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Katy Perry to release new song 'Daisies' on May 15

Katy Perry announced "Daisies," a first single from her forthcoming fifth studio album and a rumored collaboration with Taylor Swift.




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Look: Brian May visits hospital after injuring buttocks while gardening

Queen guitarist Brian May is recovering after tearing his gluteus maximus during a moment of "over-enthusiastic" gardening.




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Podcast: Police Response to Quarantined Mental Health Crisis

What happens when the police are called to handle a mental health emergency? And is the current coronavirus pandemic affecting their response? In today’s podcast, Gabe interviews Sergeant Matt Harris,...




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Amid Economic Crisis and Political Turmoil, Venezuelans Form a New Exodus

Record number of Venezuelans are emigrating to escape the country's economic mismanagement, insecurity, and shortages. This article examines the causes of the current crisis and draws from a study of thousands of Venezuelans abroad to examine who is leaving, where they have headed, and what their hopes are for the future of Venezuela. It also scopes future opportunities for diaspora engagement.




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Spain’s Labor Migration Policies in the Aftermath of Economic Crisis

A relatively new destination for immigrants, Spain has developed a labor migration system that builds on longstanding relationships with countries outside the European Union and that actively involves employers, trade unions, and regional governments. This report examines how this legal framework has evolved in recent decades, and how it could serve as a model for EU policymakers in admitting non-EU workers.




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The Multicultural Dilemma: Amid Rising Diversity and Unsettled Equity Issues, New Zealand Seeks to Address Its Past and Present

New Zealand drew global attention for its unity and support for the Muslim community targeted during the horrific Christchurch attacks. Yet the country's road to inclusion has been far from straightforward, and amid rising diversity it is grappling with the best way to achieve inclusion for its multiethnic population, including indigenous Māori peoples and migrants. This article outlines the opportunities and challenges to fostering multiculturalism against a backdrop of bicultural policies.




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Psychological Trauma Is the Next Crisis for Coronavirus Health Workers

Hero worship alone doesn’t protect frontline clinicians from distress

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com




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The Power of Political Misinformation

Have you seen the photo of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin brandishing a rifle while wearing a U.S. flag bikini? Have you read the e-mail saying Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was sworn into the U.S. Senate with his hand placed on the Koran? Both are fabricated -- and...




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Between Hubris and Vision

President Obama appears serenely confident as he goes about fixing the worst global financial crisis in more than half a century while simultaneously revamping the national health-care system, changing the way Americans use and produce energy, giving tax breaks to 95 percent of all households, an...




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The Role of Think Tanks in Times of (Migration) Crisis: A Transatlantic Perspective

As European policymakers and publics continue to grapple with the migration crisis, this conversation offers an opportunity to reflect on the role and responsibility of experts in these politically sensitive debates.




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Turkey-Style Deals Will Not Solve the Next EU Migration Crisis

The EU-Turkey deal has been credited with helping to end the migration crisis of 2015-16, and after two years in force it has fostered a myth that such deals are cure-alls. They are not, as this MPI Europe commentary explores. Recent EU responses place great emphasis on transit routes to Europe. But what if the next major event is a different kind of shock altogether?




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After the Storm: Learning from the EU Response to the Migration Crisis

As maritime arrivals climbed in 2015, EU policymakers struggled to mount a coordinated response. A range of ad hoc crisis-response tools emerged, but many officials worry that if another migration emergency were to hit Europe, the European Union may still be unprepared. This report traces the evolution of the EU response to the 2015–16 crisis and lays out recommendations to lock in progress and shore up weaknesses.




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The COVID-19 Pandemic Suggests the Lessons Learned by European Asylum Policymakers After the 2015 Migration Crisis Are Fading

As European asylum systems are tested again by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has injected the need for social distancing during processing and in reception centers, it appears lessons learned during the 2015-16 migration and refugee crisis may be fading. Chief among them: A number of Member States have phased out their buffer capacity. This MPI Europe commentary explores the diametrically different approaches taken to asylum during the pandemic.




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Seasonal Worker Programs in Europe: Promising Practices and Ongoing Challenges

Seasonal worker programs in the European Union have a long history, but have yet to find the sweet spot of working for migrants, employers, and countries of destination and origin alike. This policy brief explores some of the challenges common to these programs—drawing on examples in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand—and highlights promising practices.




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New Brain Gain: Rising Human Capital among Recent Immigrants to the United States

Nearly half of immigrant adults arriving in the U.S. since 2011 have a college degree—a far higher share than a quarter-century ago, when just 27 percent did. This striking but little noted shift in the composition of recent immigrant flows, driven in part by rising migration from Asia, comes as some policymakers press for a "merit-based" immigration system. This fact sheet examines rising human capital at U.S. and state levels.




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Immigrants and the New Brain Gain: Ways to Leverage Rising Educational Attainment

A recent MPI study reveals that 48 percent of recent immigrants to the United States were college graduates, a sharp increase over earlier periods. How can the United States better leverage this brain gain? This commentary outlines some policies that could allow the United States to more fully utilize the professional and academic credentials that highly skilled immigrants have, for their benefit and that of the U.S. economy.




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All Eyes Turn to Congress, Following Trump Decision to Terminate DACA Program

By winding down DACA over six months, President Trump may have addressed a short-term political dilemma. But this action ensures debate will rage on in search of a lasting solution, as many in Congress and beyond recognize the loss of work authorization and deportation relief will affect not only DACA recipients and their families, but also employers, universities, and communities alike, as this commentary explores.




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Visiting Lucy Boston's House

Two weeks ago, some friends and I toured Lucy Boston's house and garden. My friend Val had read Boston's books; her husband Dave hadn't heard of Boston but wanted to see the old house. We took a train from London to the nearby town of Huntington (pop 10,000), then a short taxi ride to Hemingford Grey (pop.230), a quaint small village on the River Ouse.

Here are photos of the town's main or high street:






Since we got to the village early, we walked on one of the two public tow paths along the river:





 
 

until we came to the church, the interior of which was being completely restored so we could not go inside:


The church runs the only coffee & tea room in the town, which is housed in an unused church that is currently also the post office. The old post office is a private house. The coffee shop is staffed by volunteers and serves home-baked cakes, pots of tea, and excellent espresso drinks. The quality of British coffee is much better than American because it is impossible to find drip (or filter) coffee outside of the Huntington train station cafe, so coffee options are espresso-based and therefore very fresh.

 
 
 
After we explored the town, we visited the gardens at Lucy's house.



  • Children of Green Knowe
  • Lucy Maria Boston
  • Manor at Hemingford Grey

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Visiting Lucy Boston's House, Part 2

Since we were early for our 2 PM house tour, we decided to explore the gardens. Lucy talks about designing and building the gardens in her memoir Memory in a House, which also contains some black and white photos of the gardens back when she published the book. However, I did not realize until her daughter-in-law Diana Boston gave us the tour how much of the gardens Lucy build from scratch. Apparently most of the yard was just meadow until she set to work.

What stunned me, Val, and Dave was how large the gardens were in size. We split up in the gardens, and they saw only the more cultivated side:


 
 
 


until I took them to see the the other side of the house, which has a  moat that surrounds three sides of it, a flowering meadow, and a bamboo thicket:







The bamboo thicket is where the gorilla Hanno lives in A Stranger at Green Knowe. The moat is a a constant presence in the books because when it floods, the house is cut off on an island, the way it was originally designed to be by its Norman builder, Payne Osmundson. The story of the builders of the house is told in The Stones of Green Knowe, which is the last of the series. The River Ouse features in The River at Green Knowe, and can be seen from the yard and the windows of the house.

One of my friends commented that the house and garden must be smaller than I expected since I had read the books first as a child and was now an adult. This is not quite true. Although the house was small - the walls are three feet thick so the exterior is larger than the interior, the gardens were bigger than expected. Boston gardened in the warm weather and wrote and created patchwork in the cold weather. It is amazing to see the variety of garden sections that she created. In my next post, I will discuss the gardens in terms of the books and of my experiences as a child both as her reader and as someone who grew up in a decent-sized yard and in fine public parks.





  • Children of Green Knowe
  • Diana Boston
  • Lucy Maria Boston
  • Manor at Hemingford Grey

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Effectively Serving Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families through Home Visiting Programs

This MPI webinar marks the release of a policy brief that explores program and policy opportunities to improve home visiting services for immigrant and DLL families currently underparticipating in these programs due to a lack of culturally and linguistically responsive programming and other barriers




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Rebuilding Community after Crisis: Striking a New Social Contract for Diverse Societies (Transatlantic Council Statement)

Addressing the deep-rooted integration challenges unearthed by large-scale migration and rapid social change will require a combination of strategies. Governments in Europe and North America must create a new social contract for increasingly diverse societies that are confronting cycles of disruption. This report sketches a blueprint for an adaptive process oriented by skill needs rather than national origins.




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The Colombian Response to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis: A Dialogue with Colombia’s Migration Czar

Felipe Muñoz, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian-Venezuelan Border, discusses how Colombia is coping with the influx of Venezuelan migrants, plans for future policy decisions surrounding this migration, and developments in regional and international cooperation.




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Respuestas latinoamericanas a las crisis migratorias venezolanas y nicaragüenses

Responsables de políticos principales y partes interesadas de América Latina, así como representantes de instituciones internacionales claves, ofrecen sus puntos de vista sobre los desafíos futuros mientras gobiernos latinoamericanos buscan establecer las estrategias para responder a flujos migratorios forzados a gran escala, como los de Venezuela y Nicaragua.




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    Welcome Wears Thin for Colombians in Ecuador as Venezuelans Become More Visible

    Though Colombians displaced by a decades-long civil war found a welcome refuge in Ecuador, life has become more difficult for them in recent years, in part as a result of the influx of Venezuelans seeking safety. This article draws on surveys of migrants in Quito, comparing and contrasting the experiences of Colombians and Venezuelans, and assessing their perceptions of discrimination, victimization, trust in institutions, and hopes for the future.




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    La Bienvenida Se Agota para Colombianos en Ecuador Mientras Venezolanos Se Hacen Más Visibles

    Aunque colombianos encontraron un refugio cálido en Ecuador después de ser desplazados de su país por una guerra civil que duro décadas, la vida se ha vuelto más difícil para ellos en los últimos años, en parte como resultado del flujo de venezolanos que buscan seguridad. Este artículo se basa en encuestas de migrantes en Quito, comparando y contrastando las experiencias de colombianos y venezolanos, y evaluando sus percepciones de discriminación, victimización y esperanzas para el futuro.




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    Visit-to-Visit HbA1c Variability Is Associated With Cardiovascular Disease and Microvascular Complications in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes

    OBJECTIVE

    To investigate the association between visit-to-visit HbA1c variability and cardiovascular events and microvascular complications in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

    RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

    This retrospective cohort study analyzed patients from Tayside and Fife in the Scottish Care Information–Diabetes Collaboration (SCI-DC) who were observable from the diagnosis of diabetes and had at least five HbA1c measurements before the outcomes were evaluated. We used the previously reported HbA1c variability score (HVS), calculated as the percentage of the number of changes in HbA1c >0.5% (5.5 mmol/mol) among all HbA1c measurements within an individual. The association between HVS and 10 outcomes was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models.

    RESULTS

    We included 13,111–19,883 patients in the analyses of each outcome. The patients with HVS >60% were associated with elevated risks of all outcomes compared with the lowest quintile (for example, HVS >80 to ≤100 vs. HVS ≥0 to ≤20, hazard ratio 2.38 [95% CI 1.61–3.53] for major adverse cardiovascular events, 2.4 [1.72–3.33] for all-cause mortality, 2.4 [1.13–5.11] for atherosclerotic cardiovascular death, 2.63 [1.81–3.84] for coronary artery disease, 2.04 [1.12–3.73] for ischemic stroke, 3.23 [1.76–5.93] for heart failure, 7.4 [3.84–14.27] for diabetic retinopathy, 3.07 [2.23–4.22] for diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 5.24 [2.61–10.49] for diabetic foot ulcer, and 3.49 [2.47–4.95] for new-onset chronic kidney disease). Four sensitivity analyses, including adjustment for time-weighted average HbA1c, confirmed the robustness of the results.

    CONCLUSIONS

    Our study shows that higher HbA1c variability is associated with increased risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events, and microvascular complications of diabetes independently of high HbA1c.




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    Effectively Serving Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families through Home Visiting Programs

    Marking a policy brief's release, this webinar explores the promise of home visiting services that support new parents alongside their infants and toddlers, plus strategies for improving how these programs work with immigrant and linguistically diverse families.




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    The Colombian Response to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis: A Dialogue with Colombia’s Migration Czar

    Felipe Muñoz, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian-Venezuelan Border, discusses how Colombia is coping with the influx of Venezuelan migrants, plans for future policy decisions surrounding this migration, and developments in regional and international cooperation.




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    Respuestas latinoamericanas a las crisis migratorias venezolanas y nicaragüenses

    Responsables de políticos principales y partes interesadas de América Latina, así como representantes de instituciones internacionales claves, ofrecen sus puntos de vista sobre los desafíos futuros mientras gobiernos latinoamericanos buscan establecer las estrategias para responder a flujos migratorios forzados a gran escala, como los de Venezuela y Nicaragua.




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    Immigrant Families and Child Welfare Systems: Emerging Needs and Promising Policies

    With the children of immigrants a growing share of all U.S. children, and federal immigration enforcement and other policies undergoing significant change, some state and local child welfare agencies are developing new ways to improve how they work with immigrant families. This report examines key cultural, linguistic, and legal challenges, and how agencies are adjusting staffing, training, placement, and other policies to tackle them.




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    Leveraging the Potential of Home Visiting Programs to Serve Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families

    Home visiting programs for young families are growing in popularity across the United States, and have demonstrated their effectiveness in supporting maternal health and child well-being. At the same time, more infants and toddlers are growing up in immigrant families and households where a language other than English is spoken. Why then are these children under-represented in these programs? This brief explores common barriers, ways to address them, and why it is important to do so.




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    The Potential of Group Visits in Diabetes Care

    Andrew M. Davis
    Apr 1, 2008; 26:58-62
    Feature Articles




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    10 Examples of Heroism Arising From the COVID-19 Pandemic

    By Scott T. Allison In any tragedy or crisis, you will see many people standing out and stepping up to save lives and make the world a better place. These heroic individuals can range from leaders of nations to ordinary citizens who rise to the occasion to help others in need. During this COVID-19 pandemic, … Continue reading 10 Examples of Heroism Arising From the COVID-19 Pandemic




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    How to be your best self in times of crisis | Susan David

    "Life's beauty is inseparable from its fragility," says psychologist Susan David. In a special virtual conversation, she shares wisdom on how to build resilience, courage and joy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Responding to listeners' questions from across the globe, she offers ways to talk to your children about their emotions, keep focus during the crisis and help those working on the front lines. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers. Recorded March 23, 2020)




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    Simple, effective tech to connect communities in crisis | Johanna Figueira

    The world is more connected than ever, but some communities are still cut off from vital resources like electricity and health care. In this solution-oriented talk, activist Johanna Figueira discusses her work with Code for Venezuela -- a platform that gathers technologists to address Venezuela's needs for information and medical supplies -- and shares ideas for how it could be used as a model to help other communities in need.




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    What it's really like to have autism | Ethan Lisi

    "Autism is not a disease; it's just another way of thinking," says Ethan Lisi. Offering a glimpse into the way he experiences the world, Lisi breaks down misleading stereotypes about autism, shares insights into common behaviors like stimming and masking and promotes a more inclusive understanding of the spectrum.




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    Crisis support for the world, one text away | Nancy Lublin

    What if we could help people in crisis anytime, anywhere with a simple text message? That's the idea behind Crisis Text Line, a free 24-hour service that connects people in need with trained, volunteer crisis counselors -- "strangers helping strangers around the world, like a giant global love machine," as cofounder and CEO Nancy Lublin puts it. Learn more about their big plans to expand to four new languages, providing a third of the globe with crucial, life-saving support. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)




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    Behavioral Decision Research and Management (BDRM), Barcelona, June 16-18, 2020

    SAVE THE DATE ESADE Business School will host the 2020 Behavioral Decision Research and Management (BDRM) conference, in Barcelona, Spain. Dates: Tuesday June 16th – Thursday June 18th, 2020. More information coming, September of 2019. Faculty Organizers Uri Simonsohn (ESADE) Isabelle Engeler (IESE) Jordi Quoidbach (ESADE) Bart de Langhe (ESADE) Johannes Müller-Trede (IESE) Ioannis Evangelidis […]

    The post Behavioral Decision Research and Management (BDRM), Barcelona, June 16-18, 2020 appeared first on Decision Science News.




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    Professorship in decision making at Wharton, Operations, Information and Decisions (OID), University of Pennsylvania

    APPLICATION DEADLINE OCTOBER 15, 2019 The Operations, Information and Decisions Department at the Wharton School is seeking applicants for a full-time, tenure track, Assistant Professor faculty position in the area of decision-making. Our decision-making faculty is comprised of scholars with a diverse set of backgrounds and interests, and we encourage applicants with degrees in economics, […]

    The post Professorship in decision making at Wharton, Operations, Information and Decisions (OID), University of Pennsylvania appeared first on Decision Science News.




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    Annual Interdisciplinary Symposium on Decision Neuroscience (ISDN), Philadelphia, June 5-6, 2020

    DEADLINE FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS: FEB 15, 2020 On June 5-6 2020, Temple University will host the 10th Annual Interdisciplinary Symposium on Decision Neuroscience (ISDN) in Philadelphia, PA. This symposium is unique in that it brings together a range of constituencies involved in the use of neuroscience techniques to understand consumer decision making – world renowned […]

    The post Annual Interdisciplinary Symposium on Decision Neuroscience (ISDN), Philadelphia, June 5-6, 2020 appeared first on Decision Science News.




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    During Coronavirus Crisis, How Can State Leaders Help Schools?

    I recently talked with Carrie Conaway, Harvard lecturer and former Massachusetts state administrator, about the challenges coronavirus presents for state ed. departments.




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    Food crisis deepens as Puerto Rico school cafeterias shutter




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    Puerto Rico officials face outrage over school food crisis




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    New Louisiana education chief to be selected May 20




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    A New Worry From the COVID-19 Crisis: Paying for College

    Fewer students are filing financial aid applications this year, as the pandemic continues to disrupt college plans for high school seniors nationwide.




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    Judge to hear lawsuit on Puerto Rico school food crisis




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    DeVos Visits Kentucky School Recovering From Shooting

    U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Wednesday visited a Kentucky high school that is recovering from a 2018 shooting to award additional grant money meant to aid its recovery efforts.




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    Food crisis deepens as Puerto Rico school cafeterias shutter




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    Puerto Rico officials face outrage over school food crisis




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    New Louisiana education chief to be selected May 20