CareDx, Veracyte Enter Exclusive Partnership for Transplant Rejection Testing – Clinical OMICs News

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Precision medicine transplant care specialist CareDx and genomic diagnostics company Veracyte announced today an exclusive agreement to commercialize CAreDxs organ transplant-rejection tests on Veracytes diagnostic platform, the nCounter FLEX Analysis System.

CareDx said its HistoMap gene expression profiling test, that it announced last year is under development, will run on the Veracyte system. HistoMap is being developed using the Human Organ Transplant (HOT) panel from the Banff Foundation for Allograft Pathology. CareDx will manage the global commercialization of HistoMap

With HistoMap added to our strong KidneyCare and HeartCare offerings, we will ensure that biopsies performed are reproducibly clinically relevant. This fits well into our approach of multimodality testing and patient stratification, said Peter Maag, chairman and CEO of CareDx, in a press release. We are glad to partner with Veracyte to make these solutions available for transplant patients.

The partnership with CareDx is the first by Veracyte with a diagnostics company with the aim of expanding the number of genomic tests it offers on its nCounter instrument. Veracyte acquired the global diagnostic rights to nCounter in December from NanoString Technologies. Earlier this year, Veracyte also announced its first biopharmaceutical partnershipwith Acerta Pharma, the hematology research and development arm of AstraZenecathat was enabled by the NanoString transaction.

Bonnie Anderson, Veracytes chairman and CEO added: We believe this agreement will expand the menu of advanced genomic tests we offer on the nCounter platform, helping us broaden the installed base of instruments and increase adoption of our tests in global markets. Ultimately, this collaboration helps us further achieve our vision of becoming a leading global provider of advanced genomic testing.

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Coronavirus found in semen of young men with COVID-19 – Bay 93.9

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Peter Ellis, University of Kent; Mark Wass, University of Kent, and Martin Michaelis, University of Kent

We dont know much about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but we are learning new things about it every day. The latest bit of the jigsaw puzzle comes from a small study conducted in China, which found SARS-CoV-2 RNA (the viruss genetic code) in the semen of young COVID-19 patients.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, involved 38 patients undergoing treatment for severe COVID-19 disease at Shangqiu Municipal Hospital in Henan province. Fifteen of the patients provided a semen sample during the acute phase of their illness and 23 shortly after recovering. In four of the 15 patients with acute disease and in two of the 23 recovering patients, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found in the semen samples.

These new findings differ from the results of an earlier study involving 12 COVID-19 patients and a case report. However, the earlier investigations focused on patients with mild disease after they had recovered, whereas the current study focused on hospitalised patients with severe disease, and all samples in this latest study were taken during disease or very shortly after recovery. In fact, all of the semen samples that were found to have viral RNA in recovering patients were taken at day two and day three after recovery. So the differences between the earlier studies and the current one are probably the result of differences in disease severity and the time of sampling.

The testes, along with the eyes, placenta, foetus and central nervous system, are considered to be immunoprivileged sites, which means they are protected from severe inflammation associated with an immune response. This is probably an evolutionary adaptation that protects vital structures. So these are niches where viruses may be protected from the host immune response.

Immunoprivileged sites gained attention as places where viruses can persist after disease recovery during the 2013-16 West African Ebola virus outbreak. Ebola virus remained detectable in the semen of some survivors for more than three years and Ebola virus transmission through sexual intercourse can occur months after the patient has recovered.

We dont know what the implications of the latest findings are yet. The presence of viral RNA in the patients semen does not necessarily indicate the presence of infectious virus. So it will be critical to show whether infectious virus can also be isolated from the semen of SARS-CoV-2 patients and survivors.

If this is possible, the next question will be whether as the current data suggests SARS-CoV-2 is predominantly found in the semen of patients with severe disease or whether significant virus levels can also be detected in the semen of patients with mild disease or, indeed, in the semen of asymptomatic people.

Even if these things are shown, its probably of minor concern for virus spreading during acute infection. Given the high contagiousness of SARS-CoV-2 by non-sexual routes, it is difficult to imagine how this could be substantially increased by sexual transmission. The only scenario where sexual transmission of SARS-CoV-2 might be a problem would be if the virus persisted in the testicles for extended periods, and if COVID-19 survivors could sexually transmit the virus after their recovery.

We need more studies to investigate whether this is possible. In the meantime, it would still be sensible for those recovering from COVID-19 to use a condom until further research is done to clarify how long infectious virus stays in semen.

Peter Ellis, Lecturer in Molecular Biology and Reproduction, University of Kent; Mark Wass, Reader in Computational Biology, University of Kent, and Martin Michaelis, Professor of Molecular Medicine, University of Kent

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Coronavirus found in semen of young men with COVID-19 - Bay 93.9

Quantum computing analytics: Put this on your IT roadmap – TechRepublic

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Quantum is the next step toward the future of analytics and computing. Is your organization ready for it?

Quantum computing can solve challenges that modern computers can't--or it might take them a billion years to do so. It can crack any encryption and make your data completely safe. Google reports that it has seen a quantum computer that performed at least 100 million times faster than any classical computer in its lab.

Quantum blows away the processing of data and algorithms on conventional computers because of its ability to operate on electrical circuits that can be in more than one state at once. A quantum computer operates on Qubits (quantum bits) instead of on the standard bits that are used in conventional computing.

SEE: Managing AI and ML in the enterprise 2020: Tech leaders increase project development and implementation (TechRepublic Premium)

Quantum results can quickly make an impact on life science and pharmaceutical companies, for financial institutions evaluating portfolio risks, and for other organizations that want to expedite time-to-results for processing that on conventional computing platforms would take days to complete.

Few corporate CEOs are comfortable trying to explain to their boards what quantum computing is and why it is important to invest in it.

"There are three major areas where we see immediate corporate engagement with quantum computing," said Christopher Savoie, CEO and co-founder of Zapata Quantum Computing Software Company, a quantum computing solutions provider backed by Honeywell. "These areas are machine learning, optimization problems, and molecular simulation."

Savoie said quantum computing can bring better results in machine learning than conventional computing because of its speed. This rapid processing of data enables a machine learning application to consume large amounts of multi-dimensional data that can generate more sophisticated models of a particular problem or phenomenon under study.

SEE: Forget quantum supremacy: This quantum-computing milestone could be just as important (TechRepublic)

Quantum computing is also well suited for solving problems in optimization. "The mathematics of optimization in supply and distribution chains is highly complex," Savoie said. "You can optimize five nodes of a supply chain with conventional computing, but what about 15 nodes with over 85 million different routes? Add to this the optimization of work processes and people, and you have a very complex problem that can be overwhelming for a conventional computing approach."

A third application area is molecular simulation in chemistry and pharmaceuticals, which can be quite complex.

In each of these cases, models of circumstances, events, and problems can be rapidly developed and evaluated from a variety of dimensions that collate data from many diverse sources into a model.

SEE:Inside UPS: The logistics company's never-ending digital transformation (free PDF)(TechRepublic)

"The current COVID-19 crisis is a prime example," Savoie said. "Bill Gates knew in 2015 that handling such a pandemic would present enormous challengesbut until recently, we didn't have the models to understand the complexities of those challenges."

For those engaging in quantum computing and analytics today, the relative newness of the technology presents its own share of glitches. This makes it important to have quantum computing experts on board. For this reason, most early adopter companies elect to go to the cloud for their quantum computing, partnering with a vendor that has the specialized expertise needed to run and maintain quantum analytics.

SEE: Rural America is in the midst of a mental health crisis. Tech could help some patients see a way forward. (cover story PDF) (TechRepublic)

"These companies typically use a Kubernetes cluster and management stack on premises," Savoie said. "They code a quantum circuit that contains information on how operations are to be performed on quantum qubits. From there, the circuit and the prepared data are sent to the cloud, which performs the quantum operations on the data. The data is processed in the cloud and sent back to the on-prem stack, and the process repeats itself until processing is complete."

Savoie estimated that broad adoption of quantum computing for analytics will occur within a three- to five-year timeframe, with early innovators in sectors like oil and gas, and chemistry, that already understand the value of the technology and are adopting sooner.

"Whether or not you adopt quantum analytics now, you should minimally have it on your IT roadmap," Savoie said. "Quantum computing is a bit like the COVID-19 crisis. At first, there were only two deaths; then two weeks later, there were ten thousand. Quantum computing and analytics is a highly disruptive technology that can exponentially advance some companies over others."

Learn the latest news and best practices about data science, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence. Delivered Mondays

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Seeqc UK Awarded 1.8M in Grants to Advance Quantum Computing Initiatives – HPCwire

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LONDON Seeqc, the Digital Quantum Computing company, announced its UK team has been selected to receive two British grants totaling 1.8 million (~$2.1 million) from Innovate UKs Industrial Challenge Strategy Fund.

Quantum Foundry

The first 800,000 grant from Innovate UK is part of a 7M project dedicated to advancing the commercialization of superconducting technology. Its goal is to bring quantum computing closer to business-applicable solutions, cost-efficiently and at scale.

Seeqc UK is joining six UK-based companies and universities in a consortium to collaborate on the initiative. This is the first concerted effort to bring all leading experts across industry and academia together to advance the development of quantum technologies in the UK.

Othergrant recipientsinclude Oxford Quantum Circuits, Oxford Instruments, Kelvin Nanotechnology, University of Glasgow and the Royal Holloway University of London.

Quantum Operating System

The second 1 million grant is part of a 7.6 million seven-organization consortium dedicated to advancing the commercialization of quantum computers in the UK by building a highly innovative quantum operating system. A quantum operating system, Deltaflow.OS, will be installed on all quantum computers in the UK in order to accelerate the commercialization and collaboration of the British quantum computing community. The universal operating system promises to greatly increase the performance and accessibility of quantum computers in the UK.

Seeqc UK is joined by othergrant recipients, Riverlane, Hitachi Europe, Universal Quantum, Duality Quantum Photonics, Oxford Ionics, and Oxford Quantum Circuits, along with UK-based chip designer, ARM, and the National Physical Laboratory.

Advancing Digital Quantum Computing

Seeqc owns and operates a multi-layer superconductive electronics chip fabrication facility, which is among the most advanced in the world. The foundry serves as a testing and benchmarking facility for Seeqc and the global quantum community to deliver quantum technologies for specific use cases. This foundry and expertise will be critical to the success of the grants. Seeqcs Digital Quantum Computing solution is designed to manage and control qubits in quantum computers in a way that is cost-efficient and scalable for real-world business applications in industries such as pharmaceuticals, logistics and chemical manufacturing.

Seeqcs participation in these new industry-leading British grants accelerates our work in making quantum computing useful, commercially and at scale, said Dr. Matthew Hutchings, chief product officer and co-founder at Seeqc, Inc. We are looking forward to applying our deep expertise in design, testing and manufacturing of quantum-ready superconductors, along with our resource-efficient approach to qubit control and readout to this collaborative development of quantum circuits.

We strongly support the Deltaflow.OS initiative and believe Seeqc can provide a strong contribution to both consortiums work and advance quantum technologies from the lab and into the hands of businesses via ultra-focused and problem-specific quantum computers, continued Hutchings.

Seeqcs solution combines classical and quantum computing to form an all-digital architecture through a system-on-a-chip design that utilizes 10-40 GHz superconductive classical co-processing to address the efficiency, stability and cost issues endemic to quantum computing systems.

Seeqc is receiving the nearly $2.3 million in grant funding weeks after closing its $6.8 million seed round from investors including BlueYard Capital, Cambium, NewLab and the Partnership Fund for New York City. The recent funding round is in addition to a $5 million investment from M Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

About Seeqc

Seeqc is developing the first fully digital quantum computing platform for global businesses. Seeqc combines classical and quantum technologies to address the efficiency, stability and cost issues endemic to quantum computing systems. The company applies classical and quantum technology through digital readout and control technology and a unique chip-scale architecture. Seeqcs quantum system provides the energy- and cost-efficiency, speed and digital control required to make quantum computing useful and bring the first commercially-scalable, problem-specific quantum computing applications to market.

Source: Seeqc

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Video: The Future of Quantum Computing with IBM – insideHPC

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Dario Gil from IBM Research

In this video, Dario Gil from IBM shares results from the IBM Quantum Challenge and describes how you can access and program quantum computers on the IBM Cloud today.

From May 4-8, we invited people from around the world to participate in the IBM Quantum Challengeon the IBM Cloud. We devised the Challenge as a global event to celebrateour fourth anniversary of having a real quantum computer on the cloud. Over those four days 1,745people from45countries came together to solve four problems ranging from introductory topics in quantum computing, to understanding how to mitigate noise in a real system, to learning about historic work inquantum cryptography, to seeing how close they could come to the best optimization result for a quantum circuit.

Those working in the Challenge joined all those who regularly make use of the 18quantum computing systems that IBM has on the cloud, includingthe 10 open systemsand the advanced machines available within theIBM Q Network. During the 96 hours of the Challenge, the total use of the 18 IBM Quantum systems on the IBM Cloud exceeded 1 billion circuits a day. Together, we made history every day the cloud users of the IBM Quantum systems made and then extended what can absolutely be called a world record in computing.

Every day we extend the science of quantum computing and advance engineering to build more powerful devices and systems. Weve put new two new systems on the cloud in the last month, and so our fleet of quantum systems on the cloud is getting bigger and better. Well be extending this cloud infrastructure later this year by installing quantum systems inGermanyand inJapan. Weve also gone more and more digital with our users with videos, online education, social media, Slack community discussions, and, of course, the Challenge.

Dr. Dario Gil is the Director of IBM Research, one of the worlds largest and most influential corporate research labs. IBM Research is a global organization with over 3,000 researchers at 12 laboratories on six continents advancing the future of computing. Dr. Gil leads innovation efforts at IBM, directing research strategies in Quantum, AI, Hybrid Cloud, Security, Industry Solutions, and Semiconductors and Systems. Dr. Gil is the 12th Director in its 74-year history. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Gil served as Chief Operating Officer of IBM Research and the Vice President of AI and Quantum Computing, areas in which he continues to have broad responsibilities across IBM. Under his leadership, IBM was the first company in the world to build programmable quantum computers and make them universally available through the cloud. An advocate of collaborative research models, he co-chairs the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, a pioneering industrial-academic laboratory with a portfolio of more than 50 projects focused on advancing fundamental AI research to the broad benefit of industry and society.

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Registration Open for Inaugural IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering – HPCwire

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LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.,May 14, 2020 Registration is now open for the inauguralIEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE20), a multidisciplinary event focusing on quantum technology, research, development, and training. QCE20, also known as IEEE Quantum Week, will deliver a series ofworld-class keynotes,workforce-building tutorials,community-building workshops, andtechnical paper presentations and postersonOctober 12-16inDenver, Colorado.

Were thrilled to open registration for the inaugural IEEE Quantum Week, founded by the IEEE Future Directions Initiative and supported by multiple IEEE Societies and organizational units, said Hausi Mller, QCE20 general chair and co-chair of the IEEE Quantum Initiative.Our initial goal is to address the current landscape of quantum technologies, identify challenges and opportunities, and engage the quantum community. With our current Quantum Week program, were well on track to deliver a first-rate quantum computing and engineering event.

QCE20skeynote speakersinclude the following quantum groundbreakers and leaders:

The week-longQCE20 tutorials programfeatures 15 tutorials by leading experts aimed squarely at workforce development and training considerations. The tutorials are ideally suited to develop quantum champions for industry, academia, and government and to build expertise for emerging quantum ecosystems.

Throughout the week, 19QCE20 workshopsprovide forums for group discussions on topics in quantum research, practice, education, and applications. The exciting workshops provide unique opportunities to share and discuss quantum computing and engineering ideas, research agendas, roadmaps, and applications.

The deadline for submittingtechnical papersto the eight technical paper tracks isMay 22. Papers accepted by QCE20 will be submitted to the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The best papers will be invited to the journalsIEEE Transactions on Quantum Engineering(TQE)andACM Transactions on Quantum Computing(TQC).

QCE20 provides attendees a unique opportunity to discuss challenges and opportunities with quantum researchers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, developers, students, practitioners, educators, programmers, and newcomers. QCE20 is co-sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Communications Society, IEEE Council on Superconductivity,IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS), IEEE Future Directions Quantum Initiative, IEEE Photonics Society, and IEEETechnology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS).

Registerto be a part of the highly anticipated inaugural IEEE Quantum Week 2020. Visitqce.quantum.ieee.orgfor event news and all program details, including sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities.

About the IEEE Computer Society

The IEEE Computer Society is the worlds home for computer science, engineering, and technology. A global leader in providing access to computer science research, analysis, and information, the IEEE Computer Society offers a comprehensive array of unmatched products, services, and opportunities for individuals at all stages of their professional career. Known as the premier organization that empowers the people who drive technology, the IEEE Computer Society offers international conferences, peer-reviewed publications, a unique digital library, and training programs. Visitwww.computer.orgfor more information.

About the IEEE Communications Society

TheIEEE Communications Societypromotes technological innovation and fosters creation and sharing of information among the global technical community. The Society provides services to members for their technical and professional advancement and forums for technical exchanges among professionals in academia, industry, and public institutions.

About the IEEE Council on Superconductivity

TheIEEE Council on Superconductivityand its activities and programs cover the science and technology of superconductors and their applications, including materials and their applications for electronics, magnetics, and power systems, where the superconductor properties are central to the application.

About the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society

TheIEEE Electronics Packaging Societyis the leading international forum for scientists and engineers engaged in the research, design, and development of revolutionary advances in microsystems packaging and manufacturing.

About the IEEE Future Directions Quantum Initiative

IEEE Quantumis an IEEE Future Directions initiative launched in 2019 that serves as IEEEs leading community for all projects and activities on quantum technologies. IEEE Quantum is supported by leadership and representation across IEEE Societies and OUs. The initiative addresses the current landscape of quantum technologies, identifies challenges and opportunities, leverages and collaborates with existing initiatives, and engages the quantum community at large.

About the IEEE Photonics Society

TheIEEE Photonics Societyforms the hub of a vibrant technical community of more than 100,000 professionals dedicated to transforming breakthroughs in quantum physics into the devices, systems, and products to revolutionize our daily lives. From ubiquitous and inexpensive global communications via fiber optics, to lasers for medical and other applications, to flat-screen displays, to photovoltaic devices for solar energy, to LEDs for energy-efficient illumination, there are myriad examples of the Societys impact on the world around us.

About the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society

IEEE TEMSencompasses the management sciences and practices required for defining, implementing, and managing engineering and technology.

Source: IEEE Computer Society

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IonQ CEO Peter Chapman on how quantum computing will change the future of AI – VentureBeat

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Businesses eager to embrace cutting-edge technology are exploring quantum computing, which depends on qubits to perform computations that would be much more difficult, or simply not feasible, on classical computers. The ultimate goals are quantum advantage, the inflection point when quantum computers begin to solve useful problems. While that is a long way off (if it can even be achieved), the potential is massive. Applications include everything from cryptography and optimization to machine learning and materials science.

As quantum computing startup IonQ has described it, quantum computing is a marathon, not a sprint. We had the pleasure of interviewing IonQ CEO Peter Chapman last month to discuss a variety of topics. Among other questions, we asked Chapman about quantum computings future impact on AI and ML.

The conversation quickly turned to Strong AI, or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which does not yet exist. Strong AI is the idea that a machine could one day understand or learn any intellectual task that a human can.

AI in the Strong AI sense, that I have more of an opinion [about], just because I have more experience in that personally, Chapman told VentureBeat. And there was a really interesting paper that just recently came out talking about how to use a quantum computer to infer the meaning of words in NLP. And I do think that those kinds of things for Strong AI look quite promising. Its actually one of the reasons I joined IonQ. Its because I think that does have some sort of application.

In a follow-up email, Chapman expanded on his thoughts. For decades, it was believed that the brains computational capacity lay in the neuron as a minimal unit, he wrote. Early efforts by many tried to find a solution using artificial neurons linked together in artificial neural networks with very limited success. This approach was fueled by the thought that the brain is an electrical computer, similar to a classical computer.

However, since then, I believe we now know the brain is not an electrical computer, but an electrochemical one, he added. Sadly, todays computers do not have the processing power to be able to simulate the chemical interactions across discrete parts of the neuron, such as the dendrites, the axon, and the synapse. And even with Moores law, they wont next year or even after a million years.

Chapman then quoted Richard Feynman, who famously said Nature isnt classical, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, youd better make it quantum mechanical. And by golly, its a wonderful problem because it doesnt look so easy.

Similarly, its likely Strong AI isnt classical, its quantum mechanical as well, Chapman said.

One of IonQs competitors, D-Wave, argues that quantum computing and machine learning are extremely well matched. Chapman is still on the fence.

I havent spent enough time to really understand it, he admitted. There clearly [are] a lot of people who think that ML and quantum have an overlap. Certainly, if you think of 85% of all ML produces a decision tree, and the depth of that decision tree could easily be optimized with a quantum computer. Clearly, there [are] lots of people that think that generation of the decision tree could be optimized with a quantum computer. Honestly, I dont know if thats the case or not. I think its still a little early for machine learning, but there clearly [are] so many people that are working on it. Its hard to imagine it doesnt have [an] application.

Chapman continued in a later email: ML has intimate ties to optimization: Many learning problems are formulated as minimization of some loss function on a training set of examples. Generally, Universal Quantum Computers excel at these kinds of problems.

He listed three improvements in ML that quantum computing will likely allow:

Whether Strong AI or ML, IonQ isnt particularly interested in either. The company leaves that to its customers and future partners.

Theres so much to be to be done in a quantum, Chapman said. From education at one end all the way to the quantum computer itself. I think some of our competitors have taken on lots of the entire problem set. We at IonQ are just focused on producing the worlds best quantum computer for them. We think thats a large enough task for a little company like us to handle.

So, for the moment were kind of happy to let everyone else work on different problems, he added. We just dont have extra bandwidth or resources to put into working on machine learning algorithms. And luckily, there [are] lots of other companies that think that there [are] applications there. Well partner with them in the sense that well provide the hardware that their algorithms will run on. But were not in the ML business, per se.

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IonQ CEO Peter Chapman on how quantum computing will change the future of AI - VentureBeat

Yale College 2020: Meet some of the graduates – Yale News

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To offer a sense of the extraordinary human richness within the Yale College Class of 2020, we present here short profiles of 14 members one per residential college. Among these representatives of the nearly 1,400 members of the class, selected from nominations submitted by college heads and deans, youll meet singers and scientists, athletes and activists, ROTC cadets and Rhodes Scholars a panoply of spirited, ambitious, and thoughtful undergraduates drawn from a bright constellation.

After four years at Yale, Kazemi Adachis interests and passions bear little resemblance to those of the high school student he was, growing up in suburban Chicago.

When I first got to Yale, I was overwhelmed by the cool, different opportunities, said Adachi, who will graduate with a degree in physics.

Among the interests he acquired in New Haven are a passion for African-diaspora step dancing, Buddhism, and the desire to help build quantum computers.

Read more about Kazemi Adachi

Yale is full of marvels. Onyx Brunner 20 made it his job to share them with a rotating cast of thousands.

A campus tour guide since his first year, Brunner took special delight in showing off Yales residential colleges. For him, the colleges exemplify the palpable community spirit that animated his undergraduate experience.

I loved showing prospective students and visitors how Yale does its best to provide undergraduates a welcoming home, said Brunner.

Read more about Onyx Brunner

In his first two years at Yale, Kushal Dev was affectionately called the Swing Guy because he spent so much time on the Silliman College courtyard swing.

He still loves that swing, but hes since earned additional renown in the college as founder of the Silliman Textbook Library a communal space housing over 1,000 textbooks that can be used by Yale students who cant afford them.His other extracurricular passions included singing in the a cappella group Out of the Blue and performing in Yale Movement, a K-Pop and urban dance group.

Read more about Kushal Dev

Rachel Diaz, a graduating senior in Pauli Murray, came to Yale as a transfer student from a community college in Miami two and a half years ago.

If there was ever a face for imposter syndrome, said Diaz, a first-generation college student, I was probably it.

Yet she found her place on campus as a member of Sabrosura, Yales Latin dance team, performing and doing choreography for sold-out shows in the Off Broadway Theater on campus. The sounds of bachata, merengue, and salsa music on a show night reminded her of the sights and sounds of home, she said: Hearing my language and being around people who grew up with similar lifestyles helped me realize the importance of community.

Read more about Rachel Diaz

Hannah Dickson says her Yale years have been, in effect, a primer on leadership.

Not least due to her prominent roles in Davenport College, the graduating senior and Air Force ROTC cadet has learned and observed how organizations structure their operations, gather and assess data, and make all manner of decisions.

I wanted experiences that would give me insight into different branches of government and different institutions, said Dickson.

Read more about Hannah Dickson

In many ways, Joseph Doran was born to serve. And Trumbull College, Yale, and New Haven are all the better for the four years he spent at the university.

The native of northern Virginia graduates May 18 with degrees in economics and global affairs, and he hopes one day to serve his country as a foreign service officer in the U.S. State Department.

Read more about Joe Doran

His late fathers treasured saxophone was a constant in Christian Fernandezs life at Yale. Paying forward the support of the people who helped him succeed was another.

The instrument, a tenor saxophone that he played often, brought him joy and reminded him of his family in New Orleans.

Over the past four years, Fernandez has been a saxophonist or clarinetist in the Yale Precision Marching Band, Yale Concert Band, Yale Jazz Ensemble, and Tertulia the first and only campus salsa band among other groups.

Read more aboutChristian Fernandez

Claire Gorman 20 arrived on campus intent on studying computer science. As her Yale experience unfolded, she developed a love for architecture.

Embracing both interests, Gorman majored in computing and the arts. Her senior project merges machine learning and architectural theory to explore how cities and landscapes function and change over time.

My years at Yale have been the best of my life, said Gorman.Ive learned more there than I can articulate.

Read more about Claire Gorman

Titilayo Mabogunje found her niche at Yale in both quiet spaces and public stages.

A major in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, Mabogunje spent hours working in Yales laboratories researching epilepsy and immunobiology. She also pursued her passion for the performing arts onstage, appearing at the Yale Cabaret, with the Yale dance group Steppin Out, as a spoken-word artist, and in a senior thesis production of Macbeth.

Read more aboutTitilayo Mabogunje

Whether singing in the Alley Cats, Zooming with his first-years, or reading a peers thesis, Tyler Miles 20 makes it a priority to cultivate community.

In his own first year at Yale, Miles, an African American studies major from Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, was inspired by a singing FroCo to join the Alley Cats, one of Yales oldest a cappella groups. Membership in the all-male group would help define Miles Yale experience.It was through the Alley Cats that Miles made some of his closest friends and favorite memories, and found a platform for charity work outside of Yale.

Read more about Tyler Miles

Early in her time at Yale, Veena Muraleetharan discovered that one way to fight injustice is to wed scholarship and activism.

In high school, she became interested in reproductive justice the right of every individual to have autonomy over their own bodies and sexuality, to have or to not have children, and to parent those children in safe communities. As a first-year Yale student, she joined the undergraduate advocacy group Reproductive Justice Action League at Yale (RALY), which connected her with others on campus and throughout Connecticut. She eventually became RALYs co-president.

Read more about Veena Muraleetharan

Christina Pao 20 B.A./M.A. was committed to public service before the pandemic hit. By making inequalities more visible, she said, it has stoked her ambition to make the world a fairer place.

Pao, who is from Portland, Oregon, has spent her undergraduate years at Yale working to better understand how research specifically in the areas of migration and gender can drive evidence-based policy and mend inequalities, such as housing disparities and unequal worker protections. She recently completed a thesis on the gender politics of refugee integration in Germany, and will graduate with a B.A. in classics and a B.A./M.A. in political science.

Read more aboutChristina Pao

Elizabeth Ruddys bright college years have been filled with pirouettes, particles, and possibilities.

Ruddy, a graduating senior in Berkeley College, came to Yale from Needham, Massachusetts, with a determination to be open to new pursuits. Shed spent a fair amount of her childhood devoted to ballet; what else would she explore at Yale?

Plenty, as it happened.

Read more about Liz Ruddy

Hannah Steffke 20 B.S. was still new at Yale when she took organic chemistry. Something clicked.

Many chemistry courses later, Steffke, who would major in the subject, came to appreciate how chemistry can be used to solve global challenges. Chemistry allows us to look at some of the worlds biggest scientific challenges like climate change, cancer, and COVID-19 on their smallest level, Steffke said. Shes used chemistry at Yale to better understand everything from water purification, to antibiotic resistance and drug development.

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David Graves to Head New Research at PPPL for Plasma Applications in Industry and Quantum Information Science – Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing…

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Graves, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1986, is an expert in plasma applications in semiconductor manufacturing. He will become the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratorys (PPPL) first associate laboratory director for Low-Temperature Plasma Surface Interactions, effective June 1. He will likely begin his new position from his home in Lafayette, California, in the East Bay region of San Francisco.

He will lead a collaborative research effort to not only understand and measure how plasma is used in the manufacture of computer chips, but also to explore how plasma could be used to help fabricate powerful quantum computing devices over the next decade.

This is the apex of our thrust into becoming a multipurpose lab, said Steve Cowley, PPPL director, who recruited Graves. Working with Princeton University, and with industry and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), we are going to make a big push to do research that will help us understand how you can manufacture at the scale of a nanometer. A nanometer, one-billionth of a meter, is about ten thousand times less than the width of a human hair.

The new initiative will draw on PPPLs expertise in low temperature plasmas, diagnostics, and modeling. At the same time, it will work closely with plasma semiconductor equipment industries and will collaborate with Princeton University experts in various departments, including chemical and biological engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, and physics. In particular, collaborations with PRISM (the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials) are planned, Cowley said. I want to see us more tightly bound to the University in some areas because that way we get cross-fertilization, he said.

Graves will also have an appointment as professor in the Princeton University Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, starting July 1. He is retiring from his position at Berkeley at the end of this semester. He is currently writing a book (Plasma Biology) on plasma applications in biology and medicine. He said he changed his retirement plans to take the position at PPPL and Princeton University. This seemed like a great opportunity, Graves said. Theres a lot we can do at a national laboratory where theres bigger scale, world-class colleagues, powerful computers and other world-class facilities.

Exciting new direction for the Lab

Graves is already working with Jon Menard, PPPL deputy director for research, on the strategic plan for the new research initiative over the next five years. Its a really exciting new direction for the Lab that will build upon our unique expertise in diagnosing and simulating low-temperature plasmas, Menard said. It also brings us much closer to the university and industry, which is great for everyone.

The staff will grow over the next five years and PPPL is recruiting for an expert in nano-fabrication and quantum devices. The first planned research would use converted PPPL laboratory space fitted with equipment provided by industry. Subsequent work would use laboratory space at PRISM on Princeton Universitys campus. In the longer term, researchers in the growing group would have brand new laboratory and office space as a central part the Princeton Plasma Innovation Center (PPIC), a new building planned at PPPL.

Physicists Yevgeny Raitses, principal investigator for the Princeton Collaborative Low Temperature Plasma Research Facility (PCRF) and head of the Laboratory for Plasma Nanosynthesis, and Igor Kavanovich, co-principal investigator of PCRF, are both internationally-known experts in low temperature plasmas who have forged recent partnerships between PPPL and various industry partners. The new initiative builds on their work, Cowley said.

A priority research area

Research aimed at developing quantum information science (QIS) is a priority for the DOE. Quantum computers could be very powerful in solving complex scientific problems, including simulating quantum behavior in material or chemical systems. QIS could also have applications in quantum communication, especially in encryption, and quantum sensing. It could potentially have an impact in areas such as national security. A key question is whether plasma-based fabrication tools commonly used today will play a role in fabricating quantum devices in the future, Menard said. There are huge implications in that area, Menard said. We want to be part of that.

Graves is an expert on applying molecular dynamics simulations to low temperature plasma-surface interactions. These simulations are used to understand how plasma-generated ions, atoms and molecules interact with various surfaces. He has extensive research experience in academia and industry in plasma-related semiconductor manufacturing. That expertise will be useful for understanding how to make very fine structures and circuits at the nanometer, sub-nanometer and even atom-by-atom level, Menard said. Davids going to bring a lot of modeling and fundamental understanding to that process. That, paired with our expertise and measurement capabilities, should make us unique in the U.S. in terms of what we can do in this area.

Graves was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, and moved a lot as a child because his father was in the U.S. Air Force. He lived in Homestead, Florida; near Kansas City, Missouri; and in North Bay Ontario; and finished high school near Phoenix, Arizona.

Graves received bachelors and masters degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona and went on to pursue a doctoral degree in the subject, graduating with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1986. He is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and the American Vacuum Society. He is the author or co-author of more than 280 peer-reviewed publications. During his long career at Berkeley, he has supervised 30 Ph.D. students and 26 post-doctoral students, many of whom are now in leadership positions in industry and academia.

A leader since the 1990s

Graves has been a leader in the use of plasma in the semiconductor industry since the 1990s. In 1996, he co-chaired a National Research Council (NRC) workshop and co-edited the NRCs Database Needs for Modeling and Simulation of Plasma Processing. In 2008, he performed a similar role for a DOE workshop on low-temperature plasmas applications resulting in the report Low Temperature Plasma Science Challenges for the Next Decade.

Graves is an admitted Francophile who speaks (near) fluent French and has spent long stretches of time in France as a researcher. He was named Matre de Recherche (master of research) at the cole Polytechnic in Palaiseau, France, in 2006. He was an invited researcher at the University of Perpignan in 2010 and received a chaire dexcellence from the Nanoscience Foundation in Grenoble, France, to study plasma-graphene interactions.

He has received numerous honors during his career. He was appointed the first Lam Research Distinguished Chair in Semiconductor Processing at Berkeley for 2011-2016. More recently, he received the Will Allis Prize in Ionized Gas from the American Physical Society in 2014 and the 2017 Nishizawa Award, associated with the Dry Process Symposium in Japan. In 2019, he was appointed foreign expert at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. He served as the first senior editor of IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Science.

Graves has been married for 35 years to Sue Graves, who recently retired from the City of Lafayette, where she worked in the school bus program. The couple has three adult children. Graves enjoys bicycling and yoga and the couple loves to travel. They also enjoy hiking, visiting museums, listening to jazz music, and going to the theater.

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David Graves to Head New Research at PPPL for Plasma Applications in Industry and Quantum Information Science - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing...

Quantum Computing Market Growth Trends, Key Players, Analysis, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts to 2026 – News Distinct

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1qb Information Technologies

Quantum Computing Market Competitive Analysis:

Consistent technological developments, surging industrialization, raw material affluence, increasing demand for the Quantum Computing , and rising disposable incomes, soaring product awareness are adding considerable revenue to the market. According to the report, the Quantum Computing market is expected to report a healthy CAGR from 2020 to 2026. Affairs such as product innovations, industrialization, increasing urbanization in the developing and developed countries are likely to boost market demand in the near future.

The report further sheds light on the current and forthcoming opportunities and challenges in the Quantum Computing market and provide succinct analysis that assists clients in improving their business gains. Potential market threats, risks, uncertainties, and obstacles are also highlighted in this report that helps market players to lower the possible losses to their Quantum Computing business. The report also employs various analytical models such as Porters Five Forces and SWOT analysis to evaluate several bargaining powers, threats, and opportunities in the market.

Quantum Computing Market Segments:

Moreover, the leading Quantum Computing manufacturers and companies are illuminated in the report with extensive market intelligence. The report enfolds detailed and precise assessments of companies based on their financial operations, revenue, market size, share, annual growth rates, production cost, sales volume, gross margins, and CAGR. Their manufacturing details are also enlightened in the report, which comprises analysis of their production processes, volume, product specifications, raw material sourcing, key vendors, clients, distribution networks, organizational structure, and global presence.

The report also underscores their strategics planning including mergers, acquisitions, ventures, partnerships, product launches, and brand developments. Additionally, the report renders the exhaustive analysis of crucial market segments, which includes Quantum Computing types, applications, and regions. The segmentation sections cover analytical and forecast details of each segment based on their profitability, global demand, current revue, and development prospects. The report further scrutinizes diverse regions including North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and South America. The report eventually helps clients in driving their Quantum Computing business wisely and building superior strategies for their Quantum Computing businesses.

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Table of Content

1 Introduction of Quantum Computing Market

1.1 Overview of the Market1.2 Scope of Report1.3 Assumptions

2 Executive Summary

3 Research Methodology

3.1 Data Mining3.2 Validation3.3 Primary Interviews3.4 List of Data Sources

4 Quantum Computing Market Outlook

4.1 Overview4.2 Market Dynamics4.2.1 Drivers4.2.2 Restraints4.2.3 Opportunities4.3 Porters Five Force Model4.4 Value Chain Analysis

5 Quantum Computing Market, By Deployment Model

5.1 Overview

6 Quantum Computing Market, By Solution

6.1 Overview

7 Quantum Computing Market, By Vertical

7.1 Overview

8 Quantum Computing Market, By Geography

8.1 Overview8.2 North America8.2.1 U.S.8.2.2 Canada8.2.3 Mexico8.3 Europe8.3.1 Germany8.3.2 U.K.8.3.3 France8.3.4 Rest of Europe8.4 Asia Pacific8.4.1 China8.4.2 Japan8.4.3 India8.4.4 Rest of Asia Pacific8.5 Rest of the World8.5.1 Latin America8.5.2 Middle East

9 Quantum Computing Market Competitive Landscape

9.1 Overview9.2 Company Market Ranking9.3 Key Development Strategies

10 Company Profiles

10.1.1 Overview10.1.2 Financial Performance10.1.3 Product Outlook10.1.4 Key Developments

11 Appendix

11.1 Related Research

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Quantum Computing Market Growth Trends, Key Players, Analysis, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts to 2026 - News Distinct

Local animal advocacy group needs votes to win $10K in funding – Huntington Herald Dispatch

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HUNTINGTON One By One Animal Advocates, a small local organization that works to find homes for animals in the community and reduce euthanasia rates at area shelters, has been nominated to win $10,000 from Freshpets Fresh Start program, but it needs votes to get it across the finish line.

The Fresh Start program, which was started in 2018 to provide support for overlooked cats and dogs that are often deemed unadoptable, was moved from September to April to meet the growing financial needs of shelters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fresh Start has awarded more than $100,000 in contributions in the past two years, according to a news release.

This year, Fresh Start will award five $10,000 grants to shelters across five regions in the U.S., and will recognize two runner-up organizations in each region with $2,000 each.

Ashley Morrison, foster coordinator for One By One, said she found out about the contest through social media.

I have been with One By One Animal Advocates for a little over eight years, she said in an email to The Herald-Dispatch. We serve the entire Tri-State area, pulling from all local shelters, also taking in owner surrenders, medical cases and strays. We provide vetting and match them with our reputable rescue partners. Last year alone, we sent out 4,500 homeless animals out of the Tri-State area to their forever homes.

One By One, based in Huntington, works toward its goal by finding reputable rescues that can accept local animals. It also, through donations, has conducted local TNR (trap, neuter and return) efforts to vet and sterilize feral cat colonies in the region. In addition to reducing future feral cat populations, organizers say TNR helps to both prevent the spread of diseases like feline AIDS and feline leukemia, which also benefits domestic cats, and it makes the communities the cats live in better.

With COVID-19, like many places, our normal annual fundraisers have been canceled or postponed indefinitely, which is why winning this contest will mean so much more, Morrison said. The funds will be used to cover our medical expenses, vaccinations, pull fees from shelters, transportation costs and also toward our goal of having our own transport van.

The group currently rents vans several times a week to complete its animal transports.

Voting is open to the public now through Sunday, May 17, and users can vote once per day. Winners will be announced on National Dog Rescue Day, which is Wednesday, May 20.

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Local animal advocacy group needs votes to win $10K in funding - Huntington Herald Dispatch

Board to decide on taking over animal control from sheriff – Morganton News Herald

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Burke County commissioners are expected to decide next week on whether to create three new animal control positions after Sheriff Steve Whisenant earlier told officials he wants out of animal control.

A decision on the positions is expected to come the same day County Manager Bryan Steen unveils his recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The county animal shelter operation moved out from under Whisenants supervision in August. It is now under Steens supervision. But then in January, Whisenant told county officials he also wanted out of animal enforcement, which remained under his supervision.

Steen told commissioners during their pre-agenda meeting last week that Whisenant has, on multiple occasions, gone on and on and on about wanting out of animal control.

Steen said the three new positions would cost the county less than the four sworn officer positions that are currently assigned to do animal control. Whether Whisenant will be able to keep any of those four positions in the sheriffs office is not known at this point. Steen said he is evaluating that and will present his recommended budget Tuesday.

Commissioner Chair Johnnie Carswell said Whisenant has been quite adamant about wanting out of enforcement of animal control. As county commissioners, they have had more complaints about Whisenants animal control officers and he feels like the county will get fewer complaints with new animal control staff.

Carswell addressed the current animal control staff during the pre-agenda meeting, saying Whisenant has six or seven vacant positions at the sheriffs office. He said if Whisenant wants to move those officers into those vacant positions, more power to him, because they are sworn officers.

The time is here for us to take charge of this animal shelter, which we already have now, it looks like its time to take our animal control, which this sheriff is not going to do because he said he doesnt want it, Carswell said during the meeting.

Vice Chair Scott Mulwee said if the county is going to get complaints about animal control he at least wants the ability to do something about the complaints and how its run on a day to day basis. The positions, if created, will be under the supervision of the county manager.

Rhonda Lee, director of human resources for the county, said the salary range for the Animal Services Enforcement Supervisor position is between a minimum of $38,970 and a maximum of $60,403.

The salary range for the Animal Services Enforcement Officer positions is between a minimum of $33,661 and a maximum of $52,188, Lee said.

The positions would be one Animal Services enforcement supervisor and two Animal Services enforcement officers, according to information from the county.

The Animal Services enforcement supervisor position requirements include a high school diploma and at least four years experience in the animal services field, including one year of supervisory experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

The position also requires the person be certified to give rabies vaccinations, and be certified in euthanasia. In addition, the position requires completing of courses related of basic animal control functions or an equivalent combination of education and experience, according to county information.

The requirements for the two Animal Services enforcement officers positions include a high school diploma and at least one year experience in the animal services field or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Other requirements include certification as a rabies vaccinator, or become certified within six months of employment, and certification in euthanasia, or become certified within six months of employment. In addition, the positions require completing courses in basic animal control functions, or an equivalent combination of education and experience, according to the county.

If commissioners approve creating the positions, the positions will be in the budget for next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Commissioners will hold budget meetings before having a public hearing and adopting a budget. The public hearing is expected to be held on June 16.

Because of precautions due to COVID-19, commissioners have been holding meetings electronically. Videos of the meetings are posted to the countys YouTube channel at Burke County NC.

For electronic meeting credentials (Zoom), contact Kay Draughn, clerk to the board of commissioners, at 828-764-9354 or by email at kay.draughn@burkenc.org by 4 p.m. Tuesday. Residents wanting to submit written comments for the informal public comments portion of the meeting can email Draughn or fax her at 828-764-9352, hand deliver to Burke County Governmental Offices, 200 Avery Ave., 2nd floor, Morganton, or send by US mail to Burke County Governmental Offices, Attn: Kay Draughn, P.O. Box 219, Morganton, NC 28680.

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Board to decide on taking over animal control from sheriff - Morganton News Herald

UPDATE 1-Brazil’s primary deficit this year could top 9% of GDP, says Treasury Secretary – Reuters

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(Adds quotes, details)

By Marcela Ayres

BRASILIA, May 14 (Reuters) - Brazils government could post a record primary budget deficit of more than 9% of gross domestic product this year on plunging revenues and increased emergency spending due to the coronavirus crisis, Treasury Secretary Mansueto Almeida said on Thursday.

That would be around 700 billion reais ($117 billion), and even greater than recent estimates from officials, including Almeida, of around 600 billion reais.

Speaking at a virtual public hearing in Congress broadcast online, Almeida said he was not worried about the deficit this year or the size of national debt, which could exceed 90% of GDP, because the emergency measures need to be implemented.

Around half of Brazils hefty debt load can be financed by record low nominal interest rates of 3% and real rates, after inflation is taken into account, of around zero, he said.

The trajectory of Brazils debt matters more than its size, he said.

It is very important that investors are sure that the country will, over time, gradually be able to repay its debt, and control the growth of its debt in relation to the size of the economy, Almeida said.

This is why a debt load of 90% of GDP becomes a concern when the economy is only growing around 1% a year, as Brazil has done for the past three years, he said. This year is likely to be Brazils biggest annual economic crash since records began in 1900.

That is why it is so important to grow, Almeida said.

He also said the Treasury is currently selling around 10 billion reais of debt a week, which will have to rise sharply as the countrys borrowing requirements rise. The government is more likely to issue shorter-dated debt because longer-term interest rates are steepening quite a bit, he said.

But even if benchmark interest rates fell to zero, the Treasury could not borrow at 0% because investors would still demand a risk premium, he said.

Meanwhile, the government will not meet its fiscal golden rule of not raising debt to pay for current expenses such as public sector salaries and pensions until 2023, and so that will have to be modified somehow, he added. (Reporting by Marcela Ayres Writing by Jamie McGeever Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Chris Reese)

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UPDATE 1-Brazil's primary deficit this year could top 9% of GDP, says Treasury Secretary - Reuters

The 1913 widening of St. Paul’s Robert Street gave the city room to grow – Minneapolis Star Tribune

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The great Chicago architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham once famously said, Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir mens blood.

Burnham offered his advice to think big around 1910, and it appears civic and business leaders in St. Paul were listening. Within three years, St. Paul would embark upon one of the most ambitious projects in the citys history by widening a milelong stretch of a key downtown thoroughfare Robert Street.

In the early 1900s, Robert was downtown St. Pauls most congested street. Lined with department stores, hotels and office buildings and home to a busy streetcar line, it suffered from a seemingly intractable problem its narrowness.

Only 55 feet wide, counting sidewalks, it was the tightest of the citys main downtown streets. Even so, Robert wasnt especially narrow by St. Paul standards. Most other downtown streets in St. Paul had been platted at 60 feet wide (compared with 80 in Minneapolis), but the high volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic made it a choke point that threatened downtowns continued growth and development.

By 1910 the idea of widening the street began to gain traction, although it promised to be a monumental and costly undertaking. That year, a St. Paul civic group commissioned John Nolen and Arthur Comer to prepare a plan for improving the downtown business district. Many other American cities were rolling out grandiose plans at the time under the banner of the so-called City Beautiful movement, which had been inspired by the gleaming white Classical architecture of the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair (planned under Burnhams leadership).

Nolen and Comers plan, unveiled in 1911, called for widening Robert (as well as Wabasha and 7th streets), among many other recommendations. Most of these ideas disappeared into the giant circular wastebasket of civic inertia, but the proposed Robert Street project, against all odds, moved ahead.

The downtown business community embraced the project. The big businesses along Robert led by the Golden Rule, Emporium and Mannheimer Brothers department stores not only supported the project but also agreed to an assessment plan, along with other building owners, to pay for the work.

The final plan called for widening Robert to 75 feet from the bridge at the Mississippi River to a point near the State Capitol about 12 blocks in all. The biggest challenge was the stretch between the bridge and 8th Street, where an almost solid wall of commercial buildings, some of them very large, lined Robert. How could an extra 20 feet of roadway be carved out from such a heavily built-up part of downtown?

Several schemes were considered. One suggestion was to insert ground-floor sidewalk arcades into buildings on both sides of the street, thereby gaining added roadway. But this was found to be too costly. Another possibility was to cut 10 feet from the fronts of buildings on both sides of the street. This, too, was ruled out because so many large structures occupied the east side of Robert, including the 16-story Pioneer Building at 4th Street and the giant old Ryan Hotel at 6th.

In the end, the only plan that proved feasible was to create 20 feet of additional space along the west side of Robert. This, however, was no small feat. More than 30 buildings, some as tall as six stories and many dating to the 1880s or earlier, stood along the west side of the street between the river and 8th, and all of them had to be modified, either by lopping off their front 20 feet or tearing them down in order to accommodate the widened roadway.

Amazingly, the rebuilding was accomplished within the span of two years, between 1913 and 1915. Twenty or more buildings were truncated as part of the project. The two largest were the five-story Mannheimer department store, built in 1893, and the six-story Chamber of Commerce Building, a busy Victorian pile from 1886.

The new Mannheimer Brothers facade on Robert turned out to be much like the old one, and it takes a sharp eye to spot the differences between the before-and-after looks of the building.

The Chamber of Commerces makeover was more extreme. Its original facade on Robert featured pointed-arch windows and plenty of ornament. In its new guise, the building offered a far more straightforward look with Chicago-style windows (a three-part arrangement consisting of a broad, fixed central pane flanked by smaller double-hungs).

Many of the other refronted buildings along Robert took on a similar look, with Chicago-style windows and a light applique of the sort of classically derived ornament popular at the time.

There also were teardowns. The National German American Bank at 4th and Robert was razed and replaced in 1915 by a 16-story building for the Merchants National Bank (now part of the First National Bank Building complex). Meanwhile, the Golden Rule department store demolished its buildings at 7th and Robert and constructed a new store (now used as offices and known as the Golden Rule Building). Another big project, the six-story Bremer Arcade, was built just across 7th from the Golden Rule in 1916.

Today, aside from the Golden Rule and Merchants Bank buildings, nothing but Robert Street itself remains from the great makeover. Virtually all of the refronted buildings were razed by the 1980s. The Bremer Arcade hung on until it fell to the wreckers in 1998.

A street-widening project of such scale would be all but impossible today in either St. Paul or Minneapolis, given that downtown buildings tend to be much larger than they were a century ago. And, of course, the cost would be outlandish.

By contrast, the 1913-15 project was completed for around $1 million (not counting new buildings). That expenditure would translate into $50 million or more in todays dollars. But for all the enhancements it allowed, it seems like quite a bargain.

Larry Millett is an architecture critic and author. He can be reached at larrymillett.com.

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The 1913 widening of St. Paul's Robert Street gave the city room to grow - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Will the real mothers stand up? – Laurinburg Exchange

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On Sunday, we celebrated the most precious holiday of the year: Mothers Day. A salute to all mothers. For there is no other holiday that tugs at the heart of man than that day.

Apart from Christmas and Resurrection Sunday, no other holiday touches the heart of mankind like Mothers Day. All across the country, affections of love were poured out in sweet sentiments in a tangible way to mothers. Cards, flowers, money, dinners and gifts bombarded them as children showered their mothers with affection on this holiday.

It was a time to appreciate the greatest gift to mankind that God gave to us apart from Jesus Christ. Mothers are the heart of our society and mankind in general. They are the center, the heartbeat of the home. Without mothers, there are no homes.

The world indeed would be a lonely and empty place without the mother; every successful man or woman that have achieved greatness in politics, sports, theater and even religion will say that they would not be what they are without their mother; those who paid tribute to your mother did the right thing; love them, appreciate them while you have them; in other words give them their flowers while they can smell them.

I hope that you gave them a phone call and wished them a Happy Mothers Day. I hope that you did not let another Mothers Day pass without reaching out to her while she could hear it, feel it;.

But everyday is Mothers Day, and there is not enough money and flowers in the world to pay you for what you have done for us. Can we imagine what the world would be like without them; and then ask those of us whose mother is no longer with us, those who had to go to the graveyard and drop off flowers at the gravesite; those of us who wish that we could reach out to them; so we honor the mothers of the past.

For some, it was an emotional day. As memory moments flooded our thoughts and hearts of that one personality who will influence us for the rest of their lives; all of us have our mothers moment; I had my mother moment as I reflected last week on my wonderful mother, who after we lost our father at a young age, raised us by herself.

Mothers, they made us go to Sunday School; and some taught us the golden rule. They put up with us when nobody else would; sacrificed, just so that we could have and achieve. They are the only ones that can fuss at us and love us at the same time but I want to make an appeal today to all children first, I want to say to all children, that this is no time to be estranged from your mother; in your opinion she may not have been or is the best mother; but she is the only one that you have.

There comes a time when we have to let bygones be bygones; they brought you into the world; and everything else that is wrong after that is in the Lords hand; cant change the past; but you can change the future; reach out on this day of days to your mother.

And then mothers, I call you to see the power and influence that you have; mothers shapes nations, the community and most importantly the home; they have the opportunity to influence their daughters; to show them the beauty of being a woman, and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made; to teach their children; mold them and to model after Hannah in 1 Sam. Chapters 1 and 2; a good model for any mother; she dedicated her son to the Lord; and then she was dedicated herself; for how can a mother dedicate their children to God, if they are not dedicated to God themselves!

Mothers need to be godly, and exert that influence in their homes; it creates an atmosphere that can turn the children to God early; mothers are teachers, they are to teach; teach their daughters that they are not a punching bag for men; teach them that they are somebody; see mothers, there is more to being a mother than just birthing a child.

Raising the child is lifetime process; she is to be an example to the children; she need to be her childrens parents instead of just being their friend! a mother, is not defined by what she look like; her educational prowess; a real mother is not defined by what kind of clothes she wears or what kind of home she lives in; a real mother is not known by her profession; but a real mother is known by the sacrifices and love that she gives her children; and the length that she is willing to go for her children.

See, anybody can give birth; 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds can have children; but that dont make them real mothers. But motherhood is a commitment and a lifetime investment; with teenage pregnancy going up; fatherless children being raised; child abuse on the rise, will the REAL mother please stand up!

Mothers, teach your children; go to the schools and check on your children; mothers, your children are a gift; they are yours; you carried them; gave birth to them; now give them your heart; give them your love; and then give them your time; mothers you are a gift from God; the greatest gift.

Having said that, will the REAL mothers PLEASE stand up!

The Rev. George Ellis is pastor at Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church.

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George Ellis Pastors Corner

https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/web1_RevGeorgeEllis-1.jpgGeorge Ellis Pastors Corner

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Will the real mothers stand up? - Laurinburg Exchange

COLUMN: Positive and negative freedoms | Opinion – Duncan Banner

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It is troubling to see that retail workers are being shot as a matter of principle by mentally ill vigilantes who are anxious to dine in or who dont want to order curbside while masked. In some cities, armed people demonstrate for their freedom to shop or something.

I dont get it. Thats why I cant explain it. Im from a family of sensible shoppers of whom the most ardent might plan their Black Friday Christmas shopping logistics in advance and set an early alarm. We dont try to force human nature, though.

Maybe its a guy thing a testosterone-fueled attribution bias in reaction to budget stress that evokes some primal male shopping behavior, in mayhem cohorts. Anarchy men who want to shop, "really" want to shop! I call them Tea Partiers, for lack of a more precise term. Theyre typically 40-something demonstrators for a personal freedom not to wear an antiviral mask. Theyre for freedom to shop. They want a debt-free future. But they dont want to pay the cost for underinvesting in pandemic armor a disaster of their own chintzy making. These same advocates for a debt-free future irrationally oppose a $15 Oklahoma minimum wage. When your state is in a budget shortfall, why not churn more income tax dollars into state coffers like nearly half of the U.S. did this year, by increasing the workers minimum wage?

Philosopher Isaiah Berlin described positive liberty as "freedom to" and negative liberty as "freedom from" something. It was all a continuum. And the question being pondered in the hearts of Americans today is, Where is the balancing point? We want to be free to move about the nation, but to do so in a way that doesnt subject us to sloppy DNA from someones over-imagined rights. Vulnerable Americans over age 50 want to shop safely, without being elbowed by paranoid gun-toters who have a feeling and no demonstrable reality that their abstract rights are impinged.

Since the first cave families socialized, there has been a bright line between the freedom to cough and the right not to be coughed upon. It is implicit in the pact under which we submit to governance. We give up the right to go around naked and pee down our legs in trade for the other fellow's giving up his right to go naked and pee down his leg. Its a social compact. The Holy Bible says it like this: "Do unto others that which you would have them do unto you." The Greeks had the golden rule. The Tamils ponder, "Why does one hurt others, knowing what it is to be hurt? Likewise, the Talmud, Hillel, Leviticus. Every ethical religion has a reciprocity maxim. If there is a consensus among anarchists, it is that they ascribe to cooperation and reciprocity.

The Ninth Amendment has a beautiful little regift to the American people: The Saving Clause saves unenumerated rights to the people, as freedoms. That means the Constitution is not all-invasive and we can exercise independent free will about some things. The Ninth Amendment only saves the freedoms of careful and polite citizens of an orderly society. If the Constitution doesnt allocate Freedom from Masks and Freedom to Protect Others Against Pathogens"; individuals decide.

Next up, the 10th Amendment balances powers between federalist supremacy especially in commerce, and state health, safety and welfare. States are charged with using affirmative enumerated police powers to protect health and safety of vulnerable minorities from encroachment by overreaching protesters. As for protesters using the First and Ninth Amendments against constitutionally-mandated policy imperatives, Im placing my bets. Constitution: 1; Protesters: 0.

Kathy Tibbits is a Cherokee citizen, attorney, and artist living at Lake Tenkiller.

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COLUMN: Positive and negative freedoms | Opinion - Duncan Banner

The Best and Worst of Covid Stress – Thrive Global

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If there was ever a time when it matters how other people think and behave, it is now! All cultures have a version of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Individually we have preferences for how we would like people to act. We appreciate relationships with fun, thoughtful, intelligent, compassionate people. Kindness researchers like Dr Jamil Zaki tell us that cooperation is what allowed relatively weak and slow humans to thrive as a species.

The coronavirus pandemic is highlighting the best and worst of human nature. Everyone is struggling with fear and grief. Our nervous systems are alarmed and many of our usual supports and comforts are unavailable.

People are polarized into opposing camps. Some listen to scientists and medical doctors and are trying to protect ourselves through following expert advice as they discover more about the virus and how it spreads. Others believe Covid-19 is a hoax and are contemptuous of the other side for their beliefs, taking the restrictions as a personal affront to their freedom. Others interpret that disregard as a personal threat to their health. Emotions are running high.

We are in the midst of a huge social experiment as some countries, states and cities are following strict stay-at-home protocols and a cautious approach to re-opening, while others are pushing to get the economy moving again. Within two weeks, we will be able to see early results of these decisions based on rates of infection.

As individuals, we are powerless to control what governments decide and how people in our communities behave. What we can always work with is our reactions. As restrictions are easing and we move out of our homes, we will find ourselves getting activated or triggered by other people. If we wear a mask, we may find ourselves being shamed for over-reacting. If we dont believe wearing a mask will help, we may find ourselves being judged as reckless.

Many people were already experiencing social anxiety and isolation, and now the stakes are literally life and death. We could die if another person passes the virus on to us. We may be feeling increased loneliness through social distancing. Others are struggling with the people they live, perhaps working from home while caring for children. We are short of sleep and less resilient than usual.

When things are hard, we often move more into black and white thinking. Try this inquiry to see your hot spots and to practice letting things be as they are. No shame. No right or wrong answer. Just inquiry with kindness.

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The Best and Worst of Covid Stress - Thrive Global

From alarm calls to cricket on the lawn, keeping children fit in lockdown is a fine art – Telegraph.co.uk

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As a family we have now settled into the daily rhythms of home schooling. It is like the mid-point of a horserace, everyone is going well, no one is off the bridle and it is difficult to call the winner.

So now it is the fitness of my children to which I have turned my attention. That, I am discovering, has to be tailored to age and character.

One forgets what a great place school is for staying fit without realising it; the football game in break, running to lunch, using the climbing frame, walking between classes and games of tag quite apart from afternoons full of organised games. That is what they are missing.

I do not personally count normal horse riding as exercise any more than I would consider sitting on an arm chair a workout but my golden rule about each child having their own pony is that they must ride them.

That, of course, is not always possible on schooldays, particularly in winter. But it was their collective idea rather than the sergeant-major in me that an early morning ride would be a good way to set them up mentally for school so we are on board by 7.00 and, generally, it works.

But the nine-year-old fell off the other day and, tearfully, said she had banged her head so, to make it like the proper races, we concocted an impromptu concussion test.

What day of the week is it (after six weeks of lockdown even I had to think twice about the answer)? Monday. Correct. How many chicks did the bantam (very much her department) have? Four. Correct.

Am I holding up my left hand or my right hand? Left. Wrong. But rather than concussion, according to her siblings, it turns out left and right is not one of her strong points.

I have no worries about the middle ones fitness. She wants to be a jockey and has built her own gym in a disused bullpen in an old farmyard and would give most apprentices a run for their money on a bleep test.

It is, however, my 15-year-old son in the slough of his teenage years (conversation is reduced to a series of half-syllable grunts, sleeps for England, picks at delicious dinner before gorging on three rounds of toast, says lifes so unfair when he is summoned off Fortnite) who gives me most cause for concern.

With one of the longer run-ups in Oxfordshire schoolboy cricket every over not bowled this summer is roughly 150 m not run. At roughly 25 overs a week, chuck in a few quick singles, that is nearly four kilometres he would normally have, to quote the youngest, sprant.

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From alarm calls to cricket on the lawn, keeping children fit in lockdown is a fine art - Telegraph.co.uk

Gaylan Hendricks, Chief Executive Officer, Will be a Keynote Speaker at 8% Nation This Summer – PR.com

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Gaylan Hendricks will be a Keynote Speaker at 8% nation. Senior Security Benefits, Inc. is so excited for insurance agents and other sales people all around the country to hear CEO, Gaylan Hendricks' story which will inspire so many. Not only women will be inspired by her story but men are the first to recommend and support her. The attendees will see how she persevered during one of the hardest times of her career and "still" came out on top.

At the 8% Nation Insurance Wealth Conference being held this summer, tentatively scheduled for July 24-25, Gaylan will be a keynote speaker and will share stories of what has been instrumental to the success of her company. Senior Security Benefits, Inc. has been on top from time to time, but in 2013 they became one of the largest FMO's in the country when they made a change that soon doubled, tripled, and quadrupled their sales records.

With 35 years of experience in the health insurance business, Gaylan has weathered many major changes in the industry from Medicare standardization to the emergence of the Do Not Call list and Obamacare/ACA changes to tele-health. Each time the industry has undergone a change, she learned to make lemons into lemonade. She quickly adapted and developed strategies to maximize the opportunities.

Attendees of 8% Nation Insurance Wealth Conference will hear Gaylans powerful story of overcoming obstacles and rising to success. Despite negative situations, she became stronger and gained confidence because of her faith in God and her supporters. In difficult times, she clung to her belief that the truth would be revealed, and it always does. God always shows up when you need Him and in a big way! she says. Instead of being distracted by her adversaries, she focuses on the Golden Rule and her supporters who provide encouragement. As a motivational speaker, she shares her life experiences and knowledge to inspire others.

Gaylan often declares, If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! The insurance business is challenging, but Gaylan will equip and motivate business leaders to cling to faith, hold onto joy, adapt to change, surround themselves with supporters, and be primed for success. She believes everyone has the potential to be in the 8%.

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Gaylan Hendricks, Chief Executive Officer, Will be a Keynote Speaker at 8% Nation This Summer - PR.com

Besao’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices On Natural Resource Management: The Batangan OpEd – Eurasia Review

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The people of Besao, Mountain Province, Philippines have a unique but sustainable indigenous natural resource management system.

According to Matthew Tauli, author of the Batangan: An Indigenous Knowledge System and Practice (IKSP) on Pine Forest Management of the Kankanaeys of Besao the IKSP evolved from the dapays or Council of Elder that ruled the communities.

The dap-ay was instrumental in maintaining peace, unity and cooperation among the people of the village (ili) and the villagers (umili) and with other tribes. Every household is affiliated with a dap-ay near his abode and dap-ay membership (dumap-ays) signified the households oneness with the ili.

The dumap-ays are responsible for sustaining the activities of their respective dap-ays and for providing assistance to members in times of need, from birth to death.

These IKSP on the different ecosystems of Besao have been developed over generations and become a custom and tradition of the umili. The development of these IKSP are personified in the Besaos values of inayan and lawa which forbids any act that causes harm or injury to anyone or anything, living or non-living, as they believe that everything is interconnected.

They believe in a Supreme Being (Kabunyan) and of spirits (pinading) that dwell in the forest, trees, rivers, stones, and also the spirits of their ancestors that are still around them and thus, must be respected and appeased for them to bring good luck to the living. These spirits are now part of nature and they must be called upon for guidance and consent in all the things to be done. The inayan or lawa is in ones conscience to judge the rightness and wrongness to ones plan of action and in doing such, a form of punishment or karma will beset the wrongdoer.

For example, it is not right to take advantage of another persons ignorance or weakness to enrich oneself by exploiting it, as an untoward incident will beset the exploiter. It is actually a command of dont but on a deeper level, it speaks of respect, justice, unity, ethics, sharing and helping other persons or things. Inayan or lawa is the local version of the Golden Rule of: Dont do to others what you dont want others do to you.

In IKSPs, inayan or lawa teaches a discipline or self-restraint in the use of the natural resources of the dumap-ays. It discourages destructive and wasteful practice or ayyew, another Kankanaey value which can be roughly translated as wasteful or uneconomical.

An example is on trees being cut but not yet mature, the Kankanaey will say, inayan, lawa, or ayyew ty bebe py laeng, tay no maseken sa, ad-ado kausarana (Dont cut the tree, it is still not mature, it will have more usage if it will grow bigger). Or of food being wasted, they will say, inayan, lawa or ayyew, kanem ty men-aga py nan makan (Dont waste it, eat it, or else the food will cry). And for each example, if one still does it against the advice, an unfortunate event or something bad will happen to him/her or if it is foretold something good will happen to him/her, this will not come about.

Thus, IKSPs on the different ecosystem of the iBesao Kankanaeys has been developed over time, from the village (ili), ricefields (payeo), swidden farms (uma/um-a), pastureland (pastolan), river systems (ginawang), forests (pagpag) and pine forest (batangan), and these has been practiced since time immemorial, fine-tuned along the way, and is a code of conduct in each and every facet of the iBesao existence.

The people of Besao was able to develop a very distinctive and sophisticated resource management system that is rooted in their deep awareness of their forefathers efforts and the respect and profound devotion to what is spiritually and morally just in their environs. In the past (circa: 1800s up to the 1920s) mountains near villages and its surroundings areas are bare of pine trees.

Natural pine forests are only found in small patches and far from villages such as in Mounts Buasao and Sisipitan. This has caused great difficulties for the elders whose task is to obtain fuelwood for cooking and warmth for the cold wilderness. They have to traverse great distances to be able to gather sufficient supply of fuelwood, spending a night or two in the mountains, gathering and carrying back their heavy load which they will again perform after a week or two depending on how much load they were able to carry back to the village. The male youths will be accompanying their elders carrying loads, depending on how strong they are. This became more difficult when they decided to build bigger and sturdier houses out of pine lumbers, traversing the same route but with more loads and more frequency.

These experiences eventually prompted the villagers they decided to plant pine trees in their respective swidden farms, on cogonal lands and on any open lands where there are no claimants. Wildlings and seeds are obtained from the natural pine forest and planted in these areas. To secure the trees from destructions caused by wild pigs and astray carabaos and cows, barriers were made such as planting of live fences, digging of ditches, and construction ripraps. By the World War II, pine trees have taken root on the mountains near villages.

This initiative also led to the formulation of policies and guidelines (P&G) or rules and regulation to manage and sustain the pine forest, implemented through their socio-political institutions (dap-ay). There might be some cases of non-participation of some villagers in this endeavor, but it became the elders responsibility to ensure everybodys participation, fine-tuning policies and guidelines which was acceptable to all.

As a result, they have instituted a self-reliant and sustainable management of this pine forest, an indigenous knowledge system and practice they called batangan.

The iBesao regards the pine forest as a source of wood, water and food for the villagers as a whole. It is the source of fuelwood as well as timber for houses, furniture, granaries and other buildings. At the same time, the forest is a source for water used in domestic and agricultural activities as well as food such as wild mushrooms. But for individual dumap-ays, primary services from the batangan are firewood used for rituals, marriages, deaths or any significant activity that requires falling a tree or two, and timberwoods for construction of house, granary or other constructions that requires sizeable pieces of lumber.

Payeo has been a village ever since documentations conducted by the Spaniards appeared, about the 1700s, when they first attempted to exploit gold in the mountains and Christianize the people. The Igorots, which means, people from the mountains in the Spanish language, have dwelled in these mountains rich in gold and other minerals since time immemorial. Payeo, Besao Catengan, Suquib and Agawa have been mentioned in these documents. It was only about the mid-1960s that Payeo was divided into Barangays Payeo, Padangaan and Kin-iway, which were part of its territories in the past.

At the same time, Besao Proper was divided into barangays Besao West, Besao East and Suquib and same with Agawa which was divided into, Lacmaan, Agawa, Gueday, Ambagiw and Tamboan (LAGAT). And together with barangays Bangitan, Catengan and Laylaya, they form the present 14 Barangays of Besao Municipality.

For the Batangan system of Payeo in particular, although similar with other Besao barangays, in the context of ownership, utilization, protection and management of the batangan, there are three types:

1) Batangan/Saguday/Komon di Umili this is communally-owned by a village, segregated by the elders from the wider batangan, managed, utilized and protected by the villagers as a whole and this include the natural forest. Any need that benefits the whole villagers (umili) is accessed komon di umili like if a school building for the village is to be constructed, it will be accessed here. A tree will be selected based on what purpose it will be used and this will be identified by an elder and concurred by other elders.

2) Batangan/Saguday di Dap-ay ownership, management, utilization and protection are by members of a dap-ay, the socio-cultural institution and structure where membership is composed by the cluster of households surrounding the structure. They claim ownership by virtue of planting an area as a dumap-ay. They can access lumber to construct and repair the dap-ay and it is also where they get firewood for making bonfire to keep warm during the cold weather or for cooking during rituals and festivities in the dap-ay. Initially there were 8 dap-ays in Payeo but as of now there are 6 as members of the two were assimilated by the remaining 6. These dap-ays that have a saguday in Mt. Mogao are Pap-ayangan, Anonang, Balaan, Tampogo, Bangbangoan and Bayongasan.

3) Batangan/Saguday di Pangapo ownership, management and utilization are descendants of one family either through affinity or consanguinity or a clan. Ownership is by virtue of planting pine trees and other permanent improvements or developments done in their uma/um-a by clan members like firebreaks either through ripraps, ditches or crops planted, which also serve to prevent animals from encroaching to the property, and planting of annual crops like coffee or other fruit trees.

A dumap-ay can access pine in the batangan: firstly, as a member of a clan, from the saguday di pangapo, secondly, as a member of a dap-ay, from the saguday di dap-ay and thirdly, as a villager, from the saguday di komon. But with such privilege, he/she also has the responsibility to adhere to the P&G as stipulated in the batangan system.

From the saguday or komon di umili, firewood and lumber needs will prioritize activities that benefits the village as a whole and same with the saguday di dap-ay, prioritizes activities for the particular dap-ay and dumap-ays and the saguday di pangapo for the benefit of the members of the clan/family. And within each saguday, individual members who will benefit will also be prioritized. But for deaths and marriages, firewood and lumber needs will be accessed first, from the saguday di pangapo where he/she is a member. But if firewood or lumber is not available or lacking in his/her saguday, then they look for it in the saguday di dap-ay where he/she belongs and if none or lacking in there, then from the saguday di umili.

For the saguday di pangapo, all the pangapo members have equal rights to extract timber. However, in most cases, the saguday does not contain enough trees to provide the timber requirements of its members. Thus, prioritization for services from the batangan are as follows: for deaths and marriages, firstly it will be accessed from their saguday and it follows as stated above. And for need of lumber for 1 housing materials which requires at least three full-sized pine tree, newly married couples who plan to build their house in the village are prioritized.

In saguday di pangapo, cutting trees from somebody elses saguday without the permission of the owner is illegal and socially unacceptable. And persons without pine lots can request free timber or buy lumber from the owner. The owner may borrow (and commit to return the favor) from other owners with mature trees while waiting for his trees to grow.

These forest resource management practices have been sustained for many generations and ensured the maintenance of the iPayeos forest cover. There is the prevailing practice of selective tree cutting (cutting mature trees or gnarled or stunted trees only), and the replanting of pine seedlings on the cleared area or simply allowing wildlings to regenerate naturally.

The mendepdep (putting off forest fires), especially if there are private properties like granaries, timber, and fruit trees or animal fences that may be destroyed by the fire are still practiced. The maintenance of the batangans is also based on the belief that many of these areas are sacred grounds, areas identified as dwelling place of gods or spirits and the site of the sacred tree or patpatayan.

But this indigenous sustainable forest management is however, seriously compromised by the lack of land tenure security. The Forestry Code of the Philippines or PD 705 which mandated that lands not classified as alienable and disposable are public lands and will categorize the iBesao and other Cordillera communities dwelling in mountainous terrains, virtually squatters in the lands they have occupied, utilized, and developed since time immemorial.

This has led to communities perceiving the government as insensitive and has discouraged some community members from sustaining their traditional forest resource management practices.

Certificates of tax declaration became the formal documentation of land ownership claims. But this is also taken advantaged by some community members who made tax declarations under their names over communal lands, even without introducing improvements in these areas, resulting in the privatization of communal forests and other communal resources.

This IKSP on environmental stewardship is also endangered by an influx of exploitative development. Besao and most of the Cordillera is covered by a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) application of mining corporations. During consultations in 1996, the iBesaos have expressed their opposition to this mining application because of the destruction mining operations would cause on their lives, environment, and culture.

Without land tenure security, the decision can proceed over their opposition. And the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) required of such projects by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) only comes in areas that are formally considered as Ancestral Domain, which is not granted yet to Besao.

It is vital that IKSPs must be well understood as it could inherently impede contextually-relevant social development and governance mechanisms as proposed by indigenous communities, like the batangan system of the iBesao, which must be taken up seriously by the government (DENR) as the management system of their forest. This also implies that policies and institutions that would involve indigenous people should adapt to their culture and traditions and not the other way around.

The Source, Matthew Tauli, is a member of the Batil-ang Peypeyan Clan, the indigenous Kankana-ey Igorot community .

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Besao's Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices On Natural Resource Management: The Batangan OpEd - Eurasia Review