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Science on the move

Husband and wife neuroscientists Yuh Nung Jan and Lily Jan have run their laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco, for more than three decades: time enough to see the geography of the science world change. When the Jans started hiring employees in the 1980s, they chose home born scientists. Nine of their first eleven employees were American.

But Yuh Nung and Lily who themselves arrived in the United States from Taiwan in the 1960s have increasingly drawn on talent from overseas. Today, researchers originally from China dominate the bench tops, with the lab hosting 16 Chinese scientists, 12 Americans, 2 Koreans and 1 researcher each from Canada, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and Germany.

The Jans' story is not unusual. "There is a progressively wider geographical variety of graduate students and postdocs in most leading universities," Yuh Nung says. During the 1970s, for example, non citizens claimed around one quarter of the doctorates awarded in the United States in physical sciences, engineering, mathematics and computer science; but by 2010, their share had risen to more than half, according to the US National Science Foundation. In life sciences, the foreign share has risen from just under 20% to 30%. The United Kingdom, Germany and Australia have seen similar trends.

By sifting through data, talking to experts and conducting our own survey of 2,300 readers around the world, Nature sought to identify underlying trends in scientists' movements, investigate what is driving them and explore how they may change. At stake is the shape of global science and the prospects for individual countries that hope to build up or preserve their research strength.

It is plausible although hard to prove that highly productive research systems such as those in the United States and the United Kingdom have benefited from their openness to foreign scientists. To the Jans (who together won this year's US$500,000 Gruber prize for their discoveries in molecular neurobiology), the advantages are obvious. They believe that foreign researchers enrich the lab culturally as well as scientifically. Being able to draw on a global talent pool may also help to make up for weaknesses in the US science education system.

But some countries worry that they are losing their top researchers. Of the world's most highly cited scientists from 1981 to 2003, one in eight were born in developing countries, but 80% of those had since moved to developed countries (mostly the United States), according to a 2010 study by Bruce Weinberg at Ohio State University in Columbus. India, for example, loses out, says Binod Khadria, an economist who studies international mobility at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "The best and van cleef and arpels fake necklace brightest are kept in other countries."

All this underscores that science, which has always been a global culture, is now a global marketplace, and one in which countries with well funded and dynamic research systems come out on top. "Knowledge generation and research is really a borderless enterprise," says Rajika Bhandari, who studies the mobility of international students at the Institute for International Education in New York. "Academics go where the funding is and where the facilities are."

Comings and goingsYet the global picture of these migrations is blurry. When tracking arrivals and departures, most countries lump scientists with other 'highly skilled migrants', and record keeping differs from country to country. "What's very frustrating is that there is no consistent tracking of people using the same methodology across countries," says Paula Stephan, who researches economics and science at Georgia State University in Atlanta. "We have lots of little studies on particular groups of scientists, but no world bank of data."

Talk of 'migration' and 'mobility' often confuses permanent long term relocations with the short term visits six month sabbaticals or fortnight long trips that allow scientists to build research networks without actually settling in another country. "There are so many kinds of mobilities, and people rarely specify this," says Grit Laudel, a sociologist at the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands.

Stephan is part of one attempt to cut through this confusion: the 'GlobSci' survey, to be published in Nature Biotechnology in December.

The numbers show big disparities from country to country, both in the proportion of scientists with foreign origins (see 'Foreign fractions' or interactive version) and in the proportion of researchers who work outside their countries of origin (see 'The global diaspora' or interactive version). The United States is indeed open: of the respondents working or studying there when the survey was done in early 2011, 38% were brought up overseas, and it is the number one destination for expatriate scientists from almost every nation. Proportionally, however, Switzerland, Canada and Australia all housed more foreign researchers than the United States, with Switzerland having the highest foreign share, at 57%. India had the lowest proportion of foreign scientists, followed by Italy and Japan, but also the largest diaspora, with 40% of its home born researchers working overseas. (The survey did not include China.) Japanese and US researchers were the least likely to be working abroad.

Career stage affects scientists' mobility. In the United States, for example, 61% of postdocs were brought up overseas but only 35% of assistant, associate or full professors.

Nature found similar patterns when it surveyed readers about their attitudes toward migration, and their own histories (click for full survey data). Those who had just obtained their PhDs were much more likely to be living outside their country of upbringing than were more senior scientists and they were also more open to an international move, presumably because their career paths were not settled and they were less likely to be tied down by relationships and families. The proportion of respondents who said they were "not interested" in international relocation rose from a mere 10% in those who gained their doctorates within the past two years to 40% in those who had done their PhD at least 16 years ago.

"One take away from a policy perspective is that if you are trying to bring people back who have studied overseas, then you should target the young because they are more likely to move," says Patrick Gaule, an economist who studies science and innovation at Charles University in Prague. He has tracked the movements of almost 2,000 senior level foreign chemists affiliated with US universities between 1993 and 2007. Only 9% will return home by the end of their professional career, he estimates, and those that do are seven times more likely to return between the ages of 35 and 45 than after 50.

Itchy feetWhat policy makers eager to attract foreign scientists or stem a loss of domestic talent most want to know is what entices scientists across borders.

In the GlobSci survey, migrants uniformly put the same two factors at the top: opportunities to improve their career prospects and outstanding research teams. The excellence of the foreign institution was also important, with quality of life and other personal reasons coming further down the list. For those who had migrated abroad and subsequently returned to their country of origin, however, personal and family reasons scored highest.

Many economists note that the richer a country becomes, the more researchers tend to flock to it. Gross domestic product and wage levels are convenient metrics, but it is unlikely that they alone are the lure: they almost certainly correlate with career opportunities and top research facilities, for example.

But wealth is not the whole picture: dynamic, flexible and competitive systems for funding and advancement are also crucial, notes Kieron Flanagan, who studies science and technology policy at the University of Manchester, UK. Japan and Italy, for example, are wealthy nations yet attract few foreign scientists because of their relatively rigid bureaucracy. "It's hard to get a job when you go there," Flanagan says, "and when you're in, it's hard to get rid of you."

A rigid system can also discourage native born researchers from emigrating, Laudel says, noting that in Germany and the Netherlands, young scientists are encouraged to go abroad, but swiftly return. "People tell me: 'I must go back to Germany, or I will never be able to get back into the system,'" she says. "If you return too late you don't fit the career structure any more."

Atsushi Sunami, an expert in science and technology policy at Tokyo's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, points to another reason for Japan's insularity: culture. "Often when we ask foreign researchers about their daily research activities, they say it's fine but it's hard to adjust to our society outside of the laboratory." In some respects, researchers considering an international move are like all migrants, weighing up factors that include wages and career prospects, but extend to quality of life, schooling for any children and career prospects for spouses, says Louise Ackers, who studies the movement of European scientists at the University of Liverpool, UK.

Governments can try to tip the scales through immigration policies and travel incentives. Europe, for example, has programmes to encourage travel within the multi country European Research Area; China has a 'One Thousand Talents Scheme' to recruit academics from abroad, as well as to persuade Chinese scientists to return. Recently, copy van cleef turquoise alhambra necklace says Bhandari, "China and South Korea have done a much better job of deliberately creating well structured incentives and opportunities for students to return back home, than, say India". And in the United States, both presidential candidates have said that they would like to expand the availability of visas for skilled immigrants.

Yet a dynamic, well funded science system seems to trump all other incentives. Even the visa crackdown after 9/11 did not dent science students' enthusiasm for migrating to the United States. "Despite all the hand wringing and the concern that numbers would plummet, statistically there was only a 2% drop in international student enrolment," says Bhandari. "By 2006 the numbers were rebounding."

The China questionUS science policy experts are asking how long the nation can retain its grasp on foreign talent. The country's largest contingent of foreign doctoral students in science comes from China, and research by Mike Finn, an economist at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education in Tennessee, shows that for now, most stay on. Studying a cohort of Chinese scientists who had received their PhDs in 2004, Finn found that five years later, 89% were still in the United States.

Higher salaries may be the biggest attraction. Robert Zeithammer, at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, has surveyed almost 300 Chinese science students studying for their doctorates in the United States, asking them for their reactions to hypothetical job offers from the two countries. "Chinese doctoral graduates currently tend to remain in the United States because of a large salary disparity between the two countries rather than because of an inherent preference for locating in the United States," he concludes.

But as China continues its economic rise and builds its science infrastructure, that may change. Data from China's Statistical Yearbook show a slight uptick in return rates of Chinese students from abroad over the past few years (although the data do not single out scientists), notes Cong Cao, a sociologist at the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK. But Finn says that there is no sign yet of any overall decline in stay rates in the United States. The proportion of foreigners who say that they have "plans to stay" after graduation has gone up, not down, over the past decade, he points out.

And the lure of China remains faint for non Chinese scientists. Nature's survey (which drew responses mainly from the United States and Europe) asked researchers which countries would be producing the best science in their field by 2020, and more than 60% of respondents in both biological and physical sciences picked China as an option. However, only 8% said they would be prepared to relocate to China instead preferring the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia (see 'Lands of promise' or interactive graphic). Responses suggested that China is unappealing for foreign researchers for political and cultural reasons (see 'Weighing up a move' or interactive graphic), despite high expectations for the future quality of its research.

Such a disparity could fake black van cleef necklace be dangerous, says Jonathan Adams, director of research evaluation at Thomson Reuters, which is based in New York. If researchers in Europe and the United States do not spend serious time in China, he says, they will find it hard to understand how research is conducted there, even as the country's influence in science grows.

Win win?Those who study scientists' mobility argue that the discussion need not pit nation against nation, as if China's gain is the United States's loss. In place of 'brain drain' and 'brain gain', they prefer to talk about 'brain circulation', in which international scientists dip in and out of countries at will, and everyone benefits from the collaboration. "Of course America will decline in relative terms, as the United Kingdom has, but it will do enough leading edge research to benefit from work done elsewhere," says Flanagan. "The key thing is to have a strong enough science base to interact with a globalized and mobile scientific world."

Researchers at the Dutch publishing firm Elsevier, who are tracking the movements of scientists by following their publishing addresses, have detected hints of that pattern. Most notable among the early results for each country is a large proportion of 'transitory' scientists, who stay in a country for less than two years at a time. The University of Liverpool's Ackers adds that some evidence, including a survey of researchers in Europe's Marie Curie Fellowship Programme, suggests that shorter, more frequent visits are increasingly supplementing long term travel to other labs.
Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
Richard Glossip Reacts To News That He Won

McALESTER, Okla. Supreme Court order suspending his impending execution as "so unbelievable."

"I've felt amazing today," Glossip said hours after he heard the news, sounding elated and buoyed by hope.

Glossip laughed easily during a conversation with The Huffington Post, talking excitedly about reconnecting with family and learning just how far news of his case fake van cleef and arpels turquoise necklace has spread around the world. The Associated Press characterized the Supreme Court's decision as one that "came as no surprise," to which Glossip said, "Unless it's your life on the line, you don't know how heavy it is."

Glossip, who has been on Oklahoma's death row for 17 years, was scheduled to die Thursday by lethal injection. Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a case involving Glossip and two other Oklahoma death row inmates, who claim their state's lethal injection method is unconstitutional and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Glossip's fate remained in limbo until Wednesday's announcement.

"I'm really happy that the replica van cleef arpels butterfly necklace Supreme Court ordered the stay so that the litigation can be carefully considered and Richard has more time," Kathleen Lord, one of Glossip's lawyers, told HuffPost. "Anything can happen with time. And Richard is not done telling his story."

Glossip, 51, was convicted of first degree murder in 1998 and was sentenced to death based on the testimony of one witness, Justin Sneed. Sneed confessed to beating a hotel owner to death with a baseball bat, claiming that Glossip promised him $10,000 to do it. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed was spared death row himself and instead sentenced to life in prison.

Glossip has staunchly maintained his innocence from the start, and his case has attracted the support of high profile death penalty opponents. Outside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on Wednesday, several of those supporters, who had been visiting Glossip under the belief it would be their last time seeing him, celebrated.

"It's such a surreal situation to be sitting with someone very near to execution," Sister Helen Prejean, a nun known for her memoir Dead Man Walking and Glossip's spiritual adviser, told HuffPost. "Then when you get the news I was ecstatic."

Prejean added that she "leapt out of her chair" after hearing Glossip's execution would be stayed. She said the news was not only a relief to Glossip's supporters, but to prison guards as well. "None of them wanted to be here if this was going to happen to him," she said. Several guards had requested the day of Glossip's execution off.

Glossip, who was able to visit with his guests Wednesday in the prison's law library while he sat beside them in a locked cage, said he nearly broke down and cried at the ability to reach out and touch his family. Prior to Wednesday, he said he had not been able to see his eldest daughter, Christina Glossip Hodge, in person in 25 years. It was also the first time he and Prejean met face to face.

Glossip's supporters celebrate outside the Oklahoma state penitentiary, where he's currently being held. From left: Joe Cardona, Mary Rzepski, Kim Van Atta, Sr. Helen Prejean, Crystal Martinez and Jim Liberto. Mary Fallin (R). The petition asks Fallin to stop the execution. Fallin's office, however, has indicated that she's unlikely to do so.

"I disagree with the necessity to grant Glossip yet another round of legal appeals," Fallin said in a statement emailed to HuffPost following Wednesday's news. Supreme Court has decided to hear his case, it is entirely appropriate to delay his execution until after the legal process has run its course."

Wednesday's Supreme Court order doesn't affect Glossip's death row status, but additional time before his execution may work in his favor. Should his lawyers uncover more evidence that suggests he's innocent, the state could grant him an appeal. Moreover, the state's Pardon and Parole Board could allow Glossip another clemency hearing, replica van cleef alhambra diamond necklace which could result in his sentence being commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Glossip's last clemency hearing was in October, when the state clemency board voted unanimously against him. Before the hearing, Sneed's daughter penned a letter to the board, claiming her father wished he could recant his testimony pinning the crime on Glossip, but it was submitted too late and couldn't be used as evidence.

"For a couple of years now, my father has been talking to me about recanting his original testimony. But has been afraid to act upon it, in fear of being charged with the Death Penalty," the letter read. "His fear of recanting, but guilt about not doing so, makes it obvious that information he is sitting on would exonerate Mr. Glossip."

Glossip's loved ones said they hope Wednesday's news will inspire Sneed to recant. "If that doesn't happen, I hope we can use all the injustices done to him during trial and finally bring him home alive."

Wednesday's Supreme Court order left open the possibility of carrying out lethal injections that don't involve midazolam, the controversial drug at the heart of Glossip's case, in the interim. Should they choose to move forward with an execution before the case is decided, Oklahoma's Department of Corrections would need to give death row inmates at least 10 days notice and choose a method that meets state protocols. It's unclear whether Oklahoma officials will pursue this option, and the Supreme Court will likely rule on the case by the end of June.

Oklahoma's execution methods came under scrutiny in April, after death row inmate Clayton Lockett died 45 minutes after being injected with a combination of drugs that had never been used together, including midazolam. Lockett writhed, clenched his teeth and struggled against the restraints holding him to a gurney before prison officials halted the execution, according to witnesses. He then died from a heart attack.

"It was a horrible thing to witness," Lockett's attorney, David Autry, told The Associated Press at the time. "This was totally botched." Fallin, who defended the execution, was attending a basketball game at the time.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to stay the execution of Charles Warner, another Oklahoma death row inmate. "My body is on fire," Warner, the first to be killed since Lockett, said after he was injected.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Wednesday's news, Glossip and his supporters said they won't stop fighting.

"I'm hoping this victory for Richard shows how horribly broken the system is," Prejean said. "And that it takes death off the table as an option that government can exercise over its citizens."
Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
Shiver me timbers

Swashbuckling hero Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey strides onto the big screen here next week in the seafaring epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Based on the popular novels by Patrick O'Brian and starring our own (sort of) Russell Crowe, Master and Commander, which follows the fortunes of a group of British fighting sailors, has already drawn glowing reviews from critics overseas.

The Chicago Sun Times's Roger Ebert called the movie "grand and glorious". The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw was also unstinting in his praise, declaring the Peter Weir movie a "crackingly entertaining yarn: perhaps the most purely enjoyable film of the year".

Read these, and many other reviews at the Internet Movie Database.

The official site is quite brilliant, but be warned: it can be a little tedious if using a slow connection. Spend 10 minutes exploring some of the historical detail and you'll begin to get a feel for what life was like in the British Navy at the turn of the 19th Century.

Patrick O'Brian wrote 20 novels in his series, each featuring the twin main characters of Jack Aubrey (Crowe in the movie) and Stephen Maturin, the ship's surgeon, played by Paul Bettany. O'Brian's books have generated a devoted army of fans, inspired by the mix of blood and guts action, minute historical detail and character driven subplots. Perhaps the best introduction to O'Brian's work is a piece by journalist Richard Snow published in The New York Times in 1991 (registration is required but worthwhile). Snow is credited with inspiring much of the popular enthusiasm for O'Brian's books, which he describes as "the best historical novels ever written".

He adds: "O'Brian reminds us with subtle artistry of the most important of all historical lessons: that times change but people don't, that the griefs and follies and victories of the men and women who were here before us are in fact the maps of our van cleef arpels replica bracelet own lives."

The best online Patrick O'Brian resource is the work of a group of dedicated enthusiasts, known as "The Gunroom".

Much of the charm of O'Brian's novels lies in the smaller details that together create a unique sense of place and time. Music is one of these details that constantly crops up in life onboard ship. From the cello/violin duets with which the pair while away the long evenings at sea to the traditional songs of the Royal Navy, there are tunes on almost every page. Gibbons Burke's excellent O'Brian site has an extensive list of all the music mentioned in the 20 novels. There has even been a CD released (Musical Evenings with the Captain), celebrating the music of Aubrey and Maturin.

The other constant motif in the Aubrey/Maturin series is food, which ranges from the repulsive to the downright bizarre. Lobscouse and Spotted Dog is the title of a book all about 19th century naval food.

Take a look at the relevant home bracelet van cleef and arpels replica page, which gives plenty of detail and even recipes, as well as plugging the book.

As you would expect, O'Brian is also fastidious about the correct use of language and arcane seafaring terminology. Before seeing the movie or starting the series of books (or, even, better, doing both) a quick trip to Gibbons Burke's "Nautical Expressions in the Vernacular" pages is a good idea. There you'll find the origin of a surprisingly long list of common words and phrases that originally have a nautical meaning. For instance, "In the offing" is explained thus: "Said of a ship visible at sea off the land. Such a ship is van cleef and arpels alhambra bracelet copy often approaching port, hence the phrase is used figuratively to mean 'about to happen' ."

O'Brian himself died on January 2, 2000, creating new interest in his work and also producing a big crop of obituaries. You can download several of these appraisals at one fan's homepage. The Daily Telegraph in the UK is probably the pick of the bunch.

Interestingly, O'Brian's death also sparked a fresh round of inquiries into his past, revealing him to be something of a Walter Mitty character who invented much of his own past.
Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
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Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
the art modernism neglected

Alice Neel spent her life on the margins. Her art, which was more or less realist, came to maturity in the ascendant period of Abstract van cleef blue necklace copy Expressionism and although there was a realist alternative she was more or less excluded from it.

She was not included in the major exhibitions of realist art that took place in the 1960s in, among other museums, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in spite of her efforts at ingratiating herself with two of the major curators of the time, Frank O and Henry Geldzahler, by painting their portraits. And when Abstract Expressionism was superseded by Pop, Minimal and Conceptual art she remained out of synch.

The feminist movement flexed its muscles but it embraced Neel as a personality and as a forerunner. Feminist artists tended to work in other idioms: performance, photography, video and conceptually based practices.

Painting, however, continues to have a large public and young artists setting out to be painters now need more than ever to see how artists of earlier generations successfully resisted the status quo and remained outside what evolved into an academic style, for this is what much of the conceptual, film and photographic work has become; merely another academy.

For such painters as Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton and Chris Ofili and even such sculptors as Robert Gober, to name but a few, Alice Neel provides a precedent, an outlook on the world and on art that acts as some kind knock off van cleef onyx necklace of model.

Highly personal, engaged with humanity, politically aware, it was an individual take on life mediated through paint. Neel keenly observed the strengths, weakness and foibles of the people she encountered, and had an eye for the extraordinary in the ordinary, the whimsical and the eccentric, the cruel and the kind.

There was no showing off; just honesty, commitment and psychological acuity. There was also a facility with paint itself, of drawing and colouring with it, of using it as matter as well as descriptively, all of which strikes such a strong chord with painters today.

Neel had a natural flair for paint. She painted thick and thin, dry and wet, and in the later stages of her career ignored any conventions of finish, rather deciding for herself when a work was complete enough. At times she felt that a painting had reached a point where to go further would spoil it. In some instances she painted a second version. Ultimately what mattered to Neel was to keep the painting fresh and alive.

In our present era portraiture has been relegated to a minor art. The portrait survives largely in the wooden paintings commissioned by academic colleges or national portrait galleries from artists who have facility but little flair or psychological understanding or vision.

Photography has replaced painting as the means of choice for portraiture but photography is concerned with capturing the moment. Painting is about the synthesis of time. Moreover a photograph, with its smooth reflective surface, printed by a chemical alhambra pendant necklace fake reaction or digitally manipulated with no material depth or presence, is entirely different from a painted portrait.

Neel work, is an assimilation of many different moments and moods, a distillation of many hours of scrutiny of the subject that concludes in a single summarising image where the impressions captured over time are related not simply through an image but through the material quality of paint, the flicks of the wrist and the movements of an arm, paint laid on hastily and contours outlined slowly.

Neel art displays a range of marks made in the service of communicating an image rather than at the behest of any conceptual programme, for Neel is a natural painter and apparently unselfconscious.

Looking at Neel work now is to see a review of the twentieth century in New York. She represents changes in fashion and social mores, racial and gender issues, class differential, political agendas, feminist advances; in short her work effortlessly reflects a century of change as much as that of any photographer from the same era. With the abandonment of the modernist project museums and galleries now make room for multiple voices to be heard, to uncover the art of those whom modernism neglected.

Alice Neel: Painted Truths at the Whitechapel Gallery is the first major survey of Neel work in Europe, bringing the warmth of her vision in from the cold.
Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
Savio Volpe delivers 'food you want to eat with family'

At first, we have to find the door. Where, oh where, is it?

Huh! It's right in front of us, only it's so tall, it would make an LeBron James player feel very short. The door and vertical steel handle stretches up about 12 feet. And anyone but a giraffe would need stilts to reach the brass door knocker waaay up high. Very funny. Next, I wondered if I'd have the muscle to get in. I push the handle and voila! Smooth as a breeze, we're in.

Osteria Savio Volpe ("wise fox") is in that pocket of great little restaurants at Kingsway and Fraser the taste surround nexus of good food. One of the Savio Volpe owners, Craig Stanghetta, has been designing cool restaurant spaces for some time now. With his theatre background, he sees all the world, or at least his world of restaurants, as a stage. It is actually a wonderful space light, modern, playful, spacious. If one were so vain to care, rooms, like clothes, help a diner to look really good. This room flatters.

It's Stanghetta's first restaurant, but partners Paul Grunberg and Mark Perrier, the chef, are known entities in the industry. Grunberg is co owner of the consistently wonderful L'Abattoir in Gastown. In fact, I didn't cut them much slack and pounced quickly after the restaurant opened in November, pretty sure they'd have the place in good working order. They've been slammed harder than they expected, but they are under control.

Perrier has worked as head chef at Cin Cin, a sous chef at Cibo, apprenticed under David Hawksworth at West and at the two Michelin star Le Gavroche van cleef green necklace replica in London. For the past couple of years, gearing down to be a dad, he worked at Two Rivers Meats, and learned a thing or two about butchering.

Savio Volpe is, as Grunberg emphasizes, an osteria. "It's straightforward food you want to eat with your family on Sunday or Monday. It's family inspired, has lots of flavour and is thoughtful but not clever."

And what's Italian without a hit of pasta every day in every way? There's a half dozen fresh pasta dishes every day. Tortiglioni (like rigatoni with a spiral torque) with short rib braciola (sliced thin) and thick tomato sauce is the signature pasta. I tried the cappelletti with a pumpkin and sweet potato filling and loved it.

The wood fire oven with a spit takes centre stage in the kitchen and Perrier is eager to add a lot more protein to the spit roast program. Thus far, he does leg of lamb (marinated in garlic, red wine), half chicken (rosemary, grilled lemon), Calabrese sausage and a whole grilled sea bream.

Slices of spit roasted lamb with salsa verde and light natural juices hit the right notes. Once the kitchen's running full steam, they'll be adding proteins like rabbit and suckling pig to the spit. Perrier's dying to add offcuts like chicken hearts on skewers. He already offers tripe with tripe with pancetta in tomato sauce, which is going over really well with people of European descent.

A small list of cured dishes are the closest thing to starters. A refined white anchovy with lemon sliced carpaccio thin, avocado and pickled chili wasn't exactly family style Monday night food but no complaint here from me. It was bright and fresh and lovely.

The team dispenses with the tendency, these days, to mention the pedigree of ingredients on the menu. It's assumed you know. It's nice to know we've come that far.

There are five steak cuts (dry aged beef from Cache Creek) including a 42 ouncer to share or to oink out on all on one's own.

Garlic bread alla Americano ($6) reminds Grunberg of the garlic bread from Safeway his family had. "It came in tin foil, we'd rip it open and to me, it exudes family," he says. Once again (I come across it often), a nostalgic nod to a food memory from childhood. Unfortunately, it didn't translate in the same way to me. It was mediocre garlic bread.

The gelato trio was suggested for dessert. They are upfront about crediting Beta 5 as the maker and why not? They do an amazing job. The cannoli, I felt, needed something to lift and brighten the ricotta based sweet alhambra necklace imitation filling which was bland bits of candied orange peel? Grappa? Let the Sicilians tut tut.

Dishes are $16 to $18 for pastas, and $9 (the tripe) to $42 for meat and fish dishes. Wines are all from Italy and our server was very helpful in negotiating the Italian terrain. There are some local beers and two cocktails a Negroni and Aperol spritz. "This alhambra pendant necklace imitation is East Van. We don't want to sell $14 Manhattans," says Grunberg.

And stay tuned for more Grunberg offsprings. "I want to make sure this restaurant is successful," he says, before opening another. "But you can't live scared."

Savio Volpe

Open daily for dinner

On the Blood reserve, progress in the fight against opioid addiction and deathsSTAND OFF In the wake of four more fentanyl overdose deaths month, Blood Tribe in Stand Off on Tuesday to update band and government on the opioid crisis.

A family affair: St Viateur Bagel celebrates 60 yearsBagels are the great equalizer. Everybody eats them, everybody loves them and everybody is invited to the bagel factory's block party on Sunday.

Vaughn Palmer: Vote verdict in Comox will clear political pictureTuesday saw the NDP lead trimmed to 12, then the Liberals pulled ahead by three and, as counting ended.

Daphne Bramham: Preserving Chinatown should be a local and national priorityGreat cities have texture. They have buildings, places and communities that reflect their unique character.

Daphne Bramham: Granville Island reboot lacks a daring vision for the futureGranville Island was one bold, big idea. Never before had industrial land been reclaimed as public space.

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Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
Stoke beat Man United to pile misery on Van Gaal

LONDON (Reuters) Louis van Gaal van cleef arpels butterfly necklace imitation hinted he could vacate the Manchester United hot seat after Stoke City swatted aside his timid team 2 0 on Saturday.

Goals from van cleef and arpels flower necklace replica forwards Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic punished United for a dreadful start at a blustery Britannia Stadium and although the visitors improved in the second half they could not repair the damage.

Dutchman Van Gaal has now overseen a seven match winless run in which United have been eliminated from the Champions League and fallen out of the Premier League's top four with successive defeats by Bournemouth, Norwich City and Stoke.

Having criticised the media and stormed out of his pre match news conference on Wednesday, his post match comments were equally frosty although there was an air of resignation about some of his comments after United slipped to their fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

Asked whether he had the support of the board, Van Gaal snapped back: "What they have said I don't have to say to you because it's not any of your business.

"The club doesn't have to fire or sack me, sometimes I do it by myself," added the former Netherlands, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach.

In a Sky Sports interview, Van Gaal was asked if he still thought he was the man to turn around United's season.

"It's more difficult because I'm also part of the four matches we have lost and so people are looking at me," he replied.

"It's another situation, we have lost the fourth game, we will have to wait and see," he added with a lingering glare towards the reporter.

United, down to sixth in the Premier League, host champions Chelsea on Monday and few would be shocked if Van Gaal was no longer in charge.

The 20 times English champions have long been associated with swashbuckling attacking football but, apart from a brief flurry after the break when Van Gaal brought captain Wayne Rooney off the bench having omitted him for "tactical reasons", they were woefully short.

Van Gaal looked powerless as he clutched his notes while sitting uneasily on the bench next to assistant Ryan Giggs.

The biggest indictment of the malaise afflicting England's biggest club was Van Gaal's belief his expensive team "did not dare to play football in the first half".

Stoke's opener after 19 minutes summed up a truly awful first van cleef gold necklace copy half for United.

Attempting to head the ball back to goalkeeper David de Gea, Memphis Depay gifted it to defender Glen Johnson who crossed for Bojan to stab home.

It got even worse for United when Bojan's free kick was blocked and with no defender closing him down, Arnautovic thundered a shot past De Gea.

England striker Rooney spiced up United's attack but Marouane Fellaini wasted their best chance when he shot straight at keeper Jack Butland from close range.
Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
Testis Development and Germ Cell Differentiation Group

Sperm, and the processes by which they develop, are of fundamental importance human health and wellbeing because sperm transmit all paternal genetic and epigenetic information to the next generation. By investigating how these cells form and function, our research program addresses the burdens of male infertility (affecting 1 in 20 couples) and testicular cancer (rising at 2% per annum; the most common solid cancer for men aged 19 43 years)Our discoveries have included defining molecular and cellular signalling switches that mediate normal testis development for full fertility and that can lead to infertility when impaired. Such knowledge is essential for improved prevention and therapies for men experiencing fertility problems and for their offspring who may also be affected by these burdens or their consequencesTo find specific factors and the windows of vulnerability important for human male fertility, our research program examines events spanning from fetal life, when the testis first forms, through to adulthood. We have learned that certain cellular growth signals are used at specific ages to enable correct growth of the testis, creating the foundation for fertility in adulthood. Our observations have shown how differences in gene dosage can change the pace of testis development, leading to early puberty in an otherwise healthy individualTesticular cancer arising from male germ cell (sperm precursor) tumours is one of the most common forms of cancer for young men aged 25 39. Treatment for this disease has a high degree of success, but there is much to be learned about why the incidence of this cancer continues to increase worldwide. Early detection and prevention may lead to fertility sparing treatments, and these are key motivators for understanding how it develops. We have shown that cellular signalling molecules that guide normal events in fetal life may be disrupted in the testes of men who suffer from this conditionIn the Loveland laboratory, our objective is to define key switches that guide sperm cell development in the healthy testis and during disease. We primarily use mouse and human testis cell lines and tissue explants alongside with genetically modified mouse models. Our important collaborators provide access to other relevant models such as Drosophila (fruit flies), colon cancer and malaria that extend the relevance of our discoveries to many areas of biomedical importanceThe lab is headed by Professor Kate Loveland who supervises a team of Research Fellows, Research Assistants and students undertaking Honours, Masters and PhD training. Our lab is all about research, but research needs fuel, and what better fuel than lab members who bake yummy food, a lab head that brings back food from wherever the last conference was, and group of scientists who encourage each other in every way!

Collaborators (possible co supervisors): Dr. Helen Abud, Dr. Julia Young, Dr. Patrick Western

Activin, Hedgehogs and Wnts all contribute to the milieu of growth factors that drive normal testis development and are essential for normal fertility in males. Projects examining each of these will address how crosstalk between the germ cells and their knock off van cleef turquoise alhambra necklace supporting somatic cells control spermatogenic progression during development and in adult life using mouse models complemented with organ and cell cultures. We also examine how these signalling pathways may contribute to testicular cancer and infertilityImmune cells in testis development: Their profiles and control by activin signalling

Supervisor: Prof Kate Loveland

Collaborators: (possible co supervisors): Assoc Professor Mark Hedger, Dr. Nicolas Da Silva, Prof Paul McMenamin

Immune cells produce many factors known to influence cellular development, but their contribution to testis development is relatively unexplored. This project will determine the profile of immune cell development in the mouse and examine immune cells in the normal and diseased human testis, to ascertain their likely points of influence of the developmental switches required for full fertility. Yoichi Miyamoto, Dr. Julia Young

Cell differentiation requires the synthesis of a new set of proteins to perform the distinct functions of the newly differentiated cell. During van cleef heart necklace imitation these transitions, transcription factors and nuclear proteins are transported into the nucleus by importins, where they alter gene transcription and nuclear architecture. We have documented changes in the synthesis of the importins during spermatogenesis. These experiments will define how specificity of pathway activity during testis development and in spermatogenesis is limited through shared receptors (interactome) or overlapping signaling components (Loveland et al., 2007), such as the shared use of Smad2/3 by activins, nodal and TGF In contrast, BMPs typically act via Smad1/5/8 which transiently can also be used by TGF and their local activity will influence activin and nodal signalling outcomesHuman testis cancer control by local factors; interrogation of Hedgehog and activin signalling pathways and immune cells

To define the key immune cells in testicular cancer knock off van cleef arpels butterfly necklace and delineate the signalling pathways regulating their function, this project will be undertaken collaboration with colleagues at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany and at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. The changing profile of activin receptor subunits and signalling modulators during testis development and in testicular cancer implicate altered activin bioactivity as a key feature of testis cancer development. Germ cell tumours also exhibit evidence of active Hedgehog signalling. Inflammatory cells are common inside and around sites of developing of established testiscular tumour, and this project will investigate the contrition of the Hedgehog (Hh) and activin signaling pathways and disturbances thereof in testicular growth and activation of specific T cell responsesDr. Kristian Almstrup, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Oct 13 '17 · 0 comments
The Crane flower

AGATI, Sesbania grandiflora, is also called Bakapushpa in Sanskrit. In the South Western parts of Maharashtra, Vandelia erecta is called Vaka pushpi. Baka and Vaka stand for a kind of heron or crane. These plants are so called probably because their flowers bring to mind the elegant birds either in flight or patiently waiting with their necks stretched to catch prey.

Another plant, a creeping annual herb, which is common in the wet regions of the plains and ghats fake van arpels and cleef necklace of Kerala is called Kaakkapoo in Malayalam though in some parts of Kerala it is called Ponnampoo. The stems, rooting at the nodes, are angled, glabrous and tinged purple. The leaves, about 4 cm by 2 cm are opposite, deltoid ovate, crenate serrate and green to dark green in colour. The base of the leaves are subcordate and the petioles are about 1cm long.

They usually flower between September to October. The corolla is about three to four centimetres long. The tube is yellow and attenuated at the base. The upper lip is rounded and is coloured dark purple. The lower lip is three lobbed and purplish white. There are four stamens in unequal pairs. The filaments are arching.

This creeper is described by Van Rheede in his Hortus Malabaricus (Vol. IX: Page 103: Tabula: LIII.) He gives the Malayalam name Kaka pu van cleef and arpels necklace alhambra knock off and mentions "Caela Dolo" as its name "in the language of the Brahmins". Did he mean Kaaladala or the black petal? In the old Malayalam script it is noted as the Kaakka pul. Some taxonomists had named this plant Torenia bicolour of the Scrophulariaceae family, may be because of the streak of purple on the stem. For some others it belonged to a different species. They named it Torenia travancorica as it was thought to be truly endemic to the region of Travancore in Kerala.

Kaakka is the Malayalam name for the crow, and is therefore suggestive of black colour, though the plant and its flowers are not even tinged black. The prefix Kaakka appears to have been a wrong choice. The plant was so named probably without considering its dissimilarities with another herb with which it is usually mistaken for even by biologists. It is an erect herb with the stems acutely quadrangular and pale green. The leaves are about 4 cm by 2 cm, opposite, subcordate lanceolate, serrate and pale green or green.

The warped upper lip is suggestive of a crane in flight. The deep and dark violet lower lips appear to be black at first sight. On closer examination, it turns out to be a saturated blotch of dark violet. The name Kaakkapoo is more appropriate to this flower. This variety may be exotic but it is the Crane Flower of Travancore.

Both the varieties of Torenia are used by Ayurvedic physicians for the treatment of gonorrhoea and for curing infection of the cornea. A paste made of the plant with cloves, sandalwood, musk and rose water is stated to be effective in curing exanthemata. Van Rheede also mentions these two treatments in his Hortus Malabaricus.

The plant can be grown easily from cuttings or from seeds which should be collected before the fruits dry up. The creeper is good for hanging baskets while the erect variety is best for borders around shrubs. Natural compost or dry cow dung makes good manure. The plant is normally resistant replica vintage alhambra necklace to pests. It likes plenty of sunlight and water but cannot tolerate clogging. Torenia grows pretty well in moist soil made of river sand, natural compost, dried and powdered cow dung and pieces of laterite rock. It flowers profusely between August and September.

Walking by the wet regions of the plains and the ghats, one suddenly comes across these flowers, the beauty and brilliance of which are indescribable. A keen observer can also find around the same area a tiny plant, almost a miniature of the creeper Torenia travancorica. The description of the latter suits the miniature well in many respects. But its tiny white flowers with a violet stripe across the lower middle lip are difficult to be seen. When viewed through a magnifying glass it astonishes you not only with its similarity with Torenia's flower sans the purple or violet luxury but also with its transcendent beauty. Vayal Kaanjiram or Ilysanthes serrata grows as a weed and is usually never observed except by students of biology and some ayurvedic physicians who use the plant for correcting certain mental disorders.
Oct 12 '17 · 0 comments
The history and specialties of 4x4 Chevy Pickup truck models

Chevrolet Trucks are making trucks for sale industries enriched with some of the most popular models. There are many of the 4x4 Pickup trucks that are created by the company. Here are some of these models represented in brief with history and some of the typical histories. These information could well make the 4x4 Pickup truck lovers enthusiastic and enriched as these can help them to buy the appropriate models while having buying and also can have the full details of the vehicles they are using if they are Chevrolet users. Chevy trucks are having amazing records and also are the most furnished and fabulous creators of 4x4 Pickup trucks and many more of the automotive vehicles. There are many of the models that are still having he demands in the truck lovers and are produced by Chevrolet. The 4x4 trucks are not the vehicles that can be produced by any of the copy van cleef turquoise necklace truck manufacturers as they require special skills and also the best of engineering as Four Wheel Drive is having quite different structure of making. Here we have presented some of the best and selected models of 4x4 Chevy Pickup trucks that are making the truck lovers crazy and habitual of using quality products. Chevy S 10 Chevy S 10 is the vehicle that is having older record and also is one of the leading truck models of the company. This model was introduced in the year 1982. Since this year the production process of the truck was ever increasing since the production process came to an end in 2004. There were many of the models and changes were made to this model by the company that made the Company more and more aggressive. The trucks were available in different modes and models. S 10 was the first ever compact Pickup truck that was produced by any of the local manufacturers in America. The trucks were added extended cab and Insta Trac 4 wheel drive in the very next tear of launching in 1983. Even after these changes, many more of the changes were done regularly to add advance features to the trucks and also to stand taller in the competitive world. The structure and entire styling was changed in 1998 and then the sales of van cleef necklace replica wholesale the trucks increased dynamically and people were rushing to have different model of S 10. Even today, these trucks are having better demands in used 4x4 Pickup trucks sales. Chevy Silverado Chevy Silverado is one of the most popular names in the Pickup trucks for sale production of Chevrolet. This model was introduced in 2004 and since than millions of truck lovers have used this vehicle. There are many of the features and functions added to this model by General Motors that are quite unique and distinct. One of the popular features is the multiple options of engines. This 4x4 Pickup truck is offered with the 200 horsepower V6. This is the engine that was launched initially but after the growth and dynamic demands of the model, different engine choices were offered with the same name of Silverado in different models. The other models are 3 gasoline V8 engines that is available in different units of 255, 170 and 300 horsepower units. Also the diesel version of V8 is available with the company. The other specialties that are attached with Silverado are the five speed manual and automatic transmission and Active Fuel Management systems. These fake vca necklace are some of the most unique types and styles of the products. The Silverado model is quite famous for the smoother rides and these rides and performances can achieve from the horsepower that are produced with the help of active engines. The model is available with different sub models like Silverado with extended cab, Silverado Z71, Silverado 1500 with extended cab, Silverado 1500 HD LT1 with greater powertain and towing capabilities. These are just the sample names as there are many more of the models that are making their ways to offer the greatest gifts of Chevrolet to the truck lovers. So, the most spontaneous and splendid models of 4x4 Pickup trucks of Chevy are revealed here.
Oct 12 '17 · 0 comments
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