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.)

Dozens of Colorado school districts are asking voters next month for more funding for education through bond issues, mill levy overrides, or renewal of a city sales tax.

In a case from Montana, conservative justices suggested they were inclined to rule for parents who seek to reinstate a state tax credit funding scholarships for use at religious schools.

In a case from Montana, conservative justices suggested they were inclined to rule for parents who seek to reinstate a state tax credit funding scholarships for use at religious schools.

'"Safe and well" outlines the actions the Government of South Australia is taking to support families at risk of entering the child protection system, protect children from harm when they come into care, and invest in young people to leave care with opportunities for a bright future.

A state leader shares how research helped raise important considerations for increasing college success and completion in Indiana.

Nearly 45 percent of children in rural McDowell County, West Virginia do not live with their parents and many are being raised by grandparents.

[Rome?]

[Paris], [1807]

Rockville, Maryland : National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1979.

Rockville, Maryland : National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1978.

Washington, D.C. : Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, 1976.

Pac-12 Networks' Mike Yam interviews former Oregon State guard Sydney Wiese to hear how she's recovering from contracting COVID-19. Wiese recounts her recent travel and how she's been lifted up by steadfast support from friends, family and fellow WNBA players. See more from Wiese during "Pac-12 Playlist" on Monday, April 6 at 7 p.m. PT/ 8 p.m. MT on Pac-12 Network.

On the day Kobe Bryant suddenly passed away, the Beavers embraced their rivals at midcourt in a moment of strength to support the Ducks, many of whom had personal connections to Bryant and his daughter, Gigi. For this, Oregon State is the 2020 recipient of the Pac-12 Sportsmanship Award.

In this paper, we extend the methodology developed for Support Vector Machines (SVM) using the $ell_2$-norm ($ell_2$-SVM) to the more general case of $ell_p$-norms with $p>1$ ($ell_p$-SVM). We derive second order cone formulations for the resulting dual and primal problems. The concept of kernel function, widely applied in $ell_2$-SVM, is extended to the more general case of $ell_p$-norms with $p>1$ by defining a new operator called multidimensional kernel. This object gives rise to reformulations of dual problems, in a transformed space of the original data, where the dependence on the original data always appear as homogeneous polynomials. We adapt known solution algorithms to efficiently solve the primal and dual resulting problems and some computational experiments on real-world datasets are presented showing rather good behavior in terms of the accuracy of $ell_p$-SVM with $p>1$.

Peter J. Diggle, Emanuele Giorgi, Julienne Atsame, Sylvie Ntsame Ella, Kisito Ogoussan, Katherine Gass.

Source: Statistical Science, Volume 35, Number 1, 42--50.

Abstract:
Vector-borne diseases have long presented major challenges to the health of rural communities in the wet tropical regions of the world, but especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we describe the contribution that statistical modelling has made to the global elimination programme for one vector-borne disease, onchocerciasis. We explain why information on the spatial distribution of a second vector-borne disease, Loa loa, is needed before communities at high risk of onchocerciasis can be treated safely with mass distribution of ivermectin, an antifiarial medication. We show how a model-based geostatistical analysis of Loa loa prevalence survey data can be used to map the predictive probability that each location in the region of interest meets a WHO policy guideline for safe mass distribution of ivermectin and describe two applications: one is to data from Cameroon that assesses prevalence using traditional blood-smear microscopy; the other is to Africa-wide data that uses a low-cost questionnaire-based method. We describe how a recent technological development in image-based microscopy has resulted in a change of emphasis from prevalence alone to the bivariate spatial distribution of prevalence and the intensity of infection among infected individuals. We discuss how statistical modelling of the kind described here can contribute to health policy guidelines and decision-making in two ways. One is to ensure that, in a resource-limited setting, prevalence surveys are designed, and the resulting data analysed, as efficiently as possible. The other is to provide an honest quantification of the uncertainty attached to any binary decision by reporting predictive probabilities that a policy-defined condition for action is or is not met.

To view more press releases, please visit http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

Parents-to-be who will have their new child delivered at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre have to follow a different set of guidelines than found at many other hospitals across Ontario.

When Elizabeth May, parliamentary leader of the federal Green Party, proclaimed on Tuesday that "oil is dead," she was correct in a philosophical sense. But not in a practical, real world sense.

People and businesses are rallying to support the Muslim community in Fort McMurray recover after widespread flooding that damaged many neighbourhoods.

The provincially appointed trustee of the English Montreal School Board says the Quebec government made the “right decision” when it postponed the reopening of Montreal-area elementary schools to May 25.

Winnipeg will soon test "small cell" technology to improve cellular reception in parts of Winnipeg, ahead of a possible future transition to 5G service. 

Soccer's international governing body says it will maintain funding for women's soccer despite concerns about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Friends and family of Brady Francis, a 22-year-old man who died in 2018 after a hit-and-run collision, are proposing changes to make reporting vehicle collisions with wildlife mandatory in New Brunswick.

Hello to all, Welcome to the new edition of the SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News!  This monthly news blog is co-authored by members of the SOLIDWORKS Technical Support teams worldwide.   3DEXPERIENCE WORLD 2020 is right around the corner By Nicole

Author information

The post SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News – January 2020 appeared first on SOLIDWORKS Tech Blog.

Hello to all, Welcome to the new edition of the SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News!  This monthly news blog is co-authored by members of the SOLIDWORKS Technical Support teams worldwide.   Configuring the SOLIDWORKS PDM ‘Draftsight to PDF’ task to use

Author information

The post SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News – March 2020 appeared first on SOLIDWORKS Tech Blog.

THE LTA has today announced a multi-million pound package of additional funding and measures to support those involved in tennis in Britain through the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Following yesterday´s Supervisory Board meeting and the meeting on 19 March 2020, yesterday´s FBB shareholders’ meeting dealt with the results of the meeting and confirmed its main decisions. The shareholders recognised the business plan approved by th...

Bulgaria coach Luboslav Penev and his staff encouraged over 120 children taking part in a grassroots event in Sofia designed to increase participation in football and other sports.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recently spoke at Council of the Great City Schools annual legislative and policy conference in Washington, D.C. Here are some of her remarks.

Fewer than one-third of America's teachers say ed-tech innovations have changed their beliefs about what school should look like, according to a new Education Week survey.

The California district rolled out a culturally-specific program to support black male students, and the program has led to positive outcomes for students who had an opportunity to participate.

A new evaluation of an Oakland, Calif., school district program designed to wrap black male students in a culturally rich and supportive environment is paying off.

Military bases are providing more support and resources for the growing number of military families who are choosing to home school their children.

THE Government’s ambition to reach a daily target of 100,000 tests across the UK by the end of the month will, as Matt Hancock admitted, require a “huge amount of work”.

In a wide-ranging report on the state of education for ELLs, one theme is consistent: The nation's public schools must devote more resources and research to educating students who aren't native English speakers.

The California district rolled out a culturally-specific program to support black male students, and the program has led to positive outcomes for students who had an opportunity to participate.

UEFA partner, the Homeless World Cup, added its support for UEFA Grassroots Day in May with the organisation of 41 events in countries from Europe and around the world.

School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a widely used universal prevention strategy currently implemented in >16 000 schools across the United States. Previous research has shown positive effects on school climate and school-level discipline problems.

This study reports multilevel results on data from a 4-year randomized controlled effectiveness trial of SWPBIS in 37 elementary schools. Results indicate significant impacts on children’s aggressive behavior problems, concentration problems, office discipline referrals, emotion regulation, and prosocial behavior. (Read the full article)

Obesity is a risk factor for failure to initiate breastfeeding, formula supplementation, and short breastfeeding duration. There is a need for interventions that can improve the breastfeeding outcomes of overweight and obese women.

Breastfeeding peer counseling targeting overweight/obese women did not affect exclusive breastfeeding rates or breastfeeding continuation beyond 2 weeks. However, the intervention was associated with improvements in early breastfeeding intensity and fewer infant hospitalizations in the first 6 months after birth. (Read the full article)