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NIOSH publishes guide on air-purifying respirator selection

Washington — NIOSH has issued a guide intended to help employers select appropriate air-purifying respirators based on the environment and contaminants at specific jobsites.




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NIOSH establishes new class of powered air-purifying respirators

Washington — In an effort to better protect workers in the health care and public safety sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic, NIOSH is approving a new class of powered air-purifying respirators, under an interim final rule published by the Department of Health and Human Services.




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Powered air-purifying respirator

This Powered Air-Purifying Respirator with a Titanium 9400i Welding Helmet, designed for welding and grinding applications, is more than 1 pound lighter than the leading brand, reducing fatigue and providing all-day comfort.




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Powered air-purifying respirator for hazardous locations

The EVAHL Powered Air-Purifying Respirator is HazLoc-rated, NIOSH-approved and certified by CSA International for hazardous locations Class I, Division 2, Groups A, B, C, D T6; Class II, Division 2 Groups F, G; and Class III.




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Classifying cold-weather apparel

Can you explain the new ANSI/ISEA 201-2012 voluntary standard about classifying insulation apparel for cold-weather environments?




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Identifying occupational histoplasmosis

Histoplasmosis is a non-contagious, non-transmittable infectious disease caused by inhaling the spores of a fungus.




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EPA classifying two ‘forever chemicals’ as hazardous

Washington — The Environmental Protection Agency will designate as hazardous two cancer-causing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, with wide industrial and consumer use, under a new final rule.




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Powered air-purifying respirator

The Jackson Safety* Airmax Elite Powered Air Purifying Respirator protects workers from the respiratory dangers of welding fumes and heat stress – without sacrificing visibility.




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Nutrition is a Key Aspect for Women Staying Active and Defying the Effects of Aging

In spite of the many strides made in women’s health and nutrition, one of the key issues facing women is a very basic one: insufficient protein intake. Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, occurs far more frequently, and at a younger age (beginning around age 35), in women than in men. It is the primary factor leading to weakness and frailty in women as they age.




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Identifying Specific Nutrition Needs for Men

Today, many men find themselves sedentary during the week, then go out on a weekend morning with the best of intentions at making up for lost time. They might opt for running 5 or 10 miles, or biking 30 miles, or they hit the gym–hard–lifting too much weight or overdoing the treadmill to “feel the burn.”




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Modifying Flavor with Biodiversity

Botanical ingredients have been key components in culinary traditions worldwide for centuries, not only for their unique flavors but also for their ability to enhance and balance the taste profiles of various dishes. Spices and herbs, in particular, are powerful tools for both flavor enhancement and masking off-flavors.




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Food R&D: Identifying the Starting Point for New Product Success

Although there may be a pandemic-related slowdown, there’s no stopping new product development activity. To better help its readers with initial new product evaluation and development Prepared Foods asked Nancy Jo Seaton, owner and president of Seaton Food Consultants, to create a thought leadership series. Seaton has more than 30 years of food industry experience and most recently led global product evaluation for the Subway restaurants. She also has worked for such global food brands as Chiquita, Unilever and ConAgra.




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Diversifying Marketing Plans to Stay Ahead in a Crowded Industry

According to a 2014 study by the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing, the home improvement industry is expected to see double-digit growth through the end of the year.




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Working with childhoods and energies: critical reflections on specifying and locating the intangible.

Children's Geographies; 11/24/2021
(AN 153737733); ISSN: 14733285
Academic Search Premier







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Good Morning, News: Most Beautiful Bat Found in Oregon, Young Thug Walks Free, and a Terrifying Shooting at Vancouver Mall

by Suzette Smith

The Mercury provides its readers with interesting and useful news & culture reporting every single day. If you appreciate that, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. If you read something you like, something you don't like but are glad to know about, and/or something you can't find anywhere else consider a one-time tip. It all goes in the same pot and it all goes to the editorial team. Thanks for your support!

Good Morning, Portland! When they told me a bat could be beautiful I didn't believe, but now I believe.

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• As October comes to a close, so too does the Bureau of Land Management’s annual Bat Beauty Contest, which asks where the "most stunning bat photographed on BLM public lands" can be found? It's Oregon, motherfuckers! For the third year running WE HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BAT. YES! Despite J. K. Rowling's tarnished-as-hell legacy, we can still celebrate this feisty male hoary bat, Hoary Potter. It's also worth noting that this is the second year a bat photographed by wildlife technician Emma Busk took top beauty honors. Busk wrote, "anyone who knows me knows that I’ve been wanting to photograph a hoary bat,"—a sentiment we can all echo.

BLM's most beautiful bat is from Oregon, and I love him. pic.twitter.com/T8qQgsz5kT

— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith) November 1, 2024

• There's also terrible news, unfortunately. Yesterday evening, a shooting at Vancouver Mall, in Vancouver, WA, killed one person and injured two in the building's food court.  A witness who spoke to KOIN described "a harrowing scene, as the shopping center was full of kids trick-or-treating." So far, police have said they do not have a suspect in custody and the person may still be armed. They told KOIN they were reviewing surveillance footage, but have not yet released a description of the shooter.

• Oh my god, Clark County are you okay? KPTV reports that Clark County Elections Office is warning voters to beware of unofficial ballot boxes. Unofficial ballot boxes are not illegal in Washington! (This also appears to be true of Oregon!) Clark County Elections encouraged voters official ballot return locations.

• The Oregonian is returning to broadsheet size, they announced yesterday in a post that did not explain what that is for readers who didn't go to graphic design school / work in at newspaper with some old dude named Phil. Somewhat surprisingly, Willamette Week's Nigel Jaquiss stepped in to clarify. Tabloid is hotdog style fold; broadsheet is burger. Both WW and the Mercury are hotdogs. The New York Times is burger fold.

• NPR's Up First weirdly tried to do a report on Vice President Kamala Harris "highlighting Trump's own language and using it against him," as if that's somehow something of which to be critical? Gave me the vapors of the new Hasaan Hates Portland sketch from this week:

• In two week's the city's beloved queer documentary festival QDoc will host the Oregon debut of The World According to Allee Willis, which explores the complicated life of a queer "song doctor" who co-wrote not only Earth, Wind and Fire's "September," but the Friends TV show theme. Check out Melissa Locker's review of the film.; she says it's not to be missed!

• Did you take this week's local news quiz

          View this post on Instagram                      

A post shared by Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury)


IN NATIONAL NEWS:
• Atlanta rap star Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, finally walked free last night, after pleading guilty to "six counts, including possession of drugs and firearms... leading a criminal street gang and conspiracy to violate the RICO act, the state’s racketeering law," the New York Times reports. As part of the plea, the judge sentenced Williams to a total sentence of 40 years, but commuted the five years of prison time to the two and a half years that Williams has already served. Williams will remain on probation for 15 years, and will "be required to stay away from metro Atlanta for the first 10 years of his probation." He is also required to take random drug tests, make anti-gang presentations for children's organizations four times a year, perform 100 hours of community service a year, and "refrain from promoting gangs or being around known gang members." The ongoing Young Slime Life (YSL) court proceedings—which caused NYT's Joe Coscarelli to ask "is YSL was a record label, street gang, or both?"—have stretched into what is now the longest trial in Georgia history. Despite three other plea deals this week, it appears the trial will continue with the two remaining co-defendants.

• Mark Zuckerberg dressed as Fran Lebowitz for Halloween, and that's just what happened.

Mark Zuckerberg dressed as John Wick for Halloween but I thought it was Fran Lebowitz pic.twitter.com/zdXaomOMPR

— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) November 1, 2024

• You're going to see some stuff today about "explosive new audio" recordings where Donald Trump speaks candidly to the reviled Jeffrey Epstein about his White House Staff and his disdain for the position itself. It's only really on the Daily Beast, the podcast of journalist Michael Wolff, and a few other sites. I'd rather wait til a super solid source gets it—seems like maybe they're holding off because they're checking it?—but the story is out there. Don't sound like anything particularly new, but people are saying "October surprise" because they want attention.

• Also in weird news about guys we already thought were corrupt, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is apparently pledged to some secretive religious traditionalist organization. That tracks.

• Flashback to this masterpiece, which has been floating around the zeitgeist all week.




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Terrifying POV Footage of a Raging House Fire Captured By a Firefighter’s GoPro

A Chilean firefighter captured amazing yet terrifying POV footage of a highly destructive house fire on his GoPro.




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Delaware elects first trans-identifying member of Congress

Delaware elected 34-year-old Sarah McBride as the nation's first trans-identifying individual to serve in the U.S. Congress.




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Designated Doctor and Certifying Doctor Required Certification Training

Designated Doctor and Certifying Doctor Required Certification Training




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Health Care Provider Boot Camp Day 8: Billing and Reimbursement Training for Designated Doctor and Other Certifying Doctor Exams

Health Care Provider Boot Camp Day 8: Billing and Reimbursement Training for Designated Doctor and Other Certifying Doctor Exams




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Health Care Provider Boot Camp Day 4: Identifying a Workers’ Compensation Patient

Health Care Provider Boot Camp Day 4: Identifying a Workers’ Compensation Patient




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Designated Doctor and Certifying Doctor Required Certification Training

Designated Doctor and Certifying Doctor Required Certification Training




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February 2006 Post of the Month: Identifying Fossils

Added March 18, 2006:




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Quantifying bunch-mode influence on photon-counting detectors at SPring-8

Count-loss characteristics of photon-counting 2D detectors are demonstrated for eight bunch-modes at SPring-8 through Monte Carlo simulations. As an indicator, the effective maximum count rate was introduced to signify the X-ray intensity that the detector can count with a linearity of 1% or better after applying a count-loss correction in each bunch-mode. The effective maximum count rate is revealed to vary depending on the bunch-mode and the intrinsic dead time of the detectors, ranging from 0.012 to 0.916 Mcps (megacounts per second) for a 120 ns dead time, 0.009 to 0.807 Mcps for a 0.5 µs dead time and 0.020 to 0.273 Mcps for a 3 µs intrinsic detector dead time. Even with equal-interval bunch-modes at SPring-8, the effective maximum count rate does not exceed 1 Mcps pixel−1. In other words, to obtain data with a linearity better than 1%, the maximum intensity of X-rays entering the detector should be reduced to 1 Mcps pixel−1 or less, and, in some cases, even lower, depending on the bunch-mode. When applying count-loss correction using optimized dead times tailored to each bunch-mode, the effective maximum count rate exceeds the values above. However, differences in the effective maximum count rate due to bunch-modes persist. Users of photon-counting 2D detectors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the count-loss characteristics dependent on bunch-mode, and to conduct experiments accordingly. In addition, when designing the time structure of bunch-modes at synchrotron radiation facilities, it is essential to take into account the impact on experiments using photon-counting 2D detectors.




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Identifying and avoiding radiation damage in macromolecular crystallography

Radiation damage remains one of the major impediments to accurate structure solution in macromolecular crystallography. The artefacts of radiation damage can manifest as structural changes that result in incorrect biological interpretations being drawn from a model, they can reduce the resolution to which data can be collected and they can even prevent structure solution entirely. In this article, we discuss how to identify and mitigate against the effects of radiation damage at each stage in the macromolecular crystal structure-solution pipeline.




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POMFinder: identifying polyoxometallate cluster structures from pair distribution function data using explainable machine learning

Characterization of a material structure with pair distribution function (PDF) analysis typically involves refining a structure model against an experimental data set, but finding or constructing a suitable atomic model for PDF modelling can be an extremely labour-intensive task, requiring carefully browsing through large numbers of possible models. Presented here is POMFinder, a machine learning (ML) classifier that rapidly screens a database of structures, here polyoxometallate (POM) clusters, to identify candidate structures for PDF data modelling. The approach is shown to identify suitable POMs from experimental data, including in situ data collected with fast acquisition times. This automated approach has significant potential for identifying suitable models for structure refinement to extract quantitative structural parameters in materials chemistry research. POMFinder is open source and user friendly, making it accessible to those without prior ML knowledge. It is also demonstrated that POMFinder offers a promising modelling framework for combined modelling of multiple scattering techniques.




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The Pixel Anomaly Detection Tool: a user-friendly GUI for classifying detector frames using machine-learning approaches

Data collection at X-ray free electron lasers has particular experimental challenges, such as continuous sample delivery or the use of novel ultrafast high-dynamic-range gain-switching X-ray detectors. This can result in a multitude of data artefacts, which can be detrimental to accurately determining structure-factor amplitudes for serial crystallography or single-particle imaging experiments. Here, a new data-classification tool is reported that offers a variety of machine-learning algorithms to sort data trained either on manual data sorting by the user or by profile fitting the intensity distribution on the detector based on the experiment. This is integrated into an easy-to-use graphical user interface, specifically designed to support the detectors, file formats and software available at most X-ray free electron laser facilities. The highly modular design makes the tool easily expandable to comply with other X-ray sources and detectors, and the supervised learning approach enables even the novice user to sort data containing unwanted artefacts or perform routine data-analysis tasks such as hit finding during an experiment, without needing to write code.




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Nutrition Facts on Food Labels and Guidelines for Fortifying Food Should Be Updated, Report Says

Government authorities in the United States and Canada should use the current Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) to update nutrition information on food and dietary supplement labels so that consumers can compare products more easily and make informed food choices based on the latest science, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.




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Defining and Classifying Crime – New Report

Since 1930, the FBI has served as central coordinator of data on known criminal offenses, combining reports from approximately 18,000 local law enforcement agencies under the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.




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New Report Calls for NSF to Develop Strategic Plan Specifying Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Research Priorities

The social, behavioral, and economic (SBE) sciences make significant contributions to the National Science Foundation’s mission to advance health, prosperity and welfare, national defense, and progress in science, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.




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Federal Agencies Should Adopt Uniform Framework for Quantifying Disaster-Related Deaths, Illness, Says New Report

To more accurately quantify disaster-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies supporting disaster response should adopt a uniform national framework of data collection approaches and methods for distinguishing direct from indirect disaster deaths, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.




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Beat the stock market by satisfying customers

Satisfy your customers and win in the stock market, says a new study by a team of researchers from Michigan's University Research Corridor, who found positive stock returns on customer satisfaction far out-distance competitive market measures that have been in play for more than half a century.

read more



  • Mathematics & Economics

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Verifying gluten-free label claims

Gluten-free is a hot product category. It seems everyone in the food industry wants to be involved in this trend, and the gluten-free label claim does attract a segment of the population that is highly sensitive to the ingestion of traces of gluten. Consumers with celiac disease must completely avoid gluten.




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Diversifying the whole-grain scene

Ingredient manufacturers offer a diversity of whole grains to build nutritional appeal in today’s snack foods and baked goods.




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Magnifying Chocolate’s Flavors Through Pairings

On its own, chocolate is a wonderful treat. Marry chocolate with the perfect flavor pairing, and the snack becomes even more memorable. Classic pairings, such as chocolate with peanut butter, raspberry or mint, are here to stay, but adventurous flavors are growing in popularity.




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A. O. Smith upgrades Pro-Size Tool for improved specifying capabilities

The improved ease of sizing these units makes it easier for customers to adopt commercial heat pump technology and allows them to take advantage of local HPWH rebates.




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Electrifying Kenya's Future: Burhani Engineers' Role in the Last Mile Project

Burhani Engineers Ltd., based in Nairobi, Kenya, is the epitome of a highly respected company in the engineering sector. Their well-known capacity to give innovative solutions cuts across electrical, mechanical and civil engineering branches.




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Simplifying B2B Digital Commerce: Channel Software's Innovative Ecommerce Platform Takes the Stage at P21WWUG CONNECT 2024

Amid evolving market dynamics, the CSX eCommerce Platform from Channel Software equips distributors with powerful tools to achieve digital success and drive sales growth in 2024 and beyond.




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Sellvia Surpasses 1 million Clients Across 175 Countries, Solidifying Its Place as a Global Leader in Dropshipping Solutions

Since its inception, Sellvia has aimed to simplify the complexities of e-commerce, offering an accessible and streamlined approach to dropshipping.




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King K Shots Announces Exciting Deal - Free Box for Qualifying Retailers

Innovative Energy Supplement Company Offers Risk-Free Trial of King K Gold, Ultra-Potent Kratom Shot




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The "Premature Burial" of Google TV Ads...A Terrifying Tale of Error? - by CheapTVSpots.com

Google's failed TV Ads experiment is dead and buried. Customers and TV networks quoth, "Nevermore." CheapTVSpots.com resurrects campaigns with real TV advertising.




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Simplifying Your Home is the Ultimate Act of Self-Care

Interior Designer Sarah Williams Provides Decluttering Tips Before the Holiday Season




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For the 3rd Time, Zentro Makes the Inc. 5000, Solidifying its Position as the Fastest Growing MDU-Focused Internet Service Provider in America

Zentro's third consecutive appearance on the list underscores its rapid expansion and leadership in delivering top-tier internet services to the multifamily residential market.




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The Trump-Russia Connection Is A Terrifying Reality Says Elizabeth Graham, Author Of Bestselling Ebook, 'From Democracy To Democrazy'

Graham's new book is an intriguing and informative "must read" from a woman who is probably the best-informed American on the terrifying realities concerning Vladimir Putin's motivations and his control over Trump. It is a warning to all Americans.




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The Nevermore Haunt Returns for a Terrifying 2024 Season

Get ready to face your darkest fears as The Nevermore Haunt, Maryland's most terrifying haunted attraction, announces its return for the 2024 season.




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Globalmanagergroup.com Introduces ISO 14065 Documents Kit For Bodies Validating And Verifying GHG Statements

Global Manager Group releases an affordable ISO 14065 documentation kit, opening up the possibility of GHG verification. Organizations can obtain certification with this easy-to-use toolkit without having to pay costly consultation fees.




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AZERBAIJAN ACTS LIKE TALIBAN, DEFYING THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

Ararat Alliance compares Azerbaijan's actions in Nagorno-Karabakh to the Taliban, citing the forced displacement of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians, desecration of churches, and defiance of the European Parliament and the International Court




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Unifying Leadership in a Divided Time

Around the world, the past few years have been marked by increasing political polarization and public outrage. Like it or not, this spills over into the business world, with employees, customers, and shareholders more willing than ever to challenge companies -- and one another -- on a range of issues. It's hard to know how to lead gracefully in such turbulent times, but Karthik Ramanna, professor at the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government, has some answers. Drawing on his work with government officials and corporate executives, he walks us through the root causes of our current crisis, explains how to effectively navigate through disagreement, and offers practical takeaways for managers at every level. Ramanna is the author of the book The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World.