Express Oil Change & Service Center is concerned that Brian McCann's performance in the 2012 season will result in his contract not being extended with the Atlanta Braves.

The informal textile waste management system in Bangladesh needs to be formalised to align with the EU sustainability regulations and averting political-economic tension and labour unrest, experts have said. A government official called for technology transfer, financing and a national strategy for textile circularity. The next five years would be crucial, the EU Delegation to Bangladesh said.

Canadian home and commercial services company Enercare Inc., Toronto, is reported to have entered into an agreement to acquire Service Experts, a U.S. provider of HVAC services based in Plano, Texas. The purchase price is said to be $340.75 million.

BISHKEK, 15 July 2016 – The OSCE Centre in Bishkek and the Regional Office for Central Asia of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR ROCA) completed a training course in Bishkek today for 35 advisors and experts of the Kyrgyz parliament on promoting human rights in the legislative process.

The two-day training course aimed at enhancing the knowledge of parliamentarians on human rights principles.

National and international experts shared their know-how with participants on the international human rights standards, and the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System and its mechanisms. They also discussed the role of parliamentarians in promoting and protecting human rights, the principles of equality and non-discrimination as well as the relations between the state and other actors.

“Today’s training course is an important step towards ensuring that new laws will be drafted in compliance with these principles for the continuous democratic development of Kyrgyzstan,” said Daniele Rumolo, Senior Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Centre in Bishkek. “Following the successful organization of parliamentary elections in October 2015, it is necessary that Kyrgyz authorities continue to meet their obligations and implement the relevant OSCE commitments on human rights.”

Ryszard Komenda, OHCHR ROCA Regional Representative, said: “It is critical that advisors and experts working closely with members of the parliament are fully versed in and committed to international and national human rights standards in order to propose and adopt legislation that is in full compliance with them. This training course represents one way in which OHCHR supports Kyrgyzstan to protect and promote human rights.”

The training course is part of the OSCE Centre’s project on strengthening democratic governance in Kyrgyzstan.

BERLIN, 20 June 2016 - Government experts of the 57 OSCE participating States met in Berlin today  to discuss efforts to continue the important fight against anti-Semitism.

The meeting that took place in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs was opened by Gernot Erler, Special Representative of the German government for the OSCE Chairmanship, and focused on exchanges of strategies, methods and good practice in combating anti-Semitism.

Erler called for a co-ordinated approach at the international level to combat anti-Semitism and encouraged best use of the OSCE and its institutions in the ongoing struggle against intolerance and discrimination. “Against the international networks of intolerance and hatred we have to stand firm with an equally broad and international alliance of governments, international and non-governmental organizations fostering tolerance and non-discrimination. And we have to embed the fight against anti-Semitism in our societies and our political culture”, Erler said.

Akiva Tor, Head of Bureau of World Jewish Affairs and World Religions from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed the need to continue to focus on combating anti-Semitism as the situation of Jews in Europe is a bellwether for the overall situation. “This particular hatred is uniquely dangerous. The growing menace to Jewish communities represents a direct threat to European civilization.”

One focus of the meeting was the working definition of anti-Semitism, which was adopted at the plenary session of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in Bucharest in May this year. Rabbi Andrew Baker, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism, introduced the history and context of this working definition and called for its adoption and use also in the OSCE. “At a time when anti-Semitism manifests itself in different ways, the working definition is a valuable tool in helping governments and civil society to understand and combat anti-Semitism.”

The experts also exchanged best practice of combating anti-Semitism at government level, namely by appointing a special envoy, introducing parliamentary reports, adopting an action plan‎ or supporting education programmes.

This meeting is part of a series of events focusing on combating anti-Semitism. The German OSCE Chairmanship has made the promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination a priority of its work.

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Dutch appeal court ruled in favour of oil and gas company over judgment telling it to limit emissions A court ruling in favour of Shell does not spell the end of climate litigation against companies, legal experts have said. The oil and gas company celebrated on Tuesday when it won an appeal…

During a public joint hearing today titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth," four experts testified that the U.S. is running secret UAP programs, including crash retrieval and reverse-engineering programs for advanced nonhuman technology. Although the Pentagon maintains there's no evidence of alien spacecraft, witnesses like Luis Elizondo and Michael Gold argue that UAPs represent an intelligence enigma and call for open, stigma-free study to address potential security concerns and unknown scientific possibilities. NPR reports: Tim Gallaudet, retired rear admiral, U.S. Navy; CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, LLC "Confirmation that UAPs are interacting with humanity came for me in January 2015," Gallaudet said in his written testimony (PDF). He describes being part of a pre-deployment naval exercise off the U.S. East Coast that culminated in the famous "Go Fast" video, in which a Navy F/A-18 jet's sensors recorded "an unidentified object exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal." He was among a group of commanders involved in the exercise who received an email containing the video, which was sent by the operations officer of Fleet Forces Command, Gallaudet said. "The very next day, the email disappeared from my account and those of the other recipients without explanation," he said. Luis Elizondo, author and former Department of Defense official Elizondo's written testimony (PDF) was brief and alleged that a secretive arms race is playing out on the global stage. "Let me be clear: UAP are real," he wrote. "Advanced technologies not made by our Government -- or any other government -- are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. Furthermore, the U.S. is in possession of UAP technologies, as are some of our adversaries." Elizondo is a former intelligence officer who later "managed a highly sensitive Special Access Program on behalf of the White House and the National Security Council," according to his official bio (PDF). "By 2012, [Elizondo] was the senior ranking person of the DOD's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a secretive Pentagon unit that studied unidentified anomalous phenomena," his bio states, adding that he resigned in 2017. Michael Gold, former NASA associate administrator of space policy and partnerships; member of NASA UAP Independent Study Team Gold's written testimony (PDF) stressed the need for government agencies and academics to "overcome the pernicious stigma that continues to impede scientific dialogue and open discussions" about unexplained phenomena. "As the saying goes, the truth is out there," Gold said, "we just need to be bold enough and brave enough to face it." Michael Shellenberger, founder of Public, a news outlet on the Substack platform Shellenberger's testimony (PDF) ran to some 214 pages, including a lengthy timeline of UAP reports from 1947 to 2023. Shellenberger pressed the White House and Congress to act, calling for the adoption of UAP transparency legislation and cutting funds for any related programs that aren't disclosed to lawmakers. "UAP transparency is bi-partisan and critical to our national security," his written testimony stated. You can watch the proceeding here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Central Queens Branch of the P.E.I. Wildlife Federation is looking for fish with white patches on them. They could have a disease called Saprolegniosis, caused by water mould spores found in waterways across the province. The branch is studying whether it's more prevalent in the West River — and if so, why.

Nairobi — As African farmers struggle with unpredictability caused by climate change, some are looking into contract farming, which involves growing a certain crop for a price set in advance. About 400 people attended the International Conference on Contract Farming in Nairobi this week to learn more about the practice.  Peris Wanjiku, the conference director, said such agreements can help solve the challenges that many smallholder farmers face in Africa.  "It's always important to farm with a plan. I believe it's not enough to simply plant a crop, whatever it is, without knowing where it will end up," Wanjiku said. "Farmers should know beforehand what to grow and where to sell. This is why contract farming is so important, as it provides the framework for certainty and sustainability. "But it's not only about the traditional farmer. I believe we can extend the benefit of contract farming to those who may not be farmers themselves right now, but they own a piece of land."    Experts say the growing interest in contract farming is associated with increasingly complicated systems in food production, marketing and distribution, which has made it difficult for farmers to meet consumers' demands.  Contract farming, experts say, is an instrument that manages and reduces production risks for both parties.  Wilson Milito Ole-Rampei, a vegetable farmer in Kenya, is attending the conference and is optimistic that the practice would help him.   "I will benefit because if, for example, I am growing vegetables, we will arrange with them to get a market. They will give me their technical advice, then our arid land will be used. Because of [a] shortage of rain, we will do irrigation. I would have knowledge of what I am growing," Ole-Rampei said.    An economist for the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Lan Li, said contract farming is often a good deal for small-scale farmers.   "It sets the agreements on what products to produce, quantity, and price," Li said. "As such, it helps secure more stable income and better production planning for producers. It can improve access to inputs for small-scale holder farmers, technical assistance training, and financing solutions."  African farmers have seen reduced harvests due to global warming and drought. For many, a lack of knowledge and skills also contributes to low food production.  In areas where farmers can produce enough food, they sometimes face obstacles such as bad roads or insecurity that prevent them from getting to market.   Carole Kariuki, head of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, said the private and public sectors need to collaborate to improve the agriculture sector.  "The private sector is doing its best. It's filling that gap where it can, but we cannot do it all, and we need the government to be able to go back and say we can get agriculture extension officers helping out small farmers and all the farmers in the country. Contract farming holds immense potential to transform African agriculture,” she said.  Contract farming can have drawbacks, such as making farmers less able to sell to alternative buyers when produce prices increase. In addition, there are environmental risks from growing only one crop for a long time.   Buyers, meanwhile, can face high transaction costs from contracting with many farmers.  But Kariuki believes the benefits outweigh the risks. She called contract farming a model to lift up small-scale farmers, boost food production, and drive sustainable growth.

[VOA] Nairobi -- As African farmers struggle with unpredictability caused by climate change, some are looking into contract farming, which involves growing a certain crop for a price set in advance.

A similar hearing last year brought extraordinary moments, including a retired intelligence officer alleging that the U.S. government has recovered nonhuman "biologics" from crash sites.

Permanent tent cities are another idea Trump has for dealing with people who are unhoused. Sequestering people with mental illness or substance abuse in one place has been tried, an expert says, and "it turns into hell on earth."

Such councils include the **Council of Jerusalem (50 AD) [Acts 15:6], the Council of Rome (155 AD), the Second Council of Rome (193 AD), the Council of Ephesus (193 AD), the Council of Carthage (251 AD), the Council of Iconium (258 AD), the **Council of Antioch (264 AD), the Councils of Arabia (246-247 AD), the Council of Elvira (306 AD), the Council of Carthage (311 AD), the Synod of Neo-Caesarea (314 AD), the Council of Ancyra (314 AD) and the Council of Arles (314 AD). -- and later the **Council in Nicaea, Bithynia (Turkey) in 325 A.D.

The FLC Scientific Summit will be held at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich on April 24 – 26.

Perhaps it is time to embrace some new first principles.

Making a first impression is not easy. People are just so sensitive these days. Sensitive about themselves, that is.

complete article

Like blogs and social media, podcasts are democratizing the way people share their thoughts with the world, with the episodic audio series continuing to gain traction with listeners seeking both entertainment value and educational dialogue.

complete article

[New Times] While progress has been made in enhancing sexual reproductive health among youth in Rwanda, challenges such as gender-based violence (GBV), teenage pregnancies, HIV infections, remain.

Chennai loves its biryani. We meet three celebrated cooks from the city’s biryani hubs: Triplicane, Royapuram, and Periamet

Dr. Reynolds talks about experts, how one should deal with real experts, and how to spot fake ones.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the critical predictors affecting project desertion in Blockchain projects. Background: Blockchain is one of the innovations that disrupt a broad range of industries and has attracted the interest of software developers. However, despite being an open-source software (OSS) project, the maintenance of the project ultimately relies on small core developers, and it is still uncertain whether the technology will continue to attract a sufficient number of developers. Methodology: The study utilized a systematic literature review (SLR) and an expert review method. The SLR identified 21 primary studies related to project desertion published in Scopus databases from the year 2010 to 2020. Then, Blockchain experts were asked to rank the importance of the identified predictors of project desertion in Blockchain. Contribution: A theoretical framework was constructed based on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs; personal, behavior, and environmental predictors and related theories. Findings: The findings indicate that the 12 predictors affecting Blockchain project desertion identified through SLR were important and significant. Recommendations for Practitioners: The framework proposed in this paper can be used by the Blockchain development community as a basis to identify developers who might have the tendency to abandon a Blockchain project. Recommendation for Researchers: The results show that some predictors, such as code testing tasks, contributed code decoupling, system integration and expert heterogeneity that are not covered in the existing developer turnover models can be integrated into future research efforts. Impact on Society: This study highlights how an individual’s design choices could determine the success or failure of IS projects. It could direct Blockchain crypto-currency investors and cyber-security managers to pay attention to the developer’s behavior while ensuring secure investments, especially for crypto-currencies projects. Future Research: Future research may employ additional methods, such as a meta-analysis, to provide a comprehensive picture of the main predictors that can predict project desertion in Blockchain.

How does the presence of domain experts on a corporate board—directors whose primary professional experience is within the focal firm's industry—affect organizational outcomes? We argue that under conditions of significant decision uncertainty, a higher proportion of domain experts on a board may detract from effective decision making and thus increase the probability of organizational failure. Building on exploratory interviews with board members and CEOs, we derive hypotheses from this argument in the context of local banks in the United States. We predict that the greater the level of decision uncertainty—due to rapid asset growth or operation in less predictable markets—the stronger the relationship between the proportion of banking expert directors and the probability of bank failure. Longitudinal analyses of 1,307 banks between 1996 and 2012 support this prediction, even after accounting for both the overall level of professional diversity among directors and banks' different propensities to have an expert-heavy board. We discuss implications for the key dimensions of board composition, the conditions under which the professional background of directors is more or less consequential, and the mechanisms whereby board composition affects organizational outcomes.

In this recent Ask the Experts question, learn the difference between a standard and a specification. For more answers, visit the Ask the Experts page.

The second plenary of the Platform met in December 2013 and agreed an ambitious work programme for 2014-2018: Details of the agreed work programme are available in the advanced meeting report of the Plenary.

The IPBES Secretariat have now issued a call for experts to help scope, advise on and deliver the work programme. Governments and relevant stakeholders can put forward nominations, from which the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel of IPBES will select a maximum of 20% of experts from the stakeholder nominations, and the rest from the government nominations.

The UK expects IPBES to make use of the best scientists/experts from all relevant disciplines - natural science, social science, economics, data and modelling and traditional knowledge, and to achieve a geographical and gender balance among those experts in the delivery of the IPBES work programme.

More information of the required topics to be covered by experts, alongside the nomination forms and how to nominate can be found in the attachments below.

International observers will determine if the right to defense and impartial trial are respected

VILAWEB

18-12-2018

A group of judicial and human rights experts, as well as professors throughout Spain, have set up a platform called ‘International Trial Watch – Catalan Referendum case’ to supervise the trial against independence leaders, presented on Monday.

At the event, criminal law professor Iñaki Rivera stated that they are creating reports to determine if the “right to defense, the existence and duration of pre-trial incarceration, and impartial trial, balance between parties, and the taking of evidence” are respected, along with the competency of the Supreme Court in the trial.

Washington – Robust federal enforcement and an update of EPA rules are key to preventing similar incidents, according to testimony given at a June 27 Senate hearing.

Darien, IL — In an effort to balance “the need to meet operational demands with the need to manage fatigue-related risks” related to shift work, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society have issued guidance on designing optimal work shift durations.

Falls Church, VA — Former OSHA administrator David Michaels is among more than a dozen health and safety experts calling on the Biden administration to update and strengthen Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to help prevent COVID-19 transmission.

Orlando, FL — Safety I and Safety II have divergent viewpoints, but they can be united and aligned into “Safety Seriously.”

Fire alarm industry experts weigh in on the latest in fire alarm control panel tech, selection, maintenance and installation — and code updates affecting all of the above.

Washington — The director of NIOSH’s Office for Total Worker Health says employers should think about the physical and mental health needs of their employees returning to the job amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Washington — Instead of relying on generational labels such as “millennial” and “baby boomer” to help inform workforce management decisions – including those related to safety and communication – employers and managers should focus on workers’ individual situations and needs, concludes a recently published report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Washington – A pair of high-profile incidents overseas has prompted a study into the emotional and mental health of commercial pilots in the United States.

Washington — NIOSH, in conjunction with Wikipedia, has launched a yearlong campaign aimed at improving the free online encyclopedia’s content related to acoustics and the harmful effects of noise.

San Francisco – Ninety percent of on-the-job eye injuries could be avoided if workers wore eye protection, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Darien, IL — Not a fan of “springing forward” and “falling back” an hour every year? If so, you’re not alone.

Glenview, IL — A new resource from the American College of Chest Physicians is aimed at preventing shift work sleep disorder among employees who work nontraditional hours.

Itasca, IL — Taking simple steps before work begins can help curb job-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Darien, IL — Fatigue and sleepiness are inherent safety risks for ridesharing drivers and their passengers, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine declares in a recent position statement.

Chicago – With summer approaching, three medical organizations have teamed up to issue tips to help prevent lawn mower injuries.

Leading commercial interiors event NeoCon announces its call for programming submissions, opening October 30. Industry experts can propose CEUs, workshops, and talks for the 56th edition, scheduled for June 9-11, 2025, at The Mart in Chicago. 

The Dutch Euthanasia law permits euthanasia in patients with advanced dementia lacking decisional capacity based on advance euthanasia directives. Nevertheless, physicians encounter difficulties assessing the … Read the full article ›

The post A qualitative focus group study on legal experts’ views regarding euthanasia requests based on an advance euthanasia directive was curated by information for practice.

Rolf Nordstrom, president and CEO of the nonpartisan nonprofit Great Plains Institute, and Gregg Mast, executive director of Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, weigh in on what the election results will mean for the energy transition already underway.

With the UK facing the hot temperatures, many of us will be wondering how to protect tech items from overheating and facing long lasting damage. 

In recognition of Cyber Security Awareness Month, Uswitch Broadband experts set out to explore how well people are protecting themselves online. The survey uncovered common mistakes that leave people vulnerable to cyber risks, along with actionable tips on how to safeguard personal information.

Physicians and investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai will give more than 30 presentations at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions Nov. 16-18 in Chicago.

Looking for medical experts to comment on the findings of the following embargoed study: Vitamin D Supplements May Lower Blood Pressure in Older People with Obesity

Physicians and investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai will give more than 30 presentations at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions Nov. 16-18 in Chicago.