Google processor achieves quantum supremacy

October 23, 2019 //By Peter Clarke
Google's Sycamore quantum processor shows 'supremacy'
Google researchers have reported that a supercooled quantum processor called Sycamore can perform calculations in seconds that would take the world's largest supercomputer 10,000 years to achieve.

This ability to use quantum computing to achieve results beyond the reach of classical computing is called 'supremacy' and has been the theoretical advantage of quantum computing since research into the topic began. Google's results were reported in Nature.

The Sycamore quantum computer is fully programmable and can run general-purpose quantum algorithms. After the test and benchmarking phase of development reported here the team has been preparing applications in the areas of quantum physics simulation and quantum chemistry, as well as in machine learning.

The Nature paper relates that Sycamore, designed and fabricated by Google, that comprises a two-dimensional array of 54 transmon qubits, with each qubit tunably coupled to its four nearest neighbours. The qubits are arranged in a 9 by 6 staggered array.

One of the breakthrough developments in this design of qubit assembly is the adjustable coupler that controls connection to each nearest neighbour, the paper states.

The qubits are made of supercooled Josephson Junctions with aluminium for metallization and indium for bump-bonds between two silicon wafers. The chip is wire-bonded to a superconducting circuit board and operated at below 20mK. The processor is connected to room-temperature equipment that synthesizes control signals and reads the qubits status.

Next: What next?

Vous êtes certain ?

Vous allez être rediriger vers Google.


ELM19: The Art of Innovation

Wolter Kluwer’s ELM Solutions team members Troy Stark, Alyza Tarmohamed, and Jeffrey Solomon were joined by Jennifer Carsley from International Paper to talk about how LegalVIEW® BillAnalyzer helps improve bill review and law firm relationships. They also focused on the change management steps that can ensure a smooth transition into using the service.

The team began by talking about the results that clients using BillAnalyzer have seen. Because the spend under review in BillAnalyzer has grown exponentially since it was launched in 2018, there is a lot of data available to demonstrate the results that companies can expect. Typically, when a legal or claims department begins using BillAnalyzer, they gain additional cost savings of up to 10% and billing guideline compliance improvements of up to 20%, over traditional bill review.

International Paper’s legal department decided to implement BillAnalyzer because they were asked to save money. Jennifer said that since attorneys were conducting bill review, the process was expensive. This made bill review a strong candidate for process changes that could generate the savings they were looking for.

Combining Technology and Expertise

BillAnalyzer's great outcomes are made possible by its unique combination of innovative artificial intelligence (AI) technology and expert bill review specialists. BillAnalyzer uses an AI engine and machine learning algorithms that leverage client data, along with the LegalVIEW database that houses over $130 billion in invoice data. After the AI engine flags the line items most likely to need adjustment, experienced invoice reviewers focus on those areas when conducting bill review. Their results are then fed back into the AI to further improve its results. It’s a virtuous cycle in which expert review increases AI accuracy and the improved AI increases bill review performance.

The Wolters Kluwer leaders and analysts responsible for conducting BillAnalyzer reviews make a formidable team. The bill review leadership team has an average of over 19 years of legal experience and 155 combined years of experience, with expertise in banking, IP, M&A, regulatory compliance, and many other areas. There are 60 dedicated professional reviewers on the team with an average of 13 years of legal experience. Many are attorneys and paralegals, and all have undergone 200 hours of BillAnalyzer training.

Meanwhile, the data science team that developed and maintains the AI engine are experts in modeling and statistics, big data analysis, and operational analytics, as well as the AI and machine learning technology that are at the heart of BillAnalyzer. They have an average of 16 years of STEM-focused education at institutions including Princeton, Northwestern, and NYU. Like their bill review counterparts, this team also has broad industry expertise in financial services, business services, health care, and manufacturing.

Success Through Exceptional Change Management

When implementing a program like BillAnalyzer, change management is critical to success. The presenters explained that’s why the BillAnalyzer team leads every client through best practice processes that include communication support and pre- and post-go-live training. The key is to make sure the transition is smooth and simple for client teams as well as their law firms.

Law firms are a very important part of that change management approach. There is a myth among some who do not conduct strict invoice reviews that doing so can harm firm relationships. Jennifer mentioned that International Paper attorneys had this concern. However, as the presenters made clear, the focus that BillAnalyzer puts on enforcement of guidelines can actually improve these relationships. It helps firms understand client billing guidelines and, over time, results in law firms better understanding and managing to expectations around billing.

Between the client-side communication, onboarding, and training, and the law firm education and support, BillAnalyzer implementations allow everyone involved to smoothly transition to a bill review model that fosters collaboration and delivers results. Over time, as client needs evolve, the ELM Solutions team flexibly adapts and proactively prepares both client and law firm staff for any changes.

The exceptional expertise and experience of the BillAnalyzer team, combined with advanced AI technology that improves over time, drive better business outcomes than traditional bill review is capable of. Click to learn more about how it works and the savings your organization could realize.


Warty Glow Spot Cockroaches

We have Warty Glow Spot Cockroaches.

Warty Glow Spot Cockroaches grow to a length of about 4 cm (1.6 in) and is mainly black or dark brown with a white margin to the dorsal sclerites. It is sexually dimorphic, with males being slightly smaller than females and having a pair of large, usually yellow spots on the pronotum. These are covered by a thin translucent cuticle and have traditionally been thought to be luminescent organs. However researchers noticed that when in captivity these cockroaches were fed on carrots, the color of the spots deepened to orange or even red.


(Published in the Star on 5 Sep 2012)

Even if you have been a “casual” follower of sports, you would have probably heard of coaching in one way or another. Although you may not know what exactly Coaching does, it is likely that you have at least a vague idea that it is being deployed to help sports people win the game they want to be victorious in.

Thus, Coaching is not something new. It is neither a hype, a fad nor a “passing cloud”. Historically, it has been around for more than 100 years since the first Olympic in 1896 when winning gold medals was the yardstick used to measure the superiority of a certain race and nation. Over the years, coaches and coaching have become increasingly entrenched in the lives of sports people. Without their support, most sports people would become helpless and lost almost like what a sailing ship would behave without its sail in the open sea!

A fast-growing Industry

The “tidal wave” of coaching broke into the non-sports world at the turn of the 21st Century. Its well-kept secrets and powers finally become available to support anyone in every facet of his life – be it for personal growth, relationships, business, leadership or spirituality. The non sports world realised that the key principles of coaching, which are close partnering, goal setting, challenging, co-creating, game planning, tracking and monitoring, etc are most relevant in this competitive and fast moving world.

People begin to see the value of having external partners to challenge, help and work “outside the box” for innovative ways to manage their lives more powerfully to attain higher success and fulfillment.

Behind the scene today, more and more forward thinking organisations and people are increasingly working with coaches to accelerate their performance in many areas. It is a known fact that even famous and successful people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump work with coaches so that they can maintain their dominance in the field they are in.

Coaching has now become highly recognised for its powers and usefulness. Its growth is not only unstoppable but will continue to top the chart as one of the fastest growing industries for a long time to come.

A way of life

Primarily, the powers of coaching lie in its ability to help people remove their self limiting beliefs, strengthen their self belief and put a powerful game plan in place to drive the right behaviours that will result in them making bigger wins in any area of their lives they want.

The uniqueness of coaching lies in its encompassing ability to support anyone; not only for poor performers to overcome their issues but also for high performers who want to achieve more in their lives. Coaching is therefore a way of life for anyone, and coaches are simply leaders in their own rights who want to get more of their lives.

Becoming coaches

In the same vein, more and more people are entering the coaching profession either to become self coaches to help themselves, casual coaches to support their families and friends, workplace coaches to contribute to their organisational growth or professional coaches for the larger community. Whatever the type of coaches they may want to be, the things they all have in common are: a love for people and a great passion to help people grow to their fullest potential.

How much did you learn from here?

1) Where did Coaching originate from, and why?
2) Why is Coaching here to stay?
3) Which aspects of sports coaching are also relevant in the non sports world?
4) Why do people want to become coaches?
5) What other insights do you gain from this article?


2nd Sunday of Advent Year C - 9/12/2012 - Gospel: Lk 3: 1-6
Standing on top of a hill I cast my eyes to the horizon afar and catch the beautiful view in front of me. I see mountains covering mountains. I see taller trees create shade that block sun's rays to the smaller ones while the smaller trees try to reach out for the sun's rays. The sun's rays change the colour of the leaves creating the golden shade under its wings. Within the shade there are different patches of colour patterns that blend with different colours. Some are dark green; others are bright and others are dark but shining. The scenery gives so much pleasure to the eyes of the beholder. Animal trails look like threats from a net work of their movements. They disappear when the wind blows and that makes the trees play the game of hide and seek.

On my left is an ocean of waves that creates never ending ribbons of white. The ribbons move steadily one after the other. Sometimes they blend together and then separate again. Closer to me I can see water evaporate from the ocean and it forms a happy cloud dancing in the sky.

The view would be less attractive if all mountains were the same height and all trees gave the same colour. The natural landscape would look dead and boring if all the animal trails ran straight and there were no winding roads, high and low valleys and hills. This is not what St John the Baptist had in mind when suggested to us.

Make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth. Lk 3,4

The opening prayer of the second Sunday of Advent clarifies the above statement

The scenery is enjoyable but no one could imagine that hiding under dead bark are scorpions, cobras hiding under rocks and deadly spiders waiting to catch prey. The danger is beyond prediction and no one knows when it will strike. John the Baptist used his personal experience in the wilderness to tell us that scenery is good to look at but not to live in because there are hidden poisons and venom where we least expect it. John names a number of things that hinder us from recognizing Christ in our world. He asks us to think straight, to follow a straight way, to conduct an upright and honest life style. John requests us to remove the mountains of work and to remove our burdens of life. John expects us to rearrange our time table to balance between work and prayer. John invites us to say prayer with joy and spread the good news wide and far and finally to increase God's love day by day. If we do that we will enjoy life more fully and see that the salvation of God is within our reach.


5 Best Billing Practices for the Bundled Payment Initiative

Billing_BundlesThe Medicare bundled payment initiative seems to be gaining traction among healthcare facilities and providers.

Following are 5 practices that have proved helpful for private practitioners trying to move to this value-based method of payment.

1. Creating a unifying patient care vision and challenging everyone involved to creatively find strategies for the actualization of this vision.

Here, you first need to create an inspiring vision to provide guidance for yourself and the people working with you.  An example of a good vision might be; to create a care system where a majority of patients are safely and appropriately discharged with as few readmissions as possible.

Also important here is to encourage everyone involved to come up with creative solutions for existing challenges and obstacles to achievement.

In addition, it also helps to spread your improvements through out the practice by applying systematic delivery to all patients irrespective of whether they’re reimbursed under a bundled payment plan or not.

2. Track utilization and costs in real time

The only secret to profitability under the bundled-care system is to understand total costs over an episode of care.  You’ll need two sets of data in order to fully understand your costs; provider-generated and payor-generated data.

Provider generated data is data that comes from processes put in place by you and your staff.  The most common way of acquiring such data is to collect the particular costs as the patient goes through the different stages of care over the length of the entire episode of care.

Payer generated data basically comes from claim based reports (usually on a monthly basis).

3. Develop a patient care pathway for specific diagnoses/treatments and put in place processes to help you quickly discover if a patient is deviating from that path

You might create a baseline and use it as a benchmark for documenting patient progress.  There should be specific goals with timeframes for each goal.  Then you can check daily to see if the patient is progressing at the projected rate. Additionally, it helps to standardize care and identify variations where necessary.  This will create a common way of understanding patients and, by extension, help you standardize care.

4. Structure your practice in such a way that it becomes easy to support and sustain changes in care design

The restructured practice organization should have 4 areas of focus; an executive leadership team, a problem identification/resolution and quality improvement function, a payer interaction platform and a patient satisfaction program.  Once you have these in place, arrange for meetings with all the different functions to periodically review variances from the standards developed.

5. Continually communicate with patients.

Patient satisfaction cannot be underestimated when working under the bundled payment program – it holds the key to increased patient engagement and plays a significant role in bettering clinical outcomes.  Increased patient engagement creates a baseline against which you can measure patient recovery and helps you to set realistic goals for the period of care.  Keeping a large number of contacts is helpful to this course as it helps with quicker understanding of problems and provides you with a larger support base.

We at Healthcare Information Services, LLC recognize the benefits of the Bundled Payment Initiative – improved coordination between the various care providers involved, simplified billing, improved accountability, and flexibility to support the place and method where a particular service is offered.  For physician providers, it opens a whole new world of challenges and opportunities and we are ready to help you address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities

Image courtesy of:  enjith krishnan/ Freedigitalphotos.net


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Meditation for Balancing Moon Centers

For Women only

This meditation balances the moon centers, the outer moon
effect, the inner moon cycle and one's own zodiac moon effect.
It also balances the glandUlar system.
Lying on tbe stomach, place the chin on the ground, and
keep the head straight. The should be along si~e the body,
with th~ pa1ms of the hands facing upwards.
The Panj Shabad, Sa ,7'll . Na Ma is the mantra or. this medi tatioz:

Sa--Infinity, cosmos, beginning

Ta--Life, existence
Na--Death. totality
Ma-Rebirth, resurrection
The mantra should be chanted silently, while the eyes are focused
at the brow point. !ieditate on the sound current coming in througl:
the :crown of the head {the tenth gate) and flowing out through the
eenter of the forehead (third eye pol.nt). c.r eating an "L"

As you mentlllly repeat the

finger to the tip Of the thumb,
to the thumb, on ~Na'' press the
"Ma .. press the little finger to

vibration of 11 Sa", press the index

on '"Ta .. , press the midqle finger
ring finger to the thumb, and on ,
the thumb.

The breath will requlate itself.

from 3-31 minutes.

Continue in this manner

This meditati on is the highest meditation for a woman and

should be done before any meditation on earth. It is one of the
most creative meditations, one can break any habit with it.


Testimonies given by Sue Grey and Alan Simmons on New Zealand’s Ecocide with the use of 1080 Poison

Death is applied in New Zeland from above.

The ITNJ opens its Commission of Inquiry into the Weaponisation of the Biosphere with stunning testimony from New Zealand expert witness Sue Grey, in what she describes as ‘ecocide’ and ‘a war on nature’.

A lawyer and activist with multiple science degrees and over 30 years’ experience in environmental health policy, Sue testifies to the devastation being caused to New Zealand’s native wildlife and ecosystems through the systematic and widespread aerial poisoning with the chemical Sodium Fluoroacetate, commonly known as “1080” Poison.

Four hundred million 1080 pellets (enough to kill over a hundred million people) will be spread by helicopter this year over much of the country’s land and waterways, in a longstanding Crown sponsored program, its stated purpose: to preserve native wildlife by eradicating non-native stoats and rats. However, the cereal baits attract many other species of insects, birds, and mammals, contaminating the food chain and cruelly killing thousands of “non-target” species including deer, farmed stock and dogs.  There has been a drastic impact on Kea (native parrots) and cereal baits are known to poison many other species of native bird including iconic Kiwi and Weka.

Birds and animals can be poisoned by eating the bait directly, drinking from poisoned waterways, or by feeding on the carcasses of poisoned animals. Evidence also exists that 1080 has made it its way up the food chain into wild pork, farmed cows and honey, and is also suspected to have poisoned humans, many of whom Grey has represented.

Despite many years of campaigning, lawsuits, public outcry, and official statistics that prove its catastrophic failure, the New Zealand government refuses to take responsibility and bring an end to the serious threats posed by this program to New Zealand’s ecosystem and its inhabitants.

Alan Simmons, a hunting and fishing guide has been an outdoorsman all of his life.

Over the last 50 years he has witnessed such a vast change in both the New Zealand way of life as well as the rapid decline in a once relatively pristine ecology and environment.

In this testimony he speaks out about halting the aerial 1080 toxin being dropped by helicopter over large areas of New Zealand, which causes collateral damage and death to other animal species eating and taking in this poison.

He also talks about the spin doctors from the Department of Conservation and the Green Party saying that they are totally accepting of this poison as the only option to rid of feral species.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ITNJ, PLEASE SEE: www.itnj.org / itnjcommittee.org


On this episode, we answer another question from a listener:

“How can I hold my wife’s attention just long enough to have eye contact without her looking at her phone for text messages or emails?”

Mentioned on this episode:

Digital Minimalism


What is the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness?

Phonic & Phonemeic 1

Watch our ‘Single Word Reading’ animation to see these manipulation skills in action: bit.ly/20JAHSa

Word Play – Syllable Awareness & Counting

syllables 1

At about the age of 4 years old children start to develop an understanding that words can be split into sound parts (syllables) and that these parts give the word its rhythm.  A syllable is the largest phonological unit (one or a group of sounds) of a word and is like the rhythmic beat of the word.

They should be able to orally blend syllables together to form words and segment words into syllables.

A fun activity to help develop syllable understanding:

How Many Syllables?

Children love to clap out the number of syllables in a word. It is important to say the word at a normal speed rather than really slowly as this can distort the word and make it difficult to hear the syllables. To start with a child just needs to be able to recognize them by clapping, stamping or jumping for each syllable of a word; they don’t need to be able to count them. It is thought that only about 50% of children can count out the syllables by the age of 4, so you can do the counting for them.

Spoken syllables are organised around the vowel sounds, making counting them easy; as the jaw drops when the vowel sound is spoken in the syllable. Try placing your hand under your jaw with your mouth closed before you say a word. Start with ‘cat’ you will notice the jaw drops once, this is because it is a one syllable (monosyllabic) word.

Most children will find it easier to identify syllables in compound words to start with. A compound word is formed by two words (root words) put together such as: sunset, hotdog, snowman and postman. They find it easier because the jaw tends to drop quite distinctly as we say the vowel sound in each of the root words and because we tend to say these words slowly.

The Importance of Speaking & Listening

Speaking & Listening Icon 2

Phonological awareness development incorporates the understanding of, and the learning of how to, communicate through speech, body language and written forms. It relates to our sensitivity and understanding of the sound structures of our oral language. It enables us to progress from our awareness of large sound units (words in sentences) to smaller sound units (phonemes in words).

Speaking and listening skills play a vital role in helping children to develop their awareness of the sounds around them. The more they hear, the more associations they can make to those sounds (what they see, feel and experience), the greater their ability to distinguish between them.

Our tips and ideas help you to support your child’s speaking and listening skills: https://www.teachphonics.co.uk/how-to-talk-to-your-child.html

Don’t underestimate the importance of everyday chatter or conversation (‘Small Talk’), children develop and learn a great deal through ‘Small Talk’ with adults and other children.

What do we mean by ‘Small Talk’? With babies it is the kind of talk that explains what we are doing, what they are doing, where we are going and what we can see.  As they get older our verbal exchanges increase as we support their receptive and expressive vocabulary development. Through these exchanges we also support their general language development and understanding of how words are pronounced, basic sentence structure and using the correct tense.

When we talk with a child we demonstrate and model the use of language in real time so that it has meaning. For instance, a child may point and say “cat” and we would respond with “Yes, the cat is sleeping.” Or we may correct the child and say “That is a dog.” If we could we would point to a cat and explain the difference. We also correct mispronunciation of words and correct tense issues in the same way; repeating the word or sentence using the correct pronunciation or tense back to the child.

The Communication Trust has a link to a free downloadable booklet called Small Talk which is a very useful guide for understanding how your child learns to talk from birth to age 5: https://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/resources/resources/resources-for-parents/small-talk.aspx


Opera complains over Microsoft’s IE

By on

Norwegian browser developer, Opera has filed a complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission. It has complained that Microsoft is illegally ties it’s web browser, Internet Explorer, with its Windows Operating System.

This comes after a landmark case against Microsoft from the European Commission in an antitrust case; where Microsoft lost the case.

Microsoft is also “hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards,” the company said; thus making the company unable to compete.

Thanks for coming onboard!
We're excited to have you.


The situation goes as follows:

The company you work for has a "Leadership Program" that is by invitation only. You were selected for it by the president of the company, but meanwhile your coworker, who happens to have been at this company longer, is one of the people who interviewed you, and then mentored you, was not selected, and now is feeling rejected by this situation. You also happen to have a close relationship with this particular coworker.

What would be an appropriate way to handle this situation and be able to maintain a professional and close relationship?

edit: there are no 'hard requirements" for this program

  • Well, if your coworker does not meet the requirements to that Leadership Program it must be for something. Either he/she is not so good or lacks some interpersonal skill. In what way you say he/she is feeling rejected? I consider you should not worry about this as long as you dont brag about it – DarkCygnus Jul 27 '17 at 16:53
  • @mcknz maybe related but not necessarily a duplicate – DarkCygnus Jul 27 '17 at 16:55
  • 7
    It's also possible that management felt your coworker already has good leadership skills and wouldn't benefit as much from this program as others would. – SWalters - Reinstate Monica Jul 27 '17 at 16:56
  • @mcknz - no, we are still technically at the same level – Just_Some_Guy Jul 27 '17 at 16:57
  • don't conflate skills with organizational level. Scraping Infinity may be right – NKCampbell Jul 27 '17 at 16:57

You didn't do anything wrong so you are not obligated to do something specific in this situation. what you could do to show that you care about your coworker is to share with him the things you learn over the program, but do not try to talk to your manager or president into bringing him to the program, because it's not your business. If he wants an explanation or an opportunity he can ask for himself.

Given that you've a close relationship with your colleague, it might be worth buying him (or her) a beer, ridicule the situation by bringing up that it's e.g. straight out of Dilbert, that you can't see why he/she shouldn't have gone too/instead of you. Crack a few jokes about the situation to ease and diffuse the tension, and laugh about it together.

Or just do nothing, as Joe suggested in a comment. So long as you're not walking around with a smug smile, your coworker will get over it quickly.

[...] your coworker [...] was not selected, and now is feeling rejected by this situation.

So said coworker values the idea of being a 'leader', or at the very least the idea of being part of the program.

there are no 'hard requirements" for this program

So it is based on someone's opinion/evaluation, which may or may not reflect your coworker's merit.

The logical conclusion would be that, if your coworker wants to get an invitation to the leadership program, then they need to match the evaluator's expectations.

As it stands, this may have nothing to do with their professional competency at all. Let's assume, for a second, a technical specialist like a software developer: the only practical 'path to leadership' would be a position as Lead Developer. The Leadership Program may be focused on administrative leadership, with a Venn diagram showing a surprisingly small shared area between the two administration aspects.

The best approach in my opinion would be to make it clear to your coworker that you participating in the program doesn't interfere with your relationship with them at all, and that you're sympathetic to their situation. As it is, your presence on the program may even reward them with an insight on expected traits, thus helping them in the long run.


ELA 1 and 2

Welcome to ELA 1 and ELA 2. We will start the year learning about text characteristics such as theme, characters, setting, etc.

We will have a Spelling list weekly, with a Spelling Test each Friday.

We will start our writing off with Narrative Writing!

, ; (Last Modified about a minute ago)


What does the most effective support for children going into care look like?

A researcher explains how the impacts of different interventions for children in care proceedings are being evaluated in one family court region

Photo: fotolia/Jenny Sturm

By Udita Iyengar, project manager, BeST? Services Trial, King’s College London

How much do we know about outcomes for children subject to proceedings in the family justice system? Research in this area is relatively new and faces many challenges and unanswered questions. What do we actually mean by ‘good outcomes’? What should parenting assessments encompass, and who should deliver them? How are decisions about rehabilitating children to their parents or permanency reached and can we be sure they are best for the child long term?

Our research trial in East London (which is part of broader project started by Professor Helen Minnis in Glasgow in partnership with the NSPCC) is looking at a new question based on what we know about child brain development. We are following a cohort of young children (five years old and under) going into care to examine whether a service model that focuses on infant mental health brings benefits to children who enter care at a young age as they grow older – in terms of their social, emotional and mental wellbeing – compared to the existing social work model.

Why infant mental health?

Scientific studies have shown a strong link between adverse childhood experiences (such as domestic violence, emotional and sexual abuse, physical and emotional neglect), and physical and mental health.

This is particularly important in the first few years of life, when the brains of children are rapidly changing and developing, making young children highly vulnerable, but also highly resilient. Regardless of the severity of abuse and neglect, the negative effects of maltreatment can largely be reversed if children receive secure, loving care and are in a stable home environment, early enough.

The New Orleans Intervention Model (NIM) was developed by a team at Tulane University, Louisiana over 20 years ago to apply this research to practice when children come into care. NIM uses an infant mental health approach (see below), designed to improve the quality of the child’s permanent placement decisions.

However, we still do not know if an infant mental health model is more clinically and cost effective than the usual interventions for these children. This is the question our trial, run by the East London Family Court and King’s College London, is attempting to answer. The Best Services Trial (BeST?) is the first ever randomised controlled trial within the context of care proceedings. It is a longitudinal study, designed to evaluate the long-term impacts of different interventions.

The study started in Croydon in 2017. It has since extended to Tower Hamlets, Bromley, Sutton, and Barking & Dagenham and may expand into more east London boroughs.

BeST? aims to compare the outcomes of children and families receiving an intervention under an infant mental health service model delivered by the London Infant and Family Team (LIFT), and those receiving support under the existing model (we’ve referred to this as ‘services-as-usual’ or SAU).

What do the interventions involve?

LIFT teams are multidisciplinary, comprising of social workers, psychiatrist and psychologists all under one roof. The LIFT team conduct the initial assessment when proceedings are started and continue to work with the child and their family and carers during and after proceedings. They provide the evidence to court if orders are pursued.

Models used by the infant mental health team
Circle of Security and Video Interaction guidance are attachment based-interventions carried out by trained practitioners.In brief, CoS aims to increase awareness of and then shift the mental representations parents have of their own childhoods and the downstream effects they have on how they parent their child, and support parents to reflect upon parent-child interactions through video and/or group discussion. VIG aims to enhance communication and attunement in parent child relationships using a coaching approach to reflecting on the behaviour, feelings, thoughts, wishes and intentions in filmed interactions

The work carried out and techniques used depend on the specific contexts and needs of the individual child and family and carers but may include parent/infant psychotherapy, approaches based on attachment theory such as Circle of Security or and Video Interaction Guidance.

For those receiving ‘services as usual’, the service is led by the social work team, solicitors, and guardians following the procedures in that local authority and would typically include parenting assessments done in-house, or by independent social workers, or possibly external expert assessments – tailored to a family’s needs on a case by case basis.

It is a crucial part of this trial that children, birth families and foster carers are getting a high quality of service no matter which service they are allocated to.

Why a randomised controlled trial?

A randomised controlled trial (RCT) is seen as the ‘gold standard’ in research and is the fairest and clearest way to know which service is best for children long term. Random allocation to LIFT or SAU balances out, between the two groups, all of the complex factors that could influence outcomes for children.

While there are often ethical implications for a randomly allocated study, particularly in care proceedings, this trial has been through a rigorous ethical review board at the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and is supported by the East London Family Court. It is important to note that within the context of care proceedings, the jurisdiction of the court is to gather evidence on a welfare decision, and the ultimate decision maker is the court. Whichever service the family is allocated to, professionals will provide evidence for the courts to make a decision.

The only ‘random’ element is which service they are allocated to. All birth parents with children entering foster care (including mother and baby placements and kinship care) in the boroughs involved are informed about the study and asked if they want to participate. If they consent to take part, they are randomly allocated by computer to receive either LIFT or SAU. There is no random element in the decision making of the court.

The families receive the intervention they are allocated to during proceedings and continue to receive appropriate services following the outcome of care proceedings.

Follow-up research

Researchers meet the children, birth parents, foster carers (and if the child is adopted, their adopters if they consent to taking part) three times over a two and a half-year period: roughly one month, 15 months and 30 months after the child enters care.

During these research visits we talk to parents, carers and children and assess the child’s development and wellbeing, mental health, and parent/carer and child relationship using a number of measures. Following the progress of children over a number of years is the only way to determine which services is better for children, as well as the costs associated with each service.

Separately, with the help of local authority, we are also doing an analysis of the cost for both services, to know long-term which is the most economical and beneficial service.

Ultimately, the trial aims to find out which service is best for children long term: a model led by social work experts or a model led by infant mental health experts. A key premise is that we know both models provide a quality service; no family participating in the study is being deprived of support. Birth parents, foster carers and adoptive parents, social work, legal teams and guardians all play a crucial part in in helping us to learn the best way to improve the mental health and placement stability of pre-school children who have come into care because of abuse and/or neglect. This study is the first of its kind, and if successful, could radically transform the way we implement social services for children and families. If you have any questions about it, please contact the research team.

  • More information is available via the study website and video
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We Made an Oat-Milk-in-Every-Course Dinner

You may know oat milk if you’re a coffee drinker, but experimenting with it shouldn’t stop there.

0127-PartnerTip-350x70px-Style guide greensIf you’ve been listening to this season of In the Field, then you’ve likely heard the mid-roll Oatly ads. Yes, the Swedish brand is sponsoring this first season (we lucked out IMHO), but both my producer Kat Aaron and I are weirdly, legitimately honest to goodness fascinated by Oatly, and just oat milk in general for that matter.

If you’ve not had it and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about, it’s this surprisingly creamy, legitimately tasty oat drink that has made a strong debut in New York coffee shops. How is it so creamy? Why doesn’t it leave a weird feeling or taste in my mouth like other so-called milks? Is it for a gross reason, or a good one? Can you make ranch dressing with it? And why is it so hard to find? I am not kidding when I said in the ad that I travel to get it.

So in this final episode of the season, we unpack some mysteries of oat milk and explore a mystery of our own making: Is there anything this post-cow drink can’t do? In the first half, we interview Anna Throne-Holst, president of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, about Oatly’s Scandinavian roots, then to close out the season, we make an oat-milk-in-every-course-even-the-drinks feast. All I’ll say for now is that oat milk ain’t just for coffee.

Here are the links I promise in the episode:

  • Use this handy Oatfinder if you’re looking for Oatly near you.
  • Here’s our recipe for the oat milk cream pies developed by Caroline Lange.
  • If you’re wondering about the environmental impact of oats as compared to, say, almonds, Mother Jones writer Tom Philpott has a breakdown.
  • We mostly just improv with oat milk in the kitchen, but did take some inspiration from this piece for the French soda.

If you’re enjoying this first season of In the Field with Edible Brooklyn, we’d be so grateful if you would rate and review us wherever you listen. Every little bit helps!

The first season of our podcast is produced by the insanely talented Kat Aaron and brought to you by Oatly.

You can also subscribe on Apple PodcastsGoogle Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast and Pocket Casts. We’re working hard to bring you season two—stay tuned!


Autistic Spectrum Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a diagnostic label that includes an umbrella of difficulties in two main areas: communication and interactions with other people and stereotyped, intense interests and patterns of behaviour (DSM-V). Some people prefer to refer to ASD as a condition rather than a disorder to emphasise the strengths rather than difficulties. It is also referred to as a spectrum of difference and/or difficulty because every individual will have their own specific areas of strength as well as difficulties.

Some of the common challenges that children, young people and adults with a diagnosis of ASD can face are:

  • Difficulties coping with change, trying new things or going to new places and/or meeting new people.
  • Difficulties with changes in plans or unpredictable events.
  • Difficulties making or keeping friends.
  • Sensory sensitivities (for example, loud noises, certain flavours, textures and colours in food, physical contact, being in places with lots of people and crowds).
  • They can feel misunderstood by others or may struggle to understand other people’s behaviours and intentions.
  • People with a diagnosis of ASD can be particularly vulnerable to low mood and anxiety because of all of the factors above.

Individuals with a diagnosis of Autism can do well and overcome the challenges they face with the right support and in the right environment. Therapy can help to think about how to adapt the environment to meet the child or adult’s needs and/or assist the individual (child or adult) to develop skills and strategies to cope with challenges.

People on the spectrum often have one or several special interests. This can be a positive thing, as they will dedicate lots of time and energy to their interest and can become very good at something (for example, developing an in-depth knowledge of a specific topic, have proficient skills at playing a musical instrument or IT skills). However, their special interest may distance them from others if others are not interested in the same topic/activity or if the person with ASC prioritises their interest over any other activities and relationships. Special interests can often be used to develop new skills and expand routines and/or skills.

People with ASC often like the structured nature of CBT, and small adaptations can make a difference to more successful therapy.

I am trained in the administration of the ADOS-II (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) and 3Di (parent interview), commonly used in the assessment and diagnosis of ASD.  I have been involved in conducting ASD assessments as part of MDT (multidisciplinary) teams in the NHS and the Spanish National Health System for more than 10 years, although I do not conduct ASD assessments privately at present.


Results in 2018

2018 was the first year of the Climate Change project and the third year of the Inclusion project.
We had many existing result, please find some of them below.

A: Knowledge and skills development:

Knowledge and attitude on climate change and disaster risk reduction of students have changed remarkably compared to the beginning of the year. Prior to the training only 34% students at grade 4& 5 could provide correct understanding of what climate changes is, what are the causes, what are the negative impact of natural disaster and what they should do to mitigate the risk. After having 11 training sessions, 72% of student in both provinces now have correct knowledge. There is also significant change in Tieu Can specifically from 29% to 78%.

Results in 2018

More importantly the students are active in doing communication and prevention activities through school events. They have made things (flower box) from used materials and have used friendly environment kitchenware instead of using plastic ones. They have written essays and painted pictures on climate change issues to demonstrate their understanding. They have taken care of school gardens, grown crops that are friendly to the environment and earned in average 50 US$ per harvest/schools. These earnings will be used to buy seedings for new crops.

105 knowledgeable and skilful women have been selected through existing local structures and trained as trainers in different areas: 33 women union officers have been trained for climate change education for women union groups, 60 educators have been trained to provide climate change school education and 12 facilitators on entrepreneurship have been trained. The trainers are proactive in managing their trainings and are very confident in facilitating the lessons and supporting the trainees. Nine out of ten women union trainers demonstrated good knowledge of climate change, and they trained over 4970 women union group members. In total, 6143 people were trained in 2018 and obtained skills and knowledge on climate change and entrepreneurship. 26 women have successfully graduated with basic business management skills.

191 pre and primary school teachers and managers understand the law of people with disabilities (PwD) and child rights.  The trained teachers report that “The training we attended changed my perception on PwD’s ability.  We should use the word “non-disabled people instead of normal people. It also makes me realized that PwD has abilities, they can do like us, the non-disabled. I used to feel pitiful for them, now I know they should be treated equally” (FGD with Primary school teachers). 6 mainstream schools have engaged in implementing inclusive education and 105 children with disability study in 6 mainstream schools.

B: Sustainable income and increased welfare

The social welfare effects of MOM have been significant in 2018, and more women have achieved sustainable income. The number of MOM client who had only less than 2.5USD income per day is significantly reduced from 33% in 2017 to 19%[1] in 2018. All the indicators on the poverty index (PPI) is pointing in the right direction. Access to clean water has improved, as well as access to toilets. The PPI scores of client population improved from 72 in 2017 score to 78 in 2018.  In detail, 79% client live in good house condition, an increase of 1.3% compare to 2017; 66% access to hygiene toilet, increase 13%; 74% client access to clean water, increase with 10.6%; 42% have saving more than 700,000 VND per month.

C: Disability inclusion

Can Tho CAPD ( Can Tho Association of People with disability) has strengthened their role as lead DPO in Mekong, and disability awareness in the region has improved, both for local government officers as well as in the local communities. Several trainings for people with disability has been undertaken. In additional to support and train for District DPO, Ninh Kieu and other clubs (women with disability, deaf clubs) in Can Tho, Can Tho CAPD can manage small grant fund to raise disability awareness in other provinces in Mekong region. They trained for the deaf clubs, pwds clubs, blind associations and unofficial groups from 8 provinces of Mekong delta on group management, proposal writing. As resulted, 678 PWDs and government officers in other provinces have deep understanding the right of PWD and knowledge on reproductive health, legal policies or job orientation.

[1] PPI scorecard reading - CGAP

This site is about Mission Alliance in Vietnam. Contact us.


by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

A riveting, comprehensive history of the Arab peoples and tribes that explores the role of language as a cultural touchstone This kaleidoscopic book covers almost 3,000 years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture over vast distances. Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia. Mackintosh-Smith reveals how linguistic developments-from pre-Islamic poetry to the growth of script, Muhammad's use of writing, and the later problems of printing Arabic-have helped and hindered the progress of Arab history, and investigates how, even in today's politically fractured post-Arab Spring environment, Arabic itself is still a source of unity and disunity.

ISBN: 9780300251630

€ 16.15

In Stock.

Usually despatched in 1-2 working days

Date of Publication: 27/11/2019

Cover of Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires - Tim Mackintosh-Smith - 9780300251630Paperback


Learning Disabilities (LD)

Dr Ira Shah
Learning Disabilities (LD) - Patient Education
Q. What are learning disabilities ?
Learning disabilities are a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. Learning disabilities may affect a person's ability to speak, listen, read, write, spell, reason, recall, organize information or to do mathematics. These disorders are seen in people who have normal intelligence but due to some differences in the connections in the brain, they affect various speech, articulations, coordination and academic aspects of the development.

Q. What are the various types of learning disabilities ?
Learning disabilities can show up in several ways-as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, co-ordination, self-control or attention. They are divided into 3 broad categories:

These people have difficulty producing speech sounds,(Developmental Articulation Disorders) whereby they may have trouble controlling their rate of speech or may lag behind in learning to make speech sounds for e.g. "Sweep" may be pronounced as "Thweep". These articulation disorders are common and are seen in at least 10 percent of children younger than 8 years. Most of the children however outgrow their problems or are successfully treated with speech therapy.

Some children may have problems expressing themselves in speech (Developmental Expressive Language Disorders). They may call objects by wrong names or are unable to answer simple questions.

Some people may have trouble understanding certain aspects of speech (Developmental Receptive Language Disorders). They may not respond to their names or are unable to follow simple directions. Their hearing is normal but they just can't make sense of certain sounds, words or sentences that they hear and may even appear inattentive. These people may also have trouble in expressing themselves.

* Dyslexia (Developmental Reading Disorder: A person with dyslexia has trouble in any of the tasks involving reading. A significant number of people with dyslexia are unable to distinguish or separate the sounds in a spoken word for e.g. they may be unable to identify the word "Cat" if you spell out the individual letters "c-a-t." They may also reverse letters, words and numbers. They may confuse the order of letters in words or may not recognize words previously learned. They may also spell a word in several different ways without recognizing the correct version. They may not hear fine differences in words i.e. write "tin" for "ten" and may even confuse between right and left.
An older child with dyslexia may have trouble remembering what has recently been read, have difficulty concentrating while reading or writing and may also have poor spelling.

*Developmental Writing Disorder: Writing involves several areas of the brain (areas involved with vocabulary, grammar, hand movement and memory). Hence, a developmental writing disorder may develop in a person who has problems in any of these areas.

* Dyscalculia (Developmental Arithmetic Disorder: It is a mathematical disorder in which a person has a difficult time solving arithmetic problems and in grasping math concepts.

includes coordination, motor skill disorders and other specific developmental disorders. Here a person may have difficulty in doing coordinative actions, difficulty to form letters or write within a defined space (dysgraphia). Some children with learning disorders (almost 20%) have difficulty to focus their attention. Some children and adults may have attention disorder, where they may daydream excessively and tend to get distracted easily. Other children (especially boys) with attention deficit disorder may have hyperactivity. They act impulsively, are fidgety, and always losing things. These hyperactive children can't sit still, can't wait for their turn and interrupt the classroom. However, by adolescence, this physical hyperactivity usually subsides into restlessness and fidgeting.

Q. How are children with learning disabilities identified?
Parents are usually the first to notice delays in their child reaching early milestones, but the pediatrician may observe more subtle signs of minor neurological damage. However, the classroom teacher may, in fact be the first to notice the child's persistent difficulties in reading, writing or arithmetic.

There are some warning signs, which may help to pick up children with learning disabilities earlier.

Warning signs in a preschool child
- Speaks later than most children.
- Has difficulty pronouncing and finding the right word.
- Has difficulty rhyming words.
- Has trouble learning number,alphabets, ays of the week,color,Shapes etc..
- Gets easily distracted and is extremely restless.
- Has trouble interacting with peers.

Warning signs in a school going child
- Spelling errors.
- Reveres letter sequences.
- Confuses arithmetic signs (+, -, X, /, =).
- Is slow to remember facts and learn new skills
- Has an unstable pencil grip
- Has trouble learning about time
- Has poor co-ordination and is prone to accidents
- Avoids reading aloud
- Has trouble with handwriting
- Has difficulty making friends
- Has trouble with words

Warning signs in an Adolescent and Adults
- Continues to spell incorrectly.
- Avoids reading and writing tasks.
- Has weak memory skills.
- Has difficulty adjusting to new settings.
- Works slowly
- Misreads information.
- Either pays too little attention to details or focuses on them too much

It has been found that there may be variations in the brain structure called planum temporale, a language related area found on both sides of the brain. In people with dyslexia, the two structures are found to be equal in size. In people who are not dyslexic, however the left planum temporale is found to be noticeably larger.

Q. How are children with learning disabilities diagnosed ?
A child is suspected to have a learning disability, when there is inability to attain certain skills inspite of a normal intelligence. The actual diagnosis of learning disabilities is made using standardized tests that compare the child's level of ability to what is considered normal development for a person of that age and intelligence.

Each type of learning disability is diagnosed in slightly different ways:
- To diagnose speech and language disorders, a speech therapist tests the child's pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar and compares them to the developmental abilities seen in most children of that age. A psychologist tests the child's intelligence. A pediatrician checks for any ear infection and an audiologist checks the hearing
- If the problem involves articulation, a doctor examines the child's vocal cords and throat
- In the case of academic skills disorder, academic development in reading, writing and maths in evaluated using standardized tests. In addition, vision and learning are tested to be sure that the student can see words clearly and hear adequately

Q. How are children with learning disabilities treated ?
It is extremely important that learning disabilities are diagnosed early as the brain's flexibility to learn new skills is greatest in young children and may diminish somewhat after puberty. Thus, early intervention is most important (Nevertheless, the ability to learn remains throughout life).

Children with LD and their families require help on several fronts: educational, medical, emotional and practical.

In most ways, children with LD are no different from other children. They require special educational programs either in a separate all -day classroom or as a special educational class for several hours a week. If problems are severe, these children may require a special school for the learning disabled. Special educational programs begin with systematically identifying what the student can and cannot do. By using several skills and sense, the child is taught the activities for e.g. in learning to spell and recognize words, a student may be asked to see, say, write and spell each new word. The student may also write the words in sand, which engages the sense of touch (children are more likely to retain a skill if more the senses are used).

For a child with articulation problems, the child may watch the speech therapist make the sound, feel the vibration in the therapist's throat, then practice making the sounds before a mirror.

Non-standard teaching methods like using computers that talk can help teach children with language disabilities to process spoken words more quickly. The computer starts slowly, pronouncing one sound at a time. As the child gets better at recognizing the sounds and hearing them as words the sounds are gradually speeded up to a normal rate of speech.

Medications like methyl phenidate, dextroamphetamine and pemoline are available, which are used in children with attention deficit disorders. They help children control their impulsiveness and other hyperactive behaviors. These drugs are effective for 3-4 hours and the child takes the medication so that the drug is active during peak school hours.

The effects of LD may not enable a LD child to effectively communicate socially. Children with LD may have a low self-esteem and consider themselves :- 'behind, slow or different' from other children. Counseling can be very useful to people with LD and their families. Counseling can help affected children, teenagers and adults develop greater self-control and a more positive attitude towards their own abilities. Family members may also be allowed to air their feelings as well as get support and reassurance. When children have learning disabilities, parents may need to work harder at developing their children's self-esteem and relationship -building skills for self-esteem and good relationships are as worth developing as any academic skills.

Q. Can learning disabilities be cured ?
Though learning disabilities can not be cured, most people learn to adapt and live fulfilling lives. Certain learning problems reflect delayed development and many children eventually catch up. Children with articulation and expressive language disorders do not usually have a longterm problem.

Q. I have heard that megavitamins help a child with LD. Is that true ?
Megavitamins have not been proven to be effective in treating majority of children with LD. Other therapies that have been proven to be ineffective are colored lenses, special diets and body stimulation.

Learning Disabilities (LD) Learning Disabilities (LD) 08/01/2015
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This image of the mudslide shows the vehicle that got stuck in it. The lone occupant was rescue unhurt.

Why does the East Gate Landslide keep blocking the Trans-Canada?

East Gate Landslide triggered in 1997 along pre-historic faultlines.

When the East Gate Landslide came down onto the Trans-Canada Highway last week, blocking the road for more than a day, it marked the second year in a row a slide there blocked the highway, and the third time since 2007.

So what is happening with the East Gate Landslide path on Heather Mountain that is causing it to deposit so much mud and debris on the highway?

The East Gate Landslide is a pre-historic landslide that was re-activated in 1997 along pre-historic fault lines, according to a 2006 geolical survey by Marc-Andre Brideau and Doug Stead of Simon Fraser University, and Rejean Couture of the Geological Survey of Canada.

“Most of the slope on that side of that valley is affected by ancient slope deformations,” said Couture in an interview. “What happened is a big failure inside the rock mass that was hanging there above the slope.”

The slide that was triggered stopped on a bench high up on Heather Mountain, however in the spring of 1999 enough debris built up to send the path further down the mountain.

“A huge volume of mass, a mix of soil, trees, boulder, blocks and water as well went down the slope and bull-dozed everything in its passage,” he said.

The slide path stopped at a lower bench, but when there is enough snow melt and heavy rain, it sends debris down well-formed channels to the Trans-Canada Highway.

Normally only mud flows down to the highway but when the build-up is strong enough, it can bring rocks and trees with it. The debris flow can travel up to several metres per second, said Couture.

“If you look at the air photos, you have an elongated mass of debris that occupies about one-third of the entire slope,” said Couture. “This area is full of matter and debris – a mix of sand, boulders and trees. It’s standing there waiting to see rainfall events, snow melt, an increase of water to trigger debris flows”

To manage the landslide, Parks Canada built catchment basins at the base of two mud flow channels leading from the slide to the valley below. They also have built culverts and installed weather stations that monitor snowpack and precipitation, said Parks Canada spokesperson Jacolyn Daniluck in an e-mail.

This year, Parks Canada noticed the landslide becoming active in May and mud flow was observed in the channels leading to the highway. The heavy rain last week caused the flow to increase and by the morning of June 6, the catchment basins overflowed and the mud and debris covered 400 metres of highway about 3 metres deep.

“Parks Canada was aware that heavy rains were forecast and was ready with the necessary heavy equipment and staff to manage any possible highway closures and clean-up,” said Daniluck.

Couture said the key to preventing overflow is to make sure the catchment basins are managed and emptied in the fall or early-spring so that when the flows do start, there is enough room to capture all the trees and boulders that come down.

What is the potential of the East Gate Landslide? Can it result in a massive, catastrophic failure like the Frank Slide that buried a small mining town in the Alberta Rockies under 82 million tonnes of rock in 1903, killing more than 70 people?

Couture doesn’t think so. He said that slide was a sudden collapse of brittle rock with huge energy. The East Gate Landslide he described as more of a “big bulldozer that is moving slowly.”

As it stands, Parks Canada has no plans to expand the catchment basin, said Daniluck.  “As always and in all seasons our focus is on motorist and worker safety so we close the highway when it is affected by slide activity or other extreme weather events.”

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How genetic reshuffling in the brain may cause Alzheimer’s

Genetic rearranging that appears to take place in Alzheimer’s brains isn’t random mutation, but a process that recombines DNA into different patterns, according to a study led by Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute scientists. This re


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Ive been dancing flamenco for 20 years now, but I still consider myself a student, always learning,

always trying to understand more. One thing I know is that as dancers we all want to dance like
Carmen Amaya NOW! It can be such an emotional struggle to get to where we want to be. However,
there is no destination, just the journey. And the journey is what we make of it. With that being said,
here are some of the struggles I have dealt with along with my paths to understanding.

In the beginning it was just a struggle to understand the 12 count comps (rhythm). The 4 count, of
course, was easy because its the rhythm that I grew up with. I didnt have to count, I just felt it. But
with the 12 count, it was a constant battle of always counting and not knowing to be in step with my
counting and the actual comps that was playing. It took some time to internalize the 12 count
comps, but it happened.

Listening to a lot of flamenco music, watching videos and playing palmas to them helped me to
internalize the rhythm. Whenever you listen to flamenco music, first find the 12, then see if you can
follow along with palmas with certainty. It trains your ears and sharpens your sense of comps.

The other battle was with learning choreographies and not understanding how everything fit together
within the whole dance and within a letra. It wasnt because my teacher didnt try to teach it. Its just
that my ears and my mind couldnt absorb everything! But it came together slowly, one bit at a time.
First came learning the basic structure of all dances- entrada, llamada, letra, falseta, escobilla,
buleria/macho. (Im working on that flamenco glossary!) Then came truly understanding the structure
of letras in the most common palos (flamenco rhythms) that we used to danced. The trick was
knowing when natural remates (breaks) occurred within the letra(singing verse), and if it was a
variation on the normal letra structure, that I could listen to the cante (singing) and understand the
peaks and valleys of the melody. This is what makes improvising possible.

Watching other dancers, especially the great dancers from Spain, helped me with structure and its
variables. I watched and noticed what they were doing within a dance- llamada, falseta, letra,
escobilla, letra, escobilla, palo seco, macho, etc. Also, I would dance to whatever flamenco music I
had- see if I could resolve with the singer even if it was only with upper body styling. This helped with
learning to improvise.

I remember being frustrated at not being able to look the way I felt while dancing. I would be
disappointed at a video of myself because I didnt look the way I thought I had. But it takes years to
build the strength, mobility and muscle memory, so I was too hard on myself.

However, trying to systematically correct whatever I saw allowed me to work on styling. But do this
one bit at a time or else youll get overwhelmed. If your hands look frantic while dancing, practice
while paying special attention to your hand movements. If you have a habit of always looking down
while you dance, practice dancing while looking at yourself in the mirror. Also, doing other
conditioning work such as yoga, strength training, stretching, really built up my tools for dancing
flamenco the way I wanted to. But really, this takes time and personal expression and feeling trump
any particular styling in my opinion.

I was fortunate in my early years that my teacher was awesome, my schedule was open and I was
able to take classes three times per week and practice all the time as well. Before kids, I could
practice all the time in studios as long as my cash flow was flowing. But now, with kids, its a
constant struggle to find the time and motivation to practice. The hardest part about practicing
flamenco is WHERE! Ideally, you can practice in a dance studio where you can see yourself, have
plenty of room and have proper floors. However, that gets expensive and you cant always take the
time out to go to the studio, practice, and drive home. I get in the zone by practicing at the studio
while I easily get distracted if I practice at home. But I need to make it work at home because of my
time constraints.

It works if I have a plan- practice one choreography only, practice just footwork patterns, etc. Also, I
have a set warm up that puts me in dance mode as well as a total body technique drill that works for
strengthening footwork and building mobility in the upper body. So, if I can at least do that, Ive
worked on my practice of flamenco, while not necessarily practicing or rehearsing a choreography.
But I can feel super accomplished if I can do the practice before rehearsing.

(If you need help practicing, you can practice with me at my Online Flamenco Studio. Click here to
get access to sample videos inside the studio

It was easy when I was learning in San Francisco or when I lived in Madrid because I took plenty of
classes and learned plenty of choreographies. I take as many workshops as I can to gain new
inspiration. But when Im in a bind I watch YouTube for my favorite dancers and might glean a bit of
inspiration from one comps of footwork or half a comps of marking. I also have a very
disorganized library of all the choreographies Ive taught in my classes, so if Im really good I can go
through them for inspiration.

Of course there are more struggles and plenty of opportunities for enlightenment. I would love to
hear yours. In the comments section, please tell me what you struggle with in learning flamenco and
even of your moments of clarity!

Mastering Odd, Complex Time Signatures

And Rhythms
by Kevin Ferguson

2008 Kevin Ferguson/Debone Music

Growing up, the progressive rock and jazz/rock fusion tunes I'd play would sometimes
bewilder those in the mood to dance. How could anyone possibly dance to such odd
and complex rhythms and changing time signatures? Some of the more famous and
simple versions of these include the theme for the TV series and movies "Mission
Impossible" (in 5/4), "Take Five" (5/4) and Pink Floyd's "Money" (7/4).

Ironically, in music from other parts of the world, many of the odd and quite complex
time signatures, rhythmic meters and patterns are actually derived from the rhythm of
the dance the music was developed around. For example, in the southern Balkans
(Macedonia, Bulgaria and to a lesser extent in Greece), one finds time signatures such
as 5/8, 7/16, 11/16 and combinations such as 25/16 (7/16:11/16:7/16) [2].

Here's an approach to

counting them off to your band and

playing them naturally so that you can

improvise over them with ease and even

superimpose them over more mainstream rhythms such as 4/4.

This approach can also be applied to many syncopated rhythms in more familiar time
signatures. For this, I also give some examples of rhythms from Salsa, Flamenco and
West African music. I explain a simple way to think of them and associated
ornamentation and give audio clip examples from fiery folk tunes I've learned from
the cultures that created them. Most of the audio clips are from my "Exotic
Extremes" CD.

Galloping Apples
After studying the music for a while, learning some tunes and playing with musicians
much more experienced than I at the time, the biggest breakthrough in being able to
internalize the rhythms came from learning the associated folk dance. Balkan dance
rhythms were taught to me using the rhythm of words to denote long and short
duration steps.
For example, "apple" is used for short steps spanning 2 beats, such as 2 sixteenth
notes, and "galloping" for long steps spanning 3 beats. Then rhythms are assembled
with the correct stressed or accented beats by the correct choice of combinations of 2's
and 3's: "apple apple galloping" is a 7/16 rhythm with accents at the first beat of each
of groups of 2, 2 and 3, counted as "1 2 1 2 1 2 3":

Example audio clips of a fast (about as fast as it is possible to count the beats out
loud) example of this rhythm and time signature include:

Exotic Extremes CD: Track 8: "Gabrovska Rachenica":

Exotic Extremes CD: Track 13: "Shopska Rachenica ":

Subtle Hint CD: Track 2: "Fugued Rachenitsa":

Subtle Hint CD: Track 17: "Ubava Pizza Rachenizza":

Balkan & Beyond/Live At Costello's: Track 2: "Rachenitsa Medley (Balkan,

7/16) ":

Likewise, another form of 7/16 is 3, 2, 2, represented with "galloping apple apple":

Middle Eastern and Northern Indian (Hindustani) Classical also use the idea of
assembling 2's and 3's to construct rhythm [3]. Hindustani rhythmic cycles are known
as tal or tala. Examples include "jhaptal" with 10 beats and "rupak" also with 7 beats
Jhaptal: 2+3+2+3 = 10 beats
Rupak: 3+2+2 = 7 beats

Borrowing from the Balkan dancer method, this would be:

Jhaptal: "apple galloping galloping apple" Rupak: "galloping apple
Typically, both jhaptal and rupak would be much slower than the Balkan equivalent,
so try saying the above apples and gallopings in slow motion to get a feel for the
typical average tempo of these Hindustani rhythmic cycles.

In these examples, the words "apple" and "galloping" convey the rhythmic pattern and
also aid in memorization. The memorization aid aspect has lead some to call the use
of these rhythmic words "mnenonics."

Mnemonics are used to convey rhythm in Flamenco music, for example "tumty" for 2
beats instead of "apple" and "tumpity" for 3 beats instead of "galloping" [5]. We'll
revisit Flamenco in the discussion on syncopation. Generally, the rhythmic cycles of
Flamenco are represented in Western music notation as combinations of more
conventional time signatures such as 4/4, 6/8 and 3/4.

A very fast version of 11/16, "apple apple galloping apple apple" (2 2 3 2 2), can be
heard in "Revisko Oro".

"Revisko Oro" is faster than most mortals can speak the corresponding "apple apple
galloping apple apple" pattern. So how does one count off a band for this?

A One And A Two...

Counting these super fast beats off to start a band together is done by simply counting
the accented beats only, and often 2 measures need to be counted. For example, for
"Revisko Oro" the 11/16 ("apple apple galloping apple apple") count for two measures
becomes a count of words with "galloping" getting 1.5 times the duration as the
1 2 3- 4 5 2 2 3- 4 5

Apple Sauce
Before we get too messy here, try playing a single note with a 5/8 rhythm to start:
"apple galloping" or 2 3: "1 2 1 2 3" with the main accent on the first "1" and the
secondary accent on the second "1."
After getting familiar with playing combinations of 2's and 3's, adapting to new
rhythms becomes much easier. And old time signatures can take on new accents more
easily. For example 9/16 from a Western perspective would naturally have accents as
"galloping galloping galloping", 3 3 3. However, more commonly in Macedonia this
would be more interesting with syncopation such as with the "apple apple apple
galloping", 2 2 2 3 rhythm found in "Olimpijski Chochek" on the "Exotic Extremes"
CD and "Abdala" on the "Balkan & Beyond/Live At Costello's" CD .

It's not a bad idea to get used to two distinct ways of playing the 2's and 3's with a
pick or finger picking. For example, with a pick, the above example of 9/16 can be
played using continuous alternate picking (down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up,
down, up...) or with a down stroke always on the accented first beat of the 2 or 3 note
phrase. The latter method is better for consistency of accent and tone, but can limit
speed more. Picking with fingernails has a parallel approach with a particular finger,
say the index finger, corresponding to accented beats and other fingers corresponding
to unaccented beats.

Slicing The Apple

Each basic beat (the denominator of the time signature), for example, the eighth note
of 5/8 time, can of course be divided into smaller units. As mentioned above,
Flamenco rhythms are also sometimes taught using mnemonics. These may be used to
divide each beat. For example [5]:
1: tum
2: (doublet): tumty
3: (triplet): tumpity
4: (quadruplet): tumpidity
6: (sextuplet): rumpitytumpity
Note the similarity to perhaps the more familiar:
1: "one"
2: (doublet) "one-and"
4: (quadruple) "one-dee-and-a"

This mnemonics technique can also be used to subdivide the beat by 5, 7 and larger
numbers. For example, combine 2 and 3 for 5 subdivisions of the beat with "tumty-
tumpity," and likewise for 7 with "tumty-tumty-tumpity" or 4 and 3 as in "tupidity-
tumpity" and so forth. Be careful to give each syllable equal time so that the 3's don't
become triplets compared to the 2's.

Examples of large odd subdivisions of beats (and sets of beats) can be found in
Brazilian drum line music, jazz, fusion and especially the music of Frank Zappa.

Spicing The Apple

Rhythmic ornamentations familiar to the Westerner, like trills, turns, mordents, grace
notes, and slurs (bends and slides) are also used in the music of many other cultures to
spice things up a bit. A notable difference in some other parts of the world, however,
is the use of "accidental" notes in this ornamentation. A useful way to think of this is
that rhythm gets priority over melody. In some cases, this is based on fact, sometimes
not. For example, if an instrument is difficult to play a trill with an augmented second
(minor third) interval, a minor second might be used instead.

In Macedonian and Bulgarian folk music, for example, "rhythmic articulation" and
rhythmic ornamentations are used without being confined to a particular scale
structure or key.

Though the unornamented melody may follow strict melodic patterns within a scale
[2], the ornamentation quite often uses "accidental" notes not found in the scale of the
melody. Trills and preceding grace notes used in the ornamental "rhythmic
articulation" are constructing using a note a half step above the melodic note from the
scale. For example, in the key of C major, a trill on C would consist of a rapid-fire
repetitive alternation between C and Bb even though Bb is not in the scale. "Sitno"
on Exotic Extremes is an example tune that has both these rhythmic ornamentations
and mixed modes in melody.

Similar melodic structure rule breaking for rhythmic ornamentation is found in other
cultures. While concepts of harmony are not the focus of Hindustani Classical music,
rules for melodic structure have been developed far beyond the Western concept of
mode and scale. Check out Subtle Hint CD: Track 5: "Kedar Tease": for an electric
guitar rendition of the overtone scale version of Hindustani rag "Kedar." Notes used in
rhythmic ornamentation may bend these rules and often have rules of their own [1][3].

Rhythmic ornamentation can include many subtleties in the use of slurs, pitch slides
and bends, and vibrato all with particular timing, pitch range and rhythmic
implications. Some are similar to bends found in jazz, rock and blues saxophone and
guitar, though the pitch range, variety of pattern and extremes of modulation are much
less common in these Western music genres. The use of vibrato in some Hindustani
music is so extreme in modulation depth and rate as to sound as though the performer
was riding a jackhammer. Ah, variety, the spice of life.

Less Is More
Once you get used to playing these examples, try omitting the unaccented notes while
keeping the same general motion of the pick (or fingers) to help keep the rhythm
naturally. Using the mechanics of your hand's physiology like a pendulum this way is
a nice way to keep track of tiny slices of time for very fast, syncopated rhythms. See
the Salsa examples below for an exercise in this.

Combinations And Permutations

More complex rhythmic cycles of the Middle East, Balkans, India and other places are
often constructed by combining 5's, 7's, 9's and 11's (that are themselves constructed
from the 2's and 3's).

After you get used to switching back and forth between 2's and 3's, then playing 5's,
7's and 11's, you'll be ready to play even more complex rhythmic cycles such as 35/16:
5+7+11+7+5. Here are more examples:

Balkan & Beyond/Live At Costello's: Track 3: Aparanee Par (Armenia,

alternating 14=5+5+4/16 and 5/16)

Subtle Hint: Track 15: Mayday Macedonia: 7(=2+2+3)/16 + 9(=2+2+2+3)/16 +

11(=2+2+3+2+2)/16) = 27/16

Balkan & Beyond/Live At Costello's: Track 9: Meshano Oro (64 beat tune:

Subtle Hint: Track 19: "So Much For Justice": 48 as 4 x 12 as 5 (=2+3) + 7

(=2+2+3) + 4+4+4 + 5 (=2+3) + 7 (=2+2+3) + 3+3+3+3

Dafino Vino Tsrveno (Beranche from Macedonia, 12/16 as 7(=3+2+2)/16 +

5(=3+2)/16), electric version: from Subtle Hint, Track 12 & acoustic
version: from Balkan & Beyond/Live At Costello'sTrack 7.

Superimposition: Polyrhythms
The rhythm section of typical traditional Salsa music is a great example of
polyrhythms built from superimposing many individual rhythms, each of which may
be thought of as built from 2's and 3's. While the time signatures are more familiar
such as 4/4, the mix of straight and syncopated rhythms creates an overall complex

One earlier example was "Sitno" which is a Bulgarian tune with superimposed 3/4,
6/8, and 2/4. Some of the more interesting rhythms from Ghana, are played and/or
sung by having different people in different time signatures or rhythmic cycles. An
ode to the diety "Boka" includes 7/4 played over 3/4. This creates a rhythmic cycle
with a pattern that repeats after 21 beats, the least common multiple of 3 and 7.

In addition to Balkan and African examples above, there are many other cultures with
tunes using one time signature played over another: Traditional and contemporary (ala
Steve Morse) Celtic tunes, Brazilian drum line music, jazz and other traditions also
have examples. An original tune I've played in concert many times in the last couple
of years (sorry, the recording is pending the release of my third album) overlaps 4/4
and 6/8, with the lower register of the guitar playing 6/8 notes in the bass-line while
the upper register plays 4/4.

Ah, but how would you play the two parts on a guitar? One way is to think of the two
parts as a whole, which then generally becomes a more syncopated rhythm with a
more complex time signature. So lets look at syncopation before we go any further.

Again, an example of this is a continuous 12/8 section playing along with

Syncopation: Divide And Conquer

After one has mastered the 2's and 3's, playing any time signature or combination thereof
becomes easier. Any rhythmic cycle can be constructed using this method.

Ravi Shankar's "My Music, My Life" [1] has many exercises with combinations and
permutations of these, including those in "teen tal" which is a rhythmic cycle of 16 beats. At first
you might say to yourself "Hey, there are 16 16th notes in 4/4, so what's the big deal?" The
rhythms in the exercises are actually quite syncopated as in "2-3-2-3-3-3" and "3-3-2-2-3-3."

When you encounter syncopated rhythms for the first time, either listening or reading Western
music notation, deconstruction into 2's and 3's (apples and gallopings) can be useful even for
simpler, more familiar time signatures.
Salsa Syncopation Example
The most important rhythm in the highly syncopated Salsa music tradition is the "Clave" rhythm
named after the percussion instrument that normally plays it. Claves are two sticklike cylinders
of hard material. When struck together, they make a high-pitched piercing pulse. The pulse is so
short in time, so staccato, that it is extremely effective as a precise reference in time.

Typically, only the accents are heard played on claves:

In terms of our apples and gallopings, the "son clave" rhythm is

"galloping galloping apple (apple) apple apple (apple)": 3 3 2 (2) 2 2

where "()" denotes rest. From here, delete the unaccented beats and you end up with the rhythm
shown by the conventional music notation above.

You might also recognize this as a rock guitar rhythm from tunes like "Who Do You Love" by
George Thorogood & The Destroyers.

Notice that there are 3 accents, corresponding to 3 words before the first rest: "galloping
galloping apple": 3 3 2. Then 2 accents, corresponding to two words: "apple apple": 2 2. For
Salsa players, this clave rhythm is known as "three two" clave, as opposed to "two three" clave
[4]. "Two three" clave swaps the 2 and 3 accent phrases:

"(apple) apple apple (apple) galloping galloping apple": (2) 2 2 (2) 3

3 2

Flamenco Syncopation Example

Flamenco rhythms include hemiola, in which rhythmic time values are in relationship of 3/2. An
example of this relationship comes from the Bulerias rhythm of the 3/4, 6/8 Flamenco "compas"
(rhythmic cycle) families [5].

This example includes a 6/8 question (Q) and a 3/4 answer (A):
Grouping in 2's and 3's and using corresponding mnemonics:

Q: 3 3 ("tumpity tumpity" or "galloping galloping")

A: 2 2 2 ("tumty tumty tumty" or if you prefer "apple apple apple")

Compare to the hemiola rhythm associated with the lyric "I want to be an A-mer-i-can" from
"West Side Story."

Although this example might seem trivial, it nonetheless illustrates the method that can be
applied to more complex written and heard music. The 3+3 and 2+2+2 rhythms mentioned hear
are analogous to the 3+3+3+3 and 4+4+4 rhythms embedded in

Ghanan Syncopation Example

It has a 12 beat rhythmic cycle of 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 which can also be represented a 2 3 2 2 3 with

only the primary and secondary accents played: Since the secondary accents of the 3 beats are on
the 3rd beat, this corresponds to starting with:

"apple galloping apple apple galloping"

and dropping the unaccented syllables:

"ap - gal - ping ap - ap - gal - ping"

Note that the 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 rhythm has only a subtle difference from (and my be substitued with)
2 3 2 2 3 mentioned above for

Polyrhythms As A Single Syncopated Rhythm: Example
Each of the syncopation examples above, from Salsa, Flamenco and Ghana, is an isolated
syncopated rhythm that is normally played against other rhythms to form a polyrhythm. An
approach to playing these parts well in an ensemble is to understand how each of these individual
syncopated rhythms fit into the whole of the associated polyrhythm.

And this brings us back to the question of how to play things like 4/4 and 6/8 simultaneously.
One approach is to acknowledge that there are two meters occurring simultaneously, and to count
one while playing the other [7]. I find a more useful approach, at least to start, is to convert the
two meters into one instead. To convert the two into one meter, determine a least common
multiple of time signature numerators, determine all of the accents, and convert the rhythm into
2's and 3's, or larger familiar numbers if appropriate.

For example, for 4/4 over 6/8, the time signature numerators are 4 and 6. The least common
multiple is 12 (4x3 =12, 2x6 = 12). Now, describing the 4/4 beats in terms of 12/8:

"galloping galloping galloping galloping" or 3 3 3 3.

And as is conventional for 4/4 time, accents are as follows:

- primary accent on the 1st 4/4 beat (P) and
- secondary on the 3rd 4/4 beat (S),
- tertiary accent on the 2bd 4/4 beat (T) and
- unaccented beat on the 4th 4/4 beat (X).

Now, multiplying 4 by 3 to get 12, the accents become:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
P - - T - - S - - X - -

And for 6/8,

"apple apple apple apple apple apple": 2 2 2 2 2 2:
The primary accent is on the very first 6/8 beat (P) and the secondary on the forth 6/8 beat (S),
the tertiary accent on the third 6/8 beat and the unaccented beats are in between (X). Now,
multiplying 6 by 2 to get 12, the accents become:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
P - X - T - S - X - T -
Now put accents together into one using the rule that stronger accents win:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
4/4: P - - T - - S - - X - -
6/8: P - X - T - S - X - T -

both: P - X T T - S - X X T -
To give you a general feel for this rhythm, if you were to treat all accents equally, you'd get:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
X - X X X - X - X X X -
This rhythm corresponds to rhythm of the main melody of "Carol of The Bells."

Finally, to play a tune with 4/4 on 6/8, the two can be put together in 12/8 or 12/16 time and
accents dealt with as shown above.

Going A "Step" Further

If you'd like to go beyond the rhythmic training one gets from all these exercises on guitar,
listening to music such as the examples on my CD, reading more from materials such as the
references below, learn to dance some of the traditional dances that go with the music. Having
the total body kinesthetic experience of the rhythm is a great way to solidify all the technical
information in your brain.

There You Go...

Building rhythms from groups of 2 and 3 beats, along the associated mnemonics, can be a great
tool for understanding, internalizing, creating, playing written and improvised parts with
complex time signatures, syncopation and superimposed polyrhytms.

[1] Bor, Joep, "The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas," Nimus
Records, 1999.

[2] Rice, Timothy, "May It Fill Your Soul," University Of Chicago Press, 1994.

[3] Shankar, Ravi, "My Music, My Life," Simon and Schuster, New York, 1968.

[4] Gerard, Charley, "Salsa! The Rhythm of Latin Music," White Cliffs Media,
Tempe AZ, 1998, p. 33-34.

[5] Keyser, "Flamenco Chuck," "Introduction To Flamenco: Rhythmic Foundation

and Accompaniement,"

[6] Montfort, Matthew, "Ancient Traditions -- Future Possibilities: Rhythmic

Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali and India." Mill Valley:
Panoramic Press, 1985.

[7] Magadini, Peter, "Polyrhythms - The Musician's Guide" Hall Leonard

Corporation, Tempe AZ, 1993, p. 2.