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Now that our term as Lifestyle editors is drawing to a close, we thought we’d write a little bit about who we are and what we’ve been up to over the past few months. Tell us about you! I’m Alex, a 2nd year MMLer (French and Russian) at Fitz. I’ve written for Varsity for a year, and have thoroughly enjoyed it! Writing is my thing and always has been; I’ve taken to haunting Varsity and the various Zines ever since I found out about them. I’m Scarlet, a 2nd year HSPSer at Caius. I’ve written for Varsity for a year now, meaning that writing has become one of my habits which has surprisingly stuck. How did you get into editing? Alex: I started writing for Varsity, Features and Violet in particular, during the first lockdown and got a taste for it; I applied for Film and TV for Michaelmas 2020 and LOVED it. I applied to Deputy Vulture editor for Lent 2020 but changed my mind and went for Lifestyle editor instead. It’s been absolutely great, and has been really fun to keep things changed up. I particularly enjoyed working with the AskVulture team on their articles. Scarlet: This term is the first term I have been an editor. I applied for editor roles for Lent and Easter 2020 too but didn’t get them. After being sad about this for a few minutes or so, I decided to persevere through writing as a columnist for both Arts and Violet, before finally securing an editing role this term. Journalism is a career path I always umm and ahh about because on the one hand I don’t think I’m good enough, but on the other hand I love writing and (now) editing. Hope this makes vague sense!

Officials are checking if the variant, where two mutations come together in the same virus, may be more infectious or less affected by vaccines. Some 10,787 samples from 18 Indian states also showed up 771 cases of known variants - 736 of the UK, 34 of the South African and one Brazilian. Officials say the variants are not linked to a spike in cases in India. India reported 47,262 cases and 275 deaths on Wednesday - the sharpest daily rise this year. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), a group of 10 national laboratories under India's health ministry, carried out genomic sequencing on the latest samples. Genomic sequencing is a testing process to map the entire genetic code of an organism - in this case, the virus. The genetic code of the virus works like its instruction manual. Mutations in viruses are common but most of them are insignificant and do not cause any change in its ability to transmit or cause serious infection. But some mutations, like the ones in the UK or South Africa variant lineages, can make the virus more infectious and in some cases even deadlier. Virologist Shahid Jameel explained that a "double mutation in key areas of the virus's spike protein may increase these risks and allow the virus to escape the immune system". The spike protein is the part of the virus that it uses to penetrate human cells. What are the risks of India's new Covid-19 variant Sharp rise in India Covid cases 'alarming' The government said that an analysis of the samples collected from India's western Maharashtra state showed "an increase in the fraction of samples with the E484Q and L452R mutations" compared with December last year. "Such [double] mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity," the health ministry said in a statement. Dr Jameel added that "there may be a separate lineage developing in India with the L452R and E484Q mutations coming together".

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Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute IPA in Stuttgart has developed a new type of software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help industrial companies manage their machinery better. The researchers are apparently confident, given that they immediately launched a start-up called Data Coffee. The ‘Station Connector‘ software offers a solution for a multitude of different machines with varying ages and ways of controlling them. According to Marcus Defranceski, the software should be seen as a kind of translation program. Unifying parameters According to Fraunhofer IPA, Station Connector makes parameters, such as power consumption, rotational speed and temperature, uniformly available for any application, regardless of the speed required at which the data is read. Machine learning needs a high data speed, whereas monitoring requires a low speed. With Station Connector, we are basically putting an independent software layer between the systems and the databases that will later use this data,” says Marcus Defranceski, a scientist at Fraunhofer IPA. “The available data creates a new transparency that allows for better manufacturing control. And it uncovers opportunities for process optimization in future,” the computer scientist explains. Easy to use The great thing is that it does not require that much computer knowledge to operate the software. The configuration is pretty self-explanatory. The machines can continue to run during the installation as well, Fraunhofer says. “There are no restrictions when it comes to selecting the information and variables that are needed. The customer decides which data to process. An automated readout can be set up to detect any drops in production in time and to respond quickly to any malfunctions.”

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNS) today announced the Cadence® Palladium® Z2 Enterprise Emulation and Protium™ X2 Enterprise Prototyping systems to handle the exponentially increasing system design complexity and time-to-market pressures. Building upon Cadence’s current industry-leading Palladium Z1 emulation and Protium X1 prototyping platforms, these next-generation systems enable the highest throughput pre-silicon hardware debug and pre-silicon software validation for the industry’s largest multi-billion-gate system-on-chip (SoC) designs. Dubbed the Cadence “dynamic duo” for its tight integration with unified compiler and interfaces, the next-generation emulation processors and Xilinx UltraScale+ VU19P FPGAs in these systems provide customers with 2X capacity and 1.5X performance improvements over their predecessors, allowing Cadence customers to run more validation cycles on bigger chips in less time. Additionally, both systems offer breakthrough modular compile technology capable of compiling 10 billion gates in under 10 hours on the Palladium Z2 system and in under 24 hours on the Protium X2 system. “The complexity of our high-end graphics and hyperscale designs increases with each generation, while our time-to-market schedules tighten,” said Narendra Konda, senior director, hardware engineering at NVIDIA Corporation. “Using the common front-end flow in the Cadence Palladium Z2 and Protium X2 systems, we are optimizing workload distribution between verification, validation and pre-silicon software bring-up. With twice the useable capacity, 50 percent higher throughput, and faster modular compiler turnaround, we can validate our most sophisticated GPU and SoC designs comprehensively and on schedule.” The Palladium Z2 / Protium X2 dynamic duo is designed to address the challenges faced by those designing for the most advanced applications, including mobile, consumer and hyperscale computing designs. With its seamlessly integrated flow, unified debug, common virtual and physical interfaces, and testbench content across the systems, the dynamic duo offers rapid design migration and testing from emulation to prototyping. "An important part of AMD’s success is to accelerate our product development process and optimize our shift-left strategy,” said Alex Starr, Corporate Fellow, Methodology Architect, AMD. "With the Cadence Palladium Z2 and Protium X2 systems’ improved performance, we can increase pre-silicon workload throughput, while preserving functional congruency between emulation and prototyping. The ability to perform design bring-up and transition between the Palladium Z2 emulation and the Protium X2 prototyping platforms in a short time provides us with the opportunity to optimize our shift-left deployment for our most challenging SoC designs. With the qualification of servers using the industry-leading third-generation AMD EPYC™ processors with the Palladium Z2 and Protium X2 platforms, customers will be able to bring industry leadership performance compute to the Palladium and Protium ecosystem." “Pre-silicon verification of advanced SoC design requires a solution with multi-billion-gate capacity that offers both highest performance and rapid predictable debug,” said Paul Cunningham, senior vice president and general manager of the System & Verification Group at Cadence. “Our new dynamic duo meets these requirements with two tightly integrated systems, Palladium Z2 emulation optimized for rapid predictable hardware debug and Protium X2 prototyping optimized for highest performance multi-billion-gate software validation. We are excited by the strong customer interest and look forward to partnering with them to leverage these new systems to achieve the highest verification throughput on their designs.” "Best-in-class emulations are key to our success, and Arm uses emulation extensively together with simulation on Arm-based servers to achieve the highest verification throughput," said Tran Nguyen, senior director of Design Services, Arm. "With the new Cadence Palladium Z2 system, we have seen up to 50% improvement in performance and 2X improvement in capacity for our latest designs, providing us with the powerful pre-silicon capabilities needed to verify our next-generation IP and products.” “Xilinx and Cadence have worked closely to ensure the Cadence software front-end works seamlessly with the Xilinx Vivado Design Suite back-end, enabling optimum performance and capacity benefits,” said Hanneke Krekels, senior director, Core Vertical Markets, at Xilinx, Inc. “The Cadence Protium X2 Enterprise Prototyping system is designed to deliver multi-MHz performance for billion-gate designs using our Virtex UltraScale+ VU19P devices. The tightly integrated Cadence and Xilinx front-to-back flow allows software developers to use the platform at the earliest possible point during the development flow and to focus on design validation and software development rather than prototype bring-up.” The Cadence verification full flow, including Palladium Z2 emulation, Protium X2 prototyping, Xcelium™ Logic Simulation, the JasperGold® Formal Verification Platform and the Cadence suite of smart verification applications, delivers the highest verification throughput of bugs per dollar per day. The new Palladium Z2 and Protium X2 systems are part of the broader Cadence Verification Suite and support the company’s Intelligent System Design™ strategy, enabling SoC design excellence. The Palladium Z2 and the Protium X2 systems have been deployed at select customers, with general availability in Q2 2021. For more information on the Palladium Z2 and Protium X2 dynamic duo, please visit http://www.cadence.com/go/dynamicduo. About Cadence Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. The company applies its underlying Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware and IP that turn design concepts into reality. Cadence customers are the world’s most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products from chips to boards to systems for the most dynamic market applications, including consumer, hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, mobile, aerospace, industrial and healthcare. For six years in a row, Fortune magazine has named Cadence one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Learn more at cadence.com. © 2021 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Cadence, the Cadence logo and the other Cadence marks found at www.cadence.com/go/trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The Ace Combat series continues its 25th anniversary celebrations with the announcement of an Experimental Aircraft pack, due "spring 2021". The pack is structured similarly to other 25th anniversary DLC releases, which means three new fighters to fly and a lot of skins to equip. This one will add the F15 S/MTD Short, the FB-22 Strike Raptor and the F-16XL. The F-16 is a new "advanced technical fighter", while the Raptor is a stealth fighter bomber. Watch them fly in the trailer above. The three planes should be familiar to long-term fans of the series, and continues the current DLC trend of bringing back fan-favourite jets. If this pack works like the Original Aircraft Series release then you should be able to apply new skins right away in multiplayer, and add to singleplayer once you've completed a playthrough. A price hasn't been announced yet, but previous packs have been around $13/£10. I enjoy Ace Combat's mix of plausible jets and bonkers missions. Previous DLC Unexpected Visitor has you battle to secure a 495 metre submarine. Based in Bath with the UK team, Tom loves strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.

Padam does not remember when he began keeping elephants at his hotel. But he says that guests used to pay well for elephant rides in the community forests outside Nepal’s famous Chitwan National Park. Padam’s two elephants were kept busy from dawn to dusk until March 2020. But as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic restricted travel worldwide, one of Nepal’s most po[CENSORED]r tourist sites was largely deserted. Although the Nepali government has now lifted most travel restrictions, Chitwan hoteliers like Padam are still faced with less than 50% occupancy. Captive Asian elephants are used for tourist rides, wedding processions and temple ceremonies. The practice is highly controversial, with campaigners attesting the long-lived animals are often taken from the wild and subjected to cruel treatment to make them compliant. In February, Padam sold one elephant for NPR 6.5 million (approximately USD 56,000) to a trader in India. He hopes this decision will reduce his hotel’s monthly running costs by at least USD 1,000, which had been spent on the elephant’s food and mahout (keeper). Bishal, another hotelier who leads a cooperative of elephant owners, says the group’s members have sold at least 20 elephants to Indian traders in 2021. They now hold 35 elephants, the lowest number since the cooperative was formed two decades ago. However, Nepal and India are both signatories to the global Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Asian elephants are listed on Appendix I of the convention, a category for species that are “threatened with extinction which are or may be affected by trade”. Importing live animals listed on Appendix I (or their parts) for “primarily commercial purposes” is not allowed so as not to “endanger further their survival”. CITES rules state that before Appendix I species can be transported from one country to another, the exporting CITES Scientific Authority must have advised that export will “not be detrimental to the survival of the species”, while the CITES Management Authority must be satisfied that the animals were legally obtained, after which they may issue an export permit. Meanwhile, the importing country’s Management Authority must issue an import permit, having been satisfied that the animal(s) are “not to be used for primarily commercial purposes”, and following determination from the Scientific Authority that the import will be “for purposes which are not detrimental to the survival of the species” and that the recipient of a live animal is “suitably equipped to house and care for it”. In order to implement CITES, the Nepali government introduced the Act to Regulate and Control International Trade in Endangered Wild Fauna and Flora in 2017. It states, “No person shall purchase, sell, possess, use, plant, rear, captive-breed, transport or import or export or cause to be done so a threatened or vulnerable wild fauna or flora or a specimen thereof.” As defined in the act, “threatened fauna or flora” are all species included on Appendix I of CITES. In 2019, the government published a set of regulations on how to implement the act. Section 2 of the regulations notes that any person wishing to trade in such species or their parts should meet various statutory obligations and obtain a permit from the government. There is no evidence that any of these rules have been followed in the cross-border sale of live elephants. Hari Bhadra Acharya, spokesperson for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation – the government agency responsible for implementing the act – says no one has sought any approval so far.

Discover the secret calendar of the French manufacturers for the next three years. No less than twenty new SUVs will be launched. (Update 03/04/2021 at 09:25) New French SUVs: the calendar of the 22 models expected until 2024 - Despite the attacks to which they are the subject, in view of their mediocre carbon footprint, the SUVs still have bright days ahead of them. Through our slideshow, discover the 22 French models who will be in the news for the next three years. Like the majority of sports vehicle manufacturers, Alpine will be no exception to the rule and will unveil a 100% electric SUV. The French premium will also count on DS to develop a very large SUV able to compete with the Tesla Model X. The generalists that count Citroën, Peugeot and Renault will play it more modest. But they too will not escape the total electrification of some of their models , in the wake of the Peugeot e-2008, Citroën C4 and Dacia Spring, already on the market. The other strong trend will be instilled by the new Citroën C5 , unveiled in April. Slightly raised, it announces a new breed of sedans eager to capture the clientele of SUVs . This will also be the case for the future 100% electric Mégane , shorter than the current one, but a tad taller on its legs.

The Covid-19 vaccination drive needs to be accompanied with promotion of Covid-appropriate behaviour, which can be made a default lifestyle option with a dose of innovative small technology solutions developed by ingenious entrepreneurs, to fight better against the pandemic going forward. It would also promote an inclusive approach to support this year’s World Health Day, 7th April 2021, theme of ‘Building a fairer, healthier world’, which is also in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 of ‘Good Health and Well-Being’. Technology would also inject for some time an element of novelty in adapting to a Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. It might also help overcome campaign fatigue related to mask wearing, hand washing and social distancing, which are still our best bets to fight the pandemic. Innovative Initiatives like robots for distribution of masks, drones for monitoring containment zones, automatic surface disinfectants, contact-free health monitors, ornaments for beeping social distancing alerts, touchless lift panels and antiviral fabrics would serve as foot soldiers to supplement large scale government tech initiatives like Aarogya Setu app for contact tracing and self-assessment, and Co-WIN web portal for registration for vaccination. It is desirable to scale up such innovations as well as promote development of more such innovations to fight the coronavirus at multiple levels even as the vaccination drive continues. It would be very useful to begin with creating a database of such innovations, evolving criteria for shortlisting genuine ones in each category, validating claims, recognising winners in different categories and supporting scale up of toppers by categories. Keeping public health interests in view, it is also an imperative to call out those making false claims to ensure that the national fight against the pandemic is not compromised in any way. Given that such innovations have come up despite the lockdown last year, it is anybody’s guess what an enabling environment can do to further the culture of affordable innovation in the country, which is all the more needed in the healthcare industry today. In fact, the Union Ministry of Science & Technology’s Department of Science & Technology (DST) has already taken first steps in this direction by engaging with a network of NGOs and community-based organisations to produce face masks, hand sanitizers, hand washes and 3D printed face shields manufactured through innovative open-source design. DST is also promoting manufacture of natural liquid hand wash and hand sanitisers. Obviously there is scope to do a lot more value added work for DST. The premier institution can also draw on the resources of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, including National Informatics Centre. Besides, DST can also engage with technology majors. In fact, it is the most obvious step to take since technology companies are not only proactive in the national fight against Covid-19, but they are also amongst the biggest philanthropists in the country, according to the seventh edition of EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2020. In the long run, the government could also do well to benefit from the coronavirus learnings and review relevant policies to strengthen a larger enabling innovation environment for tackling public health emergencies in the future. The time could not be more apt since the preparation of a bottom-up and inclusive new national Science Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP 2020) is underway. The process was started towards the end of innovation decade of 2010 to 2020. Others, too, could follow. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, which released in June last year the draft Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020, could do well to consider industry and commerce chamber FICCI’s demand that the government should give public and private organisations blanket exemptions from restrictions for using drones during the Covid-19 crisis and classify drone services involved in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic as essential goods and services. In fact, the focus on healthcare has also the potential to give a shot to the innovation ecosystem itself in the country, which would enable India to inch up from the 48th position on the Global Innovation Index 2020 of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). It would not only promote entrepreneurship in the country, contributing to government’s Digital India, Make in India and Startup India initiatives, but also loop back to improve health of Indians.

For more than a decade Mark Rutte has been prime minister in the Netherlands, bypassing all the hardships and fierce political storms he has faced, to become one of the most cunning, resilient European politicians in Europe. Rute has led the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy through various political crises, and has won every election for more than a decade. His last victory came in March, weeks after his government resigned over the child subsidies scandal. No wonder he became nicknamed "Mark Teflon" after overcoming a political crisis that affected thousands of parents But he passed the confidence vote in his government by a narrow margin on April 2 that appears to be more than just another embarrassing impasse in his career She denies lying about what talks to form a new coalition dealt with, but his reputation was so badly damaged that his fourth term in office is now in doubt. His ruling coalition ally, Sigrid Kaag, from the liberal D-66 party, has submitted to Parliament a draft resolution condemning and rejecting Rutte’s behavior. All political parties represented in Parliament with the exception of Rute's party supported the resolution. "If I were in his place, I wouldn't have spoken," Kaag said, adding that her confidence in him had been severely damaged. "I blame him for that too." Rute's character best reflects political life in the Netherlands. The 54-year-old bachelorette politician lives a modest, simple life and rides his bicycle when he goes to work or visits the royal palace. He mastered the art of reaching compromises and maintaining stable alliances. The Netherlands' handling of the coronavirus pandemic was far from successful and nonetheless led his party to a decisive victory in last March's elections Rute has succeeded in overcoming successive crises for years, but few of these crises were as large as the Netherlands' handling of the Covid-19 epidemic or the financial aid scandal for children, as the tax office of his government unjustly accused thousands of parents of defrauding the state. And when one of the victims confronted him during a live dialogue on the air before the elections and accused him of complicity in what she and other victims were subjected to, Ruth admitted that what happened was unfortunate and pledged that everything would be done to correct the matter. But the scandal was barely touched upon during the election campaign. Professor Tom Lowers, from Leiden University, told the BBC: "There seems to be nothing affecting him and people think he should pay for his many scandals, the most recent of which is the child aid scandal." Lawyers believes that a lack of ideology and pragmatism helped Rute to stay in power. "It was perfectly suited to the difficult times and the fragmentation of political life that the Dutch governments faced."

If a cat or dog shares your domicile, I'll venture a guess that you don't refer to the four-footed family member who licks your face, naps in your lap, sleeps on your bed and inhales the redolence of your dirty socks — as if they were saturated with rose petals — as "it." You probably call them by a name; and refer to them as "he" or "she" and various nicknames inspired by their personality and habits, and for that matter, yours. A group of more than 80 people with an interest in animal welfare, including Dr. Jane Goodall, have signed a letter calling on the editors of the Associated Press Stylebook to change their guidance so that animals in news stories would be identified as "she/her/hers and he/him/his when their sex is known, regardless of species, and the gender-neutral they, or he/she, or his/hers when their sex is unknown." News organizations, including NPR, often follow the guidance of the AP Stylebook. The signatories of this letter hope that when we write about animals in zoos, shelters, fields, farms, forests, seas, slaughterhouses and labs that they are recognized as living beings who feel: hunger, fear, happiness and pain. Article continues after sponsor message It would mean writing sentences like, "The rat was injected with the virus ..." or, "The deer was struck by the car ..." and he, she or they died — not it. The proposed change might seem difficult to imagine right now. But consider how the care we take with personal pronouns for humans has changed over the past several years. Saving Endangered Bonobos Teaches A Lesson In Empathy SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS Saving Endangered Bonobos Teaches A Lesson In Empathy Ben Dreyer, copy chief at Random House and author of the bestselling Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, says these changes remind us that thoughtful adjustments to our language don't have to wait for a stylebook. "Writers should write the way they see fit to write," he told us, "and the changes they wish to effect either will or won't be embraced broadly. The so-called genderless 'he' for instance is now overwhelmingly a thing of the past because writers have abandoned it." Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit and other bestselling books, told us that if we don't refer to animals in personal terms, "we open ourselves to abusing, neglecting, and exploiting creatures whose capacity for suffering is no less than our own. "People and animals share an immense capacity to feel," she says. "[W]e form beautiful, profound relationships with them, and we justly place animals on a moral plane alongside ourselves and far above that of the cinder block or the hubcap, the things we call 'it.' "

Editor's note: This story is advertorial content that is part of the 2021 "Essential to Jamestown" special edition of The Jamestown Sun. The annual Progress Edition features stories on essential workers, agencies and businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Lifestyle Appliance & Entertainment Center continued to serve customers during the coronavirus pandemic. “We were lucky enough when some of the businesses were closing down to be considered an essential business with selling fridges, washers, that type of thing that people can’t do without,” said Toni Wegenast, who owns the business with her husband, Colin. “When they started talking about what was essential and what wasn’t, we didn’t know where we were going to land in that,” she said. “But especially during a pandemic when people are sick, washers to sanitize things are pretty essential, fridges are always essential. ...” Colin noted employees carried hand sanitizer and wore face masks on calls. They also asked health screening questions before delivering products or providing services in customers' homes, Toni said. “Everybody was really good about that through this,” she said. “And we asked our employees for the first couple of months to limit travel to near (Jamestown) to keep them and customers safe. We got really lucky employee and customer wise all through this.” Although traffic in the store initially slowed, Toni said, there were more phone discussions and phone orders. The store also offered curbside service for people to pick up parts they needed. Toni and Colin believe more home projects were done in the last year and with that came the need for appliances. “We had a really good year through all this even with all the worries and obviously that’s thanks to our customers, we can’t do it without them at all,” Toni said. What Lifestyle Appliance has been dealing with is a shortage of some products, something other industries have also dealt with, said Colin. Many companies shut down for a few months because of the pandemic and after reopening they had “hundreds of thousands of pieces on backorders,” Toni said. Colin thanked their customers for being patient during the shortage of products and noted availability is improving. Lifestyle Appliance took advantage of having less inventory when that was occurring to do a facelift at the store which is almost complete, Toni said. That included paint, flooring, ceiling and lighting, rearranging the display floor and moving the retail counter from the front of the store to the back to allow better display of products. Lifestyle Appliance & Entertainment Center, in its 44th year in business, provides free delivery on new products and service after the sale. “We do a lot of supporting the community. We give back to the community too,” Colin said.

ROME — Italy has entered a three-day strict nationwide lockdown to deter Easter travel and help prevent new surges of the coronavirus. Even though the Health Ministry says the rate of infections is coming down, all regions were placed into the strictest “red zone” lockdown through Monday as a precaution. The lockdown, announced last month, means restrictions on personal movement, with limited travel and visits to relatives. Non-essential shops are closed and restaurants and bars are only open for take-out. Police set up road checks to ensure people were staying close to home. Extra patrols were ordered up to break up large gatherings in squares and parks, which over Easter weekend are usually packed with picnic goers. Italy, where the European outbreak began, has recorded 3.6 million cases and more than 110,000 deaths from the coronavirus, more deaths than any other European country but Britain. It has administered 10.8 million vaccines, though only 3.3 million of the country’s 60 million people have received both doses. ——— THE VIRUS OUTBREAK: — Young professionals cut ahead of older Italians for vaccine — UK regulator reports 30 clot cases linked to AstraZeneca shot — Ukraine hits daily high of 20,000 virus cases — AP PHOTOS: Spain’s Seville settles for subdued Easter Week ——— Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak ——— HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: SAN FRANCISCO -- Volunteers in California are working to ensure thousands of farmworkers who daily toil in the fields are receiving coronavirus vaccinations. Farmworkers are particularly vulnerable because they live in crowded housing and travel to farms in packed vehicles. Officials say most farmworkers are eager to get the vaccinations but may not have the ability to sign up online. California was the first state to make agricultural workers eligible for vaccinations, followed by others including Washington, Michigan and Georgia. Arizona hasn’t prioritized farmworkers, but some private growers have offered vaccinations. California is the nation’s top producer of fruits and vegetables, and its growers rely on the labor of as many as 800,000 farmworkers. Some arrive under the H2A visa program that allows employers to hire them legally, but many are hired regardless. Researchers at Purdue University estimate about 9,000 agricultural workers in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus and nearly a half million have been infected. ——— KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine recorded a new daily high of more than 20,000 coronavirus cases. Health Minister Maxim Stepanov says 20,341 new infections were registered in the previous day, nearly 500 more than the record on Friday. Ukraine began vaccinations late February, but only about 230,000 people have received the shots because of widespread reluctance. The sharply rising numbers prompted the mayor of the capital Kyiv to order schools and public transportation closed for two weeks starting Monday. Overall, more than 1.7 million infections and 34,000 confirmed deaths have been recorded during the pandemic. ——— HARRISBURG, Pa. — Vaccine passports developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status have become the latest flash point for some U.S. politicians. Supporters say the passports would allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine. But Republicans portray them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices. Vaccine passports currently exist in only one state -- a limited government partnership in New York with a private company. Vaccine passports are typically an app with a code that verifies whether someone has been vaccinated or recently tested negative for the coronavirus. They are used in Israel and under development in parts of Europe, considered a way to safely help rebuild the pandemic-devastated travel industry. They are intended to allow businesses to safely open as the vaccine drive gains momentum. They mirror measures already in place for schools and overseas travel that require proof of immunization against various diseases. ——— ISLAMABAD — Pakistan federal authorities will start coronavirus vaccinations for residents over 80 on Monday. The country received 60,000 doses of the CanSino vaccine from China early in the week. Pakistan is already using the Sinopharm vaccine, donated by Beijing last month. The National Command and Control Center says the vaccine administration will begin in all the four provinces for people over age 80. Pakistan reported 4,723 new coronavirus cases and 84 confirmed deaths in the last 24 hours. The country is facing a virus surge, which the government says is worse than last year’s outbreak when a nationwide lockdown was imposed. Pakistan has reported a total of 68,288 cases and 14,697 confirmed deaths. ——— DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh authorities are imposing a one-week nationwide lockdown on Monday to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Cabinet Minister Obaidul Quader announced the plan on Saturday. The government says 5,683 new infections and 58 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. Forhad Hossain, the country’s junior minister for public administration, says organizations providing emergency services will be available during the lockdown. He says industries will remain open and employees must work in shifts, following health guidelines. The government has already banned travel from all European countries, except the United Kingdom, and 12 other countries for three weeks. Bangladesh has registered a total of 630,277 cases and 9,213 confirmed deaths. Health experts say the actual number is likely higher. ——— PARIS — French hospitals brought in extra staff for the Easter holiday weekend to cope with more coronavirus patients. With a new virus variant spreading fast and French intensive care units as full as they were last April, the government closed all schools and imposed new rules taking effect nationwide on Sunday. In Paris, police say they’re deploying 6,600 officers to enforce the new restrictions, which include a ban on traveling more than 10 kilometers (6 miles), a ban on outdoor gatherings of six people or more and a continued nationwide 7 p.m. curfew. On the Mediterranean shores of Marseille, police patrolled amid sunbathers and fined people drinking in public or not wearing masks. Crowds filled Paris-area train stations on Friday night to head to the countryside. The SNCF national rail authority says its expecting 600,000 people to travel over the weekend. France has registered 4.8 million coronavirus cases, the most in Europe and fourth globally. It’s confirmed more than 96,000 deaths, eighth highest in the world. The U.S. leads with 30.6 million cases and more than 554,000 confirmed deaths. ——— BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine President Alberto Fernández says he had an initial positive test for coronavirus, despite having been vaccinated in January. Fernández sent a tweet Friday saying took a quick antigen test for the virus after feeling a headache and fever. He says other than light symptoms, he is “physically well” and isolating. He adds he’s awaiting a confirmation of the result using a more rigorous PCR test. The president received a dose of the Sputnik V vaccine on Jan. 21 and a second dose a few days later. The Russian Gamaleya Institute, which produced the vaccine, tweeted the shot has a 91.6% rate of effectiveness against infection and 100% against critical cases. “If the infection is confirmed and occurred, the vaccination assures a rapid recovery without severe symptoms,” it said. Argentina recently tightened border restrictions following a surge in cases. It has administered more than 4 million doses of vaccine. The nation of 45 million has registered nearly 2.4 million infections and 56,000 confirmed deaths. ——— LONDON — Britain’s medicines regulator is urging people to continue taking the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, despite revealing seven people in the U.K. have died from rare blood clots after getting the shot. The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, says it isn’t clear if the shots are causing the clots. It says its “rigorous review into the U.K. reports of rare and specific types of blood clots is ongoing.” Though the agency said late Friday that seven people had died as a result of developing blood clots, it didn’t disclose any information about their ages or health conditions. In total, MHRA says it's identified 30 cases of rare blood clot events out of 18.1 million AstraZeneca doses administered through March 24. Concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine prompted some countries to restrict its use to older people. The World Health Organization has urged countries to continue using the shot. ——— NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya has ordered a suspension on private importations of vaccines. The National Emergency Response Committee says the move is meant to ensure transparency and accountability in the process of vaccinations. Private health facilities have been charging about $80 for the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, while the governments institutions are giving free AstraZeneca vaccines received from the global COVAX initiative. In recent weeks, the Kenyan government has been on a sensitization campaign to reduce the reluctance of frontline workers to take the AstraZeneca vaccine. About 160,000 people have been vaccinated in more than a month since 1 million doses were received. President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 26 led his cabinet in getting vaccinated publicly after announcing stricter restrictions on movement and assembly due to a surge of coronavirus cases and deaths. Kenya’s government says the country’s positivity rate increased from 2.6% at the end of January to 19.1% on April 2. ——— FRANKFURT, Germany — Germany’s president says the country is enduring a “crisis of trust” as it weathers a second Easter under pandemic restrictions amid dissatisfaction over the government’s response. In the text of an address to be broadcast Saturday, Frank-Walter Steinmeier conceded “there were mistakes” regarding testing, digital solutions and vaccinations. He urged Germans not to wallow in the negative but to pull together and trust approved vaccines. Germany, along with the European Union as a whole, has lagged some countries in the speed of its vaccination effort amid the slower procurement of vaccines because of supply and distribution issues from the vaccine companies. He pointed out vaccine deliveries would increase sharply in the coming weeks and both citizens and government had to pull together and not “outdo each other in pessimism.” ——— ROME — Octogenarians in Tuscany watched in disbelief and indignation as lawyers, magistrates, professors and other younger professionals got vaccinated against COVID-19 before them, despite government pledges of prioritizing Italy’s oldest citizens. Even some of their adult children jumped ahead of them. By one estimate, Italy’s failure to prioritize the over-80s and those with fragile health conditions has cost thousands of lives in a country with Europe’s oldest po[CENSORED]tion and its second-highest loss of life in the pandemic. As the elderly were elbowed aside, a dozen prominent senior citizens in Tuscany published a letter calling out the authorities for what they said was a violation of their health care rights enshrined in Italy’s Constitution. ——— SEVILLE, Spain — Few Roman Catholics in devout southern Spain would have imagined an April without the pomp and ceremony of Holy Week processions. With the coronavirus pandemic unremitting, they will miss them for a second year. The streets of Seville and other Spanish cities again went without Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday celebrations marking the life, death and resurrection of Christ. The infection rate for coronavirus is still too high for groups to gather. For 50-year-old Roberto Ruiz, the extravagant Semana Santa, or Holy Week, processions mark the cycle of time in Seville. Without them, he feels unsettled. “You don’t fully wake up if Palm Sunday isn’t celebrated,” he said. “The year neither begins nor ends. This is like being trapped in Groundhog Day. Every day is the same as the rest. The feeling is that of a year which has been lost.” ——— SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s daily increase in coronavirus infections exceeded 500 for the fourth straight day, a pace unseen since January, as experts raise concern about another viral surge amid a slow rollout in vaccines. The 543 new cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday brought the national caseload to 104,736, including 1,740 deaths. More than 320 of the new cases came from the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 51 million people, where officials have struggled to stem transmissions tied to various places, including bars, offices, factories, schools, and gyms. Health authorities this week said they are considering whether to approve rapid coronavirus tests that would allow people to regularly test themselves at home as they look for further tools to fight the virus. South Korea has wrestled with a slower rollout of vaccines than many other developed economies, with officials insisting they could afford a wait-and-see approach as its outbreak isn’t as dire as in the United States or Europe. ——— SAN FRANCISCO — California cleared the way for people to attend indoor concerts, theater performances and NBA games for the first time in more than a year as the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus in the state nears a record low. State officials won’t require testing or proof of vaccination for some of those events, but they do limit the number of people allowed to attend. Events that do require testing and vaccinations will be allowed to have more paying customers than those that don’t. Only people who live in California can attend these live performances. The rules are different for private indoor gatherings, including weddings, meetings or conferences. Those are only to be allowed if all guests test negative for the coronavirus at least 72 hours in advance or show proof of full vaccination. ———

MET Group has launched an R&D project in Hungary to examine how energy storage and software solutions can help solve the country’s problems with intermittent and weather dependent renewable generation. The project has been launched in tandem with the software company Navitasoft, with the work being carried out at the Dunamenti Power Plant in Szazhalombatta. The project will feature the installation of a 4MW, two-hour capacity battery at Dunamenti. The project partners want to use the battery to develop a software solution for energy aggregators which will allow commercial and operational optimisation of MET Group’s asset portfolio. It is also hoped that the aggregation software will be able to accommodate other energy storage systems, based on a wide range of energy sources. Dunamenti Power Plant CEO Péter Horváth said: “Storing surplus electricity in batteries, which then can be used to release electricity at night or at times of low wind, is an ideal way to balance the fluctuations of renewable energy production. The challenge posed by intermittent generation can be tackled by using data-driven, digital tools, in line with expectations for a carbon neutral economy.” Navitasoft CEO Akos Fuzi explained: “Currently there is no other dedicated solution – one that would combine the benefits of digitalisation and energy storage – available in the Hungarian market offering balancing services to renewable energy producers. "Our goal within the framework of the consortium’s project is to provide Hungarian and foreign market players a solution that can be applied in the far-reaching optimisation of heterogeneous portfolios.”

Hardware problems that cropped up earlier this month on the Hubble Space Telescope, now approaching the 31st anniversary of its launch, are the latest signs the observatory is showing its age. Hubble went into a safe mode March 7 due to a software error, and ground teams restored the observatory to full operations six days later. But efforts to recover the telescope revealed two other problems. One glitch involved the aperture door at the forward end of the telescope, which was supposed to close when Hubble went into safe mode to ensure bright sunlight did not damage sensitive internal optics. Then engineers discovered a voltage alarm on Hubble’s most-used scientific instrument, named Wide Field Camera 3. Paul Hertz, head of NASA’s astrophysics division, said March 15 that both issues are likely related to aging hardware on Hubble. “We had a software error, and then we had two places where we found some aging spacecraft issues,” Hertz said in a presentation to NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee. The software bug that triggered the safe mode March 7 came from the spacecraft’s main computer. Ground teams uploaded new software to the computer earlier this year to help compensate for fluctuations in one of Hubble’s gyroscopes, which measure the direction and rate of the spacecraft’s movement when it turns to point toward distant galaxies, stars, and planets to collect scientific data and imagery. Hertz said the new software was designed to allow Hubble to more efficiently turn, or slew, from one scientific target to another as it orbits 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth. The software was also supposed to mitigate a problem with noise in one of the Hubble’s three functioning gyroscopes. Hubble’s gyroscopes are degrading after astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis replaced all six gyros on the most recent servicing mission to the observatory in 2009. Three of the gyros are still in use, and Hubble needs all three for regular operations. Engineers have devised ways to continue some of the telescope’s observations with just one gyro, but that would come with limitations in where Hubble could point to make astronomical observations. Ground teams restored Hubble to scientific operations March 11 after removing the suspect software code from the computer. NASA said engineers will update the software enhancement to upload to the spacecraft again in the future. While the gyros themselves are aging, the safe mode event earlier this month also revealed other signs that Hubble is in the twilight of its service life. The aperture door at the top of the telescope failed to automatically close when Hubble went into safe mode. “It turns out that the primary side door motor has failed — just an age thing — since 2009,” Hertz said. “So we have switched the door over to the redundant motor, which we have confirmed is fully functioning.” Hertz said the door motors are original parts from Hubble’s construction in the 1980s, and were never serviced on the five space shuttle maintenance and upgrade missions NASA sent to the observatory. The only time ground teams would have discovered the door motor failure was when the aperture door was supposed to close. The last time the door opened and shut was before and after the final shuttle servicing flight in 2009. “The motor dying does not interrupt operation, and if the redundant motor dies with the door open, we’re fine,” Hertz said. “That’s the preferred failure mode.” During efforts to reactivate Hubble’s most-used science camera, named Wide Field Camera 3, engineers detected a low voltage reading inside the instrument. Hertz said the reading was slightly below a preset low voltage limit, causing teams to temporarily halt the reactivation of the camera while pressing ahead with the resumption of scientific observations using Hubble’s other science instruments. Like the gyros and door motor, Hertz said NASA has determined the voltage issue inside Wide Field Camera 3 is also associated with its age. Astronauts installed the camera into Hubble on the 2009 shuttle servicing mission. “One of the voltages has been creeping down a little bit, so we have lowered that voltage limit to accommodate the aging instrument,” Hertz said. Engineers restored the camera to service March 13, bringing Hubble back into full operations. The famed Hubble Space Telescope was developed by NASA with contributions from the European Space Agency. With the space shuttles retired, NASA is preparing for the end of Hubble operations in the coming years. NASA’s next advanced space-based observatory — the James Webb Space Telescope — is set for launch in October to extend the vision of Hubble with a larger mirror and a more sophisticated suite of scientific instruments. Last year, during virtual celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of Hubble’s launch, mission managers said they expected to get at least five more years of worthwhile astronomical observations with the long-lived observatory.

The great hardware shortage of 2020 and beyond has taken its toll at all levels of the supply chain, but a new dawn could be in the works. An article from TheEdgeMarkets suggest that TSMC—the main chip manufacturer for the majority of top fabless hardware companies—now plans to invest $100bn over the next three years, in order to expand semiconductor manufacturing capacity and new tech research capabilities. It's been a drawn-out battle on the hardware front over the past year, with even top companies like AMD and Nvidia being unable to meet the exponential rise in consumer demand during the pandemic. We've been watching the industry fight through the GDDR6 supply shortage, exacerbated on the to sidestep the onslaught from cryptocurrency miners, and resellers using bots to buy up this recent generation of GPUs. The resulting fallout from this whole palaver has seen pre-built PCs shipping without GPUs, and a ridiculous back and forth regarding Nvidia's attempts to thwart cryptominers, by adding hash rate limiters to the RTX 3060 (and potential plans to implement more in the future)—spoiler alert: it didn't last long. If all that wasn't enough, a boatload of counties across Taiwan are currently on red alert, being bombarded by the worst drought in over half a century. This means TSMC, and other Taiwan-based wafer manufacturers, are subject to yet more stresses that have the potential adverse effects on the supply chain. Despite everything, the chip production industry seems to be blossoming. With GlobalFoundries doubling it's expansion fund for this year, and TSMC's plan to invest $100bn over the next few years, things are looking up. The semiconductor fabrication industry is going to bounce back, but its unclear how long it will take for the supply shortage to lift. Hopefully, it'll ease over the next few months but it's likely to be a slow trickle, as opposed to a rush of hardware hitting the markets. Slow and steady, as they say. Katie is a confessed logophile with a love of metaphor and an insatiable creative urge. She's also an RPG, sim and survival game enthusiast who harbours an overt disdain for MMOs, un-managed cables and software that doesn't include a dark mode.

The tree of animal life had to begin somewhere. Finding that original branch amongst such a tangled canopy is harder than it sounds, though. A new analysis of genomic data suggests that one phylum in the running for the oldest branch has been deceiving us all along. Since the 19th century, many scientists have presented the sponge - one of the simplest creatures in existence - as the world's first animal. Modern genomic studies, however, have pitted this muscle-less, nerve-less and organ-less blob against a far more complex creature. Comb jellies comprise a small phylum known as Ctenophora, but unlike Porifera - the phylum sponges belong to - these orb-like creatures show much more advanced traits, including neurons and muscle cells to detect and eat prey, as well as a gut for digestion. If these jellies actually came first, it means many of their traits were subsequently lost among Porifera, only to evolve again later on. While this might sound downright illogical, it's not entirely out of the question, although it does threaten to change our understanding of early animal evolution and the development of the nervous system itself. "It may seem very unlikely that such complex traits could evolve twice, independently, but evolution doesn't always follow a simple path," explains geneticist Anthony Redmond from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. "For example, birds and bats are distantly related but have independently evolved wings for flight." In recent years, some models that have split genes up into smaller groups for comparison have found comb jellies hold a greater phylogenetic signal than sponges, which suggests these animals evolved and existed first. Using the same data, other models that do not partition genes but rely on a larger super-matrix have revealed the exact opposite timeline, with sponges arriving on the scene earlier than comb jellies. Both of these approaches have their limitations, but examining them together helps alleviate some of our previous errors and biases when looking at the data. A reanalysis using a more integrative model now suggests we were on the right track to begin with - namely, sponges were it. "Our approach bridges the gap between two disagreeing methodologies, and provides strong evidence that sponges, and not comb jellies, are our most distant animal relatives," says Redmond. "This means our last common animal ancestor was morphologically simple and suggests that repeated evolution and/or loss of complex features like a nervous system is less likely than if comb jellies were our most distant animal relatives." In evolution, natural selection tends to maintain the function and shape of certain proteins by substituting specific amino acids with others that have similar biochemical properties. These properties, however, can differ from site to site, within and between genes. Partitioned models, where genes are split up and substitution patterns among sites are compared in groups, often do not account for this diversity, which means they could be missing multiple 'hidden' substitutions, especially in species where new amino acids were selected for relatively quickly. As such, most partitioned models point toward comb jellies as the original sister to other animals. But when models that do account for site differences are incorporated, researchers have found sponges instead take on that role. This lines up with previous studies that have found partitioned and unpartitioned models can affect branch-lengths and nodes of change on the tree of life, "sometimes dramatically so." In other words, researchers argue, it is our "poorly fitting" and "overly simplistic" models that are suppressing some evolutionary changes on the long branch of comb jellies. This makes the Ctenophora phylum look like it evolved before sponges, when, in fact, these jellies probably split from Porifera quite early on and then evolved incredibly fast. The results support a previous study in 2020 that found the rapid evolution of comb jellies introduces a bias into our models that fools us into thinking they came first. Both the Porifera and Ctenophora phyla have long branches, but when we compare the two using similar amino acid replacement models, the jellies look as though they must be older because of their rapid evolution. In reality, however, the gene sequences of comb jellies have occurred in a much tighter space of time, which makes them seem more closely related to sponges than they actually are.

Elon Musk announced Thursday morning the takeover of his main rivals. Tesla will have a virtual monopoly on land vehicles. Elon Musk's impromptu maneuver will transform the automobile. The boss of Tesla and SpaceX has announced that he has taken control of many global industry giants after an unprecedented stock market raid , funded by the massive use of bitcoin , a cryptocurrency whose price has ignited these last years. "I got'em" ("I got them") he posted on his Twitter account overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, General Motors, Kia-Hyundai, Ford, Stellantis, Geely, Dongfeng, Daimler, SAIC or even BMW are now the personal properties of the American captain of industry. Tesla virtual monopoly In an email sent around 3 am to employees of his car brand, Elon Musk detailed his plans for historic manufacturers: “My idea is simple. Tesla will take care of cars on Earth. The rest goes into space ”. In this document, he mentions in particular the end of the assembly of vehicles within the brands under his control "around 2028" . Renault, Peugeot, Volkswagen or Toyota will stop producing cars before the end of the decade, according to this message, the subject of which is: "Masterplan: Part Quatre". The email goes on to say, “Frankly, if it's to end up like Nokia or Motorola, they might as well just move on. We may keep Ferrari ”. Only a few "small" automakers have escaped the appetite of the boss of Tesla : Caterham, Gordon Murray Automotive, Lotus and McLaren. The self-proclaimed “Technoking” owned a McLaren F1 designed by Gordon Murray and Lotus supplied the chassis for the first Tesla Roadsters in the late 2000s. Lancia - which is part of the Stellantis group - will continue its solo activities and the marketing of its Ypsilon in Italy until at least 2050. The boss of Tesla also plans the release of a compact Model 2 and a Model 1 city car to compensate for the gradual disappearance of competition to its models. A simpler-designed Model 0 will be marketed in emerging markets. Carlos Tavares on the Moon “After 2030, all the resources, hands and brains present in these historic builders will be devoted to the exploration of space. There will be no layoffs ”, continues the e-mail signed by Elon Musk, outlining the outlines of a program called THE HuGe N 'SeriOUS SPACE PROJECT, YEAH COS' WHYnOT? . As early as 2016, the 49-year-old businessman announced his desire to work to make human beings "a multi-planetary species". The first step will be the sending of the first teams to the Moon in order to build a permanent scientific camp there . Elon Musk gives more details: “To get there I need guys and women who are cold-blooded. And there are traditional builders. This is why I chose to send Carlos Tavares to the Moon ” . The boss of the Stellantis group (Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Fiat, Jeep, etc.) will share his exploration module with Luca de Meo , CEO of the Renault Group since the summer of 2020. "It is not hot hot" says a close to the latter, contacted by Auto Moto. Obstacles in sight The hostile stock market operation should still attract the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), policeman of the American stock market. But also the wrath of the Department of Justice, responsible for ensuring free competition. In a press conference, the outgoing anti-trust division general counsel Makan Delrahim said: “You cannot create a monopoly on a sector as strategic as the automobile overnight. And you can't bend your competition like that either. We will examine this whole matter carefully. It smells like rotten fish ”.

Having an active role in your wellness journey is one of the top components toward achieving a healthy lifestyle. When you prioritize your health, you not only align your brain-body pathways, but you also acquire a future focused mindset, which in turn, motivates you to take preventive action and become the best version of yourself. Monitoring your health each day allows you to be in tune with your body and stay accountable for your healthcare goals. There are a variety of ways to keep tabs on your well-being. To start, you can periodically assess your mood and stress levels throughout the day. Doing this will give you the opportunity to learn more about your emotions and physiological responses. A frequent question that patients often ask is, "When monitoring my health, how do I know what to focus on?" While everybody's health goals are distinct, it is most important to concentrate on aspects that affect your day-to-day living such as your dietary habits, exercise regimen and mental health. For example, pay attention to the quantity and types of foods you eat as well as your fluid intake. Limit eating foods that are fried or high in sugar, and instead, fuel your body with nutrient rich foods, including whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Evaluate how often you engage in physical activity -- are you getting your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes, five days a week? For those individuals who have high blood pressure, it is important to take your blood pressure at least a few times per week, when you're the calmest, to gauge how your body is functioning -- an ideal blood pressure is generally 120/80. To start, you can periodically assess your mood and stress levels throughout the day. Doing this will give you the opportunity to learn more about your emotions and physiological responses. A frequent question that patients often ask is, "When monitoring my health, how do I know what to focus on?" While everybody's health goals are distinct, it is most important to concentrate on aspects that affect your day-to-day living such as your dietary habits, exercise regimen and mental health. For example, pay attention to the quantity and types of foods you eat as well as your fluid intake. Limit eating foods that are fried or high in sugar, and instead, fuel your body with nutrient rich foods, including whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Evaluate how often you engage in physical activity -- are you getting your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes, five days a week? For those individuals who have high blood pressure, it is important to take your blood pressure at least a few times per week, when you're the calmest, to gauge how your body is functioning -- an ideal blood pressure is generally 120/80.

The way AstraZeneca was dealt with was infuriating. I will not blame those in charge of them if they feel angry and decide to exit the Corona vaccine race." This was the opinion of one of the largest British investors in the company. The company and its president, Pascal Suriot, did not expect the unfair treatment it received after its success in developing a safe vaccine in record speed, and signing contracts to provide two billion doses, all without making a profit. We can understand Suryut's expectation to receive a prize for his efforts. Instead, he is under attack from European politicians such as European Parliament member, Philippe Lamberts, who accused the company of arrogance and breach of trust, seeing it as "exaggerating its promises and failing to fulfill its agreements." Some argue that all this controversy is pointless. AstraZeneca squandered a profit of $ 20 billion at a time when it became a well-known name in the European Union and the United States, albeit for negative reasons

Make the most of your customer relationships with the right software By BRIAN CARMODY Updated Mar 29, 2021 We publish unbiased product reviews; our opinions are our own and are not influenced by payment we receive from our advertising partners. Learn more about how we review products and read our advertiser disclosure for how we make money. Customer relationship management (CRM) is any process, tool, or strategy that helps businesses to better access and organize customer data. As with many things, software makes CRM easier and faster. Therefore, in order to compete successfully in virtually any industry, you need reliable CRM software. The best CRM software will provide you with valuable insight into how your customers behave and what they need from you. You’ll be able to track the tasks you need to accomplish to keep your customers happy and close more sales. It also streamlines and simplifies business processes for any employee that interacts with your customers. In the long run, CRM software should improve your bottom line. We reviewed 15 CRM software companies to create our expert-chosen list of the seven best providers based on a variety of small business needs. Read on to learn where each software’s strengths lie, as well as prices, integrations, reporting features, and more to help you make an informed decision.

Clarkston-based Verge.io, a software-defined data center, and Intequus, an IT infrastructure provider in Minnesota, announced the availability of Verge-OS for pre-installation on Intequus hardware. Verge-OS officials state the platform is the industry’s first software-defined data center operating system. The collaboration accelerates the deployment of edge virtual data centers by coupling the customizability and reliability of Intequus edge server hardware with the performance and security of Verge-OS data center infrastructure, according to the companies. “Verge.io allows us to offer cloud providers an out-of-the-box virtual data center solution packed with management features at a price point other solutions can’t compete with,” says Jake Pomplun, chief revenue officer at Intequus. Verge.io’s software-defined data center platform converts server hardware into the resources required to create and manage edge virtual data centers. Verge-OS deployments are versatile, with data centers ranging in size from computing-research universities to small businesses. The software’s validated ability to deliver performance and security along with simple deployment and management makes Verge-OS ideal for edge applications, the company says. “Our partnership with Intequus represents a strong step forward in the edge computing marketplace,” says Matthew Wenzler, CEO of Verge.io. “Intequus is recognized by the biggest names in the business for their hardware engineering and lifecycle management. The partnership instantly made sense to both sides.” Edge computing places latency-sensitive Internet of Things (IoT) devices near data processing resources, providing the speed necessary for optimal performance and user experience. Examples of IoT devices include industrial sensors, medical equipment, traffic management systems, and bandwidth-heavy video applications. According to an IDC report, by 2025, 75 percent of an estimated 55.7 billion devices will connect to an IoT platform. Solution architects from Verge.io and Intequus collaborated to engineer a customizable server lineup designed for high performance and rapid deployment. As a trusted integration partner to prominent technology companies, Intequus hardware provides reliability capable of meeting even the most remote edge data center’s needs. While edge computing is not new, the arrival of 5G networks and artificial intelligence have brought it to the forefront of digital transformation planning. The union of Verge.io and Intequus equips businesses with the power of Verge-OS in a hardware-delivery model that supports the demand for edge computing solutions.

Activision Blizzard has hired another Republican alum to its leadership team, with the appointment of Trump administration member Brian Bulatao as chief administrative officer. Earlier this week, the publisher announced the promotion of Armin Zerza as chief financial officer (via BusinessWire). But Bulatao, who joins Activision following a previous role under US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, comes aboard with notably less fanfare—his hiring revealed via company-wide internal emails acquired by Kotaku. "Brian is a rare talent, and the perfect fit for Activision Blizzard; his unparalleled combination of business, military, and government experience makes him ideally suited to accelerate our organizational transformation and deliver on great opportunities for future growth," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick wrote in the email. Bulatao's hiring comes mere weeks after Activision appointed Frances F. Townsend, a Bush-era counterterrorism advisor who notoriously defended the CIA's use of torture, as its chief compliance officer. Bulatao himself has been described as a "bully" and "Mike Pompeo's attack dog" by a Business Insider report into his management of the State Department. Kotick's email reportedly makes note of Bulatao's role in "leading the State Department’s talent, diversity, and inclusion efforts," despite the Trump administration freezing said efforts with an executive order last September. Bulatao's role at Activision will grant him management of "Corporate Social Responsibility" activities across the company, as well as the publisher's Call Of Duty Endowment charity for veterans. PC Gamer has contacted Activision for comment.

The worst maritime animal welfare tragedy in history could, by now, be unavoidable, says Gabrile Păun, the EU director for Animals International, an NGO. There are 16 ships taking live animals from the EU to the Persian Gulf which have been stuck for several days behind the stranded 'Ever Given' cargo vessel in the Suez Canal. Even with the Ever Given now slowly moving again, the live animals inside the blistering cargo containers, which are quickly running out of feed and water, are now nearing an even more tragic end than that which awaits them in the slaughterhouses at their destination. Even if the ships were to resume full course today, the water and food would not last until their sea journey is over. Romania is the source for the 130,000 of the 200,000 live animals now caught in the Suez bottleneck. Some six of the 11 ships full to the brim with the live animals from the South-Eastern European nation are in a particularly critical situation. They were supposed to reach harbours in the Persian Gulf over four days ago, but still have not left the Canal. According to EU law, ships carrying live animals need to load 25 percent more food than planned for their trip in case of delays, but animal welfare organisations warned that this rarely happens. Meanwhile, Păun explained to EUobserver that even with the 25 percent buffer, these ships would now run out of animal feed long before they arrive in port. "A ship that left Romania on 16 March was scheduled to arrive in Jordan on 23 March, but instead it would now reach port on 1 April at the earliest. That is a nine-day delay. Even if the ship had the required 25 percent additional animal feed, it would only have lasted for 1.5 days", he said. The 'ANSVSA', the Romanian authority in charge of live-animal exports issued a press release two days ago saying that after reaching out to those in charge on board the ships, there is enough food and water to last a few days. The press release added that live animal exports have been currently suspended until the situation in the Suez is dealt with. But for Păun, those responsible for the shipment would never admit that animals are dying by the thousands on their vessels. Meanwhile, the EU legislation does not compel an EU member state to report on animal mortality on board these ships and Romania would never release that information voluntarily because authorities know that it would lead to investigations, he added. Romania is one of Europe's largest live-sheep exporters and has several times been singled out by the European Commission for its bad practices regarding live-animal exports. Last year, Romania was red-flagged by Brussels for failing to meet live-animal transport conditions after more than 14,000 sheep drowned when a cargo vessel capsized off the Black Sea coast. A year earlier, the then EU commissioner for food safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, urged Romania - to no avail - to stop the export of 70,000 live sheep to the Persian Gulf because temperatures inside the cargo vessel exceed 60 degrees Celsius. Instead, Romanian authorities increased their live-animal exports, despite an investigation that showed animals exported to Gulf countries dying from the high temperatures, being unloaded violently off ships, squeezed into car trunks, and slaughtered by unskilled butchers. Păun says the only chance now for some of the animals to make it to destination alive is for Egyptian authorities to move quickly and clear the ships trapped in the Suez. "I am appalled that legislation did not offer Romania the power to command cargo ships to return back home. Romania should have used diplomatic pressure to resolve the issue," he said. "According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice, the EU member state exporting live animals to a third party country is responsible for their wellbeing until reaching destination", he added. For Păun, Romania should move toward exporting meat rather than live animals. "It would cancel the unnecessary suffering of the animals and would be more economically profitable for Romania", he said. But even though other countries have agreed that exporting processed and refrigerated meat is far more profitable and less cruel, live animal exports remain unabated from Romania.