vision Premier & First Division Players Of The Week By bernews.com Published On :: Fri, 13 Sep 2019 10:47:51 +0000 One Communications and Bermuda Cricket Board announced the One Communications Premier Division and First Division players of the week for July 21, August 31, September 1, 7 and 8. July 21: One Communications Premier Division Rodney Trott [Bailey’s Bay v Flatts] – 119 not out One Communications First Division Seth Campbell [Western Stars v Warwick Workmen’s] – […](Click to read the full article) Full Article All Sports #AwardWinners #BermudaCricket #GoodNews
vision Results & Video: BNA Under 14 & Senior Division By bernews.com Published On :: Thu, 27 Feb 2020 12:52:30 +0000 Bermuda Netball Association action was in full swing recently with make-up matches in the Under 14 Division and the Senior Division. Under 14 League Division – Storm 20 Phoenix Embers 9 The Storm defeated the Phoenix Embers 20 – 9. Jaelyn Rewan led the way with 15 goals, while Makaylie Smith added three goals and […](Click to read the full article) Full Article All Sports Videos #Netball #SportsVideos
vision Photos/Results: Premier & First Division Football By bernews.com Published On :: Mon, 03 Feb 2020 12:42:17 +0000 [Updated with photos] Footballers in both the First Division and Premier Division were in action this past weekend, with the PHC Zebras, X-Roads, Boulevard Blazers, St. David’s, Devonshire Colts, and St. George’s Colts all earning wins, while the North Village Rams and Robin Hood played to a draw and two other matches were cancelled. Premier […](Click to read the full article) Full Article All Photos Sports #BermudaFootball #GoodNews #SportsPhotos
vision Ed Appoints Kelley As Liability Division Head By bernews.com Published On :: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 12:46:01 +0000 Ed, the global reinsurance, wholesale and specialty broker, announced the appointment of Colin Kelley as Head of Ed’s new Liability Division in Bermuda. Effective immediately, Mr Kelley will lead the professional lines, casualty and healthcare teams. Mr Kelley brings more than 16 years of both underwriting and broking experience to the business. He joins from […](Click to read the full article) Full Article All Business #BermudaBusiness #BusinessExecutives
vision Fergus Fergusson Appointed Division Head By bernews.com Published On :: Thu, 05 Mar 2020 10:26:19 +0000 Hamilton Insurance Group, the Bermuda-headquartered group of companies underwriting specialty insurance and reinsurance on a global basis, announced that Fergus Fergusson has been appointed to the position of Division Head, Excess Casualty for Syndicate 4000, managed by Hamilton Managing Agency Limited, and for Hamilton Insurance DAC, the Company’s Dublin-based carrier. “We’re delighted to welcome Fergus […](Click to read the full article) Full Article All Business #BermudaBusiness #BusinessExecutives #HamiltonRe
vision Swimming: Winter Age Group Division Winners By bernews.com Published On :: Tue, 03 Dec 2019 13:20:41 +0000 Following three days of the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association’s Winter Age Group Championships, division winners included Arabella Newport Derbyshire, Jacob Wright, Imojen Judd, Thomas Cechini, Myeisha Sharrieff, Harlan Watson-Brown, Taylor White, and Brian Desmond. Arabella Newport Derbyshire was the 10 & Under Women’s Champion with 1,601 points, while the 10 & Under Men’s Champion was […](Click to read the full article) Full Article All Sports #Swimming
vision Fuller’s Discovery Mirror Universe Vision By www.trektoday.com Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 20:50:08 +0000 If Bryan Fuller had stayed with Star Trek: Discovery, his vision for a Mirror Universe wouldn’t have been like the type shown... Full Article Cast & Crew Star Trek: Discovery Fuller Mirror Universe
vision Cloud : - IBM apporte de nouveaux services de divertissement à domicile avec la télévision intelligente de Philips - IBM et Vodafone lancent l’initiative Smarter Home By www.ibm.com Published On :: ven., 31 août 2012 01:29:27 GMT IBM annonce aujourd’hui que son nouveau cloud pour les fabricants d’appareils électroniques fournira à la TV connectée de Philips de nouveaux services internet, afin de proposer une gamme de services plus interactifs à des millions de téléspectateurs dans plus de 30 pays en Europe, mais aussi au Brésil et en Argentine. Full Article Global Business Solutions
vision IBM Machine Vision Technology Advances Early Detection of Diabetic Eye Disease Using Deep Learning By www.ibm.com Published On :: Wed, 11 Oct 2017 05:23:08 GMT The IBM Research findings achieve the highest recorded accuracy of 86 percent by using deep learning and pathology insights to identify the severity of diabetic retinopathy. Full Article Research
vision Woodside Energy and IBM to leverage current and emerging technologies like AI and Quantum computing to realise vision of an “Intelligent Plant” By www.ibm.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2019 01:39:37 GMT Woodside Energy and IBM will work together to re-imagine the way work is done using next-generation technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to help Woodside realise its vision of an “intelligent plant”. Full Article Corporate
vision Zero Notebook 4: A Vision of God By floggingbabel.blogspot.com Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 14:33:00 +0000 .This is the single most important image in the Zero Notebook. As my scrawled notation says: Her first glimpse/vision of Him. It is an image of God.At this distance, I could not say why I specified Him rather than Her, given that my fictional universe is presided over by the Goddess. Probably I didn't want that fictional level of deniability. Below the picture it also says:To say that the world is a fictionis not the same as to say it is a lie.And to the side:How do you describe what cannot be described?And what, you ask, does it mean . . . ?If I knew, I would tell you. Above: Fourth image. Six more to go.* Full Article
vision A Metaphor for our Television Addiction By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800 From the submitter: So I get up today and the kids are up before me watching TV. That's fine, it Sunday, got to sleep in, figured I go check my email and puts around online for a few. Later I go into the living room, to turn the TV so I can start watching Game highlights before the Super Bowl, but can not find the remote. I mean I searched everywhere. The usual places... In the couch cushions, under the couch, behind the couch and behind the TV.... nowhere to be found. Full Article chain g rated Hall of Fame overkill remote security television there I fixed it
vision Does WIPO’s New Leadership Have the Vision to Shake Up Global Copyright Policy-Making? By creativecommons.org Published On :: Thu, 16 Apr 2020 15:32:41 +0000 New beginnings at WIPO On March 4, Daren Tang was nominated director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations agency dealing with intellectual property matters. Tang is currently the chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and his six-year term as top WIPO official will start on October … Read More "Does WIPO’s New Leadership Have the Vision to Shake Up Global Copyright Policy-Making?" The post Does WIPO’s New Leadership Have the Vision to Shake Up Global Copyright Policy-Making? appeared first on Creative Commons. Full Article Policy / advocacy / copyright reform copyright copyright policy intellectual property WIPO
vision The Vision and Strategy for Social Services: progress report By feeds.iriss.org.uk Published On :: Wed, 23 Mar 2016 16:10:06 +0000 Social Services in Scotland: a shared vision and strategy for 2015-2020 was launched on World Social Work Day in March 2015 by the Social Work Services Strategic Forum. A progress report summarising the range of work which is underway to implement the strategy has now been published. While this is a five year strategy, it is clear that even at this early stage real progress is being made collectively by all parts of the sector. Aileen Campbell, Minister for Children and Young People, who chairs the Strategic Forum, said: read more Full Article
vision iamsocialwork SUPER:vision Tour Glasgow By feeds.iriss.org.uk Published On :: Fri, 19 Aug 2016 09:26:12 +0000 iamsocialwork, is a concept that was created by Zoë Betts in 2012, as a newly qualified social worker. It started out as a small, local event in London and has grown into a series of UK-wide events, which offer opportunities for student, recently qualified and qualified social workers to come together to strengthen professional links, peer networks and practice. read more Full Article general practice social work good practice peer groups student social workers
vision Home supervision requirements By feeds.iriss.org.uk Published On :: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 - 12:28 Home supervision requirements are a type of legal supervision order at home which is unique to the Scottish system of child legislation. Despite being the most common type of disposal used by the Children’s Hearing little is known about how HSRs work in practice or about its impact on young people and families. Using a multi-method approach that included secondary analysis of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) dataset; documentary analysis of social work case files; and in-depth interviews; this research seeks to find out more about the nature, scope and outcomes of HSRs from the perspective of those who are affected the most by this type of compulsory intervention – young people, their parents and social workers. Full Article
vision A review of respite / short break provision for adult carers of adults in the Highland Partnership area By feeds.iriss.org.uk Published On :: Friday, April 15, 2016 - 10:35 As part of the implementation of the Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) Highland Carer’s Strategy 2014-2017 it was agreed to undertake a review of respite for Adult Carers of Adults (aged 16+). Independent consultants were commissioned by NHS Highland through Connecting Carers to undertake this work. There are four groups of people – totalling an estimated 200 people - with whom conversations have taken place during the review: Carers and staff from carer support organisations – more than 75 carers have given their views; Health and social care workforce – we have met with just over 50 people who have given their views and shared our initial findings with more than 60 others; Respite providers – we have met with staff from 15 organisations that are providers of respite Those staff responsible for overseeing the commissioning, planning and administration of respite. Full Article
vision Re-imagining Care Homes: Vision and Reality By feeds.iriss.org.uk Published On :: Thu, 08 Oct 2015 03:30:40 PDT When: Fri Nov 20, 2015 Who: Social Services Events, brought to you by IRISS Where: Hilton Hotel, 1 William Street, Glasgow Event Status: confirmed Event Description: National Care Home Conference and Exhibition http://www.scottishcare.org/news/scottish-care-national-care-home-conference-exhibition-amp-care-awards-2015/ Full Article http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#event
vision Vision uh-oh: Two more pedestrians killed by vehicles in Manhattan and Brooklyn, capping off deadly three days across NYC By www.nydailynews.com Published On :: Fri, 20 Dec 2019 14:45:44 +0000 The Friday morning deaths capped off a deadly three days across the city. Full Article
vision The Sunday Game pundits on the GAA's 2020 vision By www.rte.ie Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 10:18:20 +0000 Pat Spillane believes the GAA "kicked the can" down the road with its most recent statement regarding the 2020 championships, while Anthony Daly argues the longer-term view was the correct call. Full Article GAA
vision Angels' Shohei Ohtani tries to kick-start his path to Joe Maddon's .300 vision By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 11 Mar 2020 21:53:54 -0400 Angels manager Joe Maddon believes Shohei Ohtani can bat .300, and the Japanese two-way star has re-integrated a leg kick to help get him there. Full Article
vision Visionary Women honors political activist-actress Jane Fonda By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 6 Mar 2020 19:12:05 -0500 "We're facing a collective crisis with the climate crisis that can only be solved with a collective response," Jane Fonda told a gathering during Visionary Women's celebration of International Women's Day. Full Article
vision Op-Ed: How film and television production can safely resume in a COVID-19 world By www.latimes.com Published On :: Mon, 4 May 2020 06:00:51 -0400 At Netflix, we've resumed production in some countries. And we're learning what safety will look like post-pandemic Full Article
vision Six renegade visions for LACMA. Protest group announces winners of design competition By www.latimes.com Published On :: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 09:53:40 -0400 An anonymous donor is funding design competition prizes for global firms' alternatives to Peter Zumthor's plan for Los Angeles County Museum of Art Full Article
vision Review: Queer authors reinvent the artist biography as revisionist memoir By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Apr 2020 13:04:35 -0400 Jenn Shapland's "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" and Mark Doty's "What Is the Grass," about Walt Whitman, are hybrid memoir-biographies. Full Article
vision Televisions By news.bbc.co.uk Published On :: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:42:43 GMT What should be considered if you don't know 3D from your HD? Full Article Click
vision ‘Eliza’ game review: An insightful visual novel with a vision for self-care’s future By www.washingtonpost.com Published On :: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 19:57:28 +0000 Full Article
vision NHL 2018-19 preview: Playoff projections for every division By www.washingtonpost.com Published On :: Mon, 01 Oct 2018 11:45:58 +0000 Here’s how the NHL season is projected to end — with a look at some key stats that could make all the difference. Full Article
vision NFL Week 15 ATS picks: Don’t trust the 49ers in divisional games By www.washingtonpost.com Published On :: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 16:28:30 +0000 The 49ers are 1-9 straight up in their last 10 divisional games. Full Article
vision oscon: Beginner's Guide to Computer Vision - 2D/3D image fundamentals, OpenCV, OpenNI Library + more http://t.co/ph2dKrC9W4 #oscon #tutorial By twitter.com Published On :: Thu, 23 May 2013 23:46:22 +0000 oscon: Beginner's Guide to Computer Vision - 2D/3D image fundamentals, OpenCV, OpenNI Library + more http://t.co/ph2dKrC9W4 #oscon #tutorial Full Article
vision REALTORS® Respond to EPA's Proposed WOTUS Revision By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 21:48:24 +0000 REALTORS® Respond to EPA's Proposed WOTUS Revision Shannon McGahn, NAR's Vice President of Government Affairs, issued the following statement after the EPA yesterday unveiled a proposal to change... By: Wesley Shaw Full Article
vision An enterprise vision is your company’s North Star By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:59:00 +0000 Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with Dana Codispoti, head of HR Transformation at AIG, about how to address the human factor in business […] Full Article Future of the Firm Big Systemic Thinking
vision Brighten Up Your After-Dark Road-Tripping with Lanmodo’s Vast Automotive Night Vision System By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 02 Sep 2019 01:40:35 +0000 With a bright, 8.2-inch HD display and the flexibility to work in almost any vehicle, the Lanmodo Automotive Vast Night Vision System is a near-perfect alternative to factory-installed systems. The post Brighten Up Your After-Dark Road-Tripping with Lanmodo’s Vast Automotive Night Vision System appeared first on Vagabondish. Full Article Modern Vagabond
vision Non-photopic and photopic visual cycles differentially regulate immediate, early, and late phases of cone photoreceptor-mediated vision [Molecular Bases of Disease] By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: 2020-05-08T03:41:14-07:00 Cone photoreceptors in the retina enable vision over a wide range of light intensities. However, the processes enabling cone vision in bright light (i.e. photopic vision) are not adequately understood. Chromophore regeneration of cone photopigments may require the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and/or retinal Müller glia. In the RPE, isomerization of all-trans-retinyl esters to 11-cis-retinol is mediated by the retinoid isomerohydrolase Rpe65. A putative alternative retinoid isomerase, dihydroceramide desaturase-1 (DES1), is expressed in RPE and Müller cells. The retinol-isomerase activities of Rpe65 and Des1 are inhibited by emixustat and fenretinide, respectively. Here, we tested the effects of these visual cycle inhibitors on immediate, early, and late phases of cone photopic vision. In zebrafish larvae raised under cyclic light conditions, fenretinide impaired late cone photopic vision, while the emixustat-treated zebrafish unexpectedly had normal vision. In contrast, emixustat-treated larvae raised under extensive dark-adaptation displayed significantly attenuated immediate photopic vision concomitant with significantly reduced 11-cis-retinaldehyde (11cRAL). Following 30 min of light, early photopic vision was recovered, despite 11cRAL levels remaining significantly reduced. Defects in immediate cone photopic vision were rescued in emixustat- or fenretinide-treated larvae following exogenous 9-cis-retinaldehyde supplementation. Genetic knockout of Des1 (degs1) or retinaldehyde-binding protein 1b (rlbp1b) did not eliminate photopic vision in zebrafish. Our findings define molecular and temporal requirements of the nonphotopic or photopic visual cycles for mediating vision in bright light. Full Article
vision Legal Provision for Crisis Preparedness: Foresight not Hindsight By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 17:03:31 +0000 21 April 2020 Dr Patricia Lewis Research Director, Conflict, Science & Transformation; Director, International Security Programme @PatriciaMary COVID-19 is proving to be a grave threat to humanity. But this is not a one-off, there will be future crises, and we can be better prepared to mitigate them. 2020-04-21-Nurse-COVID-Test Examining a patient while testing for COVID-19 at the Velocity Urgent Care in Woodbridge, Virginia. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. A controversial debate during COVID-19 is the state of readiness within governments and health systems for a pandemic, with lines of the debate drawn on the issues of testing provision, personal protective equipment (PPE), and the speed of decision-making.President Macron in a speech to the nation admitted French medical workers did not have enough PPE and that mistakes had been made: ‘Were we prepared for this crisis? We have to say that no, we weren’t, but we have to admit our errors … and we will learn from this’.In reality few governments were fully prepared. In years to come, all will ask: ‘how could we have been better prepared, what did we do wrong, and what can we learn?’. But after every crisis, governments ask these same questions.Most countries have put in place national risk assessments and established processes and systems to monitor and stress-test crisis-preparedness. So why have some countries been seemingly better prepared?Comparing different approachesSome have had more time and been able to watch the spread of the disease and learn from those countries that had it first. Others have taken their own routes, and there will be much to learn from comparing these different approaches in the longer run.Governments in Asia have been strongly influenced by the experience of the SARS epidemic in 2002-3 and - South Korea in particular - the MERS-CoV outbreak in 2015 which was the largest outside the Middle East. Several carried out preparatory work in terms of risk assessment, preparedness measures and resilience planning for a wide range of threats.Case Study of Preparedness: South KoreaBy 2007, South Korea had established the Division of Public Health Crisis Response in Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and, in 2016, the KCDC Center for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response had established a round-the-clock Emergency Operations Center with rapid response teams.KCDC is responsible for the distribution of antiviral stockpiles to 16 cities and provinces that are required by law to hold and manage antiviral stockpiles.And, at the international level, there are frameworks for preparedness for pandemics. The International Health Regulations (IHR) - adopted at the 2005 World Health Assembly and binding on member states - require countries to report certain disease outbreaks and public health events to the World Health Organization (WHO) and ‘prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade’.Under IHR, governments committed to a programme of building core capacities including coordination, surveillance, response and preparedness. The UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk highlights disaster preparedness for effective response as one of its main purposes and has already incorporated these measures into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other Agenda 2030 initiatives. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said COVID-19 ‘poses a significant threat to the maintenance of international peace and security’ and that ‘a signal of unity and resolve from the Council would count for a lot at this anxious time’.Case Study of Preparedness: United StatesThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) established PERRC – the Preparedness for Emergency Response Research Centers - as a requirement of the 2006 Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which required research to ‘improve federal, state, local, and tribal public health preparedness and response systems’.The 2006 Act has since been supplanted by the 2019 Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act. This created the post of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) and authorised the development and acquisitions of medical countermeasures and a quadrennial National Health Security Strategy.The 2019 Act also set in place a number of measures including the requirement for the US government to re-evaluate several important metrics of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreement and the Hospital Preparedness Program, and a requirement for a report on the states of preparedness and response in US healthcare facilities.This pandemic looks set to continue to be a grave threat to humanity. But there will also be future pandemics – whether another type of coronavirus or a new influenza virus – and our species will be threatened again, we just don’t know when.Other disasters too will befall us – we already see the impacts of climate change arriving on our doorsteps characterised by increased numbers and intensity of floods, hurricanes, fires, crop failure and other manifestations of a warming, increasingly turbulent atmosphere and we will continue to suffer major volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis. All high impact, unknown probability events.Preparedness for an unknown future is expensive and requires a great deal of effort for events that may not happen within the preparers’ lifetimes. It is hard to imagine now, but people will forget this crisis, and revert to their imagined projections of the future where crises don’t occur, and progress follows progress. But history shows us otherwise.Preparations for future crises always fall prey to financial cuts and austerity measures in lean times unless there is a mechanism to prevent that. Cost-benefit analyses will understandably tend to prioritise the urgent over the long-term. So governments should put in place legislation – or strengthen existing legislation – now to ensure their countries are as prepared as possible for whatever crisis is coming.Such a legal requirement would require governments to report back to parliament every year on the state of their national preparations detailing such measures as:The exact levels of stocks of essential materials (including medical equipment)The ability of hospitals to cope with large influx of patientsHow many drills, exercises and simulations had been organised – and their findingsWhat was being done to implement lessons learned & improve preparednessIn addition, further actions should be taken:Parliamentary committees such as the UK Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy should scrutinise the government’s readiness for the potential threats outlined in the National Risk register for Civil Emergencies in-depth on an annual basis.Parliamentarians, including ministers, with responsibility for national security and resilience should participate in drills, table-top exercises and simulations to see for themselves the problems inherent with dealing with crises.All governments should have a minister (or equivalent) with the sole responsibility for national crisis preparedness and resilience. The Minister would be empowered to liaise internationally and coordinate local responses such as local resilience groups.There should be ring-fenced budget lines in annual budgets specifically for preparedness and resilience measures, annually reported on and assessed by parliaments as part of the due diligence process.And at the international level:The UN Security Council should establish a Crisis Preparedness Committee to bolster the ability of United Nations Member States to respond to international crisis such as pandemics, within their borders and across regions. The Committee would function in a similar fashion as the Counter Terrorism Committee that was established following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.States should present reports on their level of preparedness to the UN Security Council. The Crisis Preparedness Committee could establish a group of experts who would conduct expert assessments of each member state’s risks and preparedness and facilitate technical assistance as required.Regional bodies such as the OSCE, ASEAN and ARF, the AU, the OAS, the PIF etc could also request national reports on crisis preparedness for discussion and cooperation at the regional level.COVID-19 has been referred to as the 9/11 of crisis preparedness and response. Just as that shocking terrorist attack shifted the world and created a series of measures to address terrorism, we now recognise our security frameworks need far more emphasis on being prepared and being resilient. Whatever has been done in the past, it is clear that was nowhere near enough and that has to change.Case Study of Preparedness: The UKThe National Risk Register was first published in 2008 as part of the undertakings laid out in the National Security Strategy (the UK also published the Biological Security Strategy in July 2018). Now entitled the National Risk Register for Civil Emergencies it has been updated regularly to analyse the risks of major emergencies that could affect the UK in the next five years and provide resilience advice and guidance.The latest edition - produced in 2017 when the UK had a Minister for Government Resilience and Efficiency - placed the risk of a pandemic influenza in the ‘highly likely and most severe’ category. It stood out from all the other identified risks, whereas an emerging disease (such as COVID-19) was identified as ‘highly likely but with moderate impact’.However, much preparatory work for an influenza pandemic is the same as for COVID-19, particularly in prepositioning large stocks of PPE, readiness within large hospitals, and the creation of new hospitals and facilities.One key issue is that the 2017 NHS Operating Framework for Managing the Response to Pandemic Influenza was dependent on pre-positioned ’just in case’ stockpiles of PPE. But as it became clear the PPE stocks were not adequate for the pandemic, it was reported that recommendations about the stockpile by NERVTAG (the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group which advises the government on the threat posed by new and emerging respiratory viruses) had been subjected to an ‘economic assessment’ and decisions reversed on, for example, eye protection.The UK chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies, when speaking at the World Health Organization about Operation Cygnus – a 2016 three-day exercise on a flu pandemic in the UK – reportedly said the UK was not ready for a severe flu attack and ‘a lot of things need improving’.Aware of the significance of the situation, the UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy launched an inquiry in 2019 on ‘Biosecurity and human health: preparing for emerging infectious diseases and bioweapons’ which intended to coordinate a cross-government approach to biosecurity threats. But the inquiry had to postpone its oral hearings scheduled for late October 2019 and, because of the general election in December 2019, the committee was obliged to close the inquiry. Full Article
vision Legal Provision for Crisis Preparedness: Foresight not Hindsight By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 17:03:31 +0000 21 April 2020 Dr Patricia Lewis Research Director, Conflict, Science & Transformation; Director, International Security Programme @PatriciaMary COVID-19 is proving to be a grave threat to humanity. But this is not a one-off, there will be future crises, and we can be better prepared to mitigate them. 2020-04-21-Nurse-COVID-Test Examining a patient while testing for COVID-19 at the Velocity Urgent Care in Woodbridge, Virginia. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. A controversial debate during COVID-19 is the state of readiness within governments and health systems for a pandemic, with lines of the debate drawn on the issues of testing provision, personal protective equipment (PPE), and the speed of decision-making.President Macron in a speech to the nation admitted French medical workers did not have enough PPE and that mistakes had been made: ‘Were we prepared for this crisis? We have to say that no, we weren’t, but we have to admit our errors … and we will learn from this’.In reality few governments were fully prepared. In years to come, all will ask: ‘how could we have been better prepared, what did we do wrong, and what can we learn?’. But after every crisis, governments ask these same questions.Most countries have put in place national risk assessments and established processes and systems to monitor and stress-test crisis-preparedness. So why have some countries been seemingly better prepared?Comparing different approachesSome have had more time and been able to watch the spread of the disease and learn from those countries that had it first. Others have taken their own routes, and there will be much to learn from comparing these different approaches in the longer run.Governments in Asia have been strongly influenced by the experience of the SARS epidemic in 2002-3 and - South Korea in particular - the MERS-CoV outbreak in 2015 which was the largest outside the Middle East. Several carried out preparatory work in terms of risk assessment, preparedness measures and resilience planning for a wide range of threats.Case Study of Preparedness: South KoreaBy 2007, South Korea had established the Division of Public Health Crisis Response in Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and, in 2016, the KCDC Center for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response had established a round-the-clock Emergency Operations Center with rapid response teams.KCDC is responsible for the distribution of antiviral stockpiles to 16 cities and provinces that are required by law to hold and manage antiviral stockpiles.And, at the international level, there are frameworks for preparedness for pandemics. The International Health Regulations (IHR) - adopted at the 2005 World Health Assembly and binding on member states - require countries to report certain disease outbreaks and public health events to the World Health Organization (WHO) and ‘prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade’.Under IHR, governments committed to a programme of building core capacities including coordination, surveillance, response and preparedness. The UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk highlights disaster preparedness for effective response as one of its main purposes and has already incorporated these measures into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other Agenda 2030 initiatives. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said COVID-19 ‘poses a significant threat to the maintenance of international peace and security’ and that ‘a signal of unity and resolve from the Council would count for a lot at this anxious time’.Case Study of Preparedness: United StatesThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) established PERRC – the Preparedness for Emergency Response Research Centers - as a requirement of the 2006 Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which required research to ‘improve federal, state, local, and tribal public health preparedness and response systems’.The 2006 Act has since been supplanted by the 2019 Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act. This created the post of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) and authorised the development and acquisitions of medical countermeasures and a quadrennial National Health Security Strategy.The 2019 Act also set in place a number of measures including the requirement for the US government to re-evaluate several important metrics of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreement and the Hospital Preparedness Program, and a requirement for a report on the states of preparedness and response in US healthcare facilities.This pandemic looks set to continue to be a grave threat to humanity. But there will also be future pandemics – whether another type of coronavirus or a new influenza virus – and our species will be threatened again, we just don’t know when.Other disasters too will befall us – we already see the impacts of climate change arriving on our doorsteps characterised by increased numbers and intensity of floods, hurricanes, fires, crop failure and other manifestations of a warming, increasingly turbulent atmosphere and we will continue to suffer major volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis. All high impact, unknown probability events.Preparedness for an unknown future is expensive and requires a great deal of effort for events that may not happen within the preparers’ lifetimes. It is hard to imagine now, but people will forget this crisis, and revert to their imagined projections of the future where crises don’t occur, and progress follows progress. But history shows us otherwise.Preparations for future crises always fall prey to financial cuts and austerity measures in lean times unless there is a mechanism to prevent that. Cost-benefit analyses will understandably tend to prioritise the urgent over the long-term. So governments should put in place legislation – or strengthen existing legislation – now to ensure their countries are as prepared as possible for whatever crisis is coming.Such a legal requirement would require governments to report back to parliament every year on the state of their national preparations detailing such measures as:The exact levels of stocks of essential materials (including medical equipment)The ability of hospitals to cope with large influx of patientsHow many drills, exercises and simulations had been organised – and their findingsWhat was being done to implement lessons learned & improve preparednessIn addition, further actions should be taken:Parliamentary committees such as the UK Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy should scrutinise the government’s readiness for the potential threats outlined in the National Risk register for Civil Emergencies in-depth on an annual basis.Parliamentarians, including ministers, with responsibility for national security and resilience should participate in drills, table-top exercises and simulations to see for themselves the problems inherent with dealing with crises.All governments should have a minister (or equivalent) with the sole responsibility for national crisis preparedness and resilience. The Minister would be empowered to liaise internationally and coordinate local responses such as local resilience groups.There should be ring-fenced budget lines in annual budgets specifically for preparedness and resilience measures, annually reported on and assessed by parliaments as part of the due diligence process.And at the international level:The UN Security Council should establish a Crisis Preparedness Committee to bolster the ability of United Nations Member States to respond to international crisis such as pandemics, within their borders and across regions. The Committee would function in a similar fashion as the Counter Terrorism Committee that was established following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.States should present reports on their level of preparedness to the UN Security Council. The Crisis Preparedness Committee could establish a group of experts who would conduct expert assessments of each member state’s risks and preparedness and facilitate technical assistance as required.Regional bodies such as the OSCE, ASEAN and ARF, the AU, the OAS, the PIF etc could also request national reports on crisis preparedness for discussion and cooperation at the regional level.COVID-19 has been referred to as the 9/11 of crisis preparedness and response. Just as that shocking terrorist attack shifted the world and created a series of measures to address terrorism, we now recognise our security frameworks need far more emphasis on being prepared and being resilient. Whatever has been done in the past, it is clear that was nowhere near enough and that has to change.Case Study of Preparedness: The UKThe National Risk Register was first published in 2008 as part of the undertakings laid out in the National Security Strategy (the UK also published the Biological Security Strategy in July 2018). Now entitled the National Risk Register for Civil Emergencies it has been updated regularly to analyse the risks of major emergencies that could affect the UK in the next five years and provide resilience advice and guidance.The latest edition - produced in 2017 when the UK had a Minister for Government Resilience and Efficiency - placed the risk of a pandemic influenza in the ‘highly likely and most severe’ category. It stood out from all the other identified risks, whereas an emerging disease (such as COVID-19) was identified as ‘highly likely but with moderate impact’.However, much preparatory work for an influenza pandemic is the same as for COVID-19, particularly in prepositioning large stocks of PPE, readiness within large hospitals, and the creation of new hospitals and facilities.One key issue is that the 2017 NHS Operating Framework for Managing the Response to Pandemic Influenza was dependent on pre-positioned ’just in case’ stockpiles of PPE. But as it became clear the PPE stocks were not adequate for the pandemic, it was reported that recommendations about the stockpile by NERVTAG (the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group which advises the government on the threat posed by new and emerging respiratory viruses) had been subjected to an ‘economic assessment’ and decisions reversed on, for example, eye protection.The UK chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies, when speaking at the World Health Organization about Operation Cygnus – a 2016 three-day exercise on a flu pandemic in the UK – reportedly said the UK was not ready for a severe flu attack and ‘a lot of things need improving’.Aware of the significance of the situation, the UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy launched an inquiry in 2019 on ‘Biosecurity and human health: preparing for emerging infectious diseases and bioweapons’ which intended to coordinate a cross-government approach to biosecurity threats. But the inquiry had to postpone its oral hearings scheduled for late October 2019 and, because of the general election in December 2019, the committee was obliged to close the inquiry. Full Article
vision The multilevel identity politics of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 09:28:22 +0000 7 May 2020 , Volume 96, Number 3 Galia Press-Barnathan and Naama Lutz Read online This article uses the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) that took place in Tel Aviv to explore how cultural mega-events serve both as political arenas and as tools for identity construction, negotiation and contestation. These processes of identity politics are all conducted across national–subnational–international–transnational levels. The hosting of mega-events fleshes out these multiple processes in a very strong manner. We first discuss the politics of hosting mega-events in general. We then examine the identity politics associated more specifically with the Eurovision Song Contest, before examining in depth the complex forms of identity politics emerging around the competition following the 2018 Israeli victory. We suggest that it is important to study together the multiple processes—domestic, international and transnational—of identity politics that take place around the competition, as they interact with each other. Consequently, we follow the various stakeholders involved at these different levels and their interactions. We examine the internal identity negotiation process in Israel surrounding the event, the critical actors debating how to use the stage to challenge the liberal, western, ‘normal’ identity Israel hoped to project in the contest and how other stakeholders (participating states, national broadcasting agencies, participating artists) reacted to them, and finally we examine the behaviour of the institution in charge, the European Broadcasting Union, and national governments. We contribute to the study of mega-events as fields of contestation, to the understanding of the complex, multilevel nature of national identity construction, negotiation and contestation in the current era, and more broadly to the role that popular culture plays in this context. Full Article
vision Egypt in 2018: Elections, Divisions and Suppression By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0100 Full Article
vision A Vision for the Future of the Transatlantic Relationship By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 10 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0100 Full Article
vision Lebanon: A Vision for the Future By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article
vision A New Vision for American Foreign Policy By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0100 Full Article
vision Brexit in a Historical Context: Pursuing a Global Vision at the Expense of Domestic Harmony? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article
vision UK election 2019: the parties’ competing visions for Britain’s place in the world By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Jan 2020 14:32:42 +0000 Source The Conversation UK URL https://theconversation.com/uk-election-2019-the-parties-competing-visions-for-b... Release date 28 November 2019 Expert Professor Richard G Whitman In the news type Op-ed Hide date on homepage Full Article
vision Nato Leaders’ Summit 2019: Treaty organisation faces deep divisions at 70 By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Jan 2020 14:33:46 +0000 Source The National URL https://www.thenational.ae/world/nato-leaders-summit-2019-treaty-organisation-fa... Release date 02 December 2019 Expert Dr Lindsay Newman In the news type Op-ed Hide date on homepage Full Article
vision Competing visions of Europe are threatening to tear the union apart By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 10 Feb 2020 16:18:01 +0000 Source The Observer URL https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/01/three-competing-visions-of... Release date 01 July 2018 Expert Hans Kundnani In the news type Op-ed Hide date on homepage Full Article
vision Parallel threats of COVID-19, climate change, require 'brave, visionary and collaborative leadership': UN chief By news.un.org Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT And against the backdrop of threatened lives, crippled businesses and damaged economies, the UN chief warned the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also under threat. Full Article
vision CBD News: Director of the Biodiversity and Policy Division, Ministry of the Environment, Japan, visits the Secretariat. By www.cbd.int Published On :: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT Full Article
vision CBD News: Updating or Revision of the Strategic Plan of the Convention. By www.cbd.int Published On :: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT Full Article
vision CBD News: Statement by Mr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the High-Level Conference: Visions for Biodiversity beyond 2010: People, Ecosytem Services and the Climate Crisis, 8 September 2009 By www.cbd.int Published On :: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT Full Article
vision CBD Notification: Expert consultation on the revision and updating of the Strategic Plan of the Convention, 18 - 20 January 2010, London, the United Kingdom. By webdb Published On :: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT Full Article