women are increasingly deviating from traditional roles, developing new aspirations and, often unintentionally, challenging the prevailing gender order. In this changing environment, people have been exposed to information and behavioral change messages on various health and social issues, including marriage age, dowry, marriage registration, girls' education and, to a lesser extent, women's rights. The disconnect between some of our qualitative and quantitative findings may reflect the lag between women's emerging awareness and expectations on the one hand, and their present situation on the other. The changes under way and the further transitions that may be signaled by this disconnect could continue to put women at risk.43 As we have suggested previously, and Jewkes and colleagues also have argued, changes that somewhat empower women may lead to violence in the near term.44 Such changes may become protective only after a critical threshold of empowerment has been reached and gender roles have shifted substantially.

During the medieval period in Germany, mining was one of the largest sources of income for many families. German mines were famous for their salt, ore, and other precious resources. However, mining was also extremely dangerous. Over time, legends began to develop and share some of the miraculous moments of divine help that many received as they worked in the tunnels of the mines. Many of the miners became woodcarvers to bring in additional money for their families. The paired candleholders of the angel and the miner became a traditional symbol to carve for homes all over Germany. These little ornaments carry on that legacy and come from the Erzgebirge region of Germany. - DETAILS - Set of 2 (one angel and one miner). Measures 2" x 0.75" x 0.75". Made of wood. Made in Germany.

With the start of a new school year approaching, the Iowa City Police Department is offering some safety reminders for students traveling to and from school. Make it a safe school year and follow the tips below. Walking to school - Parents should walk or bike the route prior to school starting: look for any possible hazards and identify a safe place for your child to go if they need help - Stop, look, and listen before crossing the street - Always cross at the crosswalk and obey traffic signals - Stay on the sidewalk or bike path, do not use the street - Do not take short cuts or cross between parked cars - If someone approaches you, or makes you feel uncomfortable, do not talk to them just keep going Biking to school - Wear brightly colored clothing that will make you more visible to drivers - Always wear a properly fitted helmet and check your bike equipment - Backpacks should be tight on the upper back and not dragging on the rear tire - Obey traffic lights and stop signs - Ride on the right, going the same direction as traffic - Use appropriate hand signals Need a helmet? The Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department, in cooperation with SAFE KIDS Johnson County and Bell Sports, offers bike and all-sport helmets to kids and adults for $12. Stop by the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center's Customer Service Desk at 220 S. Gilbert St. to purchase. For other helpful biking tips, view the City's Bike Shorts video series at icgov.org/bikeshorts. Riding the bus - Be at the bus stop at least five minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive - Know your bus number - If someone offers you a ride always say "NO!" - Do not play in the street while waiting for your bus. - When the bus approaches, stand at least three giant steps, about 6 ft., away from the curb - Line up away from the street - Wait until the bus stops, the door opens, and the driver says that it's OK before boarding - If you have to cross the street in front of the bus, walk on the sidewalk or along the side of the road to a point at least five giant steps, about 10 ft., ahead of the bus before you cross - Be sure the bus driver can see you, and you can see the bus driver before you cross Driving to school - Slow down and be especially alert in residential neighborhoods and school zones - Take extra time to look for kids at intersections, on medians, and on curbs - Be prepared to share the road with young bicyclists - Watch for children on and near the road in the morning and after school hours - Reduce distractions inside your car so you can concentrate on the road and your surroundings - Do not text, email or use your phone while driving - Always give children the right-of-way in crosswalks and school zones

The future of electricity took a new turn last month with the formal launch of an organization intended to manage the way power moves through America’s vast energy grid. The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (known as MISO), based in Carmel, Indiana, will affect the flow of electricity through a wide swath of states and into Canada. As a regional transmission organization (RTO), this new entity adds yet another layer to an already complex system. Understanding its effect on Kentucky’s electric co-ops requires a look at the past. Mike Core, CEO of Big Rivers Electric Corporation, a generation and transmission cooperative that serves three distribution co-ops in Kentucky, says, “For almost 100 years, the electric utility industry operated on the idea of putting generating facilities close to the load. Big Rivers has three generating facilities to provide electricity to people in 22 counties here in Kentucky.” Core continues, “At any given moment we might be able to generate more electricity than our customers need. So our generating facilities, high-voltage transmission lines, and the substations within our service area are known as a ‘control area.’ We literally do have to control how much electricity we generate to match the load at any particular time within our area.” Core notes that it often happens that one control area has more generating capacity during certain times of the day or year than a neighboring control area. In that case, friendly agreements allowed neighboring control areas to send and receive electricity across their boundaries to match capacity to load. The parties involved agreed on a way to value the electricity (perhaps by trading equal amounts over a fixed period of time) and set standards for reliability (perhaps by scheduling maintenance ahead of time). The Energy Act of 1992 and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) changed that. Now, instead of sending electricity to a physically close area, it’s possible to buy and sell electricity among very distant control areas. While these new rules opened up control areas around the country to more trading of wholesale electric power among utilities, problems arose as this increased movement of electricity ran right into the laws of physics. “To move power from our generating plants in central Kentucky to a control area in northern Indiana,” Core explains, “means that we have to ‘wheel’ it through many of our neighbors’ grids in between. But the existing distribution lines might not have been designed for such loads.” Then there’s the matter of money. How should such transfers of electricity across greater distances be valued? In addition to the cost of generating the electricity, should there be a transportation fee added by each of the utility systems that the transfer “wheels” through? If transmission grids must be improved, who will pay for the construction or maintenance costs? These unanswered questions mean that Big Rivers has not yet decided to join MISO, although it will continue to buy and sell electricity within the region. “MISO now has two functions,” Core says. “Not only will it operate the system, constantly monitoring the physical aspects of moving electricity in and among dozens of utilities, it will also operate a market where power can be bought and sold.” But determining prices in this new market will be a difficult challenge. East Kentucky Power Cooperative (which generates and transmits electricity to 16 distribution co-ops) is also not yet a member of MISO, or any other RTO. CEO Roy Palk says, “We are keeping a vigilant watch on what MISO does to see how it may affect our future. First, we need to know how its activities may affect our plans for future generation and distribution construction in our service area. Second, we are watching to see how MISO’s operation will affect our costs.” An important third concern for both East Kentucky and Big Rivers is the boundaries between various RTOs. Kentucky’s geography puts it at the edge of three RTOs, so membership in MISO might not necessarily be the best choice for the state’s co-ops. Palk mentions another important concern. “Kentucky’s Public Service Commission already has a great deal to say about so many details of the electric utility industry. Would membership in MISO or any other RTO cause jurisdictional problems? Right now, the future of electricity is full of many unknowns.” To learn more about MISO and other RTOs, visit this Web site: http://www.midwestiso.org/about_us.shtml. Next month: Global electrification

What We Do The availability of renewable electricity is rapidly increasing. However, the generation of renewable electricity by solar panels or wind turbine fluctuates on a daily basis and on a seasonal basis. This means that there will be moments when there is more electricity produced than being consumed, for example on sunny summer days, while there will also be days where the demand for electricity is bigger than the availability. Therefore, processes need to be developed that can efficiently store electrical energy. One way of doing this is by performing electrochemical reactions and storing energy in chemical bonds. The research in our group focuses on electrocatalytic processes for the conversion of small molecules, such as CO2, H2O and N2, into valuable chemical building blocks and renewable fuels. These processes can aid in large-scale energy storage of renewable electricity, by storing energy in the form of chemical bonds, and can provide a renewable alternative for the production of commodity chemicals that are presently produced from fossil resources. We study how these electrocatalytic processes take place on the molecular scale, design and fabricate new electrocatalytic materials, optimize the process conditions and make innovative prototype devices that can perform these processes energy efficiently. Our research is divided in 4 subgroups that span from the atomic scale to the device scale. In the first subgroup, spectroelectrochemistry and mechanistic studies, we employ experimental techniques to obtain in depth atomistic understanding into how electrocatalytic reactions proceed on heterogeneous surfaces. The knowledge generated in this subgroup is of high importance to the design of new electrocatalytic systems and can provide us with valuable insights on how we can optimize electrocatalytic reactions. The second subgroup looks at the development of novel electrocatalytic materials for CO2 and N2 reduction. By using our own mechanistic results in combination with theory, modelling and literature reports, we aim to design electrocatalysts with lower overpotentials and higher activities and product selectivities. One strategy applied in our research is designing and tuning bimetallic electrocatalysts to obtain the desired catalytic properties. Newly developed electrocatalytic systems will only perform optimally if they operate under optimal conditions. In this subgroup we take a look at what the optimal conditions for an electrocatalyst is. We optimize transport of reactants towards the surface of the catalyst and transport of products away from the surface. Also, we study the effect of electrolyte pH and composition, thus the effect of different cationic and anionic species present in the electrolyte, on the outcome of electrochemical reactions. The last step in going towards solutions for energy storage and conversion is the design of prototype devices and the upscaling of developed technology. Here we also take into account the long-term performance of the developed systems, possible issues with purity of feedstocks and the reduction of Ohmic losses in the devices. To reduce Ohmic losses in devices we study for instance bubble mitigation and membraneless operation.

Researchers have identified a new potential strategy for inhibiting inflammation in both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. The corresponding study was published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases by researchers in Austria. Over 8 million people in the US have psoriasis. Around a third of people with the condition go on to develop psoriatic arthritis. Thought to be an autoimmune condition, its triggers include infections, stress, and cold. It typically appears as rashes or plaques on the skin; however, can sometimes affect the nails and joints too as in psoriatic arthritis. In the present study, researchers reported that inhibiting S100A9, a gene linked to psoriasis, can reduce psoriasis severity throughout the body- and not just the skin. Although these findings came from mouse models, they confirmed that the mechanism might work similarly in humans due to analyses of S100A9 expression in skin, serum, and synovial fluid samples from people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. They found, for example, that patients with psoriatic arthritis had significantly higher blood levels of S100A9, alongside several immune and inflammatory cells than patients with psoriasis alone. They further noted that levels of S100A9 and calprotectin- an inflammatory protein- could be used to distinguish between healthy individuals, those with psoriasis, and those with psoriatic arthritis. "Our study is an important step towards the development of targeted therapeutic options in the form of drugs that act systemically rather than locally on the skin," said Erwin Wagner from the Department of Dermatology and Department of Laboratory Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. "We now know that the inflammatory responses in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are enhanced when S100A9 is only inhibited in skin cells," she continued. Drugs inhibiting S100A9 via tablets or drips may thus be able to treat the condition systematically.

create new finite-state Markov chain MarkovChain(P, S, i, n) Matrix; transition matrix Vector; state space posint; initial state posint; number of states per year The MarkovChain command creates a new finite state Markov chain. The parameter P is the transition matrix; it must be a square matrix (see Matrix) of size d, where d is the number of states in the Markov chain. The value Pi,j defines the probability of moving from state j to state i. The parameter S is a vector containing values for all possible states of the process. The parameter n is the number of states per year. This process can only be simulated with m=n⁢k time steps per year, where k is a positive integer. Assume for example that X is a finite state Markov chain with 3 states per year. If we simulate the process X on the interval 0..2 with 12 time steps, then the state change can occur only at steps 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. 126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.2.2.…184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.2.2.…18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.2.1.…126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.2.2.…184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.2.2.…18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.2.2.…126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.2.1.…184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.2.2.…18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.2.2.…126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.2.2.…10 × 11 Array The following command will issue an error because the number of time steps used in simulation must be a multiple of the number of states per year. Error, (in Finance:-SamplePath) update time .200000000000000011 does not belong to the time grid The Finance[MarkovChain] command was introduced in Maple 15. For more information on Maple 15 changes, see Updates in Maple 15. Download Help Document What kind of issue would you like to report? (Optional)

(See also the aging brain and nervous system Brain and Nervous System The body changes with aging because changes occur in individual cells and in whole organs. These changes result in changes in function and in appearance. (See also Overview of Aging.) As cells... read more .) Brain Brain The brain’s functions are both mysterious and remarkable, relying on billions of nerve cells and the internal communication between them. All thoughts, beliefs, memories, behaviors, and moods... read more Brain function varies normally as people pass from childhood through adulthood to old age. During childhood, the ability to think and reason steadily increases, enabling a child to learn increasingly complex skills. During most of adulthood, brain function is relatively stable. After a certain age, which varies from person to person, brain function declines. Some areas of the brain decrease in size by up to 1% per year in some people but without any loss of function. Thus, age-related changes in brain structure do not always result in loss of brain function. However, a decrease in brain function with aging may be the result of numerous factors that include changes in brain chemicals (neurotransmitters),changes in nerve cells themselves, toxic substances that accumulate in the brain over time, and inherited changes. Different aspects of brain function may be affected at different times: Short-term memory and the ability to learn new material tend to be affected relatively early. Verbal abilities, including vocabulary and word usage, may begin to decline later. Intellectual performance—the ability to process information (regardless of speed)—is usually maintained if no underlying neurologic or vascular disorders are present. Reaction time and performance of tasks may become slower because the brain processes nerve impulses more slowly. However, the effects of aging on brain function may be difficult to separate from the effects of various disorders that are common among older people. These disorders include depression Depression A short discussion of prolonged grief disorder. Depression is a feeling of sadness and/or a decreased interest or pleasure in activities that becomes a disorder when it is intense enough to... read more , stroke Overview of Stroke A stroke occurs when an artery to the brain becomes blocked or ruptures, resulting in death of an area of brain tissue due to loss of its blood supply (cerebral infarction) and symptoms that... read more , an underactive thyroid gland ( hypothyroidism Hypothyroidism Hypothyroidism is underactivity of the thyroid gland that leads to inadequate production of thyroid hormones and a slowing of vital body functions. Facial expressions become dull, the voice... read more ), and degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer disease Alzheimer Disease Alzheimer disease is a progressive loss of mental function, characterized by degeneration of brain tissue, including loss of nerve cells, the accumulation of an abnormal protein called beta-amyloid... read more . As people age, the number of nerve cells Nerves The peripheral nervous system consists of more than 100 billion nerve cells (neurons) that run throughout the body like strings, making connections with the brain, other parts of the body, and... read more in the brain may decrease, although the number lost varies greatly from person to person, depending on the person’s health. In addition, some types of memory are more vulnerable to loss, such as memory that holds information temporarily. However, the brain has certain characteristics that help compensate for these losses. Redundancy: The brain has more cells than it needs to function normally. Redundancy may help compensate for the loss of nerve cells that occurs with aging and disease. Formation of new connections: The brain actively compensates for the age-related decrease in nerve cells by making new connections between the remaining nerve cells. Production of new nerve cells: Some areas of the brain may produce new nerve cells, especially after a brain injury or a stroke. These areas include the hippocampus (which is involved in the formation and retrieval of memories) and the basal ganglia (which coordinate and smooth out movements). Thus, people who have had a brain injury or stroke can sometimes learn new skills, as occurs during occupational therapy Occupational Therapy (OT) Occupational therapy, a component of rehabilitation, is intended to enhance a person's ability to do basic self-care activities, useful work, and leisure activities. These activities include... read more . People can influence how quickly brain function declines. For example, physical exercise seems to slow the loss of nerve cells in areas of the brain involved in memory. Such exercise also helps keep the remaining nerve cells functioning. On the other hand, consuming two or more drinks of alcohol a day can speed the decline in brain function. As people age, blood flow to the brain may decrease by an average of 20%. The decrease in blood flow is greater in people who have atherosclerosis of the arteries to the brain (cerebrovascular disease). This disease is more likely to occur in people who have smoked for a long time or who have high blood pressure High Blood Pressure High blood pressure (hypertension) is persistently high pressure in the arteries. Often no cause for high blood pressure can be identified, but sometimes it occurs as a result of an underlying... read more , high cholesterol Dyslipidemia Dyslipidemia is a high level of lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides, or both) or a low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level. Lifestyle, genetics, disorders (such as low thyroid hormone... read more , or high blood sugar ( diabetes mellitus Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Diabetes mellitus is a disorder in which the body does not produce enough or respond normally to insulin, causing blood sugar (glucose) levels to be abnormally high. Urination and thirst are... read more ) that is not controlled by lifestyle changes or drugs. These people may lose brain cells prematurely, possibly impairing mental function. As a result, the risk of damage to blood vessels leading to vascular dementia Vascular Dementia Vascular dementia is loss of mental function due to destruction of brain tissue because its blood supply is reduced or blocked. The cause is usually strokes, either a few large ones or many... read more at a relatively young age is increased. Did You Know... Spinal cord Spinal Cord The spinal cord is a long, fragile tubelike structure that begins at the end of the brain stem and continues down almost to the bottom of the spine. The spinal cord consists of bundles of nerve... read more As people age, the disks between the back bones (vertebrae) become hard and brittle, and parts of the vertebrae may overgrow. As a result, the disks lose some of their capacity to cushion, so more pressure is put on the spinal cord and on the branches of the nerves that emerge from it (spinal nerve roots). The increased pressure may injure nerve fibers at the point where they leave the spinal cord. Such injury can result in decreased sensation and sometimes decreased strength and balance. Peripheral nerves Overview of the Peripheral Nervous System The peripheral nervous system refers to the parts of the nervous system that are outside the central nervous system, that is, those outside the brain and spinal cord. Thus, the peripheral nervous... read more As people age, peripheral nerves may conduct impulses more slowly and release neurotransmitters is impaired, resulting in decreased sensation, slower reflexes, and often some clumsiness. Nerve conduction can slow because the myelin sheaths around nerves degenerate. Myelin sheaths are layers of tissue that insulate nerves and speed conduction of impulses (see figure Typical Structure of a Nerve Cell Typical Structure of a Nerve Cell ). Degeneration also occurs because as people age, blood flow decreases, nearby bones overgrow and put pressure on the nerves, or both. Age-related changes in function can become more noticeable when the nerves are injured by something else (for example, by diabetes mellitus). The peripheral nervous system’s response to injury is reduced. When the axon of a peripheral nerve is damaged in younger people, the nerve is able to repair itself as long as its cell body, located in or near the spinal cord, is undamaged. This self-repair process occurs more slowly and incompletely in older people, making older people more vulnerable to injury and disease.

Nutritional Medicine takes an all-inclusive approach to the interactions of both nutrition and environment on human health. It is a known fact that nutrients are the body building blocks. Hence, when the body gets the correct nutrient balance, it remains healthy. Every human is unique in terms of genetics, anatomy, metabolism, and biochemistry. So also, our internal system differs in gut flora, the integrity of the intestinal wall and the immune system. All these affect the ability of our body to process foods, absorb nutrients, detoxify and expel wastes. Assessing nutritional status include evaluating exposure to toxicity from heavy metals, fertilisers, pesticides, synthetic chemicals including pharmaceutical and recreational drugs. More so, food additives, flavourings and colourings or particular foods themselves may lead to sensitivities, allergies and intolerances. By living an optimally healthy lifestyle, the body is provided with the best conditions to avoid as well as heal from disease states. And living optimal life comes by improving our diet by consuming more fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains and also drinking lots of filtered water is a good start. HOW NUTRITIONAL MEDICINE WORKS What a Nutritional Medicine practitioner does is to provide you with dietary advice as well as prescribe nutritional supplements that can help in a broad range of health conditions. MOST COMMONLY TREATED CONDITIONS USING NUTRITIONAL MEDICINE Nutritional Medicine can assist in handling a wide range of health issues, such as: - Poor immunity to high cholesterol, - Issues with pregnancy, breastfeeding or menopause, - Food allergies/intolerance to autoimmune disease to autism, and more. The Nutritional Medicine practitioner also guides vegetarians and vegans towards consuming proper balanced diets.

The Ivory Burn Kenya stages largest-ever ivory destruction as UN reaffirms ‘zero tolerance’ on poaching Home » The Ivory Burn Published: 5 May 2016 This Article was Written by: Katie Hill - My Green Pod As African leaders soundly rejected ‘those who think our natural heritage can be sold for money’, senior United Nations officials expressed support for Kenyan-led efforts to end illegal wildlife trade during a weekend ceremony in Nairobi where tonnes of elephant tusks and rhino horns were burned to protest poaching, which is pushing several iconic species to the brink of extinction. A message to poachers The burning of the 11 massive piles of ivory, which took place Saturday at Nairobi National Park, was organised by Kenya Wildlife Service and partners, and attended by the presidents of Kenya, Gabon and Uganda, as well as high-level UN officials including Ibrahim Thiaw, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Helen Clark, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). ‘This multi-billion dollar worldwide trade is a security issue, an environmental issue, and a development issue. ‘It is pushing vulnerable and endangered species toward extinction. The illicit trade is also fuelling corruption and conflict, destroying lives, and deepening poverty and inequality.’ Administrator of the UN Development Programme In the ceremony, 105 tonnes of ivory – worth more than $300 billion – and 1.3 tonnes of rhino horns, nearly all of Kenya’s elephant ivory and rhino horn stockpiles, were burned. It was the largest stock of ivory in the world, and its destruction underlined Kenya’s commitment to ending the poaching of rhinos and elephants and act as a symbolic marker in the fight to end the ivory trade. Curbing the trade It is estimated that between 2010 and 2012, 100,000 elephants were killed for their ivory, out of a population of less than 500,000. The population of Forest Elephants has plummeted by two-thirds between 2002 and 2011 due to poaching, while reports released in 2015 show that African Savannah Elephants have declined by 60% in Tanzania and by 50% in Mozambique since 2009. Finding ways to curb the illegal trade in wildlife, including elephant ivory, will be one of the top priorities for the second UN Environment Assembly (UNAE) the world’s de facto parliament of environment, which will convene in Nairobi from 23 to 27 May to set the stage for early action on implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ‘We must also remember that wildlife has more value alive than dead and that wildlife can generate sustainable revenues to fund the education, healthcare and infrastructure that will lift people out of poverty and drive economic growth.’ Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Losing a heritage Speaking at the ivory burning event, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta stated that by killing elephants the continent risked losing its heritage in addition to destroying the highly beneficial tourism industry which has faced numerous threats in the recent past. He urged all stakeholders to become custodians of the planet and its wildlife. ‘No one has any business trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our national heritage. In destroying the ivory, we reject once and for all, those who think our natural heritage can be sold for money. Ivory is worthless unless it is on a living elephant.’ President of Kenya

President Joe Biden's push for clean energy raises a number of challenges for automakers as the industry shifts towards electric vehicles, including the supply of critical raw materials such as cobalt, nickel and other metals used to make cars — and their batteries. Currently, the U.S. sources many key ingredients for batteries, notably lithium, cobalt and nickel, from foreign sources — some from allies such as Australia, but often from those, like China, with whom relations are strained. “A lot of people worry we’re trading fossil fuel dependence for rare earth dependence,” said Kristin Dziczek, vice president at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While the U.S. has fallen behind countries like China, Japan and South Korea, as well as the European Union, in the production of rechargeable batteries, it is trying to catch up. Tesla operates a massive Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, that produces millions of battery cells each day. General Motors opens its first Ultium battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, later this year, with a second plant to follow in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Other automakers, such as Ford, are planning battery plants of their own. Lithium-ion batteries come in various shapes and forms. Tesla uses a cylindrical shape, similar to the batteries in flashlights and other consumer goods. GM’s Ultium cells are pouch-like, or prismatic. They typically have a few grams of the metal each — but that still adds up to about 22 to 25 pounds of lithium for an electric vehicle with a 300-mile range. Global production of the raw material lithium carbonate equivalent, or LCE, totaled 380,000 tons in 2019. One-third of that is for automotive use, according to a Morgan Stanley study. It takes 5.3 tons to produce one ton of the refined metal, enough for up to 90 all-electric vehicles. It’s widely believed that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will generate 30 percent of U.S. vehicle sales by 2030, or somewhere between 5 million and 6 million cars and trucks. That alone would require nearly as much LCE as was produced worldwide in 2019. A report prepared to mark Biden’s 100th day in office made a number of recommendations, including a call for a national stockpile and even the use of the Defense Production Act to acquire and refine critical minerals. There was also a call to set standards for sustainable mining. There’s no shortage of mining companies ready to step in to develop local U.S. mineral sources, including Rio Tinto, Lithium Americas and Glencore. In addition, Tesla last September acquired rights to mine its own lithium in Nevada. All claim they will follow strict standards. Tesla has already acquired the rights to mine its own lithium in Nevada. But not everyone is convinced by such promises. Environmentalists were up in arms last fall when fields of rare flowers, the Tiehm’s buckwheat, mysteriously died off in northern Nevada. The flowers just happened to be sitting atop some of the lithium deposits that Australian mining company Ioneer wants to exploit. While Ioneer denied harming the flowers, the incident drew attention to the larger environmental issues that underpin the push for clean energy. The fate of that and other proposed mining projects is now far from certain. And it’s unclear how the White House will move. It has floated several proposals that could turn in drastically different directions. One would subject mines to existing regulations, rather than the tougher guidelines environmentalists seek. Another would have the U.S. turn to friendly foreign sources for critically needed minerals to avoid opening up new mines. All forms of electrified vehicles, including hybrids and plug-in hybrids, currently account for barely 5 percent of U.S. new car sales. So, even if sales accelerate over the next few years, the U.S. still has some time to line up new sources. Meanwhile, battery companies are working to minimize, even remove, some of the rarer of the rare earths they use — and cobalt, in particular. There’s another way the industry hopes to hold down the need for new raw material supplies: recycling. “The last thing we want is to have batteries, the highest-value components, wind up in landfills,” said Aakash Arora, a managing partner and lead author of a study by the Boston Consulting Group looking at the development of a “circular economy” based around used vehicle batteries. Today’s lithium batteries are proving far more resilient than once anticipated, with most still providing as much as 70 percent or more of their original capacity when the vehicle they’re used in heads to the scrapheap. The BCG study anticipates that by 2030 as much as 30 percent of the high-voltage automotive batteries will find “second life” applications, such as backup power when there’s a brownout or blackout. The other 70 percent of used automotive batteries would need to be recycled. China currently holds the lead in this industry, said Nathan Niese, associate director at BCG. LCE currently is trading at around $13,600 a ton, according to data service Trading Economics, a three-year high. That could rise substantially as demand for the refined metal grows. But that also will increase the pressure for more recycling, experts believe. The question is whether China will dominate that side of the business, as well, or whether the U.S. could establish a domestic battery recycling industry. For its part, the White House appears ready for the challenge. "When you look at the way the U.S. has approached the recycling opportunity, what's very evident is we need to invest in that capacity, we need to take a more proactive approach," an administration official told Reuters earlier this month. "A big part of the lithium opportunity is really recycling, and being a global leader in recycling the lithium from existing batteries and driving that into these new batteries," they said.

As the number of coronavirus cases in this country plateaus, the number of cases among children appears to be continuing to drop. In their weekly report at the end of June, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports about 8,400 children in that week had tested positive for COVID-19, and those under 18 years of age represented 10% of all COVID-19 cases for that week in America. This is the lowest weekly number of pediatric COVID-19 cases since May 2020, according to the AAP, which has been tracking children cases during the pandemic. In early May, the number of children contracting COVID-19 was more than 70,000 in one week, the AAP reports. Then, by early June, that dropped to just below 15,000 children in a week. A few weeks later, it’s below 8,500 pediatric cases in a week. Since the start of the pandemic, over 4 million children have contracted COVID-19, according to publicly-available data the AAP uses for their report, roughly 14% of the total cases in this country. Children still make up a very small percentage of those who are hospitalized and die from COVID-19, according to the nearly two dozen states that report that data. In their latest report, the AAP found children represented between 1-3% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and between 0.0-0.24% of all COVID-19 deaths. “At this time, it still appears that severe illness due to COVID-19 is rare among children,” the report says. However, health experts are keeping an eye on the delta variant, which is creating new hot spots around the country where vaccination rates are lower. It is too soon to tell how big of an increase, if any, is being caused by the delta variant among children. Doctors also want to collect more information about long-term effects of COVID-19 on children, who, because of their age, could be dealing with side effects longer. “There is an urgent need to collect more data on longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects,” the AAP states.

The Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture has launched a new initiative to bolster the country’s agricultural sector, which has the distinguishing feature of having no fixed budget. Maria do Céu Antunes, the country’s minister of agriculture, said the initiative is separate from but aligns with the goals of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy and several other similar initiatives.See Also:European Farmers Ask E.U. Not to Cut Agricultural Spending from New Budget The Terra Futura initiative outlines five main goals that it seeks to achieve over the course of the coming decade: The ministry plans to achieve the five goals through fifteen initiatives, which have been divided into four overarching categories. The Portuguese government hopes that following through with the plan will help mitigate the impacts of climate change and increase its agricultural exports, including olive oil. Among the ways the initiative may be implemented, the ministry cited the use of byproducts from olive oil production. Similar to what is happening in Spain, do Céu Antunes said that waste byproducts from olive oil production could be transformed into biomass, a form of renewable energy, which may be used to power olive mills or sold onto the wider energy matrix. The initiative also calls for the creation of 24 “innovation network” centers, which will be spread across the country. According to the ministry, one of these centers would be solely dedicated to promotion of the Mediterranean diet in Portugal. Separate from the ministry’s initiative, but in the same vein, the Portugal-China chamber of commerce has been meeting recently to discuss economic ties between the two countries. On the agenda is the recently announced Casa de Portugal project, a new platform that will help sell and promote Portuguese products such as wine, honey and olive oil – all of which are in high demand in the world’s most populous country – to Chinese consumers. If all goes according to plan, by 2030 the ministry hopes to: The relevance of exports in the plan was emphasized by the ministry. According to Do Céu Antunes, the National Statistics Institute has reported that “agricultural exports between January and July 2020 have grown five percent when compared to the same period of the last year.”

"Literacies" don't change worlds. The problem is, when we break down our understanding of the world, and of ourselves, into smaller bundles with labels like "literacies" and "life skills," we embed further in our young people the idea that our world can be divided up into commodities that are differentially valued–and the accumulation of the most valuable is the entire purpose of our lives. The complex whole of an individual's skills, perspectives, experiences and hopes is far more than the sum of its parts. But we teach that the key to success and happiness is accumulating the parts, not developing the whole. The result, in my opinion, is that we lower our expectations for ourselves and for each other. Q: What are the challenges in educating students about leadership? A: The greatest challenge in educating students about leadership is the education system itself. This is a system that came into existence to create easily replaceable factory workers who knew how to follow orders but were educated enough not to screw up the production process. Unfortunately, it continues to produce those workers–though now most move to a cubicle instead of the factory–but with the added frustration of ensuring they drop tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege. Our education system is not built to produce leaders because true leaders focus on their ability to add value to their own lives and the lives of those around them. A system that ranks and grades entire groups of young people relative to each other, while indicating those at the top will receive greater rewards, tends not to foster a focus on adding value to others. Our education system produces extraordinary leaders despite itself. It gives me great hope to realize that there are individuals capable of resisting the urge to have their report card serve as a measure of their worth as a person.

The Bronze is a breed of domestic turkey. The name refers to its plumage, which bears an iridescent bronze-like sheen. The Bronze had been the most popular turkey throughout most of American history, but waned in popularity beginning in the mid-20th century. Later in its history, the breed was divided into two distinct types The Broad Breasted Bronze and the Standard Bronze. A great deal of confusion exists about the difference between Standard and Broad Breasted Bronzes, or that there is any difference at all. Collectively, the Standard and Broad Breasted varieties are simply called the Bronze turkey. - Breed Size: Medium to large - Weight: Tom-Around 11.5 kg, Hen-Around 7.25 kg - Climate Tolerance: Almost all climates - Color: Black with an iridescent bronze-like sheen - Rarity: Common - Country/Place of Origin: North America The Bronze turkey was known by the late 1700s, but the name ‘Bronze’ didn’t formally appear until the 1830s. Breeders standardized the Bronze throughout the 1800s, and occasional crosses were made back to the wild turkey. And the Bronze variety was officially recognized by the American Poultry Association in the year of 1874. Bronze turkeys are the product of crossing domestic turkeys brought from England, with the wild turkey. These matings produced a bird that was larger and more robust than the European turkeys, and tamer than wild turkeys. Though the Bronze turkey type was created in the 18th century, the actual name was not used until the 1830s, when a strain developed in the U.S. state of Rhode Island was named the Point Judith Bronze. The name later spread to be used in reference to the breed as a whole, and was in the process simplified to just “Bronze”. In the British Isles, the Bronze was associated with Cambridge, and was called the Cambridge Bronze, but again this name has been simplified to just “Bronze”. Care & Management Always try to keep your birds in healthy environment and learn more about turkey farming and how to prevent health problems. Never feed your birds contaminated or outdated food. Always provide them clean and fresh water. Keep sufficient space inside the house. And lastly, take good care of your birds. These birds weigh far less and have average life spans of 10 to 12 years. There are broad- breasted bronze turkeys, as well, who grow to the same size as the broad-breasted whites, who make up more than 98% of all birds used in production. Turkey habitat is found in forests with a good interspersion of grassy openings, woody draws and woodland. … Nesting habitat occurs on slopes of 30-50% grade with a 60% tree canopy cover. Brood habitat must protect the poults from predators and provide them with a high protein diet, usually insects. Bronze turkey images Also more: Turkey bird Bronze turkey for sale

Despite a burst of pardons and commutations in his last hours in office, Donald Trump used his executive clemency power less frequently than nearly every other president since the turn of the 20th century, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Justice Department data. Trump granted 237 acts of clemency during his four years in the White House, including 143 pardons and 94 commutations. Only two other presidents since 1900 – George W. and George H.W. Bush – granted fewer acts of clemency than Trump. His predecessor, Barack Obama, granted clemency 1,927 times over the course of eight years in office, the highest total of any president going back to Harry Truman. Obama’s total was skewed heavily toward commutations (1,715) instead of pardons (212). Donald Trump ended his presidency with a wave of pardons and commutations for those convicted or accused of federal crimes. This analysis examines how Trump compares with other modern presidents in his overall use of executive clemency. All findings in this analysis are based on data from the U.S. Justice Department, accessed Jan. 22, 2021. Pardons and commutations under Trump are through the end of his term, but requests are only through December 2020. The number of requests Trump received could be higher than reported here because of additional requests he may have received in January 2021. All pardons and commutations issued by Trump are counted as requests granted, even in cases when recipients did not formally petition for clemency. Looking at the same data another way, Trump granted clemency to just 2% of the 11,611 people who petitioned him for it. Only George W. Bush granted clemency to a similarly small proportion of applicants (2%). Trump’s final percentage still could end up being the lowest on record because the Justice Department has not yet published data on the number of applications he received in January 2021, during his final three weeks in office. Clemency refers to multiple forms of presidential mercy. The two most common forms are pardons, which forgive past crimes and restore civil rights, and commutations, which completely or partially reduce sentences for those in prison or on community supervision. Two less-common forms are remissions, which reduce financial penalties associated with convictions, and respites, which are temporary reprieves that are usually granted to inmates for medical reasons. The Justice Department’s statistics do not count clemency granted through proclamation or executive order, such as the actions taken by Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter to forgive thousands of Vietnam-era draft dodgers. While rare overall, Trump’s use of presidential clemency caused controversy because of the nature of his pardons and commutations. Many of Trump’s clemency recipients had a “personal or political connection to the president,” and he often circumvented the formal process through which clemency requests are typically considered, according to analyses by the Lawfare blog. Trump was far from the only president to face scrutiny over his use of clemency. Obama’s frequent use of commutations, particularly for prisoners convicted of drug-related crimes, prompted criticism from Republicans, who said it benefited “an entire class of offenders” and infringed on the “lawmaking authority” of the legislative branch. And President Bill Clinton drew bipartisan condemnation for pardoning a fugitive commodities trader, Marc Rich, on his last day in office in 2001. Trump also wasn’t the only president to save many of his pardons and commutations for his last hours on the job. In fact, every president from Ford to Trump issued pardons or commutations in his last days in the White House, according to the Justice Department. Obama, for example, granted 330 acts of clemency on Jan. 19, 2017, and Clinton granted 177 on Jan. 20, 2001. Trump, however, still granted an unusually large percentage of pardons and commutations late in his term. More than eight-in-ten of his total acts of clemency (84%) came in his final fiscal year in office (the period between Oct. 1 and Jan. 20). That was far higher than the share for other recent presidents, including Obama (61%), Clinton (56%) and George H.W. Bush (49%). Presidents have generally become less forgiving over time, at least when looking at the proportion of clemency requests they have granted. Every president from William McKinley to Carter granted clemency to at least 20% of those who asked for it, according to the Justice Department data. But the percentages have fallen to the single digits for every president since George H.W. Bush, including Obama, who granted clemency to just 5% of those who petitioned him for it. Obama’s relatively low percentage was largely due to the fact that his administration encouraged federal prisoners to apply for leniency under a program known as the Clemency Initiative. The program, which launched in April 2014 and ended when Obama left office in 2017, allowed “qualified federal inmates” – those who met certain Justice Department criteria – to apply to have their prison sentences commuted. Overall, Obama received more than 36,000 clemency petitions during his time in office, by far the largest total of any president on record. Petitions declined sharply after Trump took office. Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Dec. 9, 2016, and previously updated on Nov. 24, 2020.

The 100MW Amanecer Solar CAP plant located in Copiapo, Chile, was built, developed and interconnected by SunEdison subsidiary Amanecer Solar. The plant was constructed under a 20-year contract for difference (CFD) agreement with CAP Group, the biggest steel producer in Chile and will power CAP’s mining projects in the area. Construction on the $250m project began in August 2013 and an inauguration ceremony was held in June 2014. It is the biggest photovoltaic solar power plant in Latin America and one of the world’s biggest solar power plants. The renewable power generated by the plant serves approximately 125,000 Chilean households annually. Amanecer Solar CAP plant location The photovoltaic power plant is situated 37km from Copiapo in the Atacama Desert at an altitude of 1,165m from sea level. The plant consists of more than 310,000 photovoltaic modules spread across 250 acres (101ha). “The renewable power generated by the plant serves approximately 125,000 Chilean households annually.” The annual generation capacity of the plant is expected to be up to 270GWh upon achieving full functionality. It would take more than 71 million litres of fuel to generate the same amount of energy using diesel. The site can be accessed through state road C-309 and the construction for an additional direct-access road is being planned. Technology used at the Amanecer Solar CAP power plant The Amanecer Solar CAP PV plant has 73 power generation blocks installed with more than 310,000 SunEdison Silvantis™ photovoltaic solar modules, which are mounted on SunEdison AP90 single-axis solar trackers. SunEdison’s parent company MEMC provided the ground-mounted photovoltaic crystalline modules. Sunlight is converted into direct current (DC) with the help of the photovoltaic modules. An inverter converts the DC power into alternate current (AC) popwer, which is transmitted to the Sistema Interconectado Central’s (SIC) network. Grid connection and power transmission A 9km-long transmission line was connected to the 220kV Cardones-Cerro Negro Norte main grid transmission line in January 2014, in order to feed the generated energy to the SIC power transmission grid. Mount Signal Solar Power Plant, California, US The Mount Signal Solar Project, also known as Imperial Valley Solar 1 (IVS1), is a utility-scale photovoltaic power plant in California. The transmission line requires a right-of-way 370m long and 23m wide on each side that is situated on government land south-west of the project site. The developers have applied to the Ministry of Bienes Nacionales, which is in charge of public lands in Chile, to gain the right-of-way. Financing the Amanecer Solar CAP plant SunEdison closed a $212.5m non-recourse debt financing arrangement in September 2013 with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US Government’s development finance institution. Rabobank provided a local Chilean peso VAT facility. Contractors involved with Latin America’s biggest solar power plant HIDROSTANK provided the PV solar plant with reinforced polypropylene access chambers (cable pits). Basic engineering for bidding, engineering review, works inspection and quality control of a 23/220kV transformer power substation, an 11km-long, 220kV transmission overhead power line and a 220kV sectioning power substation forming part of the project was provided by Ingenieros Emetres.

El Greco was one of the greatest artists of the Spanish Renaissance, and also one of its most idiosyncratic. His contemporaries were puzzled by his fantastic use of color, and even more so by his oddly distorted vision. Many of his figures—Saint John the Baptist and The Repentant Magdalen and even his own self-portrait—are unnaturally elongated, as if they are being stretched from toe to head. El Greco found a more appreciative reception among 20th century art historians, but the puzzle of his style persisted. Then, in the early 1900s, one expert came up with an explanation: The painter suffered from a severe astigmatism—a distortion of the eye—which “stretches” the world vertically. In other words, El Greco was merely painting what he saw. Case closed. Except that it wasn’t, really. This idea remained popular among critics and historians for nearly a century, until one pointed out a problem with this line of thought: If El Greco did indeed perceive a stretched out world, then he would also have seen his canvas as stretched out—and his reproductions on the canvas. In other words, the distortions of the real world and the reproduction would cancel each other out; the real world elongation would never be transferred to the canvas. Clearly, his distinctive style could not be explained by a literal perceptual disorder. The wrongheaded thinking that kept this theory alive for a century is now known to logicians and perception experts as the El Greco fallacy. It’s a peculiar kind of illogical thinking, which is highly intuitive but obviously wrong once it’s illuminated. And its sweep may go far beyond Renaissance art. Indeed, it may be keeping alive one of the most popular—but questionable—ideas now current in the field of human perception. At least that’s the argument of two Yale University scientists. Chaz Firestone and Brian Scholl decided to apply the El Greco logic to two prominent psychological phenomena, both examples of “top down” influences on what we see. “Top down” influences include beliefs and desires and abilities, which a wave of recent research has shown to shape our vision of the world. For example, it’s been reported that people who are wearing a heavy backpack will see hills as steeper, presumably because they are aware that the hill will be more difficult to ascend with this burden. Firestone and Scholl had their doubts about this line of study and especially about the evidence marshaled to support it. So they decided to revisit two of these well-know effects with slightly altered methods—methods that would expose any El Greco-type fallacious thinking. Here they are: Imagine holding a rod across the front of your body, with both hands, and approaching a doorway. Most people facing this task will wonder if the doorway is too narrow for the rod, and they will judge the width of the opening. That’s higher level cognition, and the research shows that holding the rod influences that judgment by actually making the doorway look smaller—compared to what it would look like to people holding no rod. In the original study, volunteers holding the rod (or not) looked at the doorway, and then turned to face a researcher, who held a tape measure. The researcher pulled the tape measure out until the volunteer said to stop—at the length that matched the perceived doorway. That’s how the researchers measured perceptions of the door’s width, leading to the conclusion that thinking directly shapes perception. Now, here’s what Firestone and Scholl did differently. First, they replicated the original study and got the same results. But then they made this change: After facing the doorway with the pole, they turned to face not a tape measure but another doorway. This doorway, which they could also potentially pass through, was adjustable, and became the measuring device. A researcher widened or narrowed it until it matched the first opening. This may seem like a subtle difference, but it’s crucial for this reason: If holding a rod does indeed “shrink” the perceived opening, then this version of the experiment should “fail.” That is, volunteers should see both doorways as narrower—just as El Greco would have to have seen both real figures and reproductions as elongated. If holding the rod still shrinks the doorway, it cannot logically be explained as a literal perception distortion. And that’s just what the scientists found. The volunteers with the rod continued to see the compressed doorway even though they should not have. If holding the rod really made the doorway look narrower—as the original work claimed—it should have made both doorways look narrower, and the effects should have canceled each other out. In short, there is no evidence from this line of study that thinking shapes literal perception. Firestone and Scholl wanted to show the versatility of the El Greco strategy, so they ran a second study of a completely different kind of top-down influence on perception. This one focused on a recent finding that thinking about unethical behavior actually dims the light that is perceived—as if thinking “dark thoughts” literally makes the world a darker place. In the original work—which they replicated—volunteers recalled either an ethical or an unethical act from their past, including the emotions they experienced at the time of the act. Then they all rated the brightness of the room on a scale of 1 to 7. In Firestone and Scholl’s El Greco version of the experiment, they simply replaced the 7-point scale with seven gray patches varying from light to dark. The volunteers picked the patch that most closely matched the room. Again, this seems like a small change, but it brings the El Greco fallacy into play. If reflecting on unethical deeds indeed makes the room look darker, then this version should fail: The walls of the room would look darker, but so would the patches, so these effects should cancel one another. They found the same perceptual distortion as in the original (and replicated) experiment, as described in a forthcoming paper in the journal Psychological Science. This means that the effect cannot be perceptual. If the walls looked darker, the patches should also have looked darker—but they did not. Something else must account for the perceptual distortion. The room did not literally darken for those unfortunate volunteers who were fretting about their moral slipups. So what accounts for the perceptual distortions in these past studies, if not the influence of higher order thoughts and emotions and abilities? That, for now, remains as mysterious as the source of El Greco’s strangely distorted vision. Wray Herbert’s blogs—“We’re Only Human” and “Full Frontal Psychology”—appear regularly in The Huffington Post.

| || || | | Stinging Nettle Production on Two Hectares | Answered by: Conrad Richter Question from: Sinan Tomekce Posted on: February 1, 2001 I read books with great interest. Thanks again. I wonder if you or your friends in the company can answer my inquiry. I want to grow stinging nettle on my land, about 20,000 square meters (2 hectares). My are very suitable place for growing nettle. In order to do a feasibility study, I wonder how much fresh leaf I can grow and collect, and more important, how many grams of nettle seed I can collect per unit of land. We do not have a figure for seed yields, but fresh (wet) leaf yields are 20 metric tonnes per hectare and dried leaf yields are 1-2 metric tonnes per hectare. I want to grow nettle especially for seed. What do you think if I can collect and export seed to some possible importers. Where can I get such importers addresses? Try the Herb Growers and Marketers Network at www.herbnet.com . That organization publishes the "Green Pages" which lists many members pf the herb industry.

Social Capital and Community Building through the Internet: A Swedish Case Study in a Disadvantaged Suburban Area by Sara Ferlander and Duncan Timms Södertörn University College, Stockholm; University of Stirling Sociological Research Online 12(5)8 Received: 18 May 2006 Accepted: 2 Sep 2007 Published: 30 Sep 2007 The rapid diffusion of the Internet has considerable potential for enhancing the way people connect with each other, the root of social capital. However, the more the Internet is used for building social capital the greater will the impact be on those whose access and/or usage is curtailed. It is therefore important to investigate the impacts of Internet on groups at risk of digital and social exclusion. The aim of this article is to examine how the use of the Internet influences social capital and community building in a disadvantaged area. Quantitative and qualitative data from a case study in a suburban area of Stockholm are used to evaluate the social impacts of two community-based Internet projects: a Local Net and an IT-Café. Each of the projects was aimed at enhancing digital inclusion and social capital in a disadvantaged local community. The paper examines the extent to which use of the Internet is associated with an enhancement of social participation, social trust and local identity in the area. The Local Net appears to have had limited success in meeting its goals; the IT-Café was more successful. Visitors to the IT-Café had more local friends, expressed less social distrust, perceived less tension between different groups in the area and felt a much stronger sense of local identity than non-visitors. Visitors praised the IT-Café as providing a meeting-place both online and offline. The Internet was used for networking, exchange of support and information seeking. Although it is difficult to establish causal priorities, the evidence suggests that an IT-Café, combining physical with virtual and the local with the global, may be especially well suited to build social capital and a sense of local community in a disadvantaged area. The importance of social, rather than solely technological, factors in determining the impact of the Internet on social capital and community in marginal areas is stressed. Keywords: Disadvantaged Area, IT-Café, Local Community, Local Identity, Local Net, Social Capital, Social Networks, Sweden, the Internet, Trust Introduction1.1 The Internet is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life in Western societies (Wellman & Haythornwaite 2002; Wellman 2004; Boase et al. 2006). Computers, communications and social networks have intertwined, making the Internet a part of the household and community (Wellman et al. 2006). The rapid diffusion and use of the Internet has the potential for enhancing the way people connect with each other, the root of social capital: 'the ability of actors to secure benefits by virtue of membership in social networks' (Portes 1998 p. 6). 1.2 Most writers are optimistic about the potential of the Internet for increasing social capital in local communities, providing a means for enhancing social interaction, community identity and trust (e.g. Beamish 1995; Schuler 1996; Ferlander 2003; Gaved & Anderson 2006). A minority, however, adopt a more dystopian view, claiming that the use of the Internet may come at the expense of local community (e.g. Nie & Erbring 2000). Doheny-Farina (1996) argues that the Internet might simply provide a means for people to get out of the local community. Nie (2001) argues that although the Internet can foster global interactions, it may also keep people indoors, leading them to neglect interactions in the community. However, Wellman (2002) has noted that the Internet provides a means for bridging the local the local and the global, adopting the Japanes neologism 'glocalization' to describe this facility. He also suggests that the Internet is used as a complement to other forms of communication rather than a substitute. 1.3 Recent studies suggest that the creation of social capital through the Internet principally benefits those already privileged (Zinnbauer 2007). Thus, there is a risk that the diffusion and development of the Internet will create new forms of exclusion and division, with people living in marginal areas being especially vulnerable (Ferlander & Timms 2006). 1.4 The more the Internet is used for developing and maintaining social capital, the greater will the impact be on those whose access and/or usage is curtailed. Castells (2001) has acknowledged this danger: 'In a global economy, and in a network society where most things that matter are dependent on these Internet-based networks, to be switched off is to be sentenced to marginality…' (p. 277). 1.5 Sweden is often cited as being at the vanguard of the Information Society. More than four-fifths of Swedish households have access to the Internet at home. During the first quarter of 2005, 95 percent of all people aged 16-44 and 85 percent of those aged 45-54 reported using the Internet. More than half those aged 16-74 used a computer on a daily basis (Statistics Sweden 2005). At the same time, there remain considerable variations in both access and usage, with those occupying more vulnerable social positions – especially in terms of education, age and ethnicity - or living in deprived communities being at most risk of exclusion (ITPS 2003; Statistics Sweden 2005; Ferlander & Timms 2006). Statistics Sweden (2005) report that less than 89 percent of those with higher education qualificartions have Internet access at home; amongst those leaving with less than an upper secondary education qualification the figure is 67 percent. Among two parent families 93 percent have Internet access at home; among single parent families the figure is 69 percent. 50 percent of women aged over 55 years used the Internet at home in Spring 2005. Given the ubiquity of access the differences are significant and particular interest attaches to efforts to embed the use of the Internet in less advantaged areas and among those occupying disadvantaged positions. 1.6 This paper examines two approaches which share the goal of using the Internet to enhance social capital and community in a relatively marginalised area in Stockholm: a Local Net and an IT-Café. Local Nets are computer networks located in geographically based communities and characterised by a focus on local issues, digital inclusion and community building. The aim is to use the Internet to form an online community, which will enhance offline community (Blanchard 2004). Local Nets generally provide private access to local web pages (and the Internet) in people's homes; IT-Cafés, on the other hand, provide access to the Internet in a public setting. Liff et al. (1998) note that IT-Cafés are usually located in urban settings and provide computer and Internet access alongside café provision. This sets IT-Cafés apart from other community access points, such as those provided in public libraries or schools and it has been argued that the social aspect of IT-Cafés is at least as important as the technological one in determining their impact (Stewart 2000). IT-Cafés can function as informal 'third places' (Oldenburg 1989), providing an arena for both physical and virtual interaction (Ferlander 2003). 1.7 The need for more robust empirical research on local computer initiatives in general, and within disadvantaged areas in particular, has been noted by several writers (e.g. Keeble 2003; Loader & Keeble 2004; Ferlander & Timms 2006; Gaved & Anderson 2006). The relationship between Local Nets and social capital has been widely discussed, but subject to little empirical research (Prell 2003). Even less academic attention has been paid to IT-Cafés (Wakeford 2003). In this study, we aim to examine how the use of the Internet has influenced social capital and community building in a disadvantaged area of Stockholm, which has been the site of both a Local Net and an IT-Café. Social Capital2.1 Social capital has become one of the most popular terms in the social sciences (e.g. Bourdieu 1985; Coleman 1988; Putnam 1993; Portes 1998; Lin 2001). Differences in the detailed specification of social capital are apparent between theorists, but the core of the concept rests in the availability of resources which can be accessed through social relationships (e.g. Coleman 1990; Putnam 2000; Woolcook 2001; Ferlander 2003; Ferlander 2007). In one of the most frequently quoted statements, Putnam (1995) defines social capital as 'features of social organization such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate co-ordination and co-operation for mutual benefit' (p. 67). 2.2 Social capital can be grounded in a variety of different network characteristics, relating to such variations as the difference between weak and strong relationships (Granovetter 1973) and between bonding, bridging and linking connections (Woolcook 1998). Strong ties are with people emotionally close to the individual; weak ties are with people emotionally distant. Bonding connections are with people similar to oneself; bridging connections are with people different from oneself. Linking connections can be described as a sub-dimension of bridging connections. Whereas bridging ties span horizontal networks, connecting people of similar status, linking ties span vertical chains, linking people across hierarchical groups. Bridging and linking – cross-cutting - social capital provide access to wide informational support; bonding social capital is more likely to provide emotional and instrumental support. It has been suggested that the former may be crucial for 'moving on', providing access to diverse information and resources (Granovetter 1982). Linking relationships may be especially important for poor and excluded communities (Szreter & Woolcook 2004), as these forms of connections have direct implications for social empowerment (Woolcook 2001). Bonding social capital is crucial for 'getting by', providing a fundamental source of social support and a sense of community. It has also been noted that bonding ties may encourage excessive localisation and social exclusion, cutting people off from the wider society and increasing social segregation (Portes & Landolt 1996; Ferlander 2003). 2.3 Most statements about social capital stress its positive value. Social capital has, for instance, been linked to educational achievement (e.g. Coleman 1988), democracy (e.g. Putnam 1993), economic opportunities (Granovetter 1985) and health (e.g. Kawachi et al. 1997; Ferlander 2007). Low social capital can result in social exclusion, reflecting limited access to resources available through social participation and networking (Ferlander 2003) such as learning, health and economic opportunities (Zinnbauer 2007). 2.4 Putnam (2000) has presented evidence that there was a decline in social capital in the United States during the latter half of the twentieth century. He argues that this period saw a decline in socializing, trusting and joining community organizations. The decline resulted in increased isolation with people paying little attention to their local communities. There has been heated debate about whether a similar erosion has taken place in other societies (e.g. Hall 2002; Offe & Fuchs 2002; Rothstein 2002). Regardless of the temporal trajectory, at any one time there is likely to be an uneven distribution of social capital (e.g. Bourdieu 1985; Putnam 2002). Poorer areas tend to have lower overall levels of social capital than more affluent ones (Ferlander & Timms 2001) and there is a significant variation in the nature of the networks involved, with poorer areas tending to have relatively lower levels of bridging and higher levels of bonding connections than more affluent areas (Woolcook 1998). 2.5 Since it has been argued that social capital generally has a positive value, but may be in decline and is unevenly distributed, it is vital to look at its creation. A weakness of much of the existing research and theory in the field is that much more attention has been paid to the consequences of social capital than to its causes (Glaeser 2001; Field 2003). In order to develop policies designed to enhance social capital, research about its formation is needed. Given that social capital is based upon social relationships, anything that acts as a mechanism for communication can be expected to have an influence on it. It is in this context that the role of the Internet becomes salient. The Internet and Social Capital3.1 There is a considerable amount of work concerned with the way in the Internet influences social capital (e.g. Ferlander 2003; Huysman & Wulf 2004; Van Bavel et al. 2004; Best & Krueger 2006). Putnam (2000) describes the relationship between the Internet and social capital as follows: 'Social capital is about networks, and the Net is the network to all ends' (p. 171). The Internet has the potential to create and maintain social capital, through its capacity for facilitating new ways of communication, networking, collaboration and the exchange of information and support. The Internet seems well designed for the creation and maintenance of various forms of social capital, such as strong and weak ties, and both bonding (interest-specific) and bridging (non-local) social capital (Ferlander 2003). According to Wellman & Gulia (1999): 'Computer-supported social networks sustain strong, intermediate, and weak ties that provide information and social support in both specialized and broadly based relationships…' (p. 188). 3.2 The Internet, and especially email, is often used to maintain links with existing strong ties, such as close friends and family, complementing other forms of communication. At the same time the Internet expands the range of possible networks, and the creation and maintenance of weak ties appears to be easier online than offline. The Internet also facilitates the search for others sharing specific interests, creating bonding social capital. However, although certain online groups host discussions of particular interest, they also gather diverse people, increasing bridging social capital on many levels (Ferlander 2003). The World Bank (2007) also notes the bridging nature of the Internet: 'Information technology has the potential to increase social capital – and in particular "bridging" social capital, which connects actors to resources, relationships and information beyond their immediate environment' (p. 3). This illustrates the spatial aspect of social capital. Bonding social capital can be based on local connections, and bridging social capital on wider, potentially global, forms of social capital. Davies (2004) points out that 'the medium has the rare ability to support any scale of social group and users can connect to local and non-local networks simultaneously, creating bridges between the two' (p. 4). 3.3 Research in relatively affluent areas, with high pre-existing levels of social capital, has shown that membership in Local Nets tends to be associated with an increased level of social participation, both online and offline (e.g. Hampton 2001; 2003; Kavanaugh & Patterson 2002; Mesch & Levanon 2003). Studies of Netville in Toronto and the Blacksburg Electronic Village have concluded that the Internet has positive effects on social capital, especially weak ties, and community building. However, it has been argued that social capital and community attachment may be a prerequisite for the success of local ICT initiatives (e.g. Putnam 2000; Van Bavel et al. 2004). Kavanaugh and Patterson (2001) argue that the success of the Blacksburg project may have been related to its location in a community with high pre-existing levels of social capital. It remains to be seen whether similar effects are apparent in more disadvantaged areas, with lower initial levels of social capital and a weaker sense of community. The Case Study4.1 The case study is located in a multi-cultural suburban area called Skarpnäck, c. 10 kilometers southeast of Stockholm city centre. The area was developed in the mid-1980's, with houses arranged in apartment blocks around central car-free courts. The area has a population of around 8600, including many disadvantaged individuals, such as single parents, residents with a low level of income and residents with a foreign background. In 1998, 28 percent of the residents had a foreign background (foreign citizens born abroad or in Sweden or foreign-born Swedish citizens) and 28 percent were also single parents (of all households with children). In 1999, the median income was 178,000 SEK (cf. 205,200 SEK in the rest of Stockholm) (USK 2000; Ferlander 2003). 4.2 The area has been stigmatized in the media, where it has been described as having 'high levels of social problems and criminality'. An article in the main Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter (Bengtsson 1999) is almost apocalyptic: 'Skarpnäck was to be the new suburb where one had learnt from mistakes from older suburban areas. However, ... Skarpnäck is the vision that crashed. The social problems are immense and people are fleeing the area. Still, Skarpnäck is probably only at the beginning of its descent... Today criminality is also a big problem. Of all suburbs Skarpnäck had the highest number of reported crimes per inhabitants in 1996-1997... Nowhere else is the gap between Swedes and foreign citizens as big as in Skarpnäck' (p. 3). 4.3 Another sign of the area's stigmatization is its occurrence in the online Urban Slang website: 'Sweden may not be know for their gansters and ghettos, but Skarpnack be da roughest innan da beznaz. Gypsies will steal your bike and sell it back to ya'. 4.4 According to survey data from the Stockholm Office of Research and Statistics, many residents share the negative perceptions of the area held by outsiders. In 1997, for instance, the local community had the highest numbers of respondents complaining about theft and burglary of any area in the city (Ivarsson 1997). It must be stressed, however, that the qualitative findings in our study show that many residents were happy in the area, completely disagreeing with the negative perceptions propagated by outsiders. The Local Net and the IT-Café5.1 The Local Net, Skarpnet, was launched in 1998 by the main housing association in the area, with the explicit aim of tackling local social problems. It was one of the first Local Nets in Sweden and received considerable positive attention in the media. Skarpet was run by a single enthusiast – an IT-manager from the housing company – with no local management committee (although it was intended that a number of volunteers living in the area would be appointed as 'ambassadors' to demonstrate the system and provide general help). The site was monitored and the administrator insisted that all communications should be in Swedish - a significant decision given the number of immigrants and the multiplicity of languages spoken in the area. 5.2 The initiative aimed to provide subsidised connection to a local website (and to the Internet) at home for all residents in the area, providing access to local (and global) services, such as information about local events and the opportunity to 'chat' with local politicians. Access to the Local Net was free; access to the Internet was based on the same tariff as dial-up services. Skarpnet was mounted on a pre-existing 2Mbits cable network, enabling the telephone to be used while surfing, and was intended to be accessed through user-friendly set-top boxes. These features were unusual in 1998. Despite these advantages, the project failed to achieve critical mass. It was abandoned two years after its inauguration. In its place, an IT-Café was established. 5.3 The IT-Café opened in 2000, located in the 'Culture House', on the main thoroughfare of the area. It was managed by a relatively young local resident well-known in the area. This manager personifies the 'public figure' described by Jacobs (1961) – an individual who is prominent at circulating information and at brokering introductions. In contrast to the single authority behind the Local Net, the IT-Café was sponsored by a combination of the three main housing associations in the area, the local council and an Internet provider. Visitors to the IT-Café were offered subsidised access to 13 computers and the Internet, with, if needed, informal IT-support and help from the manager. The prices were low: 10 SEK for half an hour (c. 1 euro) and 100 SEK for a monthly membership card, which gave unlimited access during the opening hours of the Café. In addition to the equipment, the IT-Café offered a variety of subsidised computer courses for its visitors, including ones specially designed for elderly users. In the coffee area just outside, users could - and did - meet and chat face-to-face. 5.4 The prospectus for the Local Net included the intention of increasing digital inclusion, improving the reputation of the area, enriching social contacts and enhancing the sense of local community. The IT-Café had similar aims, explicitly aiming to decrease the digital divide and increase social integration in the area. Whereas the Local Net mainly focused on building social capital and local community through the creation of a local online community, the IT-Café focused on increasing social interation – online and offline – through the provision of a physical meeting place. On the web site of the IT-Café, the following aims were stated: 'To increase knowledge about the new media and to create a place where people, old and young and from different nationalities, can meet and in that way increase communication between people in the area'. 5.5 In short, each of the initiatives was explicitly aimed at combating the digital divide and at enhancing social contacts and social cohesion in the area. This article focuses on the two latter goals of the projects: to increase social capital and a sense of local community (for an evaluation of their effects on digital inclusion, see Ferlander & Timms 2006). Research Methods6.1 The question examined in this paper is: To what extent can the use of the Internet (re-) create social capital and a sense of local community in a disadvantaged urban area? More specifially, we will focus on the impacts of the projects on social contacts, trust, tensions between different groups and a sense of local identity. Computer usage, attitudes and expectations of the projects will also be examined. 6.2 The evaluation of the two computer schemes involved a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches, with questionnaire surveys being supplemented by in-depth interviews and focus groups. Two different comparisons were made in terms of the social impacts of the projects: one cross-sectional and one before and after study. 6.3 The sample population for the Local Net survey consisted of tenants of the housing association setting up the scheme. The sample frame contained 400 tenants: 200 randomly selected tenants (out of 1000) not connected to the network and the 200 who were connected. Questionnaires were distributed in early 1999. Responses were obtained from 177 residents: 90 who were not connected to the Local Net and 87 who were. Information on those using the IT-Café was obtained from 94 questionnaires placed in the Café in early 2001, with 61 being filled in by visitors (from an unspecified numbers of users). Questionnaires were also delivered to 90 visitors who at some point had bought membership cards: 33 were returned. The IT-Café sample was compared with the samples collected before its opening: the 87 respondents connected to the Local Net and the 90 respondents who were not connected. 6.4 The response rate in the Local Net study was 45 percent. This rate is regarded as reasonably satisfactory, given the high mobility and number of different languages spoken in the area. Many surveys had also recently been conducted in the area, which led to a degree of 'survey resistance'. Comparisons with statistics from the Stockholm Office of Research and Statistics (USK) suggest that the Local Net and the IT-Café samples were generally representative of the overall characteristics of the community population (USK 2000). The Local Net sample is representative in terms of number of years spent in the area, gender and ethnicity. The non-connected sample is also representative in terms of education and ethnicity. The IT-Café sample is representative of the overall population in terms of education and ethnicity. 6.5 The Local Net questionnaires contained approximately 50 questions (the IT-Café survey was slightly shorter), divivided into the following topics: demographic factors, computer experience, patterns of ICT usage, perceptions of the ICT projects, social networks, social support, trust and sense of community. In this article, social capital is measured through questions about social contacts and trust. The sense of local community is measured through questions about tensions between different groups and a direct question about the strength of a feeling of local identity. 6.6 Social contacts were measured through the following question: 'How many really close friends do you have (a close friend is someone you can talk to with about everything)?' There were two response alternatives: 'Close friends in the local area' and 'Close friends outside the area'. Trust was measured using the Srole anomia-scale (Srole 1956), including the key question: 'These days you don't really know whom to trust.' Sense of local community, the second goal of the two projects, was measured through questions about social integration and community attachment: 'Do you believe there is tension between different groups?' 'If you think there is tension, which groups are you thinking about?' and 'To what extent do you feel "locally anchored" and rooted in the area where you live? (State your level of rootednes on this scale from 0, no roots, to 10, very strong roots)'. The latter question has been used in previous surveys (Ivarsson 1990; 1993; 1997; 2000), adding a comparative element. 6.7 Bonding, bridging and linking social capital was measured in geographical terms as well as in more traditional social terms. The first question, concerning number of close friends, measured social capital based upon strong social ties, but simultaneously tapped into the local and non-local dimensions of social capital. The geographical distinction was between local and non-local friends: social contacts within the area (bonding social capital) were compared with those outside the local area (bridging or linking social capital). Within the area, bonding and bridging social capital were investigated through questions about social integration (tensions between different groups) and the sense of local identity. This dimension, community attachment, is according to Wellman and collagues (2001) an important form of social capital. For an explicit discussion about the relationship - and differences - between social capital and community, see Ferlander (2003). 6.8 There is a growing discussion about the measurement of social capital, especially the differences between bonding, bridging and linking social capital. Although social capital is often seen as a multidimensional concept, most empirical studies rely on one-dimensional measures. The most common indicators are membership of voluntary associations and generalized trust. Social connections with family and friends are other common indicators of informal forms of social capital. In this study, we have used indicators that have been used in many previous studies of social capital, but we do not claim to encompass all the dimensions of the concept. The development of empirical indicators, especially ones which can distinguish between bonding, bridging and linking forms of relationships, should be a priority for future research. For a further discussion on the measurement of social capital, see Ferlander (2003; 2004; 2007). Interviews and Focus Groups 6.9 Data from the questionnaires were enhanced by qualitative information obtained in in-depth interviews and focus groups. Interviews and discussions were primarily conducted in Swedish, with translations provided by the authors. Eleven residents (connected and non-connected) and key people in the Local Net project, including the two ambassadors and the project manager, were interviewed in the first study. These interviews were mostly conducted in 1999. In 2000-2, nineteen current or previous users of the IT-Cafe´ along with the IT-Cafe´manager were also interviewed (in individual interviews or focus groups). 6.10 The respondents for the in-depth interviews and the members of the focus gropus were selected by natural choice or snowball sampling. About half of the in-depth interviews, the ones conducted with 'key-people', such as the project managers, were selected by natural choice. The rest of the interviews were mainly conducted with residents connected to the Local Net. The sample frame used for the focus groups was a list of visitors who at some point had bought membership cards at the IT-Café. The rest of the participants were selected by 'snowball sampling'. According to Gilbert (1993), snowball sampling is suitable 'when the target sample members are involved in some kind of network with others who share the characteristic of interest' (p. 74). For a further description of sampling and methodological issues, see Ferlander (2003; 2004). Findings7.1 Despite its good intentions, positive press coverage and the support of the housing company, the Local Net largely failed to achieve its objectives, having a minimal impact on social capital and community in the area. In contrast, the IT-Café appears to have been much more successful, with those making use of the Café exhibiting significantly enhanced levels of social capital and sense of community, as well as making use of the Internet and the IT-Café for a variety of social activities, such as networking, exchange of support and information seeking. The Local Net 7.2 Even at its peak, there were relatively few people connected to the Local Net and most of them can be described as traditional computer users - young, well-educated males (Ferlander 2003; Ferlander & Timms 2006). 7.3 Even among those who were connected, there was little usage of the local network. Technical problems affected both the broadband cable and the set-top boxes (which were eventually replaced by standard PC's). Although neither setback was long lasting, each helped to erode confidence, especially among less experienced users. A more serious shortcoming was the paucity of local content and the relative absence of attractive services. The shortcomings were clear to interviewees: Anders (48): 'This net is so incredibly limited… there is not much information on it… The site is damn boring!' Thomas (31): 'I want to meet people online, but there is nobody there… So far I think it's pretty dead with this project – except that the connection is very fast.' Magnus (54): 'I don't visit Skarpnet very often. Sometimes I go there, but it has not really started.' 7.4 Notwithstanding the relative lack of use, residents were enthusiastic about the potential of the Local Net for local engagement. The facility that was anticipated most eagerly was the provision of local information. At the same time, many residents were interested in and did use Skarpnet as a means of getting access to the Internet. The absence of relevant local material led to the Local Net becoming primarily a gateway to the outside world. Many respondents thought that Skarpnet could enhance social inclusion for its members, providing external links to the wider society. Impacts on Social Capital and Local Community 7.5 Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the Local Net appears to have had little impact on social capital in the local community. There were few significant differences between residents connected and those not connected to the Local Net in terms of number of close friends, trust and perceived tensions between different groups. 7.6 The findings show that the residents - connected as well as non-connected to the Local Net - had low levels of social capital in 1999. They had few close friends locally and the area was characterised by high levels of distrust and perceived tension between different groups, especially in relation to ethnicity and age. Respondents showed significantly lower levels of local identity than those surveyed in other areas of Stockholm (Ivarsson 1997; Ferlander 2003). A major contributing factor to the low level of social capital, according to the discussions in the focus groups, was the lack of local services and meeting-places in the area. 7.7 One of the few differences between the connected and the non-connected residents was in terms of their sense of local identity. Residents connected to the Local Net expressed a stronger sense of local identity than those who were not connected. This may be related to the project aim to offer a local service in an otherwise rather deprived area. The Local Net was advertised as providing a virtual meeting-place where residents could deal with local issues. Attitudes and Expectations of the Local Net 7.8 Despite lack of local usage and the limited impact on the local community, most respondents remained positive about the Local Net initiative. Almost three-quarters of those surveyed (73 %) – connected and non-connected - were positive towards the project and very few were negative (4 %). The expectations about the potential of the Local Net as a means for enhancing social capital were also high, among both the connected and the non-connected. About a third of the samples – with no difference between the two groups - thought the Local Net had the potential to increase social contacts, trust and the sense of community in the area, even if it had failed to do so in its operation. Reasons given for believing it could have a positive effect included its potential for enhancing social contacts (34 %), social cohesion (32 %) and local identity (34 %). More than half of the respondents (58 %) believed that Skarpnet would enhance the reputation of the area. Few respondents thought otherwise. 7.9 There were few differences in expectations between those connected and those not connected to the Local Net. However, the connected respondents were more positive about the potential impact of Skarpnet on local identity than the non-connected (42 % versus 25 % thinking it would enhance the identity of the area). Conversely, they were less positive in terms of their expectations about its likely impact on social contacts in the area, with 27 percent of the connected thinking it would increase contacts compared with 43 percent of the non-connected. Some interviewees thought that this was because not everyone was interested in using the Local Net for the creation of social contacts: Anders (48): 'They (residents) are only interested in the fast connection (to the Internet), so they can do what ever they want.' Magnus (54): 'Skarpnet won't make it become like Italy here in Skarpnäck. Swedes are pretty difficult. You have to attract them somehow. However, the network could be good for increasing contacts between different groups, as you don't know whom you are talking to.' 7.10 Despite being negative, the last interviewee suggested that the Local Net had the potential to increase social integration and bridging social capital in the community. Another resident connected to Skarpnet also thought it had the potential to build bridges between different local groups: Thomas (31): 'I believe a Local Net could create meetings in the area. The good thing with IT is that one can be anonymous and not judge anyone due to gender, ethnicity etc. There are no prejudices online. Through a Local Net people might realise that they should meet face-to-face, and if they live in the same area that can create really "cool" meetings, for example between an immigrant and a racist. When they eventually meet they cannot say: "What – is it you? Get lost!"'. The IT-Café8.1 In contrast to the limited use made of the Local Net, the IT-Café had a regular number of daily users including many visitors from disadvantaged groups, such as elderly people, single parents and people with a foreign background (Ferlander 2003; Ferlander & Timms 2006). 8.2 Not surprisingly, the prime reason quoted by respondents for visiting the IT-Café was access to computers and the Internet. There were also a number of important ancillary reasons, often stressing social aspects of the IT-Café experience such as the availability of informal computer support, the provision of subsidised courses and the chance to meet people and share experiences. Online social activities, such as email and chat, were very popular, in particular among younger users. Among this group, the Internet seemed to complement other forms of communication among people who already had established strong ties, but were able to use the Internet as a means of extending them outside the local community. As put by three of the visitors: Lucia (22): 'Thanks to email I can keep in touch with my friends in Italy.' Ashmed (27): 'I use email to keep in touch with friends, partly from Skåne (south of Sweden) where I'm from and also with some who have moved abroad.' Ricardo (21): 'I mainly email my friends and my girlfriend who lives in Umeå (north of Sweden).' 8.3 Among visitors with a foreign background, the Internet was used for seeking news and, as stated in one of the quotes above, contacts 'back home': foreign-language news pages were a popular download. In addition to the use of email for maintaining connections with family and friends, the Internet was used for making new links. It was appreciated for its potential to open up new contacts with different types of people from all over the world and also for the chance of meeting people sharing similar interests: Eva (48): 'You have a greater range for meeting people from the whole country and from other countries.' Julio (24): 'I chat with girls from different parts of Sweden, like Umeå or Gävle.' Athena (26): 'I often chat in foreign chats. I love to chat with people that I don't know - just because many of them are different to me... I have not made any friends, friends, but I have definitely expanded my social network. ' Shazia (38): 'It is very easy to get contacts. The world becomes so small. You can go everywhere and find people with the same interests.' 8.4 In general, the Internet was especially valued for its facility for reaching the outside world, creating bridges between what is recognised as being a disadvantaged area and the wider society. Many visitors stated that they felt more included in the Information Society and the wider society as a result of using the IT-Café. Impacts on Social Capital and Local Community 8.5 The findings show that social capital and a sense of local community were significantly higher among IT-Café users than among the residents surveyed two years earlier. Visitors to the IT-Café reported having significantly more local friends, expressed less social distrust, perceived less tension between different groups and felt a stronger sense of local identity than the earlier respondents. USK data (Ivarsson 2005) suggest that there was no general increase in the social capital indicators for Skarpnäck during this time, indicating no major changes in the local community between the first and the second study: IT-Café visitors were clearly distinctive. 8.6 Table 1 shows that respondents visiting the IT-Café reported twice as many friends in the local community as non-visitors (3.4 vs. 1.5). It may, of course, have been the case that the IT-Café attracted those who were already gregarious, but participants in the focus groups suggested that the difference reflected the meetings that took place in the IT-Café, with contacts being created and maintained in the Café online as well as offline: Manager: 'I think the Café can lead to new contacts... People may sit here in the Café, perhaps talk and later say "hi" to each other in the street.' Jurgita (47): 'People socialise in the Café. I have seen that. And my children have met other children here.' 8.7 Table 2 shows significant difference between IT-Café visitors and non-visitors in terms of trust. As measured by questions from the Srole anomia scale (1956), people who visited the IT-Café tended to have a lower level of generalized social distrust than those who did not visit: less than half the IT-Café users (44 %) agreed that 'You do not really know whom to trust these days', compared with two-thirds of the non-users. Possible reasons for the lower levels of distrust among the Café-visitors identified in the interviews and focus groups included meetings with members from different groups in the Cafe, providing a non-threatening perspective on social heterogeneity, and the range of information on different cultures available on the Web. One visitor explained it like this: Birgitta (59): 'You get a feeling that the people who come here are pretty decent... When you come in here, without thinking about it, you take it for granted that the people are pretty decent. This may increase general trust in the whole area.' 8.8 As shown in Table 3, there was a significant difference between Café-users and non-users in terms of their perception of tensions in the community. Non-users were much more likely to specify conflict than users of the IT-Café, quoting both inter-generational and inter-ethnic tensions. About two-fifths of the non-users (39 %) thought that there was tension between different local groups compared to only about one fifth in the IT-Café sample (19 %). As in the case of mistrust, focus group participants and interviewees suggested that the reason for there being less perceived tension in the community among Café users was related to the non-threatening meetings between different groups which took place in and through the IT-Café. Several respondents mentioned the mutual respect between people with different backgrounds, facilitated by the Café: Katitzi (26): 'I have got in touch with many people in the Café. If you sit here you naturally talk to other people – different people: immigrants, Swedes, older people, youngsters... It's important that there is something – a kind of meeting place for everyone. Not just a youth club or something only for the mentally ill. This is something for everyone.' Greta (81): 'Today the girl next to me has helped me. We've become friends. They're so sweet these young people.' Manager: 'I feel touched when I see a youngster helping an elderly person or when an immigrant asks straight out in the room about the spelling of a word. These things happen here in the IT-Café, and I definitely think that the Café integrates people in the area.' 8.9 One of the major differences between IT-Café visitors and those questioned two years earlier is the strength of local identity. Visitors to the Café expressed a much stronger sense of local identity than non-visitors. 8.10 Table 4ª demonstrates that before the opening of the IT-Café, in 1999, the sense of local identity in the area was low: 5.1 on a scale from 1 (no local identity) to 10 (very strong local identity). Using the same question, the Stockholm Office of Research and Statistics found that the average score among residents in the area has been low, slightly over five, for the previous 5-10 years (Ivarsson 1990; 1993; 1997; 2000). This compares with an average of 6.7 in Stockholm as a whole, and is one of the lowest scores in the Metropolitan area. The mean on the identity scale for IT-Café-visitors in 2001 was 7.4, significantly higher than the figure recorded for non-users two years earlier - and, indeed, above the average for Stockholm as a whole. On this measure of local community, the IT-Café appears to have been especially successful. 8.11 As Table 4b shows, far more IT-Café respondents (60 %) felt a strong sense of local identity (score 7+) than non-users of the Café (22 %). Conversely, only a fifth (20 %) of the IT-Café sample felt a low level of local identity, compared to half (50 %) of the non-users. 8.12 Visitors to the IT-Café were clearly exceptional, expressing a much stronger sense of local identity than non-visitors. Interviews and focus group responses suggested that the IT-Café played a significant causal role in encouraging local pride and identity, acting as an informal physical and virtual meeting place. As three focus groups participants put it: Athena (26):' I think it was a super idea. This area needs an IT-Café instead of cutting down everything important here. It is important that there is something – a kind of meeting-place for everyone. And computers are something everyone needs now.' Jurgita (47): 'If you compare with other areas, they don't have IT-Cafés. You cannot surf on the Internet there.' Greta (81): 'I think the Café increases the standard in the whole area. Absolutely.' Attitudes and Expectations 8.13 The survey data shows that attitudes towards the IT-Café and expectations of its impact in terms of social capital and community building were very high – significantly higher even than those stimulated by the Local Net. Almost everyone surveyed was positive toward the IT-Café (98 %) and nobody was negative (cf. Local Net: 73 % and 4 %). More than two-thirds of respondents thought the IT-Café had already enhanced social capital in the area, with 70 percent saying that it had encouraged social contacts (cf. 27 % of those connected to the Local Net). Users also believed that the Café would increase the sense of local community, with 66 percent saying that it would enhance local identity and 48 percent that it would have a direct impact on social cohesion (cf. Local Net: 34 % and 32 %). The vast majority of respondents (80 %) thought the area would become more attractive as a result of the IT-Café (cf. 58 % of those connected to the Local Net). Discussion9.1 The basis of social capital is connectivity. Anything which has an effect on the ability of people to connect with others is likely to play a crucial role in the development of social capital. To the extent that opportunities are opened up for people to meet with others in a context which encourages networking, trust, mutual respect and local identity, social capital will be enhanced. Both the Local Net and the IT-Café reviewed here sought to provide just such a context. Summary of Results 9.2 Skarpnet failed to reach most of its stated goals. Despite the widespread interest in using it for local purposes and high expectations, technological problems in combination with a lack of local services led to little local usage and the impact on local participation and levels of trust in the local community was insignificant. The Local Net was more successful in terms of facilitating networking outside the local area, fostering bridging and linking forms of social capital. The few users of the Local Net mainly used it as a gateway to the Internet, reflecting the concern expressed by Doheny-Farina (1996) that Local Nets might simply provide means for local residents to 'get out of town'. Although not reaching its goals in terms of local usage and the creation of local or bonding social capital, the role of the Local Net in building links to the wider society was a potentially significant achievent in terms of social inclusion and social empowerment. These are important aspects for people in a disadvantaged area (Szreter & Woolcook 2004), but the demise of the project meant that this potential could not be pursued. 9.3 In contrast to the Local Net, the IT-Café seems to have met virtually all its goals: attracting many visitors from disadvantaged groups, notably pensioners and immigrants, and encouraging a general increase in computer-skills, increasing both digital and social inclusion (Ferlander & Timms 2006). The IT-Café also appears to be related to an enhancement of several indicators of social capital in the local community. Users of the IT-Café had significantly more local friends, higher levels of trust and a stronger sense of social cohesion and community identity than the non-visitors surveyed earlier. 9.4 The IT-Café provided a physical meeting place which faciliated social networking, especially the development of weak ties bridging different local groups, and led to decreased tensions between them. The physical aspect of the IT-Café had positive impacts upon local ties and bonding social capital. Nonetheless, visitors to the Café, in common with the users of the Local Net, mainly used the Internet for non-local networking (bridging and linking social capital) including the creation and/or maintenance of both weak and strong, and interest-specific (bonding) ties. The Internet was used for the maintenance of non-local strong bonding social capital, with many visitors using the Internet to keep in touch with family and friends outside the local community. People with a foreign background kept in touch with people in their home countries via email and used the Internet to search for relevant information such as foreign newspapers. The IT-Café facilitated social participation among its visitors at both local and global scales: 'glocalization' personified (Wellman 2002). The Internet was used for the creation and maintenance of diverse forms of social capital spanning geographical and social boundaries (Wellman & Gulia 1999; Ferlander 2003). 9.5 As is generally the case in synchronous research, it is difficult to disentangle causal priorities in the present study. It can be argued that visitors to the IT-Café already had high levels of local social connections and a strong sense of local community beforehand: visitors to local meeting-places tend to be people who are already socially engaged and they might, indeed, have been attracted to the Café through local acquaintances. Although this possibility cannot be excluded, respondents in the focus groups and interviews were adamant that the IT-Café had had a marked and positive effect on the development of social contacts, the growth of mutual understanding and trust and the sense of local identity. Respondents believed that none of these would have occurred if the IT-Café had not existed. Criteria for Successful Social Capital and Community Building Internet Projects10.1 It is dangerous to generalize from a single case, but it seems that the IT-Café was rather effective in terms of enhancing social capital and building community, while the Local Net was much less successful. The differing impacts of the Local Net and the IT-Café highlight the importance of social factors in building social capital and community in areas with low initial levels of social capital. 10.2 There are a number of differences between the Local Net and the IT-Café which may have influenced their relative degrees of success. The difference in the nature and location of access to the Internet is, perhaps, the most obvious distiction between the two projects. Whereas the Local Net depended on individualised, private access in resident's homes, the IT-Café provided public access in a communal space. The Local Net suffered from the lack of face-to-face reinforcement available to the uses of the IT-Café. The physical aspect – a meeting place open for everyone – in itself seems to have been very important for building social capital and community in Skarpnäck. 10.3 The provision of face-to-face support and training was an important factor in the success of the IT-Café. Many digitally excluded groups, especially elderly people, exhibit a lack of interest and confidence in using technology. In order for them to overcome these barriers to participation in the Information Society it is essential to provide support and training. People need both motivation and skills to use the Internet for building community and social capital. The face-to-face support and courses offered in the IT-Café – by the manager and on the basis of self-help by the visitors themselves - played a significant role in increasing visitors' interest and ability to use the Internet for social activities. Skarpnet failed to satisfy this criterion; the IT-Café met it. 10.4 There was also a difference in focus between the two projects. The Local Net focused on building a local online community, the IT-Café focused on providing a physical meeting place where residents could learn about the Internet and and use it to reach the outside world. The emphasis on local issues was stronger in the Local Net than in the IT-Café. Paradoxically this may have been a handicap: it may be more difficult to attract local Internet usage than global usage, especially in disadvantaged areas which are characterised by low levels of social capital and a weak sense of community. For the survival of a Local Net it is crucial to make local online services as attractive as those available elsewhere on the Internet. Without relevant content, based on the needs of the community, Local Nets will not be used for local social capital building. The failure of Skarpnet to attract local material was both a symptom and a cause of its demise. 10.5 The final – and related - difference concerns the management of the two projects. The IT-Café was seen as being a genuinely communal facility; the Local Net was perceived as being primarily the property of the housing company. It is a basic assumption of the community networks movement (Schuler 1996) that for community-based Internet initiatives to be a positive force for the enhancement of social capital and community building they must be rooted in the locality itself. A bottom-up approach, with local residents contributing to the creation and content of the project, is important for its survival. This may however be difficult in a community with low levels of social capital. 10.6 The demise of the Local Net can be interpreted as providing further support for the belief that successful Local Nets, based on home access, demand high and pre-existing levels of social capital and community (e.g. Putnam 2000; Kavanaugh & Patterson 2001). This may be one of the reasons for the difference in outcomes between Skarpnet and the well-known Netville project in an affluent Canadian area (Hampton 2001). More generally, there is likely to be a two-way relationship between the Internet and social capital. The success of the IT-Café indicates that use of the Internet is not inimical to the enhancement of social capital and that, given the right social context, it can enhance both local and wider forms of social capital. The ability to combine online with offline and the local with the global, is of especial relevance for the creation of social capital in disadvantaged local communities. How to use the Internet for social capital and community building in disadvantaged areas is a topic that warrants further investigation. Postscript11.1 The success of the IT-Café was closely linked with the role played by its manager and his success in obtaining funding and local political support. In 2004, the manager left the Café and funding was reduced. In the light of this, the management committee, representing both users and funders, introduced a number of changes in the operation of the Café. These involved closer integration with the other activities taking place in the Culture House and a concentration on audio-visual activities. The new centre, the Mediaroom, is open on a more resticted basis than the old Café – three afternoons a week. Its web site invities residents in Skarpnäck to 'Come and make films, surf, study or why not email local politicians?' 11.2 The community-building activities associated with the IT-Café are being continued in the Fältprojekt. This was set up in March 2003 following a series of meetings in the IT-Café and involves both local volunteers and the two main housing associations in Skarpnäck. The fältprojekt aims 'to improve residents' feelings of security and community, to increase local democracy, and to facilitate the development of strong social networks anchored in the locality'. The project has set up ten neighbourhood groups (Gårdarna), each of which has its own website. The project fulfils many of the aims originally set out in the prospectus for Skarpnet, including the provision of information on local clubs and activities, facilities for local meetings and political action addressing local issues. The successful establishment of the neighbourhood groups stands as a testament to the lasting impact of the IT-Cafe on social capital in Skarpnäck. AcknowledgementsThis research has been funded by the Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, and three different EU Projects: SCHEMA (Social Cohesion through Higher Education in Marginal Areas), ODELUCE (Open and Distance Education and Learning through University Continuing Education) and the UNIVe Project. The authors would also like to thank Professor John Field, University of Stirling, for his comments on an earlier draft. Finally, we would like to thank those residents who participated in the study for their time and valuable contributions. ReferencesBEAMISH, A. (1995) Communities On-Line: Community-based computer networks. Master's Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. BENGTSSON, J. (1999) 'Skarpnäck – Visionen som kraschade. Dagens Nyheter 991103. BEST, S.J. and KRUEGER, B.S. (2006) 'Online Interactions and Social Capital: Distinguishing between new and existing ties', Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 395-410. BLANCHARD, A. (2004) 'The Effects of Dispersed Virtual Communities on Face-to-Face Social Capital' in M. Huysman and V. Wulf (editors) Social Capital and Information Technology. Cambridge: The MIT Press. BLANCHARD, A. and HORAN, T. (1998) 'Virtual Communities and Social Capital', Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 293-307, <http://www.idea-group.com/downloads/excerpts/garson.pdf>. BOURDIEU, P. (1985) 'The Forms of Capital' in J.G. Richardson (editor) Handbook for Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood. CASTELLS, M. (2001) The Internet Galaxy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. COLEMAN, J. (1988) 'Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital', American Journal of Sociology, Issue Supplement, pp. S95-120. COLEMAN, J. (1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap. DAVIES, W. (2004) Proxicommunication - ICT and the Local Public Realm. iSociety report. London: The Work Foundation, <http://www.theworkfoundation.com/research/isociety/proxi_main.jsp>. DOHENY-FARINA, S. (1996) The Wired Neighborhood. New Haven: Yale University Press. FERLANDER, S. (2004) 'E-learning, Marginalised Communities and Social Capital: A mixed method approach' in M. Osborne, J. Gallacher & B. Crossnan (editors) Researching Widening Access to Higher and Further Education: Issues in international research. London: Routledge. FERLANDER, S. (2007) 'The Importance of Different Forms of Social Capital for Health', ACTA Sociologica, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp. 115-128. FERLANDER, S. and TIMMS, D. (2001) 'Local Nets and Social Capital', Telematics and Informatics, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 51-65. FERLANDER, S. and TIMMS, D. (2006) 'Bridging the Dual Digital Divide: A Local Net and an IT-Café in Sweden', Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 9, No 2, pp. 137-159. FIELD, J. (2003) Social Capital. Key Ideas. London: Routledge. GAVED, M. and ANDERSON, B. (2006) The Impact of Local ICT Initiatives on Social Capital and Quality of Life, Chimera Working Paper 2006-6, Colchester: University of Essex. GILBERT, N. (1993) Researching Social Life. London: Sage. GLAESER, E.L. (2001) 'The Formation of Social Capital', ISUMA, Canadian Journal of Policy Research, Vol. 2, pp. 34-40. GRANOVETTER, M.S. (1973) 'The Strength of Weak Ties', American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 78, pp. 1360-80. GRANOVETTER, M.S. (1982) 'The Strength of Weak Ties: A network theory revisited' in P. Marsden and N. Lin (editors) Social Structure and Network Analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. GRANOVETTER, M.S. (1985) 'Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of embeddedness', American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 85, pp. 489-515. HALL, P.A. (2002) 'Great Britain: The Role of Government and the Distribution of Social Capital' in R.D. Putnam (editor) Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. New York: Oxford University Press. HAMPTON, K. (2001) Living the Wired Life in the Wired Suburb: Netville, glocalisation and civil society. Doctoral Dissertation. Toronto: University of Toronto, <http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/downloads/khampton01.pdf>. HAMPTON, K. (2003) 'Grieving for a Lost Network: Collective action in a wired suburb', The Information Society, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 1-13, <http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/downloads/mobilization-final.pdf>. HUYSMAN, M. and WULF, V. (editors). (2004) Social Capital and Information Technology. Cambridge: MIT Press. ITPS, SWEDISH INSTITUTE FOR GROWTH POLICY STUDIES (2003) A Learning ICT Policy for Growth and Welfare, ITPS's final report on its assignment of evaluating the Swedish ICT policy. Stockholm: Elanders Gotab. IVARSSON, J-I. (1990) Medborgarinflytande i Stockholm. Levnadsförhållanden och medborgaraktiviteter i sex stadsdelar. Utredningsrapport 1990:4. Stockholm: USK. IVARSSON, J-I. (1993) Stadsdelsnämndsförsöken i Stockholm – invånarnas reaktioner och synpunkter. Utredningsrapport 1993:3. Stockholm: USK. IVARSSON, J-I. (1997) Så tycker brukarna om servicen i stadsdelen. Utredningsrapport 1997:3. Stockholm: USK. IVARSSON, J-I. (2000) Servicen i stadsdelen 1999 – så tycker brukarna, en jämförelse med 1996. Utredningsrapport 2000: 1. Stockholm: USK. IVARSSON, J-I. (2005) Situation och service in stadsdelen 2005: så tycker brukarna, jämförelser med 1996, 1999 och 2002. Stockholm: USK <http://www.stockholm.se/files/103500-103599/file_103518.pdf>. JACOBS, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Harmondsworth: Penguin. KAVANAUGH, A.L. and PATTERSON, S.J. (2001) 'The impact of community computer networking on community involvement and social capital.' American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 45, pp. 496-509. KAVANAUGH, A.L. and PATTERSON, S.J. (2002) 'The impact of community computer networks on social capital and community Involvement in Blacksburg' in B. Wellman and C. Haythornthwaite (editors) The Internet in Everyday Life. Oxford: Blackwell. KAWACHI, I., KENNEDY, B.P., LOCHNER, K. and PROTHROW-SMITH, D. (1997) ‘Social Capital, Income Inequality, and Mortality’, American Journal of Public Health,Vol. 87, pp. 1491-1498. LIFF, S., FRED, S. and WATTS, P. (1998) Cybercafés and Telecottages: Increasing public access to computers and the Internet. Survey report, Virtual Society? Programme, Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom, <http://virtualsociety.sbs.ox.ac.uk/text/reports/access.htm>. LIN, N. (2001) Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. MESCH, G.S. and LEVANON, Y. (2003) 'Community Networking and Locally-based Social Ties in Two Suburban Localities', City & Community, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 335-351. NIE, N.H. (2001) 'Sociability, Interpersonal Relations, and the Internet', American Behavior Scientist, Vol. 45 (3): pp. 420-35. NIE, N.H. and ERBRING, L. (2000) Internet and Society: A Preliminary Report. Stanford: Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS), Stanford University, and interSurvey Inc. <http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/Press_Release/Preliminary_Report.pdf>. OLDENBURG, R. (1989) The Great Good Place. New York: Paragon House. OFFE, C. and FUCHS, S. (2002) 'A Decline of Social Capital? The German Case' in R.D. Putnam (editor) Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. New York: Oxford University Press. PORTES, A. (1998) 'Social Capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology', Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 24, pp. 1-25. PUTNAM, R.D. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. PUTNAM, R.D. (1995) 'Tuning in, Tuning out: The strange disappearance of social capital in America', Political Science and Politics, Vol. 28, pp. 664-683. PUTNAM, R.D. (2000) Bowling Alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon Schuster. PUTNAM, R.D. (2002) Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. New York: Oxford University Press. ROTHSTEIN, B. (2002) 'Sweden: Social Capital in the Social Democratic State' in R.D. Putnam (editor) Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. New York: Oxford University Press. SROLE, L. (1956) 'Social Integration and Certain Corollaries: An explanatory study', American Sociological Review, Vol. 21, pp. 709-716. STATISTICS SWEDEN (2005) Use of Computers and the Internet by Private Persons in 2005. Stockholm: Statistiska centralbyrån STEWART, J. (2000) 'Cafematics: Cybercafés and the Community' in M. Gurstein and P.N. Hershey (editors) Community Informatics: Enabling Communities with Information and Communication Technologies. Idea Group Publishing. SZRETER, S. and WOOLCOOK. M. (2004) 'Health by Association? Social capital, social theory, and the political economy of public health', International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 33, pp. 650-667. VAN BAVEL, R., PUNIE, Y., BURGELMAN, J.C., TUOMI, I. & CLEMENTS, B. (2004) ICTs and Social Capital in the Knowledge Society. Report of a Joint DG JRC/DG Employment Workshop. IPTS, Seville, 3-4 November 2003. WAKEFORD, N. (2003) 'The Embedding of Local Culture in Global Communication: Independent Internet Cafés in London', New Media & Society, Vol. 5, pp. 379-399. WELLMAN, B. (2002) 'Little Boxes, Glocalization, and Networked Individualism' in M. Tanabe, P. Van den Besselaar and T. Ishida (editors) Digital Cities II: Computational and Sociological Approaches. Berlin: Springer, <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/littleboxes/littlebox.PDF>. WELLMAN, B. (2004) 'Connecting Communities: On and offline', Contexts, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 22-28. WELLMAN, B. and GULIA, M. (1999) 'Net Surfers don't Ride Alone', in B. Wellman (ed.), Networks in the Global Village (pp. 331-366). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. WELLMAN, B., HASSE, A.Q., WITTE, J. and HAMPTON, K. (2001) 'Does the Internet Increase, Decrease or Supplement Social Capital? Social networks, participation and community commitment', American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 45, pp. 436-55, revised version <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/netadd/hungarian-article2.PDF> WELLMAN, B. and HAYTHORNWAITE, C. (2002) The Internet in Everyday Life. Oxford: Blackwell. WELLMAN, B., HOGAN, B., BERG, K., BOASE, J., CARRASCO, J-A., COTÉ, R., KAYAHARA, J., KENNEDY, T.L.M. and TRAN, P. (2006) 'Connected Lives: The project', in P. Purcell (editor) Networked Neighbourhoods: The connected community in context. Berlin: Springer. WOOLCOOK, M. (1998) 'Social Capital and Economic Development: Towards a theoretical synthesis and policy framework', Theory and Society, Vol. 27, pp 151-208. WOOLCOOK, M. (2001) 'The Place of Social Capital in Understanding Social and Economic Outcomes', ISUMA, Canadian Journal of Policy Research, Vol. 2. ZINNBAUER, D. (2007) What can Social Capital and ICT do for Inclusion?, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies. Seville: European Commission Joint Research Centre.

Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including: d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of Refugees, and Stateless Persons The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights for citizens but placed extensive limitations on the rights of Palestinian refugees and Syrian, Iraqi, and other refugee populations. As of June 30, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registered more than one million Syrian refugees, 18,708 Iraqis, more than 2,200 Sudanese refugees, and refugees of other nationalities in the country. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provided assistance to Palestinian refugees registered in the country. While approximately 458,000 Palestinians registered as refugees with UNRWA in Lebanon, the estimated number actually living in Lebanon was between 260,000 and 280,000. UNRWA also provided services to Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS). PRS in Lebanon numbered almost 33,000, according to a UNRWA count completed on October 2. According to a census carried out during the year jointly by the Lebanese and Palestinian Statistics Administrations, however, there were approximately 174,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon. Abuse of Migrants, Refugees, and Stateless Persons: Multiple NGOs and UNHCR shared reports of sexual harassment and exploitation of refugees by government, employers, and landlords, including paying workers below the minimum wage, working excessive hours, debt bondage, and pressuring families into early marriage or nonconsensual sex for their daughters. The government lacked the capacity to provide adequate protection for refugees. Refugees regularly reported abuse by members of political parties and gangs, often without official action in response. Additionally, LAF raids on settlements often resulted in harassment and destruction of personal property. According to UNHCR, domestic courts often sentenced Iraqi and African refugees registered with UNHCR to one month’s imprisonment and fines instead of deporting them for illegal entry. After serving their sentences, most refugees remained in detention unless they found employment sponsors and the DGS agreed to release them in coordination with UNHCR. In-country Movement: The government maintained security checkpoints, primarily in military and other restricted areas. Hizballah also maintained checkpoints in certain Shia-majority areas. Government forces were usually unable to enforce the law in the predominantly Hizballah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut and did not typically enter Palestinian refugee camps. According to UNRWA, Palestinian refugees registered with the Interior Ministry’s Directorate of Political and Refugee Affairs could travel from one area of the country to another. The DGS, however, had to approve the transfer of registration of residence for refugees who resided in camps. UNRWA stated the DGS generally approved such transfers. Prior to February authorities required Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR to pay a renewal fee of 300,000 Lebanese pounds ($200) for each person 15 years old or above, every 12 months if the person wished to remain lawfully in the country as a refugee. Syrian refugees who arrived in the country after January 2015 must have entered with a Lebanese sponsor. Most refugees had difficulty affording the fees. In February the DGS announced it was waiving the fee for residency renewal for refugees who registered with UNHCR prior to 2015. This ruling excluded unregistered refugees or those who renewed on the basis of Lebanese sponsorship, tourism, property ownership, or tenancy in 2015 or 2016. While some DGS offices began implementing this change, the actual number of beneficiaries remained limited due to the low capacity of DGS offices, as well as divergent or inconsistent practices at the local levels. Due to the slow implementation of the residency fee waiver and, in many cases, failure to obtain or keep a Lebanese sponsor, the majority of Syrian refugees were unable to renew their legal documents, which significantly affected their freedom of movement owing to the possibility of regular arrests at checkpoints, particularly for adult men. While authorities released most detainees within a few days, some of the refugees met by foreign diplomats said authorities required them to pay fines before releasing them. In March 2016 the United Nations’ joint household assessment of more than 100,000 refugee families indicated that 85 percent of refugee households had at least one member without legal status. Obtaining and maintaining legal residency was also a challenge for Iraqi refugees and refugees of other nationalities. Since 2014 entry visas for PRS were granted at the border only to persons with either a verified embassy appointment in the country or a flight ticket and visa to a third country. Most of these individuals were issued a 24-hour transit visa. Additionally, limited numbers of PRS secured a visa for Lebanon by obtaining prior approval from the DGS, which required a sponsor in the country and could not be processed at border posts. UNRWA estimated that approximately 3 percent of the PRS in the country arrived in 2016. Compared to the policy applied to Syrian nationals, authorities applied tighter conditions to PRS (notwithstanding restrictions on Syrians announced in January 2015). For example, Syrian nationals could, in principle, enter with humanitarian visas, while this was not available to PRS. Some PRS consequently sought to enter the country through irregular border crossings, placing them at additional risk of exploitation and abuse and creating an obstacle to later regularizing their legal status. On July 8, DGS issued a circular allowing the free, unlimited extension of PRS residency for six months, with no fees for delays. It applied to PRS who entered the country legally or who regularized their status before September 2016 and granted renewal of residency visas to those PRS who turned 15 years old in the country, allowing them to use documents that were easier to obtain in Lebanon rather than requiring children to return to Syria to obtain them. This latter point was not implemented for Syrian refugees. The circular, issued for residency renewal and not regularization, did not apply to PRS who entered the country through unofficial border crossings; PRS who entered the country through official border crossings, but who overstayed their temporary transit visa or failed to renew their visa; or PRS who were issued a departure order. UNRWA estimated that as of September 2016 approximately 40 percent of PRS in the country did not hold valid legal residency. On October 6, the condition of valid residency for birth and marriage registration for PRS was waived, expanding the application of a previous circular issued on September 12 applicable to Syrians. INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDPS) Fighting in 2007 destroyed the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, displacing approximately 30,000 residents, of whom approximately 27,000 were registered Palestine refugees. Many of the displaced resided in areas adjacent to the camp or in other areas of the country where UNRWA services were available. As of October approximately 53 percent of displaced families returned to newly reconstructed apartments in Nahr el-Bared camp. PROTECTION OF REFUGEES Refoulement: The government consistently reaffirmed its commitment to the principle of nonrefoulement with respect to Syrians. According to UNHCR, authorities detained refugees and non-Syrian asylum seekers through June, of whom 148 remained in detention at the end of the year. Through August the DGS deported four persons despite UNHCR’s interventions. UNHCR continued to intervene with authorities to request the release of persons of concern who were detained either beyond their sentence or for illegal entry or presence. Access to Asylum: The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status. Nonetheless, the country hosted an estimated 1.5 million refugees. Palestinian refugees were prohibited from accessing public health and education services or owning land; they were barred from employment in many fields, making refugees dependent upon UNRWA as the sole provider of education, health care, and social services. A 2010 labor law revision expanded employment rights and removed some restrictions on Palestinian refugees. This law was not fully implemented, however, and Palestinians remained barred from working in most skilled professions, including almost all those that require membership in a professional association. As of June 30, there were more than one million Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR. Since the government instructed UNHCR to stop registering Syrian refugees in early 2015, this total did not include Syrian refugees who arrived in Lebanon after January 2015. There were no formal refugee camps in the country for Syrians. Many Syrian refugees resided with host families or in unfinished substandard buildings, and approximately 18 percent lived in temporary tent settlements, usually with dirt floors, no plumbing, and with a portable heater for winter. According to a UN study, the refugees borrowed to cover even their most basic needs, including rent, food, and health care, putting nearly 90 percent of them in debt. In 2015 new government regulations banned the entry of all Syrian refugees unless they qualified for undefined “humanitarian exceptions.” During the year the government accepted Syrians seeking asylum only if they qualified under the “humanitarian exceptions” that the Ministry of Social Affairs reviewed on a case-by-case basis. These exceptions included unaccompanied and separated children, persons with disabilities, medical cases, and resettlement cases under extreme humanitarian criteria. UNRWA reported that the DGS issued some PRS departure orders despite their having paid the renewal fee. Legal status in Lebanon was critical for protection, as it allowed refugees to pass through checkpoints, including to and from camps, complete civil registration processes, and access and remain within the educational system. In addition to more than 18,000 UNHCR-registered Iraqi refugees already residing in the country, there was a limited influx of Iraqi refugees who entered the country seeking to escape violence from the fight against ISIS. As of June 30, UNHCR also registered 3,530 refugees or asylum seekers from Sudan and other countries. Freedom of Movement: Authorities imposed curfews in a number of municipalities across the country, allegedly to improve security of all communities. Some international observers raised concerns that these measures may be discriminatory and excessive, since authorities usually enforced them on Syrian refugees only. Evictions of Syrian refugees occurred in the aftermath of major security incidents and often targeted informal refugee settlements due to their proximity to LAF installations or vital supply routes. According to UNHCR, following the LAF order to evict settlements surrounding the Riyak Airbase in the Bekaa Valley in March, 557 Syrian refugee households (estimated 3,175 individuals) from this area reportedly relocated elsewhere in the country. In addition to the evictions in the Riyak area, Zahle municipality also issued eviction notices to Syrian refugee families starting in the first quarter and continuing in the second quarter of the year. Employment: During the year authorities began requiring Syrian refugees who wished to obtain residency permits to pledge to abide by the country’s laws, under which Syrians may work only in agriculture, construction, and cleaning. The law allows a special account to provide end-of-service indemnities or severance pay to Palestinian refugees who retired or resigned. These benefits were available only to Palestinians working in the legal labor market. Palestinians did not benefit from national sickness and maternity funds or the family allowances fund. UNRWA continued to bear the cost of any medical, maternity, or family health-care expenses (excluding worker’s compensation). Access to Basic Services: The government did not consider local integration of any refugees a viable solution. The law considers UNRWA-registered Palestinian refugees to be foreigners. UNRWA has the sole mandate to provide health, education, social services, and emergency assistance to registered Palestinian refugees residing in the country. The amount of land allocated to the 12 official Palestinian refugee camps in the country had changed only marginally since 1948, despite a four-fold increase in the population. Consequently, most Palestinian refugees lived in overpopulated camps, some of which were heavily damaged during past conflicts. In accordance with agreements with the government, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) security committees provided security for refugees in the camps, with the exception of the Nahr el-Bared camp. A comprehensive, multi-year plan to rebuild the Nahr el-Bared camp and surrounding communities in eight stages began in 2008 and was in process. Remaining reconstruction was not fully funded, however, and a shortfall of 159 million Lebanese pounds ($106 million) remained at year’s end. Of the 27,000 Palestinians originally displaced following the crisis, authorities expected approximately 21,000 to return. A 2001 amendment to a 1969 decree barring persons explicitly excluded from resettling in the country from owning land and property was designed to exclude Palestinians from purchasing or inheriting property. Palestinians who owned and registered property prior to the 2001 law entering into force could bequeath it to their heirs, but individuals who were in the process of purchasing property in installments were unable to register the property. Palestinian refugees residing in the country could not obtain citizenship and were not citizens of any other country. Palestinian refugee women married to Lebanese citizens were able to obtain citizenship after one year of marriage. According to the country’s nationality law, the father transmits citizenship to children. Palestinian refugees, including children, had limited social and civil rights and no access to public health, education, or other social services. Children of Palestinian refugees faced discrimination in birth registration, and many had to leave school at an early age to earn an income. Palestinian refugees who fled Syria to Lebanon since 2011 received limited basic support from UNRWA, including food aid, cash assistance, and winter assistance. Authorities permitted children of PRS to enroll in UNRWA schools and access UNRWA health clinics. UNRWA’s verification exercise in 2016 found that there were approximately 32,500 PRS recorded with the agency, which reflected a decrease of more than 10,000 PRS in the country over the previous 12 months. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education facilitated the enrollment of 195,000 non-Lebanese students, predominantly Syrian refugees, in public schools in the 2016-17 academic year, or 41 percent of the more than 488,000 registered Syrian refugee children between the ages of three and 18. Donor funding to UN agencies covered school-related expenses, such as school fees, books, and uniforms. Syrian refugees had access to many government and private health centers and local clinics for primary care services, and UN agencies and NGOs funded the majority of associated costs. Syrian refugees had access to a limited number of UNHCR-contracted hospitals for lifesaving and obstetric care. Iraqi refugees had access to both the public and private education systems. UNHCR’s education partners reported that authorities enrolled approximately 600 Iraqi children in formal public schools for the 2016-17 school year, and it provided grants to the children’s families to help defray the costs associated with attending school. Iraqi refugees also had access to the primary health-care system. UNHCR, through NGOs, provided secondary health care. Citizenship is derived exclusively from the father, resulting in statelessness for children of a citizen mother and a noncitizen father when registration under the father’s nationality is not possible. This discrimination in the nationality law particularly affected Palestinians and, increasingly, Syrians from female-headed households. Additionally, some children born to Lebanese fathers did not have their births registered due to administrative obstacles or a lack of understanding of the regulations. The problem was compounded since nonnational status was a hereditary circumstance that stateless persons passed to their children. There were no official statistics on the size of the stateless population. Approximately 3,000 Palestinian refugees were not registered with UNRWA or the government. Also known as undocumented Palestinians, most of these individuals moved to the country after the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan in 1971. Palestinians faced restrictions on movement and lacked access to fundamental rights under the law. Undocumented Palestinians, who were not registered in other fields, were not necessarily eligible for the full range of services provided by UNRWA. Nonetheless, in most cases UNRWA provided primary health care, education, and vocational training services to undocumented Palestinians. The majority of undocumented Palestinians were men, many of them married to UNRWA-registered refugees or Lebanese citizen women, who could not transmit refugee status or citizenship to their husbands or children. The Directorate of Political and Refugee Affairs continued to extend late registration to Palestinian refugee children under age 10. It was previously the directorate’s policy to deny late birth registration to Palestinian refugee children who were above age two. Children between 10 and 20 years old were registered only after the following were completed: a DNA test, an investigation by the DGS, and the approval of the directorate. Approximately 1,000 to 1,500 of an estimated 100,000 Kurds living in the country lacked citizenship, despite decades of family presence in the country. Most were descendants of migrants and refugees who left Turkey and Syria during World War I, but authorities denied them citizenship to preserve the country’s sectarian balance. The government issued a naturalization decree in 1994, but high costs and other obstacles prevented many individuals from acquiring official status. Some individuals who received official status had their citizenship revoked in 2011 due to a presidential decree. Others held an “ID under consideration” document without a date or place of birth. Stateless persons lacked official identity documents that would permit them to travel abroad and could face difficulties traveling internally, including detention for not carrying identity documents. They had limited access to the regular employment market and no access to many professions. Additionally, they could not access public schools or public health-care facilities, register marriages or births, and own or inherit property.

Bahrain is a constitutional, hereditary monarchy. King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, the head of state, appoints the cabinet, consisting of 24 ministers; 12 of the ministers were members of the al-Khalifa ruling family. The king, who holds ultimate authority over most government decisions, also appoints the prime minister–the head of government–who does not have to be a member of parliament. Parliament consists of an appointed upper house, the Shura (Consultative) Council, and the elected Council of Representatives, each with 40 seats. The country holds parliamentary elections every four years, and according to the government, 67 percent of eligible voters participated in the most recent elections, held in 2018. Two formerly prominent opposition political societies, al-Wifaq and Wa’ad, did not participate in the elections due to their dissolution by the courts in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The government did not permit international election monitors. Domestic monitors generally concluded authorities administered the elections without significant procedural irregularities. The Ministry of Interior is responsible for internal security and oversees the civilian security force and specialized security units responsible for maintaining internal order. The Coast Guard is also under its jurisdiction. The Bahrain Defense Force is primarily responsible for defending against external threats, while the Bahrain National Guard is responsible for both external and internal threats. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Members of the security forces committed some abuses. Significant human rights issues included: torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; harsh prison conditions, including lack of sufficient access to medical care in prisons; arbitrary detention; political prisoners; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; restrictions on freedom of expression, the press, and the internet, including censorship, site blocking, criminal libel, and arrests stemming from social media activity; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; overly restrictive laws on independent nongovernmental organizations; restrictions on freedom of movement, including revocation of citizenship; restrictions on political participation; and significant restrictions on workers’ freedom of association. The government prosecuted low-level security force members responsible for human rights violations, following investigations by government institutions. Nongovernmental human rights organizations claimed investigations were slow and lacked transparency. Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings There were no reports that government security forces committed arbitrary or unlawful killings during the year. There were no reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment The constitution prohibits “harm[ing] an accused person physically or mentally.” Domestic and international human rights organizations, as well as detainees and former detainees, maintained that torture, abuse, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government security officials continued during the year. Human rights groups reported accounts alleging security officials beat detainees, placed detainees in stress positions, humiliated detainees in front of other prisoners, deprived detainees of time for prayers, and insulted detainees based on their religious beliefs. Detainees reported that security forces committed abuses during searches, arrests at private residences, and during transportation. Detainees reported intimidation, such as threats of violence, took place at the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) headquarters facility. Some detainees at the CID reported security officials used physical and psychological mistreatment to extract confessions and statements under duress or to inflict retribution and punishment. Human rights groups reported authorities subjected children, sometimes younger than age 15, to various forms of mistreatment, including beating, slapping, kicking, and verbal abuse. The law considers all persons older than 15 to be adults. Human rights organizations and families of inmates also reported authorities denied medical treatment to injured or ill detainees and prisoners. In November the family of 70-year-old Hasan Mushaima, a prominent leader of a dissolved political society serving a life sentence in prison since 2011, reported that his health was deteriorating and was transferred to a Bahrain military hospital for treatment and then returned to prison after six hours. International human rights organizations reported Professor Khalil al-Halwachi, who has been serving a 10-year sentence since 2014 on weapons charges, was not receiving adequate medical treatment in Jaw Prison. The Ministry of Interior denied torture and abuse were systemic. In response to a family’s claim that their father was not receiving medical attention, the Ministry of Interior stated that inmates receive full health-care services and medication under the law and in line with humanitarian standards. The government reported all prisons, detention facilities, and interrogation rooms at local police stations and the CID were equipped with closed-circuit television cameras that monitored the facilities at all times. The Special Investigation Unit (SIU), part of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments, reported receiving 33 complaints in the first quarter of the year and 10 complaints during the second quarter of the year alleging torture, mistreatment, and excessive force used by members of the police. As of May the SIU referred one officer to the Military Court for unknown charges of abuse. The officer received a disciplinary action as a result. The Ministry of Interior’s Ombudsman’s Office reported it investigated all complaints and made recommendations to the government to address concerns. In the first quarter of the year, the office had four investigations underway into complaints against police directorates and had referred eight cases to criminal or to disciplinary proceedings. Fifteen complaints were submitted against the CID; 12 were under investigation. Two complaints each were submitted against the Traffic Directorate and the Customs Affairs. One complaint was submitted against the Coast Guard and was referred for criminal or disciplinary proceedings. The Office of the Ombudsman’s sixth annual report, released in October 2019, reported 289 complaints and 778 assistance requests between May 2018 and April 2019 from alleged victims of mistreatment by police and civilian staff, or from victims’ families or organizations representing their interests. Of these complaints, 70 were referred to the relevant disciplinary body, including police administrative hearing “courts” and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, 28 were under investigation, and 50 were resolved or not upheld. The ombudsman reported receipt of 43 complaints against the CID, of which seven cases were referred for criminal or disciplinary proceedings, and 86 complaints against Jaw Prison, of which 40 cases were referred for criminal or disciplinary action. The ombudsman referred seven of the cases against the CID and 40 against Jaw Prison for criminal or disciplinary procedures; 12 and 15 additional cases were under investigation, respectively. Zakeya al-Barboori, one of the only remaining female political prisoners who was arrested in 2018, and her family formally submitted complaints to NIHR and the Ombudsman’s Office about her treatment in prison, after the king’s 2019 royal decree restored Bahraini citizenship to al-Barboori and 550 other individuals. Impunity was not a significant problem in the security forces. The Ministry of Interior police code of conduct requires officers to abide by 10 principles, including limited use of force and zero tolerance for torture and mistreatment. The Royal Police Academy included the police code of conduct in its curriculum, required all recruits to take a course on human rights, and provided recruits with copies of the police code of conduct in English and Arabic. The ministry reported it took disciplinary action against officers who did not comply with the code, although it did not publish details of such steps. Prison and Detention Center Conditions Human rights activists reported conditions in prisons and detention centers were harsh and sometimes life threatening, due to overcrowding, physical abuse, and inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care. Physical Conditions: Human rights organizations and prisoners reported gross overcrowding in detention facilities, which placed a strain on prison administration and led to a high prisoner-to-staff ratio. The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) reported Building 13 of Jaw Prison housed inmates at 30 percent over capacity. Prisoners complained of limited time for outdoor activities, which did not exceed one hour and a half per day. In August inmates in Building 14 undertook a hunger strike to protest religious discrimination, lack of access to medical facilities, and limits on family visitation due to COVID-19-related restrictions. For humanitarian reasons in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 12, the king pardoned 901 prisoners, and on May 23, he pardoned and released 154 more to mark Ramadan; these releases followed a December 2019 pardon of 268 prisoners. Most of those were juveniles, patients who needed special care, and foreigners. The remaining 585 inmates, who had served half of their jail terms, reportedly received noncustodial sentences. In December the minister of justice, Islamic affairs, and endowments announced that 4,208 prisoners had either been pardoned and released or granted noncustodial sentences under the country’s alternative sentencing law since 2017 and all juvenile inmates were released, in part due to concerns about overcrowding and COVID-19. Although the government reported potable water was available for all detainees, there were reports of lack of access to water for washing, lack of shower facilities and soap, and unhygienic toilet facilities. On August 10, BIRD reported that Jaw Prison and Dry Dock detected a scabies outbreak due to poor hygiene practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Human rights organizations reported food was adequate for most prisoners; however, prisoners needing dietary accommodations due to medical conditions had difficulty receiving special dietary provisions. Authorities held detainees younger than age 15 at the Juvenile Care Center; criminal records are expunged after detainees younger than 15 are released. The government housed convicted male inmates between ages 15 and 21 in separate buildings located on the grounds of the Dry Dock Facility. The Ministry of Interior separated prisoners younger than 18 from those between the ages of 18 and 21. Upon reaching 21, prisoners enter the general population at Jaw Prison. The Ministry of Interior reserved one ward in the pretrial detention center for the elderly and special needs detainees. Officials reported they offered these detainees special food, health care, and personal services to meet their needs. The ministry operated a center for rehabilitation and vocational training, including various educational, drug addiction, and behavioral programs. Activists said that the programs lacked trained teachers and adequate supplies and that the government did not allow some inmates to take national exams. According to the minister of justice, Islamic affairs, and endowments, inmates released provisionally under the country’s alternative sentencing law were allowed to work at government offices, both in service and administrative positions, to complete the remainder of their prison sentences. In December the minister confirmed to the National Assembly that 22 government offices provide jobs and vocational training to prisoners released under the program, in addition to nine private-sector companies and civil society institutions. Although the ministry reported detention centers were staffed with experienced medical specialists and outfitted with modern equipment, prisoners needing medical attention reported difficulty in alerting guards to their needs, and medical clinics at the facilities were understaffed. Prisoners with chronic medical conditions had difficulty accessing regular medical care, including access to routine medication. Those needing transportation to outside medical facilities reported delays in scheduling offsite treatment or very short stays in the hospital, especially those needing follow-up care for complex or chronic conditions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry’s General Directorate of Reformation and Rehabilitation stated it disinfected cells on a daily basis and provided prisoners with medical kits and hygiene products. New inmates were quarantined for 14 days before they joined the general prison population. According to the government, eight prisoners died during the year; the cause of death of seven was deemed a result of medical conditions and one a reported suicide. Administration: Authorities generally allowed prisoners to file complaints to judicial authorities without censorship, and officials from the Ombudsman’s Office were available to respond to complaints. Human rights groups reportedly sometimes had to file multiple complaints to receive assistance. Prisoners had access to visitors at least once a month, often more frequently, and authorities permitted them 30 minutes of calls each week, although authorities denied prisoners communication with lawyers, family members, or consular officials (in the case of foreign detainees) at times. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Interior’s General Directorate of Reformation and Rehabilitation suspended family visits in March, replacing visits with video conferences between detainees and their relatives beginning in April. There were reports authorities denied prisoners access to religious services during special commemorations, such as Ashura, and prayer time. Some detainees reported prison officials limited time provided for Ashura rituals citing COVID-19 mitigation efforts, but the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR), a government human rights body monitoring complaints of human rights violations, said inmates were given additional time to practice Ashura rituals in common areas, adding no religious rituals were allowed in prison cells as a matter of general policy. Independent Monitoring: Authorities permitted access for the NIHR and the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission (PDRC), as well as the Ombudsman’s Office and the SIU (see section 5). International human rights organizations questioned the independence and effectiveness of these organizations. During the year the Ministry of Interior reported on the work of the Internal Audit and Investigations Department, which received and examined complaints against security forces. According to its seventh annual report, the Ombudsman’s Office received 207 complaints between May 2019 and April 2020, and it referred 23 of the cases to the SIU for further action, 25 for security prosecution, and two cases to the disciplinary committee. The office continued to investigate 21 cases. The largest number of referred cases came from Jaw Prison and the CID. The Ombudsman’s Office also received 683 assistance requests, which included securing prison visits, telephone calls, medical services, or access to education. Due to intermittent closures of government offices during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ombudsman’s Office established a WhatsApp account and continued to receive complaints via email. During the fourth quarter of 2019, the SIU referred 12 suspects from Ministry of Interior to the courts, including two senior officials, who were accused of physically attacking inmates in Jaw Prison in April 2019. After a December 2019 hearing, the Lower Criminal Court convicted one prison guard to one year in prison and sentenced five others to three months in prison. Two other prison guards were referred to the ministry’s Military Court to receive disciplinary sentences. Improvements: Government officials reported the completion of three new Jaw Prison buildings to phase out older facilities and better comply with international standards, including the Istanbul Protocol. d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention The constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention. Local and international human rights groups reported that individuals were detained without being notified at the time of the arrest of the legal authority of the person conducting the arrest, the reasons for the arrest, and the charges against them. Human rights groups claimed Ministry of Interior agents conducted many arrests at private residences either without presenting an arrest warrant or presenting an inaccurate or incomplete one. Government officials disputed these claims. In 2017 King Hamad reinstated the arrest authority of the National Security Agency (NSA), after it had been removed following criticism in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. On June 26, the king issued an order renaming the NSA as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). There were no reports of the NSA or NIA using its arrest authority during the year. Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees The law stipulates law enforcement officers may arrest individuals without a warrant only if they are caught committing certain crimes for which there is sufficient evidence to press charges. Additionally, the code of criminal procedure requires execution of an arrest warrant before a summons order to appear before the public prosecutor. Local activists reported that police sometimes made arrests without presenting a warrant and that the Public Prosecutor’s Office summoned political and human rights activists for questioning without a warrant or court order. By law the arresting authority must interrogate an arrested individual immediately and may not detain the person for more than 48 hours, after which authorities must either release the detainee or transfer the person to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for further questioning. The office is required to question the detainee within 24 hours, and the detainee has the right to legal counsel during questioning. To hold the detainee longer, the office must issue a formal detention order based on the charges against the detainee. Authorities may extend detention up to seven days for further questioning. If authorities require any further extension, the detainee must appear before a judge, who may authorize a further extension not exceeding 45 days. The High Criminal Court must authorize any extensions beyond that period and any renewals at 45-day intervals. In the case of alleged acts of terror, law enforcement officers may detain individuals for questioning for an initial five days, which the Public Prosecutor’s Office may extend up to 60 days. A functioning system of bail provides maximum and minimum bail amounts based on the charges; however, judges often denied bail requests without explanation, even in nonviolent cases. The bail law allows the presiding judge to determine the amount within these parameters on a case-by-case basis. Attorneys reported difficulty in gaining access to their clients in a timely manner through all stages of the legal process. They reported difficulty registering as a detainee’s legal representative because of arbitrary bureaucratic hurdles and lack of official government notaries; arbitrary questioning of credentials by police; lack of notification of clients’ location in custody; arbitrary requirements to seek court orders to meet clients; prohibitions on meeting clients in private; prohibitions on passing legal documents to clients; questioning of clients by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on very short notice; lack of access to clients during police questioning; and lack of access to consult with clients in court. While the state provides counsel to indigent detainees, there were reports detainees never met with their state-appointed attorney before or during their trial. According to reports by local and international human rights groups, authorities held some detainees for weeks with limited access to outside resources. The government sometimes withheld information from detainees and their families regarding detainees’ whereabouts for days. Arbitrary Arrest: Human rights groups reported the Ministry of Interior sometimes arrested individuals for activities such as calling for and attending protests and demonstrations, expressing their opinion either in public or on social media, and associating with persons of interest to law enforcement. Some of these detained individuals reported arresting forces did not show them warrants. Detainee’s Ability to Challenge Lawfulness of Detention before a Court: There were reports that authorities sometimes delayed or limited an individual’s access to an attorney. There were no reports of courts finding individuals to have been unlawfully detained and recommending compensation. On May 18, the Minister of Justice issued an order allowing defendants’ legal representatives to attend court proceedings virtually if the defendant requested it. e. Denial of Fair Public Trial Although the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, political opposition figures reported the judiciary remained vulnerable to political pressure, especially in high-profile cases. The judiciary has two branches: the civil law courts deal with all commercial, civil, and criminal cases, including family issues of non-Muslims, and the family law courts handle personal status cases of Muslims. Based on the Unified Family Law, the government subdivided family court cases into Sunni and Shia sharia-based court proceedings. Some judges were foreign citizens, serving on limited-term contracts subject to government approval for renewal and residence. The Supreme Judicial Council reported working with the Judicial Legal Studies Institute to prepare, on average, 10 new Bahraini judges per year, in an effort to increase their number. The Supreme Judicial Council is responsible for supervising the work of the courts, including judges, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. On June 15, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences of Zuhair Ebrahim Jassim and Hussain Abdulla Khalil Rashid. Both were prosecuted on charges of targeting security forces and killing a police officer in 2014. On July 13, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences of Husain Moosa and Mohammed Ramadan. Human rights groups claimed there was evidence of torture during their interrogations. Following their 2014 convictions and death sentences by the Court of Cassation, the SIU launched a review of allegations of torture, and the Court of Cassation overturned the sentences based on the SIU’s findings and called for a retrial. In January the Supreme Court of Appeals convicted Moosa and Ramadan and reinstated their death sentences, which the Court of Cassation upheld in July. There were 10 other detainees whose death sentences had been upheld by the Court of Cassation in Bahrain. The constitution presumes defendants are innocent until proven guilty. By law authorities should inform detainees of the charges against them upon arrest. Civil and criminal trial procedures provide for a public trial. A panel of three judges makes the rulings. Defendants have the right to consult an attorney of their choice within 48 hours (unless the government charges them pursuant to counterterrorism legislation); however, there were reports that defendants and their lawyers had difficulty getting police, public prosecutors, and courts to recognize or register representation by an attorney. The government provides counsel at public expense to indigent defendants. Plaintiffs are required to provide their own interpreters, except in labor dispute cases, when the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments may provide assistance. Defendants have the right to present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. While defendants have the right to question witnesses against them, the judges may declare the questions to be irrelevant and prohibit a line of questioning without providing reasoning. Prosecutors rarely present evidence orally in court but provide it in written and digital formats to judges in their chambers. Defendants are not compelled to testify or to confess guilt, and they have the right to appeal. The government may try defendants in their absence, and at least 27 defendants with terrorism-related charges were convicted and sentenced in absentia during the year. Family status law varied according to Shia or Sunni interpretations of Islamic law, especially for women (see section 6). In 2017 the government codified a Unified Family Law, which for the first time included a civil code for Shia family law. According to supporters of the law, the unified civil code protects women’s rights, in particular Shia women, from the imposition of arbitrary decisions by unregulated clerics. Women’s rights groups reported the family courts granted divorces more quickly and judicial decisions adhered to the new civil code. In 2017 King Hamad also ratified a constitutional amendment that grants military courts the right to try civilians accused of threatening the security of the state. Media reported the government approved the amendment to better fight terrorist cells, while activists claimed the change would jeopardize fair trial standards. The government did not use this mechanism during the year. Political Prisoners and Detainees In November 2019 the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the release of 75 prisoners, most of whom were considered political prisoners, under the country’s alternative sentencing law. Prominent political opposition figures serving life sentences did not benefit from application of the alternative sentencing law and were held separately from the general prison population. The alternative sentencing law was applied to the sentences of dozens considered political prisoners, including female inmates, who were all released. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights and opposition groups welcomed application of the alternative sentencing law. In November 2019 human rights activist Ebtisam al-Saegh posted a photograph with released prisoner Mujtaba al-Abbar and said he was the first political prisoner to receive an alternative sentence. In June the government released prominent human rights activist and president of Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) Nabeel Rajab, who was sentenced in 2018 to five years in prison on charges of “inciting hatred against the regime.” Leader of the Amal opposition Society Khalil al-Halwachi was arrested in 2014, convicted of “possession of a weapon” and “insulting the judiciary” in 2017, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Authorities refused to grant al-Halwachi an alternative noncustodial sentence, and his family continued to call for his release on humanitarian grounds amid concerns over his health. During the year two persons were charged with “colluding” with Qatar and were sentenced to three to five years in prison. This was the second time the government charged citizens with “collusion,” following prior prosecutions of three members of a dissolved political society. Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies Citizens may submit civil suits before a court seeking cessation of or damages for some types of human rights violations. In many such situations, however, the law prevents citizens from filing civil suits against security agencies. In cases where a person has no previous criminal history, is a minor, or is charged with minor legal infractions, the law provides alternative penalties and measures to reduce the number of inmates in detention centers and prisons. The government reported using the alternative sentencing law for more than 4,000 convicts since 2017, according to the Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments. They were ordered to perform community service; pay their fines, debts, or both; or participate in job training and rehabilitation classes. The law on minors prohibits the imposition of prison terms on children, defined as younger than 15. f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence Although the constitution prohibits such actions, the government violated prohibitions against interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence. Human rights organizations reported security forces sometimes entered homes without authorization and destroyed or confiscated personal property. The law requires the government to obtain a court order before monitoring telephone calls, email, and personal correspondence. Many citizens and human rights organizations believed police used informant networks, including ones that targeted or used children younger than 18. Reports also indicated the government used computer programs to surveil political activists and members of the opposition inside and outside the country. According to local and international human rights groups, security officials sometimes threatened a detainee’s family members with reprisals for the detainee’s unwillingness to cooperate during interrogations and refusal to sign confession statements. Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including: a. Freedom of Expression, Including for the Press The constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, “provided that the fundamental beliefs of Islamic doctrine are not infringed, the unity of the people is not prejudiced, and discord and sectarianism are not aroused.” The government limited freedom of speech and the press through prosecution of individuals under libel, slander, and national security laws that targeted citizen and professional journalists. Freedom of Speech: The law forbids any speech that infringes on public order or morals. Speech is curtailed in both traditional media and social media. While individuals openly expressed critical opinions regarding domestic political and social issues in private settings, those who expressed such opinions publicly often faced repercussions. During the year the government took steps against what it considered acts of civil disobedience, which included critical speech. The penal code allows penalties of no less than one year and no more than seven years of imprisonment, plus a fine, for anyone who “offends the monarch of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the flag, or the national emblem.” Defense attorney Abdulla al-Shamlawi, who defended prominent opposition figures, including members of the now banned opposition group al-Wifaq, was prosecuted for “defamation.” On September 14, an appeals court gave al-Shamlawi a six-month suspended sentence for “inciting sectarianism.” The appeals court decision overturned the June 30 verdict of the High Criminal Court, which sentenced al-Shamlawi to eight months in prison for “humiliating an Islamic sect” and “misusing a telecommunications device.” On August 25, the Court of Cassation upheld a one-year prison sentence against Shia religious preacher Sheikh Abdul Mohsin Mulla Atiyya al-Jamri for a sermon “disdaining a figure that is revered by a religious group,” according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. On August 30, the Public Prosecutor’s Office arrested a Bahraini doctor for defaming religious figures during a sermon, stating the sermon promoted violence and sectarian sedition. Activists and rights groups claimed the sermon was misinterpreted. The Public Prosecutor’s Office released the individual on September 1 on bail, placed a travel ban on him, and referred his case to the court. International and local NGOs reported police summoned approximately 10 individuals, including religious clerics, in the days leading up to and following the Ashura religious rites–the most significant days of the Shia religious calendar. Authorities reportedly summoned and interrogated these individuals for the content of their sermons, and specifically for “inciting sectarian hatred.” Police held some of them overnight; others were detained and released the same day; others remained in custody for several days or weeks. Freedom of Press and Media, Including Online Media: The government did not own any print media, but the Ministry of Information Affairs and other government entities exercised considerable control over privately owned domestic print media. The government owned and operated all domestic radio and television stations. Audiences generally received radio and television broadcasts in Arabic and English from stations based outside the country, including by satellite. The Ministry of Information Affairs reviewed all books and publications prior to issuing printing licenses. The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments also reviewed those books that discussed religion. Several journalists submitted suggested reforms for the draft National Action Plan for Human Rights (see section 5). Violence and Harassment: According to local journalists and human rights groups, authorities sometimes harassed, arrested, or threatened journalists, photographers, and “citizen journalists” active on social media due to their reporting. Authorities claimed, however, that some individuals who identified themselves as journalists and photographers were associated with violent opposition groups and produced propaganda and recruiting videos for these groups. International media representatives reported difficulty in obtaining visas to work as journalists. The government brought criminal complaints against journalists who worked without accreditation. In August 2019 the family of former member of parliament Osama al-Tamimi, who had been critical of the ruling family on social media, reported he was harassed by security forces and was reportedly under a travel ban. Censorship or Content Restrictions: Government censorship occurred. Ministry of Information Affairs personnel actively monitored and blocked stories on matters deemed sensitive, especially those related to sectarianism, national security, or criticism of the royal family, the Saudi royal family, or the judiciary. Journalists widely practiced self-censorship. Some members of media reported government officials contacted editors directly and told them to stop publishing articles on certain subjects. The press and publications law prohibits anti-Islamic content in media and mandates imprisonment for “exposing the state’s official religion to offense and criticism.” The law states, “Any publication that prejudices the ruling system of the country and its official religion can be banned from publication by a ministerial order.” Libel/Slander Laws: The government enforced libel and national security-related laws restricting freedom of the press. The penal code prohibits libel, slander, and “divulging secrets,” and it stipulates a punishment of imprisonment of no more than two years or a fine. Application of the slander law was selective. The Ministry of Interior reported the government fined or imprisoned 93 individuals for “slander,” “libel,” or “divulging secrets” through April, compared with 172 cases in 2019. In addition, two persons were convicted of “insulting a government institution,” and 582 were convicted of “misusing a telecommunications device.” National Security: National security-related law provides for substantial fines and prison sentences of at least six months for criticizing the king or inciting actions that undermine state security, as well as fines for 14 related offenses. Punishable activities include publicizing statements issued by a foreign state or organization before obtaining ministry approval, publishing any reports that may adversely affect the dinar’s value, reporting any offense against a head of a state that maintains diplomatic relations with the country, and publishing offensive remarks concerning an accredited representative of a foreign country due to acts connected with the person’s position. The government blocked access to some websites from inside the country, including some opposition-linked websites. The government continued blocking Qatar-funded web-based outlets, which it began after cutting relations with Qatar in 2017, and other pan-Arab media outlets that were critical of Bahrain. Access to overseas human rights groups reporting on human rights and political prisoners in Bahrain and opposition-leaning news sites that were critical of the ruling family and the government were blocked within the country. The government restricted internet freedom and monitored individuals’ online activities, including via social media, leading to degradation of internet and mobile phone services for some neighborhoods and to legal action against some internet users. In May 2019 the Ministry of Interior Cybersecurity Department announced it would use applicable laws to charge social media users who followed accounts that promote hatred and shared their posts. On August 26, the Cybersecurity Department warned against sharing content from Lebanon-based and Iran-based social media accounts that were linked with dissolved political societies al-Wifaq and al-Wafa. Several reports alleged the government monitored political and human rights activists’ social media accounts and electronic communications. Defense attorney Abdulla Hashim was charged with misusing social media and publishing “fake news” for eight tweets between 2017 and 2019 highlighting government corruption. At year’s end his case was awaiting an appeal verdict, and he was facing two years in prison for tweets critical of corruption, impunity, and establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. Political and human rights activists reported being interrogated by security forces regarding their postings on social media. They sometimes reported repeated interrogations that included threats against their physical safety and that of their families, threats against their livelihood, and threats of denial of social services such as housing and education. Several activists reported shutting down or deciding to cease posting to their social media accounts because of the threats. Academic Freedom and Cultural Events The government restricted academic freedom and cultural events. Some academics engaged in self-censorship, avoiding discussion of contentious political issues. In January the Ministry of Interior summoned historian Jassim Hussain al-Abbas for a speech he gave at a conference in which he discussed the history of mosques in the country and alluded to Shia rulers before the first al-Khalifa emir. b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association The constitution provides for the rights of assembly and association, but laws and the government restricted these rights. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly The constitution provides for the right of free assembly, but a number of laws restrict the exercise of this right. The Ministry of Interior maintained a prohibition on public demonstrations for the fifth year, stating the purpose was to maintain public order in view of sectarian attacks in the region. According to the government, there were no applications submitted to hold a demonstration or protest during the year. The law outlines the locations where functions are prohibited, including in areas close to hospitals, airports, commercial locations, security-related facilities, and downtown Manama. The General Directorate of the Police may prevent a public meeting if it violates security or public order, or for any other serious reason. The law states that mourners may not turn funeral processions into political rallies and that security officials may be present at any public gathering. According to the law, the Ministry of Interior is not obligated to justify why it approves or denies requests to allow protests. The penal code penalizes any gathering “of five or more individuals” that is held for the “purpose of committing crimes or inciting others to commit crimes.” Legal experts asserted authorities should not be able to prevent demonstrations in advance based on assumptions that crimes would be committed. Authorities prohibited the use of vehicles in any demonstration, protest, or gathering unless organizers obtained special written permission from the head of public security. The law states every public gathering shall have a committee consisting of a head and at least two members. The committee is responsible for supervising and preventing any illegal acts during the function. Organizers of an unauthorized gathering face prison sentences of three to six months. The sentence for participating in an illegal gathering ranges from one month to two years in prison. Authorities gave longer sentences for cases where demonstrators used violence in an illegal gathering. During the year the Public Prosecutor’s Office stated there were 374 individuals arrested for violent gatherings, 346 of whom were convicted. The law regulates election campaigning and prohibits political activities at worship centers, universities, schools, government buildings, and public institutions. The government did not allow individuals to use mosques, maatams (Shia religious halls), or other religious sites for political gatherings. The government did not prevent small, nonviolent opposition demonstrations that occurred in traditional Shia villages that often protested government policies or were intended to show solidarity with prisoners. Police reportedly broke up some of these protests with tear gas, however. While groups participating in these protests often posted photographs on social media of these events, participants were careful to hide their faces due to fear of retribution. Freedom of Association The constitution provides for freedom of association, but the government limited this right. The government required all groups to register–civil society groups and labor unions with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development and political societies with the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments. The government decides whether a group is social or political in nature, based on its proposed bylaws. The law prohibits any activity by an unlicensed society, as well as any political activity by a licensed civil society group. A number of unlicensed societies were active in the country (see section 3). A civil society group applying for registration must submit its bylaws signed by all founding members, together with minutes of the founding committee’s meetings containing the names, professions, places of residence, and signatures of all founding members. The law grants the Ministry of Labor and Social Development the right to reject the registration of any civil society group if it finds the society’s services unnecessary, already provided by another society, contrary to state security, or aimed at reviving a previously dissolved society. Associations whose applications authorities rejected or ignored may appeal to the High Civil Court, which may annul the ministry’s decision or refuse the appeal. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society activists asserted the ministry routinely exploited its oversight role to stymie the activities of NGOs and other civil society organizations. Local NGOs asserted officials actively sought to undermine some groups’ activities and imposed burdensome bureaucratic procedures on NGO board members and volunteers. The Ministries of Justice and Interior must vet funding from international sources, and authorities sometimes did not authorize it. c. Freedom of Religion d. Freedom of Movement The constitution provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation. The government did not always respect these rights. Foreign Travel: The law provides that the government may reject for “reasonable cause” applications to obtain or renew passports, but the applicant has the right to appeal such decisions before the High Civil Court. Individuals, including citizens of other countries, reported authorities banned them from travel out of the country due to unpaid debt obligations or other fiduciary responsibilities with private individuals or with lending institutions, as well as for open court cases. The government maintained an online website during the year that allowed individuals to check their status before they traveled, although some persons reported the website was not a reliable source of information. Authorities relied on determinations of “national security” when adjudicating passport applications. During the year the government lifted 37 of 87 travel bans against citizens who were previously restricted from leaving the country. Exile: There were no reports the government prohibited the return of individuals whom the government considered citizens. The government, however, prohibited the return of those whose citizenship it formally revoked, or those it no longer considered citizens. Citizenship: The government may revoke citizenship in both criminal and political cases, including for natural-born citizens. Authorities maintained the revocation of citizenship of some opposition political and religious figures. The government did not consider whether individuals may become stateless by these actions. At times it threatened to halt payments of pensions or remove families from government-assisted housing if the head of household lost his citizenship. Some family members, especially women and minor children, reported difficulties renewing their passports and residence cards and obtaining birth certificates for children. The government did not report how many persons had their citizenship revoked during the year; international human rights NGOs placed the total number at more than 700 since 2012. On August 12, the Court of Cassation reversed the revocation of citizenship of three defendants who were sentenced to life in prison for setting the Sitra Police Station alight in 2017. The Public Prosecutor’s Office asserted the three defendants were connected to a dissolved political society. f. Protection of Refugees The government generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern. In October the government and the UN high commissioner for refugees signed a memorandum of understanding on data sharing and information exchange with the stated goal of supporting refugees in the Middle East. Access to Asylum: The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status, and the government has not established a system for providing protection to refugees. The government at times provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion; however, protection was mostly limited to those who had been able to obtain and maintain employment in the country. Such individuals generally had access to health care and education services while employed but were at risk of deportation if they became unemployed or if their country of origin revoked their passports. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees reported that as of December, there were 256 refugees and 56 asylum-seekers registered with the agency. g. Stateless Persons Individuals generally derive citizenship from the father, but the king may confer or revoke it. Since the government considers only the father’s citizenship when determining citizenship, it does not generally grant children born to a non-Bahraini father citizenship, even if they were born in the country to a citizen mother (see section 6, Children). Likewise, the government does not provide a path to citizenship for foreign men married to Bahraini women, unlike the process by which foreign women married to Bahraini men may become citizens. Human rights organizations reported these laws resulted in stateless children, particularly when the foreign father was unable or unwilling to pursue citizenship from his country of origin for his children, or when the father himself was stateless, deceased, or unknown. It was unknown how many stateless persons resided in the country. Stateless persons had limited access to social services, education, and employment. There were reports authorities refused applications for birth certificates and passports for children whose Bahraini fathers were in prison because the fathers were not able to submit the applications in person (see section 6, Children). The government charged individuals whose citizenship it revoked with violating immigration law. Section 3. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process Citizens have limited ability to choose their government and their political system. The constitution provides for an elected Council of Representatives, the lower house of parliament. The constitution permits the king to dissolve the Council of Representatives, but it requires that he first consult the chairpersons of the upper and lower houses of the parliament as well as the head of the Constitutional Court. The king cannot dissolve the Council of Representatives for the same reasons more than once. The king also has the power to amend the constitution and to propose, ratify, and promulgate laws. Elections and Political Participation Recent Elections: Approximately 67 percent of eligible voters participated in parliamentary elections held in 2018, according to government estimates. The government did not permit international election monitors. Domestic monitors generally concluded that authorities administered the elections without significant irregularities. Some observers expressed broader concerns regarding limitations on freedom of expression and association as well as continued concerns over voting district boundaries. The dissolution of the country’s principal opposition societies and laws restricting their former members from running for office, the absence of an independent press, and the criminalization of online criticism created a political environment that was not conducive to free elections, according to Human Rights Watch. Political Parties and Political Participation: The government did not allow the formation of political parties, but some “political societies” developed political platforms, held internal elections, and hosted political gatherings. In 2017 the government dissolved the two most prominent opposition political societies, al-Wifaq and Wa’ad, through legal actions. To apply for registration, a political society must submit its bylaws signed by all founding members, a list of all members and copies of their residency cards, and a financial statement identifying the society’s sources of funding and bank information. The society’s principles, goals, and programs must not run counter to sharia or national interest, as interpreted by the judiciary, nor may the society base itself on sectarian, geographic, or class identity. A number of societies operated outside these rules, and some functioned on a sectarian basis. The government authorized registered political societies to nominate candidates for office and to participate in other political activities. The law bans practicing clerics from membership in political societies (including in leadership positions) and involvement in political activities, even on a voluntary basis. Political societies are required to coordinate their contacts with foreign diplomatic or consular missions, foreign governmental organizations, or representatives of foreign governments with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which may elect to send a representative to the meeting. Although this requirement was enforced in the past, there were no reports of the government enforcing the order during the year. Participation of Women and Members of Minority Groups: No laws limit participation of women or members of minority groups in the political process, and women did participate. In the 2018 elections, six women won seats in the 40-member Council of Representatives, doubling the number of women, and the body elected its first female speaker in that year. The royal court appointed nine women during the year to the Shura Council, the appointed 40-member upper house, and the prime minister appointed a woman to the 26-seat cabinet. Approximately 9 percent of judges were women, including the deputy chief of the Court of Cassation. Two women in the police force held the rank of brigadier general and general director. Shia and Sunni citizens have equal rights before the law, but Sunnis dominated political life; the majority of citizens are Shia. In 2018, 11 Shia candidates were elected to the Council of Representatives. The appointed Shura Council included 19 Shia members, one Jewish member, and one Christian member. Five of the 24 appointed cabinet ministers were Shia citizens, including one of five deputy prime ministers. Section 4. Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government The law provides criminal penalties for conviction of official corruption, but the government did not implement the law adequately, and some officials reportedly engaged in corrupt practices. The law subjects government employees at all levels to prosecution if they use their positions to engage in embezzlement or bribery, either directly or indirectly. Penalties may be up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The General Directorate of Anticorruption and Economic and Electronic Security held workshops for various ministries throughout the year. Corruption: The National Audit Office is responsible for combating government corruption. The Government Executive Committee, chaired by the crown prince, reviews any violations cited in the office’s annual report. In October 2019 the government released the office’s annual report, and the government released some findings to the public; however, the full report was not published or made available online. The government reported that four officials were prosecuted for corruption and bribery-related charges. Their cases were pending as of April. Significant areas of government activity, including the security services and the Bahrain Defense Force, lacked transparency, and the privatization of public land remained a concern among opposition groups. Financial Disclosure: The law does not require government officials to make financial disclosures. Section 5. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights Government officials sometimes met with local human rights NGOs but generally were not responsive to the views of NGOs they believed were politicized and unfairly critical of the government. Beginning in August the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a series of public workshops with government and civil society actors to inform the development of a National Action Plan for Human Rights and to improve transparency. Diplomats and international organization representatives also attended. Some civil society representatives expressed concern the government would not fully reflect the views of civil society in the development of the plan. Domestic human rights groups operated with government restrictions, with some human rights activists imprisoned, exiled, or coerced into silence, according to reporting by international human rights organizations. Domestic human rights groups included the Bahrain Human Rights Society and Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, the primary independent and licensed human rights organizations in the country; the BCHR, although dissolved by the government in 2004, continued to operate and maintain an online presence; and the unlicensed Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights. The unlicensed umbrella human rights organization, Bahrain Human Rights Observatory, also issued numerous reports and had strong ties to international human rights NGOs. Domestic human rights groups faced significant difficulties operating freely and interacting with international human rights organizations. The government sometimes harassed and deprived local NGO leaders of due process. Local NGO leaders and activists also reported government harassment, including police surveillance, delayed processing of civil documents, and “inappropriate questioning” of their children during interviews for government scholarships. Activists reported forgoing travel, in particular to international human rights events, fearing a reimposition of international travel bans. Individuals affiliated with international human rights and labor organizations, or who were critical of the government, reported authorities indefinitely delayed or refused visa applications, or at times refused entry to the country for individuals who possessed a valid visa or qualified for the country’s visa-free entry program. Government Human Rights Bodies: Throughout the year the NIHR conducted numerous human rights workshops, seminars, and training sessions, as well as prison visits, and referred numerous complaints to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. It also operated a hotline for citizens and residents to file human rights-related complaints and offered an in-person walk-in option for filing complaints. The SIU investigates and refers cases of security force misconduct, including complaints against the police, to the appropriate court, which includes civilian criminal courts, the Ministry of Interior’s Military Court, and administrative courts (see section 1.c.). The ministry generally did not release the names of officers convicted, demoted, reassigned, or fired for misconduct, although it reported the highest-ranking police officer prosecuted for any crime was a captain. There is also an NIA Office of the Inspector General and a Ministry of Interior Ombudsman’s Office, created as a result of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. While both offices were responsible for addressing allegations of mistreatment and violations by the security forces, there was little public information available regarding the activities of the NIA Office of the Inspector General. The PDRC, chaired by the ombudsman, monitors prisons, detention centers, and other places where persons may be detained, such as hospital and psychiatric facilities. The PDRC is empowered to conduct inspections of facilities, interview inmates or detainees, and refer cases to the Ombudsman’s Office or SIU. The ministry organized various human rights training programs for its employees, including a year-long human rights curriculum and diploma at the Royal Police Academy. The academy regularly negotiates memoranda of understanding with NIHR to exchange expertise. The academy continued to include a unit on human rights in international law as part of the curriculum for its master’s degree in Security Administration and Criminal Forensics. The NIHR had a memorandum with the NIA to organize workshops and training sessions for NIA officers relating to human rights and basic rights and to collaborate on future research. The Ombudsman’s Office within the Ministry of Interior, the SIU within the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the PDRC worked with each other throughout the year. The Ombudsman’s Office maintained a hotline for citizens to report police abuse via telephone, email, or in person. Many human rights groups asserted that investigations into police abuse were slow and ineffective and questioned the independence and credibility of investigations by government-sponsored organizations. Local and international observers and human rights organizations continued to express concern the government had not fully implemented Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry recommendations, including dropping charges against individuals engaged in nonviolent political expression, criminally charging security officers accused of abuse or torture, integrating Shia citizens into security forces, and creating an environment conducive to national reconciliation. Section 6. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons Rape and Domestic Violence: Rape is illegal, although the penal code allows an alleged rapist to marry his victim to avoid punishment. The law does not address spousal rape. Penalties for rape include life imprisonment and execution in cases where the victim is a minor younger than 16, if the rapist is the custodian or guardian of the victim, or when the rape leads to the victim’s death. The law states violence against women is a crime. Nevertheless, domestic violence against women was common, according to the BCHR. Although government leaders and some members of parliament participated in awareness-raising activities during the year, including debates on additional legislation, authorities devoted little attention to supporting public campaigns aimed at the problem. The government maintained a shelter for women and children who were victims of domestic violence. The law provides that local police officials should be contacted in cases of domestic violence and that the public prosecutor can investigate if information is passed from the police to them. Victims of domestic violence, however, reported difficulty knowing whom to contact or how to proceed when filing a complaint. The government continued to document and prosecute physical or sexual abuse of women. The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments documented 327 cases of physical or sexual abuse as of September, of which 36 involved children. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C): FGM/C was rarely practiced, and instances mostly occurred within immigrant populations. There is no specific law prohibiting the practice, although legal experts previously indicated the act falls under criminal code provisions that prohibit “permanent disability to another person.” There were no cases of prosecuting FGM during the year. Other Harmful Traditional Practices: By law “honor” killings are punishable, but the penal code provides a lenient sentence for killing a spouse caught in the act of adultery, whether male or female. There were no cases of honor killings reported during the year. Sexual Harassment: The law prohibits sexual harassment, including insulting or committing an indecent act towards a woman in public, with penalties of imprisonment and fines. Although the government sometimes enforced the law, sexual harassment remained a widespread problem for women, especially foreign female domestic workers. Reproductive Rights: Couples and individuals have the right to decide the number, spacing, and timing of children, and they had access to the information and means to do so, free from discrimination, coercion, or violence. There are no known legal barriers or penalties for accessing contraception. Health centers did not require women to obtain spousal consent for provision of most family planning services except for sterilization procedures. Mothers giving birth out of wedlock in public or government-run hospitals often faced challenges in obtaining birth certificates for their children. According to statistics compiled in 2013, the modern contraceptive prevalence rate was 61.8 percent. Contraceptives were available without prescription throughout the country regardless of nationality, gender, age, or marital status; however, emergency contraception was not available. The government provides access to sexual and reproductive health services for survivors of sexual violence, including expatriates. Coercion in Population Control: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization on the part of government authorities. Discrimination: Women have the right to initiate divorce proceedings in family courts, but Shia and Sunni religious courts may refuse the request. In divorce cases the courts routinely granted mothers custody of daughters younger than age nine and sons younger than seven for Shia women, with fathers typically gaining custody once girls and boys reached the ages of nine and seven, respectively. Sunni women can retain custody of daughters until age 17 and sons until age 15. Regardless of custody decisions, the father retains guardianship, or the right to make all legal decisions for the child, until age 21. A noncitizen woman automatically loses custody of her children if she divorces their citizen father “without just cause.” Any woman who remarries loses custody of her children. The basis for family law is sharia as interpreted by Sunni and Shia religious experts. In 2017 King Hamad ratified the Shia portion of the Unified Family Law codifying the rights of Shia citizens, in particular women, according to the civil code on issues such as marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Shia and Sunni family law is enforced by separate judicial bodies composed of religious authorities charged with interpreting sharia. The revised civil law provides access to family courts for all women, ensuring the standardized application of the law and further legal recourse, since decisions made by family court judges are subject to review by the Supreme Judicial Council. In instances of mixed Sunni-Shia marriages, families may choose which court hears the issue. Women may own and inherit property and represent themselves in all public and legal matters. In the absence of a direct male heir, Shia women may inherit all of their husband’s property, while Sunni women inherit only a portion, with the brothers or other male relatives of the deceased also receiving a share. The government respected wills directing the division of assets according to the deceased. Women experienced gains in business and government. In the business sector, female-led entrepreneurial ventures constituted more than half of filings for new businesses. Birth Registration: Individuals derive citizenship from their father or by decree from the king. Women do not transmit their nationality to their children, rendering stateless some children of citizen mothers and noncitizen fathers (see section 2.d.). Authorities do not register births immediately. From birth to the age of three months, the mother’s primary health-care provider holds registration for the children. When a child reaches three months, authorities register the birth with the Ministry of Health’s Birth Registration Unit, which then issues the official birth certificate. Children not registered before reaching their first birthday must obtain a registration by court order. The government does not provide public services to a child without a birth certificate. Education: Schooling is compulsory for children until age 15 and is provided free of charge to citizens and legal residents through grade 12. Authorities segregated government-run schools by gender, although girls and boys used the same curricula and textbooks. Islamic studies based on Sunni doctrine are mandatory for all Muslim public-school students and are optional for non-Muslim students. Child Abuse: The Family Courts have jurisdiction over issues including child abuse. NGOs expressed concern regarding the lack of consistently written guidelines for prosecuting and punishing offenders and the leniency of penalties in child-abuse cases in the sharia courts. There were reports police approached children outside schools and threatened or coerced them into becoming police informants. Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: According to the law, the minimum age of marriage is 16 years for girls and 18 years for boys, but special circumstances allow marriages below these ages with approval from a sharia court. Sexual Exploitation of Children: The law prohibits exploitation of a child for various crimes, including prostitution. Penalties include imprisonment of no less than three months if the accused used exploitation and force to commit the crime and up to six years if the accused exploited more than one child, as well as fines for individuals and organizations. The law also prohibits child pornography. The Ministry of Justice reported prosecuting 36 cases of sexual exploitation of children as of September, a significant decrease over the prior year. International Child Abductions: The country is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. See the Department of State’s Annual Report on International Parental Child Abduction at . According to community members, there were between 36 and 40 Jewish citizens (six families) in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. Trafficking in Persons Persons with Disabilities The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. The constitution guarantees social security, social insurance, and health care for persons with disabilities. The government administered a committee to ensure the provision of care for persons with disabilities that included representatives from all relevant ministries, NGOs, and the private sector. The committee is responsible for monitoring violations against persons with disabilities. During the year the government did not prosecute any cases for violations against persons with disabilities. Authorities mandated a variety of governmental, quasi-governmental, and religious institutions to support and protect persons with disabilities. In 2018 a law established a High Commission for Disabled Affairs to develop a social awareness campaign called “Leave No One Behind,” prepare a national strategy, and develop legislation to address the needs of persons with disabilities. On May 7, the king restructured the commission by appointing new members from the public and the private sector. Building codes require accessible facilities in all new government and public buildings in the central municipality. The law does not mandate access to other nonresidential buildings for persons with disabilities. No information was available on the responsibilities of government agencies to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. According to anecdotal evidence, persons with disabilities routinely lacked access to education, accessible housing, and employment. The sole government school for children with hearing disabilities did not operate past the 10th grade. Some public schools had specialized education programs for children with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, speech disabilities, and intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome. The law stipulates equal treatment for persons with disabilities with regard to employment, and violations of the law are punishable with fines. Eligible voters may vote either in their regular precincts or in a general polling station. The local precincts, which are mostly in schools, sometimes posed problems to voters with mobility disabilities due to lack of physical accessibility. General polling stations in public spaces such as malls allowed for assistive devices. There was no absentee ballot system. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development continued to work with the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in cooperation with the UN Development Program. Members of National/Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups The law grants citizenship to ethnic Arab applicants who have resided in the country for 15 years and non-Arab applicants who have resided in the country for 25 years. There were numerous reports that authorities did not apply the citizenship law uniformly. NGOs stated the government allowed foreign Sunni employees of the security services who had lived in the country fewer than 15 years to apply for citizenship. There were also reports authorities had not granted citizenship to Arab Shia residents who had resided in the country for more than 15 years and non-Arab foreign residents who had resided for more than 25 years. Rights groups reported discrimination, especially in employment practices, against Shia citizens in certain professions such as security forces. Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity The law does not criminalize same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults at least 21 years old, but it does not extend antidiscrimination protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. According to Human Rights Watch, the government prosecuted acts such as organizing a “gay party” or cross-dressing under penal code provisions against “indecency” and “immorality.” Discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity occurred, including in employment and obtaining legal identity documents. In some cases, however, courts permitted transgender individuals to update identity documents if they had undergone sex reassignment surgery. HIV and AIDS Social Stigma There were no known cases involving societal violence or discrimination against persons based on HIV/AIDS status, but medical experts acknowledged publicly that discrimination existed. The government mandated screening of newly arrived migrant workers for infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. In prior years the government deported migrant workers found to be HIV/AIDS positive, but the status of deportations during the year was unclear. Section 7. Worker Rights a. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining The constitution and labor code recognize the right to form and join independent trade unions and the right to strike, with significant restrictions. The law does not provide for the right to collective bargaining. The law prohibits trade unions in the public sector. Public-sector workers may join private-sector trade unions and professional associations, although these entities may not bargain on their behalf. The law also prohibits members of the military services and domestic workers from joining unions. Foreign workers, composing nearly 80 percent of the civilian workforce, may join unions if they work in a sector that allows unions, although the law reserves union leadership roles for citizens. The law prohibits unions from engaging in political activities. The law specifies only an official trade union may organize or declare a strike, and it imposes excessive requirements for legal strikes. The law prohibits strikes in 10 “vital” sectors–the scope of which exceeds international standards–including the oil, gas, education, telecommunications, transportation, and health sectors, as well as pharmacies and bakeries. The law makes no distinction between “vital” and “nonvital” employees within these sectors. Workers must approve a strike with a simple majority by secret ballot and provide 15 days’ notification to the employer before conducting a strike. The law allows multiple trade union federations but prohibits multisector labor federations and bars individuals convicted of violating criminal laws that lead to trade union or executive council dissolution from holding union leadership posts. The law gives the labor minister, rather than the unions, the right to select the federation to represent workers in national-level bargaining and international forums. The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, in practice independent unions faced government repression and harassment. The law does not require reinstatement of workers fired for union activity. Some workers and union affiliates complained union pluralism resulted in company management interfering in union dues collection and workers’ chosen union affiliation. They stated that management chose to negotiate with the union it found most favorable, to the detriment of collective bargaining agreements and the legitimate voice of workers. In 2014, after signing a second tripartite agreement, the International Labor Organization (ILO) dismissed the complaint filed in 2011 regarding the dismissal of workers. During the year the government reported it considered efforts at reinstatement, as reflected in the tripartite agreement, to be completed. The government reported that 154 of the 165 cases had been resolved through either reinstatement or by financial compensation. Human rights organizations and activists questioned the government’s claims and reported continuing, systemic labor discrimination. b. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor except in national emergencies; however, the government did not always enforce the law effectively. The antitrafficking law prescribes penalties ranging from three to 15 years’ imprisonment, a significant fine, and the cost of repatriating the victim(s), which were sufficiently stringent, and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes, such as kidnapping. There were reports of forced labor in the construction and service sectors. The labor law covers foreign workers, except domestic workers, but enforcement was lax, and cases of debt bondage were common. There were also reports of forced labor practices among domestic workers and others working in the informal sector; labor laws did not protect most of these workers. Domestic workers from third countries have the right to see the terms included in their employment contract before leaving their home countries, or upon arrival. The law requires domestic contacts to be tripartite and to have the signature of the employer, recruitment office, and employee. According to reports by third-country labor officials and human rights organizations, employers withheld passports, a practice prohibited by law, restricted movement, substituted contracts, or did not pay wages; some employers also threatened workers and subjected them to physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development (Ministry of Labor) reported 1,976 labor complaints from domestic workers and construction workers, mostly of unpaid wages or denied vacation time. In August the ministry reported that 16 workers were victims of forced labor during the annual summer work ban. Authorities referred 27 companies to the courts for alleged violations of the ban. In February the Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) opened a new office in Buhair Riffa for aggrieved workers to file cases against their employers, in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments. In March the LMRA adopted the tripartite domestic contract, which regulates the relationship between the recruitment office, the employer, and the domestic worker. The LMRA required all recruitment agencies to implement the new tripartite contract format. In 2016 the LMRA instituted procedures that allow workers to change the employer associated with their visa–without permission from their former employer or without their passport. The LMRA threatened employers who withheld passports with criminal and administrative violations and prohibited at-fault employers from hiring new workers. During the year the government shut down recruitment agencies and revoked licenses of others for infringing on workers’ rights. Recruitment agencies complicit in illegal practices may be subject to license revocation, legal action, shutdown of business operations, or a forfeit of license deposits. The LMRA employed inspectors who were sworn officers of the court, with the authority to conduct official investigations. LMRA inspector reports may result in fines, court cases, loss of work permits, and termination of businesses. These inspectors focus on the legal and administrative provisions under which individuals fall, including work permits, employer records, and licenses. The Ministry of Labor employed general inspectors and occupational safety inspectors. Their roles are to inspect workplaces, occupational health and safety conditions, and the employer/employee work relationship. c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment The laws and regulations related to child labor generally meet international standards. After thorough consultations with local government officials, diplomats of labor-sending countries, representatives from local civil society organizations, and the International Organization for Migration, the experts determined that child labor was not a prevalent problem in the country. The minimum age for employment is 15, and the minimum age for hazardous work is 18. Children younger than 18 may not work in industries the Ministry of Health deemed hazardous or unhealthy, including construction, mining, and oil refining. They may work no more than six hours a day–no more than four days consecutively–and may be present on the employment premises no more than seven hours a day. Child labor regulations do not apply to family-operated businesses in which the only other employees are family members. The law requires that before the ministry makes a final decision on allowing a minor to work, the prospective employer must present documentation from the minor’s guardian giving the minor permission to work; proof the minor underwent a physical fitness examination to determine suitability; and assurance from the employer the minor would not work in an environment the ministry deemed hazardous. The government generally enforced the law with established mechanisms; however, gaps exist within the operations of the Ministry of Labor that may hinder adequate enforcement of their child labor laws. In 2017 the government began making moderate efforts to eliminate child labor. The LMRA developed a handbook on the National Referral System for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, opened a shelter for victims, and conducted training on human trafficking for all police officers. There was evidence, however, that children continued to engage in domestic work and sell items on the street. The government did not conduct research to determine the nature and extent of child labor in the country. The law does not allow expatriate workers younger than 18 to work in the country. e. Acceptable Conditions of Work There is no national private-sector minimum wage. A standardized government pay scale covers public-sector workers, with a set minimum monthly wage. While the minimum wage for citizens is generally considered a living wage, there is no minimum wage for foreign workers in the public sector; however, the government issued “guidelines” advising employers in the public and private sectors to pay a minimum monthly wage. There was no official poverty level. Subject to the provisions of the private-sector law, employers may not employ a worker for more than 48 hours per week without including contract provisions for overtime pay. Employers may not employ Muslim workers during the month of Ramadan for more than six hours per day or 36 hours per week. The Ministry of Labor sets occupational safety and health standards. The labor law and relevant protections apply to citizens and noncitizens alike, with the exception of domestic workers. The revised labor law improved the legal situation for many workers as it pertains to access to contracts and additional holidays, although it excludes domestic workers from most protections. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing the labor law and mandating acceptable conditions of work. The law stipulates that companies that violate occupational safety standards can be subject to fines. The Ministry of Labor enforced occupational safety and health standards; it also used a team of engineers from multiple specialties primarily to investigate risks and standards at construction sites, which were the vast majority of worksites. Inspectors have the authority to levy fines and close worksites if employers do not improve conditions by specified deadlines. A judge determines fines per violation, per worker affected, or both. A judge may also sentence violators to prison. For repeat violators, the court may double the penalties. Despite the improvements, NGOs feared resources for enforcement of the laws remained inadequate for the number of worksites and workers, many worksites would not be inspected, and the regulations would not necessarily deter violations. A ministerial decree prohibits outdoor work between noon and 4 p.m. during July and August because of heat conditions. Authorities enforced the ban among large firms, but according to local observers, violations were common among smaller businesses. Employers who violated the ban are subject to up to three months’ imprisonment, fines, or both. The ministry documented 27 companies in noncompliance with the summer heat ban during the year. The government and courts generally worked to rectify abuses brought to their attention. Workers could file complaints with the ministry. There were 1,979 labor complaints during the year; 1,298 of these complaints were from domestic workers. The vast majority of cases involving abused domestic workers did not reach the ministry or the public prosecutor. Police referred 78 cases to the National Referral Mechanism in the first half of the year. Individuals with referred cases received a range of services, including shelter provided by the National Committee for Combating Trafficking in Persons. The LMRA shelters provided services to 108 migrant workers in the first half of the year. The victims were either domestic workers or skilled workers who entered the country under a tourist visa. The Migrant Workers Protection Society reported it visited unregistered camps and accommodations, including accommodations of irregular “free visa” workers, who often lived in overcrowded apartments with poor safety standards. The government continued to conduct workers’ rights awareness campaigns. It published pamphlets on foreign resident workers’ rights in several languages, provided manuals on these rights to local diplomatic missions, and operated a telephone hotline for victims. Violations of wage, overtime, and occupational safety and health standards were common in sectors employing foreign workers, such as construction, automotive repair, and domestic service. Unskilled foreign workers, mostly from South and Southeast Asia, constituted approximately 60 percent of the total workforce. These workers were vulnerable to dangerous or exploitive working conditions. According to NGOs, workplace safety inspection and compliance were substandard. In April the government announced two initiatives to combat COVID-19 and reduce key barriers to underreporting infection cases, including temporary suspension of work permit fees for certain categories of workers, and amnesty for thousands of illegal foreign workers to legalize their status. Although the migrant labor community welcomed the announcement, some citizens urged the government to deport migrant workers to prevent the spread of the virus. The economic impact of the pandemic on migrant workers included the hospitality and service sectors, and dismissed and furloughed workers required food and monetary assistance from local authorities and labor-sending embassies. The labor law does not fully protect domestic workers, and this group was particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Domestic employees must have a contract, but the law does not provide for same rights accorded to other workers, including rest days. In 2017 the LMRA announced that all newly arrived domestic workers would be required to use new tripartite work contracts. The recruitment agency, the employer, and the employee must agree upon the contents of the new contracts. According to local press reports, the new contracts include daily working hours, weekly day off, and mandatory wage receipts, among other conditions. Activists reported that usage of the forms among employers and recruitment agencies remained low throughout the year. There were credible reports employers forced some of the country’s 86,000 domestic workers, most of them women, to work 12- to 16-hour days and surrender their identity documents to employers. Employers permitted very little time off, left female workers malnourished, and subjected them to verbal and physical abuse, including sexual molestation and rape. There were reports of employers and recruitment agents beating or sexually abusing foreign women working in domestic positions, but most cases involving domestic workers did not reach the Ministry of Labor. The press, embassies, and police received numerous reports of abuse. The Migrant Workers Protection Society provided female domestic workers with assistance with their cases. Additionally, the National Committee for Combating Trafficking in Persons provided workers with shelter. Most women in these cases sought assistance with unpaid wages and complaints of physical abuse. According to NGOs, the construction sector employed more Indians, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis than other nationalities. Worker deaths generally were due to a combination of inadequate enforcement of standards, violations of standards, inadequate safety procedures, worker ignorance of those procedures, and inadequate safety standards for equipment. While some workers may remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardizing their employment, the level of freedom workers enjoyed directly related to the types of work they performed. A Ministry of Labor order requires employers to register any labor accommodations provided to employees. The order also mandates minimum housing standards for employer-provided accommodations. Many workers lived in unregistered accommodations that ranged in quality from makeshift accommodations in parking garages, to apartments rented by employers from private owners, to family houses modified to accommodate many persons. Conditions in the many unregistered or irregular worker camps were often squalid and overcrowded, which likely contributed to a large-scale outbreak of COVID-19. Inspectors do not have the right to enter houses or apartment buildings not registered as work camps to inspect conditions.

Afghanistan is an Islamic republic with a directly elected president, a bicameral legislative branch, and a judicial branch; however, armed insurgents control portions of the country. The country held presidential elections in September 2019 after technical issues and security requirements compelled the Independent Election Commission to reschedule the election multiple times. The commission announced preliminary election results on December 22, 2019, indicating that President Ashraf Ghani had won, although runner-up and then chief executive Abdullah Abdullah disputed the results, including after final results were announced February 18. Both President Ghani and Abdullah declared victory and held competing swearing-in ceremonies on March 9. Political leaders mediated the resulting impasse, ultimately resulting in a compromise, announced on May 17, in which President Ghani retained the presidency, Abdullah was appointed to lead the High Council for National Reconciliation, and each of them would select one-half of the cabinet members. Three governmental entities share responsibility for law enforcement and maintenance of order in the country: the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defense, and the National Directorate of Security. The Afghan National Police, under the Ministry of Interior, has primary responsibility for internal order and for the Afghan Local Police, a community-based self-defense force with no legal ability to arrest or independently investigate crimes. In June, President Ghani announced plans to subsume the Afghan Local Police into other branches of the security forces provided individuals can present a record free of allegations of corruption and human rights abuses. As of year’s end, the implementation of these plans was underway. The Major Crimes Task Force, also under the Ministry of Interior, investigates major crimes including government corruption, human trafficking, and criminal organizations. The Afghan National Army, under the Ministry of Defense, is responsible for external security, but its primary activity is fighting the insurgency internally. The National Directorate of Security functions as an intelligence agency and has responsibility for investigating criminal cases concerning national security. Some areas of the country were outside of government control, and antigovernment forces, including the Taliban, instituted their own justice and security systems. Civilian authorities generally maintained control over the security forces, although security forces occasionally acted independently. Members of the security forces committed numerous abuses. Although armed conflict continued in the country, on September 12, representatives of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban commenced Afghan peace negotiations. Before and during negotiations, armed insurgent groups conducted major attacks on government forces, public places, and civilians, killing and injuring thousands. There were also targeted attacks on women leading up to the start of the negotiations, including an assassination attempt on Fawzia Koofi, one of four women on the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s negotiating team, and two incidents during the Loya Jirga (grand council) in August in which parliamentarian Belqis Roshan was assaulted and violent threats were made against delegate Asila Wardak. Since November 7, unknown actors killed eight journalists and activists in targeted killings, three of whom were killed between December 21 and 24. Many of the attacks were unclaimed; the Taliban denied involvement. Significant human rights issues included: killings by insurgents; extrajudicial killings by security forces; forced disappearances by antigovernment personnel; reports of torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment by security forces and antigovernment entities; arbitrary detention by government security forces and insurgents; serious abuse in internal conflict, including killing of civilians, enforced disappearances and abductions, torture and physical abuses, and other conflict-related abuses; serious acts of corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for cases of violence against women, including those accused of so-called moral crimes; recruitment and use of child soldiers and sexual abuse of children, including by security force members and educational personnel; trafficking in persons; violence targeting members of ethnic minority groups; violence by security forces and other actors against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex persons; existence and use of laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct; and the existence of the worst forms of child labor. Widespread disregard for the rule of law and official impunity for those responsible for human rights abuses were serious, continuing problems. The government did not investigate or prosecute consistently or effectively abuses by officials, including security forces. Antigovernment elements continued to attack religious leaders who spoke out against the Taliban. During the year many progovernment Islamic scholars were killed in attacks for which no group claimed responsibility. Nonstate armed groups, primarily the Taliban and Islamic State in Khorasan Province, accounted for most child recruitment and used children younger than age 12 during the year. Insurgent groups, including the Taliban, increasingly used children as suicide bombers. Antigovernment elements threatened, robbed, kidnapped, and attacked government workers, foreigners, medical and nongovernmental organization workers, and other civilians. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported 5,939 civilian casualties in the first nine months of the year, with approximately 59 percent of these casualties attributed to antigovernment actors. The Taliban did not claim responsibility for civilian casualties. The Taliban referred to their attacks as “martyrdom operations.” Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings There were reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. The Attorney General’s Office maintains a military investigation and prosecution office for cases involving entities of the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Defense maintains its own investigation authority as well as prosecution at the primary and appellate level; at the final level, cases are forwarded to the Supreme Court. In January security forces in Kandahar Province reportedly killed a young girl and later her father, who approached the local army base apparently to condemn the killing. Security forces did not offer an explanation for the killings. Security forces fired upon and wounded at least one of the community members who protested the killings. Authorities committed to investigate the killings, but there was no update available as of October. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported in March that Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) members killed several locals either after they had surrendered or while they were in SAS detention in 2012. Witnesses alleged that in one such incident, SAS members shot and killed an imam and his son following evening prayers. In July the ABC additionally reported SAS members killed unarmed civilians in Kandahar Province in 2012. During the year unknown actors carried out a number of targeted killings of civilians, including religious leaders, journalists, and civil society advocates (see section 1.g.). There were no reports of disappearances committed by security forces. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) noted an increase in abductions of civilians carried out by the Taliban in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period in the previous year, and a fivefold increase over the same period of the previous year of casualties resulting from abduction. UNAMA reported seven adult men were abducted from their village in Herat Province on March 6 and subsequently killed by the Taliban. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices, there were numerous reports that government officials, security forces, detention center authorities, and police committed abuses. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported security forces continued to use excessive force, including torturing and beating civilians. Despite legislation prohibiting these acts, independent monitors continued to report credible cases of torture in detention centers. According to local media, lawyers representing detainees in detention centers alleged in July that torture remained commonplace and that detainees were regularly questioned using torture methods. There were numerous reports of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment by the Taliban, ISIS-K, and other antigovernment groups. UNAMA reported that punishments carried out by the Taliban included beatings, amputations, and executions. The Taliban held detainees in poor conditions and subjected them to forced labor, according to UNAMA. On January 30, a video was posted showing a woman being stoned to death. The president’s spokesman attributed the attack to the Taliban; the Taliban denied involvement. Impunity was a significant problem in all branches of the security forces. Despite the testimony of numerous witnesses and advocates that service members were among the most prevalent perpetrators of bacha bazi (the sexual and commercial exploitation of boys, especially by men in positions of power), the government had never prosecuted a security officer for these acts, although eight officers were arrested during the year in connection with bacha bazi incidents. In July, as a part of a political agreement between President Ghani and Abdullah, the government promoted Abdul Rashid Dostum to the rank of marshal, the country’s highest military rank. Dostum had been accused of gross violations of human rights, including the abduction and rape of a political opponent, but the government did not carry out an investigation. Prison and Detention Center Conditions Prison conditions were harsh due to overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and limited access to medical services. The General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Centers (GDPDC), part of the Interior Ministry, has responsibility for all civilian-run prisons (for both men and women) and civilian detention centers. The Ministry of Justice’s Juvenile Rehabilitation Directorate is responsible for all juvenile rehabilitation centers. The National Directorate of Security (NDS) operates short-term detention facilities at the provincial and district levels, usually colocated with its headquarters facilities. The Ministry of Defense runs the Afghan National Detention Facilities at Parwan. There were credible reports of private prisons run by members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and used for abuse of detainees. The Taliban also maintain illegal detention facilities throughout the country. Physical Conditions: Overcrowding in prisons continued to be a serious, widespread problem. On April 21, the general director of prisons stated the country’s prisons suffered from widespread abuses, including corruption, lack of attention to detainees’ sentences, sexual abuse of underage prisoners, and lack of access to medical care. Prisoners in a number of prisons occasionally conducted hunger strikes or sewed their mouths shut to protest their detention conditions. In October inspectors reportedly identified a contaminated drinking water supply at Pul-e Charki Prison. The water was reportedly contaminated by an overflow of sewage at a nearby water treatment plant that was not adequately addressed due to low standards of safety and maintenance. Authorities generally lacked the facilities to separate pretrial and convicted inmates or to separate juveniles according to the seriousness of the charges against them. Local prisons and detention centers did not always have separate facilities for female prisoners. According to NGOs and media reports, authorities held children younger than age 15 in prison with their mothers, due in part to a lack of capacity of separate children’s support centers. These reports documented insufficient educational and medical facilities for these minors. Access to food, potable water, sanitation, heating, ventilation, lighting, and medical care in prisons varied throughout the country and was generally inadequate. The GDPDC’s nationwide program to feed prisoners faced a severely limited budget, and many prisoners relied on family members to provide food supplements and other necessary items. From March 11 to September 16, a total of 7,237 prisoners and detainees were released from 32 facilities across the country in an effort to protect these individuals from COVID-19 and slow the spread of the virus. At year’s end it was unknown how many were returned to custody. The majority were given reduced sentences or qualified for bail and did not have to return to prison. As part of an exchange establishing conditions for peace talks between the government and the Taliban, the government released nearly 5,000 Taliban prisoners between March and September. The Taliban released 1,000 government prisoners between March and July as part of its commitments in the agreement. Administration: Authorities conducted some investigations of credible allegations of mistreatment. The law provides prisoners with the right to leave prison for up to 20 days for family visits. Most prisons did not implement this provision, and the law is unclear in its application to different classes of prisoners. Additionally, most prisons did not allow family visits. Independent Monitoring: The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), UNAMA, and the International Committee of the Red Cross monitored the NDS, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Defense detention facilities. NATO Resolute Support Mission monitored NDS, Afghan National Police (ANP), and Defense Ministry facilities. Security constraints and obstruction by authorities occasionally prevented visits to some places of detention. UNAMA and the AIHRC reported difficulty accessing NDS places of detention when they arrived unannounced. The AIHRC reported NDS officials usually required the AIHRC to submit a formal letter requesting access at least one to two days in advance of a visit. NDS officials continued to prohibit AIHRC and UNAMA monitors from bringing cameras, mobile phones, recording devices, or computers into NDS facilities, thereby preventing AIHRC monitors from documenting physical evidence of abuse, such as bruises, scars, and other injuries. Improvements: The Office of Prisons Administration dedicated human rights departments at each facility to monitor and address problems. d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, but both remained serious problems. Authorities detained many citizens without respecting essential procedural protections. According to NGOs, law enforcement officers continued to detain citizens arbitrarily without clear legal authority or without regard to substantive procedural legal protections. Local law enforcement officials reportedly detained persons illegally on charges that have no basis in applicable criminal law. In some cases authorities improperly held women in prisons because they deemed it unsafe for the women to return home or because women’s shelters were not available to provide protection in the provinces or districts at issue (see section 6, Women). The law provides a defendant the right to object to his or her pretrial detention and receive a court hearing on the matter, but authorities generally did not observe this requirement. There were reports throughout the year of impunity and lack of accountability by security forces. According to observers, Afghan Local Police (ALP) and ANP personnel were largely unaware of their responsibilities and defendants’ rights under the law, since many were illiterate and lacked training. Accountability of NDS, ANP, and ALP officials for torture and abuse was weak, not transparent, and rarely enforced. Independent judicial or external oversight of the NDS, Major Crimes Task Force, ANP, and ALP in the investigation and prosecution of crimes or misconduct, including torture and abuse, was limited or nonexistent. Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees UNAMA, the AIHRC, and other observers reported arbitrary and prolonged detention frequently occurred throughout the country, including persons being detained without judicial authorization. Authorities often did not inform detainees of the charges against them. Justice-sector actors and the public lacked widespread understanding and knowledge of the penal code, which took effect in 2018 to modernize and consolidate criminal laws. The law provides for access to legal counsel and the use of warrants, and it limits how long authorities may hold detainees without charge. Police have the right to detain a suspect for 72 hours to complete a preliminary investigation. If police decide to pursue a case, they transfer the file to the Attorney General’s Office. After taking custody of a suspect, the attorney general may issue a detention warrant for up to seven days for a misdemeanor and 15 days for a felony. With court approval, the investigating prosecutor may detain a suspect while continuing the investigation, with the length of continued detention depending on the severity of the offense. The investigating prosecutor may detain a suspect for a maximum of 20 days for a misdemeanor and 60 days for a felony. The prosecutor must file an indictment or release the suspect within those deadlines; there may be no further extension of the investigatory period if the defendant is already in detention. After a case is referred to the court, the court may issue detention orders not to exceed a total of 120 days for all court proceedings (primary, appeal, and Supreme Court stages). Compliance with these time limits was difficult to ascertain in the provincial courts. In addition there were multiple reports that judges often detained prisoners after their sentences were completed because bribes for release were not paid. Incommunicado imprisonment remained a problem, and prompt access to a lawyer was rare. Prisoners generally were able to receive family visits. The criminal procedure code provides for release on bail. Authorities at times remanded “flight risk” defendants pending a prosecutorial appeal despite the defendants’ acquittal by the trial court. In other cases authorities did not rearrest defendants released pending appeal, even after the appellate court convicted them in absentia. According to the juvenile code, the arrest of a child “should be a matter of last resort and should last for the shortest possible period.” Reports indicated children in juvenile rehabilitation centers across the country lacked access to adequate food, health care, and education. Detained children frequently did not receive the presumption of innocence, the right to know the charges against them, access to defense lawyers, and protection from self-incrimination. The law provides for the creation of special juvenile police, prosecution offices, and courts. Due to limited resources, special juvenile courts functioned in only six provinces (Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, Nangarhar, and Kunduz). Elsewhere children’s cases went to ordinary courts. The law mandates authorities handle children’s cases confidentially. Some children in the criminal justice system were victims rather than perpetrators of crime. In the absence of sufficient shelters for boys, authorities detained abused boys and placed them in juvenile rehabilitation centers because they could not return to their families and shelter elsewhere was unavailable. In addition some victims of bacha bazi were charged with “moral crimes” and treated as equally responsible perpetrators as the adult. There were reports of children being abused while in custody, to include girls who were raped and became pregnant. Following the capture of ISIS-K fighters and family members in 2019, children of ISIS-K fighters (including girls married to ISIS-K fighters) were sometimes detained in special centers. The government registered some of these children in school, but most were not registered and did not receive adequate care. In addition child soldiers pressed into service with ISIS-K, the Taliban, or other groups were imprisoned without regard to their age. There was no established program for their reintegration into society. According to advocates, following their interception by government forces, all child soldiers from militia groups are initially placed into an NDS detention facility and are sometimes transferred to juvenile rehabilitation centers and later to a shelter run by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. An estimated 125 children were held at the detention facility during the year, 30 were held at the shelter, and there was no reliable estimate of how many children were at the juvenile centers. Child soldiers affiliated with ISIS-K remained in the NDS detention facility. Police and legal officials often charged women with intent to commit zina (sex outside marriage) to justify their arrest and incarceration for social offenses, such as running away from their husband or family, rejecting a spouse chosen by their families, fleeing domestic violence or rape, or eloping to escape an arranged marriage. The constitution provides that in cases not explicitly covered by the provisions of the constitution or other laws, courts may, in accordance with Hanafi jurisprudence (a school of Sunni Islamic law) and within the limits set by the constitution, rule in a manner that best attains justice in the case. Observers reported officials used this article to charge women and men with “immorality” or “running away from home,” neither of which is a crime. Police often detained women for zina at the request of family members. Authorities imprisoned some women for reporting crimes perpetrated against them and detained some as proxies for a husband or male relative convicted of a crime on the assumption the suspect would turn himself in to free the family member. Authorities placed some women in protective custody to prevent violence by family members. They also employed protective custody (including placement in a detention center) for women who had experienced domestic violence, if no shelters were available to protect them from further abuse. The 2009 Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) presidential decree–commonly referred to as the EVAW law–obliges police to arrest persons who abuse women. Implementation and awareness of the EVAW law was limited, however. Arbitrary Arrest: Arbitrary arrest and detention remained a problem in most provinces. Observers reported some prosecutors and police detained individuals without charge for actions that were not crimes under the law, in part because the judicial system was inadequate to process detainees in a timely fashion. Observers continued to report those detained for moral crimes were primarily women. Pretrial Detention: The law provides a defendant the right to object to his or her pretrial detention and receive a court hearing on the matter. Nevertheless, lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. Many detainees did not benefit from the provisions of the criminal procedure code because of a lack of resources, limited numbers of defense attorneys, unskilled legal practitioners, and corruption. The law provides that, if there is no completed investigation or filed indictment within the code’s 10-, 27-, or 75-day deadlines, judges must release defendants. Judges, however, held many detainees beyond those periods, despite the lack of an indictment. e. Denial of Fair Public Trial The law provides for an independent judiciary, but the judiciary continued to be underfunded, understaffed, inadequately trained, largely ineffective, and subject to threats, bias, political influence, and pervasive corruption. Judicial officials, prosecutors, and defense attorneys were often intimidated or corrupt. World Justice Project’s annual report, released in July, found that in 2019 59 percent of those surveyed considered judges or magistrates to be corrupt; corruption was considered by those surveyed to be the most severe problem facing criminal courts. Bribery and pressure from public officials, tribal leaders, families of accused persons, and individuals associated with the insurgency impaired judicial impartiality. Most courts administered justice unevenly, employing a mixture of codified law, sharia, and local custom. Traditional justice mechanisms remained the main recourse for many, especially in rural areas. Corruption was common in the judiciary, and often criminals paid bribes to obtain their release or a sentence reduction (see section 4). There was a widespread shortage of judges, primarily in insecure areas, leading to the adjudication of many cases through informal, traditional mediation. A shortage of women judges, particularly outside of Kabul, limited access to justice for women. Many women are unable to use the formal justice system because cultural norms preclude their engagement with male officials. During the year only 254 of 2,010 judges were women, a slight decrease from 2019. The formal justice system is stronger in urban centers, closer to the central government, and weaker in rural areas. In rural areas, police operated unchecked with almost unlimited authority. Courts and police continued to operate at less than full strength nationwide. The judicial system continued to lack the capacity to absorb and implement the large volume of new and amended legislation. A lack of qualified judicial personnel hindered the courts. Some municipal and provincial authorities, including judges, had minimal training and often based their judgments on their personal understanding of sharia without appropriate reference to statutory law, tribal codes of honor, or local custom. The number of judges who graduated from law school continued to increase. Access to legal codes and statutes increased, but their limited availability continued to hinder some judges and prosecutors. In major cities courts continued to decide criminal cases. Authorities frequently resolved civil cases using the informal system, the government mediation mechanism through the Ministry of Justice Huquq (civil rights) Office, or in some cases through negotiations between the parties facilitated by judicial personnel or private lawyers. Because the formal legal system often does not exist in rural areas, local elders and shuras (consultative gatherings, usually of men selected by the community) are the primary means of settling both criminal matters and civil disputes. They also imposed punishments without regard to the formal legal system. UNAMA and NGOs reported several cases where perpetrators of violence against women that included domestic abuse reoffended after their claims were resolved by mediation. In areas it controlled, the Taliban enforced a parallel judicial system based on a strict interpretation of sharia. Punishments included execution and mutilation. According to UNAMA, in June, Taliban courts convicted two men in Faryab Province of different crimes. In both cases the men were brought before a crowd, and a Taliban member pronounced their death sentences; the men were immediately executed by public hanging. The constitution provides the right to a fair and public trial, but the judiciary rarely enforced this provision. The administration and implementation of justice varied in different areas of the country. The government formally uses an inquisitorial legal system. By law all citizens are entitled to a presumption of innocence, and those accused have the right to be present at trial and to appeal, although the judiciary did not always respect these rights. The law requires judges to provide five days’ notice prior to a hearing, but judges did not always follow this requirement, and many citizens complained that legal proceedings often dragged on for years. Three-judge panels decide criminal trials, and there is no right to a jury trial under the constitution. Prosecutors rarely informed defendants promptly or in detail of the charges brought against them. Indigent defendants have the right to consult with an advocate or counsel at public expense when resources allow. The judiciary applied this right inconsistently, in large part due to a severe shortage of defense lawyers. Citizens were often unaware of their constitutional rights. Defendants and attorneys are entitled to examine physical evidence and documents related to a case before trial, although observers noted court documents often were not available for review before cases went to trial, despite defense lawyers’ requests. Criminal defense attorneys reported the judiciary’s increased respect and tolerance for the role of defense lawyers in criminal trials, but defendants’ attorneys continued to experience abuse and threats from prosecutors and other law enforcement officials. The criminal procedure code establishes time limits for the completion of each stage of a criminal case, from investigation through final appeal, when the accused is in custody. The code also permits temporary release of the accused on bail, but this was rarely applied. An addendum to the code provides for extended custodial limits in cases involving crimes committed against the internal and external security of the country. Courts at the Justice Center in Parwan Province regularly elected to utilize the extended time periods. If the judiciary does not meet the deadlines, the law requires the accused be released from custody. Often courts did not meet these deadlines, but detainees nevertheless remained in custody. In cases where no clearly defined legal statute applied, or where judges, prosecutors, or elders were unaware of the statutory law, judges and informal shuras enforced customary law. This practice often resulted in outcomes that discriminated against women. In areas controlled by the Taliban, according to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban established courts that rely on religious scholars to adjudicate cases or at times referred cases to traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. Taliban courts include district-level courts, provincial-level courts, and a tamiz, or appeals, court located in a neighboring country. According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban justice system is focused on punishment, and convictions often resulted from forced confessions in which the accused is abused or tortured. At times the Taliban imposed corporal punishment for serious offenses, or hudud crimes, under an interpretation of sharia. Political Prisoners and Detainees There were no reports the government held political prisoners or political detainees. During the year the Taliban detained government officials, individuals alleged to be spying for the government, and individuals alleged to have associations with the government. For political cases, according to NGOs, there were no official courts; cases were instead tried by Taliban military commanders. Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies Corruption and limited capacity restricted citizen access to justice for constitutional and human rights abuses. Citizens may submit complaints of human rights abuses to the AIHRC, which reviews and submits credible complaints to the Attorney General’s Office for further investigation and prosecution. Some female citizens reported that when they approached government institutions with a request for service, government officials, in turn, demanded sexual favors as quid pro quo. f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence The law prohibits arbitrary interference in matters of privacy, but authorities did not always respect its provisions. The criminal procedure code contains additional safeguards for the privacy of the home, prohibiting night arrests, requiring the presence of a female officer during residential searches, and strengthening requirements for body searches. The government did not always respect these prohibitions. Government officials continued to enter homes and businesses of civilians forcibly and without legal authorization. There were reports that government officials monitored private communications, including telephone calls and other digital communications, without legal authority or judicial warrant. Media and the government reported the Taliban routinely used civilian homes as shelters, bases of operation, and shields. There were also reports the Taliban, ISIS-K, and ANDSF used schools for military purposes. g. Abuses in Internal Conflict Continuing internal conflict resulted in civilian deaths, abductions, prisoner abuse, property damage, displacement of residents, and other abuses. The security situation remained a problem largely due to insurgent and terrorist attacks. According to UNAMA, actions by nonstate armed groups, primarily the Taliban and ISIS-K, accounted for the majority of civilian deaths. After the signing of the U.S.-Taliban Agreement and the issuance of the U.S.-Afghanistan Joint Declaration on February 29, attacks against U.S. and coalition forces largely stopped, but violence against Afghan security forces and civilians continued, even after the start of intra-Afghan negotiations on September 12. Killings: UNAMA counted 2,117 civilian deaths due to conflict during the first nine months of the year, compared with 2,683 during the same period in 2019. During this period, UNAMA documented 1,274 civilian casualties resulting from nonsuicide improvised explosive device (IED) attacks perpetrated by antigovernment forces (456 deaths and 818 injured). UNAMA attributed 59 percent of civilian casualties in the first nine months of the year to antigovernment forces, including the Taliban and ISIS-K, 27 percent to progovernment forces, and 14 percent to cross fire and other sources. UNAMA documented a 46 percent decrease in the total number of civilian casualties due to all airstrikes in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period in 2019, but documented a 70 percent increase in civilian casualties (349) and a 50 percent increase in civilians killed (156) from airstrikes by the Afghan Air Force in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period in 2019. The AIHRC stated that an airstrike in Takhar Province by Afghan forces on October 21 killed 12 children and wounded 18 others at a religious school and mosque. The mosque’s imam was among the wounded. The attack reportedly targeted Taliban fighters. First Vice President Amrullah Saleh initially rejected reports of civilian casualties, stating the attack had targeted a Taliban installation, but the Ministry of Defense declared it had assigned an investigation team to assess allegations of civilian casualties. During the year antigovernment forces carried out a number of deadly attacks against religious leaders, particularly those who spoke out against the Taliban. Many progovernment Islamic scholars were killed in attacks during the year for which no group claimed responsibility. In June, three imams and a number of worshippers were killed in separate attacks on two mosques in Kabul, and seven students were killed by a bomb at a seminary in Takhar Province. Antigovernment elements continued to attack civilian targets. On April 21 in Nangarhar Province, the Taliban detonated an IED inside a private pharmacy, wounding eight civilians, including a doctor from the local hospital. The owners reportedly had refused to provide the Taliban an extortion payment. Antigovernment elements continued targeting hospitals and aid workers. In the first six months of the year, UNAMA documented 36 incidents affecting health-care facilities and personnel. UNAMA attributed the majority of these incidents to the Taliban. On May 12, three gunmen attacked a maternity clinic in a Hazara Shia neighborhood in Kabul run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), killing 24 mothers, newborns, and a health-care worker. No group claimed responsibility. In June the MSF announced it would close the clinic. On May 19, the Afghan Air Force conducted an airstrike in Kunduz Province outside a hospital, killing and wounding Taliban who were seeking medical care, as well as killing at least two civilians at the hospital. On November 22, gunmen detonated explosives and fired upon students, staff, and others, killing 35 and wounding at least 50, at Kabul University. During the attack students and faculty were taken hostage, according to press reports. The attack was later claimed by ISIS-K. Antigovernment elements also continued to target government officials and entities, as well as political candidates and election-related activities, throughout the country. Media reported five staff members of the Attorney General’s Office, including two who reportedly had served as prosecutors, were ambushed and killed in their vehicle in Kabul on June 22. No one claimed responsibility, and a Taliban spokesperson denied any involvement, adding that the peace process had many enemies and that the Taliban, too, would “investigate.” On October 3, a car bomb targeting a government administrative building in Nangarhar Province killed at least 15, including at least four children. Most of the casualties were civilians; no group claimed responsibility. On December 15, Kabul deputy governor Mahbubullah Muhibbi was killed in a bomb blast in Kabul. On December 21, at least 10 persons were killed and 52 wounded in an attack on the convoy of lower house of parliament member Khan Mohammad Wardak. No group claimed responsibility for either attack. Abductions: In January a three-year-old boy was kidnapped for ransom in Kabul. Businesswomen reported they faced a constant threat of having their children abducted and held for ransom. The UN secretary-general’s 2019 Children and Armed Conflict Report, released in June, cited 14 verified incidents of child abduction, all of which were of boys as young as 11. Of the abductions, 12 were attributed to the Taliban and one each to the ANP and a progovernment militia. Seven reported abductions of currency exchangers in Herat during the year prompted the currency exchangers there to strike in October to protest. Antigovernment groups regularly targeted civilians, including using IEDs to kill and maim them. Land mines, unexploded ordnance, and explosive remnants of war (ERW) continued to cause deaths and injuries. UNAMA reported 584 civilian casualties caused by unlawful pressure-plate IEDs by antigovernment elements, mostly attributed to the Taliban, during the first nine months of the year, a 44 percent increase compared with the same period in 2019. The state minister for disaster management and humanitarian affairs reported that approximately 125 civilians were killed or wounded by unexploded ordnance per month, and more than 730 square miles still needed to be cleared, which included both previously identified ERW areas as well as newly contaminated ranges. Media regularly reported cases of children killed and injured after finding unexploded ordinance. UNAMA reported civilian casualties from ERW in the first nine months of the year accounted for 5 percent of all civilian casualties and caused 298 civilian casualties, with 86 deaths and 212 injured. Children comprised more than 80 percent of civilian casualties from ERW. Child Soldiers: Under the penal code, recruitment of children in military units carries a penalty of six months to one year in prison. UNAMA reported the ANDSF and progovernment militias recruited and used 11 children during the first nine months of the year, all for combat purposes. Media reported that local progovernment commanders recruited children younger than age 16. NGOs reported security forces used child soldiers in sexual slavery roles. The country remained on the Child Soldiers Prevention Act List in the Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report at . The Taliban and other antigovernment groups regularly recruited and trained children to conduct attacks. The ANP took steps that included training staff on age-assessment procedures, launching an awareness campaign on underage recruitment, investigating alleged cases of underage recruitment, and establishing centers in some provincial recruitment centers to document cases of attempted child enlistment. The government operated child protection units (CPUs) in all 34 provinces; however, some NGOs reported these units were not sufficiently equipped, staffed, or trained to provide adequate oversight. The difficult security environment in most rural areas prevented oversight of recruitment practices at the district level; CPUs played a limited oversight role in recruiting. Recruits underwent an identity check, including an affidavit from at least two community elders that the recruit was at least 18 years old and eligible to join the ANDSF. The Ministries of Interior and Defense also issued directives meant to prevent the recruitment and sexual abuse of children by the ANDSF. Media reported that in some cases ANDSF units used children as personal servants, support staff, or for sexual purposes. Government security forces reportedly recruited boys specifically for use in bacha bazi in every province of the country. According to UNAMA, the Taliban and ISIS-K continued to recruit and use children for front-line fighting and setting IEDs. While the law protects trafficking victims from prosecution for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking, there were reports the government treated child former combatants as criminals as opposed to victims of trafficking. Most were incarcerated alongside adult offenders without adequate protections from abuse by other inmates or prison staff. UNAMA verified the recruitment of 144 boys by the Taliban in the first nine months of the year. In some cases the Taliban and other antigovernment elements used children as suicide bombers, human shields, and to emplace IEDs, particularly in southern provinces. Media, NGOs, and UN agencies reported the Taliban tricked children, promised them money, used false religious pretexts, or forced them to become suicide bombers. UNAMA reported the Taliban deployed three boys in February to conduct a suicide attack against an ALP commander in Baghlan Province. One of the children accidentally detonated his IED before reaching the ceremony, killing all three children. See also the Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report at . Other Conflict-related Abuse: The security environment continued to make it difficult for humanitarian organizations to operate freely in many parts of the country. Violence and instability hampered development, relief, and reconstruction efforts. Insurgents targeted government employees and aid workers. NGOs reported insurgents, powerful local individuals, and militia leaders demanded bribes to allow groups to bring relief supplies into their areas and distribute them. In contrast with previous years, polio vaccination campaigns were not disrupted by the conflict (the Taliban had previously restricted house-to-house vaccination programs). Routine immunization services at health facilities and other immunization campaigns, however, were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and only half of the provinces received vaccination coverage. According to the Ministry of Public Health, there were 46 new reported cases of polio during the year. The Taliban also attacked schools, radio stations, and government offices. On February 3, the Taliban burned a girls’ school in Takhar Province. In July the Taliban burned a school in the same province after using it as cover to attack ANDSF. On August 20, the Taliban prevented approximately 200 female university applicants in Badakshan Province from taking their university entrance exams by threatening them with fines. Some of these women were ultimately taken to another location in the province to take the exam.

The constitution provides for freedom of religion, including the freedom to worship and to change one’s religion. It prohibits discrimination based on belief. A colonial-era law criminalizing the practices of Obeah and Myalism remains in effect, but it is not enforced. Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck stated the government would not repeal the 1898 Obeah Act but instead address fraudulent activities associated with Obeah and protect vulnerable persons from exploitation. In September the Supreme Court heard constitutional arguments in the continuing case of a child blocked from attending Kensington Primary School in 2018 because of her dreadlocks. The child returned to school in late 2018 following a Supreme Court ruling authorizing her return while the case continued. The government continued to mandate a nondenominational religious curriculum in schools and sponsored public events to promote interfaith engagement and respect for religious diversity. It also took steps towards compensating individuals from a trust fund it established in 2017 for victims of the 1963 Coral Gardens incident, in which eight persons were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between a Rastafarian farming community and security forces. Rastafarians continued to report that while prejudice against their religion was still a problem, there was increasing societal acceptance of and respect for their practices. Seventh-day Adventists continued to report a limited ability to gain employment because of their observance of a Saturday Sabbath. Local media outlets continued to provide a forum for religious dialogue open to participants from all religious groups. The nongovernmental organization (NGO) Jamaica Council for Interfaith Fellowship, which includes representatives from Christian, Rastafarian, Hindu, Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Unification Church), Baha’i, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist organizations, continued to hold events to promote religious tolerance and diversity. U.S. embassy officials regularly engaged with senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, along with the Jamaican Defense Force, to discuss the state of religious freedom in the country. Embassy officials also met regularly with leaders of religious groups, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Rastafarians. The embassy published a press release on July 11 from the Charge d’Affaires on U.S. efforts to promote religious freedom around the globe. Other embassy representatives included similar references to the value of religious freedom and tolerance in speeches and other public engagements, press releases, and social media. Section I. Religious Demography The U.S. government estimates the total population at 2.8 million (midyear 2019 estimate). According to the 2011 census, 26 percent of the population belongs to various branches of the Church of God; 12 percent is Seventh-day Adventist; 11 percent Pentecostal; 7 percent Baptist; 3 percent Anglican; 2 percent Roman Catholic; 2 percent United Church of Christ; 2 percent Methodist; 2 percent Jehovah’s Witnesses; 1 percent Moravian; and 1 percent Brethren. Two percent maintain some other form of spiritual practice. Other religious groups constitute 8 percent of the population, including approximately 29,000 Rastafarians, 5,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1,500 Muslims (Muslim groups estimate their numbers at 6,500), 1,800 Hindus, 500 Jews, and 270 Baha’is. The census reports 21 percent have no religious affiliation. There is no census data on adherents of Obeah and Myalism, religious practices with West African influences. Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom The constitution provides for freedom of thought and religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion or belief either alone or in community with others, both in public and in private, and to manifest and propagate one’s religion or belief in worship. It prohibits discrimination based on belief. The constitution provides that rights and freedoms are protected to the extent they do not “prejudice the rights and freedoms of others.” A colonial-era law criminalizing Obeah and Myalism remains in effect. Potential punishment for practicing Obeah and Myalism includes imprisonment of up to 12 months. Authorities have rarely enforced the law since the country became independent in 1962, and the government reported no enforcement cases during the year. Registration with the government is not mandatory for religious groups, but groups, including churches or congregations, may incorporate to gain benefits, including the ability to hold land, enter into legal disputes as an organization, and allow their clergy to visit prisoners. Groups seeking incorporated status apply to the Companies Office of Jamaica, an executive agency. The application comprises a standard form and a fee of 24,500 Jamaican dollars ($180). NGOs register through the same form and fee structure. Groups incorporated through this process must subsequently submit annual reports and financial statements to the Companies Office. Alternatively, groups may petition parliament to be incorporated by parliamentary act. Such groups receive similar benefits to those incorporating through the Companies Office, but parliament does not require annual reports or regulate the organizations it incorporates. Regardless of incorporation status, religious groups seeking tax-exempt status must register as charities. To be considered a charity, an organization must apply either to the Department of Co-operatives and Friendly Societies, located in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, and Fisheries, or to the Companies Office. Once registered, groups also submit their registration to the Jamaica Customs Agency in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and apply to Tax Administration Jamaica to be considered for tax-free status. The constitution states religious groups have the right to provide religious instruction to members of their communities. By law, immunizations are mandatory for all children attending both public and private schools; however, exceptions for medical reasons may be granted. The law requires school administrators to adhere to several practices regarding the teaching of religion. No individual may be required to receive religious instruction or participate in religious observances contrary to his or her beliefs. The public school curriculum includes nondenominational religious education, which focuses on the historical role of religion in society and philosophical thought and includes group visits to Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu houses of worship. Students may not opt out of religious education, but religious devotion or practice during school hours is optional. The Jamaican Education Act of 1980 states that, “It shall be the duty of the parent of every child of compulsory school age residing in a compulsory education area to cause him to receive full-time education suitable to his age and ability, and satisfactory to the Educational Board for the area, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.” Under the “or otherwise” phrase in the law, families may homeschool their children. Churches operate several private schools. Churches also run a number of public schools, for which they receive funding from the government and must abide by Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information rules. Regulations mandate that religious schools receiving public funding must admit students of all faiths and adhere to ministry standards. Religious schools are not subject to any special restrictions; they do not receive special treatment from the government based on their religious or denominational affiliation. Most religious schools are affiliated with Catholic or Protestant churches. The Islamic Council of Jamaica runs two schools. Foreign religious workers, regardless of affiliation, who visit the country to work with a religious organization must obtain a visa and a work permit from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In September the Supreme Court heard a case brought by the parents of a then-five-year-old child blocked in 2018 from attending Kensington Primary School, a public school, until her dreadlocks were cut. Although the child’s parents did not identify as Rastafarian, nor did they claim they were raising the child as Rastafarian, the case continued to garner attention from advocacy and religious groups who noted the case’s symbolic representation and potential impact on cultural identity and religious expression. This case was reportedly the first to be heard before the Supreme Court that involved a minor with dreadlocks not being allowed to attend school. On September 3, the attorney general filed an affidavit in support of the public school, stating the school’s policy was “targeted at hairstyles that were found to be the source of bad hygiene and disorder in classes.” The Supreme Court was still in deliberation on the case and made no ruling by year’s end. The family involved expressed dismay at the notion that their child was “nasty,” “unsanitary,” or “dirty” due to her hairstyle. In subsequent commentary related to the case, Minister of Culture Olivia Grange stated her ministry would work with the Ministries of Education and Health and the Attorney General’s Office to ensure guidance issued on grooming and appropriate appearance did not target specific hair textures and hairstyles, race, or religion. Rastafarians said discrimination against their children at schools occurred, mostly in rural areas. This included purported discrimination based on hairstyles and the Rastafarian community’s continued religious opposition to immunization. The government stated immunizations were part of its campaign to reduce the resurgence of many communicable diseases in the country. Although the law allowed immunization exceptions for only medical reasons, Rastafarian students continued to be able to obtain a doctor’s note excusing them from the requirement. The Jamaican Defense Force (JDF) generally did not accept Rastafarians into its ranks. The JDF noted it did not discriminate based on religion or denomination, but, according to JDF officials, the force’s very strict codes of conduct regarding hair length and the prohibition of marijuana among its members were the “real obstacles” to Rastafarian participation in the force. Reportedly there was no person self-identified as Rastafarian in the JDF. In June Minister of Justice Chuck responded to significant media and social media pressure when editorials in the nation’s leading newspapers and the public condemned his suggestion in parliament to repeal the 1898 Obeah Act. According to media reports, the minister later stated that his remarks had been “misinterpreted” and that the government considered repealing the Obeah Act only to replace it with a broader law that banned Obeah and addressed “fraudulent activities” related to people’s belief systems. The minister said the Obeah law would remain on the books while the government worked on other legislation to address “fraudulent activities” associated with Obeah and to protect vulnerable persons from exploitation. While no one from the Obeah community publicly commented on the law, observers stated they believed their reluctance to speak out was due to the potential for punishment. According to press, no one had been convicted of an Obeah-related offense in more than two decades, and the religion maintained only a shadow of its former popularity. In connection with the observance of National Heritage Week on October 13-21, Minister of Education, Youth, and Information Alando Terrelonge stated the theme “Our Heritage… A Great Legacy” summons all Jamaicans to unite “whatever their race, color, religion, or creed.” According to media, the government took further steps to disburse funds from a trust it established in 2017 to compensate victims of the 1963 Coral Gardens incident. During the incident, for which Prime Minister Andrew Holness apologized in 2017, eight persons were killed and more than 150 were injured in clashes between security forces and a Rastafarian farming community outside Montego Bay. Jamaicans for Justice, a local NGO providing legal representation for the victims and survivors of the violence, said in 2018 that it had finally received all information necessary, including the total number of beneficiaries, to finalize compensation with the Administrator General Department. In June, however, Lewis Brown, treasurer of the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society, told media that no disbursements had occurred, and no further information from the government was forthcoming. Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom Rastafarians continued to report wider societal acceptance despite what they said was their continuing to be typecast as marijuana dealers, as well as certain limitations associated with their wearing dreadlocks and smoking marijuana. Following the 2019 edition of the “Rebel Salute,” a reggae-based music festival, local and international media hailed the “Rasta intelligentsia” for taking a stand against injustice, including religious discrimination, through a thorough study of history According to media, citizens had mixed reactions to the prospect of repealing the law criminalizing Obeah, many objecting on the grounds that the religious practice was evil. According to a book by professors from the University of the West Indies (Jamaica) and the University of Edinburgh, Obeah was initially criminalized to protect slave owners against uprisings and the law symbolized the country’s hostility to its African connections. Letters published by prominent social commentators stated those choosing to practice Obeah, not the government or followers of other religions, should determine whether Obeah should remain illegal. Seventh-day Adventists continued to report their observance of a Saturday Sabbath caused difficulties finding private sector employment, particularly by business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, which include international call centers, data entry, and insurance coding work, many of which are open 24 hours and on weekends. According to media reports, although parliament had passed a flexible work arrangement law in 2014 granting employees the right to negotiate working hours, some sectors, including BPOs and agriculture, had yet to fully implement these kinds of arrangements. Gloria Henry, president of the Business Processing Industry Association of Jamaica, said in August she was unaware of discrimination in the BPO sector but would “assist where possible.” Christian, Jewish, and Muslim groups continued to state that society was tolerant of religious diversity, pointing to their continued involvement, along with other faiths, in the Jamaica Council for Interfaith Fellowship. The interfaith council included representatives from the Rastafari Innity Council, Sanatan Dharma Mandir United Church, Unification Church, National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is, United Congregation of Israelites, Islamic Council, and Soka Gakkai International. Other organizations sometimes participated in council events. The council continued to coordinate public educational events and publicize the World Interfaith Harmony Week celebrated on February 1-7. The Islamic Council of Jamaica said large groups of secondary school students continued to regularly visit the council’s 13 mosques as part of the government’s religious education syllabus. Local media outlets continued to provide a forum for extensive coverage and open dialogue on religious matters through radio and television shows, as well as on opinion pages and letters to the editor in newspapers, such as The Gleaner and The Jamaica Observer. Topics included the intersection of gay rights with religion, atheism, the criminalization of Obeah, and religions’ role in the government. The Gleaner also published a series of academic discussions on religion and culture, touching on topics such as the influence of African traditions in the Caribbean and the role of women as spiritual leaders. Section IV. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement Embassy officials regularly engaged with senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, along with the JDF, to discuss the state of religious freedom in the country and the July Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington. Embassy officials also met regularly with and encouraged dialogue among leaders of religious groups, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Rastafarians, to discuss the importance of religious tolerance and social inclusion, citizen security concerns of religious groups, and the freedom of expression and assembly in relation to religious freedom. On July 11, the Charge d’Affaires published a press release on U.S. efforts to promote religious freedom around the globe. Other embassy representatives included similar references to the value of religious freedom and tolerance in speeches and other public engagements, press releases, and on social media.

The constitution and the law protect the right of individuals to choose, change, and practice religion. On October 2, President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a broad set of policies to combat “Islamist separatism,” which he described as a “methodical organization” to create a “countersociety” in which Islamists impose their own rules and laws on isolated communities, and defend state secularism against radical Islam. Among the measures in a draft law to be taken up by parliament, which Macron said were directed against radical Islamists that undermined French values rather than at Muslims broadly, were ending foreign financing of imams and abolishing unaccredited schools. On November 2, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced the government had closed 43 mosques for extremism since May 2017. Catholic Church officials criticized government COVID-19 restrictions that, they said, inordinately affected religious groups. In May, the country’s highest administrative court ordered an end to the ban on religious gatherings, calling freedom of worship a fundamental right. In November, the same court denied an appeal by Catholic bishops to overturn a new government prohibition on masses after a new wave of COVID infections. In June, the Constitutional Council invalidated core provisions of a law against online hate speech that parliament had enacted in May as part of the government’s plan to combat racism and anti-Semitism. In June, the European Court of Human Rights ruled the government had violated the free speech rights of Palestinian activists advocating for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. In January, demonstrators in Paris protested a 2019 court ruling that the killer of a Jewish woman, Sarah Halimi, in 2017 was not criminally responsible. Jewish groups protested the Paris prosecutor’s decision not to charge a man with anti-Semitism after he painted swastikas on a landmark Paris street. President Macron and other government officials condemned anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-Christian acts, and the government continued to deploy security forces to protect religious and other sensitive sites. There were instances of religiously motivated crimes and other abuses, including killings, attempted killings, assaults, threats, hate speech, discrimination, and vandalism. On October 29, a Tunisian man killed three Christian worshippers in a church in Nice. In October, a teenage Chechen Muslim refugee beheaded teacher Samuel Paty after he showed his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a discussion on freedom of expression. In September, a Pakistani man stabbed two persons outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine, shortly after the magazine had republished cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Although 2020 statistics on anti-Christian incidents were not yet available, most incidents involved vandalism or arson of churches and cemeteries. The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) reported 235 incidents targeting Muslims, compared with 154 in 2019. The Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ) reported 339 anti-Semitic incidents – a decrease of 50 percent compared with the 687 in 2019 – including a violent assault on a Jewish man and desecration of Jewish cemeteries. In October, authorities charged two women with assault and racist slurs for stabbing two women wearing Islamic headscarves. A January survey for the American Jewish Committee (AJC) found 70 percent of Jewish respondents said they had been the targets of at least one anti-Semitic incident in their lifetimes. In the same survey, 47 percent of Jewish and non-Jewish respondents (and two-thirds of Jews) said the level of anti-Semitism in the country was high. The U.S. embassy, consulates general, and American presence posts (APPs) discussed religious tolerance, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts, the role of religious freedom in combating violent extremism, and cooperation on these issues with officials at the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs and the Interministerial Delegation to Fight Against Racism, Anti-Semitism and Anti-LGBT Hate (DILCRAH). The Ambassador designated combating anti-Semitism as one of four key “pillars” of enhanced embassy outreach. The Ambassador and embassy, consulate, and APP officials met regularly with religious communities and their leaders throughout the country to discuss religious freedom concerns and encourage interfaith cooperation and tolerance. The embassy sponsored projects and events to combat religious discrimination and religiously motivated hate crimes, such as projects bringing together youth of different faiths and roundtable events with religious leaders, and regularly used social media to convey messages highlighting issues pertaining to religious freedom. Section I. Religious Demography The U.S. government estimates the total population at 67.8 million (midyear 2020 estimate). Because the government does not collect religious or ethnic data on the population, there is no official count of the numbers of persons belonging to different religious groups. A report released in January by the Observatory for Secularism, a government-appointed commission, based on a poll conducted in cooperation with polling company Viavoice, presented estimated figures of persons who identify as part of a religion or feel tied to a religion. According to the report, whose figures are consistent with other estimates, 47 percent of respondents identify as Catholic, 3 percent Muslim, 3 percent Protestant, 2 percent Buddhist, 1 percent Jewish, 1 percent Christian Orthodox, and 1 percent other religious groups; 34 percent said they have no religious affiliation and 8 percent preferred not to respond. The observatory’s 2019 report estimated there are 140-150 thousand Jehovah’s Witnesses and 150-300 thousand Hindus. In a separate question about religious belief, 35 percent said they are believers, 29 percent nonbelievers or atheist, 17 percent agnostic, and 12 percent indifferent. Most observers, including the observatory in its 2019 report, estimate the number of Muslims in the country at three to five million. Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom During his October 29 emergency visit to Nice, shortly after a Tunisian national entered the Basilica of Notre Dame and stabbed three Catholic worshippers to death, President Macron offered his condolences to the country’s Catholics and urged people of all religions to unite and not “give in to the spirit of division.” In a November 7 national memorial, Prime Minister Jean Castex paid tribute to the three victims. Castex said, “We know the enemy. Not only is he identified, but he has a name: It is radical Islamism, a political ideology that disfigures the Muslim religion by distorting its texts, its dogma, and its commands.” He concluded, “We will not allow the France that we love to be disfigured.” On October 19, Interior Minister Darmanin ordered a six-month closure of the mosque in Pantin, a suburb of Paris, following the October 16 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a lesson on freedom of expression. The mosque’s imam had posted on social media calls to retaliate against Paty for showing the cartoons. The mosque appealed the Minister’s decision before the Montreuil administrative court, which on October 27, validated the government’s decision to close the mosque. The court ruled authorities had committed no “serious and manifestly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms” in temporarily closing the mosque “for the sole purpose of preventing acts of terrorism.” On August 30, Junior Minister for Citizenship Marlene Schiappa reported that since February 2018, when it launched a nationwide program to counter “Islamism and communitarianism,” the Ministry of Interior had closed 210 restaurants and cafes (mostly kebab restaurants), 15 places of worship, 12 cultural establishments, and four schools. According to Schiappa, those establishments, which the government did not specifically identify, “were gathering places to organize Islamist separatism.” Independent online investigative website Mediapart requested the list of closed sites through the Administrative Documents Access Commission (Commission d’acces aux documents administratifs, CADA), an independent government agency providing administrative documents and public records. In December, CADA upheld the Ministry of Interior’s decision not to make public specific names of institutions. On November 2, Interior Minister Darmanin announced at the National Assembly that the government had closed 43 mosques since May 2017. The Ministry of the Interior reported that, as of December 29, it was in the process of investigating for closure 76 mosques, including 16 in the Paris region, because of suspected separatism. The al-Kawthar Mosque in Grenoble reopened in August 2019 after the legal maximum closure period of six months. On February 18, President Macron, together with his Ministers of Interior, Housing, Youth, and Sports, visited the eastern city of Mulhouse to introduce a plan, which would require parliamentary approval, to fight “Islamist separatism.” Macron said “political Islam” had no place in the country and stressed national unity. He proposed specific measures, including an end to the practice of foreign-financed imams, referring to the 300 imams whom foreign governments had sent to the country, adding they would be replaced by French-trained imams. According to Macron, the strategy aimed to reduce Islamist influence in sensitive neighborhoods and to abolish structures, such as unaccredited schools that paralleled or replaced government structures and undermined state secularism. In public schools, Macron proposed abolishing foreign language and culture programs taught by individuals appointed and/or funded by foreign governments. Macron also announced the reinforcement of oversight of foreign-funded religious sites. Further to his February announcement, on October 2, President Macron introduced the outlines of a draft law that he said aimed to counter “Islamist separatism.” The government introduced the full draft law in December, and parliament was scheduled to consider it in 2021. Macron reaffirmed state secularism, calling it “the cement of a united France,” and said, “What we must attack is Islamist separatism.” Macron stated that all religious practice must comport with the law. He said, “Islam is a religion … that is being infected by radical impulses,” adding, “External influences … have pushed these most radical forms,” citing their effect on Wahabism, Salfafism, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Macron described Islamic separatism as a project “…serving as a pretext for teaching principles which are not in accordance with the Republic’s laws,” in which Islamists impose their own rules and laws on isolated communities and negate national “principles, gender equality, and human dignity.” Macron stated his campaign targeted radical Islamists and not Islam or Muslims and that he offered an “inclusive message” to millions of Muslims who were integrated “full citizens.” He added, “Our challenge today is to fight against this abuse that some perpetrate in the name of religion, by ensuring that those who want to believe in Islam are not targeted.” Prior to this speech, President Macron, Prime Minister Castex, and Interior Minister Darmanin held consultations with the CFCM on September 16, 25, and 26 to present the government’s plan. The CFCM stated it was in agreement with the President’s measures. Jehovah’s Witness officials reported one case in which authorities interfered with proselytizing during the year. On February 8, municipal police in Erstein, Bas-Rhin Department, citing a municipal decree, prohibited Jehovah’s Witnesses from engaging in door-to-door activity. Jehovah’s Witnesses sent a letter to the mayor, referencing the laws recognizing their right to proselytize, but did not indicate they received a response. Between March 16 and May 11, the government implemented a nationwide lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic that included a ban on religious gatherings and worship and door-to-door proselytizing. While the government lifted restrictions on freedom of movement on May 11, it extended the ban on gatherings in places of worship – except for funerals which it limited to 20 persons – and gatherings with more than 10 persons until June 2. The Catholic Church was the most vocal in expressing opposition to these measures. On April 28, after then-Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told the National Assembly religious services would not resume before June 2 (although churches remained open for individual prayer), the Bishop’s Council of the Catholic Church responded that the continuing measures did not incorporate its proposal to resume religious services with social distancing measures in place. On April 30, then-Interior Minister Christophe Castaner met with Archbishop Eric de Moulins Beaufort, president of the Conference of Bishops of France, to discuss Catholic concern. Bishop of Nanterre Matthieu Rouge publicly criticized the government’s restrictions, which he said fell disproportionately on religious groups, stating that many shops and some museums were allowed to reopen on May 11. He called the delay for churches a sign of “anti-clericalism” or “anti-Catholic orientation” in the presidency. While expressing disappointment with the restrictions, Archbishop de Moulins Beaufort said Catholic officials would “adapt.” In a May 18 ruling, the Council of State – the country’s highest administrative court – ordered the government to lift within eight days the ban on religious meetings, calling it a “disproportionate measure.” The council, responding to a lawsuit brought by NGOs and individuals, said such a ban on freedom of worship caused “serious and manifestly illegal damage.” The council highlighted that the government had previously authorized public gatherings of up to 10 persons in other settings and that a complete and total ban on worship was “disproportionate to the objective of preserving public health.” The ruling stipulated freedom of worship was a fundamental right that “includes among its essential components the right to participate collectively in ceremonies, in particular in places of worship,” and that the government’s decree “constitutes a serious and manifestly unlawful interference with it.” On May 23, the government issued a decree allowing services to resume. On April 21, President Macron held a virtual meeting with religious leaders to thank them for implementing COVID-19 safety measures and celebrating religious holidays, including Easter, Passover, and Ramadan, “without gatherings” and to express the need to continue the collaboration. On April 19, armed police interrupted a Mass at Saint-Andre de l’Europe, a Catholic church in Paris, to enforce social distancing. The police did not fine the priest or others involved with having the Mass go forward. The Mass had been scheduled to be broadcast later that weekend. Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit said police entered the church armed, an act he described as generally not permissible unless there was a threat to public order. He compared the COVID-19 climate to the World War II occupation of France. Police fined the priest of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, a church under the authority of the Society of St. Pius X, 135 euros ($170) for conducting an Easter Vigil Mass with approximately 40 attendees. On October 30, authorities reintroduced measures restricting freedom of movement, religion, and worship to combat a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Places of worship remained open for individual prayer during the second nationwide lockdown, but authorities did not permit worship services, only authorizing funeral services attended by a maximum of 30 persons and weddings attended by a maximum of six persons. Five bishops announced on November 2 they had lodged appeals with the Council of State to demand the ban on masses be lifted, stating that the most recent COVID-19 restrictions violated freedom of worship and were disproportionate in relation to other COVID-19 lockdown measures. On November 7, the Council of State rejected the bishops’ appeal. The ruling judge stated churches remained open, despite not being able to hold services, and that Catholics could go to a church near their homes, provided they carried the necessary paperwork. Priests were also allowed to visit persons in their homes, and chaplains to visit hospitals. The judge also stated current rules would be the subject of review by the government by November 16 to evaluate their pertinence and proportionality. On November 26, Prime Minister Castex announced only 30 persons at a time would be allowed at prayer services inside places of worship and with stringent sanitary measures. In October, members of the Church of Scientology reported that the Court of Montreuil overturned the 2019 municipal decree by the mayor’s office in Saint-Denis, just outside Paris, refusing a permit allowing the Church to renovate a building it had purchased in the municipality for the purpose of converting it into its headquarters and a training center. According to the Scientologists, the court found that “the mayor had exercised his powers for a purpose other than the preservation of the safety and accessibility of the premises.” The court ordered the government to pay the Church of Scientology damages (amount as-yet unspecified). The municipality of Saint-Denis announced its intention to appeal the decision, and the case was pending at year’s end. A May 10 article in The Washington Post reported that “many Muslims, religious freedom advocates, and scholars see a great deal of irony” that the French ban on face coverings such as burqas remained in effect despite the country’s adoption of mask requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the year, there were no reports of police enforcing the face covering ban or of protests or public comment concerning the ban by Muslim groups. French media rejected the premise of the article. Newspaper Le Figaro, for example, called it “a misunderstanding and a mistake,” adding that the “antiburqa” ban did include exceptions for health, professional, or legislative requirements and that COVID-19 mask requirements were compatible with the law. In a December 3 interview, Interior Minister Darmanin said the country had deported 66 radicalized foreign Islamists since the end of September. The 66 were part of a list of 231 foreigners on the FSPRT (fichier des signalements pour la prevention de la radicalisation a caractere terroriste) – a list of individuals suspected of radicalization – under orders of deportation. Darmanin also traveled in early November to Morocco, Italy, Tunisia, Malta, and Algeria to meet counterparts and discuss means to reinforce cooperation to fight terrorism and the return of their suspected radicalized nationals. According to the Ministry of Interior, approximately 300 imams, or 70 percent of all imams in the country, were trained in foreign countries such as Turkey, Morocco, and Algeria. The government maintained the deployment of security forces throughout the country to protect sensitive sites, including vulnerable Catholic, Jewish, and Islamic sites and other places of worship. Following the October 29 terrorist attack at the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, President Macron announced an increase, from 3,000 to 7,000 troops across the country, in domestic counterterrorism patrols under the Ministry of Defense’s Operation Sentinel. On October 30, Defense Minister Florence Parly told the Defense Council the deployment would focus on protecting schools and places of worship. On September 25, following a terrorist attack in which two persons were wounded in a stabbing near the former headquarters of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Interior Minister Darmanin announced the kosher supermarket that was targeted by a coordinated attack after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January 2015 “will now be permanently guarded.” Darmanin also announced he had ordered extra protection of Jewish sites for Yom Kippur. On September 27, Darmanin visited a synagogue in Boulogne-Billancourt, a western suburb of Paris. During the visit, he said, “Jews remain the target of Islamist attacks,” adding that the government had mobilized more than 7,000 police and soldiers to protect Jewish places of worship on Yom Kippur. On December 16, the Special Criminal Court delivered its verdict on the terrorism trial related to the January 2015 terrorist attacks, finding all 14 defendants guilty of providing support to the three deceased terrorists who carried out the attacks against Charlie Hebdo, police in Montrouge, and a kosher supermarket. They received sentences ranging from four years to life in prison. The court dropped terror qualifications for six of the defendants, convicting them instead of providing material support without knowledge of the terrorist intent. Three of the defendants, including Hayat Boumeddiene (the wife of one of the shooters, Amedy Coulibaly) were tried in absentia. At least one defendant expressed his intent to appeal the court’s decision. On October 29, following investigative work by the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs and the Louvre and d’Orsay Museums, the government restituted to the heirs of Marguerite Stern seven paintings stolen by the Nazis in Paris during World War II. At year’s end, the Paris Appeals Court had not issued a ruling in the case of Lebanese-Canadian academic Hassan Diab, who was charged with bombing a synagogue in Paris during Sabbath prayers in 1980, killing four persons and injuring 40. In 2018, investigating magistrates dismissed the court case against Diab and ordered his release. Prosecutors appealed the case’s dismissal, and the Paris Appeals Court requested additional expert testimony before ruling. Upon his release, Diab returned to Canada, where he remained at year’s end. On October 13, during a meeting with administrators of the guidelines in the country’s schools and colleges, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer promised to support teachers, pupils, and parents who exposed breaches of the country’s law on secularism in schools, including wearing religious symbols. His comments came after the Ministry of Education reported 935 infringements of the secularism law between September 2019 and March 2020. Middle schools for 11- to 15-year-olds accounted for 45 percent of incidents, while primary schools accounted for 37 percent. More than 40 percent of violations were in the form of religiously motivated insults or other verbal aggression, while 15 percent involved the wearing of religious symbols, such as a crucifix, veil, or turban. According to the Ministry of Justice, the penitentiary system employed Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, Jewish, Orthodox Christian, and Buddhist chaplains. In detainee visiting areas, visitors could bring religious objects to an inmate or speak with the prisoner about religious issues but could not pray. Prisoners could pray in their cells individually, with a chaplain in designated prayer rooms, or, in some institutions, in special apartments where they could receive family for up to 48 hours. The government continued to implement its 2018-20 national plan to combat racism and anti-Semitism, which had a strong focus on countering online hate content. The government said it would assess the results of the plan in 2021. On June 18, the Constitutional Council invalidated core provisions of a new law against online hate speech, adopted by parliament on May 13, that was part of the 2018-20 plan. The “Avia Law,” introduced at the direction of then-Prime Minister Philippe, required online platforms to remove, within 24 hours, material they determined to be hateful content based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and religion; language trivializing genocide or crimes against humanity; and content deemed sexual harassment. Social media companies faced fines up to 1.25 million euros ($1.53 million) if they failed to remove the content within the required timeframes. The Constitutional Council ruled these provisions of the law infringed on freedom of speech and were “not appropriate, necessary, and proportionate.” Parliamentary committees were drafting replacement legislation at year’s end. On June 10, the European Court of Human Rights ruled the country had violated Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights when it convicted a group of 12 pro-Palestinian activists for incitement to economic discrimination. The group had distributed leaflets calling for a boycott of Israeli products as part of the BDS movement in 2009 and 2010. While France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, had upheld the conviction, the European court ruled the activists’ actions were forms of political expression, protected by the human rights convention. In a final judgment on September 11, the court ordered the government to pay a total of 101,000 euros ($124,000) in damages to the group. The government had three months to appeal the court’s decision or make the payment but did not do either. At year’s end, the fine remained unpaid. On January 4, several thousand demonstrators gathered in Paris and a number of other cities to protest the December 2019 court ruling that deemed Kobili Traore “criminally not responsible” for Sarah Halimi’s killing in 2017 because he was under the influence of cannabis at the time of the attack. On January 23, during his visit to Israel, President Macron criticized the Paris Appeals Court ruling. In a January 27 statement, Chantal Arens, the senior judge of the Court of Cassation, and Prosecutor General Francois Molins responded to Macron, stating, “The independence of the justice system, of which the president of the Republic is the guarantor, is an essential factor in the functioning of a democracy.” At year’s end, Traore was held in a psychiatric hospital. The case was pending at the Court of Cassation. On September 17, prosecutors opened an investigation into the song lyrics of Freeze Corleone, a rapper who was accused by several officials and organizations of promoting anti-Semitism. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said Corleone was being investigated for “inciting racial hatred” based on the content of his songs and videos posted online. Frederic Potier, the interministerial delegate (head) of DILCRAH, had earlier reported the rapper to the public prosecutor’s office after identifying what he characterized as nine illegal passages in his music. In his lyrics, Corleone declared that he “arrives determined like Adolf in the 1930s,” that he does not “give a damn about the Shoah,” and that “like Swiss bankers, it will be all for the family so my children can live like Jewish rentiers.” On July 28, police arrested Alain Bonnet, also known as Alain Soral, on charges of incitement of hatred against Jews and actions that “endanger the fundamental interests of the Republic” after comments he made on his website, Equality and Reconciliation. At the end of September, the Paris Appeals Court sentenced Soral to pay 134,400 euros ($165,000) to the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) as punishment for releasing Salvation Through The Jews, a work by Leon Bloy (died 1917) that the court found to be anti-Semitic. On October 6, the court sentenced Soral to a 5,400 euro ($6,600) fine for blaming Jews for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Soral was convicted four times in 2019, following previous violations for Holocaust denial, anti-Semitic insults, and publishing an anti-Semitic video. The Paris prosecutor’s October 14 decision to prosecute a man for vandalism rather than anti-Semitism for spray-painting dozens of large red swastikas along Paris’s landmark Rue de Rivoli the weekend of October 10-11 sparked protests among members of the Jewish community. The prosecutor’s office stated there was no legal basis for charging the man with a crime aggravated by religious or racial hatred and that “the damage was committed without specifically targeting buildings identified as being linked to the Jewish community.” In a tweet, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) expressed “total incomprehension,” asking, “How can you spray 20 swastikas without being prosecuted for anti-Semitism?” Dorothee Bissacia-Bernstein, the lawyer representing LICRA in the case, tweeted after the decision, “Major moment of indignation and anger yes. Stupefaction.” Leader of the far-left France Unbowed Party Jean-Luc Melenchon criticized the “lamentable” decision. The suspect, a man from the country of Georgia, remained in pretrial detention. His trial was rescheduled and remained pending at year’s end. On January 27, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of National Education and Youth, and Armin Laschet, German Plenipotentiary for Cultural Affairs under the Franco-German Cooperation Treaty, visited the Shoah Memorial in Paris. In public remarks, they stated the fight against racism and anti-Semitism was and would remain a priority of educational cooperation between the two countries. On January 9, then-Interior Minister Castaner, then-Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, and then-Junior Minister for the Interior Laurent Nunez attended a CRIF-organized memorial ceremony outside a Paris kosher supermarket, where five years earlier a gunman had killed four Jews and held 15 other persons hostage. On July 10, Interior Minister Darmanin attended the Shabbat service at the Great Synagogue of Paris. “The Jews of France had to suffer many unspeakable acts. Attacking the Jews of France, is attacking the Republic,” he said at the end of the visit. On July 19, Secretary of State for the Armed Forces Genevieve Darrieussecq held a ceremony in Paris honoring the victims of the 1942 Velodrome d’Hiver roundup in which 13,000 Jews, including 4,000 children, were deported to extermination camps. “There is no space for ambiguity, the Velodrome d’Hiver roundup is an issue belonging to France,” Darrieussecq said in her statements, adding, “Two dangers lie in wait for us and must constantly be fought: oblivion and hatred. It is because the Nation knows where it comes from, looks at its past without ambiguity, that it will be intractable in the face of racism, anti-Semitism, and discrimination.” President Macron and government ministers condemned anti-Semitism and declared support for Holocaust education on several occasions, including a February 19 visit to the Shoah Memorial; the March 19 commemoration of the eighth anniversary of the killings of three Jewish children and their teacher by Mohammed Merah in Toulouse; the April 30 Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration; and the June 1 Judaism Day observance. On April 26, as the country held private or virtual ceremonies (because of COVID-19 restrictions) for the thousands of persons deported to Nazi death camps during World War II, President Macron tweeted, “Seventy-five years on, we have not forgotten.” On the same day, Secretary of State for the Armed Forces Darrieussecq laid a wreath at the Shoah Memorial and the Memorial of the Martyrs of The Deportation in central Paris. On July 26, Interior Minister Darmanin participated in a tribute for Father Jacques Hamel, the Catholic priest killed in an attack for which ISIS claimed responsibility at his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in 2016. In his remarks, Darmanin said Father Hamel was “killed by the Islamist barbarism,” and “killing a priest is like trying to assassinate a part of the nation’s soul.” On July 29, Interior Minister Darmanin visited Douaumont Cemetery at the Verdun battlefield to pay tribute to Muslim soldiers who died for the country during World War I. Speaking in front of the graves, he warned against “any deviation of the spirit … that evokes the purported incompatibility between the fact of [religious] belief and being a republican.” He added, “The [French] Republic does not prefer any religion, does not combat any religion.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government postponed the visit of 30 Moroccan, 120 Algerian, and 151 Turkish imams whom it has regularly hosted to promote religious tolerance and combat violent extremism within Muslim communities. The country is a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom The CFCM reported 235 registered incidents targeting Muslims, compared with 154 in 2019. The Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ) reported a total of 339 anti-Semitic incidents, of which 295 were threats and 44 violent acts, compared with 687 total incidents in the previous year. Statistics on anti-Christian incidents were not yet available; most of these incidents involved vandalism of churches and cemeteries. On October 29, a man entered the Basilica of Notre Dame in the southern city of Nice and killed three Catholic worshippers with a knife. Local press reported one of the two women killed was “practically decapitated.” Municipal police intervened, shooting and seriously injuring the attacker. The attacker, according to local press reports, said, “Allahu Akbar (God is great),” repeatedly as he was being arrested and taken to the hospital. The man was identified as Brahim Aouissaoui, an asylum seeker from Tunisia who entered France in early October. The national counterterrorism prosecutor’s office was treating the attack as a terrorist incident. The investigation was ongoing at year’s end. On October 16, an 18-year-old Muslim Russian refugee of Chechen ethnicity, Abdoullakh Anzorov, beheaded a French middle-school teacher, Samuel Paty, in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Paty had shown his students Charlie Hebdo’s 2012 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as part of a lesson on freedom of expression; Paty advised students they could turn away if they did not want to see the images. Police shot and killed Anzorov soon after Paty’s killing and charged 10 other persons, including an imam, with assisting him. President Macron visited the school where Paty had worked, calling the incident “a typical Islamist terrorist attack” and stating that “our compatriot was killed for teaching children freedom of speech.” On October 18, media reported two women stabbed two other women wearing Islamic headscarves and tried to rip off their veils near the Eiffel Tower in 2019. The women were charged with assault and racist slurs. The main suspect was placed in pretrial detention while the second was released on bail, legal sources reported. On August 6, two men shouted anti-Semitic insults and assaulted a Jewish man, stole his watch, and beat him unconscious in the hallway of his parents’ apartment building in Paris. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti tweeted, “I know the immense emotion that besets the entire Jewish community. It is the emotion of the whole nation and of course mine.” Authorities charged the two men with violent theft motivated by religious reasons and placed them in pretrial detention on August 28. At year’s end, a trial had not been scheduled, and the two men remained in detention. In January, a 16-year-old student in the Lyon region received death threats and withdrew from school due to security concerns after she posted a vulgar anti-Islam video that led to national controversy. The student appeared on television and defended her right to blaspheme, saying her comments came in response to a vulgar online attack on her sexual orientation by a Muslim. The government provided her police protection, and President Macron defended her, telling newspaper Le Dauphine Libere that children needed to be “better protected” against “new forms of hatred and harassment online,” adding, “The law is clear: we have the right to blaspheme, to criticize, to caricature religions.” In the ensuing public debate, however, public personalities and officials made a range of statements criticizing the girl for hate speech or defending her right to free speech and French secularism. Abdallah Zekri, general delegate of the CFCM, told Sud Radio that he was against the death threats, but that “who sows the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.” CFCM president Mohammed Moussaoui, in the CFCM’s official response, said, “Nothing can justify” death threats.” Then-Justice Minister Belloubet, in comments she later acknowledged as “maladroit,” called the death threats unacceptable but characterized the video as “an attack on freedom of conscience.” On May 14, the Paris prosecutor indicted the two suspects in the 2018 killing of Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll on charges including intentional homicide and targeting the victim based on religion. On July 10, investigative judges affirmed the prosecution of the suspects on charges of murder “of a vulnerable person, committed because of the victim’s religion.” The two individuals remained in pretrial detention and a trial date had not been set at year’s end. Authorities charged a man with “extortion on account of religion” with aggravated circumstances following an August 26 incident in Strasbourg in which an individual assaulted a young artist hired by the city to decorate a public building for wearing a t-shirt with “Israel” printed on it. After ordering the artist to leave the site, the assailant stole a spray-paint can and wrote on the pavement, “Interdit aux juifs et aux salopes” (“Jews and sluts forbidden”). Both the victim and a local Jewish association filed a complaint. On November 30, the Strasbourg Criminal Court sentenced the assailant to six-months’ imprisonment and ordered him to pay 500 euros ($610) in compensation to the victim and 1,000 euros ($1,200) to antiracist groups that had also filed a lawsuit. On May 26, Agence France Presse and other media reported security forces arrested a man, identified only as Aurelien C., in the central city of Limoges. The security forces said they suspected the man, a former member of both the military and the Yellow Vest protest movement, was planning an attack against the Jewish community. On social media, Aurelien C. had posted white supremacist conspiracy theories and both anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic comments, while glorifying terrorists such as the 2019 Christchurch and 2011 Oslo attackers. On May 12, the Antiterrorism National Prosecutor’s Office reportedly began investigating him for “association of criminal terrorist wrongdoers.” In his home, investigators reportedly found incendiary tools that could be used as mortars. He had researched when Jewish religious sites would reopen in his town. Aurelien C. had previously been arrested in December 2018 and convicted of illegal arms possession. In September, two men carried out an armed robbery against a man wearing a Star of David in a suburb of Paris and called him a “dirty Jew.” The victim was reportedly an Arab convert to Judaism. One of the robbers, identified only as Mohammed, received a one-year jail sentence. Also in September, a court in Brest sentenced a man to two months in prison for calling a woman at an office where the man collected his welfare check a “dirty Jewess” and performing a Nazi salute in December 2019. Jehovah’s Witnesses officials reported six incidents during the year. In one case, they reported a man punched a Jehovah’s Witness in the face while he was evangelizing in Le Petit Quevilly, a suburb of Rouen, on March 1. Jehovah’s Witnesses filed a complaint with police. At year’s end, authorities had not filed charges. The Jewish Agency for Israel reported in June approximately 2,000 persons began the process of emigrating to Israel in the previous month, compared with 200 in May 2019. On January 20, the AJC released a poll conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) in partnership with the Fondapol think tank. The survey, which polled 505 French Jews between October 14 and November 19, 2019, found that 70 percent said they had been the target of at least one anti-Semitic incident in their lifetime, 64 percent had experienced anti-Semitic verbal abuse at least once, and 23 percent had suffered physical abuse on at least one occasion; 10 percent said they had been attacked several times. The poll found 37 percent refrained from using visible Jewish symbols, 25 percent avoided revealing their Jewish identity in the workplace, and 52 percent had considered leaving the country permanently. Overall, 44 percent said the situation for French Jews was worse than a year earlier, 11 percent said it was better, and 42 percent said it was unchanged. Among respondents aged 18-24, 84 percent had been the target of at least one anti-Semitic act, 79 percent had experienced verbal abuse, and 39 percent had suffered physical aggression. Jews self-identifying as “religious” felt the most vulnerable; 74 percent said they had been a target of at least one act of verbal abuse. Anti-Semitic incidents occurred most frequently on the street and in schools. Fifty-five percent said they had been insulted or threatened, and 59 percent said they had been physically abused on the street. In schools, 26 percent said they had suffered physical abuse and 54 percent had experienced verbal abuse. In the workplace, 46 percent said they had experienced anti-Semitic verbal abuse. The poll also questioned 522 non-Jewish citizens. Of this total sample of 1,027 Jewish and non-Jewish persons, 73 percent (and 72 percent of Jewish respondents) considered anti-Semitism a problem that affected all of society; 47 percent (and 67 percent of Jews) reported the level of anti-Semitism in the country was high, while 27 percent (and 22 percent of Jews) said it was low. Fifty-three percent of non-Jews, but 77 percent of Jewish respondents, said they had the feeling that anti-Semitism in the country was increasing. A poll of youths conducted by IFOP, carried out on September 4-9 and released on September 13, showed 87 percent of respondents had heard about the Holocaust and 95 percent had heard about the gas chambers; 80 percent reported learning these facts at school. One in 10 students said it was impossible to teach about the Holocaust in their class (among the reasons cited was a refusal by some students to listen to the lesson), and 21 percent cited criticisms from other students during lessons about the subject. The survey also revealed the influence of Holocaust denial on online video platforms and social media networks; nearly one in three (29 percent) respondents said they had already read or viewed content questioning the existence of the Holocaust. Of these, 57 percent had encountered denial theories on YouTube and 40 percent on Facebook. In February, the Pew Research Center published findings on attitudes towards democratic principles, such as regular elections, free speech, and free civil society, as well as religious freedom, in 34 countries, based on interviews it conducted in its Spring 2019 Global Attitudes Survey. According to the findings, 52 percent of French respondents considered religious freedom to be “very important” but ranked it the lowest of their priorities for democratic principles among the nine tested. The annual report of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, an advisory body to the Prime Minister, released on June 18, included the results of an Ipsos poll conducted in November 2019 and involving face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of 1,323 residents over the age of 18. The results were almost identical to a poll Ipsos conducted a year earlier. According to the more recent poll, 34.2 percent (1.8 percent fewer than in 2018) of respondents believed Jews “have a particular relationship with money,” and 18.6 percent (1.4 percent fewer than the previous year) thought Jews had too much power in the country. The poll found 35.5 percent (29 percent in 2018) of respondents had a negative image of Islam, and 44.7 percent (44 percent in the previous year) considered it a threat to national identity. The commission’s report again cited what it said was persistent societal rejection of Islamic religious practices, such as women wearing a veil (45.5 percent). In June, during an antiracism protest in Paris attended by 15-20,000 persons, a video of at least one man repeatedly shouting “Dirty Jews” at a counterprotesting white identity group went viral. Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited CRIF as stating that anti-Semites had infiltrated the protest, “using a noble cause, the fight against racism, to spread hatred against Jews and Israel.” According to the report, CRIF President Francis Kalifat asked, “How can this type of incitement be shouted again and again without people reacting and demanding that those people leave?” According to press reports, April Benayoum, runner-up in the 2021 Miss France competition, became the subject of “a torrent” of anti-Semitic comments on social media after revealing that her father was Israeli during the televised competition on December 19. One message read, “Hitler forgot about this one.” On December 20, Interior Minister Darmanin tweeted that he was “deeply shocked” and promised law enforcement would investigate the incidents. Others, including the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, the Israeli embassy in Paris, and the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions, also denounced the comments. The Paris Prosecutor’ Office opened an investigation on December 21. Facebook confirmed on August 3 it had banned French comedian Dieudonne M’Bala from its platforms for repeatedly violating its policies by posting anti-Semitic comments and for his “organized hatred.” In June, YouTube also banned Dieudonne, who had more than one million followers on Facebook and 36,000 on Instagram. Elisabeth Moreno, the Minister in Charge of Gender Equality, Diversity, and Equality of Opportunities welcomed the bans, tweeting, “All forms of speech inciting hatred and racism must be banned on social media.” Dieudonne was convicted multiple times for hate speech, including anti-Semitism. In October, in contravention of COVID-19 confinement orders, Dieudonne held an unauthorized gathering near Strasbourg attended by approximately 300 supporters, where he repeated the same anti-Semitic comments and spread disinformation relating to Jews about the pandemic. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency cited other instances of disinformation blaming Jews for COVID-19. For example, in March, a caricature of a Jewish former Health Minister, Agnes Buzyn, showing her poisoning a well, was shared tens of thousands of times on social media. Alain Soral posted on YouTube that the virus was being used by “the luminary community, which we are forbidden to name … to weaken French people by the sheer weight of the death toll.” According to the agency, Soral’s post was viewed 406,000 times. The same report cited Marc Knobel, a historian with CRIF, as stating, “…the coronavirus pandemic is a reminder that Jews will be blamed whenever there’s an epidemic, be it today or 1347.” On January 5, vandals damaged several headstones, burial vaults, and a memorial to a young child deported to Auschwitz at the oldest Jewish cemetery in the country, located in Bayonne. The cemetery contained Jewish burial sites dating to the late 17th century. The president of the Bayonne/Biarritz Jewish community condemned the desecrations, stating, “When it comes to attacking the dead, I don’t think there is anything more cowardly.” On August 7, unknown persons set fire to the Omar Mosque in Bron, a suburb of Lyon. President of the regional CFCM Kamel Kabtane denounced the act. He had said previously the country trivialized anti-Muslim speech and acts. Regional and religious leaders, such as Interior Minister Darmanin and Mohammed Moussaoui, President of the Union of Mosques of France, expressed solidarity against the suspected arson and stated the country was experiencing a “rise of hatred.” They called for the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate and address these issues. A fire broke out at the Essalam Mosque in the city of Lyon on August 12, only days after the suspected arson at the Omar Mosque in Bron. The mayor of Lyon’s 2nd Arrondissement, Pierre Oliver, condemned the burning of the mosque, which a preliminary investigation suggested was also the result of arson. Hackers also changed the website link to the Essalam Mosque on the Google Maps site to a pest control site. On April 15, the president of the Turkish Cultural Association (ACTS) of Saint-Etienne discovered a death threat written on the association door that he called “clearly Islamophobic.” Saint-Etienne Mayor Gael Perdriau expressed support for all ACTS members. The mayor highlighted the group’s societal contributions, including a recent donation of masks to nursing staff at the local teaching hospital. On January 19, unknown individuals in Bordeaux and Talence defaced eight churches and two Catholic schools with graffiti. Several of the “tags” referred to pedophilia. Archbishop of Bordeaux Jean Paul James expressed his “profound sadness in the face of such acts,” condemned “this form of violence against Christians,” and offered to support “those who felt injured by these … obscene insults.” A police investigation was ongoing. On April 22, members of the far-right group Generation Identitaire projected pictures denouncing calls to prayer onto the facade of the Grand Mosque of Lyon. The text read, “Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseille, Germany, Spain. Stop! The song of the muezzin will not resonate in Europe. Generation Identitaire.” The group claimed responsibility on Twitter. Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally Party, had also publicly complained to the Interior Ministry about the Grand Mosque of Lyon’s daily broadcasts of the calls to prayer. The hashtag #sijetaitunjuif (If I were a Jew) trended on Twitter France on May 18 before the company took it down, following condemnation by officials and Jewish and antihate organizations. The hashtag originated with six coordinated individual users and was amplified by other users and groups who deployed it with anti-Semitic smears and references to the Holocaust. The author of one of the original tweets, a 16-year-old boy, told media outlet BFM he had posted the material “to see if people would defend Jews.” Twitter France told BFM it took the hashtag off its list of trending topics for violating the company’s hate speech rules. On June 23, anti-Semitic graffiti and drawings were found on campaign posters for Lyon Metropolis President David Kimelfeld. Also on June 23, anti-Muslim stickers were found on campaign posters of Nordine Gasmi, the Vaudais Independent Party mayoral candidate, in nearby Vaulx-en-Velin. Kimelfeld denounced the graffiti, and local Member of Parliament Thomas Rudigoz called the anti-Semitic tags “despicable,” saying they recalled dark times in the country’s history. In the early hours of July 26, a mosque in the southwestern French city of Agen was vandalized with graffiti that included a swastika and obscene messages. Interior Minister Darmanin tweeted supported for Agen’s Muslim community and condemned “hateful actions that are contrary to the values of the Republic.” Agen Mayor Jean Dionis du Sejour denounced the vandalism as “absolutely unacceptable … insulting [and] senseless.” Anti-Islam graffiti was discovered on September 2 on the walls of a mosque in the southwestern city of Tarbes, according to media reports. The incident occurred on the opening day of the trial for the 2015 Paris terror attacks. Interior Minister Darmanin tweeted, “These acts have no place in our Republic.” Regional officials, including the president of the Occitanie Region and the prefect of the Hautes-Pyrenees Department, also publicly condemned the act. Mayor of Tarbes Gerard Tremege visited the site and said he was “outraged by these heinous acts of desecration.” The CFCM also expressed “firm condemnation” and “full solidarity and total support to the faithful and officials of the mosque.” On October 2, the Association of Jewish Students tweeted a video of a kosher restaurant in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris that had been vandalized with many swastikas and the words “Hitler was right” spray-painted on furniture and walls. The Nour El Mohamadi Mosque in central Bordeaux was vandalized on October 14 and October 20. Unknown individuals broke exterior windows and defaced it with graffiti that included Celtic crosses and the phrase “Mahomet = Lache” (Mohammed = Coward). Interior Minister Darmanin asked local authorities to put the mosque under police protection, stating on Twitter, “Such actions are unacceptable on the soil of the Republic.” A police investigation was ongoing at year’s end. Mosque Vice President Abdelaziz Manaa noted a recent increase in anti-Muslim hostility: “There are people who insult us from the street … but now, we feel that it is getting worse. We’ve never had insults against the Prophet.” On January 10, Jehovah’s Witnesses filed a complaint with police after they found a graffito, “God kills,” on the door of a Kingdom Hall in Paris on January 10. At year’s end, law enforcement had not identified any suspects. On April 17, the Angouleme criminal court found an 18-year-old man guilty of, but not responsible for, desecrating numerous graves in a Christian cemetery in Cognac in 2019. A psychiatric evaluation of the man before his trial concluded his judgment was impaired at the time of the incident. The court ordered his emergency hospitalization in a specialized center following the verdict. Authorities closed the case against Claude Sinke, who died on February 26, before the case could go to trial. Sinke was arrested and charged with attempted murder after he allegedly shot and injured two Muslim men and set fire to the door of a mosque in Bayonne in 2019. At year’s end, there was no information available on the status of a case involving four men arrested in 2019, who were part of a larger group of approximately 10 men alleged to have beaten and robbed a Jewish driver for a ride-sharing company. At the time, authorities said they considered the anti-Semitic nature of the attack to be an aggravating circumstance. Authorities were still investigating a case from 2019 in which they charged a man with attempted murder and degrading a place of worship after he crashed his car into a mosque in Colmar. According to some press reports, the man was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which might lead to dismissal of the case. On September 9, the G9, a Lyon-based interfaith group, founded following terrorist attacks in 2015 with the aim of promoting understanding among religious groups and fighting against violent extremism, wrote an open letter with calling for fraternity after multiple acts of vandalism at places of worship. In the letter, entitled “More than ever determined to work for the Common Good,” the G9 challenged citizens and authorities to be vigilant and create strong connections wherever possible. The Council of Christian Churches in France, composed of 10 representatives from the Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Armenian Apostolic Churches, continued to meet four times a year, twice in plenary session and twice at the working level. The constitution, laws, and policies provide for religious freedom, subject to restrictions relating to public order, public health, and morality. The government continued to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Unification Church). It restricted speech or actions it perceived as detrimental to “religious harmony.” The government held 12 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the armed forces’ detention facility for refusing on religious grounds to complete mandatory national service. In December, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) detained a 16-year-old Christian male for planning to attack two mosques using a machete on the anniversary of the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shootings. According to the ministry, the individual had been self-radicalized through online material, including the Christchurch attacker’s manifesto and ISIS videos of violence against Christians. The government stated the individual acted alone and did not try to influence or involve others in his attack plans. In February, the MHA launched an investigation into a local, unregistered chapter of the South Korean Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji Church), which resulted in the deportation of five South Koreans and the dissolution of affiliated organizations. In November, authorities arrested 21 individuals for resuming activities of the church “covertly.” In June, police detained a permanent resident for posting comments to Instagram about wanting to kill Muslims. In September, police issued a warning to Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan for social media posts she made in 2018 and May 2020, before she was a candidate for parliament, accusing the government of discrimination against religious and racial minorities. Authorities investigated messages individuals posted to social media that were considered offensive to Muslims and Christians, for which the individuals later apologized. The government made multiple high-level affirmations of the importance of religious harmony and respect for religious differences. It actively reached out to religious communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasized the role of faith leaders in promoting solidarity during the pandemic. Government organizations initiated interfaith programs and funded community-led interfaith initiatives to promote religious tolerance and build interfaith understanding. Multiple religious groups held virtual interfaith events and celebrations during the year. Religious groups and civil society organizations continued to promote interfaith and intrafaith understanding. In April, the then-Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth joined 100 members of the nongovernmental organization Inter-Religious Organization (IRO) to celebrate the annual IRO Day virtually and pledged to maintain interfaith solidarity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Charge d’Affaires and other U.S. embassy officers promoted religious diversity and tolerance throughout the year. In November, the Charge d’Affaires met with Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Communication and Information and Health and chairman of the community-level organization OnePeople.sg, to discuss religious harmony and diversity. Throughout the year, the embassy used its website and social media channels to highlight outreach and demonstrate respect for the country’s religious diversity. The Charge d’Affaires delivered video speeches and best wishes for Ramadan in May, Deepavali in November, and the Christmas and Hanukkah season in December. Embassy representatives engaged with a variety of groups, including the Singapore Muslim Women’s Association (PPIS), to support religious freedom. Section I. Religious Demography The U.S. government estimates the total population at 5.8 million (midyear 2020 estimate). Of the four million individuals the local government counts as citizens or permanent residents, 81.5 percent stated a religious affiliation in the 2015 General Household Survey. According to the data, approximately 33.2 percent of the population of citizens and permanent residents are Buddhist, 18.8 percent Christian (including 6.7 percent Catholic), 14 percent Muslim (predominantly Sunni), 10 percent Taoist, 5 percent Hindu, and 18.5 percent identify as having no religion. Groups together constituting less than 1 percent of the population include Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Jains, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and members of the Unification Church. Although estimates varied widely, the government estimates there are 2,500 members in the Jewish community. According to a 2020 report by the Department of Statistics, 74.3 percent of the resident population is ethnic Chinese, 13.5 percent ethnic Malay, 9.0 percent ethnic Indian, and 3.2 percent other, including Eurasians. Nearly all ethnic Malays are Muslim. According to a 2016 national survey, among ethnic Indians, 59.9 percent are Hindu, 21.3 percent Muslim, and 12.1 percent Christian. The ethnic Chinese population includes Buddhists (42.3 percent), Christians (20.9 percent), and Taoists (12.9 percent). Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom The official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses reported that at year’s end, 12 Jehovah’s Witnesses were held in the armed forces’ detention facility for refusing on religious grounds to complete national service. In December, the MHA detained a 16-year-old male under the Internal Security Act for planning to attack two mosques using a machete on the anniversary of the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shootings. According to the ministry, the minor, identified as a Protestant Christian, had been self-radicalized through online material, including through the Christchurch attacker’s manifesto and ISIS videos of violence against Christians. Reportedly, the suspect was writing a manifesto detailing his hatred of Islam, as well as a document drafted after the October 2020 church stabbings in Nice, France, calling on the French to “stand up” against Muslims. The government stated the individual acted alone and did not try to influence or involve others in his attack plans. In February, the MHA announced it was investigating a local unregistered chapter of the South Korean Shincheonji Church under the authority of national security legislation that would ban the organization’s activities in the country. The ministry then repatriated five South Korean nationals for holding key positions in the local chapter and dissolved the group’s affiliated organizations. The ministry said the group had used deceptive recruitment methods and misled individuals. Because of the group’s links to COVID-19 clusters in South Korea, the ministry said it would accelerate its investigations, given potential local health risks. In November, the ministry announced police arrested 21 members of the organization for being members of an “unlawful society” under the Societies Act and for resuming activities “covertly” despite warnings from the ministry to cease. The ministry said it “will not allow members of unlawful societies or persons associated with them to threaten Singapore’s public safety, peace and good order.” In June, police arrested a 19-year-old permanent resident for inciting violence and posting comments with the deliberate intent to wound religious feelings. The man had posted comments on Instagram about wanting to kill Muslims. A police investigation was ongoing at year’s end. Media reported that on September 17, police issued a “stern warning” to Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan for promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion or race. This came after a police report was filed against then-parliamentary candidate Khan during the general election campaign in July for social media posts she made in 2018 and 2020, before she was a candidate, accusing the government, law enforcement authorities, and courts of racial and religious discrimination against minorities, including Muslims. After the police reports were filed, Khan and the Workers’ Party leadership gave a press conference on July 5 at which Khan apologized to any racial group or community hurt by her comments and said she did not mean to cause social division, but rather wanted to raise awareness about minority concerns. On September 17, Khan posted to Facebook that she had learned to be “more considerate” in framing difficult conversations and apologized once again. Media reported that on March 18, a group calling itself the NUS Atheist Society posted to its Facebook page an image of the Bible and Quran with a caption reading, “For use during toilet paper shortages.” Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam publicly criticized the post as “very offensive” to two religions and the police began an investigation, which remained ongoing at year’s end. On March 20, Shanmugam wrote on his Facebook page, “We [the government] take a serious view of these type of statements….We highlighted [for Facebook] how such offensive remarks have no place in multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore.” Facebook blocked domestic access to the post, per the government’s request. Media reported the Progress Singapore Party expelled Jan Chan, who was responsible for the Facebook page, from the party, saying the party “will not tolerate any of its members showing disrespect to any religion.” In a separate post to its official Facebook page, the National University of Singapore (NUS) said it was not linked to the NUS Atheist Society or the group’s Facebook page and said the page’s contents “do not represent the views, opinions and position” of the university. Chan told media he did not have malicious intent and regretted making the posting. In January, the MHA and MUIS investigated Abdul Halim Abdul Karim, a Muslim religious teacher, for posting offensive comments on Facebook. Abdul Halim called COVID-19 “Allah’s retribution” against the Chinese for the oppression of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province, China. In a separate private post, Abdul Halim said Chinese did not wash properly after defecating and were less hygienic than Muslims. Minister Shanmugam called the posts “simply unacceptable,” and MUIS said the posts “express…views that do not represent the Muslim community.” Abdul Halim apologized for the posts, saying his meaning had been misunderstood and the government took no further action against him. The government assisted religious groups in locating spaces for religious observance in government-built housing, where most citizens lived. The government continued to enforce the maintenance of ethnic ratios in public housing and to prevent the emergence of religious enclaves in concentrated geographic areas. Although government policy prohibited the wearing of hijabs by certain public sector professionals, such as nurses and uniformed military officers, many statutory boards within government agencies continued to allow Muslim staff to wear the hijab and President Halimah Yacob also wore it. Some in the Muslim community continued to petition for a change in government policy and called the practice discriminatory. The government continued to prohibit religious content from being broadcast on television “in order to maintain a secular public broadcast service.” The government denied the request of members of the Malay Muslim community that the communal call to prayer call and special sermon at the end of Ramadan be broadcast on television during COVID-19 restrictions. The communal call to prayer and Ramadan sermon continued to be broadcast on radio and available on the internet. While there was no law prohibiting proselytization, the government continued to discourage its practice through the application of laws regarding public speech and assembly, based on what authorities said were concerns that proselytizing might offend other religious groups and upset the balance of intergroup relations. As part of the MOE’s National Education Program, the official primary and secondary public school curricula encouraged religious harmony and tolerance. Secondary school students visited diverse religious sites, including Buddhist and Hindu temples, mosques, churches, and synagogues. All schools celebrated the annual Racial Harmony Day in July, which was intended to promote understanding and acceptance of all races and religions within the country. On that day, children wore traditional clothing and celebrated the country’s racial and religious diversity. Students were also encouraged to recite a “Declaration of Religious Harmony,” which repeatedly affirmed the importance of religious harmony for the country. The MOE announced it was training more teachers to facilitate discussions on contemporary issues, including religion, and then-Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung encouraged principals to hold more in-depth conversations in schools on these topics. President Halimah, Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong, and government ministers regularly stressed the government’s commitment to the country as a multiracial and multireligious society and cited religious harmony as an important policy goal. Cabinet members repeatedly acknowledged that COVID-19 affected religious groups and emphasized the importance of religious harmony during the pandemic. PM Lee released a video as the country entered its COVID-19 lockdown on April 9, on the eve of Good Friday, in which he acknowledged sacrifices required to contain the pandemic. In the video, he said, “For Christians, it is a special time to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ. For Singaporeans, it is a time to acknowledge the sacrifices of our frontline workers since COVID-19 broke out in Singapore.” PM Lee also posted a message to the Muslim community on Facebook on April 23, at the beginning of Ramadan, and participated in a virtual breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan. On May 23, PM Lee posted a video message telling Muslims, “This pandemic will eventually pass, but the spirit of Hari Raya [Eid al-Fitr] will endure.” In November, he wished Hindus a happy Diwali on his Facebook page and reminded people that the COVID-19 pandemic was not over. Ministers frequently gave speeches on strengthening religious pluralism and participated in virtual interfaith dialogues led by societal organizations. The government issued strong condemnations and emphasized the importance of religious harmony in response to foreign incidents of terrorism, including terrorist attacks in France in October and in Austria in November. Following the attacks in France, Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli said in a speech, “Singapore is fortunate that its religious teachers guide Muslims here to understand the true principles of Islam in the way they practice the religion.” During her opening speech to the new parliament in September, President Halimah said multiracialism and diversity would remain core elements of society. Halimah said, “Younger Singaporeans prefer to talk about these issues more candidly and openly, which is a positive development. But the conversation needs to be conducted with restraint and mutual respect, because race, language, and religion will always be visceral subjects.” Under the auspices of the MCCY, local government and government-affiliated organizations advocated for interreligious understanding and support for followers of other religions. Interfaith activities occurred in each of the country’s five mayoral districts through programs such as Common Sense for Common Spaces, while 89 Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs) continued to operate in each of the country’s 27 electoral constituencies. The IRCCs conducted a variety of local interreligious dialogues, counseling, and trust-building workshops, community celebrations, and similar activities. The government continued to work with religious groups through the Community Engagement Program, which trained community leaders in emergency preparedness and techniques for promoting religious harmony. In January, the MCCY launched a new Crisis Preparedness for Religious Organizations (CPRO) program, also managed by the IRCCS, to help prepare religious organizations for terror threats and other crises by improving their ability to protect their premises and congregants, prepare emergency plans, and help the larger community during a crisis. The CPRO formed a key component of the government’s COVID-19 pandemic response and its coordination with religious groups, providing guidelines on allowed religious activities during the pandemic. The MCCY also consulted religious leaders and the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony when planning the introduction and relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions. It also worked through the BRIDGE initiative (Broadening Religious/Racial Interaction through Dialogue and General Education), which provided financial support for community-based initiatives that fostered understanding of different religious practices and beliefs. The MUIS continued to operate the Harmony Center, which was established to promote greater interfaith understanding. The Harmony Center housed artifacts and information about Islam and nine other major religious groups in the country. It also organized interfaith programs, including dialogues with leaders from different religious groups. In September, all 10 members of the PCRH were reappointed to a new, three-year term. Seven members represented the Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Sikh communities, and three members, including the chair, were laypersons. Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom In July, employees at a local shopping center reportedly told a part-time employee to remove her hijab while working. After public pressure, the shopping center announced it would standardize its practice to allow all employees to wear religious headgear while working. The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices, compromising the Ministry of Manpower, the National Trades Union Congress, and the Singapore National Employers Federation, investigated the case for possible workplace discrimination. Several Malay Muslim policymakers and political office holders criticized the shopping center for its behavior, and President Halimah said, “Discrimination of any form and against anyone has no place at all in our society and, most certainly, not at the workplace.” In February, approximately 11,500 Hindus took part in the live Thaipusam festival. Subsequently, due to COVID-19 safe-distancing measures, many interfaith activities and religious festivals were conducted virtually, but still proceeded. In September, the Muslim volunteer welfare organization Jamiyah Singapore held a webinar on the role of faith leaders in helping communities during the COVID-19 pandemic that included leaders from different religious groups inside and outside the country. President Halimah said at the event that faith can be a source of strength, solace, and solidarity during the pandemic. In July, OnePeople.sg held its annual HarmonyWorks! conference virtually to engage different communities and youth. In June, IRO held a virtual interreligious prayer for the safe reopening of the country after a two-month partial COVID-19 lockdown that ended June 1. In April, then-Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth Grace Fu joined 100 IRO members to celebrate the annual IRO Day virtually, and she pledged to maintain interreligious solidarity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRO, which included leaders of the 10 major religious groups in the country, had the stated objective of inculcating a spirit of friendship among various religious groups by conducting interreligious prayer services, seminars, and public talks throughout the year. IRO released a public statement in April urging citizens and residents to stay united, safeguard social cohesion, and remain connected with people from other faiths amid the pandemic. Religious groups and civil society organizations continued to promote interfaith and intrafaith understanding. Ahead of Easter and Ramadan, Mufti Nazirudin Mohd Nasir and Bishop Terry Kee, president of the National Council of Churches of Singapore, exchanged letters conveying the well wishes of their communities to the other community as they celebrated these holidays. Throughout the year, the Center for Interfaith Understanding, chaired by a Muslim and a Taoist, hosted a range of webinars, including on such subjects as Christian-Muslim relations and interfaith dialogue. Shia and Sunni Muslims continued to cooperate and to share Sunni mosques. The interfaith organization Roses of Peace released a Facebook video in cooperation with the local community organization Interfaith Youth Circle to promote harmony amid the COVID-19 pandemic and cooperated with OnePeople.sg on a “Regardless of Race” webinar series. Interfaith Youth Circle organized virtual meetings throughout the year to provide support to vulnerable communities and to offer interfaith exchanges while in-person meetings were not possible. Throughout the year, the Harmony Center promoted religious diversity through its #knowyoursingapore series on Facebook, where it featured different religious sites in the country. The SGUnited Buka Puasa initiative, coordinated by MUIS and involving mosques, Roses of Peace, the chamber of commerce, and other organizations, provided 20,000 meals daily to healthcare frontline workers and families in need throughout the month of Ramadan. In April, IRO donated 10,000 masks to the Migrant Workers’ Center to fight the COVID-19 outbreak among migrant workers. Following terrorist attacks in France in October, Mufti Nazirudin Mohd Nasir wrote an open letter to leaders of the Christian community condemning the attacks and reinforcing the importance of interfaith harmony and shared values, saying, “We will continue to work tirelessly with the Christian community to affirm our commitment to the bonds of faith and friendship. We are confident that by strengthening the trust and confidence in each other, we will be able to prevent such incidents from ever taking place here.” Christian churches responded with individual letters to the mufti in which they said they appreciated the religious harmony and peace in the country. In the absence of a written constitution, the law establishes the Church of England as England’s state church and the Church of Scotland as Scotland’s national church. The law prohibits “incitement to religious hatred” as well as discrimination on the grounds of religion. The Emergency Coronavirus Bill was amended in March in response to concerns from Muslim and Jewish advocacy groups that the bill would permit cremation of COVID-19 victims “against the wishes of the deceased.” In January, the Welsh government announced plans to make relationships, sexuality, and religion a mandatory part of the curriculum for all students over the age of five by 2022. In September, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Rehman Chishti resigned from his position as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Religious Freedom. Conservative MP Fiona Bruce was appointed his successor in December. In July, Imam Qari Asim, the Deputy Chair of the government’s Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, was appointed independent advisor to propose a working definition of Islamophobia. On the one-year anniversary of the March mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, the government announced that funding for the Places of Worship Scheme, which provides physical security measures to Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Hindu places of worship, would double from the previous year to 3.2 million pounds ($4.37 million) in 2020-2021. In April, the government provided 14 million pounds ($19.13 million) via a nongovernmental organization (NGO) to provide security at Jewish institutions, including schools and synagogues. In January, the Scottish government announced 500,000 pounds ($683,000) to fund security at places of worship. In January, the government renewed its commitment to the founding principles of the 2000 Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust (Stockholm Declaration). To mark International Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the UK government announced a one-million pound ($1.37 million) grant to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to help preserve the site of the former concentration camp. The main political parties and party members continued to face numerous accusations of religious bias. The Conservative Party faced allegations of anti-Muslim incidents, with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) submitting a dossier of 150 cases of alleged anti-Muslim incidents by party members to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The party announced it would conduct a review into how complaints were handled and the EHRC accepted the party’s terms of reference for the investigation, but the MCB criticized the scope of the inquiry. In October, the EHRC released a report calling on the Labour Party to reform its handling of allegations of anti-Semitism within the party. In light of his negative reaction to the report, Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from both the wider Labour Party and the Parliamentary Labour Party and was forced to sit as an independent MP, a first for a former leader. While his wider-party membership was later reinstated in November, he continued to serve as an independent MP. In December, the Labour Party published a plan to implement the EHRC’s recommended reforms. The government reported a 5 percent decline (from 8,566 to 7,203 offenses) in religiously motivated hate crimes in England and Wales in the 2019-2020 period compared to the same period one year prior. This was the first period of decline in religiously motivated hate crimes since 2012-2013. Where the perceived religion of the victim was recorded (in 91 percent of cases), 50 percent (3,089 offenses) of religious hate crime offenses targeted Muslims, and 19 percent (1,205 offenses) targeted Jews. The annual report of the NGO Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 1,668 anti-Semitic incidents during the year, an 8 percent decline from 2019, yet still the second-highest ever annual figure recorded by the organization. Among the incidents were 97 assaults and three incidents classified as “extreme violence.” (Due to privacy laws, CST did not provide details on cases of extreme violence.) There were a further 1,399 incidents of nonviolent abusive behavior. CST recorded 634 anti-Semitic online incidents, a 9 percent decline from the previous year. In September, the NGO Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks), which monitors anti-Muslim activity, released its annual report for 2018. The report disclosed 3,173 reports of anti-Muslim hate incidents in 2018, including 1,891 recorded by police. This was the highest number since the NGO’s founding in 2011. Several religiously motivated conspiracy theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic circulated online. According to a report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories included claims that Jews used global lockdowns to “steal everything.” Both Jewish and Muslim communities were vilified by media commentators such as Katie Hopkins, who alleged that Muslims were flouting lockdown restrictions and spreading COVID-19 by continuing Friday prayers at mosques. U.S. embassy and consulate staff engaged with government officials, political parties, and religious groups to advance religious freedom issues, with a strong emphasis on digital engagement and use of social media in response to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. In May, the Ambassador, along with the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, gave remarks at virtual iftars, which were part of the largest such series in the UK, entitled #RamadanatHome. In June, the Ambassador hosted a virtual meeting with representatives of the Jewish community, and separately, with Labour Leader MP Sir Keir Starmer, to discuss the Labour Party’s plan to confront the issue of anti-Semitism within the party. In April, the Ambassador spoke to the Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogues to extend his best wishes for Passover and to show support for the British Jewish communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, in May, the Ambassador called Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan of the Central London Mosque to commemorate Ramadan and discuss how the Muslim community was faring, given COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on gatherings. In December, a senior embassy official delivered remarks and conducted a virtual candle lighting in honor of Diwali, in partnership with the Hindu Forum of Europe. In January, a senior embassy official represented the United States at the UK’s Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and met with Trustees of the Holocaust Day Memorial Trust. To mark National Religious Freedom Day in January, the consulate general in Belfast hosted an interfaith dialogue. Throughout the year, the embassy’s social media messaging on international religious freedom reached approximately 400,000 persons. Section I. Religious Demography The U.S. government estimates the total population at 65.8 million (midyear 2020 estimate). Census figures from 2011, the most recent, indicate 59.3 percent of the population in England and Wales is Christian. Of the remaining population, 4.8 percent identified as Muslim; 1.5 percent Hindu; 0.8 percent Sikh; 0.5 percent Jewish; and 0.4 Buddhist. Approximately 25 percent of the population reported no religious affiliation in the 2011 census, and 7 percent chose not to answer. Jehovah’s Witnesses estimate there are 137,000 members in the country, and the Baha’i community estimates it has more than 7,000 members. According to the 2019 British Social Attitudes survey, an annual survey conducted by the independent National Center for Social Research, 52 percent of those surveyed UK-wide described themselves as having no religion, 12 percent as Anglican, 7 percent as Catholic, and 9 percent as belonging to non-Christian religious groups. The survey showed 6 percent of individuals identified as Muslim, less than 0.5 percent as Jewish, and 3 percent as “other non-Christian.” The Muslim community in England and Wales is predominantly of South Asian origin, but it also includes individuals from the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Africa, and Southeast Asia, as well as a growing number of converts of British and other European descent. Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and Buddhists are concentrated in London and other large urban areas, primarily in England. Census figures for Scotland in 2011 indicate 54 percent of the population is Christian, comprising the Church of Scotland (32 percent), Roman Catholic Church (16 percent), and other Christian groups (6 percent). The Muslim community constitutes 1.4 percent of the population. Other religious groups, which together make up less than 1 percent of the population, include Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and Buddhists. Persons not belonging to any religious group make up 36.7 percent of the population, and the remainder did not provide information on religious affiliation. A 2017 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found 58 percent of those surveyed did not identify with any religion, 18 percent identified as part of the Church of Scotland, 10 percent as Roman Catholic, 11 percent as other Christian, and 2 percent as non-Christian. Census figures from Northern Ireland in 2011 indicate 41.5 percent of the population is Protestant – consisting of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland (19 percent), Church of Ireland (14 percent), Methodist Church in Ireland (3 percent), and other Protestant groups (6 percent) – and 41 percent Roman Catholic. Less than 1 percent of the population belongs to non-Christian religious groups, and approximately 10 percent professes no religion; 7 percent did not indicate a religious affiliation. In his 2019 ‘Sectarianism in Northern Ireland’ report, Ulster University Professor Duncan Morrow found there is a “clear statistical trend towards a change in the religious minority-majority structure of Northern Ireland.” His research illustrates a consistent decline of Protestants in all 26 district council areas of Northern Ireland since 2001, contrasted with an increased Catholic population in 19 of 26 council areas in the same time period. Morrow’s analysis of 2011 census figures also illustrates this trend is likely to continue. Census figures show a Protestant majority in the over-60 age bracket and a Catholic majority in the under-20 age bracket. Professor Paul Nolan of Queen’s University Belfast stated based on current statistical trends, there will be a Catholic majority in Northern Ireland by 2021, when the next census will be conducted. Census figures from Bermuda in 2010 cite 22 religious groups in the population of 71,000; 78 percent identifies as Christian, including 16 percent Anglican, 15 percent Roman Catholic, 9 percent African Methodist Episcopal, and 7 percent Seventh-day Adventist. Approximately 2 percent identifies with other religious groups, including approximately 600 Muslims, 200 Rastafarians, and 120 Jews. Approximately 20 percent did not identify with or state a religious affiliation. Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom On March 23, Muslim and Jewish advocacy groups issued statements in response to proposed burial measures in the Emergency Coronavirus Bill ahead of its debate in the House of Commons. The draft bill allowed designated local authorities to disregard the section of public health legislation designed to “prevent a local authority from being able to cremate a body against the wishes of the deceased.” Religious groups, including the Muslim Engagement and Development advocacy group and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, strongly criticized the bill, which they said would give medical professionals the ability to override the religious beliefs of the deceased and their families in regard to the treatment of their body after death. Labour MP Naz Shah proposed an amendment to the bill intended “to ensure if local authorities reach their capacity, they do not proceed to cremate the deceased from faith backgrounds automatically” without appropriate consultation. In response, the government agreed to amend the bill to reflect Shah’s concerns, negating the need for a vote. On January 21, the Welsh government announced that relationships, sexuality, and religion will be compulsory for all children over the age of five as part of the new “Curriculum for Wales Framework,” being developed and refined before use in schools in 2022. On March 12, Education Minister Kirsty Williams announced the establishment of a Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) working group to agree on topics to be covered by schools and to prepare detailed guidance on the proposed changes. The working group includes key stakeholders, teachers, teachers unions, and faith organizations, and is cochaired by the government and regional consortia. Religious objections include concerns that children will be taught values that contradict their parents’ beliefs or religion, such as LGBTQI+ relationships, constituting an erosion of parental rights. Expressing concerns surrounding the lack of detail on what will be in the RSE curriculum and at what age children will learn various aspects, religious groups stated that young children should be allowed a childhood free of “sexualization.” Humanists UK and the National Secular Society supported ending of the right to withdraw children from classes, in principle. They argued that religious worldviews must be taught impartially before the right to withdraw is removed. In September, MP Rehman Chishti resigned from his position as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, which he had held for one year. Chishti said his resignation was not related to differing views on religious freedom, but instead on his opposition to economic legislation dealing with internal markets. Conservative MP Fiona Bruce was appointed to the role in December. Bruce is also vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Freedom of Religion or Belief. Groups including Humanists UK and the Council of Christians and Jews expressed concerns over Bruce’s previous support of mandatory prayer in schools and hope that the government would not pursue a Christians-only agenda. In July, Imam Qari Asim, Deputy Chair of the government’s Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, was appointed independent advisor to propose a working definition of Islamophobia after an existing definition came under question for potentially undermining freedom of speech. The Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group was established in 2012 to develop and implement proposals to address anti-Muslim sentiment in the country. The group is made up of representatives from Muslim communities, independent experts, academics, and a range of government departments, including the Attorney General’s Office, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), and the Home Office. The Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group did not agree on a working definition by year’s end. Separately, the London Metropolitan University became the first UK university to adopt the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims’ working definition of Islamophobia in November. The APPG’s definition states, “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expression of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” On February 25, the All-Party Parliamentary Humanists Group (APPHG) published a report entitled “Time for Reflection: A report of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group on religion or belief in the UK Parliament.” The report called for parliamentary prayers to be replaced with a “time for reflection”; for the House of Commons Speaker to consider introducing additional forms of religious and pastoral support alongside that already provided by the Anglican chaplain; and for an end to automatic seats in the House of Lords for Anglican bishops. The report highlighted the exclusive nature of “Prayers,” a parliamentary tradition to open the day’s proceedings, which also serves as a way to obtain a seat for the day, since these are not formally reserved. The report argued that MPs who chose not to participate in the religious prayers could miss out on seats in the parliamentary chambers for key debates including during the Prime Ministers Questions and the Budget sessions. The report also revealed details of nine cases in which bishops in the House of Lords changed the outcomes of votes, including two votes that directly benefited the Church of England. Timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Christchurch, New Zealand mosque attacks, on March 15, the government’s Home Office announced that during 2019-2020, the Places of Worship Scheme provided 1.6 million pounds ($2.19 million) to fund physical security measures at 27 mosques, 13 churches, five Sikh gurdwaras, and four Hindu temples. This was the highest level of funding for the scheme since it was established in 2016. The government announced that funding for the period covering March 2020-2021 would be doubled to 3.2 million pounds ($4.37 million). The government simultaneously launched an eight-week public consultation period, from March 15 to June 28, to improve the government’s response to religiously motivated hate crimes at places of worship. Consultation results were not published at year’s end. On April 1, the Home Office granted the CST 14 million pounds ($19.13 million) for the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant to cover protective security at Jewish institutions, including schools and synagogues. In 2019, the government simplified the application system for the Places of Worship security funding scheme by commissioning a central contractor to install physical security measures. Applicants were no longer required to show they had already experienced a hate crime, and became eligible to apply if they showed they were vulnerable to hate crime. Associated faith community centers were also eligible to apply. The Chair of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group welcomed the developments and said, “The simplified process will hopefully make it even easier for mosques to improve their security and will go some way in building community confidence.” In January, the Scottish government announced 500,000 pounds ($683,000) of funding for security at places of worship. Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf and Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell announced the new scheme on Holocaust Memorial Day during a visit to a synagogue in Glasgow. Yousaf said the government was committed to ensuring “safety and security for our faith communities” and he hoped the “scheme will provide reassurance to all faith communities and their places of worship that hate crime and prejudice will not be tolerated.” On January 19, the government renewed its commitment to the founding principles of the 2000 Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust (Stockholm Declaration). As part of the commemorations to mark the 20th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration, and to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration and extermination camps, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for Human Rights, represented the country at an International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) meeting held to adopt a renewed commitment. Lord Ahmad said, “It is important that we reaffirm our collective commitment to combatting prejudice and intolerance, and pledge to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust that they will never be forgotten.” On January 27, to coincide with International Holocaust Memorial Day, the government announced a one-million pound ($1.37 million) grant to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation endowment fund to help preserve the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In a statement, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “The government is supporting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation because we must never forget history’s darkest moment, and we must educate future generations so it can never be repeated.” Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said, “The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish countrymen and women.” Separately, the City of London committed 300,000 pounds ($410,000) to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to support the preservation of the gas chambers, crematoria, barracks, and other exhibits. In January, the royal family and members of the cabinet marked Holocaust Remembrance Day via social media. Additionally, Prince Charles delivered a speech at the World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, on January 23. At the event to mark 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Prince Charles warned, “Hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart” and, with lessons of the Holocaust still “searingly relevant,” he called on the 40 world leaders in attendance to be “fearless in confronting falsehoods” and violence. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust hosted a remembrance service at which Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince William spoke. The Prime Minister said, “I feel a deep sense of shame that here in Britain – in 2020 – we seem to be dealing with a resurgence of the virus of anti-Semitism – and I know that I carry responsibility as Prime Minister to do everything possible to stamp it out.” He also committed to constructing the National Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre, which was announced in 2015 but remains in planning stages. The Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, and cities and towns across the United Kingdom also hosted Holocaust Memorial Day events, with many focusing on this year’s theme, “Stand Together,” to promote interfaith engagement. The pastoral needs of prisoners were addressed, in part, through chaplains paid for by the Ministry of Justice, rather than by religious groups. All chaplains worked as part of a multifaith team, the size and breakdown of which was determined by the size of the prison and the religious composition of the prisoner population. Prison service regulations stated that “…chaplaincy provision must reflect the faith denomination requirements of the prison.” The military generally provided adherents of minority religious groups with chaplains of their faith. There were approximately 240 recruited chaplains in the armed forces, all of whom were Christian. The armed forces also employed five civilian chaplains as full-time civil servants to care for Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, and Muslim recruits. During the year, the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Policy Board reviewed how chaplain services were provided to minority religious groups and was considering the use of suitable chaplains in the reserve forces. In January 2019 (the latest data available), there were 6,802 state-funded faith-based schools in England, representing 34 percent of all state-funded mainstream schools and serving approximately 1.9 million students. Church of England schools were the most common type among primary schools (26 percent); Roman Catholic schools were the most common at the secondary level (9 percent). Additionally, at the primary and secondary levels, there were 72 “other Christian,” 36 Jewish, 25 Methodist, 14 Islamic, six Sikh, five Hindu, and two multifaith state-funded faith-based schools. There were 370 government-funded denominational schools in Scotland: 366 Catholic, three Episcopalian, and one Jewish. The government classified schools with links to the Church of Scotland as nondenominational. The Conservative Party faced allegations of anti-Muslim sentiment. In March, the MCB submitted a dossier of 150 cases to the EHRC that catalogued alleged anti-Muslim incidents attributed to members of the Conservative Party, increasing pressure on the EHRC to launch a formal investigation. The dossier was in addition to 150 cases submitted in 2019, making a total of 300 cases. The submission catalogued evidence of what the MCB stated were anti-Muslim comments and actions by hundreds of party activists, local councillors, MPs, and advisors to the Prime Minister. Examples include MP Sally Ann Hart, who in 2017 posted on Facebook a claim by an anti-Islamist activist that a women’s march had been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood to promote the “Muslim agenda.” Hart publicly apologized for her comments. In May, the EHRC dropped plans for an inquiry into “Islamophobia” in the Conservative Party after the party announced it would conduct its own review of how complaints were handled. On May 12, the party established the terms of reference for the investigation, which were formally supported by the EHRC. The party confirmed that the review would examine the “nature and extent” of complaints of anti-Muslim statements by party members since 2015 and would also consider what sanctions could be taken against members who quit the party before being investigated. Furthermore, the investigation would consider allegations of discrimination relating to all “protected characteristics” in the 2010 Equalities Act, including not only religion, but also age, race, sexual orientation, and disability. The MCB criticized the scope of the inquiry. On May 12, MCB Secretary General Harun Khan said, “By restricting the terms to an inquiry merely into the complaints received, the party is choosing to summarily dismiss all the issues of the toxic culture of racism that have been raised by the Muslim Council of Britain.” MP Amanda Milling, Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, said that having the terms of reference agreed upon was a positive step forward. She said the party is “committed to this investigation, to ensure that any abuse that is not fit for public life is stamped out.” In September, a YouGov poll commissioned by the Hope Not Hate political action group found that 47 percent of Conservative Party members surveyed in July believed Islam is “a threat to the British way of life.” The poll of 1,213 Conservative Party members found that more than 33 percent believed that Islamist terror attacks reflected a widespread hostility towards Britain among the Muslim community, and that 58 percent thought “there are no-go areas in Britain where Sharia Law dominates and non-Muslims cannot enter.” However, 53 percent of those asked thought it was wrong to blame all Muslims for the actions of a violent minority. Former Conservative Party Chair Baroness Warsi said, “This latest poll is further evidence that the party has a real and serious issue with racism directed at Muslims.” Media reported in October that Rakhia Ismail, the former ceremonial mayor of the London district of Islington, resigned from the Labour Party and joined the Conservative Party, citing the anti-Muslim sentiment she experienced within Labour as her reason for leaving. In January, all five Labour Party leadership candidates signed the “Ten Pledges to End the Anti-Semitism Crisis,” a document prepared by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. The 10 pledges included an agreement to resolve outstanding cases, to reform the party disciplinary process to ensure complaints were properly handled, and to engage the British Jewish community on a way forward. The move was criticized by the left-wing paper Morning Star and far-left Labour members, who said it was wrong for an outside body to interfere in the party’s leadership election. In a parallel deputy leadership contest, two candidates – Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgnon and Shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler – refused to sign the declaration. After winning the Labour Party leadership election on April 4, Sir Keir Starmer used his victory speech and his first op-ed as leader in The Sunday Times to apologize publicly to the British Jewish community concerning previous allegations of anti-Semitism on the part of Labour Party leaders and members. On April 7, both Starmer and newly elected deputy leader Angela Rayner held a virtual meeting with representatives of Jewish community organizations to discuss ways to repair the party’s relationship with the British Jewish community. In a joint statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the NGO CST, and Jewish Labour welcomed Starmer’s commitment, describing it as a “good start,” and praising him for achieving “in four days more than his predecessor did in four years.” Starmer also outlined a plan to rid the party of anti-Semitism and rebuild trust between Labour and the Jewish community. In July, newly appointed Labour Party General Secretary David Evans formally apologized and settled a defamation case brought by seven whistle-blowers who appeared in a 2019 BBC Panorama documentary accusing the party of mishandling cases of anti-Semitism. The whistleblowers had previously sued the Labour Party for attempting to undermine their reputations after it released a statement referring to them as “disaffected former staff” with “personal and political axes to grind.” In October, the EHRC completed an 18-month investigation and published its final report into complaints of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party. The report found the party had allowed “unlawful harassment,” political interference in the party’s complaints process, and a lack of education and training for staff handling the complaints process. Targeted recommendations included commissioning an independent process to handle anti-Semitism complaints; implementing clear rules and guidance to prohibit and sanction political interference in the complaints process; publishing a comprehensive policy and procedure setting out how anti-Semitism complaints will be handled; commissioning and providing education and training for all individuals involved in the anti-Semitism complaints process; and monitoring and evaluating improvements to ensure lasting change. In addition to the targeted recommendations that the EHRC has a legal mandate to enforce, the commission urged changes to both the party culture and its processes. The EHRC report heavily criticized the former party leadership under Jeremy Corbyn and found that the party breached the Equality Act by committing “unlawful harassment” in several cases in which Labour MPs were found to have used “anti-Semitic tropes and suggesting that the complaints of anti-Semitism were fakes or smears.” A case cited in the report involved former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who said “the Israel Lobby,” which aimed “to undermine Corbyn’s leadership,” was responsible for allegations of anti-Semitism against fellow Labour MP Naz Shah. Livingstone later resigned from the party. The EHRC found a further 18 “borderline cases” involving local councillors, election candidates, and branch officials. It also noted several incidents of political interference by the Leader of the Opposition’s Office in addressing complaints of anti-Semitism. The EHRC’s report provided recommendations, and the watchdog requested that the Labour Party submit an implementation plan. During a press briefing following the release of EHRC’s report, Labour Party leader Starmer said an action plan would be submitted to the EHRC before year’s end, apologized formally to the Jewish community and Jewish Labour party members, and provided assurances that Labour accepted the report without qualification. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn released his own statement decrying anti-Semitism, but he suggested the findings of the report were “dramatically overstated for political reasons” by opponents and media. Party leaders subsequently suspended Corbyn from the Labour Party and removed him from the Parliamentary Labour Party, forcing him to sit as an independent MP – a first for a former leader. Corbyn contested the suspension and his wider-party membership was subsequently reinstated, but he continued to sit as an independent MP at year’s end. British Jewish organizations and some Labour figures welcomed the EHRC report, while expressing concern about existing conditions within the Labour Party. The Campaign Against Antisemitism said, “The EHRC’s report utterly vindicated Britain’s Jews, who were accused of lying and exaggerating, acting as agents of another country, and using their religion to ‘smear’ the Labour Party.” In December, Labour published the anticipated action plan for tackling anti-Semitism within its ranks. The plan was developed within six weeks of the EHRC report’s publication and sent to Parliament on December 10, after the National Executive Committee, Labour’s ruling body, unanimously agreed. The plan commits the party to establish an independent complaints process by December 10, 2021 and to deal with the backlog of existing anti-Semitism complaints. Labour also committed to establish an advisory board of Jewish members and develop educational material on anti-Semitism. The EHRC approved the plan before publication. In January, Conservative Party Councillor in Dudley, Colin Elcock, was suspended indefinitely from the party and was removed from the Conservative Group of councillors after tweeting that Islam was “domination not integration,” and asking if people in Iran were “all on the dole.” Council leader Patrick Harley described the comments as “inappropriate” but did not rule out a return for Elcock. Also in January, media criticized Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, for approving the publication of a cartoon in 2006 that depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb under his turban on The Spectator website at a time when he had “overall responsibility” for the website. In February, Andrew Sabisky, an advisor to the Prime Minister, resigned after media uncovered a 2014 book review of Tatu Vanhanen’s Ethnic Conflicts, in which Sabisky questioned whether the growing Muslim population in the UK should be met with violent resistance. On February 3, The Jewish Chronicle reported that a Labour member was expelled from the party for accusing television presenter Rachel Riley of “prostituting” her Jewish heritage. Bob James, from North Wales, was suspended from the party in March 2019 over a series of tweets aimed at Riley that included the claim that her campaign against anti-Semitism under Corbyn was “poisoning the memory of your ancestors.” He also tweeted, “Judaism is a religion but what Israel does in the name of God is pure Satanic.” The Jewish Chronicle commended Steve Cooke, a member of the Stockton North Labour Party and a party political education officer, for being “instrumental in demanding the party launch an investigation into Mr. James’s conduct.” According to the article, during the disciplinary process, it emerged that James had been subject to an earlier complaint over social media posts in which he said, “Israel is using the Holocaust as an excuse for murder.” A party source confirmed that James had been expelled and commented, “Under the previous administration, some complaints weren’t dealt with adequately,” and “Since Jennie Formby became General Secretary [in 2018], we’ve used a comprehensive, central complaints system.” In late June, the Labour Party removed MP Rebecca Long-Bailey from her position as Shadow Education Secretary for tweeting her support for an interview that contained anti-Semitic rhetoric. Individuals described as party moderates praised Long-Bailey’s dismissal, but those characterized as more leftist within the party criticized the move. In August, Care NI, a Christian charitable organization, stated that since 2015, 601 cases of criminal damage to religious buildings had occurred in Northern Ireland, one every three days. Care NI called for the Places of Worship security scheme to be introduced in Northern Ireland, the only region of the UK where it did not apply. The Northern Ireland Humanists group continued to publicly call for the repeal of the region’s blasphemy laws, passed in 1891 and 1888. All major political parties supported repeal except for the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, which stated, “Anti-discrimination and hate crime legislation did not provide adequate protection for Christians.” During the year, the Scottish Parliament agreed to support the principles of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, and the legislature’s Justice Committee was scrutinizing and amending the legislation at year’s end. The bill would repeal Scotland’s blasphemy laws. However, the National Secular Society warned that the replacement legislation risked creating a more wide-ranging definition of blasphemy, describing the bill as a “de facto clampdown on freedom of expression.” In June, Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long announced that new hate crime legislation, including measures covering hate crimes based on religion, would not be brought forward for at least two years. An independent review into hate crime legislation, including religious hate crime, concluded in November, with 34 recommendations made to improve support for victims, widen the range of protections, as well as opportunities for restorative justice. Northern Ireland Justice Minister Long welcomed the review report, stating the recommendations will help to strengthen and update Northern Ireland’s hate crime legislation. In July, the Christian Institute, a nondenominational Christian charity dedicated to the “furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion in the United Kingdom,” criticized the hate crime legislation review and said the report would propose extending the definition of hate crime to apply to religious practitioners opposed to same-sex marriage ceremonies. In September, the Northern Ireland Office confirmed that legislation passed in July providing for religious same-sex marriages also included equality law protections, which shield religious bodies and officiants from charges of discrimination against same-sex couples should they refuse to officiate. In July, the legal regulations required to hold the next census in England and Wales on March 21, 2021 were passed into law. Humanists UK raised concerns, arguing that “What is your religion?” is a leading question, as it presumes respondents have, or should have, a religion. Humanist UK’s Director of Public Affairs and Public Policy Richy Thompson said, “We are hugely disappointed that the ONS [Office for National Statistics], despite its own admission that the Census religion question is leading, has chosen to continue with it for the 2021 Census.” He said “Census data is used across the country to determine religion or belief provision in public services; from school places, to hospital services, to the provision of public services.” Humanists UK conducted a public outreach campaign to ensure that individuals identifying as nonreligious understood they should mark the “no religion” box when responding. Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom According to Home Office figures for the 12 months ending in March, there were 6,822 recorded offenses of religiously motivated hate crimes in England and Wales, a 5 percent decrease from the previous year (7,203 in 2018/19). This marked the first decrease in religious hate crimes since the year ending March 2013, when there was a 1 percent drop. There was no breakdown by type of crime. Where the perceived religion of the victim was recorded (in 91 percent of cases), 50 percent (3,089 offenses) of religious hate crime offenses targeted Muslims, and 19 percent (1,205 offenses) targeted Jews. Of the other offenses where perceived religion was recorded, 9 percent (531 offenses) targeted Christians, 3 percent (202 offenses) Sikhs, and 2 percent (114) Hindus. According to Tell MAMA, a national project that records anti-Muslim hate crimes, figures rose sharply in March 2019 immediately following the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. Tell MAMA recorded 95 incidents in the week following the attack; in a typical week the total was 30-35. In Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) reported 660 religiously motivated crimes in the 12 months ending in March, a 24 percent increase from the 529 crimes recorded in the same period in 2018-19. The COPFS cautioned against making direct comparisons with previous data sets due to a change in methodology. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) reported 15 religiously motivated hate crimes committed in 41 incidents during 2019-20, a decrease from 22 crimes reported in the previous period. The PSNI additionally reported 622 sectarian crimes, described as religion being among the motivating factors, in 640 incidents during 2019-20. The CST recorded 97 violent anti-Semitic assaults during the year, a 39 percent decrease from the 158 reported in 2019. The report noted that this was unsurprising, given that COVID-19 pandemic restrictions greatly reduced social interactions. An additional three incidents were classified by CST as “extreme violence,” meaning the incident involved potential grievous bodily harm or a threat to life, compared to one such recorded incident in 2019. There were 72 incidents of damage and desecration of Jewish property; 1,399 incidents of abusive behavior, including verbal abuse, graffiti, social media, and hate mail; 85 direct anti-Semitic threats; and, 12 cases of mass-mailed anti-Semitic leaflets or emails. Of the 72 incidents of damage and desecration of Jewish property, 45 (63 percent) involved damage to the homes and vehicles of Jewish people, compared to 53 percent in 2019. All of the listed totals were lower than those recorded over the same period in 2019. Approximately two-thirds of the 1,668 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the Greater London and Greater Manchester administrative regions – which are home to the two largest Jewish communities in the UK. The CST recorded 941 anti-Semitic incidents in Greater London, a decrease of 1 percent compared with 2019. The CST recorded a decrease of 31 percent in anti-Semitic incidents in Greater Manchester. The CST reported that the decrease in reported incidents was likely correlated with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, but might also be due to lapses in information sharing between CST and the Greater Manchester Police. CST observed a broader geographical spread of anti-Semitic incidents in 2020 than in 2019. Elsewhere in the UK, CST recorded at least one anti-Semitic incident in 42 of the 43 national police regions. Several of the incidents were reported to CST by police via a national data-sharing agreement. In July, Heshmat Khalifa, a trustee of the country’s largest Muslim charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide, stepped down after media reported his Facebook postings from 2014 and 2015 described the President of Egypt as a “pimp son of the Jews,” and Israeli authorities as “grandchildren of monkeys and pigs.” The entire board of the organization resigned in August when media reported that Khalifa’s successor, Almoutaz Tayara, and senior director Tayeb Abdoun had also posted anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas content online. Following the revelations, the Charity Commission initiated a compliance review that was ongoing at year’s end. An attacker stabbed the muezzin of the London Central Mosque during prayers at the mosque premises on February 20. The victim survived the attack and was treated for non-life threatening wounds. London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed the attack would not be treated as a terror-related incident. The assailant, Daniel Horton, was apprehended by worshippers until police arrived. Witnesses to the attack said the assailant had been praying behind the muezzin before the attack and that he had attended the mosque previously. In response to the attack, the Muslim Council of Britain stated, “It is deeply concerning that this has happened. Given other recent attacks elsewhere, many Muslims are on edge.” Prime Minister Johnson tweeted that he was “deeply saddened,” and that his “thoughts are with the victim and all those affected.” Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced that the Metropolitan Police would be “providing extra resources in the area,” adding, “Every Londoner is entitled to feel safe in their place of worship.” On October 12, Horton, who had converted to Islam and had been attending the mosque in recent years, pleaded guilty to charges of wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon. No motive has been established for the stabbing; however, when arrested, Horton told police officers, “This is not a religious attack and is not a racist attack.” In January, a 17-year-old from northeast England was sentenced to six years and eight months for planning terrorist acts between October 2017 and March 2019, becoming the youngest person in the UK to be convicted for this crime. In November 2019, following a six-week trial, he was found guilty of planning terrorist acts, disseminating a terrorist publication, possessing an article for a purpose connected to terrorism, and three counts of possessing documents useful to someone preparing acts of terrorism. During his sentencing, the court heard of his “admiration” for Adolf Hitler and fixation on the Columbine high school massacre. His attorneys argued that the defendant was autistic, citing a psychiatric assessment in which a doctor stated that the defendant’s “cognitive age was significantly affected by his disability.” At sentencing, the judge described the defendant as a “highly intelligent” boy who had “contempt for Jewish people, black people, gay people, and disabled people.” The teenager was also sentenced to five years’ parole after his release. On October 2, the Birmingham Crown Court convicted a 17-year-old of plotting neo-Nazi terrorist acts between April and September 2019. The individual, who was a member of the neo-Nazi group Feuerkrieg Division, was found guilty for researching how to create a firearm capable of “smashing heads.” On January 13, a Muslim woman was assaulted outside a youth center in East London. The assailants physically assaulted the victim and pulled her hijab while shouting anti-Muslim slurs. The assault was reported to Tell MAMA and the Metropolitan Police. On January 16, a teenager who was found guilty of committing an anti-Semitic attack on a bus in March 2018 was sentenced to a four-month youth rehabilitation program, ordered to write a letter of apology to the victim, and fined 100 pounds ($140) in compensation to the victim. The incident took place on a bus in Muswell Hill, North London, when the adolescent was 14 years old. The youth lit the victim’s hair on fire, and when confronted by the victim, asked, “Are you Jewish? You can’t be Jewish because you don’t have horns. Do Jews keep money under their caps?” The teenager also threatened to beat up the victim and destroy his laptop. The teenager pled guilty to racially and religiously aggravated common assault at Highbury Corner Youth Court. He expressed remorse and was required to complete eight hours of “activities” and one-to-one behavioral sessions with educational staff. In August, a man in a pub in Leeds was recorded making anti-Semitic comments to a Jewish student. The victim, Danielle Greyman, said the altercation began over COVID-19 pandemic regulations on social distancing when the man questioned, “Are you Jewish?” Greyman then began recording on her cell phone. The man, Stephen Smith, appeared on video saying the victim “looks like a Jew,” that he is “German,” and then said, “We should have gassed the lot of you.” A spokesman for West Yorkshire police told press police were summoned to the pub following “a report of a hate crime.” In September, the UK Lawyers for Israel reported Smith received a criminal caution and was required to “attend offence related sessions” to address his behavior. On January 23, several Jewish pedestrians were verbally abused in Stamford Hill, North London. The incident, in which a man screamed “Hitler did a great job in Auschwitz by killing all the Jews,” was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood patrol. Throughout the year, several “sticker” campaigns targeted Armagh in Northern Ireland and Liverpool in the northwest of England. On January 30, the PSNI responded to calls complaining of anti-Islam stickers in Armagh. The stickers depicted a skull and crossbones that included the phrase “No Islamic Takeover,” followed by an email address and website for the Neo-Nazi group “Combat 18.” In February, stickers allegedly from the “Hundred-Handers” white supremacist group were placed around St. Helens, near Liverpool. The stickers, found in public spaces including a bus station, featured captions such as “This is our land,” “No to Halal,” other anti-Muslim messages and anti-Semitic messages. Local police stated that the incident was being investigated as a racially aggravated hate crime. In August, Hope Not Hate stated that Sam Melia, a former member of a number of far-right organizations who had become a supporter of the government-proscribed organization National Action, was behind “Hundred Handers,” which it said “was an anonymous network seeking to provide a faceless avenue for far-right activism.” In October, similar stickers were found on street furniture across Liverpool. The stickers included anti-Semitic messaging such as “Britain is under occupation,” written across a Star of David and, “They are sexualising your CHILDREN.” Several religiously motivated conspiracy theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic circulated online. According to a report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories included claims that Jews used global lockdowns to “steal everything,” that Jewish public leaders used the crisis “to test the population’s willingness to comply,” and that Israel had developed a vaccine but was withholding it from other nations. Both Jewish and Muslim communities were vilified by media commentators such as Katie Hopkins, who alleged that Muslims were flouting lockdown restrictions and spreading COVID-19 by continuing Friday prayers at mosques. In July, the independent government advisory Commission for Countering Violent Extremism published a report in the wake of increased accounts of extremists exploiting the crisis to sow division among religious groups in the UK. The commission found that British far right activists and neo-Nazi groups were promoting antiminority narratives by encouraging users to deliberately infect minority groups, including Jewish and Muslim communities. In late January, venues in Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newport, Milton Keynes, and London cancelled events associated with U.S. evangelical Christian preacher Franklin Graham’s tour. The Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow cancelled his appearance following pressure from its primary shareholder, Glasgow City Council. Referencing what they said was Graham’s preaching against Islam and LGBTQI+ people, Green Party Member of the Scottish Parliament Patrick Harvie commented that for “Glasgow’s biggest publicly owned venue” to provide a “platform of hatred” would be “an offence against the values that make this city so great.” An online petition started by a Church of Scotland minister stated that hosting the preacher would “have the real potential of alienating a large number of the population that they serve.” The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) then began legal proceedings against the venue, stating that the decision discriminated against the preacher’s Christian following. The BGEA asked the Glasgow Sheriff Court to grant an interim order requiring the venue to hold the event; however, the venue refused to respond and the court case did not proceed. In January, Port Vale Football Club (FC) soccer player Tom Pope was widely criticized on social media for posting an anti-Semitic tweet predicting the course of a hypothetical Third World War: “We invade Iran then Cuba then North Korea then the Rothchilds [sic] are crowned champions of every bank on the planet – the end.” Port Vale FC published the following statement from Pope: “Following the reaction to my response on Twitter about the Rothschilds, I was unaware of any link between the Rothchild [sic] family and the Jewish community. If I have caused offence to anyone, I’d like to apologise enormously as this was never my intention.” The UK Footballing Association (FA) found Pope guilty of an aggravated breach of its regulation on abusive speech and sentenced him to a six-game ban and a 3,500-pound ($4,800) fine. In July, music artist Wiley made a series of anti-Semitic comments on Twitter, including: “Listen to me Jewish community Israel is not your country I’m sorry….The Star of David that’s our thing.… Some people have gotten too comfortable on lands that don’t belong to them”; “There are 2 sets of people who nobody has really wanted to challenge #Jewish & #KKK;” and “Jewish people are the law….Work that out.” His tweets were widely criticized, and Twitter’s initial lack of action was followed by a 48-hour boycott of the platform by many leading journalists and politicians. Wiley’s tweets were reported to the Metropolitan Police as potential hate speech, and both Twitter and Facebook banned him for violating policies on hateful content. The rapper’s Jewish then-manager, John Woolf, later “cut ties” and said he no longer represented the artist. Wiley later rejected the claims of anti-Semitism, saying, “My comments should not have been directed to all Jews or Jewish people.” He went on to apologize for “generalizing” and said he wished to “apologise for comments that were looked at as anti-Semitic.” In October, women’s lifestyle magazine Grazia fired its “Diversity Champion,” author and blogger Stephanie Yeboah, for posting anti-Semitic comments. Yeboah tweeted on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau: “There have been bigger and more horrific genocides. They happened to brown people, though, so I guess it doesn’t matter, huh?” Other tweets included, “Every Jew has an attic but not every attic has Jews,” and “AUSCHWITZ Gas Chamber Music LMAO SMH.” Yeboah issued an apology that suggested her intention was to “highlight the lack of visibility surrounding many genocides,” but she acknowledged she “ended up diminishing the seriousness of the tragedies that the Jewish community have faced.” In late August, sectarian rioting between Catholic and Protestant groups took place in Glasgow. A police officer was left with hearing loss and burns after being struck by a firework thrown during the rioting. On October 13, a Protestant man was sentenced to 16 months in prison for throwing the projectile, which was intended to disrupt an Irish Republican march. In July, the Sikh Federation withdrew a threat of legal action against the Scottish government after receiving assurances that Sikhs would be listed as a distinct ethnic group on Scotland’s 2022 census. According to the Sikh Federation, the push for designation of Sikhs as an ethnic group was motivated by the fact that “ethnic group categories defined in the census” are used by public bodies in different sectors in Scotland to meet their legal duties under “equalities legislation,” whereas religious group categories are not. On January 26, a swastika and a Celtic cross were painted on a Caribbean food shop in Greenwich, in southeast London, while another Celtic cross, the Star of David, and the word “Jews” were written across the facade of a Barclay’s bank half a mile away. The leader of Greenwich Council, Danny Thorpe, condemned the “totally appalling and horrific” messages, adding that local residents were “worried and upset” but that the community would come together. The Greenwich council quickly removed the graffiti, and the Metropolitan Police opened an investigation. On February 4, more than 150 members of the local community staged a rally against anti-Semitism and racism. One of the organizers told the local newspaper that the incident was not “just an attack on the Jewish and West Indian communities, it is an attack on all of us.” COVID-19 pandemic regulations greatly limited opportunities for interfaith collaboration from March through the end of the year. In January, faith and belief communities came together to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Chelsea FC hosted a Holocaust Remembrance reception on January 15 to unveil a commemorative mural painted on the Chelsea stadium by British-Israeli street artist Solomon Souza commemorating soccer players imprisoned in Auschwitz. The event brought together prominent members of the Jewish community, parliamentarians, and players and leading figures from the Chelsea organization. In January, Chelsea became the first sports team in the world to formally adopt the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism. Five other Premier League clubs subsequently adopted the IHRA definition: West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Burnley, and Brighton. Throughout the year, a number of universities adopted the IHRA definition; however, several from the Russell Group, which represents 24 leading UK universities, fell short of adopting the working definition in its entirety, despite pressure from the government to do so before the year’s end. In September, freedom of information requests submitted by the Union of Jewish Students found that only 29 of 133 higher education institutions had done so. In October, Secretary for Education Gavin Williamson wrote to vice chancellors stating it was “frankly disturbing” that not all had adopted the IHRA definition and accused them of “dragging their feet.” Williamson warned that the Office for Students could take regulatory action against the noncompliant, which could include suspending funding streams. Speaking to the House of Commons Education Select Committee in October, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said she wanted “every university to adopt this definition.” An end-of-year tally by the Union of Jewish Students found that 48 of the 133 higher education institutions had adopted the IHRA definition. In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust ran a school project entitled “75 Memorial Flames.” The trust encouraged schools, organizations, and community groups to submit designs featuring a flame. More than 300 groups from across the country registered for the project, which aimed to bring persons from all backgrounds together to remember the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Seventy-five memorial flames were chosen by an expert panel of artists, Holocaust survivors, and the CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Olivia Marks-Woldman. Of the final 75 designs, only one was from a Jewish school. The Board of Deputies of British Jews hosted a roundtable discussion in January, bringing together representatives from across the Jewish community to meet Dolkun Isa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress. The Board of Deputies Vice-President Amanda Brown said, “In the week that we are marking International Holocaust Memorial Day,” it is “intolerable that the Uyghur Muslims are being persecuted on this scale.” She added, “It is the responsibility of all of us in the Jewish community to stand up and make our voices heard in their support.” On March 3-5, the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, an interfaith organization, hosted a two-day interreligious conference entitled “Towards a Christian Theological Understanding of Inter-religious Participation: Challenges, Risks, and Opportunities.” The conference focused on situations in which members of faith communities cross the boundaries between their traditions to engage in the practices of other traditions, or to share in ritual activity with members of other faiths. In September, representatives from the Catholics Bishops Conference said that a number of interfaith initiatives occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. These consisted mainly of information sharing, in addition to working together to ensure that charitable efforts continued throughout the pandemic.

The constitution declares Islam the religion of the state but safeguards “the free exercise of all forms of worship and religious rites” as long as these are consistent with public order and morality. It stipulates there shall be no discrimination based on religion. It does not address the right to convert to another faith, nor are there penalties under civil law for doing so. According to the constitution, matters concerning the personal and family status of Muslims come under the jurisdiction of sharia courts. Under sharia, converts from Islam are still considered Muslims and are subject to sharia but are regarded as apostates. Converts to Christianity from Islam reported that security officials continued to question them to determine their “true” religious beliefs and practices. The government continued to deny official recognition to some religious groups, including Baha’is and Jehovah’s Witnesses. In October, the government eased COVID-19-related restrictions, allowing movement on all days of the week except Fridays. The government amended this decision after Muslim worshippers organized small-scale, uncoordinated, nationwide protests about what they viewed as an unfair limit on attendance at Friday prayers. On July 15, the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court, dissolved the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) branch in country, saying the organization had failed to resolve its legal status. The court’s decision did not affect the MB’s political wing, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), which won 10 seats in the November 10 parliamentary election, down from 15 in the previous election. Members of some unregistered groups continued to face problems registering their marriages and the religious affiliation of their children, and also renewing their residency permits. The government continued to monitor mosque sermons and required that preachers refrain from political commentary and adhere to approved themes and texts Some converts to Christianity from Islam continued to report ostracism, as well as physical and verbal abuse from their families and communities, and some worshipped in secret due to the social stigma they faced. Some converts reported persistent threats of violence from family members concerned with protecting traditional honor. Religious leaders reported continued online hate speech directed towards religious minorities and moderates, frequently through social media. Some social media users defended interfaith tolerance, with posts condemning content that criticized Christianity, or tried to discourage interfaith dialogue. There were instances of anti-Semitism in the press and online. In media commentary, writers made anti-Semitic comments, saying, in one newspaper column, that “Jewish families” had taken over the global economy, and in an online article, “Judaism is a cancer.” U.S. embassy officers continued to engage with government officials at all levels, including the Minister of Awqaf, Grand Mufti, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials at the Royal Hashemite Court, to raise the rights of religious minorities, the protection of cultural resources, interfaith tolerance, and the legal status of expatriate religious workers and volunteers. Embassy officers also engaged with Muslim scholars, Christian community leaders, and representatives of nonrecognized religious groups to promote interfaith tolerance and dialogue. The embassy supported programs promoting religious tolerance, as well as civil society programs seeking to preserve the cultural heritage of religious minorities. Section I. Religious Demography The U.S. government estimates the population at 10.9 million (midyear 2020 estimate). According to U.S. government estimates, Muslims, virtually all of whom are Sunni, make up 97.2 percent of the population. Some church leaders estimate Christians make up approximately 1.8 percent of the country’s population. Groups constituting less than 1 percent of the population include Buddhists, Baha’is, Hindus, and Druze (who are considered as Muslims by the government). According to the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies (RIIFS), there is also a small community (consisting of a few families) of Zoroastrians. Most of the approximately one million migrant workers are from Egypt, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia are often Christian or Hindu. There are an estimated 770,000 refugees registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 57 countries of origin, including more than 670,000 Syrians and 100,000 of other nationalities. The Syrian and Iraqi refugee populations are mostly Sunni Muslim. Shia Muslims and Christians account for less than one third of the Iraqi refugee population. Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom The constitution declares Islam “the religion of the state” but safeguards “the free exercise of all forms of worship and religious rites,” as long as these are consistent with public order and morality. It stipulates there shall be no discrimination in the rights and duties of citizens on grounds of religion and states the King must be a Muslim. The constitution allows for religious courts, including sharia courts for Muslims and ecclesiastical courts for Christian denominations recognized by the government. According to the General Ifta’ Department, in adjudicating personal status cases, sharia courts follow the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence. The constitution does not address the right to convert to another faith, nor are there penalties under civil law for doing so. The constitution and the law, however, allow sharia courts to determine civil status affairs for Muslims; these courts do not recognize converts from Islam to other religions. Under sharia, converts from Islam are still considered Muslims and are subject to sharia but are regarded as apostates. Neither the penal code nor the criminal code specifies a penalty for apostasy. Sharia courts, however, have jurisdiction over marriage, divorce, and inheritance, and individuals declared to be apostates may have their marriages annulled or be disinherited, except in the case of a will that states otherwise. Any member of society may file an apostasy complaint against such individuals before the Sharia Public Prosecution. The Sharia Public Prosecution consults with the Council of Church Leaders (CCL), a government advisory body comprising the heads of the country’s 11 officially recognized Christian denominations, before converting a Christian to Islam to make sure the conversion is based on religious conviction and not for purposes of marriage and/or divorce. The penal code contains articles criminalizing acts such as incitement of hatred, blasphemy against Abrahamic faiths, undermining the regime, or portraying citizens in a manner that violates their dignity. The penal code criminalizes insulting the Prophet Muhammad, punishable by one to three years imprisonment. The law also provides a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding 20 Jordanian dinars ($28) for anyone who publishes anything that offends religious feelings or beliefs. Authorities may prosecute individuals who proselytize Muslims under the penal code’s provisions against “inciting sectarian conflict” or “harming the national unity.” Both of these offenses are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 200 dinars ($280). Islamic religious groups are granted recognition through the constitution and do not need to register with the government. Non-Islamic religious groups must obtain official recognition through registration. If registered as “denominations,” they may administer rites such as marriage. Recognized religious groups may also own land, open bank accounts, and enter into contracts. Religious groups may alternatively be registered as “associations.” If so, they must work through a recognized denomination on matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, but they may own property and open bank accounts. They must obtain government approval to accept foreign funding. Recognized non-Islamic religious groups are tax-exempt but do not receive the government subsidies granted to Islamic religious groups. Religious groups not recognized as denominations or associations lack legal status and may not undertake basic administrative tasks such as opening bank accounts, purchasing real estate, or hiring staff. Individuals may exercise such activities on behalf of the unrecognized group, however. To register as a recognized religious denomination, the group must submit its bylaws, a list of its members, its budget, and information about its religious doctrine. In determining whether to register or recognize Christian groups, the Prime Minister confers with the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and the CCL. Although the practice is not explicitly mandated by law, church leaders have stated that the CCL must endorse recognition for new Christian groups prior to the Prime Minister’s approval. To achieve official recognition as denominations, Christian groups must be recommended by the MOI and approved by the cabinet. The government also refers to the following criteria when considering recognition of Christian groups: the group’s teachings must not contradict the nature of the constitution, public ethics, customs, or traditions; the Middle East Council of Churches, a regional body comprising four families of churches (Catholic, Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant/Evangelical), must recognize it; its religious doctrine must not be antagonistic to Islam as the state religion; and the group’s membership must meet a minimum number of citizens, although a precise figure is not specified. An annex to the 2014 Law for Councils of Christian Denominations lists 11 officially recognized Christian religious groups: Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Anglican, Maronite Catholic, Lutheran, Syrian Orthodox, Seventh-day Adventist, United Pentecostal, and Coptic. In 2018, five additional evangelical Christian denominations, formerly registered under the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), were recognized by the MOI as associations, but none have been permitted to establish an ecclesiastical court: the Free Evangelical Church, Church of the Nazarene, Assemblies of God, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Baptist Church. The government granted legal status as an association to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2018. The CCL serves as an administrative body to facilitate tax and customs exemptions, as well as the issuance of civil documents related to marriage or inheritance. In other matters, such as issuing work permits or purchasing land, the denominations interact directly with the relevant ministries. Religious groups that do not have representatives on the CCL handle administrative tasks through the ministry relevant to the task. Non-recognized Christian groups do not have representatives on the CCL, have no legal status as entities, and must have individual members of their groups conduct business with the government on their behalf. According to the constitution, a special provision of the law regulates the activities and administration of finances of the Islamic awqaf (religious endowments). Per this provision of the law, the Ministry of Awqaf Islamic Affairs and Holy Places (Ministry of Awqaf) manages mosques, appoints imams, pays mosque staff salaries, manages Islamic clergy training centers, and subsidizes certain mosque-sponsored activities, such as holiday celebrations and religious observances. Other Islamic institutions are the Supreme (Sharia) Justice Department, headed by the Office of the Supreme (Sharia) Justice (OSJ) and in charge of the sharia courts, and the General Ifta’ Department, which issues fatwas. The government requires imams to adhere to officially prescribed themes for Friday sermons. Muslim clergy who do not follow government policy may be suspended, issued a written warning, banned from delivering Friday sermons for a certain period, or dismissed from the Ministry of Awqaf. In addition to these administrative measures, a preacher who violates the law may be imprisoned for a period of one week to one month or given a fine not to exceed 20 dinars ($28). The law forbids any Islamic cleric from issuing a fatwa unless authorized by an official committee headed by the Grand Mufti in the General Ifta’ Department. This department is independent from the Ministry of Awqaf, with the rank of Grand Mufti being equal to that of a government minister. The law prohibits the publication of media items that slander or insult “founders of religion or prophets” or that are deemed contemptuous of “any of the religions whose freedom is protected by the constitution,” and it imposes a fine on violators of up to 20,000 dinars ($28,200). The government’s Media Commission regulates the publishing and distribution of all books and media. If the Media Commission deems that passages “violate public norms and values, are religiously offensive, or are insulting” to the King, it can request a court order to prohibit the distribution of the book. By law, public schools provide Islamic religious instruction as part of the basic national curriculum; non-Muslim students are allowed to opt out. Private schools may offer alternative religious instruction. The constitution provides “congregations” (a term not defined in the constitution, but which, according to the legal code, includes religious groups recognized as denominations and associations) the right to establish their own schools, provided “they comply with the general provisions of the law and are subject to the control of government in matters relating to their curricula and orientation.” To operate a school, religious institutions must receive permission from the Ministry of Education, which ensures the curriculum meets national standards. The ministry does not oversee religious courses if religious groups offer them at their places of worship. In several cities, Christian groups – including Baptists, Orthodox, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics – operate private schools and are able to conduct classes on Christianity. Private schools, both nonreligious and religious, are open to adherents of all religions. Knowledge of the Quran is required by law for Muslim students in both public and private schools but is optional for non-Muslims. Every student, however, must pass an Arabic language exam in their final year of high school that includes linguistic mastery of some verses of the Quran. The Islamic religion is an optional subject for secondary education certificate exams for non-Muslim students following the standard curriculum, or for Muslim students following international curricula. The constitution specifies the judiciary shall be divided into civil courts, religious courts, and special courts, with religious courts divided into sharia courts and tribunals of other religious communities. According to the constitution, matters concerning personal status, which include religious affiliation, marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance, are under the jurisdiction of religious courts. Matters of personal status in which the parties are Muslim fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the sharia courts. A personal or family status case in which one party is Muslim and the other is non-Muslim is heard by a civil court unless both parties agree to use a sharia court. Per the constitution, matters of the personal status of non-Muslims whose religion the government officially recognizes are under the jurisdiction of denomination-specific courts of religious communities, except for matters of inheritance, when sharia is applied to all persons, regardless of religious affiliation. Such ecclesiastical courts exist for the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian Orthodox, and Anglican communities. According to the law, members of recognized religious groups lacking their own courts may take their cases to civil courts, which, in principle, follow the rules and beliefs of the litigants’ denomination in deciding cases, unless both parties to a case agree to use a specific religious court. There are no tribunals for atheists or adherents of nonrecognized religious groups. Such individuals must request a civil court to hear their case. The OSJ appoints sharia judges, while each recognized non-Islamic religious community selects the structure and members of its own tribunal. The law stipulates the cabinet must ratify the procedures of each non-Islamic religious (ecclesiastical) court. All judicial nominations must be approved by a royal decree. According to the constitution, sharia courts also exercise jurisdiction with respect to cases concerning “blood money” (diya) in which the two parties are Muslims or one of the parties is not a Muslim and the two parties consent to the jurisdiction of the sharia courts. Sharia courts also exercise jurisdiction with regard to matters pertaining to Islamic awqaf. Muslims are also subject to the jurisdiction of sharia courts on civil matters not addressed by civil status legislation. Sharia courts do not recognize converts from Islam as falling under the jurisdiction of their new religious community’s laws in matters of personal status. Sharia court judges may annul the marriages of converts and transfer child custody to a Muslim nonparent family member or declare the children “wards of the state” and convey an individual’s property rights to Muslim family members. According to sharia, marriages between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man are not permitted; the man must convert to Islam for the marriage to be considered legal. If a Christian woman converts to Islam while married to a Christian man, her husband must also convert to Islam for their marriage to remain legal. If a Christian man converts to Islam while married to a Christian woman, the wife does not need to convert to Islam for the marriage to remain legal. There is no legal provision for civil marriage or divorce for members of nonrecognized religious groups. Members of nonregistered Christian groups, as well as members of groups registered as associations, may obtain marriage certificates from any recognized Christian denomination such as the Anglican Church, which they then may take to the Civil Status Bureau to receive their government marriage certificates. Sharia governs all matters relating to family law involving Muslims or the children of a Muslim father. The Personal Status Law (PSL) stipulates that mothers, regardless of religious background, may retain custody of their children until age 18. Minor children of male citizens who convert to Islam are considered Muslims and are not legally allowed to reconvert to their father’s prior religion or convert to any other religion. Like citizenship, religion is transmitted only via the father. In accordance with sharia, adult children of a man who has converted to Islam become ineligible to inherit from their father if they do not also convert to Islam, unless the father’s will states otherwise. All citizens, including non-Muslims, are subject to the PSL, which mostly follows Islamic legal provisions regarding inheritance if no equivalent inheritance guidelines are codified in their religion or if the state does not recognize their religion. In practice, Christian ecclesiastical courts use sharia-based rules to adjudicate inheritance. National identification cards issued since May 2016 do not list religion, but religious affiliation is contained in records embedded in the card’s electronic chip and remains on file in other government records. National identification cards are renewed every 10 years. Passports issued since May 2016 do not list religion. Passports are renewed every five years. Atheists and agnostics must list the religious affiliation of their fathers as their own. Per the ban on conversion from Islam under sharia, converts from Islam to Christianity are not allowed to change their religion on electronic records. Converts from Christianity to Islam must change their religion on their civil documents, such as family books (a national registration record issued to every head of family), and on electronic records. According to the electoral law, Christians are allocated nine of 130 parliamentary seats. Christians may not run for additional seats. No seats are reserved for adherents of other minority religious groups. The law stipulates that Muslims must hold all parliamentary seats not specifically reserved for Christians. There are no reserved seats for the Druze population. The government classifies Druze as Muslims and permits them to hold office as Muslims. The National Center for Human Rights, a quasi-independent institution established by law, receives both government and international funding. The Prime Minister nominates its board of trustees, and the King ratifies their appointment by royal decree. The board appointed in 2019 includes Islamists, former ministers, former judges, members of parliament, religious leaders, and civil society representatives. Political parties may not be formed on the basis of religion. The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Converts to Islam from Christianity continued to report security officials questioning them about their religious beliefs and practices, as well as some instances of surveillance, as part of the government’s effort to prevent conversions of convenience for the purpose of receiving advantageous divorce or inheritance benefits. Some converts to Christianity from Islam reported they continued to worship in secret to avoid scrutiny by security officials. Because of the sharia ban on conversion, government officials generally refused to change the religion listed on official documents from Islam to any other religion. Accordingly, the converts’ religious practice did not match their official religion, opening them up to claims of apostasy and personal status issues involving marriage, divorce, and inheritance. During the year, the government Media Commission banned distribution of 20 books for insulting religion as well as displaying pornographic images and promoting homosexuality. Members of religious groups unable to obtain religious divorces converted to another Christian denomination or to Islam to divorce legally, according to reports from religious leaders and the MOJ. The chief of the OSJ continued to ensure that Christians wanting to convert to Islam did not have a pending divorce case at one of the Christian religious courts to prevent them from converting for the sole purpose of obtaining a legal divorce. The OSJ continued to enforce the interview requirement for converts to Islam, introduced in 2017, to determine whether their conversion reflected a genuine religious belief. In March, as part of its COVID-19 response and prevention measures, the government ordered comprehensive lockdowns on Fridays and Saturdays. In October, the government eased the lockdown restrictions to Fridays only, allowing movement every other day of the week. On the day after that announcement, in response to the change, Muslim worshipers organized small-scale, uncoordinated, protests across the country. Protesters stated they viewed the decision as unfairly limiting religious services for Muslims, who attend prayers on Friday. Subsequently, the government amended its decision, lifting the lockdown for one hour on Fridays and allowing worshipers to commute to their local mosques by foot. Churches reported they continued to meet online and in-person. The Ministry of Awqaf continued to monitor sermons at mosques and required that preachers refrain from political commentary. Authorities continued to disseminate themes and required imams to choose from a list of recommended texts for sermons. Imams violating these rules risked being fined or banned from preaching. Unofficial mosques continued to operate outside Ministry of Awqaf control in many cities, and imams outside of government employment preached without Ministry of Awqaf supervision. Ministry of Awqaf investigations uncovered some unregistered imams leading prayers in mosques during the year. In these cases, the government ordered all attendees and imams to cease their activities and gather in a designated mosque in their area for the Friday sermons led by a registered imam. Friday prayers in major cities were consolidated into central mosques, over which the Ministry of Awqaf had more oversight, continuing a process that began in 2018. The Ministry of Awqaf allowed smaller mosques to continue Friday sermons along with their areas’ central mosque. During the year, expatriate religious volunteers from the evangelical Christian community continued to report bureaucratic delays in the renewal of residency permits. In 2018 the government began enforcing a new residency policy to limit the ability of churches to sponsor religious volunteers for residency. Observers suggested that the volunteers were illegally proselytizing Muslims. Authorities previously allowed the churches to obtain residency status for religious volunteers with the approval of the MOI and a letter of sponsorship from the church. Volunteers were required to obtain additional approvals, including from the Ministry of Labor, lengthening the average renewal process by several months, according to church officials. Some expatriate religious volunteers reported the government refused to grant residency permission, forcing them to depart the country. The government policy of not recognizing the Baha’i Faith continued, but the government continued to allow Baha’is to privately practice their religion and included them in interfaith events. Sharia courts and the courts of other recognized religions continued not to issue Baha’is the marriage certificates required to transfer citizenship to a foreign spouse or to register for government health insurance and social security. The Department of Civil Status and Passports also continued not to recognize marriages conducted by Baha’i assemblies, but it issued family books to Baha’is, allowing them to register their children, except in cases of marriages between a Baha’i man and a Baha’i woman erroneously registered as Muslim. In those cases, the children were considered illegitimate and were not issued birth certificates or included in family books and subsequently were unable to obtain citizenship or register for school. The Baha’is were able to obtain some documents such as marriage certificates through the civil courts, although they reportedly were required to pay fees that sometimes amounted to more than 500 dinars ($710) for documents normally available for five dinars ($7) through religious courts. There continued to be two recognized cemeteries registered in the name of the Baha’i Faith through a special arrangement previously agreed between the group and the government. Baha’i leaders reported they continued to be unable to register other properties under the name of the Baha’i Faith but remained able to register property under the names of individual Baha’is. In doing so, the Baha’i leaders said they continued to have to pay new registration fees whenever they transferred property from one person to another at the death of the registered owner, a process that created a large financial burden. Baha’i leaders said they were using the civil courts to challenge their group’s property registration restrictions. The Baha’i community’s request for religious exemptions for property registration fees remained pending. The government continued to deny official recognition to other religious groups, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some nonrecognized religious groups reported they continued to operate schools and hospitals and they were able to hold services and meetings if they were low profile. Security forces were largely diverted to COVID-19 response and prevention measures, and the nationwide ban on large gatherings negated any need for enhanced security or protection for Christian neighborhoods and churches for holidays and special events, unlike in previous years. Religious minorities, including Christians and Druze, continued to serve in parliament and as cabinet ministers. Christians served as deputy prime minister, cabinet ministers, senators, and ambassadors. The cabinet appointed in October 2020 included one Druze member and two Christian members, unchanged from the previous cabinet. The government continued to record Druze as Muslims on civil documents identifying the bearer’s religious affiliation, without public objection from the Druze. Druze continued to report discrimination hindered their coreligionists from reaching high positions in government civil service and official departments. On July 15, the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court, dissolved the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) legal identity, according to the AFP, saying the organization had failed to resolve its legal status. Authorities shut down the Brotherhood’s headquarters and several offices in 2016 and transferred ownership of the property to a government-authorized offshoot, which claimed to have severed ties with the broader movement. In 2019, the court ruled the original group be dissolved on the grounds it did not renew its license as required by the law. Sheikh Hamza Mansur, head of the MB’s ruling council, said his group would appeal the decision. The court’s decision did not affect the MB’s political wing, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), which won 10 seats in the November 10 parliamentary election, down from 15 in the previous election. The government continued to permit non-Muslim members of the armed forces to practice their religion. Christians and Druze achieved general officer rank in the military, but Muslims continued to hold most senior positions across the security and intelligence services. The national school curriculum, including materials on tolerance education, did not mention the Holocaust, but some private schools included it in their curricula. Members of non-Muslim religious groups continued to report occasional threats by the government to arrest them for disrupting public order if they proselytized Muslims. Security officials continued to refuse to renew residency permits for some foreign religious leaders and religious volunteers after raising concerns their activities could incite extremist attacks, according to multiple nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Others were refused on the basis of proselytization accusations. In a March 8 program on Yarmouk TV, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Ahmad al-Shahrouri, a professor of sharia at the public Al-Zaytoonah University and also the imam of the university’s mosque, said that the Jews were more dangerous than coronavirus, AIDS, cholera, and every disease in the world. The government deemed some children, including children of unmarried women or interfaith marriages involving a Muslim woman and converts from Islam to another religion, “illegitimate” and denied them standard registration. The government issued these children, as well as orphans, special national identification numbers, which made it difficult for these children to attend school, access health services, or receive other documentation. Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom Converts from Islam to Christianity reported continued social ostracism, threats, and physical and verbal abuse, including beatings, insults, and intimidation, from family members, neighbors, and community or tribal members. Some reported they worshipped in secret because of the social stigma they faced as converts, while others reported persistent threats of violence from family members protecting traditional honor. According to international NGOs, female converts from Islam were particularly vulnerable to harassment. Church leaders continued to report incidents of violence and discrimination against religious converts and persons in interfaith romantic relationships; the latter continued to report ostracism and, in some cases, feuds among family members and violence toward those involved. Some converts from Islam expressed interest in resettlement abroad due to discrimination and threats of violence. Converts from Christianity to Islam also reported social stigma from their families and Christian society. Nonbelievers reported societal intolerance and discrimination. Religious leaders reported continuing online hate speech, frequently through social media, directed towards religious minorities and those who advocated religious moderation. One NGO reported increased online hate speech towards the Christian community in direct response to radio and internet broadcasts of Christian services. Religious broadcasts were an alternative to regular in-person services, which were not allowed under comprehensive lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The same NGO reported some negative responses to the presence of an Orthodox bishop during televised, and widely viewed, COVID-19 updates from the government. NGO sources said the negative responses were the reactions of Muslims to their first real exposure to Christianity. Criticism online and in social media continued to target converts from Islam to other religions. Religious minorities expressed concerns some Muslim leaders preached intolerance. Christians reported they self-segregated into Christian enclaves to escape social pressure and threats. Observers reported friction between Christian denominations on the CCL and evangelical churches not recognized by the government. Leaders from some CCL-affiliated churches said there were “recruitment efforts” against their members by evangelical churches and that evangelical churches were disrupting interfaith harmony and the CCL’s relationship with the government and security services. Members of the evangelical community said that some CCL leaders applied pressure on the government to not recognize evangelical churches in the country. In an article posted in March on the website Al-Awai News, Kafa al-Zou’bi, a journalist and author, stated that “Judaism is a cancer that has harmed humanity since the dawn of civilized history” and that “capitalism could have been less barbaric had it not been anchored in the sources of Jewish philosophy.” In his July 11 column in the newspaper Al-Dustour, Abd al-Hamid al-Hamshari wrote that “Jewish families” took over the global economy in order to subordinate the world to the Zionist movement, and that the Rothschild family ordered the assassinations of U.S. presidents Lincoln and Kennedy because they threatened its economic interests. In a September 15 television interview with a Lebanese channel, former Minister of Health and Deputy Prime Minister Mamdouh al-Abbadi said that neither the UAE nor Bahrain were familiar with Israel, which they had recently recognized and that the Jews were only “Shylocks” who were interested in Gulf money. On a January 27 show on Yarmouk TV, host Omar Ayasra said the story of the Holocaust was not about massacres, crimes against humanity, and anti-Semitism but a story used by Israel to promote itself and to extort the West to garner sympathy and support. In the same program, he criticized the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League for his visit to Auschwitz earlier in the month. In a November 3 post on social media, Abu Qatada al-Filastini recommended that his followers read Machiavelli’s The Prince, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and Hitler’s Mein Kampf if they wished to understand modern political history. Abu Qatada said the texts had been misrepresented due to a “propaganda campaign against them run by the Jews, as well as by their negative reputation among the public.” In a poll conducted by the Arab Center of Washington, D.C. and released in November, 79 percent of Jordanian respondents either strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that “No religious authority is entitled to declare followers of other religions infidels,” compared with 65 percent of the broader Arab world. On a separate question, 73 percent of those polled strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that “The government has no right to use religion to win support for its policies,” compared with 71 percent of others in the region. In a poll conducted by a Dubai-based public relations firm in the first three months of the year and involving a team of international experts, 20 percent of Jordan’s citizens aged 18-24 agreed religion was “the most important” factor to their personal identity, compared to 41 percent overall for youth polled in the 17 Arab states included in the survey. Section IV. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement Embassy officers, including the Ambassador, continued to engage with government officials at all levels, including the Minister of Awqaf, Grand Mufti, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials at the Royal Hashemite Court, to advocate for the rights of religious minorities, the protection of cultural resources, interfaith tolerance, and the legal status of expatriate religious workers and volunteers. Embassy officers continued to meet frequently with representatives of religious communities, including nonrecognized groups, religious converts, expatriate religious volunteers, and interfaith institutions, such as RIIFS and the Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research, to discuss the ability to practice religion freely. The embassy continued its sponsorship of the participation of religious scholars, teachers, and leaders in exchange programs in the United States designed to promote religious tolerance and understanding. The embassy continued to advise the government’s Baptism Site Commission on its efforts to increase revenue from religiously-based tourism, create jobs, preserve the country’s religious heritage, and highlight religious pluralism. The embassy used social media to promote religious tolerance and mark religious holidays, including through posting video messages.

Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Although the law prohibits torture, beating, and physical abuse of detainees and prisoners, there were reports security force members, primarily police, carried out such practices. The NHRC reported police used various forms of physical and mental abuse to obtain confessions from detained suspects. According to the NHRC, methods used to extract confessions included covering detainees’ heads with plastic bags, hitting them with broom handles, forcing them to remain standing overnight, and hitting them in the ears with gloved fists or hard furniture foam so as not to leave marks. In June the newspaper El Caribe reported allegations that inmates in Rafey Jail were frequently tortured, which penitentiary authorities denied. Prison and Detention Center Conditions Prison conditions ranged from general compliance with international standards in “model” prisons or correctional rehabilitation centers (CRCs) to harsh and life threatening in “traditional” prisons. Threats to life and health included communicable diseases, inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care, a lack of well-trained prison guards, and prisoner-on-prisoner violence, all of which were exacerbated in the severely overcrowded traditional prisons. Physical Conditions: Gross overcrowding was a problem in traditional prisons. The Directorate of Prisons reported that as of August there were 17,094 prisoners in traditional prisons and 9,192 in CRCs, a ratio that remained constant for the past several years because traditional prisons had not been phased out. La Victoria, the oldest traditional prison, held nearly 8,000 inmates, although it was designed for a maximum capacity of 2,011. The inmate population at all 19 traditional prisons exceeded capacity, while only one of 22 CRCs was over capacity. Both male and female inmates were held in La Romana Prison but in separate areas. Police and military inmates received preferential treatment, as did those in traditional prisons with the financial means to rent preferential bed space and purchase other necessities. According to the Directorate of Prisons, military and police personnel guarded traditional prisons, while a trained civilian guard corps provided security at CRCs. Reports of mistreatment and violence in traditional prisons were common, as were reports of harassment, extortion, and inappropriate searches of prison visitors. Some traditional prisons remained effectively outside the control of authorities, and there were reports of drug and arms trafficking, prostitution, and sexual abuse within prisons. Wardens at traditional prisons often controlled only the perimeter, while inmates controlled the inside with their own rules and system of justice. Although the law mandates separation of prisoners according to severity of offense, authorities did not have the capability to do so. In traditional prisons, health and sanitary conditions were generally inadequate. Prisoners often slept on the floor because there were no beds available. Prison officials did not separate sick inmates. Delays in receiving medical attention were common in both the traditional prisons and CRCs. All prisons had infirmaries, but most infirmaries did not meet the needs of the prison population. In most cases inmates had to purchase their own medications or rely on family members or other outside associates to deliver their medications. Most reported deaths were due to illnesses. According to the Directorate of Prisons, all prisons provided HIV/AIDS treatment, but the NHRC stated that none of the traditional prisons were properly equipped to provide such treatment. In CRCs, some prisoners with mental disabilities received treatment, including therapy, for their conditions. In traditional prisons, the government did not provide services to prisoners with mental disabilities. Neither CRCs nor traditional prisons provided access for inmates with disabilities, including ramps for wheelchairs. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that migration detention centers were not adequately equipped to accommodate large numbers of detainees and at times were overcrowded. IOM representatives noted the centers needed improved sanitary facilities, better access to drinking water, and more structures to protect waiting detainees from the sun. The General Directorate of Migration generally provided food to detainees being held at the border with Haiti but at times asked the IOM for support. In October 2017 the Constitutional Tribunal declared the condition of some jails were a “gross and flagrant” violation of the constitution and ordered the Attorney General’s Office to take steps to improve them within 180 days or face a fine of approximately 21,450 pesos ($430) per day. In April the attorney general announced the creation of “mobile courts” at some prisons, including the largest, La Victoria, to speed up the processing of cases and reduce overcrowding. Administration: Authorities conducted proper investigations of credible allegations of mistreatment. Independent Monitoring: The government permitted visits and monitoring by independently funded and operated nongovernmental observers and media. The NHRC, National Office of Public Defense, Attorney General’s Office, and CRC prison administration together created human rights committees in each CRC that were authorized to conduct surprise visits.

Bomb threats are defined as threats, whether verbal or written, to ignite an explosive. These explosions often lead to multiple injuries, death, and property damage. Although majority of these threats are hoaxes, one can never be too sure until safety is guaranteed by the security. However, some of these bomb threats are not just used as pranks but can be used as part of crimes, such as aircraft high jacking, extortion, robbery, arson, or school/ company attack. Most bomb explosions are often executed without warnings. What to Do in Bomb Threats Most schools and other types of institutions have their own evacuation plan depending on the reliability of the threat. The following action is generally recommended in cases of bomb threats: - Follow evacuation plan as prepared by the institution. - While leaving, check the area for unfamiliar items. If there are suspicious items, report to authorities immediately. - Leave the doors and windows open. Do not touch the light switches. - Use the stairs and never use elevators. - Move away from the building and do as instructed by the emergency responders. Receiving Telephone Bomb Threats Majority of bomb threats are either verbal or written, but current technology allows threats to be sent through text messages or even electronic mails. In cases that threats are received through the telephone, the receiver is recommended to take the following actions: - Stay calm and write down the details immediately. Write down the threat word per word. This information would greatly help the police in their investigation. If possible, write down the threat while on the telephone with the caller. - Pay close attention to details. Ask the caller the following details: when is the bomb going to explode, where is the bomb at the moment, how does it look like, the specific type of bomb, who placed the bomb and why, name of the caller and address, etc. - Record the following details: time and date call was received, length of call, telephone number at which the call was received, and name of the receiver, etc. - Try to note the gender, age and race of the caller. Also, observe the language of the caller, whether irrational, foul, well-spoken (educated), taped, etc., and the voice of the caller, whether normal, accented, crying, stressed, anxious, etc. When Bomb Threats Turn Into Explosions Although most are hoaxes, these can easily turn into a very dangerous situation when bomb threats actually turn into explosions. In case this happens, the following should be done: - Find sturdy furniture where one can take cover. If directed by emergency responders, evacuate the building. - Do not stay close to windows. - Do not light matches. - Move to a safe location. - Do not use elevators at all times and use stairs only. - Once safe, check for injuries and wait for an emergency responder to administer first aid. In cases of bomb threats, one should always remain and never panic. Enroll in First Aid Courses to always be prepared for emergencies, such as bomb threats.

NASA has recently discovered a solar system 40 light years away with 7 earth-like planets The 7 earth-like planets themselves orbit a star called Trappist-1 in the constellation Aquarius. It is a small dwarf star so the planets orbit pretty close to the star. This is the kind of stuff that I love, more fuel for my webcomics. Gives us hope that there are a vast amount of Earth-like planets out there in the vast universe. ‘The first step in finding life outside our own planet is to find a planet like our own: small, rocky, and at just the right distance from the star that liquid water could exist on its surface. That’s why an announcement today from NASA is so exciting: The space agency, along with partners around the world, has found seven potentially Earth-like planets orbiting a star 40 light-years away. “It’s the first time that so many planets of this kind are found around a same star,” Michaël Gillon, the lead author of the Nature paper announcing the discovery, said in a press conference. “The seven planets … could have some liquid water and maybe life on the surface.” Three of the planets are directly in the star’s habitable zone, meaning water can mostly likely exist on the surface of them. One of them, Gillon said, has a mass “strongly to suggest a water-rich composition.” And it’s possible that the other four could have liquid water, too, depending on the composition of their atmospheres, the astronomers said.’ In the meantime, we just have our imaginations to fill in the gap. This is an artist’s rendition of what the fifth planet in this bizarre solar system might look like. These planets are believed to be tidally locked to the star, each has a permanent day side and a permanent night side. And because the planets are so close together, they’d appear in the sky like moons.

In a few short years, the number of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), purchased has soared. In the US alone, the FAA projects the small model hobbyist UAV fleet will more than double from an estimated 1.1 million vehicles in 2017 to 2.4 million units by 2022. Worldwide, Teal Group’s World Civil UAS Market Profile and Forecast projected in 2018 that non-military UAS production (Commercial, consumer and civil government systems) will total $88.3 billion in the next decade, soaring from $4.4 billion worldwide in 2018 to $13.1 billion in 2027, a 12.9% compound annual growth rate. While most drone operators use good judgement when flying their drones, unfortunately, some do not, as evidenced by a number of drone related headlines: - “Boeing 737 Passenger Jet Damaged in Possible Midair Drone Hit,” Bloomberg. - “Gatwick Airport: Drones ground flights,” BBC News. - “FAA says drone sightings temporarily halted traffic into Newark airport,” Reuters. In situations where a drone is operating where it shouldn’t, the potential ramifications can be catastrophic. As a result, organizations need real-time, accurate, simple to operate and cost-effective solutions for detecting drones flying in or near restricted airspace. First… a Few Drone Basics When looking for a drone detection solution, it is important to have a basic understanding of how most hobbyist and commercial drones operate. Nearly all hobbyist and commercial drones: - Are controlled locally within a visual range of about 1000 ft. - Are controlled remotely within 2-3 miles using First Person View (FPV) - Operate in the 2.4 GHz unlicensed band for control (approx. 80 MHz bandwidth) - Use 5.8 GHz unlicensed band for first person view (FPV) video feeds (20 MHz or less) - Employ return to home (RTH) when control signals are lost or weak - Use transmission signal technologies available from only a few suppliers, making identifying a drone easier - Utilize drone control signals that normally hop across multiple frequencies and can be up to 80 MHz wide - The FCC has designated that drones can only be operated in the unlicensed bands, including the 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz, 900 MHz and 433 MHz bands While there are basic manual methods for detecting a drone’s presence, the following is a more advanced way to set up an automated drone detection system. Setting up an Automated Drone Detection System While the headlines cited above related to sightings involving airports, drones have created concerns for other entities as well, including event venues and military bases. With the large perimeter that needs to be monitored, having an automated drone detection system can detect drone presence without interrupting other operations. Figure 1. An example of how an array of spectrum analyzers might detect a drone. Source: faa.gov Creating an automated drone detection system is simplified by networking multiple Tektronix RSA306B, or RSA500 Series spectrum analyzers together and utilizing software such as SpectrumVu®. SpectrumVu is an advanced software package that provides fully autonomous monitoring of the RF spectrum and can record unknown spectral events and generate alerts upon the discovery of unknown signals. To set up an automated drone detection system, nodes, which include the spectrum analyzer, an antenna and an Intel NUC, are set up around the outside perimeter as illustrated in the La Guardia Airport diagram. The nodes can be networked to a central operations center to provide comprehensive coverage of the perimeter and flight paths. By utilizing multiple nodes, it’s possible to identify a drone’s location on the x-y-z axis. With this system, the RF spectrum is autonomously monitored 24/7. Triggers can also be set on unknown signals or on signals with power above user-defined thresholds to create alerts. Known, unknown, and event signals are captured by the real-time spectrum analyzer and displayed on the SpectrumVu dashboard as illustrated. Figure 2. SpectrumVu software can automatically send an alert to security personnel whenever a suspicious signal is detected. Recent innovations in neural network technology are utilized in SpectrumVu to automatically identify likely drone signals. SpectrumVu’s StepNStare mode can step or tune to a 40 MHz chunk of the RF spectrum, record the I/Q data, and then step to a different 40 MHz band. This process repeats across the unlicensed drone spectrum, enabling the user to monitor the entire spectrum by processing small I/Q files continuously, using machine learning and waveform shapes. When the waveform properties match the neural network stored signal properties, SpectrumVu issues an alert to indicate the likely presence of a drone. By utilizing machine learning, the unique RF characteristics of both the drone control signals and the drone first person video (FPV) video downlinks can be identified within the real-time bandwidth of the RSA automatically. For additional analysis, unknown signals can be stored in an SQL database to accelerate drone identification and support additional analysis of the RF spectrum environment. While drones provide hours of enjoyment and offer benefits for many applications, a misused drone can create dangerous situations. A Tektronix real-time spectrum analyzer can be a valuable tool in monitoring the RF environment and detecting a drone’s presence as a stand-alone or networked device. For organizations concerned with drones operating where they shouldn’t, it is important to invest in solutions that provide real-time awareness, 24/7 monitoring and automated alert capabilities.

A Room of One’s Own is both a landmark in feminist thought and a rhetorical masterpiece, which started life as lectures to the literary societies of Newnham and Girton Colleges, Cambridge, in October 1928. It was then published by the Hogarth Press in 1929 in a revised and expanded edition that has never been out of print. Barely 40,000 words long, addressed to audiences of female students in the hothouse atmosphere of interwar creativity, this became an unforgettable and passionate assertion of women’s creative originality by one of the great writers of the 20th century. Ironically, she herself never favoured the term “feminist”. Virginia Woolf, no question, transformed the English literary landscape. But how, exactly? Was it through modernist innovation (Mrs Dalloway; To the Lighthouse)? Or flirting outrageously with historical fiction (Orlando)? Or in the provocative argument – in part a response to EM Forster’s Aspects of the Novel – of a book like A Room of One’s Own? Well, all of the above. As many critics have noted, Woolf’s writings – from letters and diaries to novels, essays and lectures – are of a piece. Open any one of her books and it’s as though you have just stepped inside, and possibly interrupted, a fierce internal monologue about the world of literature. Woolf herself assists this response. “But, you may say, we asked you to speak…” is the opening line to A Room of One’s Own that backs its author into the limelight of an initially rambling, but finally urgent, polemic. “England is under the rule of a patriarchy,” she declares on about page 30, and then proceeds to lay bare the structure of male privilege and female exclusion – from independence, income and education. At first, she masks the narrator of her argument in the guise of several fictional Marys: Mary Beton, Mary Seton or Mary Carmichael, an allusion to a 16th-century ballad about a woman hanged for rejecting marriage and motherhood. This “Mary” narrator identifies female writers such as herself as outsiders committed to jeopardy. Quite soon, however, Woolf seems to abandon this contrivance. Now she is on fire, writing in her own voice: “One might go even further and say that women have burnt like beacons in all the works of all the poets from the beginning of time – Clytemnestra, Antigone, Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Phèdre, Cressida, Rosalind, Desdemona, the Duchess of Malfi, among the dramatists; then among the prose writers: Millamant, Clarissa, Becky Sharp, Anna Karenina, Emma Bovary, Madame de Guermantes – the names flock to mind, nor do they recall women ‘lacking in personality and character’. Indeed, if woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance; very various; heroic and mean; splendid and sordid; infinitely beautiful and hideous in the extreme; as great as a man, some think even greater. But this is woman in fiction. In fact … she was locked up, beaten and flung about the room. “A very queer, composite being thus emerges. Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the slave of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger. Some of the most inspired words, some of the most profound thoughts in literature fall from her lips; in real life she could hardly read, could scarcely spell, and was the property of her husband.” Typically, Woolf takes herself to task as well, for her complacency: “What I find deplorable … is that nothing is known about women before the 18th century. I have no model in my mind to turn about this way and that. Here am I asking why women did not write poetry in the Elizabethan age, and I am not sure how they were educated…” Some of A Room of One’s Own, while written in a white heat, is also very funny: “I thought of that old gentleman … who declared that it was impossible for any woman, past, present, or to come, to have the genius of Shakespeare. He wrote to the papers about it … Women cannot write the plays of William Shakespeare.” From this point forward, “Judith Shakespeare” becomes another polemical fiction who, like Woolf, had to stay at home, watch her brother go off to school, and become imprisoned in domesticity: “She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was. But she was not sent to school.” Eventually, Judith is shamed into a marriage of convenience by her family. Her brother makes his way in the world, while Judith is trapped at home, her genius unfulfilled. Once Woolf has invented Judith Shakespeare, the poet’s sister who eventually kills herself, she can embark on a review of the creative lives of her great predecessors – Jane Austen, George Eliot, and the Brontë sisters, of whom she wrote, that Charlotte Brontë, burnt by rage, died “at war with her lot… young, cramped and thwarted”. En passant, Woolf reviews the lives and careers of female writers such as Aphra Behn: “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn … for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. It is she – shady and amorous as she was – who makes it not quite fantastic to say to you tonight: Earn five hundred a year by your wits.” It’s at this juncture in her argument that Woolf proposes her now celebrated idea about the key to a woman’s creative liberation: a room, plus some independent means. To a resident of Bloomsbury this, no doubt, seemed a feasible goal, the guarantee of two essential gifts – privacy and freedom, or time and solitude. In retrospect, a private room plus “five hundred a year” seems impossibly middle-class. And yet, at current prices, it’s a sum that roughly translates into the figure that the Bailey’s prize (formerly the Orange prize) for women’s fiction (£30,000) awards to its annual winner. So perhaps Woolf’s dream has been at least partly fulfilled. So much of A Room of One’s Own is so light and glancing that it’s easy to overlook the urgency of Woolf’s analysis. But she could be transgressive, and even mischievous, too. In another passage, describing the work of a fictional woman, Mary Carmichael, Woolf alludes to lesbian love in the novel, a passage almost certainly inspired by her relationship during the 1920s with Vita Sackville-West: “Then I may tell you that the very next words I read were these – ‘Chloe liked Olivia…’ Do not start. Do not blush. Let us admit in the privacy of our own society that these things sometimes happen. Sometimes women do like women.” Finally, Woolf breaks free from the feminist arguments of her essay, morphs towards her preferred androgyny, and makes a larger claim for the true literary imagination (as she sees it): “It is fatal for anyone who writes to think of their sex … one must be woman-manly or man-womanly … Some collaboration has to take place in the mind between the woman and the man before the art of creation can be accomplished. Some marriage of opposites has to be consummated. The whole of the mind must lie wide open … There must be freedom and there must be peace. Not a wheel must grate, not a light glimmer. The curtain must be close drawn.” And then, in a few valedictory pages – replete with more powerful arguments about the importance of university education for women – she is done, closing with an appeal to the essential spirit of risk and originality, “ the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think”. A signature sentence “For my belief is that if we live another century or so – I am talking of the common life which is the real life and not of the little separate lives which we live as individuals – and have five hundred a year each of us and rooms of our own; if we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think; if we escape a little from the common siting-room and see human beings not always in their relation to each other but in relation to reality; and the sky, too, and the trees or whatever it may be in themselves; if we look past Milton’s bogey, for no human being should shut out the view; if we face the fact, for it is a fact, that there is no arm to cling to, but that we go alone and that our relation is to the world of reality and not only to the world of men and women, then the opportunity will come and the dead poet who was Shakespeare’s sister will put on the body which she has so often laid down.” Three to compare A Room of One’s Own is available in Penguin Modern Classics (£5.99). To order a copy for £4.79 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99

The tomb dates to the time of the Samnites, an Italic people living in south-central Italy who fought against the Romans. It was found by surprise during a dig led by a French archaeological team from the Jean Bèrard centre in Naples. The team have already made several notable discoveries – including an exceptionally well preserved pottery workshop – but this latest could outdo them all. “It is an exceptional find for Pompeii because it throws light on the pre-Roman city about which we know so very little,” said Massimo Osanna, the archaeological superintendent of Pompeii. The tomb contains the remains of an adult woman, and has survived for more than two millennia without ever being disturbed or broken into. Perfectly preserved: the tomb was undisturbed for over 2,000 years. Photo: Archeological site of Pompeii press office Seemingly, the Romans knew of the tomb's presence and did not disturb the site or build on it before life in the city was wiped out – and frozen in time – in 79 AD. The contents of the tomb will provide useful clues for scholars about the history of the site under the Samnites. The woman was buried with a series of clay jars, or amphora, which come from other regions of Italy revealing the extent of trade between the Samnites at Pompeii and other groups living across the Italian peninsula. The contents of the jars will be analyzed in the weeks to come – but are thought to contain cosmetics, wine and food. “The burial objects will show us much about the role of women in Samnite society and can provide us with a useful social insight,” Osanna told reporters. The area around the grave will now be excavated to find out if there are more tombs nearby. As Osanna explains “Tombs are not normally found alone.” However, the existence of other tombs is uncertain. During the Second World War, the area of Pompeii in which the grave was found was heavily shelled. “It's a miracle that this has survived,”Osanna told reporters, “but I'm sure Pompeii has more gifts to give.”

ELI5: what is Industry 4.0? In the first industrial revolution, steam power led to the growth of factories and mechanisation. In the second industrial revolution, electricity and assembly lines brought us mass production. The third industrial revolution revolved around computers, the internet and automation. Now, we’re reaching the precipice for the fourth industrial revolution (or Industry 4.0). But just what is Industry 4.0? Here’s a handy ELI5 of the looming changes we’re facing. What is industry 4.0? Industry 4.0 carries on the computerisation trend of the third industrial revolution. It revolves around greater levels of digitisation, automation, and connectivity. In a nutshell, Industry 4.0 refers to the linking and networking of a diverse mix of machines and machine-operated processes. All through the creation of IoT connections and cyber-physical systems. Say what now? Before moving on, let’s break that terminology down. First, the internet of things (more commonly called IoT) refers to the interconnection of all types of devices through the internet. This chain of connectivity allows the flow of data from system to system. So, information previously stuck in a silo syncs across a series of programs in moments. This, in turn, helps automate and optimise all manner of processes to generate benefits for the industry, the economy, and the end user alike. Meanwhile, cyber-physical systems refer to the blending of digital algorithms with the physical world. Think a garden tended by robots, using sensors to detect when watering is required. Or smart traffic lights, where different lights communicate over the network and collectively figure out how best to route traffic. (All building on an IoT powered foundation.) Industry 4.0 is rooted in this smart infrastructure. So, back to the titular question: what is Industry 4.0? It’s about technology bridging the gaps between the digital and physical world. It’s about a future suffused with connected technology and seamless, intelligent automation on a vast scale. And it’s about remote control of any connected ‘thing’, and the enormous opportunity this capability creates. The driving technology Industry 4.0 will mean an influx of ‘smart’ machinery with cognitive computing ability. That is, AI functionality that allows machines to react to each other, with human team members, and with the world around them. This means they need to be able to relay, analyse and act on data. They also need to be able to communicate with each other compatibly and consistently. Think the internet of things, but on a scale that spans a huge, complex and intricately linked network. So, massive data use, cloud and edge computing are all key to Industry 4.0. With this comes the need for machine learning and AI algorithms that will help the machines make decisions. (Simple ‘if this, then that’ logic will struggle to keep pace with the explosion of possibilities opened by Industry 4.0.) Meanwhile, computer vision, natural language processing and speech recognition are also key. These tools will allow machines and programs to smoothly interact with human team members. What do we stand to gain? With any industrial revolution, we gain something. So, what is Industry 4.0 set to bring to the table? - Efficiency and opportunities The idea of Industry 4.0 is that it gives a view of the entire operation within a business. Everything communicates with everything else. So, if there’s an issue or an opportunity, there’s a better chance of spotting it early. Then, everything works in sync to address it. For example, predictive maintenance that prevents a costly issue later. - Environmental impact The AI and data side of Industry 4.0 also stands to have a positive impact when it comes to environmental issues. We will be able to recognise and adapt to different demand levels or supply issues in real-time. So, this means better asset management. Every resource gets tracked and used in the most efficient way, cutting down drastically on waste. Beyond anything else, Industry 4.0 puts machines, computers and robotics into more use. This stands to improve the safety and wellbeing of human workers. The machines will take on more jobs that aren’t safe for humans. (As well as the jobs that are so mind-numbing they harm mental wellbeing.) The challenges of Industry 4.0 There are also some challenges surrounding Industry 4.0. For instance, there’s the issue of a skills gap. When Industry 4.0 hits, it will result in a major job reshuffle. There are concerns that some lower-skilled workers may struggle to adapt to the new roles that they will hold. Another challenge facing Industry 4.0 comes from the setup needed. That is, we don’t yet have an infrastructure that can support it. And the necessary equipment comes with high costs. Stability and security also present hurdles. Industry 4.0 relies on connected systems and real-time data transfer. So, it needs an ongoing, stable internet connection. Plus, the data used will need tight security. Unless we can guarantee the security and stability of the systems, a small blip could hold a big impact. Industry 4.0: the future? An industrial revolution is a complete and marked change in the way that we work and live. They’re triggered when technology advances to unlock new opportunities and possibilities. Industry 4.0 is the next industrial revolution. One powered by advances in connectivity, data use, AI and automation. And, though nascent, it’s proving to be more than another buzzword. What, then, is Industry 4.0? It’s a confluence of trends and technologies that promises to reshape the way things are made; the way businesses run; the way we work. It’s the future.

Board Games make the best gifts as they bring family together.Welcome to “Connect the Thoughts” a fun new matching game from Amigo Games, which hones children’s visual recognition skills. The concept of the game is really quite simple. The game comes with: To set up the game, scatter the 80 cards in the deck face down on the table. Place the bell within reach of all players. We chose to have a pick up pile and a discard pile as in the game of crazy eights as we were playing with two players. PLAYING THE GAME Have the youngest player ring the bell to start the game. Everyone plays at once and picks up a card. You place the first card you see face up to start a row in front of you. All players continue to pick up cards looking for pictures that match one or more of the pictures on your face up card. If the card does not match flip the card back over face down and place it with the rest of the cards. This is where we placed the card in the discard pile. The first player to build a row with five cards rings the bell and play pauses. If that players cards all match, then they pick up their cards and place them off to the side to form a stack. The rest of the players place their cards back with the face down cards. If the player has a mismatch after ringing the bell, that player sits out the round until another player creates a row. WINNING THE GAME The game ends when there are no more face-down cards. The player with the longest correct row at that moment puts these cards into his/her stack. The player with the most cards in his/herstack wins the game. Connect the Thoughts Make Connections. In addition to making matches, players can play “Connect the Thoughts” by making connections between the pictures on the cards. For example, you could place a card with the dog on it next to a card with the donkey on it because they are both animals. Players may only use a connection once per row. For example, if you connect the pencil and the penguin because they’re both starts with “p” then you cannot make another connection based on letters of the alphabet (or color) during the current round. When a player rings the bell when playing with connections, that player must remember the connections between the pictures and explain them aloud after ringing the bell. This version of the game would be best suited for older children. The game takes about 15 min to play and I have to admit that it is a lot off fun for adults as well as children. Two levels of play extend the age range of the game. “Connect the Thoughts” by making connections is a great game for younger children learning their colors as well as letter knowledge. Overall, this is a fun education game that will greatly help children improve their memory skills, and it is the ultimate travel game. Founded in 1980, Amigo Games is a German game manufacturer, focusing on childrens, family, strategy, and card games. The company is known for producing games that feature high quality components, excellent game play, and themes that resonate with consumers all at a fair price. Amigo’s games are sold in 38 countries worldwide.

While energy efficiency and sustainability are the cornerstones of contemporary building, addressing these concepts can render buildings projects quite complex. Climate engineers must engage more deeply with each project site and energy requirements in order to design and implement climate concepts that are both energy efficient and meet users’ comfort expectations. The more complex a project is, the greater the probability of equipment malfunctions, control issues and regulation errors between individual system components. Monitoring data from operational building systems can confirm proper building function and the achievement of design goals by identifying flaws such as faulty construction or improper system setup. An integrated design approach requires the ambitious goal of close cooperation between the various disciplines involved An integrated design approach, necessary to create highly efficient and functional buildings, requires the ambitious goal of close cooperation between the various disciplines involved (e.g. architects, engineers, consultants and contractors). In practice, however, their interaction is often marked by a dearth of information due to communication and timing issues. In-operation monitoring addresses other relevant issues for climate engineering, such as the influence of the thermal mass on the system, going beyond commissioning and the approximation of proper system functioning. Also, when considering the goals of achieving energy efficiency and user comfort, where users have different comfort levels, only in-operation monitoring over a sufficient period of time can allow for the fine-tuning of control variables. The potential for optimization through monitoring is aptly demonstrated in the 64,800m² Manitoba Hydro Place building project. The Stuttgart-based engineering consultancy Transsolar achieved an annual energy savings of around 5,000 megawatt hours using monitoring data, analysis, and cooperation from the building operator, a performance just slightly under the designed level of efficiency. Transsolar also performed monitoring analysis to optimize the energy use of the Shure Distribution GmbH headquarters in Eppingen. The data collected helped identify an incorrectly built mixing valve and a misplaced outside air temperature sensor, the latter of which had hindered the control of the entire system. Monitoring and subsequent investigations into the measuring, control and regulation technology of building systems open up communication between building operators and designers to address energy underperformance of buildings and user comfort. The Transsolar-led examples illustrate how vital monitoring and subsequent analysis are for architects and engineers as tools to verify the achievement of collective design goals and substantiate the value of additional investment costs for the client.

Established in 1936, the Fish and Wildlife Management Program at MSU is one of the oldest and most successful natural resource programs in the United States. Montana State University is located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains in a panoramic setting. Mountains, prairies, and blue-ribbon trout streams are all within minutes of campus. Yellowstone National Park and its world-renowned wildlife and fish populations is 90 miles from campus. Accordingly, much of the Fish and Wildlife Management Program's research is conducted close to campus. Faculty, staff and graduate students in the Program conduct research on the ecology and management of diverse mammal, bird, and fish species. Special emphasis is directed towards applied work. The Fish and Wildlife Program has six faculty members in the Ecology Department and two members of the Montana Cooperative Fisheries Research Unit of the USGS Biological Resources Division, all of whom advise graduate students in the curriculum. The Program, which offers BS (Fish and Wildlife Management Option of the Biology Degree), MS, and PhD (joint program with the University of Montana) degrees, has awarded over 270 graduate degrees since 1936. Current undergraduate enrollment is ~270. More than 50 graduate students are enrolled in MS or PhD programs. Some examples of recent or current areas of study are: various land impact studies concerning deer, elk, pronghorn, bison, and other species of wild ungulates; population studies of deer, bighorn sheep, and other species; inter-specific relationships between deer and other wild and domestic ungulates; effects of climate upon the population ecology of large mammals; ecology and habitat management of waterfowl; raptor (bald eagle, osprey, ferruginous hawk) habitat studies; bird population studies in relation to land use changes; inter-specific competition between carnivores; ecology of warm- and cold-water fisheries; and management of whirling disease.

Denmark shows higher speed limits are safer A two-year experiment by the Danish road directorate shows accidents have fallen on single-carriageway rural roads where the speed limit was raised. Accidents have also fallen on motorways where the speed limit has been increased. Since the speed limit on some stretches of two-way rural roads was increased from 80 to 90 km/h, accidents have decreased due to a reduction in the speed differential between the slowest and fastest cars. This has resulted in less overtaking. The slowest drivers have increased their speeds, but the fastest 15 per cent drive one km/h slower on average, despite the higher limit. While the average speed remains similar to before, the speeds are more homogeneous on the roads in question. The police were initially sceptical of the move, fearing that people would drive even faster, but they have now changed their minds. As Erik Mather, a senior Danish traffic police officer admitted, “The police are perhaps a little biased on this issue, but we’ve had to completely change our view now that the experiment has gone on for two years.” On sections of motorway where the speed limit was raised from 110 to 130 km/h nine years ago, fatalities also decreased. ABD Brian Gregory, joint chairman of the Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) comments, “These findings vindicate what the ABD has been saying for years, that raising unreasonably low speed limits improves road safety by reducing speed differentials and driver frustration. They also confirm decades of research from the USA and UK on the setting of speed limits. It is now time for the Government to push ahead with raising the motorway speed limit to 80 mph. It must also change its guidance to local authorities on setting speed limits, so that they are once again set at a level that commands the respect of drivers. This means reinstating the 85th percentile principle – setting limits that 85 per cent of drivers would not wish to exceed. Those who have argued that lower speed limits improve safety have been proved wrong.”

These sources of research and information highlight the rights of children and young people to play. They also demonstrate the life enhancing value of play as well as its positive impact on learning and life skills such as problem solving and resilience. They tackle some of the reservations people have to introducing loose parts play. Right to Play Article 31 is part of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It states that all children have a right to have rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities and to participate in cultural life and the arts. This Children’s Commissioner for Wales report consulted over 450 children and young people about the way they play, spend their free time, and take part in activities in school and their local area. It identified barriers facing many children and young people, including a lack of money and access to suitable transport. Play and Mental Health Children and young People’s Mental Health Coalition report 2020 This report brings together the latest insights from research, members, children and young people. It makes several recommendations to help shift society towards a more proactive approach towards infant, children, and young people’s mental health. It states: “Given that children and young people had such little access to outdoor provision during lockdown, allowing time for play and exercise is imperative upon school return, for the long term” (page 25) Loose parts outdoor play Loose parts play: a toolkit This toolkit demonstrates the life enhancing benefits of loose parts outdoor play in terms of children and young people’s physical activity, mental health and wellbeing, learning, social development, fun and enjoyment as well as its role in inclusive education. It provides comprehensive guidance for introducing and managing loose play with recommendations based on practitioners’ experience. This Inspiring Scotland document links to the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence which has similarities with the new Welsh curriculum. Children’s Play and Independent Mobility Some of the questions explored in this survey: Where do children 5-11 play? how adventurously do they play? what age are they allowed out of their neighbourhood? how do socio-demographic factors, geographical and parent attitudes to risk impact on childrens’ play outdoors and their independent mobility? Wales Council for Outdoor Learning is not responsible for the content, standard or reliability of the websites, courses or resources linked from this page. Listing should not be taken as an endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all the time and we have no control over the availability of linked pages.

Oats are not particularly cold hardy, so a summer planted crop will die back, holding the soil in place, and providing ample carbon-rich organic matter to till under before planting spring vegetables. Continue reading below for some tips on how to grow oats from seed. Exposure: Full sun to partial shade The fast growth of this soil builder makes it ideal for sowing in the spring for erosion control or quick tilling. Planted in August, oats will put on a lot of growth and, in most winters, will be killed by frost. Hardy to Zone 8: -12°C (-10°F). Sow to a depth of 2-4cm (1-1½"). Oats are less weedy and tenacious than fall rye, and are easily worked into the soil with a garden fork. Allow two weeks before planting the next crop.

Medicare and Medicaid are both government-funded health care programs in the United States, but they work differently, and are intended to serve different populations of Americans. Both, however, are overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which also oversees the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), another government health care program. Understanding the difference between these programs can be important for people who need their services. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 under the Social Security Act, to address growing concerns about American seniors and Americans living in poverty. Historically, these populations often struggled to obtain and pay for health care, because they lacked the ability to pay. The Social Security Act was designed to protect these vulnerable populations in the United States, providing benefits such as Social Security payouts to seniors to supplement retirement, and health care services to seniors and people living in poverty. Medicare is an entitlement program funded entirely by the federal government. Every American over age 65 is eligible for Medicare services, providing that he or she paid taxes into the Social Security fund. Certain people with disabilities are also eligible for coverage under Medicare. Several different Medicare programs including Medicare Part A for hospital care, Medicare Part B for medical care, and Medicare Part D for prescription drugs, are designed to provide complete coverage. People may be obligated to pay deductibles and copays for certain services provided by Medicare, and Medicare also reserves the right to refuse to pay for treatments it does not deem necessary. Medicaid, on the other hand, is administered primarily by the states, although it is overseen by CMS. Funding for Medicaid comes in part from the federal government, and in part from the individual states. This program is a means-tested state level form of health care which is designed to provide care for people who meet the requirements for Medicaid coverage. People must apply for Medicaid, and demonstrate that they have a proved need. Standards for coverage under Medicaid vary by state, as do the services available; some states, for example, provide dental services, while others do not. Some Americans are eligible for coverage under both Medicare and Medicaid; low income is a common situation for seniors and people with disabilities and this can result in dual coverage. Funding problems have plagued both Medicare and Medicaid, raising concerns about how sustainable these programs are, and whether or not care will be available to future generations, including working Americans currently paying Social Security taxes.

Obesity has become an important public health priority because it increases the risk of comorbid conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and several types of cancers. In addition, it affects life quality and expectancy. The impact of obesity on life expectancy has been well documented. Worldwide, over 2.5 million deaths annually can be attributed to obesity. Of particular concern is the growing economic burden that the care of obesity and its complications imposes on society and the health care system. The increasing prevalence of obesity and comorbid conditions worldwide prompts for effective strategies for both treatment and prevention. The treatment of obesity includes lifestyle changes (dietary restrictions and increased physical activity), the use of medications, and in some cases, surgery. Lifestyle changes can cause a 2%-6% weight loss; however, after 1-5 years, almost 90% of the patients have returned to their original weight or might even gain some weight. Drug treatment in general leads to a 5%-15% weight loss and should be considered only as an adjunct to lifestyle changes. Unfortunately, with respect to lifestyle intervention, medical treatment rarely yields satisfactory results in the long term[1,3]. Bariatric surgery has proven to achieve greater weight loss than non-surgical management and, most importantly, has proven to maintain it in the long term. Thus, in patients with morbid obesity, i.e., a body mass index of ≥ 40 or ≥ 35 kg/m2 with co-morbidities, bariatric surgery is presently considered to be the only effective therapy for obesity. Extensive data demonstrate that surgery can improve or even reverse many comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea and steatohepatitis[5-7]. With regard to type 2 diabetes, observational and randomized controlled trials with a follow-up duration of up to 5 years have established the superiority of bariatric surgery over medical therapy at achieving remission of the disease and improvement of the overall cardiovascular risk profile[8-10]. One of the longest weight-loss studies - the Swedish Obese Subjects - evaluated the long-term effects of different bariatric procedures and demonstrated significant reductions in cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality as well as significant improvement in the quality of life[11-13]. In spite of multiple clinical benefits, a number of surgical and gastrointestinal complications can occur following bariatric procedures, although the diffusion of the laparoscopic approach and the expansion of centers of excellence have greatly reduced the rate of post-operative mortality and adverse events. The mean mortality rate is 0.3% for all procedures, which is comparable to those for hip replacement (0.3%) or laparoscopic cholecystectomy (0.3%-0.6%). Indeed, even lower mortality rates (0.04-0.13) are achieved in high-volume obesity centers. Among the possible complications, nutritional deficiencies deserve careful consideration. They can develop as a consequence of reduced intake and/or malabsorption of nutrients and are more commonly seen after malabsorptive or mixed procedures in comparison to the restrictive procedures. Other causal factors include pre-operative deficiencies, post-surgery food intolerance, changes in taste and eating patterns and non-adherence to dietary and supplement recommendations. Nutritional deficiencies can present with a wide range of clinical manifestations, depending on the specific nutrients/micronutrients that are involved, the severity, and the duration of the deficiency states. Because they could cause serious detriment to patients’ everyday lives and, in some instances, could result in life-threatening complications, a nutritional screening both before and after surgery is strongly recommended. This review focuses on the main nutritional issues related to bariatric procedures by examining some important clinical conditions that are caused by the deficit of vitamins and micronutrients, such as anemia, osteoporosis, neurologic disorders, and malnutrition. We will also discuss the importance of careful pre-operative assessments and the correction of pre-existing nutritional deficiencies, which are quite common in obese patients. Last, recommendations for the prevention and treatment of nutritional deficiencies after bariatric surgery are presented. CONVENTIONAL BARIATRIC SURGICAL PROCEDURES Surgical procedures are generally classified into restrictive procedures, in which the stomach’s capacity is greatly reduced, malabsorptive procedures, in which malabsorption is the primary driver of the weight loss, or a combination of restrictive and malabsorptive elements (Figure 1). However, over the past few years, it has become clear that weight loss is not only due to reduced food intake and/or absorption induced by modification of gastrointestinal anatomy but also a consequence of changes in neural and gut hormonal signals that regulate hunger and satiety, gut microbiota, intestinal nutrient sensing, food preferences, and possibly energy expenditure. These so-called weight-independent mechanisms contribute to a variable extent to weight loss and metabolic improvement, depending on the type of surgical technique. Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (AGB) An adjustable silicone band is placed around the upper stomach, a few centimeters below the cardia, creating a 15 to 30 mL gastric pouch. The diameter of the outlet can be changed by injection of or removal of saline through a portal placed in the subcutaneous tissue that is connected to the band. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) A small, vertically oriented gastric pouch is created, which remains attached to the esophagus at one end and, at the other end, is connected to a small section of the small intestine, thus bypassing the remaining stomach and the initial loop of the small intestine. Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) The operation involves division of the stomach vertically, which reduces its size by 75%. The pyloric valve at the bottom of the stomach is preserved such that the stomach function and digestion remain unaltered. The procedure is not reversible and might be a first stage procedure to a RYGB or duodenal switch. Biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) The operation consists of a distal horizontal gastrectomy that leaves a 200-250 mL of upper stomach. This remnant stomach is anastomosed to the distal 250 cm of small intestine (alimentary limb). The excluded small intestine (carrying bile and pancreatic secretion), called the biliopancreatic limb, is connected to the small bowel 50 cm proximal to the ileocecal valve. The 50-cm common limb is the only segment where digestive secretions and nutrients mix, which causes a marked malabsorption, especially for fat and protein. A recent survey by the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity showed that RYGB and SG account for the large majority of bariatric procedures (45% and 37%, respectively). The use of ABG has drastically fallen during the last decade and currently accounts for 10% of all procedures. BPD and its duodenal switch (BPD/DS)variant, which are truly malabsorptive procedures, are rarely used (< 2%) to date given the high risk of nutritional complications. NUTRITIONAL ISSUES AFTER BARIATRIC SURGERY According to a recent report from the American Society of Hematology, people who have undergone bariatric procedures show the highest risk for anemia, with 33%-49% of operated patients presenting anemia within 2 years after surgery. As expected, the average prevalence of anemia is lower following LSG (17%) and reaches 45%-50% after RYGB and BPD. It should be noted that, as underlined for other nutrient deficiencies, up to 10%-12% of obese patients already have anemia before surgery; thus, baseline screening for anemia is recommended in all patients who are scheduled for bariatric procedures. Patients with mild anemia are most likely asymptomatic; however, when the anemia worsens, the patients could present with symptoms, such as fatigue, pallor, and dyspnea on exertion. Of note, the presence of anemia increases by twofold the risk of hospitalizations as well as the length of the in-hospital stay. Post-bariatric anemia is in most cases due to iron deficiency, along with vitamin B12 deficiency as a secondary cause. Iron deficiency, expressed by low serum ferritin, occurs in more than 30% of patients after 5 years from surgery, with a similar rate after RYGB and SG, as recently reported by Alexandrou et al. Iron-deficiency can be attributed to several causes. Reduced iron absorption due to hypocloridria and the bypassing of the duodenum and proximal jejunum (which are the main sites of iron absorption) are the primary mechanisms that lead to iron deficiency. Post-operative reduction in food intake and changes in food preferences, such as intolerance for meat and dairy products, are important contributory factors. Measurement of serum ferritin is the best diagnostic test for detecting iron deficiency since it is a more specific and earlier indicator of iron body capacity and becomes abnormal prior to a decrease in serum iron con-centration. For this reason, ferritin and hemoglobin should be periodically monitored in bariatric patients. Current guidelines recommend oral iron supplementation in all operated patients for preventive purposes. However, for the correction of iron deficiency (when iron deficiency sets in), oral supplementation is not sufficient, and intravenous iron administration is required. Vitamin B12 deficiency is a major cause of anemia in patients who undergo BPD and RYGB, with a prevalence of 19%-35% after 5 years. Purely restrictive procedures are usually not associated with vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 deficiency can result from inadequate secretion of intrinsic factor, limited gastric acidity and, above all, the bypassing of the duodenum, which is the main site of vitamin B12 absorption. Since the human body has substantial reserves of vitamin B12, clinical manifestations of a deficit can appear after a certain time from surgery, when the body stores are depleted to as little as 5%-10%. In addition to anemia, a lack of vitamin B12 can lead to neurological and psychiatric symptoms, including paresthesia, numbness, disturbance of coordination, memory disturbance and, in some instances, dementia. Oral or intramuscular supplementation of vitamin B12 is recommended after malabsorptive procedures, while there is no evidence of benefits after restrictive surgery. Folic acid deficiency is a potential complication of bariatric procedures that can contribute to anemia. The prevalence of this deficit after both restrictive and malabsorptive procedures ranges from 9% to 39%[23,24]. It can manifest as macrocytic anemia, piastrinopenia, leucopenia, or glossitis. It could cause growth retardation and, in pregnant women, congenital defects (neural tube). Since folate is absorbed throughout the small intestine, the deficiency is primarily induced by a shortage of dietary intake rather than malabsorption. Furthermore, folate deficiency can be aggravated by vitamin B12 deficiency since the latter is necessary for the conversion of inactive methyltetrahydrofolic acid to the active tetrahydrofolic acid. Folate deficiency can be easily corrected by oral supplementation. Abnormalities of bone metabolism Bariatric surgery could impact bone metabolism and induce significant changes, such as decreased mechanical loading, calcium/vitamin D malabsorption with secondary hyperparathyroidism, nutritional deprivations, changes in fat mass and alterations in fat- and gut-derived hormones[25-27]. In general, weight loss, achieved through dietary restriction, drugs or bariatric surgery, is associated with a significant reduction in bone mineral density (BMD) and increased bone turnover. In particular, the bone loss reported after non-surgical weight loss is much lower (1%-2%) than that found after bariatric procedures (8%-13%)[30,31] A recent meta-analysis of studies that compare bariatric vs a non-operated control group showed reduced BMD at the femoral neck but not at the lumbar spine. However, it is important to note that the measurement error at the spine BMD is greater than at other sites, which could likely account for this discrepancy. In addition, there is high heterogeneity in the studies analyzed with regard to different surgery procedures, study design (most retrospective), and patient characteristics (ethnicity, sex, menopausal/postmenopausal stage, follow-up length), which could account for the differences between the two sites. Overall, the reductions in the BMD results are greater after malabsorptive or mixed than after restrictive procedures. Studies that compare RYGB and SG have shown a greater bone loss after RYBG than SG, especially at the hip and femoral neck. Accordingly, bone turnover expressed by circulating markers such as CTX, PINP, TRAcP5b was significantly higher after RYGB than after SG. The difference in the BMD between the two procedures could also be related to the different hormonal patterns induced by the two operations. Indeed, there is increasing evidence that many fat- and gut-derived hormones could affect bone health[25,33,34]. In particular, low levels of GIP, ghrelin, amylin, and insulin and high levels of PYY exert negative effects on the bone mass. In contrast, low serotonin and high GLP-1 levels appear to positively influence the bone metabolism. However, further studies are needed to better define the role of these hormones in the regulation of bone metabolism. Bariatric surgery is associated with an increased risk of fractures[35,36]. In a population-based study, the cumulative incidence of any new fracture at 15 years was 58% in bariatric patients compared to 24% in non-operated men and women of similar age. The relative risk for any fracture was increased by 2.3-fold both at the traditional osteoporotic (hip, spine, wrist) and at non-osteoporotic sites. Calcium and vitamin D deficiencies are the main factors that are responsible for the accelerated bone loss after bariatric surgery. The incidence of calcium deficiency after surgery is almost 10% and is caused by reduced calcium absorption that results from bypassing the duodenum and proximal jejunum, which are the main sites of absorption. In some cases, calcium deficiency could be exacerbated by low calcium intake due to the intolerance/exclusion of milk products. The prevalence of hypovitaminosis D after surgery varies between 25% and 73%, depending on the duration of the follow-up and its defining parameters (25-OH-vitamin D < 20 or < 30 ng/mL). It is important to note that hypovitaminosis D exists in a large proportion of patients prior to surgery, with reports that range from 25% to 80%. However, bariatric surgery per se affects the vitamin D status. Indeed, similar to calcium deficiency, hypovitaminosis D could be a consequence of fat malabsorption, due to the bypass of the primary absorption sites of liposoluble vitamins in the small intestine[39,40]. In fact, a duodenal surgical bypass decreases cholecystokinin secretion, which results in a reduction in pancreatic lipolytic enzyme secretions and alteration in biliary salts, which in turn leads to an alteration in fat digestion and steatorrhea. In addition, after both malabsorptive and restrictive procedures, reduced intake of dairy products, vomiting, and non-adherence to supplement recommendations could worsen the vitamin D status[39,40]. These are no clear recommendations for vitamin D doses following bariatric surgery, since individual patients could require larger or smaller doses according to the degree of deficit. Current recommendations indicate that at least 5000 IU/d is required to maintain adequate vitamin D levels after RYGB, while higher doses (up to 50000 IU) are required after BPD. Recent studies have suggested that the vitamin D level should be maintained at over 25-30 ng/mL for the effective prevention of osteoporosis and fracture risk. Daily calcium supplementation (preferably as calcium citrate) from 1200 to 2000 mg daily is recommended. It must be considered that oral calcium could interfere with the absorption of some essential minerals such as iron, zinc and copper. Deficiencies of other vitamins and minerals Low serum levels of fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, K and E) have been found to occur after malabsorptive procedures (BPD and long limb RYGB). However, the available data are largely based on clinical reports and, therefore, are insufficient to estimate the real prevalence of these deficiencies. In two series of studies, the incidence of vitamin A deficiency was 61%-69% at 2-4 year after BPD, with or without duodenal switch[41,42]. In a third series, the incidence was as low as 5% by 4 year. Clinical manifestation of vitamin A deficits are night blindness, xerophthalmia and dry hair. Low levels of vitamin K have been reported in 50%-60% of patients who underwent BPD or BPD/DS, but no clinical symptoms such as easy bruising, increased bleeding, or clotting alterations were reported. With regard to the water-soluble vitamins, thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency can occur in up to 49% of patients after surgery as a result of bypass of the jejunum, where it is primarily absorbed, or in the presence of impaired nutritional intake from persistent, severe vomiting. The early symptoms of thiamine deficiency are nausea and constipation, followed by neurological and psychiatric complications known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. The prevalence of vitamin C deficiency ranges from 10%-50%[45,46], but it rarely results in manifest clinical signs (poor wound healing, petechiae, bleeding gums). Although most of the literature focuses on calcium and iron, deficiencies of other essential minerals such as magnesium, zinc, copper, and selenium have been reported in bariatric patients. Essential minerals act as enzymatic cofactors in several biochemical pathways, and therefore, their deficiency could cause variable clinical manifestations that involve neurological, cardiac and gastrointestinal systems. Mineral deficiencies are more common after BPD and RYGB; however, the real prevalence of these disturbances cannot be precisely estimated since most deficiencies can be present already before surgery (see the next paragraph). In addition, for some minerals such as copper and magnesium, the circulating concentrations might not reflect their total body stores, thus leading to underestimation of the real deficit. Protein malnutrition remains the most severe macronutrient complication associated with malabsorptive surgical procedures. It has been reported in 7%-21% of patients who underwent BPD and is a consequence of poor protein digestion and absorption secondary to altered biliary and pancreatic function. Protein malnutrition can also occur after RYGB, where the Roux limb exceeds 150 cm, with an incidence of 13% at the 2-year follow-up. SG and AGB can lead to protein malnutrition in patients who present maladaptive eating behaviors after surgery, those who avoid protein food sources and those who have protracted vomiting. The clinical signs of protein malnutrition include edema, hearing loss and low serum albumin level (< 3.5 g/dL). Protein malnutrition associated with malabsorptive procedures causes an annual hospitalization rate of 1% per year and leads to significant morbidity and poor outcomes[49,50]. Monitoring the serum albumin concentration is useful for the evaluation of the protein nutritional state, although the serum protein level often remains in the normal range until late. Measurement of lean body mass by means of dual X–ray absorptiometry or body bioimpedence assessment can be helpful for the evaluation of body composition, although their accuracy appears to be limited in bariatric patients. According to consensus guidelines, the prevention of protein malnutrition requires an average daily protein intake of 60-120 g (1.1 g/kg of ideal body weight), which should be increased by 30% following BPD. Furthermore, great emphasis is posed on regular training and aerobic exercise as being essential to preserving lean mass and especially muscle mass. Patients with severe protein malnutrition should be managed with modular protein supplements that are rich in branch-chain amino acids and, eventually, enteral feeding. Post-operative weight regain The regain of the weight lost is one of the main concerns of bariatric patients over the long term. The incidence of this phenomenon is quite variable according to the type of procedure performed, the length of follow-up and, above all, the criteria to define weight regain. Among different definitions, the most widely accepted method refers to a regain of 25%-30% of the maximum weight lost, corresponding to the weight before surgery, with the subtraction of minimum weight or “nadir” after surgery[51-53]. A recent review has shown that the rates of weight regain for SG range from 5.7% at 2 years to 75.6% at 6 years. For RYGB, the percentage of failure to maintain weight loss varies from 7% to 50% of the subjects and tends to be higher in superobese patients. AGB is associated with the largest weight regain (35%-40% of the weight lost), as evidenced in several clinical studies[11,51]. The failure to maintain long-term weight loss has important consequences on the patients’ health, including the relapse of obesity-related co-morbidities. Furthermore, it has substantial economic repercussions for the recurrent costs associated with the management of on-going obesity. Therefore, there have been many efforts to understand the biological and psychologic/behavioral bases that underlie this important phenomenon. One of the major factors responsible for weight regain is the reduction in energy expenditure (EE), which is generally paralleled by the simultaneous loss of lean body mass. Recently, Tam et al. showed that EE is significantly reduced 1 year after RYGB (-124 ± 42 kcal/die) as well as after SG (-155 ± 118 kcal/die) compared to the baseline. These findings extend what was already known with diet-induced weight loss and give support to the view that the reduction in EE is a homeostatic mechanism that counteracts a reduction in the caloric intake, which is aimed at preventing excessive weight loss; however, in some conditions, it could favor weight regain. Another factor that contributes to weight regain is the changes in entero-hormone and appetite regulation. As widely demonstrated, BS is associated with a recovery of the postprandial response of GLP-1, which increases by 3- to 6-fold compared to pre-surgery levels. Interestingly, it has been shown that in patients operated by RYGB, the post-meal response of GLP1 was significantly greater in individuals who maintained weight loss compared to individuals who failed, which suggests that this hormone plays a role in the maintenance of a favorable weight outcome. With regard to ghrelin, the results are quite controversial, with some but not all studies showing greater and more sustained suppression of ghrelin levels in bariatric patients who maintained appropriate weight loss compared to those who regained weight[60,61]. Moreover, mental health disorders, such as depression, alcohol and drug use, and food urges are predictive factors of weight regain[62,63]. Although binge eating is more frequent among obese patients who make recourse to BS (10%-50%), there is no doubt that its persistence after surgery is associated with a minor weight loss and an early weight regain. Beyond all of the above-mentioned factors, the success of bariatric surgery is strongly influenced by the patients’ motivation to adhere to a healthier lifestyle, including controlled energy intake and physical activity. In the Swedish Obese Subjects study, the reported mean energy intake was 2900 kcal/die before surgery, 1500 kcal/die 6 mo after surgery and approximately 2000 kcal/die 4-10 years after surgery, which demonstrates a progressive increase in calorie intake over the years. These data emphasize dietary counselling and the practice of physical exercise as fundamental measures to prevent weight recidivism. PRE-OPERATIVE NUTRITIONAL STATE: A CRITICAL FACTOR It is a common belief that nutritional deficiencies are rare in Western countries due to the availability of low cost and unlimited variety of food supply. However, obese subjects often adopt an unhealthy diet that is rich in high-calorie food with an unbalanced nutritional composition[67,68]. The concomitant presence of high calorie intake and nutrient deficiencies could impact the effectiveness of calorie utilization, which could determine a vicious cycle that leads to further weight gain, depression, eating disorders, metabolic syndrome, fatigue and more. In support of these concepts, a growing number of studies in the literature attest to the frequent occurrence of nutrient and/or vitamin/mineral deficiencies in morbidly obese individuals prior to bariatric surgery, before weight loss and possible surgical-related malabsorption set in. With regard to the vitamin status, most evidence refers to a 25(OH)vitamin D deficit. Vitamin D insufficiency (< 30 ng/dL) has been reported in approximately 90% of different study populations, and ranges from 65% to 100%, while vitamin D deficiency (< 20 ng/dL) is observed in approximately 60% of the patients, ranging from 22% to 83%. The prevalence of severe deficit (< 10 ng/dL) could reach 25%. The degree of deficiency is predicted by the degree of obesity and race, with African Americans being at higher risk. Obese individuals are more likely to be deficient in vitamin D because of the higher volumetric dilution and sequestration of this fat-soluble hormone in the adipose tissue. As the fat mass increases, an individual will require greater amounts of vitamin D (via photoproduction from sun exposure, dietary intake, and/or supplementation). Moreover, although there is no difference in the vitamin D3 production between obese and lean individuals, obese patients show an impaired release of vitamin D3 from the skin. Genetic variation in the function of the vitamin D binding protein and vitamin D receptor could also influence the 25(OH)D levels, with some studies suggesting a higher frequency of the poorer functioning forms in obesity[77,78]. The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in patients scheduled for BS is reported in approximately 18% of patients. Similarly, low levels of vitamin B1 (thiamine) are reported in up to 20% of bariatric candidates. Few studies have assessed the vitamin C status in bariatric candidates, with a prevalence that ranges from 15% to 33%. With regard to vitamins A and E, their deficiencies are less frequent[69,73]. In particular, vitamin A has been found to be inversely associated with BMI, age and number of comorbidities. This finding most likely occurs because low vitamin A levels are related to increased oxidative stress, insulin resistance, impaired glucose metabolism, cancers, and age-related macular degeneration, all of which are commonly associated with morbid obesity. Among the minerals, iron deficiency is the most common and ranges from 20% to 47%. Iron and ferritin deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia are more frequent in younger patients (< 25 years) than in older patients and in women than in men, although this finding is not confirmed in all studies. Iron deficiency in obese patients is likely related to the negative impact that chronic inflammation exerts on iron homeostasis. In particular, there is evidence that cytokines (TNFα and IFNγ) can induce the apoptosis of erythroid progenitor cells and increase hepcidin levels, which leads in turn, to reduced intestinal iron absorption and reduced bioavailability. The prevalence of zinc deficiency prior to bariatric surgery amounts to 10.2%[84-86]. Interestingly, some studies have shown an inverse association of zinc levels, with C-reactive protein highlighting the adverse influence of systemic low-grade inflammation on the zinc status. Overall, the high prevalence of pre-surgery nutritional deficiencies in bariatric candidates supports the need for a careful pre-operative evaluation of the nutritional status, to assess and adequately correct the pre-existing deficits.

Researchers in South Africa have started a new program to save a specific kind of penguin there from going extinct. The Little African Penguin is the only penguin that breeds in Africa. Once South Africa's most abundant seabird, its population dropped from a million pairs in the 1920s to just 13,000 pairs last year. Their numbers began dropping after people began taking their eggs to eat. Researchers started using penguin decoys to entice the birds to lay their eggs on a beach where the eggs are protected. Also hand-reared penguin chicks will be released in the same area to build a new colony. Researchers have high hopes and said the same ideas worked to build up another threatened bird colony in the U.S. Birdlife South Africa Researcher Christina Hagen says, "This has never been done for the Africa Penguin, it's been done for other seabird species around the world and possibly the most successful and famous example is the Atlantic Puffin off the East Coast of the U.S. They used, they also used decoys and releasing chicks at the site and they eventually got a very big thriving colony." The waters are full of fish that are critical to the penguins' success. So far the decoys are working. "From other studies the decoys don't even have to be super realistic, they can just be the right shape and color and the birds respond to them. We took our decoys to an existing colony at Stony Point and put them out with the penguins just to see how the penguins would react. We didn't want there to be some kind of adverse reaction and it worked really well, the penguins were kind of interested, it didn't attack them, they also didn't completely ignore them so that was a really good sign for us and we also managed to fool some tourists into thinking they were real," Hagen said. The Little African Penguin is a big tourist draw in South Africa.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — National Coming Out Day serves as a powerful reminder for the LGBTQ+ community that "one of our most basic tools is the power of coming out," the Human Rights Campaign says. The day Monday, Oct. 11, is meant to promote visibility and equality for the LGBTQ+ community. It turns out that, yes, there is such a thing as strength in numbers. "When people know someone who is LGBTQ+, they are far more likely to support equality under the law," HRC notes about the day. "Beyond that, our stories can be powerful to each other." But the process of coming out isn't always an easy journey. The Trevor Project publishes a helpful handbook for those looking for guidance on coming out or just wanting to learn more on topics of identity, sexual orientation, the process of coming out and self-care. It discusses ways to think about one's identity, plus what it means to share it with friends and family. The guide notes it's not a necessity to share anything with others if that's not something someone wants to do. "It is all about what works for you, wherever you are at," the guide reads. "The things you hear about coming out may make you feel pressured to take steps that don’t feel right for you, or that you don’t feel prepared for. Your experience is truly unique to you. You get to decide. "This handbook is here to help you think through what might be best for you." The Human Rights Campaign also has a collection of stories and information to help people navigate the process of coming out.

Child autism risk increases with father’s obesity Children who are born to fathers who are obese could have an increased risk of autism than children whose fathers are thinner, according to a new study. Around 93,000 children in Norway were followed by researchers, who discovered that the children of obese fathers had increased risk of developing autism, although the odds are still negligible at less than 0.3 percent, as opposed to 0.14 percent of children who had fathers with a normal weight. Experts also stress that whether the extra pounds on the father actually causes the increase remains unclear, with some suggesting there may be an indirect association such as certain gene variations being linked to increased risk of both autism and obesity. Perhaps surprisingly, the research seems to indicate that the risk of autism in children is not increased by having an obese mother, despite a connection being indicated by some studies in the past. The exact causes of autism remain unclear, although most experts believe it is a complex mixture of environmental exposures and genetic vulnerability.

These two penguins were hitching a lift on top of a small bit of ice. It is estimated that there is about 16 million of Chinstrap Penguins in the world. They are considered to be the most aggressive species of the penguin. As we were getting closer and closer to Antarctica, Snow Petrels became more common sight. Snow Petrels are one of only three types of birds that have been at the South Pole. Emperor Penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all penguin species. When hunting, they can stay submerged for 18 minutes and dive to a depth of over 500 metres. A small group of Emperor Penguins are standing on the sea ice. In the distance the edge of Brunt Ice Shelf is visible. While they can walk awkwardly, whenever they want to move faster, Emperor Penguins will drop on their bellies and slide on the ice using their legs for propulsion. We abseiled about a kilometre away from the colony. By the time we got there, a small number of Emperors came over to see what's happening. A few more adventurous penguins move away from their colony to explore the surrounding and check out the strange colourful creatures that arrived from the ice shelf above

To mark the centenary of his birth, Mondadori has included Gianni Rodari in its Meridiani Collection, publishing a 1800-page volume of his works. We talked with curator Daniela Marcheschi. In his lifetime, Rodari never achieved much critical acclaim. 40 years after his death, the «I Meridiani» Collection has dedicated a tribute to him, which will finally place him in the hall of fame of the classics of literature. Will it also move him out of the category of children’s book writers? A publication in the «I Meridiani» series was important to assert Rodari’s major role on the Italian and international literary scene. Rodari is a classic in children’s literature, which is by no means a minor genre. Benedetto Croce wrote that the wood from which Pinocchio was carved was the wood of humanity, meaning that Pinocchio is not a book just for children - or perhaps even that it is not a book for children. Croce was criticising the sort of simple, moralistic literature served up to children, full of dire warnings and sugary sentimentality. Rodari’s great merit is to have created, in the second half of the 20th century, children’s literature in which the author treats the child reader with great respect, acknowledging children’s diversity and otherness. Maria Montessori doubtless influenced him. Added to that is the fact that Rodari was able to balance ethics and ideology. He had no interest in propaganda, wanting rather to share his sentiments and ideas with children, teaching them by thinking together about what good and evil mean. Rodari is also a writer for adults, as his articles in the journal «Il Caffè» show. But his most famous works have always been for children and adults together. Il libro degli errori (The Book of Mistakes) is for adults and young readers. Rodari always bears in mind that the adult reads to and with the child, like a teacher in a classroom. Children’s literature is in fact also directed at adults. So Rodari is a writer for everyone, just like Collodi when he wrote Pinocchio and other less well-known works. How can the Rodari, author of delightfully playful stories, be reconciled with the same author’s methodical, almost scientific, approach to artistic creation? These two aspects are not contradictory. Getting to know Collodi - a satirical journalist who became a children’s writer, inventing children’s literature in Italy and then becoming a model throughout the world - was a revelation for Rodari. Reading Collodi, Rodari understood the inextricable link between critical journalism and humour on the one hand, and literature for young readers on the other. He understood how journalism fed into literature, including children’s literature, and could convey a clear social message. On 31 December 1948, Rodari published a humorous article in the newspaper «Unità» entitled “Il calendario si confessa” (The Calendar Confesses), signed as “Il calendario 1948 e per copia conforme Gianni Rodari” (The 1948 calendar, cc Gianni Rodari). This metaleptic expedient evidently references Carlo Collodi, who signed his articles for «Fanfulla» in a similar way. Collodi’s humorous journalism was a real model for Rodari and one that matched his own personality and natural leaning. In fact, friends and colleagues describe Rodari as a brilliant, ironic, sharp-witted man. On his arrival at Einaudi and while he was a journalist at «L’Unità», no one was spared his pithy remarks. It’s no surprise that the only articles Rodari kept of the enormous number he wrote were those he penned for his Benelux column in «Paese Sera» – almost 5000 in all. A mix of journalism and literature, part diary part social exposé, they range from commentary on the mores of the day to the general state of the world. Benelux was fundamental for Rodari. Re-reading the articles, you delight in the way he weaves together humour, satire, irony and paradox. Humour, political commentary and social commitment blend perfectly. Serious factual comment and inventiveness, science and the imagination do not clash. Rodari is rooted in the concrete, not the romantic nor the decadent: just as there are laws of logic - a human faculty like the imagination - so too it must be possible to define the laws governing fantasy. Culture and scientific knowledge were both of great importance to him, as is shown by the space the «Pioniere» gave to science and technology under Rodari’s leadership. By the same token, his science fiction writing combines invention, modern science and technology with his powerful imagination. 100 years after his birth, Rodari continues to accompany children as they grow up, learn and form their own identities, teaching them the importance of not accepting the pre-packaged world view handed them but rather remain curious about things around them. Is it this that makes him timeless and still relevant today? Yes. Rodari is a classic because he is attuned to the essence of a seminal human experience: childhood. Childhood equates with the beauty of the world as it unfolds before young eyes, the beauty of curiosity and getting to know that world, and of moving independently in it. It is Pinocchio as he experiences the world; Pinocchio who wants to travel and explore, who puts his trust in the wrong people and learns the hard lessons of life. Rodari’s young characters do not live in a fabulous world of dreams. They are constantly invited to see the world as it is and not ignore evil. They can and must come up against death, disease, injustice, bullying and maliciousness. Yet they always have the possibility open to them of taking it upon themselves to take action against what’s wrong in the world. They become, if you like, expressions of a utopia of a better world, but not in an abstract sense in which childhood becomes a dematerialized state laden with lofty symbols. His children represent the future, a powerful force that could change the world, change reality: they are a “plus” that cancels out a “minus”. As Rodari puts it, that means putting a little bit of tomorrow in every day that passes. For him, children hold a potential for good. This never fails to strike readers, and is one of the reasons, perhaps the main reason, why children love reading Rodari. His is a delight in childhood, in imaginative thought, and confidence in children and life, despite everything. Naturally, Rodari’s fertile imagination is the other fundamental element of his stories. As I’ve already said, his imagination is not hampered by technology; on the contrary it takes flight as a result. Rodari teaches us that we can and must exercise our imagination on everything that surrounds us human beings. So, when it hails, why shouldn’t we think that one day it might rain confetti? And why can’t an ordinary, uninteresting household appliance like a refrigerator not become the perfect subject for a story (Il Principe Gelato – The Ice Cream Palace)? Can you tell us about the book just released? The «Meridiano» volume has three large sections: Nursery rhymes and “stories” in rhyme, Nursery stories and “stories” in prose, and Grammatica della fantasia (The Grammar of Fantasy) and other works. These are of course accompanied by an Introduction, a Timeline of Rodari’s work, Notes on the texts, and a Bibliography. The first section includes Filastrocche in cielo e in terra (Nursery Rhymes in the Sky and on Earth), Il libro degli errori (The Book of Mistakes), and Parole per giocare (Many Stories to Play). Il libro degli errori was included in this section on account of the formal tension between verse and prose. The nursery rhyme aspect speaks to the child while the tension between poetry and prose involves the adult. This can work the other way around though, as is often the case when children and adults read together. Nursery rhymes and “stories” in prose include Le avventure di Cipollino (The Adventures of Cipollino), Gelsomino nel paese dei bugiardi (Gelsomino in the Country of Liars), Favole al telefono (Telephone Tales), La freccia azzurra (The Blue Arrow), La torta in cielo (The Cake in the Sky), Gip nel televisore e altre storie in orbita (Gip in the Television and other stories in orbit), Novelle fatte a macchina (Stories written on a typewriter), and C’era due volte il Barone Lamberto (Twice Upon a Time there was a Baron called Lamberto). This section too has that formal tension between poetry and prose that is such a special feature of Rodari’s style. You mustn’t forget either that often the titles of his chapters are themselves nursery rhymes, as in Le avventure di Cipollino. The volume concludes with Grammatica della fantasia e altri scritti, with texts like Autointervista taken from Il cane di Magonza (The Dog of Mainz) and Le letture di Benelux, his articles for the Benelux column, which show Rodari’s vast cultural interests that range from cinema and literature to philosophy and ethology. Literature and Anthropology scholar and lecturer, Daniela Marcheschi was born in Lucca, Tuscany, where she is still based. She curated the Meridiani Collection publications of the works of Collodi (1995), Giuseppe Pontiggia (2004) and Gianni Rodari (2020). The author of several volumes and essays translated into English, Portuguese, German, French, Swedish, Spanish and modern Greek, Marcheschi won the Rockefeller Award for Literature in 1996 and the Swedish Academy’s TolkningsPris in 2006.

How it Works! The Go Chemless micro-processor computer works by delivering a precise amount of elemental ions into your pool water to prevent algae, bacteria, viruses, mold and fungus from taking over your swimming pool. Unlike chlorine, which breaks down very quickly, the Go Chemless ions are available for bio sanitization over and over again. Go Chemless has developed a method to use precious base metals to generate CU+2 and AG+ ions that are responsible for the bio sanitizing process. What is an ion? Ions are charged particles that exist naturally in our environment. In fact many ions are absolutely necessary to support life including human life! The best example is table salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) which is made from one ion of sodium (NA+) and one ion of chloride (Cl). Without ions like sodium (NA+), Potassium (K+) and Calcium (Ca+2) your heart would not be able to beat because it’s the ionic action between these three main electrolytes that make your heart contract and relax millions of times in your life. How does my Go Chemless unit generate copper (II) and silver (I) ions? Your Go Chemless unit generates Copper (II) ions and Silver (I) ions through a process known as electrolysis. During electrolysis a small electrical current is passed between copper and silver rods. This forces some of the atoms to surrender two electrons (Cu++) or one electron (Ag+) thus forming water soluble copper (II) and Silver(I) ions, respectively. These newly generated ions are carried into your pool through the pump system and immediately put to work keeping your pool or hot tube free of bacteria, fungus, algae and viruses. Because they are single atoms, they are not affected by filtration systems including diatomaceous Earth filters. They pass right through and into your pool many times over to do their job of biosanitizing. What is “bio sanitizing”? The use of metals in water disinfection techniques is not new. Early Greeks used copper and silver goblets and vessels for drinking and storage purposes. The low solubility of these metals served as a natural, controlled release mechanism which added trace amounts of these ions to the water. Such amounts were high enough to purify the liquid without causing objectionable taste. Today, Silver is commonly used in the medical field as a disinfectant and antiseptic. The copper (II) ions and silver (I) ions generated by the Go Chemless interact with the outer membranes of bacteria, fungus, algae and viruses. This interference quickly leads to the loss of membrane integrity and the death of the target organism. In the case of algae, copper (II) prevents photosynthesis thus leading to the death of the organism due to insufficient energy production. In the case of highly resilient pathogens such as Legionella (the bacteria that causes Legionnaires Disease) the silver (I) ions bond to and kill these pathogens. In fact, many hospitals around the world use copper/silver ionization systems to purify drinking water. Copper (II) and silver (I) ions have also been demonstrated to interfere with the DNA of bacteria, fungus, algae and the RNA of viruses. We all know that DNA is the building block for all life and once DNA/RNA is interfered with the organism cannot function properly and will die. Copper (II) and silver (I) ions kill bacteria, fungus, algae and viruses through copper/silver mediated protein damage. In all living things proteins are generated to do the workings of the organism. Everything from making muscles to growing hair is the result of a protein. If proteins are damaged normal cell functions won’t take place and the organism will die as a result. Copper (II) and Silver (I) ions are not unique in their abilities to kill bacteria, fungus, algae and viruses. In fact most metal ions will kill all of these things. Unfortunately, most heavy metals are toxic to humans! This is why the scientists at Go Chemless have chosen copper and silver. There is a mountain of historical and scientific data to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of copper (II) and silver (I) ions for keeping water safe to drink as well as swim or bathe in. The good thing about copper and silver is that it has been shown to be completely safe for humans. Chlorination can not make that claim. Below is an excerpt from a study about biosanitization conducted by Charles W. Beer, Ph.D.: “Experimentation and publication by Gerba and others (10)(11)(12)(13)(14) indicates that 300-400 ppb of copper and 40 ppb silver combined with 0.1 ppm -0.4 ppm of chlorine is more effective in controlling a host of microorganisms, including coliform, than the use of higher levels of chlorine [emphasis added]…” A full copy of this very informative scientific study is available upon request from Go Chemless.

- n. 动机，目的；主题 - 1.What was his motive for doing that? - 2.Perhaps, their work motive in deeper level is to reveal the glory and greatness of God. - 3.Overturning the notion that the profit motive was evil, they approved of trade and business, as long as they were honest. - 1.the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for t - 2.a theme that is elaborated on in a piece of music - 1.causing or able to cause motion - 2.impelling to action - 动机; 单元; 動機; 发动的; - achievement motive - 成就动机; 成就動機; - power motive - approval motive - prestige motive

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals…no more man.” – Albert Einstein Are Bees Vital to Our Existence? As agriculture declines and dies off from the lack of pollination, animals that are herbivores will consume the remaining plants on our earth. When the plants are extinct, animals will die from lack of food and humanity will slowly become a thing of the past. The tiny insect we know as a bee, is responsible for pollinating agriculture and plants throughout the world. Without them, we would not have vegetation, trees, and plants. Agriculture would fail to thrive. Types of Bees There are many types of bees; however, to us, a bee is a bee is a bee. Contrary to our perception, different kinds of bees have different purposes. - Bumble Bees, Honey Bees, African Honey Bees - Carpenter Bees - Digger Bees - Mining Bees - Mason Bees - Sweat Bees - Plaster Bees - Yellow-Faced Bees A Bee’s Purpose Bees along with a few other insects pollinate the world’s vegetation. Most of these bees are solitary and are known as “workers.” Many farmers have beehives set up in their fields to take advantage of bees pollinating their crops. While honeybees are “super pollinators,” so too are the native bees. Native bees are much stronger and able to step in when the job calls for significant pollination. They quietly move about while going unnoticed. How Do We Save the Bees? We can help save the bees by staving off what’s known as “Colony Collapse.” Colony Collapse occurs when the worker bees never return to the colony leaving the queen bee behind to care and nurse the remaining young bees. The role of a queen bee is very specific, and no other bee can fill her shoes. Laying all of the eggs for the colony, she tends to the young. Never leaving the colony, she is mainly controlled by the worker bees and is not the regal ruler of the colony as many of us assumed. The vast majority of us know little or nothing about bees or the fact that they are dying off. There are a few things we can do to help prevent Colony Collapse. Plant things in your yard that not only attract bees but helps them to thrive. - Flowering plants that are yellow, blue and purple. Bees prefer these colors - Herbs such as sage, oregano, lavender, echinacea and thyme - Trees that blossoms Put a bee habitat in your yard or garden area. - Place a shelter in an area that is away from your house allowing bees to have solitude to thrive. - Place wooden blocks with holes drilled into them around an area that is quiet for those bees that prefer nesting in wood. - Provide water for the bees. - Refrain from using pesticides in your yard or garden area. Use organic pest control and your bees will thank you! A friend of mine has this in his yard and runs an emergency plumber Hollywood fl. He found the bees when he was fixing a leaking pipe in his house and had to open a wall to fix the pipe. He saw the bees, heard what I have been doing to help the bees and he made a habitat for them and now helps them and plants bee-friendly plants all over his backyard. You could say he’s a neophyte bee-keeper This fun hobby provides a stable environment for bees while promoting their population. Join other beekeepers in your area to swap ideas and raise awareness on the decline of bees. You will find that beekeeping is rewarding with not only the “coming and going” of watching the bees hardly work is entertaining, but you get to enjoy the bounty of honey your bees produce!

Vitamin D, Genes and Crohn’s Disease Have you ever wondered how some people are more likely to have certain diseases than other? Or how come we become more or less tolerant to types of food and food components, such as gluten? And how come, that some have a “hereditary cancer gene”, such as Angelina Jolie? And there’s some that have the gene, but does not have the disease? This article intends, as a more introductory way, to clear this story a bit. Due the complexity of gene build and expression, every one of us have DNA information enough to fill many computer databases. It’s a lot of coding to those genes to determine the color of our hair, skin, eyes, muscle density, disposition for fattening… And vulnerability to certain diseases . But we don’t use all of our DNA all the time. Mostly, it is condensed in a compact state, spread all over our body, inside our cells. Specific proteins identify what information they need, open the frame of info they require and read, generating the proteins, accordingly. These proteins build various components in our body, from the hair that grows to the skin that regenerates, like a tiny moving ecosystem. This is Gene Expression . Yes, DNA determines what we look like, our tendencies and various others particularities, from our conception to the way we live our lives. But not only the DNA influences that. What we eat (Ever heard that we are what we eat?), the weather where we live (The cold changes you), the people we interact (Tell me who you befriend and I tell who you are), the stresses that we have (No pain, no gain), all influences how our genes express. Also, when the gene expresses, it is “turned on”, and when it does not express, it is “turned off”. Turning “on or off” can be modified by external influences as well. This study is called Epigenetics . It sounds complex, right? It is. Complex much that, quite often, our own organism gets mistaken and one DNA strand have its proteins mixed up. When this happens, the proteins produced from this strand might get aberrant, not be produced or get produced in excess. That can lead to high cholesterol, immune deficiency, cancer and chronic diseases related, as well as many other problems. Usually, our immune system gets rid of them. But sometimes, when the immunity is compromised or these mistakes are happening too often, we may feel their effects . Humanity knows quite a lot already, but there still much to be discovered. For example, we know that all people have, since they’re born, mixed up DNA strands. This may be a morphism or a hereditary DNA trait. But not all of these mixes are negative. Many are, in fact, very positive – Like Usain Bolt, that have a high capacity for physical prowess, even higher than most athletes, and he have this in his genetic code, allied with a heavy training and diet, became a legendary athlete. Unfortunately, for some people, those mixes cause a higher chance to develop some diseases. To have a practical example of all that, let’s talk about the relation of Crohn’s Disease, Vitamin D and gene polymorphism : Gene polymorphism is a type of genetic change, that affect a group of DNA compounds. Imagine then, a morphism in the part of DNA that controls the capacity to recognize intestinal bacteria and food. Some of them can lead to malfunction, which leads to immune response, inflammation and a chronic disease called Intestinal Bowel disease (IBD). Crohn’s Disease (CD) is one of the worst, causing severe inflammation that destroys intestinal cells, making them unable to absorb nutrients from food ingested. Some products, such as gluten, is comparable to a poison for these people, causing terrible immune response, inflammation and pain. Some polymorphisms may also help lower Vitamin D levels in our blood. Our lifestyles have, more and more, caused us to avoid sun exposition, expanding most of daylight time inside cubicles and using massive sunblock for fear of skin cancer. A genetical change caused from UV-rays exposition. Vitamin D (Vit-D) is a particular type of vitamin, mostly obtained from sun exposition. There are few food sources capable of providing us enough Vitamin D, such as cold-water fishes, nuts, mushrooms and others. The problem is, Vitamin D is involved with many body functions, such as the immune system functioning, like inflammatory factors (IFN). It is known that low levels of Vitamin D lead to auto-immune diseases predisposition, such as CD . Summing up, lack of sunlight exposition and a poor-vitamin D diet causes lower levels of Vitamin D in the body, which leads to higher risk for immune diseases, as well as some psychological changes too, as we discussed in this article. If only lack of Vitamin D can lead to modification in our genes, imagine then someone who already have polymorphisms, known to cause high risk for CD, with low levels of Vitamin D? Those will have a higher risk for those diseases. If that person also has polymorphisms that lower Vit-D levels? Enormous risk. Let us add stressful habits and bad diet to that recipe and we will have a terrible dinner time. In a simple example: lack of self-awareness can lead to frustration, which leads to stress, which can lead the body to want more caloric food, which can lead to higher disposition to melancholy and depression, which make harder to develop better self-awareness. It’s a vicious circle, and we have whole bunch of hula-hoops to spin. So, to think optimistically, let’s think backwards: If we always have risks, how can we mitigate them? Our body tend to show us when it’s not feeling well. Stomach pain, excessive weight gain, headaches, diarrhea. It is important to note what causes discomfort and pain and happen in an often basis. To follow a diet that is better indicated to your body type and practice exercises and activities that relief stress. Meditate to put your mind at ease and develop self-awareness. Why don’t we improve our lifestyle and take the major lead of our own life and health? We recommend you to subscribe to our social media to keep reading the rest of this fascinating topic over the next weeks. Did you like this article on Vitamin D, Genes and Crohn’s Disease? This original content has been offered for free without advertisements thanks to our readers’ contributions. You, too, can support us in many ways. Check out how here! Thank you Copyright, Nature Going Smart. May not be re-printed without permission. Adams, J.U., O’Connel, C.. (2010). How Do Cells Decode Genetic Information into Functional Proteins?. In: Nature Education Essentials of Cell Biology . -: Nature. 2.3.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was enacted in 1969 to “ensure that information on the environmental impacts of any federal action is available to public officials and citizens before decisions are made and before actions are taken.” The NEPA process is intended to “help public officials make decisions that are based on understanding of environmental consequences, and take actions that protect, restore, and enhance the environment.” In order to satisfy NEPA requirements for this project, an environmental document was prepared as project development progressed. Projects are classified for environmental review purposes based on project complexity and potential environmental impacts. Summarized below are the steps that will be taken during the course of the project to satisfy NEPA requirements. Where can I get more information? The complete environmental process is documented well in ITD’s Environmental Manual. Click on the link to get more information about the process. The environmental process is initiated by publishing a Notice of Intent (NOI) which advises federal agencies that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared. Environmental scoping will begin in order to identify the types of actions to be completed, the range of alternatives and impacts, and the significant impacts to be addressed in the environmental document. A Draft EIS (DEIS) will be prepared that identifies the alternative actions and presents an analysis of their relative impacts on the environment. It may identify a recommended course of action if one alternative is clearly preferred. The DEIS summarizes the early coordination and scoping process, identifies key issues, and presents pertinent information obtained through these efforts. The DEIS will be published and a public hearing held. The DEIS will be circulated, as required under federal regulations, to environmental review agencies, cities and counties, local agencies, the media, public officials, private interest groups and others. Based on DEIS review comments, additional environmental studies and documentation may be required. The final EIS (FEIS) will be prepared to document such studies, and to respond to formal comment. The FEIS is then published (in the same way as the DEIS), and a Record of Decision (ROD) is prepared and approved by the Federal Highway Administration. Right-of-Way acquisition, PS&E (Plans, Specifications & Estimates) preparation, and construction may then commence. The Idaho Transportation Department continues to move forward with plans for the U.S. 95, Thorncreek Road to Moscow Project. The final eastern route (E2) for the highway was chosen after a multi-year environmental review process. The Federal Highway Administration issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for the project in 2016, giving ITD authority to begin final design and purchase land. A legal motion was brought against FHWA and ITD in 2017 regarding the Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision. The U.S. District Court for Idaho ruled against the motion in favor of FHWA and ITD in August 2017. Project opposition appealed that decision in January 2018. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the lower court’s decision on December 7, 2018. ITD will continue right-of-way acquisition and submit a 404 permit application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After those two steps are completed, the project can be put out for construction bids. Work could begin as early as late summer 2019. Please call Ken Helm at (208)799-5090 if you have any questions about the project.

Smart. Talented. Special. Gifted. Bright. Stupid. Unskilled. Ordinary. Average. Dull. If you’re not one, you must be the other, right? No: there’s a third set of descriptions that’s better than both of the ones above, and it goes like this: Hard worker. Dedicated. Pays attention. Asks questions. Practices. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am going to nag you about getting more writing done eventually, but right now I’m going to talk to you about why you’re going to succeed as a writer even if you don’t think you’re that good at it. It’s a really easy thing to start thinking, “I’m not talented enough to succeed as a writer,” especially when you’re around a bunch of people who are more successful than you. I have two studies that will help give some insight into how false it is to think like that. In 1998, psychologists Carol Dweck and Elaine Elliott1 performed an experiment on 400 different fifth-graders in New York City schools. They took the kids out of class and had them perform a really easy nonverbal IQ test–a puzzle. They told half the kids that they were really intelligent; they told the other half of the kids that they had really worked hard on the test. Then the students were given a choice of the next puzzle to solve. One test would be harder, but they would learn something from it; the other test would be just as easy. The majority of kids who were praised for being smart chose the easy test. But over 90% of the kids who were praised for being hard workers chose the harder test. There was a trick to the second test: it was purposely designed to be so hard that all the kids failed it. Then there was a third test, a doable test. The kids who were praised for their hard work earlier did 30% better than they did on the super-easy first test. The kids who were praised for their intelligence did 20% worse. The psychologists came to the conclusion that you should praise children for the things they can control–like hard work. What else, as writers, can we take from that? A few things: - If you think (or have been told) you’re talented, you’re more likely to fail after your first setback. - If you think you’re talented, you’re less likely to try something challenging or new. - If you think you’re a hard worker, you’re more likely to succeed after your first setback than you are when you first start out. - If you think you’re a hard worker, you’re more likely to try something challenging or new. People who think of themselves as hard workers succeed more, doing harder things. People who think they have some kind of magical inherent talent fail more, doing easier things. Looking at things from the point of view of being a talented or an untalented writer is useless. Whether you decide you’re talented or untalented, you’re more likely to fail. Looking at things from the point of view of being a hard worker is useful; you’re more likely to get better after a setback. Okay, great. So how do you change your point of view? Especially if you believe you’re on the untalented end of the spectrum? Like many writers, I’m an introvert with problems with self-confidence. I’m an arrogant perfectionist who both secretly suspects that I defacate diamonds2 and that I am a idiot hack with bad back problems due to constantly having my head up my ass. I don’t get to magically escape the ideas that I’m both talented an untalented. I believe them; it’s not like I can just wipe those things out by saying so. I hate it when people say, “Oh, you should just stop doing or believing stupid things.” That’s not what I’m trying to say. You’re never going to get rid of that talent/no talent point of view. You’re just going to damp it down; you’re not going to let it drive you crazy. How? You’re going to teach yourself how to see yourself as a hard worker, whether you think you’re talented, not talented, or both, by doing hard work. Part of you is going to doubt that hard work is going to do you any good. That’s okay. That part of you is a precious thing–it’s your internal editor, and it’s part of what will make you get better instead of staying at your current level. More about that later. Let me promise you: you won’t just be brainwashing yourself; doing the work actually will make you better. Which brings me to study #2. K. Anders Ericsson is a psychologist at Florida State University and an expert on being and becoming an expert. In the early 1990s, he and his colleagues published studies3 showing that, no matter what the field, people who were national and international experts in their fields spent at least 10,000 hours of deliberate practice (or at least ten years) to get to that point. These were people who started out, like you, with some aptitude for their field. And then they worked. Let’s turn hours into wordcount–if you’re writing at a rapid, non-nitpicky pace, 1000 words an hour is reasonable (talk to a multiple survivor of NaNoWriMo if you doubt this). That’s about ten million words that you need to write before you become a national- or international-level writer. Fussing with the same thousand words for ten thousand hours probably doesn’t count; it’s ten million new words that you need to accomplish. Sound like a lot of words? Stephen King, in On Writing, said he writes 2000 words a day, taking off his birthday and Christmas. That’s 726,000 words a year. We know he started writing by 1959, when he and his brother self-published a mimeographed paper. His first novel, Carrie, was published in 1973. New American Library bought the paperback rights from Doubleday for $400,000, of which King got half. Fourteen years. At 2000 words a day, that’s just over 10 million words. Even so, he later said about Carrie: “I’m not saying that Carrie is shit and I’m not repudiating it. She made me a star, but it was a young book by a young writer. In retrospect it reminds me of a cookie baked by a first grader — tasty enough, but kind of lumpy and burned on the bottom.” A lot of people have called him a no-talent hack, but as we saw in Part 2, he’s one of the top ten writers in the world, making $34 million dollars in one year. In some ways, this is one of the most discouraging things I could have written: when I said hard work, I meant it, and it’s a hard thing to have to say. This is not going to encourage the kind of people who say, “I have an idea for a book” or “I’ve been working on my novel for years.” I’ve been that kind of person, and it’s depressing. However, I can provide a little additional encouragement: before Stephen King published Carrie, he had smaller successes. He self-published some things. He wrote novels that didn’t sell. He sold some short stories. It wasn’t years of absolutely no success and then bam! here’s your $200,000 check. He had success before that 10-million-word mark. So, when you can and as much as you can, stop worrying about whether you’re good enough to be a writer. It’s enough to be able to say, “I love writing, and I’m willing to do the work.” Next Time: You Can’t Control Success 1Elliott, E.S., and Dweck, C.S. “Goals: An approach to motivation and achievement,” in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 5-12. 2Thanks, Ian. I may have to change those metaphors for the conference, but I’m using them now. 3Ericsson, K. Anders, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer. “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance,” in Psychological Review, 1993, vol. 100. No. 3, 363-406, is one of those articles.

The Yunfu qunyu 韻府群玉 "The many jades from the rhymes treasury" is an encyclopedia compiled by the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368) scholar Yin Shifu 陰時夫 (personal name Yin Youyu 陰幼遇, also called Yin Jingxuan 陰勁弦) and commented by his brother Yin Zhongfu 陰中夫 (also called Yin Fuchun 陰復春). The 20 juan "scrolls" long book imitates the structure of Yan Zhenqing's 顏真卿 now lost encyclopedia Yunhai jingyuan 韻海鏡源 from the Tang period 唐 (618-907) which arranged the topics according to phonology (106 rhymes, see pingshui rhymes 平水), and not, as usual, by theme. The themes are, nevertheless, identical to those used in other encyclopedias, from astronomy and geography to human affairs, administration, literature and objects, to animals and plants. During the late 17th century, the female scholar Xie Ying 謝瑛 revised the surviving editions of the Yunfu qunyu and republished this revised version, known as Cengshan Yunyu dingben 增刪韻玉定本. The book was criticized as a mediocre collection, but it is practically the only surviving book with this kind of phonetical arrangement, and therefore earns attention. It influenced later compilations, like the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) encyclopedia Yongle dadian 永樂大典, or the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) encyclopedia Peiwen yunfu 佩文韻府. There is a supplement to the Yunfu qunyu written by the Ming period scholar Bao Yu 包瑜, the Yunfu xubian 韻府續編, in 40 (or 38) juan. It is rated as very mediocre, with a bad print. The is a print by Master Liu 劉氏 from the Jiajing era 嘉靖 (1522-1566), and the print of Xie Ying from the Kangxi reign 康熙 (1662-1722). The is included in the reprint series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. In 1991 the Shanghai guji press published a modern edition 上海古籍出版社. Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰 (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, p. 2043. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe. Zhao Hankun 趙含坤 (2005). Zhongguo leishu 中國類書, pp. 167-168, 198. Shijiazhuang: Hebei renmin chubanshe.

After Henry Hudson, many English explorers sailed for Hudson's Bay seeking the North-West Passage. They suffered much and learned little. Then, as if weary with the cruel struggle with ice and snow, these bold adventurers ceased their voyages for a time, and not for forty years did a British ship steer its way among the icebergs of the great inland sea. Then again adventurers sailed to the Far North. But this time they came not to explore, but to trade. Prince Rupert, the dashing cousin of King Charles II., helped to fit out the expedition, and himself became the governor of the new land which was now claimed by the British. And this land was called after him Prince Rupert Land. The adventurers received a charter or writing from King Charles, giving them leave to trade and found colonies wherever they would around the shores of Hudson Bay. The company was called the "Honourable Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay," and later it became famous as the Hudson Bay Company. Soon a British fort was built upon the barren shore, and the red flag of St. George fluttered out in the lonely waste. But the French were ill pleased that any man should set foot in the land they wished to own. So the next year the French king sent a gentleman named De Lusson to take possession of the great North-West. This gentleman did not trouble to go to the North-West, but upon a hill at the Saulte St. Marie, where the three great lakes meet, he held a solemn ceremony. Here many tribes of Indians were gathered together hideous with paint of various colours, bedecked with feathers and wampum. They were feasted, they danced and played games and smoked the pipe of peace. And at last one sunny day in June they climbed the hill, and upon the top, with much pomp and little understanding what it meant, set their names to a paper. In this paper the great White King claimed the whole of North America from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the coast of Labrador as far west as land might be, for then the west was but a pathless wilderness, no man knowing how far it might reach. It was a wild and strange scene. Gay Frenchmen in bright uniforms, priests in rich robes, half-naked savages gaudy in paint and feathers, all were there. When the paper was signed, a great cross blessed by the priests was raised, and planted near it was a post carved with the lilies of France. Then kneeling around the cross with bowed bare heads, the Frenchmen sang a Latin "The banners of Heaven's King advance; The mystery of the Cross shines forth." Prayers were said. Then with drawn sword in one hand, and a sod of earth in the other, De Lusson claimed all the countries, rivers, and streams, both those which were discovered and those which at any time might be discovered, for his most Christian Majesty, the King of France. And as he ceased, the silence was broken, the air rang with cries of God save the King, mingled with the roar of gunshot and the savage yells of Indians. A priest then spoke to the Red Men. He told them that powerful though their chiefs might be, they were as nought to the great White King, whose riches were untold, who walked in the blood of his enemies, and who had slain so many in battle that no man might number them. This he told them to strike awe into their hearts, and greatly marvelling at the power of this fearful unknown white lord, the Red Men scattered to their homes again, uttering wild yells or grunting hoarsely as they went. So once more France and Britain clashed, and France claimed what Britain had taken. Still for some years the Company built forts, traded with the Indians, and grew rich, undisturbed by the French. Then the French too formed a fur-trading company called the Company of the North, and trouble began. Again and again the British forts were attacked and destroyed. Again and again with dogged courage the British returned to them, and rebuilt them. Even when they were not fighting, the French did all they could to prevent the Red Men trading with the British. But the Red Men soon found out that the British gave them more in exchange for their furs than the French, and so, of course, were glad to trade with them. Nowadays, if we wish to buy anything, we must give money for it. But to a savage, money is of no use, for he has no shops to which he may go to buy things. So in exchange for furs the traders gave the Redskins tobacco, guns, beads, hatchets, gay clothes, and blankets. During the winter the savages would hunt and trap the wild animals and gather great stores of skins, then when spring came, and the frozen rivers melted, they would load their bark canoes and paddle away to the Company's forts. They had often to travel hundreds of miles, and the journey was full of difficulties and dangers. In those days, through the wilderness of the Far North, there were no roads at all. The rivers and lakes were the only highways. But upon the rivers there were rapids where the waters rushed in white foam over the river bed. So clever were the Indians in managing their canoes that sometimes they could shoot these rapids, that is row over them. But at other times, when the rapids were more dangerous, they would land, unload their canoes, and carry them and their goods along the river banks, and launch again in the smooth water below the rapids. This was called making a portage. Portage comes from the French word porter, to carry. Sometimes, too, when a river no longer flowed in the direction in which the traveller wished to go, he would unload and carry his canoe over the portage to another river which did flow in the right direction, and there launch anew. Sometimes a portage might only be a few yards, sometimes it was several miles. Often the difficulties of travelling were so great that the Indians, worn with hunger and fatigue, became too weak to carry their loads. Then, before they reached the trading fort, they would throw away many of the skins which they had gathered with such skill and care during the winter months, thus losing the reward they had hoped to gain for their labour. But the fort at last reached, all difficulties and dangers of the journey were forgotten. With shouts and firing of guns the Indians landed. Leaving the women to unload the canoes and do the other hard work, the chiefs marched to the fort. There they were received by the white men, and sat in state, while pipes were passed round the circle. Then followed days of drinking and feasting, sometimes of fighting too. For the Redskin, alas! loved the "fire water" of the white man, and when the heat of it warmed his blood, he cared not what he did. At length came the great day. Dressed in a red coat trimmed with cheap lace, brave in many coloured stockings and feathered hat, the chief and his warriors gathered to smoke the pipe of peace. Its long stem was decorated with bears' and eagles' claws, and bright with feathers, and as it passed around the circle each took a whiff. Then when the tobacco burned low in the bowl, speech began. With much flowery talk, and many flowing words, the furs were exchanged for tobacco and guns. It was a long business, but at length the barter was done. Then the Redskins paddled away again, once more leaving the fort to its wonted stillness, and the traders to pack and store the furs ready to be sent off when the next ship from home should arrive. Such were the beginnings of the great company which for a time ruled a large territory, and which still exists to this day. It was no easy or safe life, for the French looked upon the whole land as their own. Again and again they attacked the company's posts and swept them away. Again and again the British returned, strengthened their outposts, and pushed their conquests farther and farther into the wilds. At last they gained such a firm footing that neither the rage of the Frenchmen, nor the wiles of the Indian, could dislodge them.

About Types of Batik The oldest batik-making tradition in Java comes from the kraton (royal courts) of the cities of Yogyakarta and Solo in Central Java. Javanese royalty were great patrons of the arts, including puppetry, gamelan orchestras, silverwork, and batik production. Certain patterns were reserved for the royal family, and batik played an important role in Javanese culture and tradition. Batik from Yogyakarta traditionally uses colors such as black, brown, indigo and dark yellow, on a white background, while batik from Solo features dark yellow as the background color. The royal courts of both cities still house factories for the production of traditional batik, and host markets where fine batik can be bought. The colors used in traditional batik were those of natural dyes but skilled artisans were able to mix the dyes carefully to produce subtle variations. The shade of the color depended on how long the cloth was dipped in the dye. Many of the classic patterns associated with Indonesian batik originate in the batik produced in the Javanese kraton. There are two main types of pattern used: geometric, and free-form design which is usually a stylized depiction of nature, such as leaves or waves. The majority of the Indonesian population is Muslim and Islam prohibits the accurate portrayal of people or animals. The most common geometric patterns used are kawung, a series of intersecting circles that probably represent the fruit of the sugar palm; parang, diagonal rows of blade-like repeating patterns, alternating in color; and ceplok which is the name given to patterns made of geometric shapes. The kawung and parang designs were originally reserved for the royal courts of Solo and Yogyakarta. The northern coasts of Java were more open to foreign influences through maritime trading, particularly from the Chinese. Batik produced in these areas is known as pesisir (coastal) batik, and is characterized by bright vibrant colors and the use of Chinese-influenced motifs such as the dragon, phoenix, lotus and flowers. Distinct styles of pesisir batik are produced in Cirebon, often featuring a cloud pattern; Madura (an island off the coast of Java), which uses deep vibrant colors such as red and green, and spear-like motifs; and Pekalongan, the still-thriving center of pesisir batik production, which produces batik in bright colors using floral motifs showing Chinese and Dutch influence. West Java is also renowned for the production of batik, with several distinct styles. This area is home to the Sundanese people. Sundanese batik utilizes naturalistic patterns such as flowers, plants, birds and butterflies. The traditional production centers for Sundanese batik include Ciamis, featuring simple designs in black, white, and dark yellow; the small town of Garut, which produces traditional Javanese batik in distinct colors such as dark red, dark green and purple on an ivory background; and the region of Banten in the northwest corner of Java, characterized by pastel colors. The Japanese occupation of Java in World War II inspired a style known as Java Hokokai batik which is notable for its intricate detail and Japanese-inspired motifs such as cherry blossoms, butterflies, and chrysanthemums. Java Hokokai batik usually included two separate designs on one piece of cloth: a legacy of wartime scarcity. The island of Sumatra is also home to batik production. The eastern coastal province of Jambi had ancient trade links with the north coast of Java and produces a similar style to pesisir batik. The Minangkabau people from the highlands of West Sumatra use clay as a dye for the cloth, which often features only two colors and floral themes. Batik from the staunchly Islamic province of Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra features heavily stylized depictions of flora and fauna and geometric shapes in line with religious principles, and bright colors such as pink and red are used. Batik production was introduced to Bali much more recently than in other areas of Indonesia, mainly in response to the demands of the tourist industry. Balinese batik artisans often combine the wax-resist method of traditional batik with the local tie-dye technique known as ikat, which allows for the use of subtle shading of color. The key areas for the production of batik in Malaysia are on the east coast of the Malay peninsular and in the southern province of Johor. Batik-making traditions were most likely brought to Malaysia by sailors and traders, and later by Javanese and Sumatran immigrants. Malaysian batik shows influence from both Javanese kraton batik and the pesisir style of Jambi. However, Malaysian artisans are less likely to use the tjanting to apply the wax; instead brush painting is used to create the design on the cloth and add the color. This, combined with the use of lighter and more vibrant colors makes for a distinct departure from traditional Indonesian batik. The influence of Islam in Malaysia means that motifs such as leaves and flowers dominate, along with geometric shapes, including spirals. Batik (often modernized and turned into items of high fashion) is becoming an increasingly important part of Malaysian cultural identity and is heavily promoted by the government. Use of the dye-resist method in China dates back to the sixth century. Batik is still made in Guizhou Province, in the south-west, by the Miao, Bouyei and Gejia ethnic groups, primarily for traditional costumes. The patterns are drawn using a tool similar to the tjanting, on white cloth which is then dyed blue or indigo. Traditional Guizhou batik is only blue/indigo and white, and utilizes a spiral design symbolizing the horns of the water buffalo, although over the centuries other designs such as flowers, butterflies and dragons, and a greater variety of colors have been introduced. In the central Asian republic of Azerbaijan, a batik-style method is used to create and decorate women’s silk headscarves, known locally as kelagai. The art form died out when the country was under Soviet occupation but was revived after independence in 1991, and is becoming increasingly popular as a symbol of national identity and as a fashion item. There are ancient traditions in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa of using the resist method for dyeing cloth: such as the Yoruba people of West Africa who used a cassava paste to draw the design, either free-hand or with a stencil. In the 19th century, Dutch traders and colonial administrators introduced the Javanese wax method, and it was quickly adapted to African designs and color schemes.

The most common shape of a storage vessel is a Bullet with two heads which are either, hemispherical, elliptical or tori-spherical. Spherical vessels have larger surface area per unit volume. The advantage of a sphere over a horizontal bullet with the same volume is increased by the static head because it is a practice to let the thickness of the sphere vary from top to bottom as the pressure increases. Spheres are preferred for large capacity storages. Spherical vessel is good choice above 10 m diameter. A tank-type will usually be selected considering the cost or the size for transportation. The spherical type is usually employed for sizes greater than 500 m3. The horizontal Bullet type is usually used for sizes smaller than 100 m3. An important aspect in the design of spheres for LPG is the considerable weight involved. Such spheres are normally supported upon vertical legs attached to the vessel at its equator. In order to withstand the compressive stresses the total cross sectional area of the legs must increase linearly with the weight of the vessel under ASME Section Ⅷ Division I : Rules for Construction of Pressure Vessels

Insight into Common Starfish (Asterias rubens): the most common starfish found all around the coast in Britain, it is usually between 12 to 30cm across but can grow to nearer 50cm across. The Common Starfish has 5 arms but if it loses one it can grow back. More amazingly, if the lost arm has part of the central disc it can become a complete individual. Fishermen who used to cut starfish in two to try and reduce their numbers may have been doubling them! They may look sweet but they’re fierce predators and will eat mussels, crustaceans, worms and starfish. Unusually for a starfish it can tolerate estuarine habitats but then what’s not to like about the Helford River!

Otázka: Environment and its protection Environment includes plants, animals, air, water, our civilization etc. We could say that is everything what is around us. Environment is influenced by: - 1) processes in nature - 2) activity of people. Processes in nature/Natural disasters Natural disasters are: - Natural wildfire - Volcano eruption - Dust/Sand storm In our country we can notice quite often the floods. Floods are generally caused by long heavy rains or when a lot of snow melt in the spring and water run down from mountains. This water flood towns, roads and their surrounding. The floods damage houses, bridges, roads and kill people and animals who don´t run away. Fire burns also everything what is on the way. It´s caused by someones´s inattention or by dry, hot season. Wind helps to extend (expand) the fire. But fire brigade try to stop this catastrophe. I think this profession is one of the most dangerous at all. Huricanes and tornadoes are caused by presure changes in the atmosphere.We can meet with this phenomena often in the area of the Caribbean sea. The speed of huricane can reach up 119 km/hour. It´s very strong wind destroying everything on the way. The movement of the litospheric boards causes earthquakes and explosions of volcanoes. In the course of earthquake: the land is crashing and shaking. Buildings fall down and everybody is in danger. Earthquake under the ocean can cause a big tidal wave which floods the coast. On the other hand, the volcanoes produce a lot of dust, smoke and lava which pours out and burns everything what is in the land´s surface. Civilization has brought people many advantages but its products also pollute and damage the environment in which we live. Ozone hole: Ozone forms a layer in the upper atmosphere which protects life on Earth from ultraviolet rays, which cause skin cancer. This layer is destroyed by freons. The biggest ozone hole has formed over Antarctica and Australia. Pollution: what causes the pollution? Air pollution is the biggest problem in large cities and in areas with concentrated industrial production. Emissions range from smoke (produced by coal fired power stations and factories which burns fossil fuels), dust, and smells to car and lorry exhausts. Substance such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide mix with the air moisture and then acid rain falls down onto trees and slowly kill them. Trees are very important for us, because they produce oxygen for breathing. A big danger in nowdays is destruction of rain forests (deforestation) for building materials. The air is polluted by: - exhaust fumes from transport and cars: people use cars to go to work or to go shopping, and there are often traffic jams, especially in big cities - factories and power stations. There are lots of coal power stations in North Bohemia (Tušimice, Prunéřov, Počerady). They are desulphurized today; in spite of that they emit lots of pollutants every day. - freons and other gases Water is polluted: - by cargo ships and disasters on the sea - by people who wash their cars by rivers and ponds - by fertilizers used in agriculture - by chemical factories Water is polluted by households, industrial processes, by pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture, by waste and ships (mainly by tankers which crashed and oil run out). We should find technologies for saving water, reduce chemical fertilizers, controlle industrial processes. Soil is polluted by fertilizers used in agriculture and by landfills (especially illegal landfills). Global warming is caused by the greenhouse efect. Manmade atmospheric emissions, like carbon dioxide (produced by burning fossil fuels), nitrogen oxides (from car exhausts), freon (from aerosol and refrigerators), methan and water vapour prevent the heat from escaping the Earth. Then the Eart´s temperature rises, arctic ice melts and areas near the sea level floods. How can the problems of air pollution be solved? - First of all, people should try to use alternative sources of energy, such as solar, water, wind, geothermal and perhaps tidal energies. - People should use public transportation or fast railways more. New cars should run on unleaded petrol. - Factories and power stationsshould have effective filters. - Households should use natural gas. Nature and Environment – Questions + answers - What is an ecosystem? - An ecosystem is a group of living things and the whole place where they live. They all live together and need each other. For example, one kind of ecosystem is a desert. It has special plants that can live only there, lizards, snakes, vultures, and special insects. - Are there any environmental problems in your region? What are they caused by? - Yes, there are some problems. The main problem is … [water pollution/air pollution, etc.] There are many factories in my region, and many people … [drive cars/burn coal, etc.] - Are you aware of any global environmental issues? Which is most serious and why? - Yes, I know a bit about global warming. This is a very serious problem. Most scientists agree that it could seriously harm our lives, unless we stop it. Glaciers and polar ice are melting, rain forests are dying, and farms are turning into desert. - Tell me a bit more about global warming. What is it? - This is the general increase in air and water temperatures around the world. It’s normal for temperatures to sometimes be cooler for many hundreds of years, and then sometimes to be warmer. But this time, humans have caused the increase, with carbon from cars and factories. - What is the Greenhouse Effect? What is it caused by? - The Greenhouse Effect is when the air or atmosphere gets too hot. Air warmed by the sun gets trapped close to the ground. It can’t escape. It is caused by too much carbon in the air, from factories, electricity plants, and cars. - What is the ozone layer and what is its function? - The ozone layer protects us from the harmful rays of the sun. It is in the atmosphere and surrounds the Earth like a clear blanket. - Now there is a hole in the ozone layer. How did it get there? Is it dangerous? - I don’t think scientists are sure how it got there. They only think that maybe too much carbon has destroyed part of it. It is very dangerous for us because it lets the strong sunlight through to the Earth’s surface. This can cause cancer in humans. - Why is it dangerous to cut down the rainforests? - This is dangerous for many reasons. We need the oxygen that comes from rainforests. Rainforests are the homes of many insects, plants, and animals that we need for medicine and other reasons. Rainforests help catch water and give it back to the Earth in the form of clouds, which bring us water. The roots of trees and plants in the rainforest keep water and soil in place; without the rainforest, there are many problems like floods and mudslides. - What types of extreme weather have you been in? Is it connected with environmental problems? - I’ve seen/been in/ a flood in … [place, year]. It was scary – water came down our street like it was a river. … There was a lot of wind damage in our town in [year/month] when there was a [tornado/hurricane/gale-force wind]. Extreme weather is a part of nature but I don’t think / and I do think / it is connected with environmental problems because … - Which chemicals or chemical products do you use at home? Are they harmful to the environment? - Well, we have a refrigerator, of course. It contains the gas called “freon,” which is very harmful to the atmosphere. We also have some things for cleaning, which contain strong chemicals. - How can you tell that a product you buy is ‘environmentally friendly’? - I can look on the package and see if it has the symbols for this: information on how to recycle the package, whether the product uses some recycled materials, and so on. I can read about different products on the internet, and find out where I can buy recycled things like ink cartridges for my printer. - What can you do to help our environment as a single individual? - There are many ways I can help the environment: I can use special light bulbs, turn off the Tv or radio when I’m not really paying attention to it, and put my computer on stand-by mode, all to save electricity. I can ride my bike or walk instead of taking the car or the bus, to save petrol. And I can recycle all my paper, glass, and plastic. - What is the difference between ‘recycled,’ ‘recycling,’ and ‘recyclable’? - “Recycled” means that some or all of the materials in something have been cleaned and can be used again – for example, a glass bottle. “Recycling” is the activity of not throwing something into the garbage, but putting it into a special bin where it will be taken away and used again. “Recyclable” means it’s possible to be used again, but it’s up to me to put it into the recycling bin for this. - What are some types of alternative energy? Which do you like best, and why? - There is nuclear energy, water and steam power for electricity, solar energy from the sun, and wind power. Some cars can run on alternative energy like electricity or hydrogen. I like …[ ] because … [ Další podobné materiály na webu:

B.13 Disaster planning - B.13 Disaster planning - Why prepare a disaster plan? - What next? - B.13.1 Prevention - B.13.2 Preparedness - Disaster control team - Evacuation procedures - Equipment and contacts - Salvage priorities - Business contingency planning - B.13.3 Reaction - Initial assessment - B.13.4 Recovery - Further information - Panel 8: Disaster plan template B.13 Disaster planning#After a fire destroyed Norwich Central Library in 1994, library managers realised that 'it could happen to them'. Disasters do happen and by nature they are unexpected. Disaster plans help you to react in the event of a disaster and to cope with the aftermath. Why prepare a disaster plan?#There are various hazards in all environments. Often they just seem to be minor irritations, for example a dripping tap, a poorly closing door or an awkwardly placed cabinet, but sometimes they can escalate into disasters. The benefit of going through the disaster-planning process is that it gives you a chance to focus on what is really important, that is, the safety of the people who work in or visit the HER and the protection of valued information and services. Why put these at risk for the sake of a little time spent on preparation and good housekeeping? What next?#This manual offers guidelines to assist in preparing and updating a disaster plan that is tailored to an HER's local circumstances. (See Panel 7 for a disaster-plan template). B.13.1 Prevention#There is an alarming range of potential disasters including: - fire, flood, storm - supply failures, gas explosion, liquid spillage - structural collapse - theft, vandalism, arson - loss of key staff - unauthorised access to archives, databases - works, security breaches and disasters impacting from neighbouring premises - collision by transport. Simple precautions often reduce the possibility of a disaster occurring and minimise its effect. There is no substitute for good housekeeping. Take a good look at each of these areas: - buildings/equipment maintenance - fire hazard - location of collections - storage of collections How vulnerable is each area? Are there any measures that you can take to protect the HER? Protection measures normally fall into one of four categories: - avoiding the risk by making changes - transferring the risk to someone better equipped to manage it - controlling the risk by installing early-warning systems or safeguards - accepting the risk if the asset value is low. B.13.2 Preparedness#If a disaster happens, it will be a shock. Preparing a written plan helps. This should cover both the procedures to be followed at the moment of disaster, and information to meet immediate requirements. A template is provided to assist (see Panel 7) but remember that your plan may need to be co-ordinated with a disaster plan for your local authority or department. Disaster control team#HERs form part of larger organisations. Any disaster will involve staff from other departments. Your plan should include the names and contact details (at home and at work) of all relevant staff. This must include a disaster manager for the HER and contact details for members of staff who can be called out to assist. Evacuation procedures#All visitors and members of staff must be evacuated when 'exposed to serious and imminent danger'. Your plan should document evacuation procedures and should include a floor plan which locates all emergency exits, assembly points, alarms, equipment, etc. Insurance#Your plan should include details of any insurance policy and a named point of contact. Equipment and contacts#Disasters often involve mess and quantities of water. Assemble basic equipment in advance. In your plan, include a marked floor plan, showing where the service isolation points are, where your emergency equipment is stored and what equipment is available. Include the names and addresses of contractors who provide maintenance, repair work or specialist services. Salvage priorities#What would you save first in a disaster? Make a list and include a floor plan showing where each item is stored in your disaster plan. Label priority items clearly (or the cabinets and drawers in which they are stored) so that they can be rapidly identified in an emergency. IT#All HER systems will be regularly backed up with tapes stored offsite. Include details in your plan of whoever is available to restore the HER from back-up in a disaster. Business contingency planning#How would you continue to operate if your computers were stolen? Include details in your disaster plan of business contingency plans which will help to keep services running in the event of particular disasters. Training#All staff should be regularly trained in emergency evacuation procedures. The disaster manager and members of the disaster team should also be trained in emergency salvage and conservation. B.13.3 Reaction#Initial actions on discovering a disaster should be: - Alert the emergency services and evacuate people if necessary - Contact the senior manager in office hours - Contact the disaster manager outside office hours. Initial assessment#On arriving at the scene the disaster manager will: - liaise with emergency services - set up a control point - assess the damage, when safe to do so brief the disaster team - stabilise the environment - secure undamaged material - organise salvage operations. Remember that your safety and the safety of the disaster team are paramount. The disaster area should not be entered until it is declared safe by emergency services. Salvage#Working conditions may be cold, wet and dirty. There may be lots of heavy work if furniture and equipment are out of place. Warm, old clothes, gloves and stout shoes should be worn. The disaster manager should organise rest breaks with hot drinks and snacks for the disaster team. - You should aim to sort undamaged materials from those that are dampened or saturated by water. - Materials that have been damaged beyond repair should be discarded - Priority collections and undamaged materials should be secured against possible further damage - Emergency conservation techniques include air drying, freeze drying and in some cases washing - these techniques are well documented in other literature - Mould and pest infestations may represent health hazards. Both require monitoring and advice should be sought from experts on how to deal with them. B.13.4 Recovery#During the initial recovery phase, procedures should be put into place to allow the HER to continue services at a minimum level. The disaster manager should initiate recovery procedures to: - restore IT from back-up - arrange for the area to be cleaned - provide access to undamaged material - list damaged or destroyed equipment and prepare any insurance claims - order replacement furniture or equipment - inform management and staff of progress - review the disaster plan. Be aware that, in the event of a major disaster staff may become depressed or otherwise affected. You may wish to include details of staff welfare services in your disaster plan or consider other arrangements to support staff coping with the aftermath. - Disaster Management Planning for Archaeological Archives IFA/AAF. This paper sets out in the required detail the considerations that need to be addressed in preparing and implementing a disaster management plan for archaeological archives. Panel 8: Disaster plan template#Disaster Plan prepared for THE HER on _ by . The plan will be updated on updates will be sent to the disaster manager, disaster team members, site managers, etc. Procedures for initial action on discovering a disaster. - Alert the Emergency Services as necessary. Dial (9) 999 and give details of the location and - Alert the Disaster Manager (insert name and contact numbers at home and work) and the most - Evacuate the building in the event of staff and readers being âexposed to serious and imminent - Liaise with emergency services and establish a control point. - Contact the Disaster control team: (insert names and contact details for team members) - Contact staff from other Departments (may include: Security, Estates, IT, Finance, Catering, - Assess the scene and the damage. Stabilise the environment and break out emergency - Organise salvage teams. Salvage priority collections. Secure undamaged material. Arrange Insert insurance policy number and a contact details with the insurance company. Insert the following location plans: - Fire exits, fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, sprinkler systems, assembly points. - Electrical, water, sewerage, drainage and gas systems; fuse boxes, stop cocks and isolation valves. - The location of priority collections for salvage, emergency equipment stores and first aid boxes. Insert a list of collection salvage priorities and the names of those responsible for each area. List appropriate emergency equipment available and the precise location of the equipment stores. Equipment may fall into these categories e.g. cleaning, drying, packing. Suppliers of Emergency Equipment and Services Identify suppliers of emergency equipment and services. List contact details and contract numbers.

Every year, we’ve gotten the opportunity to spend three-four days with Whitney Young High school in Ms. Dudzik’s Physics class, and to work on the Turbine Project with them. We’ve since branched out to Northside Prep and Urban Prep as well. This project allowed us to show students how to use the Design, Build, Test model for a real-world problem, harnessing the power of the wind. The goal was to produce a wind turbine that would harness the power of the wind (measured in volts) on three settings: high, medium, and low. The team with the most volts wins. We divided up the students into teams and gave them a plastic bag with three important materials: Balsa wood, cardboard, and a water bottle. Students were then allowed to decide among themselves which material(s) would hold up the strongest against the wind. We gave the students a bartering period of 5 minutes where they had the opportunity to trade unwanted materials with the other teams in the room. This period drove home the point about real-world design: materials aren’t limitless, and sometimes you have to make the best product you can out of what is already available. That in itself was a challenge for students. Designs had to be revamped, and more thought had to be put into the project. After students spent two days working on their models, we spent the last day testing each group’s design and allowing students to present. Students had to tell us how their design met the criteria for the challenge, and how their design correlated with the results of the test. The students really enjoyed testing their design: with a little class rivalry, what could have been into a basic testing turned into active competition. Students engaged in the Design, Build, Test process again and again during the course of the last two day, hoping that their team’s corrected designs could beat the rest.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) or Hearing Assistance Technology (HAT) There are many listening situations in everyday life where a hearing aid or a cochlear implant may not provide the most optimal solution to a difficult hearing related situation. For example, you may hear fine in one-on-one situations without hearing aids if you have a mild hearing loss, but you experience more difficulty in a theatre or conference setting. Or you wear hearing aids during the day, but have trouble hearing the alarm to wake up in the morning or the telephone at night when you are not wearing hearing aids. There are a broad range of products to help in these kinds of situations. As a group, these devices are referred to as Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) or Hearing Assistance Technology (HATs). ALDs or HATs include auditory and non-auditory devices. These devices include: Telephone amplifiers can replace the standard telephone handset or attach between the handset and telephone. Telephones with built in amplifiers with different frequency responses are available in both standard and wireless models. These telephone devices can be used with or without hearing aids. These include texting, instant messaging, TTYs (text telephone yoke or teletypewriter or TDDs (telecommunication device for the deaf). To improve listening at a meeting or live event, Communication Access Real Time Translation (CART) or Computer Assisted Note taking (CAN) is available. Television Viewing Technology These include closed captioning and wireless systems such as infrared devices, silhouette and neck loop inductors along with hard wired systems. Alerting Devices and Signaling Devices Alerting and signaling devices allow people with severe or profound hearing loss to be alerted in situations at home, work or everyday life. These include: buzzer for the doorbell, smoke, carbon monoxide and telephone signalers, coded flashing lights, strobe light devices, vibration devices and hearing dogs. FM systems consist of a transmitter worn by the speaker and a receiver worn by the listener. The FM system operates on specific frequencies and allows the speech signal to be delivered with reduced background noise to the listener’s headset or the hearing aids or cochlear implant. FM systems are utilized in classrooms, lectures, business meetings, convention centers, theatres, nursing homes and public meeting places. Infrared Devices deliver sound with infrared waves to your headset receiver. The head set receiver has an adjustable volume control which allows the wearer to adjust the sound to a desired listening level while the TV remains at a comfortable listening level for people with normal hearing sensitivity. Infrared devices can be used at home with the television but can also be found in public venues such as theaters. Induction Loop Systems Induction loop systems are designed to work with hearing aids typically in large group settings. The induction loop picks up the signal from the speaker’s microphone and transmits and electromagnetic signal to the listener’s T-Coil on his/her hearing aids. Induction loop systems are typically used in large group settings (i.e. church, movie theatre) but can they can also be used for individual use. Hearing assistance technology devices are not readily available in retail stores. There a variety of auditory and non-auditory systems available to assist you with your everyday listening needs. A licensed audiologist can help you determine the best hearing assistance system or combination of assistive listening devices best suited for your communication needs.

Presentation #502.04 in the session “Solar Wind & Exospheres”. Surface-bounded gravitationally-bound exospheres are expected on large airless bodies, such as the Moon and Mercury, where thermal desorption occurs at speeds below the escape speed and molecules are expected to undergo a sequence of ballistic hops. Through this lateral transport, a water exosphere may supply cold traps. Exospheres above dense atmospheres have long been investigated theoretically, but these results do not necessarily apply to surface-bounded exospheres. An exosphere in thermodynamic equilibrium with the surface is described by the temperature of the surface, irrespective of the velocity distribution of the gas or the absence of collisions above the surface, which are not required to define a temperature. Within this theoretical framework, the cold trapping temperature can be interpreted as the solid-gas phase transition, as long as the long-term average of the pressure is taken. Knudsen’s Cosine Law established that the velocity distribution for an ideal gas near a wall is the “Maxwell-Boltzmann Flux" (MBF) distribution, which is the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution with an extra factor of the cosine of the angle. The direction in which a molecule leaves a wall is uncorrelated with the incident one, as expected from thermal accommodation. Oscillations in a crystal lead to an equivalent law for desorption velocities known as “Armand distribution". The vertical density profile of a surface-bounded exosphere can be calculated using thermodynamic averages of an ensemble of ballistic trajectories. When the initial velocities follow the MBF distribution, the resulting density profile is the same as for exobase-bounded exospheres. For the simple case of constant gravitational acceleration and a scale height much smaller than the radius of the body, the density profile is exponential. For molecules desorbed from a vertical wall, the vertical density profile is no longer exponential and diverges near the body’s surface. For a rough surface the density profile is therefore expected to have a ground-hugging population. Populations interpreted as a superposition of a hot and a cold population may in fact be consistent with a single population at a single temperature.

Yüan Mei (1716-1798), Chinese author, was one of the great poets of the Ch'ing dynasty. He is especially noted for his cultivation of naturalness and individuality in his poetry and criticism as well as in his life. Anative of Hangchow, Chekiang, Yüan Mei was a precocious boy who earned his hsiu-ts'ai degree at the age of eleven. He received his chin-shih, the highest academic degree, at 23 and was retained in the imperial Hanlin Academy. But failing to pass the examination on the Manchu language, which was his assigned subject of study, he was released from the academy in 1742 and successively appointed to several districts in Kiangsu province as magistrate. In 1748 Yüan retired from government service and in the next year moved to his newly acquired garden in Nanking known as Sui-yüan, the "Garden of Contentment." The garden was once owned by the wealthy Ts'ao family, and the novelist Ts'ao family, and the novelist Ts'ao Hsüehch'in, Yüan Mei's contemporary, wrote about it in his novel Hunglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber). By 1755 Yüan had abandoned all thoughts of an official career and moved his large family to his garden. He commanded high fees for such things as funerary inscriptions and thus lived in comfort and style. After the age of 60 he made journeys to various provinces and scenic spots in China and came to be known as a leading poet of his time. Yüan Mei was a hedonist and something of a romantic, and with all his wide-ranging learning and curiosity, he celebrated in his poetry and prose primarily the joy of being alive and being receptive to all the sensuous pleasures. Arthur Waley, his biographer in the Western world, has aptly described him as "a writer of poetry that even at its lightest always had an undertone of deep feeling and at its saddest may at any moment light a sudden spark of fun." Yüan was above all an individualist and the reverse of a Confucian did acticist, believing that it is the poet's business to express his nature and feelings and these could be shared by all. For a student of Chinese literature, Yüan Mei's poetic criticism is perhaps even more important than his poetry because it represents a full-bodied affirmation of what one could call the individualist view of poetry as self-expression. "Poetry Talks" (shih-hua) had been written by Chinese poets since the Sung dynasty; most of these are short collections of random observations and anecdotes. Yüan Mei's jottings, entitled Sui-yüan shih-hua, are bulkier than most and also far more unified in expressing a consistent point of view. Among Yüan Mei's voluminous writings are a book of ghost stories and a cookbook entitled Sui-yüan shih-tan (Sui-yüan's Menu). The latter interest indicates a Chinese hedonist's unashamed delight in good food. Similarly, Yüan Mei was fond of female company, and in his old age he was surrounded by female disciples. Though he courted notoriety in his time by his sponsorship of female poetic talent, he was a humane person who believed that women as well as men should develop their sensibility and intellect to the full for the enrichment of society and culture. Further Reading on Yüan Mei The standard biography in English is Arthur Waley, Yüan Mei: Eighteenth Century Chinese Poet (1956), which contains many examples of Yüan's poetry and prose in translation. James J. Y. Liu, The Art of Chinese Poetry (1962), gives a good exposition of Yüan Mei's poetic theories.

From cell phone apps to big data systems, technological innovations have become our greatest allies to fight coronavirus in cities More than nine months since the first case known in the world, the coronavirus remains a challenge yet to be concluded. The disease not only changed the way we live today, but it also made it clear that the future will not bring the desired “normality” anytime soon. But will life ever return to what it was before? Experts say it is too early to what actually know which changes will come from now on and what the pandemic’s real impacts will be on cities, but in one thing they are all unanimous: never before has the world depended so much on technology. From the much talked home office to systems for accounting and mapping infected people, managers and citizens turned to software, data networks and electronic devices to face the pandemic inside or outside the home. In a Smart City, technology and innovation are two sides of the same coin. With them, public services can become more efficient, public works can cost less and actions can be implemented in a faster way to improve the quality of life. In a smart city, technology is the transformative agent that makes it more resilient, sustainable and intelligent. And relying on technology goes far beyond guaranteeing internet access. There are several essential services and infrastructures that can be improved using solutions that are often simple, accessible and easy to implement. One example is the technology’s impact on city mobility, where it has been estimated that 30% of traffic jams are caused by cars looking for a place to park. As a solution, the Smart Parking system was created, which uses sensors and softwares to indicate in advance to the citizen where there is a parking space available. Knowing the role that this and other technologies have to face the most diverse urban challenges, including the pandemic, Bright Cities gathers in its platform the largest database in the world of smart solutions and good urban practices. With online access for managers and citizens, all registered initiatives, such as Smart Parking, are able to improve the public management and the services in a city. Currently, our database offers more than 1,000 solutions that comprise ten urban areas: Security, Education, Mobility, Energy, Technology and Innovation, Environment, Entrepreneurship, Governance, Urbanism and, of course, Health. Among the various solutions included in our platform, some can directly mitigate the effects of the coronavirus. We can mention HILAB, developed by Hi Technologies, which offers remote laboratory exam services. With just a few drops of blood, the material is inserted into the device, where the result is digitized and transmitted instantly via the internet to a Central Laboratory team. There, biomedicals analyse the result and sign the report in just 15 minutes, sent later to the patient’s email. Another good initiative is Dr. Nuvem, a plataform for telemedicine. Through the online tool, which does not even require the installation of applications, patients have quick and easy access to medical care without having to leave home. Besides health, another urban area severely affected by the coronavirus was education. Without being able to attend classes in person, students now have a series of online platforms to continue with the school year. One of them, also included in our database, is the Google Classroom, free for schools. The developer created a simple tool for teachers, who can teach, distribute assignments, give grades and send feedback in just one place. In a smart city, services like these are accessible to the population or even incorporated into public management. However, to use them, it is essential that families and citizens have access to the internet – an infrastructure that is not yet offered to all Brazilians. In a report released by the IBGE, it was found that 45.9 million Brazilians did not yet have access to the internet in 2018. For cities to scale and know in detail whether their population has access to these types of services or not, Bright Cities uses 160 international indicators to evaluate ten urban areas, including Technology and Innovation. Among them are the indicators “Percentage of the city area covered by Internet connectivity provided by the municipality”, “Number of Internet connections”, “Number of cell phone connections” and “4G connection”, which can help managers to scale the portion of residents who do not yet have internet. To resolve this problem, the city of Campinas/SP distributed 4G internet chips to more than 21 thousand students from the municipal network. The students follow the classes through Google Classroom. Another action developed by the city’s Department of Education was a partnership with TV Câmara, which since the second half of May has been broadcasting didactic videos aimed at early childhood education students. Initiatives such as the one in Campinas, elected the most intelligent and connected city in the country by the Ranking Connected Smart Cities 2019, show why smart cities came out ahead and managed to set an example for other cities. Among the many reasons for this we can mention, for example, the way in with which all of them are able to collect and analyze – in real time and with numerous sources – the performance of their urban indicators. It is with this information in hand that public managers can identify demands, make more agile decisions, anticipate problems and better coordinate resources to operate effectively. It was through a consolidated system of data collection and analysis that Seoul, in South Korea, managed to apply mass testing of the disease in its population. Using 15,000 daily tests to map people infected with Covid-19 from “Drive thru” systems, the government was able to track patients with greater assertiveness and without the risk of contaminating healthcare professionals. People were then monitored using a GPS system and received, every day, messages about the progress of the pandemic, movements of infected people and warnings to anyone who was 100 meters from any contaminated. Examples of good urban practices, such as those carried out by Campinas and South Korea, are also included in the Bright Cities database. To help more cities face the pandemic, we continue to map these and other smart solutions to make them available online and free of charge for our users. There are already more than 25 initiatives and good practices mapped by us, and you can access each one of them by visiting our database and looking for “CORONAVIRUS” in the search field. Along with these solutions, it is also possible to find their respective suppliers. As a marketplace, our platform is the fastest way to connect public administrators with innovative products for cities. By registering, companies and developers gain exclusive access to information and indicators about cities and can thus discover which ones most need their solutions. At the same time, our global public of managers and public administrators is aware of the registered initiatives and can easily contact them to hire the services. Counting on easy, fast and affordable solutions is urgent in cities trying to adapt to the post-pandemic world. Hence the relevance of Smart Cities: being resilient, that is, with great capacity for adaptation, they are prepared for continuous planning that guarantees minimal impacts in situations of adversity; being sustainable, they are able to guarantee resources to their population without harming their ecosystem and future generations; being efficient, they deliver quality services and improve people’s experience in public spaces. Bright Cities knows that any city in the world can become a smart city, even in times of pandemic. We are a disruptive platform to diagnose your city’s roadmap, so that it becomes smarter every day! To know our methodology and know in detail how we can transform it, register on our platform. Upgrade your city today!

Best Tips and Hacks to Learn Machine Learning with Python Learning ML (Machine Learning) is one of the most exciting things you can do with Python. It is one of the most challenging because there are many different types of problems and algorithms to learn. Still, with a bit of effort and practice, you'll be able to get started with machine learning in no time! This blog post will cover easy ways to get started—from coding basics like variables and loops through linear algebra and probability theory to data visualization techniques. Learn to code in Python As the title says, learn to code in Python. This is an essential step for any programmer and should be the first thing you do when learning a new language. Learning to code in Python will give you an understanding of what goes into software development and how everything works together, including variables, loops, functions, classes & objects, etc. Keep your machine learning libraries updated. When you're learning machine learning, it can be tempting to try out a new library and see what it can do for you. But if your library isn't up-to-date with the latest releases and fixes, that might cause problems later on when trying to troubleshoot issues in production environments or even on your computer. You should keep your machine learning libraries updated so they work as expected and don't cause any errors when trying out new features. Follow a good machine learning blog. A good machine learning blog is excellent for learning more about the field, finding inspiration and examples, and getting data. Machine learning blogs contain a lot of helpful information about how algorithms work. They also allow you to explore different approaches or ideas to improve yourself. Learn and practice data visualization techniques. There are several ways to visualize data, but the most effective way is to use a combination of tools. Data visualization is important because it allows you to understand how your machine learning algorithm works in real time, making it easier to debug problems as they arise. Learn linear algebra, probability, and statistics. Linear algebra, probability, and statistics are all part of machine learning: linear algebra studies vector spaces and linear mappings between such areas. Probability is the study of random variables and their distributions (e.g., if you know that a coin is fair, then you can use this knowledge to predict what will happen next). Statistics is data collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation; it includes descriptive methods like histograms or scatter plots and inferential methodologies like regression models. Explore a career in Machine Learning with Imarticus Learning. With this machine learning course with Python, students may begin their careers in data science and machine learning. Through this curriculum, students will grasp machine learning principles and get the knowledge and skills they need to apply these ideas in the real world. Course Benefits For Learners: - This five-month program, developed by IIT faculty members, will instruct learners in using Python to comprehend data mining and machine learning methodologies. - This data science certification course will be live via online sessions with India's best educators. - Students will build a strong foundation in data science with the aid of our data science online program.

Every week, new content is published to the growing Treehouse Library! Here is a short list of what was added the week of November 9, 2015. Adobe Illustrator for Web Design – Ashley Burke Using a project-based learning approach to Illustrator’s core features, walk through the process of designing a simple website beginning with making a wireframe, and then using that wireframe as the basis for creating a page mock up for mobile and desktop platforms. Along the way, use the basic drawing and shape tools to create an illustrated graphic logo. And with responsive web design in mind, we’ll utilize the benefits of both scalable vector graphics (SVGs) and CSS export capabilities. Learn to work with common layout and positioning methods used in web design. In this course, you’ll get hands-on practice with basic CSS layout techniques like display modes and floats. You’ll use your new CSS layout skills to build the layout for a simple web page. Then learn to enhance the layout using relative, absolute and fixed positioning. Building the Fun Facts app will teach you how to use the Swift language and the Xcode and Interface Builder tools. You will also learn about core concepts such as views and view controllers, creating a data model, and the Model-View-Controller design pattern. Towards the end, you will have finished creating a fun app that will get you oriented with the world of iOS development. Interested in learning more? Sign up for a Free Trial and get started today!

Data on the interactions between individuals on the Internet are often viewed as a potential threat to privacy or freedom of expression, particularly in the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s disclosures on the surveillance activities conducted by the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA). As Wojtek Przepiorka writes, however, the ‘big data’ produced by online transactions on websites such as eBay can also be an invaluable resource for academics and policy-makers. He argues that subjecting this data to formal study has the potential to uncover key insights on human nature and economic behaviour. More and more social interactions are taking place online. The Internet opens up virtually endless opportunities to communicate with people all over the world, to buy and sell goods, or to find partners for business, leisure and life. All these actions and interactions produce data, ‘big data’: for some an invaluable asset, for others big brother’s fuel. Social and behavioural scientists too have become enthused by big data, but it seems that the mere size of it has been driving the hype while big questions are largely – but not entirely – lacking. One of the largest attempts to tap big data for social science research, for instance, was led by the following question: In as much as we are a cooperative species, how can we use information and communication technology to foster our cooperative traits to the benefit of all? Interestingly, online peer-to-peer (P2P) markets such as eBay, have been convincingly answering this question for almost two decades. In online markets, tens of thousands of anonymous buyers and sellers trade with each other every day, often across large geographic distances transcending national borders. P2P trading occasionally requires buyers to send hundreds of euros to a complete stranger at the other end of the world. But these buyers do not have to be gullible to expect the merchandise in return for their payment. The rating system implemented in online markets gives sellers a strong incentive to reciprocate buyers’ payments, while a negative rating by an unsatisfied buyer may seriously hamper their future business. It has been shown repeatedly in numerous studies that positive ratings increase sales and prices, while negative ratings have a negative effect on sellers’ online business. Of course, we already knew that reputation matters before the advent of the Internet. What is new, however, is the scale at which information about individuals’ deeds and misdeeds is made publically available. Obviously, this requires a mechanism through which such information can be collected and disseminated and in the case of online trade this is exactly what online market platforms provide. What they do not do, however, is feed information into the feedback system. The decision to leave feedback after completing a transaction is left to the discretion of each trader, and herein lies the problem, or rather, the puzzle. The mystery of P2P feedback In most studies on online P2P trading, feedback rates are reported to be above 50 per cent with some even reaching 80 per cent and more. That is, a majority of finished transactions is rated by at least one of the traders and very often by both. At the same time, it is estimated that the same buyer and seller are unlikely to meet each other again; one study shows that more than 95 per cent of interactions between two online traders are one-off encounters. Thus, the question arises why so many traders bother to comment on each other’s conduct if giving this information has no direct benefit for them. The fact that they do is crucial for the functioning of online markets as it is mainly by traders’ feedback that potentially fraudulent traders are detected or deterred from entering the market in the first place. The question why traders voluntarily contribute to the public health of an online reputation system is difficult to answer with data gathered from the Internet. Usually, process data mirrors traders’ actions only, and actions leading to similar patterns in the data could result from these traders’ different motives. Therefore, it is important to have a theory or two to be able to make conjectures about what one can expect to find in a statistical analysis. Based on such a theory driven analysis of hundreds of thousands of rating events, it has been shown that reciprocity and altruism, but also strategic motives, are important drivers of online P2P traders leaving feedback after completed transactions. First, many online traders are willing to incur a cost to respond to good behaviour with a reward and to bad behaviour with punishment. Such reciprocal motives are consistent with the finding that a trader’s willingness to give feedback increases markedly if their trading partner leaves feedback first. Second, many traders seem to care about the impact of their ratings on the reputation of their trading partner. For instance, traders are more likely to give a positive rating and they are more reluctant to give a negative rating to a trading partner with fewer ratings, who is still in the process of building a reputation. Finally, there is evidence for strategic motives. Some traders postpone giving negative ratings because they fear to be rated negatively in return. However, strategic motives for giving feedback have proved difficult to identify in the data. Big data experiments Although some open questions remain, these findings show how the institutional set-up of an online market can engage traders’ moral sentiments and material interests to create favourable conditions for mutually beneficial trade. On the one hand, traders are aware of and care about the monetary value a good online reputation has. On the other hand, most traders do not spare the costs of leaving feedback after completed transactions, and many do so out of altruistic motives. However, because process data as such is silent about the motives underlying the behaviour that produces it, these findings need to be complemented with other research approaches such as laboratory and field experiments. Computerised laboratory experiments are very well suited to disentangling different motives behind the actions of individuals. In laboratory experiments, researchers can approximate the conditions that, for instance, traders face in an online market and record the behavioural changes that result from a systematic variation of these conditions. In fact, the adjustment in eBay’s reputation system in spring 2008 was guided by a thorough theory driven analysis of process data from online markets and data from laboratory experiments. Moreover, given that more and more social interactions and everyday decision making are taking place online, the opportunity to conduct online field experiments has never been greater. In field experiments, researchers deliberately change properties of the online environment to study the effects these changes have on people’s behaviour. Insights from field experiments too can be used to recommend adjustments in the functioning of an online platform, preferably to the benefit of the users. In any case, there is a lot more to learn from the piles of data that are generated every day than how to make more money. Commercial online platform providers and administrations should be open to the creativity of social and behavioural scientists and their ambition to learn more about human nature and sociality without losing their integrity as independent researchers. For a longer discussion of this topic, see the author’s recent journal article Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics. Shortened URL for this post: http://bit.ly/1jx1ATz Wojtek Przepiorka – University of Oxford Wojtek Przepiorka is a Research Fellow at Nuffield College and the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford. His research interests are in organizational behaviour, economic sociology, and quantitative methodology in particular experimental methods.

Our preference for salty foods may be determined by the foods we eat as infants, a new study suggests. Infants in the study whose mothers fed them salty food when they were 6-months old were more likely to prefer the taste of salt than infants who were not fed salty foods, the researchers said. This penchant for salt appeared to last into early childhood. The findings suggest early exposure to salt may make a child more likely to prefer, and consequently consume, high-salt foods throughout their lives, according to the researchers. But the study showed only a correlation, and not a direct cause-effect link, the researchers noted, and more work is needed to determine whether infants who are exposed to salt do in fact go on to eat more salt as adults, and whether they develop health problems associated with salt consumption, such as high blood pressure. A salty diet The researchers tested the preference for salt in 61 infants when they were 2-months and 6-months old. The babies were given a bottle containing salty water, and the researchers measured how much they drank in one minute. Mothers of the infants also reported whether they had fed their babies starchy foods. While the researchers did not ask what types of foods the babies were given, starchy foods commonly fed to babies (such as Cheerios, mashed potatoes and waffles) contribute substantially to the amount of salt in their diets. None of the infants liked the salt water when they were 2-months old. But at six months, the infants who had been exposed to starchy foods consumed 55 percent more salt than those who hadn't eaten starchy foods. The researchers continued to track 26 of the infants until they were preschool age. Children who had been exposed to starchy foods as infants were more likely to lick salt from the surface of food when they were preschoolers compared with children who didn't eat starchy foods as infants. However, children exposed to starchy food as infants did not actually prefer salty foods, such as pizza and French fries, more than children who were not exposed to starchy foods as infants, the researchers said. More work is needed to determine exactly how humans develop a liking for salt. Babies are born with a taste for sweet foods, and their taste for salt develops later, the researchers said. It's not clear whether this occurs as the biological mechanisms that detect salt develop, or whether infants simply grow to accept the taste of salt. The study was published online Dec. 20 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Pass it on: Feeding babies salty foods may boost their preference for salt later in life. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily staff writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner. Find us on Facebook. Maria is our expert for medicine, fitness and general health. Her contributions are particularly convincing through completeness, accuracy and her own personal experience. Maria also writes for other health magazines, which has enabled her to build up her expert status.

INTERNATIONAL CANCER PREVENTION INSTITUTEInterdisciplinary research, exchange and education in cancer prevention Innovative strategies for cancer prevention with focus on sex hormone signaling and chronic inflammation Incidence and prevalence of many cancer types are substantially increasing worldwide for three main reasons: - increased life span and aging populations - improved methods of early detection - increased survival of cancer patients Changes in known and unknown environmental factors modify the age-specific incidences of cancers. However, more sophisticated and expensive treatments cannot be afforded by all societies, increasing the urgency of boosting efforts in cancer prevention. This can be realized in three ways: - primary cancer prevention, aimed at reducing overall cancer incidence at the population level, assessing the impact of life style, occupational/environmental hazards, and genetic risk factors in parallel with large-scale screening and vaccination efforts; - secondary cancer prevention, aimed at early detection of premalignant and confined malignant lesions, and identification of high risk lesions for removal and/or suppression; - tertiary cancer prevention, aimed at preventing cancer recurrence in patients after treatment of a primary cancer. This Innovative Training Network aims to establish an interdisciplinary PhD program in cancer prevention focused on two key determinants of cancer risk: - sex hormone signaling - chronic inflammation Both can be significantly affected by exogenous factors such as endocrine disruptors, cigarette smoke, and sunlight, as well as intrinsic changes occurring with aging. Genetic influences on cancer risk, as they relate specifically to endocrine and inflammation signaling pathways, will be considered by analysis of a unique resource of identical and dizygotic twin cohorts. In addition, novel chemoprevention approaches will be assessed using chemically-developed hormone and inflammation inhibitors. Finally, mechanistic studies will exploit innovative preclinical mouse models developed by the participating labs. Through early stage researcher (ESR) co-supervision, interactive meetings and workshops, we will develop an effective cancer prevention strategy of major societal impact together with non-academic partners for: (i) novel biomarker identification and drug development; (ii) science communication efforts and public outreach.