How do you start?

The first goal in developing yourself in to identify the areas where you believe you may have a need for growth; and everyone has room for personal growth in some areas. It would be a mistake to think that you have failings that is not the same as reflecting on areas of your personal and professional life that could be developed, it is all a part of learning and a step on the pyramid of success. So sit down with a piece of paper and write down areas that you think you lack confidence and those will be the areas you can focus on.

Self-confidence and knowledge

Often in life and in work, people may lack self confidence in a given area, and this is perfectly natural and in many cases healthy. Over confidence can be dangerous for relationships and in the workplace. Self confidence grows with increased knowledge. Many entrepreneur success stories are borne out of individuals really doing detailed research about a subject or profession and becoming entirely comfortable with that aspect of their lives, and through that knowledge they gain confidence. This is not a recipe for guaranteed success, but it is the base line and working hard and finding out as much as you can about your profession or skill can never be a bad thing. Success rarely arrives at the doorstep of those who are not willing to work for it, so knuckle down and use this as a tip for success.

Expectations and actions

Stress and unmet expectations are causes for real concern in the process of self-development, which is where we can introduce the concept of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule states that you should "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." In basic terms, treat other people as you would like to be treated by them and you should be a generally happier and more fulfilled individual. This does involve you becoming more involved with people you interact with in the workplace. Difficulties in developing inter-personal relationships in the workplace can be barriers to success, so if you think that may apply, identify it in detail and start to rectify the situation; gain confidence in your inter-personal relationships at work and start seeing the increased success that follows.

Happiness and self-esteem

The western world has long since accepted that there is a developed relationship between happiness and self-esteem, so one without the other is difficult to achieve. The process of developing this psychology of improvement of these critical areas is worth examining on a personal level. Self esteem can be gained through a number of avenues; perhaps you need to dress for success, put on a new suit and feel the part, gaining increased self confidence in the process. Perhaps being better qualified is your route to success and happiness through better self esteem, get on a training course and gain a qualification relative to your work.

You can't buy success - but it may help!

There is a whole market out there for self-improvement books, personal growth reviews and spiritual growth workshops. Investing in any of these avenues could prove really worthwhile for you. Contact a mentor, try out a workshop, find out that there are other people out there striving to achieve their self-development goals too.

Author's Bio:

Steve Betsworth is an Internet Marketer who runs a website which currently offers a free five day e-course and an introductory video which explains not only the principles in this article in more detail, but more methods of finding success. Visit Wealth Mind Map to find out how you can achieve future success.


This village is in the Majha region of Punjab. It belongs to Narot Jaimal Singh development block of the Pathankot district. Demographics - Population includes 830 males and 719 female residents. Out of the total population of 1549 residents 96. For land use out of the total 151 hectares 127 hectares are cultivated by 24 tubewells.

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Baby Boomers Should Remember These Past NFL Stars. Do You?

By: Gavin Thagard

6 Min Quiz

Image: NFL

About This Quiz

From traditionalists to millennials, every generation lays claim to having the best experiences growing up, particularly if they're discussing sports. When it comes to the NFL, baby boomers might just have the best case. After all, they watched the sport develop from the NFL-AFL merger in the '60s through the cable television boom of the '80s.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this growth was the players who made football so fun to watch each week as families gathered around their televisions to catch a glimpse of the greatest legends of the gridiron. These star athletes constantly pushed the boundaries of what their positions on the field could do, revolutionizing both their side of the ball as well as the entire game.

How well do you remember these players who the baby boomers grew up idolizing? Are you familiar with their contributions to the game? Will you be able to identify them if we show you an image? This quiz will provide you with the opportunity to do just that.

From the earliest Super Bowl contenders through the elite defenders to the offensive juggernauts, this quiz covers the greatest stars the NFL has ever seen. Find out if you can run up the score or if you'll crumble beneath the pressure.

What's the name of this legend who won the first Super Bowl with the Packers?

Bart Starr had a mediocre college career at the University of Alabama, where he barely played the final two seasons of his career. The lack of play caused Starr to drop to the 17th round in the 1956 NFL Draft.

Do you know the name of this player who was the first draft pick ever selected by the Dallas Cowboys?

Bob Lilly spent his entire 14-year career with the Dallas Cowboys, where he won a Rookie of the Year award and was selected to 11 Pro Bowls. Cowboy fans loved him so much that they nicknamed him "Mr. Cowboy."

This receiver led the NFL in receiving yards during his second season. Who is he?

A five-time Pro Bowler, Del Shofner had some incredible years playing for the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants. For the Giants, he was the first player in the team's history to put up over 1,000 receiving yards over the course of a season.

Do you recognize this tight end who only missed one game in 10 seasons?

Baby boomers enjoyed watching John Mackey because of his well-rounded game, which was much ahead of his time. Not only could Mackey block, but he could also take a pass in for a touchdown with his speed and physicality.

One of the best lead blockers in NFL history, what's the name of this guard?

In an era where player safety was less of a concern, Jerry Kramer was as tough as they come on the field. He even received the nickname "Zipper" because of the number of stitches he got from the numerous operations throughout his career.

Can you identify this legendary drop back passer who spent time with the Eagles and the Redskins?

Sonny Jurgensen pushed the boundary on what it meant to be a pure passer in the NFL. In 1961, he became the first quarterback to throw for over 3,500 yards, a record he held until it was surpassed by Dan Fouts in 1979.

Are you familiar with this quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy before he was moved to halfback in the NFL?

Paul Hornung put himself in the NFL history books in 1960 when he scored a record 176 points over the course of 12 NFL games. That record stood until it was passed by LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006, though it took Tomlinson 14 games.

You might recognize which NFL legend shown here for his time with the Cleveland Browns?

Though he only played nine seasons in the NFL, Jim Brown made a name for himself as one of the greatest running backs of all time. His accomplishments included eight league rushing titles and three AP NFL MVP awards.

Who is this eight-time Pro Bowl selection?

Doug Atkins was not only a standout player in the pros, but he was a stellar college player at the University of Tennessee as well. During his time with the Volunteers, Atkins won a national championship and earned All American honors. For his contributions, Tennessee retired his No. 91.

Were you born early enough in the baby boom era to name this former NFL star?

A dominant defensive tackle, Alex Karras played 12 seasons in the NFL. When his career ended in 1970, Karras started a career as an actor, playing in movies like "Blazing Saddles" and "Against All Odds."

Known for his ferocity on the field, is this a player you're familiar with?

With the ability to play sideline to sideline, Dick Butkus showed future players just how dominant a middle linebacker could be. However, his hard-hitting, physical style of play was the main reason Butkus only played nine seasons in the league.

Few receivers in the '60s were as large or impactful as which player depicted in this image?

Boyd Dowler was a top target on the Green Bay Packers throughout the '60s, as they won five championships throughout the decade. However, he finished his career playing one season with the Washington Redskins, finally retiring in 1971.

How well do you know this bruising halfback who could run over or around you?

Leroy Kelly was an exceptional talent at the running back position, but he was also great in the return game. By the time he called it quits, Kelly had racked up over 12,000 combined yards on the field.

Are you able to identify this defensive lineman known for his incredible speed?

David "Deacon" Jones was known for smashing opposing quarterbacks, which helped him earn two Defensive Player of the Year awards. He even coined the term "sacks," which became a valuable stat for future generations.

Can you name this quarterback who threw a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games?

Johnny Unitas was the star for the Baltimore Colts when they defeated the New York Giants to capture the 1958 NFL championship. The game, which ended in overtime, saw Unitas throw for 349 yards and rush for another 20.

This player did everything on the field from running the ball to returning kicks. Who is he?

Gale Sayers made an immediate impact for the Chicago Bears in his rookie season. During the season, Sayers received the Rookie of the Year award after scoring 22 touchdowns while gaining 2,272 all-purpose yards.

Have you been watching football long enough to name this two-time NFL champion?

Raymond Berry went into coaching when he left the NFL following the 1967 season. Berry mainly served as a position coach, but he did take over the New England Patriots from 1984 until 1989.

Is this former shutdown corner a player you're familiar with?

Mel Renfro had one of the best seasons of his career in 1969 when he was first moved to cornerback after playing both safety and halfback in previous seasons. One of the fastest players in the league, Renfro led the NFL in interceptions during the 1969 season.

A tough runner who put up several 1,000-yard seasons, do you recognize this player?

During his 1962 MVP season, Jim Taylor led the NFL in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns while carrying the ball 272 times. His Green Bay Packers went on to win the NFL championship that season behind his tough running style.

What's the name of this football player turned actor that all baby boomers should know?

Merlin Olsen played defensive tackle in the NFL for 15 seasons, all with the Los Angeles Rams. Starting his rookie season, Olsen made 14 straight Pro Bowls, only missing out in the final year of his career.

Were you watching football when this player excited everyone with his athleticism?

Lynn Swann was nearly unguardable when his Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X. After recording 161 receiving yards in the game, Swann was named the Super Bowl MVP.

Who is this legendary guard who had to work his tail off after going undrafted in 1967?

Baby boomers should remember Larry Little as the lead blocker on the power sweep play run by the Miami Dolphins throughout the '70s. His ability to lead the way was a major reason the Dolphins led the league in rushing yards twice.

Are you familiar with this quarterback who promised to deliver a title for the New York Jets?

Joe Namath knew how to throw the football, but it wasn't always to players on his team. Namath finished his career with 173 regular season touchdown passes but also had 220 interceptions.

The first player to rush for over 2,000 yards, can you identify this former star?

Despite his controversial life, no one can take away from what O.J. Simpson was able to do on the football field. After an outstanding college career, Simpson played 11 seasons in the NFL, where he led the league in rushing yards four times.

Do you know this player who was a central piece for the "Purple People Eaters"?

Carl Eller could get after the quarterback as good as anyone in NFL history. His defensive prowess helped him make seven straight All Pro teams, five on the first team and two on the second team.

A centerpiece of Chuck Noll's defense, who do you see in this image?

Opposing offenses will remember Joe Greene for his outstanding play on the defensive side of the ball, but many baby boomers might remember him for his famous Coca Cola commercial. In the commercial, Greene receives a drink from a kid, who he rewards by giving the kid his jersey.

You probably remember which cornerback shown here was a star for the Dallas Cowboys throughout the '70s.

Cliff Harris was a ball hawk for the Dallas Cowboys during his NFL career, with his best total coming in 1977 when the Cowboys reached the Super Bowl. That season, Harris recorded five interceptions.

Which Hall of Fame quarterback is this?

Terry Bradshaw wasn't the greatest regular season quarterback, but he always did enough to give his team a chance to win. However, once in the playoffs, Bradshaw turned it on, winning four Super Bowls and two Super Bowl MVPs.

Can you remember the name of this legendary running back for the Chicago Bears?

Walter Payton was part of the '85 Bears team that won Super Bowl XX. However, after the game, Payton locked himself in a closet because he failed to score a touchdown, which he blamed his head coach for.

Is this fierce linebacker a player you are familiar with?

Jack Lambert was an important piece on the "Steel Curtain" defense that defined the Pittsburgh Steelers throughout the '70s. Lambert was particularly known for his tackling ability, which helped him earn two Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Feared by defenders for his incredible height, what's the name of this former star?

Harold Carmichael made his first Pro Bowl in his third season in the NFL while playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. That season, Carmichael led the league in both receiving yards and receptions, but his efforts weren't enough to help the Eagles reach the playoffs.

Are you able to identify this player who was once the Offensive Rookie of the Year?

Tony Dorsett is one of only two players to achieve a 99-yard touchdown run in a game. He accomplished the feat on Jan. 3, 1983 while playing against the Minnesota Vikings, who were trying to defend ground in their new stadium, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

Does this former Super Bowl MVP have a familiar face?

When Chuck Howley was named the MVP of Super Bowl V, he set two precedents, one of which has never been broken. For one, he was the first non-quarterback to win the award, and second, he remains the only player from the losing team to receive the honor.

Who is this player who fought off pass rushers for 13 seasons?

Anthony Munoz played both college football and baseball at the University of Southern California. A testament to his immense talent, he won both a national championship and a College World Series while playing for the Trojans. He had a Hall of Fame career with the Bengals.

Do you recognize this quarterback who led several last-minute comebacks?

Even after leaving college, Roger Staubach remained in the U.S. Navy from 1965 until 1969. While serving in the Navy, he did one tour in Vietnam, a mission he volunteered for as he could have asked for an assignment in the United States.

What's the name of this former number one overall draft pick?

From 1978, which was his rookie season, until 1980, Earl Campbell won three straight NFL Offensive Player of the Year awards with the Oilers. Every season during that span, he rushed for over 1,400 yards, topping it off with 1,934 yards in 1980.

If you don't recognize this tight end as a player, then maybe you'll know him for coaching the Bears. Who is he?

Mike Ditka was part of three Super Bowl victories throughout his lifetime. He won a single title as a player for the Dallas Cowboys before winning one as an assistant coach and one as a head coach.

Can you identify this four-time Super Bowl champion?

As injuries hampered his career, Joe Montana competed directly against the up and coming Steve Young for the starting quarterback spot on the San Fransisco 49ers. Rather than cause division within the locker room, Montana requested a trade following the 1992 season.

How familiar are you with this star who spent time as both a safety and cornerback?

Ronnie Lott came into the 1986 season off a finger injury that required part of his pinky to be amputated. The injury did nothing to slow him down as Lott led the league in interceptions in 1986 despite missing two games.

Which former all-world receiver is this?

After his 14-year career in the NFL came to a close, Steve Largent went into politics. From 1994 until 2002, Largent represented his home state of Oklahoma in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Debating AI, Questioning Humanity. “Westworld is here”?

Perpetuum mobile of the past and the future seems to form the present in which the thought of thoughts is formed. Hidden meanings in the past that are often keys that unlooked the doors of the future.
And a lot questions take us through worlds from which we want to imagine the probable and improbable answer like Dr. Robert Ford from Westworld…

Humans are fascinated and at the same time afraid by AI, it is an eternal love-hate relationship, where we as humans are questioning our creation. Or, not?
Are we questioning what humans will do with machines? Or what corporate agenda will do, once it owns a superior intelligence.
If other generations debated feminism, human rights, vote, education, the Big Questions for our generation will be around technology, and definitely AI. All debates around AI… Are they really about AI, or should we discuss more about our values, ethics, and responsibilities as human beings, and our inability to imagine societies that don’t harm, but brings benefits for the many?

The debate “Machine Yearning” was a captivating exchange of view between scientists and artists about the AI and Human zigzagging crossroads, and solutions and opportunities we have. It was part of a conversation series that ran at the Sundance Film Festival, supported by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, that also announced the winners of its annual award – read HERE about the winners

©Photo credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

The debate was moderated by Gadi Schwartz ( journalist NBC News).
Featuring: Cynthia Breazeal (Associate Director, MIT Media Lab), Ashley Llorens (Vice President & Managing Director, Microsoft Research Outreach) and two directors that envisioned in their films different futures for AIs (or told our joined history with AIs in different times?): Lisa Joy and Kogonada.

Lisa Joy is a screenwriter, director and producer known for Westworld – a dystopian science fiction series set in a tech amusement park. The park caters to high-paying guests who may indulge their wildest fantasies without fear of retaliation from the android hosts, who are prevented by their programming from harming humans.
Another vision for our future with AIs comes from director and writer Kogonada
Kogonada is a director and writer who in his film After Yang (2021). When his young daughter’s beloved companion — an android named Yang — malfunctions, Jake (Colin Farrell) searches for a way to repair him. In the process, Jake discovers the life that has been passing in front of him, reconnecting with his wife (Jodie Turner-Smith) and daughter across a distance he didn’t know was there.

After Young will  be in theaters and streaming on Showtime on March 4.

Three main topics and questions were intriguing:

  1. When we talk about AI, we talk about technology or humanity?
  2. Why and how is AI dangerous?
  3. What are possible paths: is it collaborations, AI-literacy, regulations, involvement of art?

AI-discussions take up the space, raising fear, being intimidating, admiration, fascination. but when we are talking about Ai., what we are talking about: a simple or more complex, but faceless algorithm- such as those on social media?
Human looking robots, such as Sophia? NPC from games? Virtual Beings? A generative art piece, consisting of a few lines of code? Are we talking about robots or robots that have feelings or consciousness?
Whatever the answer is, there is always the AI and/or Human… But WHY?

.Lisa Joy considered that the reason why so much fiction anthropomorphized AI, gives them a human, body and face, and affection is because we are really examining human nature itself.
“Any meditation on AI, is a meditation on fore-fathers of AI, which are humans. And often these are cautionary tales of what can possibly be wrong or short-sighted about humanity in the design of these robots”.
When it comes to AI and his movie After Yang, Kogonada says that there is the question which is always asked: Did Yang (ed note: the friendly-nanny-android) want to be more human? (But, this is such a human question to ask) And then the response is kind of ‘what is so great about being human?’.
.Kogonada admits that he struggles as a human being, ‘ I have had a lot of existential angst since I was a child, and I still did not come up with some real answers”. Maybe when the Other Being comes in our scenarios -and we have to live with the Others, and not necessarily in an oppositional way- that makes us feel uncomfortable?
And Kogonada’s answer is kind of yes: ‘ I think humans are uncomfortable with the idea that they are not the central being in this world… The thing that always comforts us (like in the StarTrek scenario) we have this idea, that humans will always triumph because we have ‘THAT THING’, we have that instinct, something that will always put us ahead of Others.

Lisa Joy warns, that we have to examine ourselves and human nature: “Why aren’t we as sophisticated as we like to believe? How hackable are we as a society or as an individual? And I think the answer is: pretty hackable.
So, in some ways like all myth about Gods where humans go wrong is hubris – we think that we are stronger, wiser and less corruptible, less influenceable than we are, but we haven’t really looked at all the externalities that are involved and all the ways i which by launching something like this, will set a sequence of events that very quickly outpace what your own mind is able to fathom”

Lisa Joy noted that Ai is probably more insidious in its dangers, than what some fiction lets us to believe. And we should not talk about AI in the future, but presents, because
The park of Westworld is here, it is just not like a Disney world, it is an online space, it is a digital space and we all go onto it, and that’s how we meet our friends and hear about news and completely obscure and probably aggrandize the details of our life.
The fabrications of self-storytelling and the stories that we receive have all these narratives now, you don’t need to go to some place like Westworld to be told a yarn, you just need to log on
The reason why AI feels much more threatening than ever, it is because we created something that surprised us in ways that they strategize and it is not just data-processing, it is a kind of intelligence that we still kind of try to process, observed Kogonada.
We might ask if AI is challenging us, human beings, as the primary Beings? And Kogonada considered that we have to ask what AI means in our relationship with that?
It is fascinating, we have been the primary beings of this world. There are other animals that are intelligent, but we constantly imposed our power, and this idea that we created some other entity that is testing us in ways that is not just data computation…

AI is sophisticated, and Lisa Joy sees it as a kind of Deity. Once Machine-Learning is involved,- we can give the algorithm our prompts and it will overturn an answer, that might be the right answer, but we have no idea how they got that answer. As such, “your actions when relying on an AI become faith-based, much like people looked at oracles and Gods. Basically we created our own Deity”/ We = meaning corporations.
The Goals of those deities will be set by specific drives – capitalistic market rates, some kind of propaganda, warns Lisa Joy.

Love it or hate it, AI is with us for years, and we will see more of it in the coming years.
AI systems can help us, can hack us, can destroy us – Question is WHAT TO DO?
Nowadays, every researcher recognize that there are unintended side effects, consequences about the way systems are designed – for example biases can be incorporated in ML – read more about biases in AI (racial, indigenous, but also art practices that addressed it) that were addressed during the MIT conference Unfolding Intelligences

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal (Associate Director, MIT Media Lab) sees that as concepts such as Responsible AI, Ethical AI are gaining steam, this is a sign of a maturing ecosystem. But warns that “we have to be mindful of how we design and create these technologies”.
So, what are some possible paths, and from the discussion we extracted 4 themes:
-*Collaborate with AI,
-*Involve Policy Makers,
-*Involvement of Art.

3.1 AI – Collaborators?

As we are designing these systems, we have to address if these will become our friends, and we will be able to collaborate with them or our foes as we will see ourselves replaced and displaced by machines. It seems that panelists were more inclined toward collaborative versions of AI.
Ashley Llorens (Vice President & Managing Director, Microsoft ) says clearly, that ”creating a human-like machine is not a goal, but creating a collaborator it is. For example, humans can make irrational choices when faced with risks we tend to overweight or place emphasis on rare occurrences”.

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal (Associate Director, MIT Media Lab) , admits that there are fascinating complementarities and differences between what machines can do, and what humans can do.
And the opportunity is really about: how can we as a team, as collaborators do more together, achieve more together than we could either as just a machine or just as people.
It is kind of exploring that relationship that is fascinating”
Ashley Llorens (Vice President & Managing Director, Microsoft ) thinks that AI only exists to augment and extend human intelligence.
He envisions intelligence as the ability to set and establish goals for individuals, society, and the planet. One of the challenging questions he addresses is ”how do we specify those goals, how we come together as groups or as human species, and really start to understand what we want to get out of AI”.

3.2 Tech + Policy:

Ashley Llorens highlighted that the intersection between tech and policy communities is crucial.
” As technologist we really need to understand how to translate some of these conundrums and how to illustrate what they are possible, And in the policy community, we really all have a shared interest in that community making choices’

Lisa Joy underlined that especially during the quarantine, we don’t go out that much, the idea of the world is constantly fed to us by different technologies.
“It’s scary, because it can start to change the very nature of how we relate to each other, how we view ourselves, () , it can start to change, our kindness, generosity, our value system of what matters to us…. () the world presented to us is a big hallucination, is tearing apart the fabric of the objective truth, i think we should probably regulate it…
Lisa also calls for regulation on an international governmental level. She argues that a techsavvy silicon valley culture can easily disrupt a less tech-savvy culture of regulators. But can you regulate things that people are designing in their basements? How do you do that? Should it be an AI monitoring or policing entity? And who is designing that and who is policing that?, are some uncomfortable questions that need to be answered.

3.3 AI-Literacy

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal tries to build robots, systems that help individuals to achieve deeply personal goals like learning, being healthier or more emotionally resilient But, she admits that AI ‘ is a double-edged sword – we can be persuaded, we can be shaped by these technologies in all kinds of ways’
Another solution is AI-literacy – meaning Cynthia Breazeal tries to educate people to understand what these technologies are, how they work, what influence they can have on us. And she does a lot of work with kids teaching them about AI, social media or how GANs work.
She admits that it is important that people understand “so everyone can participate in that conversation about how we want to live with these technologies”, because now there are only the people who build and design AI, often controlled by corporations, but there is a need for much more diverse communities to be designing these systems.

3.4 The challenge of Art

Kogonada sees the role of art in questioning things about society and humanity – that is why Art exists. Unfortunately, he notices that often the drive for technology is not: of what is Good for Humanity, but so much of tech is driven by industrial or military interests, so the technology that is being advanced is often about Control, Power and Profit. And then, the rest of the world will try to figure out how to utilize it. So, there are a lot of questions to be asked, and “I think that Art can then question those things…”

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal (Associate Director, MIT Media Lab) agrees with the role of art as questioning: “I think the challenge of art is to continue to challenge us to think differently, in ways that are important and timely to the way we’re living now, the way we think about the past and the way we envision our future”.

©Photo credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

The Sundance Film Festival®
The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer Of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, WhiplashBrooklynPreciousThe CoveLittle Miss SunshineAn Inconvenient TruthNapoleon DynamiteHedwig and the Angry InchReservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape.

The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute. 2022 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, AMC+, Chase Sapphire, Adobe; Leadership Sponsors – Amazon Studios, DIRECTV, DoorDash, Dropbox, Netflix, Omnicom Group, WarnerMedia, XRM Media; Sustaining Sponsors – Aflac, Audible, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dell Technologies, IMDbPro, Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, Rabbit Hole Bourbon & Rye, Unity Technologies, University of Utah Health, White Claw Hard Seltzer; Media Sponsors – The Atlantic, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Shadow and Act, Variety, Vulture. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists.

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Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings artists together to learn from each other and Sundance advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes AlwaysZola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, HoneylandOne Child NationThe Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale StationCity So Real, Top of the Lake, Between the World & Me, Wild Goose Dreams and Fun Home. Join the Sundance Institute on FacebookInstagramTwitter and YouTube.

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False positivity is worse than negativity

Staying positive, being happy, and not caring what other people think are all good things, but what if they are false? What if we don't feel them? Should we keep our smile on anyway? Nope. That is not only unhealthy and creepy but a definition of insanity. Your body knows when you are being dishonest with yourself. It feels how you are going against its natural flow, and it will come back at you with a vengeance in the form of various illnesses, mental and physical.


Jaime Barreto

Jaime Barreto was born in Colombia, South America on February 4, 1928. In 1953, he came to the United States with his beloved wife, Helena Paramo Barreto, whom he married on December 16, 1950, and his firstborn son Herman. Shortly thereafter, Fernando/Jimmy (Eileen) and Martha (Corey) completed the family and they found a forever home in New Hyde Park. He passed peacefully on the morning of July 1, 2022, at home surrounded by loved ones.

Jaime was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend to many--always quick with a joke or to join a game of chess or golf. He found peace in painting and spent many summer afternoons playing with his grandchildren: Casey, Alex, Dylan, and Katherine. He will forever be remembered for his generosity in both spirit and time, as well as his unceasing devotion to his wife and family. Jaime will be missed beyond measure.


Great Display By Connor Holloway Who Narrowly Misses Out On A Split Decision

So into the Quarter Finals we go, Connor Holloway had worked and trained very hard for this and had got through to the last eight of the England Boxing Elite Championships being held in London.
Connor came out very strong in the first round moving well and catching his opponent with some great shots, and it was thought that Connor managed to take the round. In the second Connor again came out strong and gave his opponent a hard task, but this round was a lot more even.. In the third it was back and forth, and as the bell went the result could have gone either way, … the tension was high as the result was read out but unfortunately our man lost on a split decision… However Connor can definitely hold his head high, he put in a great effort against a sixty plus bout boxer who was also a UK champion and never looked out of place for one second. So once again we have another ABC boxer who did himself and the club proud in a national championship and with more experience and gaining additional skill along the way will undoubtedly be winning these bouts and a major force to be recognised.

Well done Connor … onwards and upwards


19 Vaccines

covid 19
Our world continues to get shocked with pandemic illnesses causing the loss of 1000’s and even hundreds of thousands of individuals. The new coronavirus is the illness-inflicting agent of the viral illness that has turn into a worldwide pandemic, and it has induced the worldwide economic recession. The infection may be in someone’s body for as long as 14 days earlier than they get unintended effects, and a few individuals will have a particularly mild occasion of COVID-19 that they in all probability won’t see that anything is not proper.

There are reports that, in some Covid-19 patients, dying has occurred probably as a consequence of a cytokine storm, when the immune system goes into overdrive, thereby damaging even healthy tissue that will lead to multiple organ failure, sepsis, and even demise.

Going To The Church Of God With This COVID

covid 19
There’s little doubt that the Coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the way you reside and the way in which you think about things that you previously took as a right. That is the reason it’s vital that everyone follows government exhortation – together with hand washing, using tissues to get hacks and sniffles, and maintaining a strategic distance from swarms – to stop the unfold of the an infection, no matter whether they feel solid.

If you are meaning to retire quickly, and have been getting ready to buy an annuity, in March, the Financial institution of England cut the base price twice in simply over per week as a further emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic, decreasing it from zero.25% to 0.1%. This has meant annuity rates have additionally fallen.
Bear in mind that retirement savings are for the long term. Had been preexisting stealth tailored viruses to include the vaccine Covid-19 spike antigen-coding DNA or RNA sequence, they might readily disrupt the physique’s angiotensin-mediated regulatory system. Thus, situations as COVID-19, resulting from our now invincible immune system, born of converged slim gate silence, have no impact on us. Blessings.

19 And The Concern Of Loss of life

covid 19
Coronavirus are a type of virus which causes widespread colds, but can even trigger more critical diseases resembling SARS, MERS, or COVID – 19. The virus is only about 0.025 Âµm in diameter, far smaller than the human eye can see even with the most effective optical microscope. COVID19 illness germs are actually microscopic dwelling organisms or viruses that require a wholesome host physique to survive. Individuals, who’re 65 years and older, are at a higher danger of Covid-19 infection attributable to their decreased immunity. Whereas the virus might last as long as seventy two hours, the half-life, or the time it takes for half the virus to expire, was found to be roughly 5.6 hours on chrome steel and 6.eight hours.

In different words, we just need to have a steadiness of protein, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, nutritional vitamins, and minerals in our diets to sustain a healthy physique. The COVID pandemic is pushing an expected four million older staff out of the workforce and into an unplanned early retirement, based on an August 2020 report by Forbes Journal.
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For bacterial infections, Nylexa is a potential solution to a public well being challenge even greater than COVID-19: the worsening antimicrobial biotic resistance (AMR) disaster.


Overcoming Nostalgia After the Move

How to Transition Into Your New Home

It’s finally happened- you hired movers London Ontario and moved into your new home! It’s been a long process, but it’s all worth it when you’re finally able to settle in. However, one thing that often comes with the settling in process is nostalgia. You may find yourself missing your old home and all of the memories that were made there. This can be difficult, especially if you’re not used to living in a new place.

One way to overcome nostalgia is by creating new memories in your new home. This can be done by exploring your new neighborhood, trying out new restaurants, and spending time with your family and friends. You can also decorate your new home to make it feel more like yours. This will help you create a sense of ownership over your space and make it feel more comfortable. Additionally, try to stay busy during the transition period. This will help you focus on the present and keep your mind off of the past.

Movers London Ontario

Also, don’t be afraid to reach out to your old community. You can stay in touch with them through social media, phone calls, and even visits. This will help you maintain a connection to your past while also moving forward into your new home.

Finally, give yourself time to adjust. It’s normal to feel nostalgic and miss your old home, but it’s important to remember that you’re not alone. Many people go through this same transition and eventually find a way to overcome it.

It’s normal to feel nostalgic after moving into a new home. However, there are ways to overcome this feeling and transition smoothly into your new life. By staying busy, exploring your new surroundings, and making your space feel like your own, you can overcome nostalgia and adjust to your new home.


Promissory Note

A promissory note is a legal document that guarantees a specified payment amount from one party to another. It’s also sometimes referred to as a note payable.

What is a Promissory Note?

A promissory note is just as binding as a traditional loan. However, it is often used for informal agreements like a loan between friends. A promissory note contains detailed repayment terms, including the loan amount, maturity date, and interest rate. Both contracted parties must also sign the promissory note to enforce it in court.

A promissory note is very similar to a bill of exchange. Nontraditional lenders often use a promissory note. In contrast, financial institutions typically use a bill of exchange in commerce. Both are governed by the 1930 Geneva Convention of Uniform Law on Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes.

If conducting business with a financial institution, a promissory note is provided. But suppose you are doing business with a family member or friend. In that case, either party could obtain a promissory note from a financial professional or lawyer. However, a witness is not necessary for a promissory note.

Does a Promissory Note Require Collateral?

If both parties agree to the terms, a lender can request collateral. An asset can secure a promissory note. There are both secured and unsecured promissory note options available.

A secured promissory note will usually come attached with a secondary document. Suppose a personal item is used as collateral by a borrower. In that case, a security agreement form will also need to be presented with the promissory note.

Under the terms of the security agreement form, the lender can decide if the borrower can physically keep the asset until the debt is repaid. Suppose the conditions of the promissory note are not met by the maturity date. In that case, the lender can seize the borrower’s assets.

What Are the Different Types of Promissory Notes?

There are a couple of different types of promissory notes lenders can use. The type of promissory note used will depend on the repayment terms.

  • Simple Promissory Note: A simple promissory note is used when the debt is paid back in one lump sum on a specific date.
  • Demand Promissory Note: This type of promissory note does not have a due date. Payment of the debt is expected when the lender demands the money. However, the borrower must be given sufficient notice to come up with the money.
  • Secured Promissory Note: This type of promissory note requires the use of collateral. Physical items and intangible items, such as copyrights, can be used to secure funding. If the borrower does not adhere to the repayment terms, the lender can seize the asset.
  • Unsecured Promissory Note: This type of promissory note does not require the use of collateral.

What if a Promissory Note Goes Unpaid?

A lender may take legal action if a borrower does not offer payment by the maturity date of the promissory note or does not provide the asset. First, a demand letter must be sent by an attorney on behalf of the lender. The demand letter will request a specific action, such as payment of the promissory note.

A collection agency can file a debt collection lawsuit against the borrower if the borrower doesn’t take action after receiving the demand letter. The borrower will have to respond to the lawsuit and appear in court.

If the borrower does not appear in court by the summons date, the court will likely favor the lender. In addition to the agreed-upon debt listed on the promissory note, the court may order the borrower to pay additional fees for interest, collection costs, and attorney fees. The debt collector will withdraw the total loan amount plus fees from the borrower’s wages or bank account.

Will an Unpaid Promissory Note Affect Credit?

If a borrower does not comply with the promissory note, is their credit score negatively affected? The answer is yes. A lender can choose to report the missing payment to one of the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Note that not just anyone can negatively report an individual to a credit bureau. If you and a friend signed a promissory note, which goes unpaid, your friend could not report you and vice versa. Lenders must be registered as an official lending authority and pay to report information.

Registered creditors can report a promissory note default. A promissory note default is just as damaging as a standard loan default. It will appear on the borrower’s credit report and lower a credit score. Negative information will stay on a credit report for seven years, such as loan default. After seven years, any unfavorable information is removed from a credit report.

Promissory Note
Secured Promissory Note vs. Unsecured Promissory Note
What To Do if a Debt Collector Sues You
Can a Promissory Note Affect Your Credit?

The cash you need at ninja speed.


Video: How Beef Farmers Can Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

By Daisy Dunne and Tom Prater

The beef industry is currently responsible for 6 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, making it as large a polluter as the construction sector.

Eating less meat is one way to cut beef emissions. However, scientists have also started to look at ways that farmers can reduce the carbon footprint of beef before it reaches the plate.

Carbon Brief visited Rothamsted Research—a unique experimental farm in Devon—to find out more about how beef farmers could cut their contribution to climate change.

Making a Meal

The beef industry contributes to climate change in several ways.

Cows are ruminants, meaning that their stomachs contain specialized bacteria capable of digesting tough and fibrous material such as grass. The digestive process causes cows to belch out methane—a greenhouse gas that is around 25 times more potent at trapping heat than CO2.

Beef production is the leading cause of deforestation in many regions, accounting for 60 percent of forest loss across Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea in 2011. The removal of trees causes CO2 to be released into the atmosphere.

In addition, grazing cattle need plentiful supplies of grass—meaning farmers often use nitrogen fertilizer on their fields to stimulate plant growth. The production of nitrogen fertilizer causes the release of CO2 and the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O).

In total, emissions from livestock account for around 14.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, with beef production accounting for just under half of this figure, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

Carbon footprints of meat productionChart by Rosamund Pearce. Data source: FAO

Experimental Farm

In Devon, a county in south-west England, agricultural scientists at Rothamsted Research farm are exploring various avenues that could be taken to reduce this figure.

In a recent study, published in Journal of Cleaner Production, the researchers studied whether cow feed can influence the size of the animals’ carbon footprints.

The unique 60-hectare beef farm is akin to a giant scientific experiment, with researchers closely monitoring all of the “inputs” and “outputs” of the farm system.

The inputs include cow feed, while outputs include manure, the amount of weight gained by the animals and the run-off of nutrients, such as nitrogen. The region’s uniquely chalky soils prevent liquid from seeping into the earth—making it possible for the scientists to collect nutrient run-off using a network of pipes.

This close monitoring allows the researchers to keep a record of the carbon footprint of each animal reared on the farm, explained Graham McAuliffe, a Ph.D. student at the farm and the University of Bristol. He told Carbon Brief:

“Usually, when you calculate a carbon footprint, it’s based on an average statistic from either a herd, a regional level or a national level, but what we’re able to do here at the farm platform is to calculate that carbon footprint on a timescale—so, every two weeks—but also on an individual animal basis.”

The farm is split into three equally sized plots, known as “farmlets.” The plots represent three typical farming systems used for beef production, McAuliffe said:

“Our first system is ‘permanent pasture’—which is, essentially, ‘business as usual.’ It doesn’t get reseeded, it doesn’t get ploughed and it gets conventional nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer applications.

“Our second system is ‘white clover,’ which is a pseudo-organic system. Because clover has nitrogen-fixing nodes in its roots, we’re able to minimize or avoid inorganic nitrogen fertilizer on the soil.”

The third plot used is a pure grass system, which was also treated with nitrogen fertilizer, he added.

Bird’s-eye view of Rothamsted Research farm in Devon, showing three experimental pasture systemsMap by Tom Prater. Data source: McAuliffe et al. (2018)

Cow Countdown

For six years, the researchers collected data from cows grazing on each farmlet. Each autumn, 30 calves (Charolais x Hereford-Friesian breed) entered each farmlet at the point of weaning.

The chart below shows the carbon footprint (in CO2 equivalent) for the average cow grazed on the permanent (left), white clover (middle) and pure grass (right) plots. The chart also shows the carbon footprint of the “best” and “worst” performing animals on each farmlet.

Carbon footprints (CO2e) of the average, “best” and “worst” cows grazing on permanent pasture (left), white clover (middle) and pure grass (right)Source: McAuliffe et al. (2018)

The results show that cows fed on white clover tend to have the smallest carbon footprints, while cows from the permanent pasture and pure grass plots have the largest.

This is because the white clover system did not require the use of nitrogen fertilizer, McAuliffe said:

“The white clover system can have a lower carbon footprint because we don’t put nitrogen on it. That not only avoids the emissions associated with applying nitrogen fertilizer, but it also means that the upstream emissions from the production of nitrogen fertilizer are also avoided.”

However, even within each farmlet, some cows had larger carbon footprints than others, the results show.

The cows with the largest carbon footprints, known as “poor performers,” take longer to gain weight than others, McAuliffe said. Because of this, these cows must spend longer on the farm before they are sent to slaughter—meaning they spend more time emitting methane.

It is still not clear why some cows are lower performers than others, McAuliffe said. However, it is likely that genetics play a role in the differences between animals, he added:

“I would say a lot of it has to do with the environment, it has to do with genetics, it could be animal health—an animal might be poorly so it’s not consuming enough grass.”

Low-Carbon Cows

Following their results, the researchers plan to carry out an experiment to see if genetic selection could be used to produce cows with lower-than-average carbon footprints.

Selective breeding is a common technique in agriculture and involves breeding two animals with desirable characteristics (two cows with high milk yields, for example). If the trait has a genetic basis, there is a higher chance that the offspring will inherit it.

Though more research is needed, it is possible that breeding cows with a lower climate impact could help beef farmers to cut their emissions, McAuliffe said:

“If you’ve got a farm that’s got a lot of animals that are performing really poorly and replace them with animals that don’t require a lot of time on the farm to get to a finishing weight, I think it’s fair to say that the farm would be able to reduce its overall carbon footprint.”

Chewing the Fat

The findings offer promise for cutting emissions from beef production, said Dr. Tara Garnett, a scientist from the University of Oxford’s Food Climate Research Network, who was not involved in the study.

However, cutting emissions from beef production “can only take us so far,” she said. Last year, Garnett published a report finding that cutting down on global meat consumption would be the best way to tackle emissions. She told Carbon Brief:

“There are things to do on the production side to moderate greenhouse gas emissions from the farming sector, but they will only get you so far. High-consuming individuals and countries need to be cutting back on the amount of meat that they consume.”

Reposted with permission from our media associate Carbon Brief.

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West's incredulity toward US makes propagating China or Russia 'threat' difficult to work
Published: Aug 10, 2022 09:14 PM
Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

At present, the US is the only country that still wants to use ideology to rule the world, whilst European countries have lost the intention, determination, and ability to do so.

Andrew A. Michta, an American political scientist and expert at the Germany-based George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, attributed the Western democracies' "disadvantage vis-à-vis the Russian-Chinese totalitarian axis" to the West's "widespread incredulity about the seriousness of the threat we face [from China and Russia]." He argued it in the piece entitled "China, Russia and the West's Crisis of Disbelief," which was posted recently in the Wall Streets Journal.

Michta's remarks on the ideological division of countries by "democratic versus totalitarian" embody a typical Cold War mindset. Although the Cold War has long ended, such a mentality is still spreading amongst some Americans, said Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China is also a democratic country, and it is pretty narrow-minded to classify it as "totalitarian" just because its development path differs from that of the West. Civilizations in the world have blended and learned from each other. Against this backdrop, it is, in fact, unrealistic to provoke struggles between different civilizations and ideologies.

In terms of the West's "widespread incredulity about the seriousness of the threat" from China and Russia, it is not hard to understand. The relationship between countries is more of an exchange of interests. No country is willing to sacrifice itself in order to serve the interests of other countries. Great differences of interest exist not only between Europe and the US, but also within Europe itself. The alliances between some Western countries and the US are ultimately for protecting their own interests. When the US chooses to confront China and Russia, it's impossible for European countries to sacrifice their own interests just in order to remain the alliance system with the US, said Wang Shuo, a professor at the School of International Relations of Beijing Foreign Studies University.

According to Lü, the West's "incredulity" in regard to the seriousness of threat posed by China and Russia mainly stems from their distrust toward the US. American capabilities are declining. After the end of the Cold War, the US has led NATO to take military actions against countries such as former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Afghanistan to flex their muscles. The US has had no experience of fighting an armed conflict with another major power since the Cold War. Therefore, its military prestige in fact is actually very limited. No one doubts that China and Russia have huge counterattack capabilities. If Europe follows the US in violating the core interests of China and Russia, it will meet strong pushback from China and Russia and the US may not be able to guarantee the security of Europe at that time.

Although Europe is following Washington in sanctioning and getting tough on Russia, Europe differs from the US in their manner toward Moscow. For Europe, Russia is a neighbor that cannot be moved away, but that's not the case for the US.

The ongoing Ukraine crisis demonstrates that when Washington leads NATO to provoke Russia, the biggest victim is Europe. Europe has been severely hit by the spillover effect of the Ukraine crisis - It has to face an energy crisis and soaring prices with key European countries entering a recession, which may spark political and social instability.

China, which lies far away from Europe, is the continent's huge market. Some European enterprises can make even more profits in China than in Europe. Therefore, it is quite normal that many European countries take the "China threat" hyped by the US lightly.

The West's "incredulity" toward the threat from China and Russia can be seen as its own reflections, Lü argued. Europe, represented by Germany, has been committed to building stable relations with China and Russia. But this is what the US is reluctant to see. In response, the US has been sowing discord, using issues such as Ukraine to provoke Europe's ties with Russia as well as exaggerating the so-called China threat to undermine Europe's relationship with China. It is time for Europe to reflect how to consolidate Europe's internal unity, enhance its autonomy and reduce its reliance on the US.

The Biden administration has been stressing Western unity, which, however, proved to be profound disunity in the West and within the US. US political division is becoming more evident. How could Biden unite the whole of the West when the US cannot unite itself? Since the Trump administration emphasized "America First," the US' reputation in the West became bankrupt, and especially so when Washington's purpose to unite the West is to maintain its global hegemony and serve its domestic election agenda. This will only make the West alert.

In such a context, propagating the so-called China or Russia threat in the West can hardly have its desired objectives. The more the US views China and Russia as its enemies, the more difficult it is for the US to unite its allies.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn


Can Weather App Technology Help Forecast Your Unique Risk Of COVID?

Not long after the COVID-19 lockdown, a few apps were developed to help the public control the spread of the virus. Most of these apps were based on contact tracing information, alerting people if they had been in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. While apps can't control an epidemic, some evidence shows that they are useful in helping reduce COVID infections, according to Nature

Current apps are somewhat limited, and they don't regularly update to provide more detailed information, unlike weather apps. Now, one researcher is considering how effective a COVID forecasting app would be. The app would collect data, much like weather apps do, and help you determine your unique risk for being exposed to COVID. That's the app that Tapio Schneider, professor of environmental science and engineering at the California Institute of Technology and senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wants to create (via WebMD).

The app could be useful in controlling a pandemic

Schnieder worked with a team of experts to determine whether such an app would work. Their findings, published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, were based on a simulation city with a population of 100,000. The app would gather metrics based on proximity data, test results, the number of exposed individuals in your area, and how much of the virus is in local wastewater. Other data could include information from wearables, self-reported symptoms, and information from community health organizations, like hospitals and medical clinics, per Caltech. The app would update in cycles, giving users the most up-to-date information. It would also alert users if they've been exposed to the virus.

Researchers found that if 75% of the population used such an app, followed COVID-19 protocols, and isolated when they needed to, a pandemic could be managed. Schnieder went on to say that such an app would be just as effective as a lockdown, per WebMD. While it may be too late for the current pandemic, Schneider says that it could work for other epidemics and diseases.


In bioartificial pancreases (BP), the number of islets needed to restore normoglycaemia in the diabetic patient is critical. However, the confinement of a high quantity of islets in a limited space may impact islet survival, particularly in regard to the low oxygen partial pressure (PO2) in such environments. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of islet number in a confined space under hypoxia on cell survival. Rat islets were seeded at three different concentrations (150, 300, and 600 Islet Equivalents (IEQ)/cm2) and cultured in normal atmospheric pressure (160 mmHg) as well as hypoxic conditions (15 mmHg) for 24 hours. Cell viability, function, hypoxia-induced changes in gene expression, and cytokine secretion were then assessed. Notably, hypoxia appeared to induce a decrease in viability and increasing islet density exacerbated the observed increase in cellular apoptosis as well as the loss of function. These changes were also associated with an increase in inflammatory gene transcription. Taken together, these data indicate that when a high number of islets are confined to a small space under hypoxia, cell viability and function are significantly impacted. Thus, in order to improve islet survival in this environment during transplantation, oxygenation is of critical importance.

1. Introduction

Islet transplantation is a minimally invasive therapy recommended for patients with brittle diabetes. Over the last fifteen years, the outcome of this therapy has improved, with a 3-year graft survival rate of 44% [1] as well as a decreased insulin requirement even after partial loss of the graft [26]. However, the main advantage of this procedure for diabetic patients is that even if they must be put back on insulin, there is a residual protective effect from hypoglycemic unawareness episodes thanks to a basal level of C-peptide (<0.3 g/L) [1]. Although this treatment option appears to have a number of positive consequences, the negative effects and limitations of the transplant, including the pancreatic requirements, immune suppressive regimen, low rate of insulin independence, short lifespan of the graft, and the recurrence of autoimmunity, have restricted the use of this therapy, particularly when treating children [6, 7].

To address these issues, bioartificial pancreases that encapsulate the cells in a selective shield which lets nutrients and insulin cross the barrier while stopping immune cells and effectively hiding the graft from the host are currently being developed [2, 6]. To immune-isolate the islet cells in this manner, one of two strategies is typically utilized, microencapsulation or macroencapsulation. For the first, one islet to four islets are encapsulated in a microsphere of polymer [2]. This polymer facilitates the exchange of oxygen and nutrients but makes it difficult to retrieve the graft posttransplantation. In contrast, for macroencapsulation, islets are gathered in one or a few distinct devices (e.g., a sheet of polymer, cylindrical device, perfusion device, macrobeads, or selective membrane [26, 8]), which allow the grafted cells to be easily removed, providing an additional advantage in the favor of macroencapsulation from a regulatory point of view for clinical application [9, 10]. However, the gathering of these cells can be detrimental as a lower level of oxygen is available in the device and the islets are confined to a much more limited area, potentially increasing the local consumption of oxygen and amplifying the hypoxic conditions surrounding the cells [6].

Physiologically, islets in a normal pancreas make up less than 2% of the whole organ but use approximately 10% of the total oxygen supply. These cells are highly vascularized and not physiologically prepared to face hypoxia. During islet transplantation in the liver, an oxygen partial pressure (PO2) of 5–10 mmHg has been shown to be enough for their survival [11], but this likely only reflects the level necessary when the islets are directly connected to the vascular system. In a bioartificial pancreas, islets cannot be vascularized as this will disrupt the immune-isolation characteristics necessary for their function. Thus, in these devices, oxygen can only be accessed via membrane diffusion, and PO2 in a macroencapsulation device is around 15 mmHg (subcutaneously or intraperitoneally [1215]). It is unlikely that this level is high enough for the cells to function efficiently.

The consequences of hypoxia on islets, including impaired survival and function [16, 17] and increased inflammation [18] associated with the recruitment and activation of host macrophages and leukocytes in the implantation site [19], are well established. Inflammatory molecules such as cytokines and chemokines promote insulitis and β-cell destruction together with an increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The main strategy used to counteract hypoxia-induced loss of islets is to overload the devices with cells with the hope that a few will survive and help reverse the effects of diabetes. In fact, experiments performed with the TheraCyte device, which uses 1,000 islets per device, have demonstrated a 6-month survival period for the graft in an immunized rat [20]. Unfortunately, this previous study only focused on islet function 1 month after transplantation. Furthermore, no data are available concerning islet oxygenation, and the authors have only assumed that the vascularization surrounding the device was able to bring enough oxygen for islet survival. Notably, one of the primary concerns, with increasing the number of islets in the confined environment of the device, is that even more oxygen will be consumed [21, 22], further exacerbating the localized hypoxia.

The number of islets transplanted is also depending on the size of the patient. For instance, a patient that weighs 50 kg would require a graft of 500,000 Islet Equivalents (IEQ). In order to maintain a sufficient number of functioning islet cells, the typical preconized culture density is 150 Islet Equivalents (IEQ)/cm2 [21], which means that to transplant this small patient, a single 3,333 cm2 device or 500 small 6.67 cm2 devices would need to be inserted, which is impossible. Thus, it is essential to increase the number of survival cells/cm2.

In the present study, we investigated the effects of islet density in a cellular context that mimics that found in smaller sized bioartificial pancreases using under 15 mmHg of oxygen. In doing so, we sought to establish the effects of hypoxic islet confinement on islet survival, function, and inflammatory potency in order to develop new strategies to improve the outcome of islet transplantation in patients with diabetes.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Islet Cell Isolation and Culture
2.1.1. Animals

Male Wistar rats were supplied by Janvier Laboratory (Le Genes St Isle, France). All rats were housed in pathogen-free conditions, in standard collective cages, in a temperature-controlled room (°C) with a 12-hour light/12-hour darkness cycle. They were fed SAFE-A04 (Villemoisson-sur-Orge, France) food and water ad libitum. All experiments were performed according to the National Institutes of Health and local ethical committee (CREMEAS) guidelines (authorization number: C67-482-28).

2.1.2. Islet Isolation

Pancreatic islets were isolated from adult Wistar rat pancreas (weight: 200–250 g) using standard collagenase (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) digestion and Ficoll (Eurobio, Les Ulis, France) purification. Islets were cultured in Medium 199 containing 5.5 mM glucose (Gibco, Life Technologies, Paisley, Scotland) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS, Sigma-Aldrich), and 1% antibiotic/antimicotic solution (ABAM; 100 units/mL of penicillin, 100 μg/mL of streptomycin, and 0.25 μg/mL of Fungizone; Gibco). After culturing for 24 hours in 25 cm2 flasks (Cellstar, Greiner Bio-One GmbH, Frickenhausen, Germany), three different islet densities (150, 300, and 600IEQ/cm2) were seeded in 48-well plates (Greiner). The 150IEQ/cm2 density was considered as the control condition in these experiments. Islets were cultured at the specified density for 24 hours in a humidified incubator (StemCell Technologies, Canada) at 37°C under normal atmosphere (PO2: 160 mmHg) as well as hypoxia conditions (PO2: 15 mmHg).

2.2. Oxygen Measurements

Oxygen measurements were carried out with a four-channel fiber-optic oxygen meter (Oxy-4) and noninvasive oxygen sensors (Presens, Germany). Briefly, oxygen acts as a dynamic fluorescence quencher of a luminophore in a polymer matrix. Spots, made of this polymer matrix, were glued onto the bottom of each culture well (Presens, Germany), allowing noninvasive measurements of oxygen to be taken through the plastic from the outside. An optic fibre connected to the OXY 4 oxygen meter was guided and positioned from the outside of the chamber to the spot. The data are expressed in mmHg and were taken at time 0 (t0) before placing the plates into the incubators as well as after the 24 h incubation period.

2.3. Islet Viability

Viability of 10 islets from each condition was analyzed by fluorescein diacetate/propidium iodide staining (FDA/PI, Sigma) by three independent investigators. The ratio of green to red cells provided the percentage of islet viability. Images were obtained on a Nikon Eclipse 50i microscope with Nis-Element-BR software (Nikon, Amstelveen, Netherlands).

2.4. ATP Levels

A total of 50 islets from each condition were handpicked and ATP was extracted with mammalian cell lysis solution. Levels of ATP were assessed using an ATPlite kit (PerkinElmer Inc., Waltham, MA, USA) following the manufacturer’s instructions. Results are expressed as μM/50 islets.

2.5. Islet Functionality

A subset of islets () from each experimental condition were washed extensively and incubated in Krebs Ringer bicarbonate (KRB) solution with 10% FBS and 4.4 mmol/L of glucose (Sigma). Islets were then stimulated with KRB solution containing 10% FBS and 22.6 mmol/L of glucose. Each incubation step was performed for 90 min at 37°C in a humidified 5% CO2 atmosphere. Supernatants were then collected and stored at −80°C. Insulin measurements were performed using a rat insulin enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit (Mercodia, Uppsala, Sweden). Results are expressed as a stimulated index (SI) defined as the ratio of stimulated versus basal insulin secretion.

2.6. Real-Time PCR

Total cellular RNA was extracted from approximately 400 islets from each condition using a Qiagen RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, CA, USA), following the manufacturer’s instructions. Extracted RNA was reverse-transcribed with a RT2 First Strand Kit (Qiagen), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The resulting cDNAs were diluted 1/100 in RNase-free water. Real-time PCR reactions were performed on a MyiQ Real-Time PCR System (Qiagen) using a QuantiTect SYBR Green PCR kit (Qiagen). Mouse 60S acidic ribosomal protein P1 (Rplp1), mouse peptidylprolyl isomerase A (Ppia), and mouse RNA ribosomal 1 (Rnr1) were chosen as the housekeeping genes (Table 1), and data were analyzed using the ΔΔCt method. The primers for hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (Hif-1α), prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (Ptgs2/Cox-2), and heme oxygenase 1 (Hmox1/Ho-1) used in this study were all purchased from Qiagen and are listed in Table 1. Amplification was run using a maximum of 35 cycles.

2.7. Protein Extraction

The total protein content was extracted from 300 islets from each condition using M-PER Mammalian Protein Extraction Reagents and HALT Protease and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France). Protein concentration was determined using the Bradford micromethod (Bio-Rad, Life Science Group, Marnes-la-Coquette, France) and is expressed as mg/mL.

Caspase 3 activation in these cytosolic protein extracts of the islets was assessed with a Quantikine ELISA kit (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA). Results are expressed in ng/mg of protein.

2.8. HIF-1α Activation (ELISA)

Hif-1α activation was quantified by TransAM HIF-1 (Active Motif, Belgium) following the manufacturer’s instructions. 20 μg of the total protein extraction was used to assess HIF-1α. HIF dimers bind specifically to hypoxia response element (HRE) immobilized in the 96-well plate. HIF dimers are detected by HIF-1α antibody (dilution: 1/500) and a secondary antibody conjugated to HRP (dilution: 1/1000). The results are expressed in OD.

2.9. Inflammation

An aliquot of the culture medium was used to measure the concentration of secreted interleukin- (IL-) 6 (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA) under each condition using an ELISA kit. Results are expressed in pg/mL/IEQ.

2.10. Histology

A total of 300 islets from each condition were harvested, washed, and snap-frozen in optimal cutting temperature compound (Tissue O.C.T. Labonord, Templemars, France) and then sliced in 12μm sections. Apoptotic cells were stained using a Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP Nick End Labeling (TUNEL) assay (Millipore, Molsheim, France) and observed by florescence microscopy.

Hypoxic staining was performed using a Hypoxyprobe-1 Kit (HPI Inc. Burlington, MA, USA). Solid pimonidazole HCl was added in the islet cell cultures (150μM). After 24 h culture, islets were fixed with 2% paraformaldehyde (PFA) for 10 min and then incubated with primary and secondary antibodies. The antibodies used in this study include anti-mouse immunoglobulin (IgG1, 1 : 50 dilution; HPI, Inc.) and Alexa Fluor 488 goat anti-mouse IgG (dilution 1 : 200, Life technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA).

2.11. Statistical Analysis

Statistical analyses were performed using Statistics software (StatSoft, Maisons-Alfort, France). Results were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post hoc Tukey honest significant difference (HSD) testing for the parametric data or Kruskal-Wallis for the nonparametric analysis. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM. A value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

3. Results

3.1. Oxygen Measurement

At t0, the PO2 was found to be relatively simiar for all three culture densities (150, 300, and 600IEQ/cm2) under both normal and hypoxic conditions (Table 2). However, after 24 hours of exposure to hypoxia (PO2: 15 mmHg), the PO2 of the control islet cultures (150IEQ/cm2) dropped to  mmHg compared to  mmHg under normal conditions. We also observed a decrease in the PO2 in the cells cultured at the 300 and 600IEQ/cm2 densities ( mmHg and  mmHg, resp.) compared to the control after being in culture for 24 hours under normoxic conditions. Furthermore, the hypoxia-induced drop in the PO2 observed in the control islets was exacerbated when the cell density was increased to 300 and 600IEQ/cm2 ( mmHg and  mmHg, resp.).

3.2. Islet Viability

Under hypoxic conditions, the viability of the islets cultured for 24 hours at a density of 150IEQ/cm2 was significantly decreased compared to those under normal atmosphere (Figure 1(a)). A similar trend was observed at the higher densities, with the greatest difference being observed at 600IEQ/cm2. Representative FDA/PI stained images of the normal and hypoxic cells at each density are shown in Figure 1(b). These data are supported by a significant increase in Caspase 3 protein expression (Figure 1(c); ) as well as an observed increase in TUNEL staining (Figure 1(d)) in the hypoxia treated cells compared to the normoxia treated cells. Taken together, these data indicate that islet density/confinement did not have a significant effect on the percentage of viable cells when cultured in normoxic conditions but does appear to intensify the effects of hypoxia.

3.3. Hypoxia Marker Expression

Not surprisingly, HIF-1α mRNA expression (Figure 2(a)) and hypoxyprobe staining (Figure 2(c)) were significantly increased in the control islets cultured under hypoxic conditions compared to those cultured under normoxic conditions. Furthermore, the density/confinement of the islets also appeared to have a significant impact on the HIF-1α mRNA expression and hypoxyprobe staining when the cells were cultured under hypoxic conditions. A correlation between the increase in density and the activation of HIF-1α protein (Figure 2(b)) appeared under hypoxia and became significant for 600IEQ/cm2 () compared to normoxic conditions. In fact, the levels of these hypoxia markers appeared to increase with the increasing level of hypoxia, indicating a particularly significant increase in the cells cultured at 600IEQ/cm2 () compared to the cell cultured at 150IEQ/cm2 under hypoxic conditions.

3.4. Islet Functionality

Islet function, in terms of ATP levels in the cell, was also evaluated. These data demonstrate that, compared to normoxia, hypoxia induced a significant decrease in the ATP content regardless of cell culture density (). However, this decrease in ATP content was significantly more prominent for the cells culture in the more confined densities compared to those cultured at 150IEQ/cm2 () (Figure 3(a)). These results were also supported during our analysis of insulin secretion. We observed a significant loss of function when the cells were cultured under hypoxia compared to normoxia (). At 300IEQ/cm2 and 600IEQ/cm2, under normoxic conditions we observed a slight decrease in the stimulation index for both densities compared to the control density; however, these islets were still considered functional as their stimulation indices were around or over 2. Under hypoxia, confinement tended to emphasize the loss of function observed in the control density, with the indices being significantly reduced to less than 1 for both the 300IEQ/cm2 and 600IEQ/cm2 densities compared to 150IEQ/cm2 (Figure 3(b)).

3.5. Inflammation

In order to evaluate the effects of cell density on the inflammatory response induced during hypoxia, we measure the relative mRNA expression of two inflammation markers, Cox-2 and Ho-1, as well as the secretion of IL-6. We observed that hypoxia induced a significant upregulation of both Cox-2 (Figure 4(a), ) and Ho-1 (Figure 4(b), ) mRNA expression compared to normoxia, and these increases in gene expression appear to occur independently of islet density. Interestingly, this response appears to be significantly greater in the control cells compared to the higher densities. Furthermore, IL-6 secretion did not appear to be influenced by the change in PO2 to hypoxic levels at any cell density. However, IL-6 secretion is seemingly controlled independently of PO2, as a significant increase was observed for both of the higher densities under normoxic conditions compared to the control cells as well as under hypoxic condition for the 300IEQ/cm2 density compared to the control () (Figure 4(c)).

4. Discussion

In the present study, we have shown that the combination of hypoxia and increased islet density/confinement, which are the typical conditions in a bioartificial pancreas, causes an increased level of islet cell death. Indeed, when the recommended culture density was doubled (300IEQ/cm2) or multiplied by four (600IEQ/cm2) and maintained under hypoxic conditions, the overall survival of the islets was very poor, with an observed activation of apoptosis and necrosis factors as well as loss of function and proinflammatory cytokine secretion. To our knowledge, this is the first published study demonstrating the specific effects of hypoxia on confined islet cell survival and function.

In order to effectively and efficiently combat diabetes, it is essential that bioartificial pancreases maintain a sufficient number of viable, fully functioning islets cells. Based on clinical hepatic islet transplantations, 10,000IEQ/kg is needed to reach normoglycaemia [1]. Unfortunately, it has been estimated that approximately 40% of the transplanted islets will die during the instant blood mediated inflammatory reaction (IBMIR) [23] and another 10 to 20% will die during vascularization [24]. These losses can be avoided when using a bioartificial pancreas. However, in contrast with liver transplantation, islets will never be vascularized in a device due to the immune-isolation required. Therefore, no oxygen or nutrients will be delivered directly to islets by the vessels, because only the device can be vascularized [3, 25]. Oxygen will be delivered from the surrounding vessels to the device or via diffusion in the case of nonvascularized devices and will then need to diffuse into the cells, resulting in low cellular PO2 (around 15 mmHg in the case of nonvascular devices) [15].

Notably, in an alternative study, a β-air II device, with PO2 between 304 and 198 mmHg in the gas chamber and more than 2,000IEQ/cm2, was used once a day to increase oxygenation of encapsulated islets in rats [26]. However, a previous report suggests that such a fluctuation in oxygen, going from hyperoxia to hypoxia, may cause oxygen toxicity [27]. Moreover, the device is not completely independent from external intervention, and it is possible that the oxygen injected into the chamber can actually generate ROS [28]. It is likely that the complications caused by such oxygenating devices will prevent their widespread clinical use.

Thus, in order to compensate for islet cell death in bioartificial pancreases, a higher number of cells are typically cultured in the device. Our results in the present study show that when the number of islets was doubled or increased four times the recommended density for islet culture, the oxygen availability decreased. In fact, the oxygen concentration dropped from 15 mmHg to 7 mmHg at the highest cell density, a change that will undoubtedly have repercussions in terms of islet survival. Interestingly, it has been shown that the cells consuming oxygen will actually create an oxygen gradient [21] further depriving other cells from oxygen. Moreover, under hypoxic conditions, we observed the effects of cell density to be amplified, leading to cell death and loss of function in less than 24 h. Zheng et al. [29] previously demonstrated that adaptation to hypoxia is difficult for normal, untreated islets, suggesting that it could be even more difficult for transplanted/cultured islets. To this end, we have shown that hypoxic conditions combined with confinement triggered HIF-1α transcription, which was also correlated with activation of Cox-2 (involved in inflammatory process) and Ho-1 (involved in oxidative stress) mRNA expression [19]. These data imply that the cells are at least attempting to activate their endogenous defense system against the lack of oxygen. Notably, the increased expression of both Cox-2 and Ho-1 in the higher density cells was significantly lower than the increase observed in the cells cultured at a normal density and appears to be insufficient, leading to an increased rate of apoptosis in the more confined cells. We also observed that secretion of IL-6 is increased as the level of cell confinement increased, regardless of oxygen availability. The role of IL-6 during islet cell survival is controversial in the literature. IL-6 is secreted as a response to cell stress and some studies have suggested that it is deleterious for islet cells [19], while others indicate that it is beneficial for their function [30]. Here, IL-6 secretion appears to be related to confinement only. However, it is possible that the 24-hour time point used in this study may have been too early to see the effects of hypoxia on IL-6 secretion. The increase in IL-6 secretion in the 300 and 600 IEQ/cm2 could be also attributed to the paracrine and autocrine effect IL-6 has on its own secretion. Thus, the more cells there are in a limited space, the more IL-6 will be secreted as each islet will be more able to induce the surrounding cells. As this cytokine is known to play a significant role in inflammation [31], its secretion in the more confined cells could affect the recruitment and activation of host macrophages and leukocytes around the device, potentially increasing fibrosis and preventing good vascularization.

In terms of islet cell function, the decrease we observed in cellular ATP was enhanced under hypoxia, a phenomenon that is likely due to ATP leakage, which has been described in cases of organ ischemia [3234]. Under low PO2, the tricarboxylic acid cycle cannot be used and the switch for anaerobic respiration is triggered, but this alternative pathway produces a much lower amount of ATP. It was, therefore, not surprising that the level of ATP was significantly decreased during hypoxia. This loss of ATP was also correlated with a decrease in the cell’s ability to respond to glucose stimulation. Notably, ATP and insulin are strongly correlated, and the conversion of proinsulin to insulin and C-peptide is, at least in part, stimulated by ATP-dependent processes [35]. This relationship likely plays a significant role in the decrease function observed in the cells cultured at a higher density under hypoxic conditions.

5. Conclusion

We have shown that islets in a confined environment and under hypoxia suffer from hypoxia-induced apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation, and are nonfunctional after only 24 hours of incubation. In order to improve islet survival in a bioartificial pancreas, the effects of hypoxia need to be reduced, as well as the inflammatory response, in order to improve islet survival and function after transplantation. While this study highlights the need for these changes, additional work is necessary in order to develop new strategies to improve the outcome of islet transplantation in patients with diabetes.

PO2:Oxygen partial pressure
ATP:Adenosine triphosphate
Rplp1:Ribosomal protein P1
Ppia:Peptidylprolyl isomerase A
Rnr1:RNA ribosomal 1
Hif-1:Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha
Ptgs2/Cox-2:Prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2
Hmox1/Ho-1:Heme oxygenase 1
ROS:Reactive oxygen species
IEQ:Islet Equivalents.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that there is no duality of interest associated with this paper.

This work received financial support from the Cooperation Program of the European Community’s FP7 (Grant number HEALTH-F2-2012-305746).


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Number of Students Meeting or Exceeding Standards Declines in 2021

The number of students meeting or exceeding grade level standards has declined compared to a less than stellar 2021, according to statewide assessment data released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Education.

This year’s data shows that statewide, less than half of students are proficient in math and reading: the math achievement rate was 41.72%, while the reading achievement rate was 48.63%.

In 2021, 44% of students were proficient at math and 53% at reading.

In the Blue Earth Area School District 33.65% of students were proficient in math and 42.21% of students were proficient in reading.  At United South Central, their proficiency was 48.77% in math and 50% in reading, while students at Maple River were 53.76% in math and 57.84% in reading.

MDE announced Thursday it is expanding its COMPASS program, which is the state’s support system for schools to meet demand for enhances teaching and learning resources.

This year, COMPASS will serve 371 public schools including 15 entire school districts.  Those schools will receive support and training from MDE and the Regional Centers of Excellence over the next three years.


Climate and climate change

The EUSTACE project: delivering global, daily information on surface air temperature

As an article on the outcomes of the EUSTACE Horizon 2020 project1 is published, the project’s coordinator Nick Rayner and her project partners reflect on the experience of undertaking the ground-breaking challenge to create daily estimates of surface air temperature since 1850 across the globe for the first time by combining surface and satellite data using novel statistical techniques.

Daily variations in near-surface air temperature (the temperature about 2 metres above the surface of the ground) affect many aspects of our lives, including our health, food production and environment. It is important to understand these variations so that we can assess to what extent different parts of our lives are vulnerable to them and their extremes.  This is also a first step towards understanding how our lives might change in the future, enabling us to make effective decisions that ensure we continue to thrive as our climate changes. Near-surface air temperature is recorded using measurement stations in situ, and we don't have measurement stations everywhere. So, how do we get information about past daily variations in surface air temperature over the whole Earth? We can’t directly use measurements from satellites, because they record the temperature of surfaces - the ‘skin temperature’ - not the temperature of the air.

Figure 1. Schematic showing difference between satellite and near-surface air temperature (not to scale). Courtesy Janette Bessembinder.

We could use a “dynamical reanalysis”, which combines a state-of-the-art weather forecasting model with observations to recreate weather on any given day. Dynamical reanalyses are a great resource but, where surface observations are sparse, they rely on the effectiveness of the weather forecasting models. How confident can we be in their results there? It's difficult to say, because where observations are sparse, few are available to check them.

Wouldn't it be great if we could use satellites to estimate daily surface air temperature? Wouldn't it also be great if we could combine that information with data from weather stations to help us to produce a data set of daily air temperature back to 1850? Such a data set could help understanding of variations in daily temperature extremes, for example.

That is what we attempted to do in EUSTACE. EUSTACE arose from discussions within the EarthTemp Network between experts in measuring surface air temperature in situ (at weather stations, on scientific expeditions, on board ships and with drifting buoys) and "skin" temperature from satellite measurements of different surfaces (ice, ocean and land). Together they produced a plan to improve monitoring of surface temperature, and the EUSTACE project followed much of this plan.

The EUSTACE project produced the first global daily analysis using satellite and in situ measurements that is not a dynamical reanalysis. Many steps were needed along the way to get the data into the right shape to be able to use them in this way. A lot of the work involved quantifying how certain we could be of the air temperatures from the different data types we brought together.

Professor Chris Merchant of the University of Reading and Principal Investigator of the EarthTemp Network reflects: “A key strength of EUSTACE has been the make-up of the team: from statisticians, to people with statistical understanding, together with domain experts (including in talking to end users). Together we have quantified uncertainties in the temperature information and propagated them through our work, as well as achieving an understanding of how to use the  influence of the measurements in space and time in a balanced, tractable way.”

Darren Ghent, leader of the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) Land Surface Temperature project and leader of one of the strands of work in EUSTACE agrees: “EUSTACE developed and applied a consistent approach to producing uncertainty estimates for satellite skin temperature data sets. This is something we have been able to take forwards in our work in ESA CCI.” He continued: “Validation of the EUSTACE uncertainty estimates both for skin and near-surface air temperature using  independent measurements, is an example of best practice in the field.”

Figure 2. Satellite temperature potentially available to projects like EUSTACE in one night (16/01/2006) from combining measurements from MODIS (over land) and AVHRR (over ocean and ice).

Professor Finn Lindgren - a statistician from the University of Edinburgh who originally developed the analysis approach used in EUSTACE - has quantified the leap we made: “This data set is 100,000 times bigger than anything we have attempted using these methods before.”

To make such a long climate data set useful we need consistent data. When instruments or station locations change, this can introduce jumps (or discontinuities) in the data that aren’t a result of a change in the climate. It’s important to try to remove these, a process referred to as homogenisation. Professor Stefan Brönnimann of the University of Bern has been working on this for many years. He reflects: “This is the first time that a global weather station data set of daily air temperatures has been provided with estimated locations of non-climatic discontinuities and their likelihood.”  Gerard van der Schrier, of the Netherlands Met Office (KNMI), adds: “This is also the first time that a pan-European station data set has been homogenised at the daily level to reduce the impact of non-climatic discontinuities.”

Figure 3. An observer taking a near-surface air temperature measurement in the 1960s. Courtesy KNMI.

Understanding what is going on at the poles, where there are few in situ measurements, but many satellite measurements is vital for preserving the fragile ecosystems that exist there. Jacob Hoyer from the Danish Meteorological Institute, and another EUSTACE work package leader, comments: “This is the first time we have calculated near-surface air temperature from satellite over sea ice and the first time it has been done in a systematic way over all ice caps with this many data.”

Combining terabytes of data needs efficient code and good infrastructure. Ag Stephens from the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) understands this very well: “EUSTACE created a state-of-the-art ‘big data’ processing pipeline. Providing a reproducible pipeline, with a number of processing stages, is challenging. From the start, EUSTACE has tried to keep track of what it is doing at each stage, tagging data to specific releases of the code.” All the EUSTACE products are accessible from CEDA.

EUSTACE was a proof of concept, and we have learned plenty during the ten years from the original EarthTemp Network concept through to the delivery of the EUSTACE global daily analysis.  It was not perfect and, in hindsight, there have inevitably been things we might have done differently.

The combination of weather station measurements with air temperature estimates from satellite data has boosted the amount of information available in many places. However, in locations where we have access to few daily in situ measurements, for example in Africa, we were unable to efficiently correct biases in our estimates of air temperature from satellites (underscoring the importance of data sharing and data recovery). Also, prior to 1895, we currently have access to few daily weather station measurements, so the analysis is less reliable then than data sets based on more plentiful monthly average data.  Good availability of in situ measurements is key to producing long-term, well-understood and well-validated climate data sets. More funding is needed for making in situ measurements in harder-to-reach places (and recovering data from paper archives). As a global community we need to share more of our measurements openly, so that we can work together to create the products and services that we all need to understand the world’s vulnerability to weather and climate change.

1EUSTACE has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation, under Grant Agreement no. 640171.