Bharatiya Manav Adhikar Morcha submits memorandum to Prez against Jharkhand lynching
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(Representational Image)Bharatiya Manav Adhikar Morcha headed by Ayazuddin Siddiqui, brother of Bollywood star Nawazuddin Siddiqui, has submitted a memorandum to the President against the lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand. By PTI |Muzzafarnagar | Published: July 6, 2019 12:31:26 pm Curbing lynching: Certificates to be issued for cattle transport in UP Fifth column: I wish PM Modi had pointed out that without rule of law there can be no democracy 40 more held for rioting at Surat rally, in judicial custody In the memorandum submitted through Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Deepak Kumar, on Friday, the Morcha has demanded stringent action against the culprits. It has also demanded that attacks on Muslims should be stopped.Earlier, some Muslims, led by Ayazuddin, tried to take out a procession to protest against the lynching, but they were denied permission by the district administration citing security reasons. Ansari was tied to a pole and thrashed with sticks by a mob in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district on June 19 on the suspicion of theft.He succumbed to injuries on June 22. He was seen in a video being forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”. Advertising
By Kelly ServickApr. 11, 2019 , 9:30 AM “If you came to most thinking scientists, who try to be conservative and skeptical and cautious, and you spelled out to them what Dani’s research program was going to be, they’d question anybody’s sanity who was going to bite off that big of a chunk of science,” says Steven Schiff, a neurosurgeon at Pennsylvania State University in State College and an admirer of Bassett’s work.But Bassett routinely disregards disciplinary boundaries and follows her curiosity with abandon. “What I think is beautiful about network science,” she says, “is that you can use it to derive very simple intuitions about really complex systems that … just look like a big hairball.”That bid to simplify one of nature’s gnarliest hairballs—our 86-billion-neuron organ of thought—into a set of mathematical equations has been hard for some neuroscientists to get behind. Network science is “a new way of looking at the brain,” says Martha Shenton, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “This is an advance in science—I do believe that—but it remains to be seen how much information it’s going to give us.” And whether Bassett’s toolbox of equations can make reliable predictions that inform treatments, such as targeted stimulation for brain disorders, is still unknown.But neuroscience is hungry for theory, says cognitive neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga of the University of California (UC), Santa Barbara. “There’s an uneasiness that I think is widespread that we’re not quite capturing the framework … to understand how neurons generate behavior, mind, and all this,” he says.Bassett is part of a generation of physicists and mathematicians who are betting on new theories to capture the brain’s higher-order organization. “They [have] the math to back them up … and that just brings tremendous power to the biological scene,” Gazzaniga says. “The great advances in science come from trespassing,” he adds, paraphrasing pioneering psychologist Wolfgang Köhler. “And Dani is a trespasser.”An uncommon educationOn a recent Tuesday afternoon, Bassett—a slight figure with short hair that persistently sneaks in front of her right eye—stands before her class with a large, gilded-edged volume of Claudius Ptolemy. The course teaches undergraduate and graduate students to represent the brain as a network—a set of “nodes” joined by pairwise connections, or “edges.” Depending on the study, researchers might define nodes as individual neurons or larger brain regions. And they might draw edges between nodes that are physically connected by neural fibers or that tend to be active at the same time. The approach formalizes a basic premise of neuroscience: that our thoughts, sensations, and experiences emerge as the brain’s connected components interact.But first, Ptolemy. Bassett, in a characteristically composed and formal tone, reads aloud from the second century Greek astronomer’s famous treatise, The Almagest: “It is proper to try and fit as far as possible the simpler hypothesis to the movements of the heavens; and if this does not succeed, then any hypothesis possible.” He was addressing apparent contradictions in his geocentric explanation of planetary motion. His theory, we now know, was destined to fall apart. But his message was a good one, Bassett tells the class: Strive for the simplest hypothesis.Bassett’s penchant for quoting the ancients reflects her unusual education. Her mother, Holly Perry, who home-schooled her 11 children, says her goal was “to teach them how to teach themselves anything they wanted to learn.” Bassett was a natural autodidact. “When she decided that something interested her, she kind of couldn’t stop until she knew everything there was about it,” Perry says. This physicist is trying to make sense of the brain’s tangled networks At age 16, Danielle Bassett spent most of her day at the piano, trying to train her fingers and ignoring a throbbing pain in her forearms. She hoped to pursue a career in music and had been assigning herself relentless practice sessions. But the more she rehearsed Johannes Brahms’s feverish Rhapsody in B Minor on her family’s Steinway, the clearer it became that something was wrong. Finally, a surgeon confirmed it: Stress fractures would force her to give up the instrument for a year.”What was left in my life was rather bleak,” Bassett says. Her home-schooled upbringing in rural central Pennsylvania had instilled a love of math, science, and the arts. But by 17, discouraged by her parents from attending college and disheartened at her loss of skill while away from the keys, she expected that responsibilities as a housewife and mother would soon eclipse any hopes of a career. “I wasn’t happy with that plan,” she says.Instead, Bassett catapulted herself into a life of research in a largely uncharted scientific field now known as network neuroscience. A Ph.D. physicist and a MacArthur fellow by age 32, she has pioneered the use of concepts from physics and math to describe the dynamic connections in the human brain. “She’s now the doyenne of network science,” says theoretical neuroscientist Karl Friston of University College London. “She came from a formal physics background but was … confronted with some of the deepest questions in neuroscience.” MATTHEW BENDER/JAMES BARTOLOZZI DANIELLE BASSETT Click to view the privacy policy. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*) MATTHEW BENDER/JAMES BARTOLOZZI In a key experiment, Bassett studied people as they learned to tap their fingers quickly in a specific order by reading sequences of notes on a staff. The sequences weren’t exactly Brahms rhapsodies; each was just 12 notes long. But participants took time to master them. During three training sessions, they lay in an fMRI scanner and practiced their finger work.Bassett’s group captured changes over time in the sets of brain areas that preferentially conversed with each other while participants learned. The researchers created a mathematical measure of overall “flexibility”—how likely regions were to change their “module allegiance” and sync up with a different set of partners. A brain’s flexibility during a practice session, the researchers found, predicted how much faster the person would be able to play the note sequences in the next session.The research, published in 2011, hinted that measurable, predictable features of the brain’s configuration can prime it for learning. That “started to get a lot of people’s attention,” Bassett says, including representatives of the MacArthur Fellows Program, who pointed to the work in selecting Bassett for the 2014 award. Bassett, who was just getting her lab at UPenn off the ground, found herself in the academic spotlight. Her parents, who had separated when she was 18, cheered her on.Healthy ambitionBassett is now a hub in a lively network—a role that doesn’t always suit her. On an endless circuit of invited talks, she seeks solitude in her hotel room. She shies away from group interactions, preferring one-on-one communication with trainees and collaborators.But some of those pairwise connections have had far-reaching effects. In 2013, on a bench overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, she and mechanical engineer Fabio Pasqualetti, then a fellow postdoc, realized they shared an ambition. They wondered whether network science could go beyond describing the brain to offering ways to change it. Pasqualetti studies control theory, a branch of engineering that uses sensors and feedback to guide the behavior of a system, whether that’s an electrical grid or a fighter jet. Was it possible, he and Bassett wondered, to apply principles of control theory to brain networks?In their initial study, published in 2015, Bassett and Pasqualetti modeled brain structure with data from an MRI-based technique that traces the diffusion of water through the brain to identify regions connected by bundles of neuronal fibers. By feeding that information into an equation from control theory, they identified areas of the brain that, when active, might help it shift into various other states. “It was a big jump, honestly, to make the assumption that this thing could work,” says Pasqualetti, now at UC Riverside.”It’s a very important contribution,” computational neuroscientist Marco Zorzi of the University of Padua in Italy says of the paper. Scientists are already experimenting with zapping the brain to improve various conditions, including severe depression and disability after stroke. But the approach, which often relies on magnetic stimulation of the scalp, involves trial and error. Control theory could help researchers decide where in the brain to stimulate, and at which intensities, to reliably steer it into a healthier state.Still, Zorzi says, “It’s not ready yet.” To develop stimulation protocols based on control theory, “we just need much more theoretical work,” he says. That work should include studying how many points of stimulation are necessary to induce a desired brain state, he adds.Bassett and her team are now refining their control theory approach and using it to predict the spreading patterns of activity in epileptic seizures. The results, they hope, will show how doctors could place seizure-stifling electrical implants more precisely or slice out less brain tissue during surgery.Before any clinical trials, Bassett and colleagues will also have to defend the work against a familiar charge: that it oversimplifies the brain. Signals don’t pass predictably along every connection between neurons. Some get amplified; others run into gating mechanisms that inhibit them, and equations from control theory don’t fully capture those details. “That makes the control problem enormously difficult,” says Schiff, a former epilepsy surgeon who studies control theory. “That’s an enormous frontier that we’re just starting to crack into.”In response, Bassett channels Ptolemy. “Physicists … start with relatively simple models, and then they expand those models as it becomes necessary,” she says. “If there’s more than a few parameters, it’s very difficult to understand why something happens.”Degrees of freedomOn the drive home from class, Bassett’s 4-year-old son, Simeon, recounts his day care exploits from the back seat of the car and dictates the playlist.When Bassett entered college, she swore she would never be a wife or mother. On campus, she found that the homemaker role her family had insisted on was, at times, discouraged. But she met Lee Bassett, a fellow physics student whom she married in 2006. Both now teach at UPenn, and the first of their two children was born in 2011.That evening, after bedtime reading (The Berenstain Bears for Simeon and the children’s fantasy novel Mossflower for Silas), Bassett pops open a can of cherry-flavored sour beer and brings out one of her own favorites: British philosopher Joseph Glanvill’s 17th century volume The Vanity of Dogmatizing. In it, Glanvill marvels at humanity’s ignorance of the natural world and condemns blind faith in both science and religion. Bassett has peppered its margins with notes.Down the hall in the living room sits a Steinway grand piano, testimony to her continuing love of music. It’s the only purchase Bassett has made so far with her $625,000 MacArthur award; for now, her lab is not hurting for funding. But the unspent money means freedom. If an idea sparks her imagination and funders won’t get behind her, she plans to chase it anyway.*Correction, 11 April, 11:55 a.m.: At the request of Bassett’s mother, we have changed her name to Holly Perry. Country * Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People’s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Danielle Bassett at 12, wearing garb dictated by her family’s religion. Danielle Bassett with a representation of the brain’s structural connections, created in her lab from MRI data. Email Sign up for our daily newsletter Get more great content like this delivered right to you! Country Bassett’s twin brother, Perry Zurn, a philosopher at American University in Washington, D.C., describes their home schooling as research. They would choose a topic and build a constellation of projects around it, with little regard for where those projects fell among traditional school subjects.Perry’s insistence that her children prioritize primary texts stuck with Bassett. Reading antiquated, alien-sounding prose jolts the mind into “a much bigger space,” she says. The twins now describe their education as “really wonderful” and “really fantastic.” But their parents’ conservative Christianity shaped what they could aspire to. “Because we both grew up being understood as female … we were actively discouraged from going to college,” says Zurn, who is transgender.After Bassett’s hiatus from the piano, her father allowed her to attend nursing school. “He had finally given me a little bit of room, and I figured I should take it,” she says. (Her father, John Perry, contends that he never discouraged his children from college or careers, though he says he “felt that being a good wife and mother was a high calling.”)An isolated childhood made the move to traditional school jarring for Bassett. “It took a long time to feel like I could laugh at the right times when somebody told a joke,” she says. And nursing school was a bad fit. Confrontations with sickness and dying left her drained.After a year and a half, she definitively broke with her family’s expectations. She dropped out of nursing school and applied to Penn State to study physics. “I just wanted to do something that is clean and formal,” she says, “and also, just with books.”Thinking in graphsAn hour into Bassett’s Tuesday class, the students whip out their laptops and become subjects in one of her latest studies about learning. Their screens display a cloud of about 50 concepts she has selected from the course, such as prediction, network, behavior, and neurological disease. They draw lines to connect related words and phrases, stretching the lines to put distance between dissimilar concepts. Bassett will compare the structure of the maps at different points in the course, gauge the influence of class readings and lectures, and look for correlations between network structure and test scores.The work seems miles away from Bassett’s physics degree. But underlying that study—and nearly every other project in her lab—is a branch of math called graph theory. The approach, with roots in the 18th century, describes the structure of networks of discrete, interacting parts, be they friends linked on social media or grains in a sand pile.Researchers first calculate the relationships between all nodes in a network: in the simplest case, either a zero (not connected) or a one (connected). Then, they ask questions about the features of the network: Is it a sparse web or a dense jungle of connections? Do certain nodes have an unusually large number of connections? Do nodes tend to organize themselves into tight-knit modules that mostly talk among themselves? Now 37, Bassett runs a lab at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) that tackles a whiplash-inducing variety of questions. A sampling from one morning’s worth of meetings: Do our brains navigate words in written text the way they navigate physical space? Does the structure of college students’ brains interact with the structure of their social networks to influence their ability to abstain from alcohol? Does the network of connections in the mouse brain predict how a disease-causing protein will spread?Other projects focus on a theme that has captivated her since her childhood passion for books and the piano: learning and mastery. Bassett wants to find ways to optimize learning by using networks to represent both the brain and the material it learns. In the 1990s, a few researchers started to create such graphs to describe the layout of animal nervous systems. A graph for the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans could include all the connections among the 302 neurons that determine how the tiny worm wiggles through life. The brains of mammals were far too large and complex to map neuron by neuron, so researchers analyzed the connections between dozens of broad areas in the monkey and cat cortex according to the flow of tracer molecules along neurons.”We worked in complete obscurity,” neuroscientist Olaf Sporns says of the field that would become network neuroscience. Sporns, now at Indiana University in Bloomington, was among the first to use graph theory to analyze connections in the human brain. Few data sets were available, he says. But he and his collaborators hoped the approach could help explain how the brain’s structure gives rise to thought and awareness.By the mid-2000s, applications of graph theory were getting more ambitious. Neuropsychiatrist Edward Bullmore’s group at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom used it to analyze human brain activity recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique that can indicate which regions are active in unison.”It was a very exciting period, when [we] began to … explore these previously unmeasured properties of human brain networks,” Bullmore says. “It was around that time when Dani started in the lab.” Bullmore was one of Bassett’s four advisers in a Ph.D. program sponsored by Cambridge and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. She took off running with graph theory, Bullmore recalls, stretching its uses to new types of brain data.In one study, Bassett analyzed MRI data from people with and without schizophrenia. The condition seems to arise from broadly disorganized brain activity, not a defect in any one region. Bassett and colleagues showed that graph theory offered a new way to describe that disorganization. Brains with schizophrenia showed more random patterns of connectivity than healthy ones, and their hubs—the most highly connected regions—were less likely to be in the frontal cortex, the area that exerts executive control over the brain. That finding aligned with some of the symptoms of schizophrenia: deficits in executive functions such as planning, decision-making, and regulating behavior. But it didn’t explain them.And some neuroscientists were unimpressed by early results from network science. Graphs of brain networks were “obviously a radical simplification of the nervous system,” Bullmore says. “The main criticism has always been, ‘Isn’t this too simple to be meaningful, given the complexity of the system we’re trying to understand?’”Bassett saw a different limitation to graph theory. “It’s great for characterizing the structure of something,” she says, “but not necessarily what the thing does.” A graph is static, but an active brain flows between connectivity patterns. So, as Bassett moved to her postdoc at UC Santa Barbara, she added another type of analysis to her study of networks: dynamical systems theory, a way of modeling how network structure changes. “Dani has excelled at bringing time into the game,” Sporns says. MATTHEW BENDER/JAMES BARTOLOZZI MATTHEW BENDER/JAMES BARTOLOZZI 
Taking stock of monsoon rain Advertising Egill Hauksson, another Caltech seismologist, said later in the day that scientists believe the continuing sequence could produce more than 30,000 quakes of magnitude 1 or greater over six months. He said the probability of a magnitude 7 over the next week is about 3%, but one or two magnitude 6 quakes are expected. More Explained Post Comment(s) Best Of Express Advertising 
Fallen brick pillars lay on the ground blocking an entrance to a home in Trona, Calif., Saturday July 6, 2019. The area has been hit with two major earthquakes since Thursday. (AP)Officials in Southern California expressed relief Saturday that damage and injuries weren’t worse after the largest earthquake the region has seen in nearly 20 years, while voicing concerns about the possibility of major aftershocks in the days and even months to come. By AP |California | Published: July 7, 2019 10:44:09 am Newsom estimated more than $100 million in economic damages and said President Donald Trump called him to offer federal support in the rebuilding effort.“He’s committed in the long haul, the long run, to help support the rebuilding efforts,” Newsom said of Trump.Only 28,000 people live in the Ridgecrest area, which is sandwiched between more populated areas of Southern California and Las Vegas’ Clark County. But seismologists warned that the area could see up to 30,000 aftershocks over the next six months.April Hamlin said she was “already on edge” when the second quake rattled her Ridgecrest home. She and her three kids initially thought it was another aftershock. The California Office of Emergency Services brought in cots, water and meals and set up cooling centers in the region, Director Mark Ghilarducci said.State highway officials shut down a 30-mile (48-kilometer) section of State Route 178 between Ridgecrest and the town of Trona southwest of Death Valley because of a rockslide and severe cracking. The move left Trona temporarily cut off. California Department of Transportation spokeswoman Christine Knadler said crews worked through the night to patch the roadway, but it remained rough and uneven.Ron Mikulaco, 51, and his nephew, 23-year-old Brad Fernandez, stood on 178 on Saturday looking at the cracks. The pair drove from Huntington Beach, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) southwest of Ridgecrest. Mikulaco, an amateur geologist, wanted to show his nephew “the power of Mother Nature,” and they had the epicenter’s latitude and longitude coordinates ready.“We put that in the GPS, and we’ll get as close as we can,” Fernandez said.In Ridgecrest, local fire and police officials said they were initially swamped by calls for medical and ambulance service. But police Chief Jed McLaughlin said there was “nothing but minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, by the grace of God.”Two building fires _ one involving a mobile home _ were quickly doused, McLaughlin said, and natural gas lines where leaks were reported were shut off.When asked to describe what he has been going through in the past two days, the chief said: “Grief, shock and then, for me, pride in what I’ve seen from here, my people. It’s been a vast range of emotions, and I think the whole community’s going through that.”In Trona, a town of about 2,000 people considered the gateway to Death Valley, fire officials said up to 50 structures were damaged. San Bernardino County Supervisor Robert Lovingood said FEMA delivered a tractor-trailer full of bottled water because of damage to water lines. Newsom declared a state of emergency for the county.Julia Doss, who maintains the Trona Neighborhood Watch page on Facebook, said the only food store in town is a Family Dollar store that was shuttered Saturday.“The only way to get food is to drive to Ridgecrest, and with only three gas stations in town I’m worried we may soon run out of fuel,” Doss said.Antoun Abdullatif, 59, owns liquor stores and other businesses in Ridgecrest and Trona.“I would say 70% of my inventory is on the floor, broken,” he said. “Every time you sweep and you put stuff in the dust bin, you’re putting $200 in the trash.”But he has stopped cleaning up, believing another earthquake is on the way.Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology and a former science adviser at the U.S. Geological Survey, said the new quake probably ruptured along about 25 miles (40 kilometers) of fault line and was part of a continuing sequence. The seismic activity is unlikely to affect fault lines outside of the area, Jones said, noting that the gigantic San Andreas Fault is far away. Cabinet asks finance panel to consider securing funds for defence Cabinet asks finance panel to consider securing funds for defence Advertising “But it just kept on intensifying,” Hamlin said. “The TV went over, hanging by the cord. We heard it break. We heard glass breakage in the other rooms, but all we could do was stay where we were until it stopped.”With the possibility of aftershocks and temperatures forecast to reach 100 degrees (38 Celsius) over the next several days, officials were taking precautions.The California National Guard was sending 200 troops, logistical support and aircraft, Maj. Gen. David Baldwin said. The Pentagon had been notified, and the entire California Military Department was put on alert, he said.Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake said in a Facebook post that nonessential workers were evacuated and operations halted. The epicenters of both quakes were on the base, and officials said they are continuing to assess damage. Officials said most employees live off the base and in Ridgecrest, but they authorized the evacuation so those who live on base can be eligible for reimbursements. No fatalities or major injuries were reported after Friday night’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake, which jolted an area from Sacramento to Mexico and prompted the evacuation of the Navy’s largest single landholding, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the Mojave Desert.The quake struck at 8:19 p.m. Friday and was centered 11 miles (18 kilometers) from Ridgecrest, the same area of the desert where a 6.4-magnitude temblor hit just a day earlier. It left behind cracked and burning buildings, broken roads, obstructed railroad tracks and leaking water and gas lines.
Merchandise lies scattered throughout the Pioneer Point Market after a powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake broke, triggered by a 6.4 the previous day, near the epicenter in Trona, California, U.S., July 6, 2019. (Reuters)The light damage was largely due to the remoteness of the area where the earthquake occurred, but Gov. Gavin Newsom cautioned after touring Ridgecrest that “it’s deceiving, earthquake damage. You don’t notice it at first.” Karnataka trust vote today: Speaker’s call on resignations, says SC, but gives rebel MLAs a shield After Masood Azhar blacklisting, more isolation for Pakistan Top News Karnataka trust vote today: Speaker’s call on resignations, says SC, but gives rebel MLAs a shield After Masood Azhar blacklisting, more isolation for Pakistan 
“Why is the West Bengal Government being targeted?” he asked the government, and registered his protest over the issue saying such actions hurt the democratic system.Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay on Monday alleged that the Centre was targeting the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal Government, and had issued 10 advisories to it in as many days. TMC MP on bail attacks BJP for stifling the voice of Opposition By Express News Service |New Delhi | Published: July 16, 2019 3:15:22 am Cases ready against BJP workers, dare you to arrest one more TMC leader: CM Mamata Banerjee TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay set to come out with book on his 136 days in jail Related News 1 Comment(s) “Some questions are normally allowed to be raised on the floor of the House with mild variations again and again. But 10 advisories have been sent to the Government of West Bengal by the Government of India in 10 days,” he said in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour.“Why is the West Bengal Government being targeted?” he asked the government, and registered his protest over the issue saying such actions hurt the democratic system.“If any member asks any question, that is sent to the state government… It is butchering the parliamentary democratic process…We strongly protest against it. Sir (the Speaker), I would draw your attention, you must take care of it and the questions should not be allowed to be repeated in this manner,” said the TMC leader. BJP members were seen protesting against the remarks. Bandyopadhyay did not elaborate on the content of the advisories. Advertising
Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor)Jan 18 2019People with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), such as cognitive difficulties, behavior changes and mood swings, may wait months or even years to get a definitive diagnosis. That’s because doctors lack a simple, accurate and inexpensive test for it. But according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, researchers are getting much closer to developing the elusive blood test for AD.Related StoriesStudy finds sex-specific differences in risk and progression of Alzheimer’s diseaseStudy highlights the need for larger Alzheimer’s drug trials that intervene much earlierSpecial blood test may predict relapse risk for breast cancer patientsAbout 5.5 million Americans are living with AD, according to the National Institute on Aging. Most do not seek treatment until their symptoms are well advanced, freelance contributor Jyoti Madhusoodanan writes. By then, substantial and irreversible damage to the brain has already occurred. Current tests for AD, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and lumbar puncture, are invasive, cost thousands of dollars and aren’t covered by most health insurance plans in the U.S. For nearly 20 years, researchers have been trying to develop a blood test for AD, but they’ve been stymied by the low amounts of potential biomarkers in blood.Recently, new biomarkers and assays have moved a reliable blood test closer to the clinic. For example, instead of measuring the total amount of amyloid — the protein that forms clumps in the brains of AD patients — in blood, researchers can more accurately diagnose AD by looking at ratios of different peptides that form when amyloid breaks down. Sensitive new assays can detect smaller amounts of these peptides in blood. These and other developments have made many researchers optimistic that a blood test for AD will be available within the next five years. Such a test would not only aid in diagnosis, but might also help in the search for better AD treatments because it could identify participants for clinical trials. Source:https://www.acs.org/
Source:https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.118.023100 Image Credit: Evan Lorne / Shutterstock By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDFeb 15 2019New evidence shows that consuming two or more cans of diet drinks like diet coke everyday could be linked to a raised risk of dying young due to stroke or heart disease. Experts warn the public against regular consumption of such artificially sweetened drinks. The results of the study were published in the latest issue of the journal Stroke.
Research shows that consuming just two diet drinks or artificially sweetened drinks per day can raise the risk of stroke by a quarter (23 percent) and risk of heart disease by a third (29 percent). The risk of early death among diet drink consumers is 16 percent more than those who do not take such drinks, the study reveals.Lead author of the study, Dr Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York said, “Many well-meaning people, especially those who are overweight or obese, drink low-calorie sweetened drinks to cut calories in their diet. Our research and other observational studies have shown that artificially sweetened beverages may not be harmless and high consumption is associated with a higher risk of stroke and heart disease.”This new study primarily focuses on women and the effects of these sweetened low calorie drinks on their heart health. A total of 81,714 post-menopausal women were included in the study and all of them were 50 to 79 years of age at the start of the study. Their health and wellbeing was tracked and followed up for twelve years from the commencement of the study. A single serving of a diet drink was taken to be 355 ml write the researchers. At the end of three years, the women were asked to report on their consumption of diet drinks, low calorie, artificially sweetened colas, fruit drinks, sodas etc. over the previous three months.Related StoriesStudy explores role of iron in over 900 diseasesHealthy high-fiber diet could reduce preeclampsia riskDiet and nutrition influence microbiome in colonic mucosaThe researchers reveal that some groups are at a greater risk of heart disease. Obese women for example who were taking diet drinks were at double the risk of stroke. African-American women too had a greater risk of stroke, the study reveals. Dr. Mossavar-Rahmani however adds a small caveat saying that it is unclear whether diet drinks are directly causing these early deaths or there are other lifestyle and diet factors contributing to these numbers. The results were adjusted to some of the other risk factors such as age, high blood pressure and smoking. He said, “We don’t know specifically what types of artificially sweetened beverages they were consuming, so we don’t know which artificial sweeteners may be harmful and which may be harmless.”According to the latest recommendations from the American Heart Association there is no clear evidence yet that low-calorie sweetened beverages have an association with heart disease or stroke. This study however refutes the idea and experts warn that if an individual is looking to cut calories, they should switch to drinking water instead of diet drinks.
Reviewed by Alina Shrourou, B.Sc. (Editor)Apr 3 2019In a Child Development study of daily diary descriptions of discrimination by minority adolescents, experiencing discrimination during the day was associated with compromised sleep quality that night, as well as feelings of greater daytime dysfunction and sleepiness the following day.Related StoriesNovel bed system with VR brainwave-control for sleep blissSleep quality and fatigue among women with premature ovarian insufficiencyI’m a CPAP dropout: Why many lose sleep over apnea treatmentThe study also observed notable racial differences in sleep between Asian, Black, and Latinx youth. Wrist actigraphy readings revealed that Black adolescents slept 35 minutes less than Asian adolescents and 36 minutes less than Latinx youth. Black adolescents experienced the most minutes awake during the night after falling asleep, followed by Latinx and Asian youth. Latinx youth reported the highest levels of sleep disturbance while Asian youth reported the highest levels of daytime dysfunction.”The current study contributes to research on discrimination, sleep, and adolescent development,” the authors wrote. “It is the first study to our knowledge to test the daily associations between discrimination and actigraphy-recorded and self-reported sleep in a large and diverse adolescent sample.” Source:https://newsroom.wiley.com/press-release/child-development/discrimination-may-affect-adolescents-sleep-quality
Professor Vanky leads the research group “Women’s Health – PCOS” at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)’s Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine. An article in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal presents the results of nearly two decades of research from NTNU and St. Olavs hospital. Consultant Tone S. Løvvik is the first author, and the study is part of her doctoral work. Professor Sven M. Carlsen is co-supervisor.Related StoriesTAU’s new Translational Medical Research Center acquires MILabs’ VECTor PET/SPECT/CTDiabetes patients experiencing empathy from PCPs have beneficial long-term clinical outcomesBordeaux University Hospital uses 3D printing to improve kidney tumor removal surgeryHowever, the research group surprisingly found no reduction of gestational diabetes among this cohort of women with PCOS.Examined 800 womenFrom 2000 to 2017, the research group carried out three controlled studies of nearly 800 pregnant women with PCOS. The studies were conducted at 15 hospitals in Norway, 4 hospitals in Sweden and one in Iceland. Half of the women were given metformin (2000 milligrams daily) from first trimester to delivery. The rest of the women were given a placebo.In addition to a lower risk of late miscarriage and preterm births, the researchers also found that the women who received metformin gained less weight during pregnancy.A higher level of male sex hormones is associated with several of the symptoms of PCOS. The causes of the condition are not known, but may be related to lifestyle, inheritance and intrauterine fetal life.The group found no effect on pre-eclampsia, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure or to what extent newborns of women with PCOS needed intensive care.No effect on diabetes”Perhaps the most remarkable finding was that metformin had no effect whatsoever on either the incidence or severity of gestational diabetes,” Vanky notes.Metformin is a well-known drug used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and in some countries regarded as equivalent to insulin as a first-line drug therapy for gestational diabetes.The three studies that form the basis of the conclusion were carried out according to Good Clinical Practice principles and will have an impact on the follow-up and treatment of pregnant women with PCOS and likely also of other pregnant women.Another part of the study followed up children of mothers with PCOS who used metformin, and a control group that was given a placebo. Source:The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)Journal reference:Løvvik, T.S. et al. (2019) Use of metformin to treat pregnant women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PregMet2): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(19)30002-6. In pregnant women with PCOS, treatment with metformin from the end of the first trimester may reduce the risk of late miscarriages and preterm births.” Professor Eszter Vanky Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor)Jun 24 2019Metformin can halve the risk of late miscarriage and preterm births for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).PCOS occurs in 10 to 15 per cent of all women. The symptoms are irregular menstrual periods, increased levels of male sex hormones and small ovarian blisters. In addition, many women with PCOS are overweight. Women with PCOS also have an increased incidence of impaired fertility, miscarriages, gestational diabetes, premature births and pre-eclampsia.
Explore further The company says on its website that the credit on its vehicles will start to phase out next year.Under federal law, buyers get the full credit until a manufacturer reaches 200,000 in sales since the start of 2010. Tesla buyers will get the $7,500 this year, then the credit is cut in half and phased out by the end of 2019.The announcement on Tesla’s site means the company hit 200,000 in sales this month.Losing the credit could hurt future sales. Tesla has over 400,000 people on a waiting list for its lower-priced Model 3 car. Some buyers may not be able to afford the cars without the tax credit. © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Citation: $7,500 federal tax credit for Tesla buyers to end Dec. 31 (2018, July 12) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-07-federal-tax-credit-tesla-buyers.html Tesla Inc. says its customers won’t get the full $7,500 federal electric vehicle tax credit after Dec. 31. Tesla falls short on Model 3, but overall sales rise in 2017 This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that despite a huge EU fine over its Android operating system, the tech giant hopes to “preserve the enormous benefits” of the mobile platform Citation: Google parent Alphabet sees record highs despite EU fine (2018, July 24) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-07-google-parent-alphabet-highs-eu.html Profit dipped 9.3 percent to $3.2 billion in the second quarter after accounting for the EU fines, the company said.Revenues meanwhile jumped 26 percent from a year ago to $32.7 billion, better than most analysts expected.Shares in Alphabet jumped 3.6 percent to $1,254.12 in after-hours trade, which could mark a new record for the internet giant if confirmed when markets open Tuesday.”We delivered another quarter of very strong performance,” chief financial officer Ruth Porat said.”Our investments are driving great experiences for users, strong results for advertisers and new business opportunities for Google and Alphabet.”Last week, EU officials slapped a 4.34-billion-euro ($5 billion) penalty on the US tech giant for illegally abusing the dominance of its operating system for mobile devices.Without the fine—which is being appealed by the company—profit would have been $8.3 billion.Brussels accused Google of using the Android system’s near-stranglehold on smartphones and tablets to promote the use of its own Google search engine and shut out rivals.Daniel Ives of GBH Insights said in a research note that despite some regulatory concerns, “advertising and ‘bread and butter’ search revenues were healthy and a good barometer of potential strength heading into the rest of 2018/2019.” Google parent Alphabet shares rose on better-than-anticipated earnings for the second quarter Google parent Alphabet reports $3 bn loss on tax provision Within Google, advertising remained the key revenue source, pulling in $28 billion in the three months ending in June, a 24 percent rise from a year ago.Although advertising remains the key driver of revenue, Google has been moving into cloud computing services for businesses, artificial intelligence and devices, including its Pixel smartphones and notebook computers.As it ramps up artificial intelligence efforts, Google is in fierce competition with rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft in the market for voice assistants that are powering the next generation of connected devices including appliances, cars and smart speakers.Alphabet’s “other bets” saw a 49 percent jump in revenues from a year ago they still lost money, with an operating loss of $732 million in the past quarter.The other bets include the self-driving car unit Waymo and the life sciences division Verily. Alphabet recently “graduated” two of these projects to be independent operating units, the Loon internet balloon service and Wing drone delivery.Alphabet ended the quarter with cash reserves of $102 billion and saw its employee headcount rise to 89,000 from 75,000 a year ago. The future of the Android mobile operating system—which powers more than 85 percent of smartphones—has been clouded by the EU action, which could force Google to change its business arrangements with device makers.Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said that it was too soon to speculate on how Android may be affected by the ruling but said the company would take a “constructive approach.””We look forward to finding a solution that preserves the enormous benefits of Android to users,” Pichai told analysts after the earnings release.Ads still lion’s shareFollowing a reorganization of the company, the Google unit that includes the main search engine and YouTube video service still delivered the lion’s share of revenues at $32.5 billion, with “other bets” driving $145 million in revenue. © 2018 AFP Google parent Alphabet shares lifted Monday on a stronger-than-expected earnings report for the past quarter, as the tech giant’s results eased concerns over huge fines imposed by the European Union for antitrust actions. This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Explore further
Spin therefore meant that the bombs could be delivered from a manageable height. Flying at 60ft was already dangerously low, but without backspin the Lancaster bombers would have to have flown even lower and faster.In Wallis’ earliest experiments he worked with marbles and golf balls and it was obvious that his bomb would be spherical. But because it was easier to manufacture cylindrical bombs, a spherical wooden casing was strapped to the cylinders to make them round. Sir Barnes Wallis was a genius engineer who designed a very special bomb during World War II. The idea was that it would bounce across water and destroy German dams along the Ruhr Valley, causing massive flooding and damage to water and hydroelectricity supplies. Partly thanks to the 1955 film The Dam Busters, the story behind Operation Chastise, which took place on May 16 and 17 in 1943, has become a familiar war time tale. But Wallis’s actual working calculations were lost (fittingly perhaps, in a flood in the 1960s). So what do we know about the complex science behind the bouncing bombs? We know that the Germans considered their dams to be a potential target for their enemies, and placed torpedo nets in front of the structures to protect them. And to bust a dam, Wallis realised that peppering it with lots of small bombs wouldn’t work. It would be the difference between throwing a handful of sand at a window, and then doing the same with a rock. Wallis figured that to do serious damage, a single four tonne bomb had to be detonated right up against the dam wall at a depth of about 30ft below the water. In those days, high altitude bombing accuracy wasn’t good enough to deliver such a bomb bang on target. The idea of bouncing it across the water towards the dam like a skimming stone was inspired.In early experiments a few things became clear. First, for the bomb to bounce it had to be spinning – with backspin. Just like that a delicate backspin dropshot in tennis, which causes the ball to hover just over the net. Wallis worked out that a bomb with backspin would be levitated by what is known as the Magnus effect countering the downward pull of gravity and ensuring that it struck the surface of the water gently. If the bomb hit the water too hard, it would detonate prematurely, causing damage to the aircraft above, but no damage to the dam. Explore further Citation: The Dambusters raid took place 75 years ago – here’s how they made a bomb bounce (2018, September 20) retrieved 17 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-09-dambusters-raid-years.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Provided by University of Cambridge ‘Blitz spirit’ needed to adapt to climate change, engineer warns Finally, Wallis needed to know how much explosive to use. He did small-scale tests on models and then worked out how to scale up the amount of explosive to deal with a dam which is 120ft high, and ideally would have loaded his bombs with 40 tonnes of explosive. In the event (there’s only so much one plane can carry) he could only use four tonnes, so as well as the dark conditions, low altitude and enemy fire, precision was key. (For our own bouncing bomb experiment in 2011, we found that 50 grams of explosive would completely demolish a 4ft dam, so our 30ft version would need 160kg. We used 180kg just to be sure … and it was totally wrecked.)Following trials on water in Dorset and Kent, the actual raid took place in the early hours of May 17 1943, with 19 Lancaster bombers flying out of RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. After a three hour flight, the first plane lined itself up on the Möhne dam, flying at 240mph and at that dangerously low altitude of 60ft. The bomb was released about half a mile in front of the dam, bounced five or six times and sank just short of the wall. At the required depth of 30ft the pressure of water triggered the explosion right next to the dam wall. In all, five planes had to drop their bombs before the first dam was breached.The raid was dangerous, many lives were lost, and its effect on the course of the war is still debated. One thing we can surely agree on however, 75 years later, is that Wallis is rightly remembered as a genius engineer. However, when scaled up to full size, the casing on the spherical bombs would break apart on impact with the water. It didn’t take long to establish that the spherical casing was unnecessary and that the bare cylinder would bounce just as effectively. Spin doctorUnlike a sphere however, cylinders will only bounce if they bounce straight. This is the second good reason for spinning the bomb, because spin keeps the axis of the cylinder horizontal so that it hits the water squarely. Just like for the spinning planet Earth, the gyroscopic effect of the spinning cylinder stabilises the axis of spin.Wallis found yet another key benefit of backspin. The bomb couldn’t just smash into the dam wall at 240mph, as it would detonate prematurely and do no significant damage. So he made sure the bomb landed just short of the dam – but because it was still spinning, it curved down gently towards the dam wall. By the time it reached the required depth it was right up against the dam where it would cause maximum damage.
Citation: Startups shook up the sleepy razor market. What’s next? (2018, September 26) retrieved 17 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-09-startups-shook-sleepy-razor.html It’s been a gut punch to the industry leaders.Gillette controlled about 70 percent of the U.S. market a decade ago. Last year, its market share dropped to below 50 percent, according to Euromonitor. The company, owned by P&G, was forced to slash its razor prices by an average of 12 percent last year.No. 2 razor maker Schick has also been squeezed. Parent company Edgewell Personal Care reported a 3.6 percent drop in net sales from its North America shave business in its most recent earnings report.Both major brands now offer subscription services on their own direct-to-consumer sites, which they are leveraging to promote their lower-end razors while also showcasing their edge in technological innovation.”Our blades are known for their long-lasting quality, which means you need less cartridges per year as compared to the other shave clubs in the market,” said Stephanie Lynn, vice president of Global eCommerce for Edgewell.Pankaj Bhalla, brand director of Gillette North America, said increasing its online sales is a “key part of our strategy.” He offers a reality check for the shave clubs: While Gillette might be new to the direct-to-consumer game, the brand says it has 70 percent of the market share on online retailers like Amazon and Jet.com. But critics say both incumbents were slow to respond to the new competition.”Initially, the biggest players underestimated the potential of these brands, and when they reacted either by dropping prices or by launching their own subscription models, the damage was done,” said Fatima Linares, beauty and fashion research manager at Euromonitor International. “It’s still unknown what these companies will do to revert the situation, or if that is possible at all.”THE SHAVING WARSIt was a different era when salesman King C. Gillette invented the disposable safety razor at the turn of the last century.Clean-shaven faces were synonymous with virtue and manliness, a Western preoccupation that dates back to when Alexander the Great ordered his men to scrape off their beards before battling the Persian armies in 331 B.C., according to Christopher Oldstone-Moore, historian and author of the book, “Beards and Men.”Disposable razors “provided the tools for middle-class mobility, enabling the common man to meet the exacting grooming standards approved by corporate bosses,” Oldstone-Moore writes.Gillette has since become one of the world’s most ubiquitous brands, with its razors sold in virtually every country. It has rolled out fancier and more expensive razors every few years.But in a more relaxed era where stubbles and beards are making a comeback, premium razors started to lose their luster.Dollar Shave Club beat Harry’s to the punch, bursting onto the scene with its 2012 viral YouTube video that ridiculed the technological innovations that have been a source of pride for Gillette.The online startup’s sales soared from $4 million in its first year to more than $150 million by the time it was sold for $1 billion to Unilever in 2016, P&G’s main competitor.While Dollar Shave Club started a price war, Harry’s founders set out to offer premium design at an affordable price.CEO Andy Katz-Mayfield said the idea came him during a 2011 visit to a drug store, where he had to ask an employee to unlock a case to spend $25 for blades and shaving cream.He soon called Raider, a friend who had already co-founded Warby Parker, the eyeglasses company that upended an industry virtually monopolized by Italian firm Luxottica. Katz-Mayfield persuaded Raider to do the same for razors.They were soon scouring the world for quality blades, finally tracking down a German factory that produces the Croma. Raider and Katz-Mayfield secured a deal for custom-made blades and eventually bought the plant in a $100 million gamble.They teased their 2013 launch with an innovative social media campaign that offered free products to anyone who signed up for company updates, sweetening the deal for those who referred the most friends. By launch day, they had the emails of 100,000 people for marketing purposes.Harry’s says it now has 6 million customers in the U.S. and Canada. It says business has grown 70 percent year-over-year in North America, though it does not release sales figures. This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. In this June 15, 2018, photo, the Winston razor and Harry’s face lotion are on display at the headquarters of Harry’s Inc., in New York. Armed with $112 million in new financing, the online startup that took on razor giants Gillette and Schick with its direct-to-consumer subscription model is investigating what other sleepy products might be ripe for disruption. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) For Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club, simplicity is the point. Harry’s sells just one five-blade razor with a choice of two different types of handles, priced at about $2 per cartridge under their subscription plan. Dollar Shave Club offers a 4-blade and a 6-blade razor, with the cheaper one priced at $1.50 per cartridge.It is a deliberate contrast to the dizzying array of razors offered by Gillette and Schick, the legacy of their century-old tradition of trying to outdo each other. Their lower-end products are priced comparatively with the shaving clubs, while their premium razors are much pricier.”The average guy does not like shopping and comparing 27 different things,” said Katz-Mayfield, the Harry’s CEO.But Schick and Gillette are not about to abandon their tradition of rolling out flashy new inventions, still critical to defending their positions as the premier brands in shaving.Gillette is testing a razor designed for caregivers who shave elderly men and has launched an Indiegogo campaign to gauge interest in a new $150 heated razor.”There is no one type of shave for every man in America. Whatever every person needs, we have a solution for you, and that is what Gillette is,” Bhalla said.How the newcomers compare in quality is a matter of furious social media debate. Harry’s gets its share of negative reviews from customers who say its razors feel cheap, but others are fiercely loyal.Greg Lesko, a 56-year-old from the Pittsburgh area, said he became “fed up” with Gillette’s high prices.”I figured there was nothing to lose so I gave Harry’s a try,” said Lesko, a client support specialist at a prescription benefits management company. “I wouldn’t go back if you paid me.”IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, EAT THEMOne way for big consumer goods companies to disarm the competition is to swallow them whole.Unilever’s purchase of Dollar Shave Club points to that trend and bodes well for the future of upstart digital brands, said Brian McRoskey, co-author of the Bain & Company report.Edgewell has acquired two trendy men’s skincare brands, Texas-based Jack Black and the U.K. company Bulldog. The company plans a direct-to-consumer site in the U.S. for Bulldog, which unveiled its first razor in June, marketed as eco-friendly with a bamboo handle.Insurgent brands have turned out to be an opportunity for major retailers trying to compete in the Amazon age, said Tim Barrett, a senior analyst at Euromonitor International. Walmart bought fashion brands Bonobos and ModCloth to drive online sales, “a key component of its e-commerce strategy,” Barrett said.Meanwhile, online brands are finding that shoppers are not done buying razors or mattresses in stores.Casper, an online mattress retailer, started opening stores because so many customers were showing up at its New York offices asking to try out mattresses. In this June 15, 2018, photo, Andy Katz-Mayfield, co-founder and CEO of Harry’s Inc., speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at company headquarters in New York. Katz-Mayfield said the idea came him during a 2011 visit to a drug store, where he had to ask an employee to unlock a case to spend $25 for blades and shaving cream. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) In this June 15, 2018, photo, Jeff Raider, co-founder of Harry’s Inc. and who recently took on the role of CEO of Harry’s Labs, smiles during an interview with The Associated Press at company headquarters in New York. Armed with $112 million in new financing, the online startup that took on razor giants Gillette and Schick with its direct-to-consumer subscription model is investigating what other sleepy products might be ripe for disruption. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) What do you hate shopping for? Toothpaste? Diaper rash cream? Sunscreen? The guys who founded Harry’s shaving club spend a lot time thinking about this question. Raider said Warby Parker had a similar experience and he wasn’t surprised to discover that many men still like buying razors in stores. The company started selling its razors at Target in 2016 and struck a partnership with Walmart this year.As they go mainstream, the challenge for new brands to keep from becoming one more razor on the shelf or mattress at the mall. Retailers, eager for foot traffic in the digital era, are happy to help hipster brands stand out.Nordstrom’s has made room for Casper and other online brands through a pop-up series. Harry’s got coveted end-of-aisle space at Target, featuring a giant orange razor.’WHAT UPSETS YOU?’Like other insurgent companies, Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club took off because they tapped into shoppers’ grievances.Casper’s, which lets customers try mattresses at home for 100 nights, grew out of the premise that it’s no fun shopping for a big, bulky item that’s hard to test out.The start-up Hims, which counts Harry’s as a minority stakeholder, launched last year to give men a more comfortable way to shop for hair growth and erectile dysfunction drugs.”What sets them apart is a compelling offer that addresses a real unmet consumer need,” said Bain & Company in its report.Raider said he hopes to mine the 2 million interactions Harry’s has had with customers to find more gripes.On Facebook, Harry’s told one curious customer that shampoo and conditioner are in the works.Another possibility? Sunscreen. Raider says it’s expensive and should be marketed for everyday use, not beach trips.”A lot of just comes from talking to people, like, ‘hey, what do you want to be better in your life?'” Raider said. “What upsets you?”They’re also not ruling out products to help men take care of beards.”It will take time for us to understand those guys,” the clean-shaven Raider said. “Maybe Andy and I will have to grow big beards.” In this Friday, June 15, 2018, photo, co-founders and co-CEOs of Harry’s Inc., Jeff Raider, left, and Andy Katz-Mayfield speak during an interview with The Associated Press at company headquarters in New York. Armed with $112 million in new financing, the online startup that took on razor giants Gillette and Schick with its direct-to-consumer subscription model is investigating what other sleepy products might be ripe for disruption. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Explore further © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The startup, which took on razor giants Gillette and Schick with its direct-to-consumer subscription model, has since expanded into traditional retail and launched a line of body care products. Armed with $112 million in new financing to develop new brands, the company now is investigating what other sleepy products might be ripe for disruption.”Our vision is to build a next-generation consumer brand company,” said Jeff Raider, who recently took on the role of CEO of Harry’s Labs, overseeing the development of new brands. “It might be better products, a better experience getting the products or a brand that appeals to who they want to be as people.”There’s a reason why Harry’s investors are betting that reinventing the razor was no flash-in-the-pan idea. Insurgent brands are shaking up the way people buy everything from mattresses to prescription acne remedies, eating into the market share of big consumer product companies and leaving them scrambling to respond.’NO CATEGORY IS IMMUNE’Eager venture capitalists, digital technology and social media make it easier for anyone with a good idea to enter the consumer goods market, according to a report on insurgent brands by Bain & Company, a management consulting firm. Contract manufacturing, which allows companies to outsource production and sometimes defray costs, also has made it simpler.”The reality is that no category is immune to disruption,” the Bain & Company report said.Digital newcomers still represent only a fraction of the overall market share, according to the report, which analyzed sales data from IRI market research firm for 90 goods categories. Startup brands accounted for only 2 percent of market share across 45 product types they disrupted from 2012 to 2016, the report said. But such companies captured a quarter of the growth in that time.Being small is often a tactical advantage, allowing fledgling companies the freedom to focus on a core product, shoring up visibility among a targeted group of consumers, while bigger brands are forced to defend their market share across a wider base.Harry’s has captured about 2 percent of the $2.8 billion men’s shaving industry since its launch in 2013, according to Euromonitor market research firm. Its main shaving club rival, Dollar Shave Club, has about 8 percent. How to get that perfect shave
Ciaran Martin, the CEO of the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre, said it was important to have “sustainable diversity” in the supply of telecommunications equipment. He added that his agency could handle the challenges involved in monitoring suppliers who may not be considered trustworthy—a hint at Huawei.Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of switching gear for phone and internet companies, has faced rising scrutiny over U.S. allegations that it could be forced by the Chinese government to provide access to consumer data on its networks.As countries roll out new high speed fifth generation, or 5G, mobile networks, they are seeking suppliers and the issue of whether to ban Huawei has become a heated debate.Some frame it as a cold evaluation of the technical risks. Others see it as part of a broader tussle between the U.S. and China for technological dominance. The U.S. has effectively blocked Huawei for years and is accusing China of stealing technology from foreign companies.U.S. government officials including Vice President Mike Pence publicly warned European allies against using Huawei during a visit last week.Authorities and telecom operators in countries such as Germany, Norway and the Czech Republic have been reassessing Huawei’s role in 5G networks while Australia, New Zealand and Japan have already moved to curb the use of its gear to varying degrees.China has stridently defended Huawei, considered a crown jewel in its push to become a global technology power, and denounced security concerns as part of a U.S.-led plot to restrain the country’s development.”The United States and a few of its allies are using double standards and deliberately misleading the public on the issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Monday.”It’s hypocritical, immoral and unfair bullying behaviors,” said Geng.Experts say Huawei networks are generally cheaper than those of competitors and are of a high quality, making it a difficult decision for governments and telecom operators to shun the supplier altogether. Banning Huawei could also delay the rollout of 5G networks, which are considered necessary for the next generation of internet-connected things, from self-driving cars to smart factories. Explore further Citation: As US pushes to ban Huawei, UK considers softer approach (Update) (2019, February 20) retrieved 17 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-02-uk-cybersecurity-chief-oversight-huawei.html Britain can handle the security risks involved with using mobile networks made by China’s Huawei, the cybersecurity chief said Wednesday, adding to a growing debate among countries on whether the company should be banned, as the U.S. wants. In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, the logos of Huawei are displayed at its retail shop window reflecting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing. The head of Britain’s cybersecurity agency says government oversight of Huawei has proven it can flag up security problems, suggesting he doesn’t think the Chinese company needs to be banned from supplying mobile networks. Ciaran Martin, the CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre, also said Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 that one of the conditions for maintaining good cybersecurity is having “sustainable diversity” in the telecommunications equipment supplier market. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) British intelligence says Huawei risk manageable: FT The British government is due to complete a review of its policies on the safety of 5G in March or April.Martin said no decisions have yet been made and “everything is on the table.”Since 2010, the British government has operated a cybersecurity evaluation center for Huawei equipment, which Martin said was part of “the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world” for the company.”And it is proving its worth,” he said, according to a transcript of a speech he gave at a conference in Brussels.The cybersecurity center in July identified technical issues in Huawei’s engineering processes that could make it less safe. Huawei said last month that it would take three to five years to fix the problems.Martin said the issues his agency identified relate to cybersecurity standards and are “not indicators of hostile activity by China.” He told reporters that mistakes in software are the biggest issue for cybersecurity, more so than the risk of a foreign government getting backdoor access.Huawei competes with a few big rivals, notably Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson, to supply equipment for 5G networks.Martin said it’s important not to let the telecom equipment supplier market shrink too much.”Any company in an excessively dominant market position will not be incentivized to take cybersecurity seriously,” Martin said, adding that such a company could be a “prime target for attack for the globe’s most potent cyber attackers.”In a sign of Britain’s division over 5G, a security think tank warned the same day against using Huawei gear.”Allowing Huawei’s participation is at best naive, at worst irresponsible,” the Royal United Services Institute said in a report, which cited factors including the difficulty of finding hidden “back doors” in software.Germany is still undecided on what to do. It has made clear it doesn’t plan to explicitly bar any single manufacturer, though that leaves open the possibility it could frame system requirements in a way that effectively excludes Huawei.Officials are wary of the security issues that could arise with Chinese involvement, and the German Interior Ministry said Wednesday that internal discussions were still ongoing on how to proceed.”A direct exclusion of a particular manufacturer from the 5G expansion is at the time not legally possible and also not planned,” the Interior Ministry told The Associated Press. “For the Interior Ministry the focus is on adapting the security requirements of the telecommunications network in such a way that the security of the network remains guaranteed, including from possibly non-trustworthy manufacturers.”The ministry said for that to be ensured, the requirements must be anchored in Germany’s telecommunications law and discussions on how to do that are currently ongoing. © 2019 The Associated Press. 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“When the football team has confidence with the guy at that position, it makes your football team better,” Elway said. “Joe proved, he showed everybody on our football team he’s that guy. Our team responded to him well. … He’s ready to take that spot over.”The Broncos finished 2018 with a 6-10 record and missed the playoffs for a third straight season. They fired Vance Joseph in late December and hired Vic Fangio to replace him. The Broncos selected Lock in the second round of the 2019 draft. Negotiations between the signal-caller and the team stalled earlier this week because he was seeking a “quarterback premium,” which would have paid him more than his slot value, according to an earlier report from 9News.com.Lock was reportedly considering a holdout, but he agreed to terms with Denver less than a day before the team was set to open training camp. The deal Lock inked with Denver does not include the premium, according to NFL.com. Related News Phillip Lindsay injury update: Broncos running back (wrist) to return for training camp Peyton Manning: Now not ‘right time’ for ‘Monday Night Football’ job
Lock completed 62.9% of his passes and threw for 28 touchdowns, along with eight interceptions, as a senior with Missouri. He’s expected to back up Joe Flacco – who the Broncos acquired in a trade with the Ravens in the offseason – as a rookie.”(Quarterback) is a hard position to fill,” Denver president of football operations John Elway said Wednesday, via ESPN. “We tried to shake all these trees around here the last four years and the quarterbacks didn’t fall out. So, it’s difficult. We’ve taken a lot of shots, we’ve tried a lot of different situations. … Hopefully with Joe we’ve got it solidified with Drew (Lock) working under him.”Denver also has quarterbacks Kevin Hogan and Brett Rypien on its roster, but Elway said there will not be a competition for the starting spot. Drew Lock will be in attendance when the Broncos begin training camp.The 22-year-old quarterback has signed his rookie contract with Denver, according to multiple reports, including NFL.com and the Denver Post.
The Rajery band from Madagascar will perform at the Rainforest World Music Festival 2019. Nation 31 May 2019 Sarawak gears up for music festivals Metro News 04 Jul 2019 A greener Rainforest World Music Festival Southern & Eastern Region , Sarawak Related News Related News
Tags / Keywords: {{category}} {{time}} {{title}} THE iconic Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is back in its 22nd consecutive year; bigger than ever and aims to attract over 20,000 festival-goers and tourists to the three-day culture filled event that ends tomorrow.It is being held at Sarawak Cultural Village in Kuching, about 50 minutes from the Kuching International Airport.The RWMF 2019 celebrates diverse music genres, cultures and heritage; interactive participation in a host of music tutorials alongside arts and crafts workshops. It is an event known to be one of the best among the 25 international festivals in the world, a family-friendly event for people to experience the living museum that preserves nature. AdChoices广告It is a getaway for music aficionados to soak in the beats of local indigenous and world-renowned musicians from different continents, while indulging the senses in nature. The RWMF 2019 has newcomers from various countries, namely the Ainu people of Japan hailing from the snow-capped state of Hokkaido, the Nagaland people from northern India, performers from Canary Island, the spiritual and mysterious Bhutan, the islands of Mauritius and Jamaica, Estonia in Northern Europe and from life’s rich tapestry that is the West Kalimantan Dayaks.It will have 39 bands with nine emerging bands performing on stage, 69 performances, 27 lifestyle and wellness sessions, and musicians from about 27 different nationalities. While gathering to celebrate nature, culture and music, Sarawak sets itself apart by showcasing the state in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way by emphasising preservation. There is a no-plastic ruling banning all plastic water bottles throughout the festival. Other festivals happening is the Borneo Jazz Festival from July 19 to 21. This annual event is in its 14th year, running as one of the longest international jazz festivals in the region. It will feature a stellar line-up of traditional and contemporary jazz genres from acclaimed local artistes and from overseas such as from Italy, Mexico, Austria, Japan and the US.The Borneo Jazz Festival will have 15 bands and DJs in Miri’s lifestyle and entertainment place called Coco Cabana in Marina Bay. Outreach programmes for emerging musicians, one of whom will be present during the event, will give a chance to finalists to perform and compete at the Borneo Jazz Festival and stand a chance to win a total prize giveaway of up to RM11,000. The festival will showcase the mythical island of Borneo and promote tourism for Sarawak on a larger scale, not forgetting the addition of exotic cuisines and indigenous arts and crafts. Metro News 14 Jun 2019 Bigger, better music festival