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.

Schools are slowly figuring out how to balance thinking globally with acting locally, and recognizing that some key skills are valuable no matter where students end up living.

Schools are slowly figuring out how to balance thinking globally with acting locally, and recognizing that some key skills are valuable no matter where students end up living.

Schools are slowly figuring out how to balance thinking globally with acting locally, and recognizing that some key skills are valuable no matter where students end up living.

The Knowledge Sharing for the Development of Learning Resources tutorial provides a professional step forward, a learning experience that leads to recognition that your leadership is well founded as well as ensuring that participants in the development of learning resources recognize they are contributing to an exceptional achievement.

This paper proposes a logistic undirected network formation model which allows for assortative matching on observed individual characteristics and the presence of edge-wise fixed effects. We model the coefficients of observed characteristics to have a latent community structure and the edge-wise fixed effects to be of low rank. We propose a multi-step estimation procedure involving nuclear norm regularization, sample splitting, iterative logistic regression and spectral clustering to detect the latent communities. We show that the latent communities can be exactly recovered when the expected degree of the network is of order log n or higher, where n is the number of nodes in the network. The finite sample performance of the new estimation and inference methods is illustrated through both simulated and real datasets.

Stephen Berg, Jun Zhu, Murray K. Clayton, Monika E. Shea, David J. Mladenoff.

Source: The Annals of Applied Statistics, Volume 13, Number 4, 2312--2340.

Abstract:
The Wisconsin Public Land Survey database describes historical forest composition at high spatial resolution and is of interest in ecological studies of forest composition in Wisconsin just prior to significant Euro-American settlement. For such studies it is useful to identify recurring subpopulations of tree species known as communities, but standard clustering approaches for subpopulation identification do not account for dependence between spatially nearby observations. Here, we develop and fit a latent discrete Markov random field model for the purpose of identifying and classifying historical forest communities based on spatially referenced multivariate tree species counts across Wisconsin. We show empirically for the actual dataset and through simulation that our latent Markov random field modeling approach improves prediction and parameter estimation performance. For model fitting we introduce a new stochastic approximation algorithm which enables computationally efficient estimation and classification of large amounts of spatial multivariate count data.

Disaster relief funding for punishing spring floods is welcome news to civic leaders in northern Alberta.

The number of cases of COVID-19 in First Nations reserves continues to rise this week, with 161 confirmed positive cases reported as of May 5.

Flattening the curve has been so successful and two areas around Hamilton — Brant and Haldimand-Norfolk — haven't had a new case of COVID-19 in three days, and Burlington has only had two.

Despite knowing very little about the Androy region, OMers Fara and Herimanina went willingly and have seen God at work.

The impact of baseball as an outreach tool is growing far beyond the first teams that began nine years ago in Érd.

In a largely unreached nation, where Christians often face persecution, OM comes alongside local churches to see more vibrant communities of Jesus followers established.

OM Costa Rica brings the Festival of Smiles to the Cabécares and Bribri communities in Talamanca, Limón, to give gifts and God’s love to the children.

Participants of OM Costa Rica's Pearl Process programme start their own small groups to impact more women in high-risk communities.

"Indeed, there are so many variables as we ‘see’ vibrant communities develop among the least-reached peoples. As we work towards this vision, I nevertheless fall back on the age-old cliché that my father stressed repeatedly: 'We are not called to be successful, but called to be faithful.'"

SCOTLAND’S workers could stay put in rural communities in the post-lockdown world - boosting countryside economies and cutting commuter traffic, a Holyrood cabinet secretary has suggested.

Chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association Karen Betts explains why she thinks the Scottish 'water of life' is so special.

A Virginia study documents an increase in race-related bullying in middle schools in communities that voted for President Donald Trump, and a drop in those that favored Hilary Clinton.

Adolescent males from low-income communities are a group at increased risk of obesity and related health concerns. Obesity prevention interventions targeting adolescents have so far had mixed success. Targeted interventions, tailored for specific groups, may be more appealing and efficacious.

A multicomponent school-based intervention using smartphone technology can improve muscular fitness, movement skills, and key weight-related behaviors among low-income adolescent boys. (Read the full article)

OM workers Elsbeth and Josef* are seeing vibrant communities of Jesus followers among least reached immigrants in Germany.

2017 Delaware Arts Summit: Arts for All: Transforming Individuals & Communities WHAT: The Arts Summit brings together Delaware’s arts community to connect, learn, and get inspired. The speakers and sessions will illuminate ways to create value and increase the impact of the arts to purposefully enhance well-being, understanding, learning, and creativity for all. Sessions include: […]

Federal tax incentives available for qualifying investments in Opportunity Zones DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney announced on Thursday that communities and economically-distressed properties across Delaware could see additional private sector investment after 25 census tracts were designated as Opportunity Zones by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Earlier this month, Governor Carney nominated the […]

DNREC is soliciting letters of interest to enter into projects that will support local resilience planning and adaptation activities in Delaware.

Visa’s Everywhere Initiative in SingaporeVisa’s Everywhere Initiative is a program that solves the payment problems and commercial challenges of start-up communities. At first, the program was started in the USA in 2015 and has expanded it globally,…

Three communities are participating in Canada’s Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot.Sault Ste. Marie from the province of Ontario, Altona/Rhineland from the province of Manitoba will accept applications for recommendation of the community from candidates…

Australian urban planning and design and economics consultancy Cistri is using its evidence-based insights to help Asian developers design and plan urban communities that enhance quality of life.

When I worked at the New York Attorney General's Office, we sued coal-fired power plants because their air pollution was making people sick. But in some towns, I saw that the reliance on coal really had people in a bind. The coal plant was making them sick, but it was also a major tax generator for the town. If the plant closed, the town might have to lay off teachers and cops, in addition to losing the plant jobs.

SARS-CoV-2 ("Corona") The SARS-CoV-2 virus, also referred to as "Corona", has reached Germany with significant effects across all industries. This article aims at answering the specific issues which communities of condominium owners and administrato...

Adebayo Obajemu As part of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc’s continued efforts to support Federal, State and the Federal Capital Territory Governments in the fight to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has expanded its food donation initiative to assist the vulnerable among the indigenes and residents of Abuja. The project which is themed “Food for our Communities […]

The post Julius Berger shares palliatives to Abuja Communities appeared first on Hallmarknews.

What’s clear is that the Jewish rate of death is exponentially higher in the Diaspora compared to Israel and that the virus is devastating the Jewish world.

ISLAMABAD: The COVID-19 pandemic has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities, a study says.It was prepared by six academics associated with prestigious...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

ISLAMABAD: The COVID-19 pandemic has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities, a study says.It was prepared by six academics associated with prestigious...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

ISLAMABAD: The COVID-19 pandemic has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities, a study says.It was prepared by six academics associated with prestigious...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Global supply chains link the welfare of disaster-hit companies and their surrounding communities to a network of corporations that have an economic incentive to help them bounce back. 

To be resilient, urban poor and informal households need secure tenure, which is a household’s right to reside on the land on which they are living.

Please join us for our Smart Cities & Connected Communities Think Tank Roundtable on Wednesday, May 19. Clint Vince, Chair of Dentons' US Energy practice and Co-chair of Dentons' Global Energy sector, will moderate this event along with a panel of industry leaders for a discussion on the future of cybersecurity concerns.

June 13 - A touch screen tablet invented by a 22-year-old Cameroonian engineer is helping doctors perform heart examinations on patients in remote, rural locations beyond the reach of specialists. Jim Drury has more.

Authentically engaging community residents is necessary to impact social drivers of health. Acknowledging the value of residents' lived experiences in the planning, implementation, and financial decisions of community engagement initiatives is key. Sustainability of community engagement initiatives depends on open communication and follow-through on commitments.

ABSTRACT

By modulating the structure, diversity, and trophic outputs of microbial communities, phages play crucial roles in many biomes. In oligotrophic polar deserts, the effects of katabatic winds, constrained nutrients, and low water availability are known to limit microbial activity. Although phages may substantially govern trophic interactions in cold deserts, relatively little is known regarding the precise ecological mechanisms. Here, we provide the first evidence of widespread antiphage innate immunity in Antarctic environments using metagenomic sequence data from hypolith communities as model systems. In particular, immunity systems such as DISARM and BREX are shown to be dominant systems in these communities. Additionally, we show a direct correlation between the CRISPR-Cas adaptive immunity and the metavirome of hypolith communities, suggesting the existence of dynamic host-phage interactions. In addition to providing the first exploration of immune systems in cold deserts, our results suggest that phages actively challenge niche communities in Antarctic polar deserts. We provide evidence suggesting that the regulatory role played by phages in this system is an important determinant of bacterial host interactions in this environment.

IMPORTANCE In Antarctic environments, the combination of both abiotic and biotic stressors results in simple trophic levels dominated by microbiomes. Although the past two decades have revealed substantial insights regarding the diversity and structure of microbiomes, we lack mechanistic insights regarding community interactions and how phages may affect these. By providing the first evidence of widespread antiphage innate immunity, we shed light on phage-host dynamics in Antarctic niche communities. Our analyses reveal several antiphage defense systems, including DISARM and BREX, which appear to dominate in cold desert niche communities. In contrast, our analyses revealed that genes which encode antiphage adaptive immunity were underrepresented in these communities, suggesting lower infection frequencies in cold edaphic environments. We propose that by actively challenging niche communities, phages play crucial roles in the diversification of Antarctic communities.

Large-scale metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data analyses are often restricted by their gene-centric approach, limiting the ability to understand organismal and community biology. De novo assembly of large and mosaic eukaryotic genomes from complex meta-omics data remains a challenging task, especially in comparison with more straightforward bacterial and archaeal systems. Here, we use a transcriptome reconstruction method based on clustering co-abundant genes across a series of metagenomic samples. We investigated the co-abundance patterns of ~37 million eukaryotic unigenes across 365 metagenomic samples collected during the Tara Oceans expeditions to assess the diversity and functional profiles of marine plankton. We identified ~12,000 co-abundant gene groups (CAGs), encompassing ~7 million unigenes, including 924 metagenomics-based transcriptomes (MGTs, CAGs larger than 500 unigenes). We demonstrated the biological validity of the MGT collection by comparing individual MGTs with available references. We identified several key eukaryotic organisms involved in dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) biosynthesis and catabolism in different oceanic provinces, thus demonstrating the potential of the MGT collection to provide functional insights on eukaryotic plankton. We established the ability of the MGT approach to capture interspecies associations through the analysis of a nitrogen-fixing haptophyte-cyanobacterial symbiotic association. This MGT collection provides a valuable resource for analyses of eukaryotic plankton in the open ocean by giving access to the genomic content and functional potential of many ecologically relevant eukaryotic species.

The aim of this study was to assess the association of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnT) and other cardiac, kidney, hyperglycemia, and inflammatory biomarkers with peripheral neuropathy (PN) in a community-based population.We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 3056 black and white participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study who underwent standardized monofilament PN testing and had measures of cardiac function (hs-cTnT, N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide [NT-proBNP], and growth differentiation factor 15 [GDF15]), kidney function (serum creatinine, cystatin C, β-2 microglobulin, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio), hyperglycemia (fasting glucose, hemoglobin A_1c [Hb A_1c], fructosamine, glycated albumin, 1,5-anhydroglucitol), and inflammation (C-reactive protein) assessed at visit 6 (2016–2017; age 71–94 years). We used logistic regression to assess the associations of these biomarkers (modeled in diabetes-specific tertiles) with PN in older adults with and without diabetes after adjusting for traditional risk factors.In total, 33.5% of participants had PN (37.3% with diabetes and 31.9% without diabetes). There was an independent association of hs-cTnT with PN regardless of diabetes status (diabetes T3 vs. T1: odds ratio [OR], 2.15 [95% CI, 1.44–3.22]; no diabetes: OR, 2.31 [95%CI, 1.76–3.03]; P = 0.72 for interaction). Among participants without diabetes, there were also significant associations of NT-proBNP (OR, 1.40 [95% CI, 1.08–1.81]) and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (OR, 1.55 [95% CI, 1.22–1.97]) with PN. Associations of hyperglycemia biomarkers including Hb A_1c (OR, 1.76 [95% CI, 1.22–2.54]), fructosamine (OR, 1.71 [95% CI, 1.19–2.46]), and glycated albumin (OR, 1.45 [95% CI, 1.03–2.03]) with PN were significant only among participants with diabetes.Overall, hs-cTnT appears to be a global marker of end organ damage, including PN. Laboratory biomarkers may be able to help us identify those individuals with PN.