Chovanec had been detained in a police cell at the airport after causing a disturbance on his flight.Noting that a senior Belgian police officer has stepped down over the video images, Korčok said the Belgian authorities must be aware of the gravity and urgency of the matter, and “this whole scandalous case will be thoroughly investigated.”The video has triggered public outrage in Belgium too, and parliament will discuss the matter at a meeting next week. Both the justice and interior ministers have called for a thorough investigation. Also On POLITICO Belarusian police fire live rounds at protesters By Miles Herszenhorn Polish police crack down on LGBTQ protesters By Jan Cienski Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok has expressed his “shock” at CCTV footage showing “the brutality” of Belgian police restraining a Slovak man who died in police custody at Charleroi airport in 2018.Images of the police intervention surfaced in Belgian media this week, showing officers restraining the man by putting a blanket over his head. One officer sat on him for 16 minutes. The images also show several officers laughing during the incident, while another appears to give a Nazi salute.“Like the whole Slovak public, I was shocked by the footage published by the Belgian media and the brutality that Belgian police officers inflicted on our citizen Jozef Chovanec in a cell in 2018,” Korčok said, adding that his ministry has been in contact with the Belgian authorities in Brussels.
Honoring the legacy of Albert Schweitzer, area graduate students are committing to a year of service with a community agency. In a competitive selection process, 29 students — including six from Harvard — were recently selected as 2007-08 Boston Schweitzer Fellows.Each fellow will devote more than 200 hours of service to local communities lacking access to adequate health services. Fellows receive a standard stipend of $2,000.The Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program has selected a new class of fellows annually since 1991. In addition to their direct community service, the fellows meet monthly to share ideas and experiences. Once the Boston fellows have completed their year of service, they join a network of more than 1,300 Schweitzer “Fellows for Life” across the United States and abroad. Virtually all continue to support and inspire each other through continuing commitment to lives of service.Harvard’s Boston Schweitzer Fellows,including their projects, are as follows:Luis Nicolas Gonzalez Castro, Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Sciences and Technology,Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Castro is assisting in direct care activities serving as a medical interpreter for Hispanic patients and translating brochures and other materials into Spanish.Yi Li, Harvard Medical School (HMS), Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Li is the program and volunteer coordinator for the Boston Asthma Swim Program located in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood. This program builds upon evidence that swimming provides benefits to asthmatic children. Once a week, the after-school program brings together elementary-aged, asthmatic students to learn about the basics of respiratory physiology, asthma care, and healthy lifestyle decisions.Zirui Song, HMS, Brookside Community Health Center. Song is collaborating with the Brookside Community Health Center in Jamaica Plain to develop a youth sports program. His project is part of a comprehensive approach to encourage pediatric patients to adopt a healthier and more physically fit lifestyle.Tuyen Trinh, Harvard School of Public Health, Manville School. Trinh’s project, Creativity with Veggies and Fruits, aims to increase consumption of vegetables and fruits among students at Manville School, a therapeutic day school. Trinh achieves this goal through weekly education about fruits and vegetables and a fun cooking class.Venis Wilder, HMS, North Cambridge Health Center. Wilder is collaborating with the North Cambridge Health Center to improve the care of immigrant residents in the nearby Jefferson Park housing development. She will participate in the development of health fairs, wellness workshops, and other means of outreach for the family medicine clinic and the surrounding community.Sarah Zaman, HMS, is organizing health workshops for homeless women in Greater Boston. Participants determine the topics covered during the workshops. She is also working with the women to create a book about health and homelessness as they have experienced it.
The city launched their Greenest City Action Plan 7 years ago by setting a goal to reduce landfill waste by 50%. Now they are consulting with local businesses on the most strategic replacements for styrofoam containers, plastic bags, and single-use coffee cups. While members of the community will be able to present possible packaging alternatives to the city council this week, overarching bans on single-use products are very plausible for the future.Styrofoam is a major contributor to the city’s landfills. While the elimination of styrofoam altogether seems like the most obvious action, Vancouver plans on compromising with small business owners so they need not be overburdened financially.RELATED: Vancouver Bans the Use of Dolphins and Whales in AquariumsAdditionally, over 2.6 million polycoat-type paper coffee cups are dumped into city landfills every week. Assuming the city issues a ban on wasteful single-use coffee cups, businesses will need to utilize compostable or recyclable coffee cups instead.“[The cups] take up about 22 percent of the volume of our on-street garbage system, and they’re costing us literally millions of dollars to deal with,” said councilwoman Andrea Reimer.City representatives emphasize, however, that they will be ensuring the best possible methods of elimination for every stakeholder involved. As community proposals are reviewed throughout the summer, a public survey will eventually be made available in September.MORE: San Francisco Officially Declares Itself a No-Styrofoam ZoneAll of these proposals are a part of Vancouver’s 2040 Zero-Waste goal. The plan consists of several ambitious environmental and renewable strategies with the goal of becoming a zero waste community by 2040. A spokesperson for the city’s communication department was happy to report that significant progress has been made already.“Cities around the world must show continued leadership to meet the urgent challenge of climate change, and the most impactful change we can make is a shift toward 100% of our energy being derived from renewable sources,” says Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The future of Vancouver’s economy and livability will depend on our ability to confront and adapt to climate change. Moving toward 100% renewable energy is another way that Vancouver is working to become the greenest city in the world.”Click To Share The News With Your Friends (Photo by Vancouver Landfill and Recycling Depot)AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookFacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterTwitterShare to EmailEmailEmailShare to RedditRedditRedditShare to MoreAddThisMore AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookFacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterTwitterShare to EmailEmailEmailShare to RedditRedditRedditShare to MoreAddThisMoreVancouver is well on its way to becoming the greenest city in the world – and they are now tackling the arduous problem of harmful single-use packaging.
AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookFacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterTwitterShare to EmailEmailEmailShare to RedditRedditRedditShare to MoreAddThisMoreAt 7:30 in the evening, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), reopening the pathway to regular crewed missions into space for NASA for the first time in nine years.It took just twelve minutes for the powerful rocket, developed by the commercial space-faring company started by Tesla founder Elon Musk, to reach the point at which the Dragon capsule detached from its rocket and soared into space, where 27 hours later it docked autonomously at the ISS.CC NASA“That was one heck of a ride,” mission commander Mike Hopkins said when the Dragon capsule made it into orbit.As part of the first-ever commercial Crew-1 Program, NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with the JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, joined commander Hopkins aboard Dragon on what will be a six-month mission.It was eight years ago that GNN reported the first Falcon 9 rocket had left Earth’s surface as part of a resupply mission to the ISS. Having used the Falcon 9 in May to launch a Dragon capsule to the ISS as part of a test run, and again just last month to launch a satellite, NASA and SpaceX are getting humans back into space in what will be the first mission as part of the next chapter of research and exploration.RELATED: NASA Releases Breathtaking Time-Lapse of the Sun’s Surface Shot Over a Decade to Celebrate Satellite AnniversaryIndeed, according to SpaceX, Crew-1 is the first of three commercial voyages to take place through 2020 and 2021, paving the way for trips to the moon, Mars, and more.A series of firstsAccording to National Geographic, the team of Hopkins, Glover, Walker, and Noguchi will log a number of “firsts” in their six-month trip. They’ll return on May 2021, when the capsule will parachute into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida at around the same time when the Crew-2 Mission will be setting off the other way. “It is something to be celebrated once we accomplish it,” Glover apparently added. “I am honored to be in this position.”Noguchi is the most experienced astronaut of them all, having already logged 177 days in space aboard both NASA ships and the Soyuz vessels.Now that NASA has a reliable and state-of-the-art rocket and capsule, it may very well be that they want to make up for lost time, and the hodgepodge of research being conducted during the half-year stay reflects that.According to Nat Geo, the research will include “looking at how astronauts’ brains and hearts respond to the space environment, growing radishes in orbit, testing a space suit with new insulating technologies, and studying how different diets affect astronaut health.”CHECK OUT: NASA-Designed Perfume Gives You The Smell Of Outer Space – Without Leaving OrbitSpaceX is hoping to rapidly expand capabilities in order to reach the Moon again soon, and Mars in the not-too-distant future. Knowing the answers to such research questions will be imperative for the years-long voyages that such future expeditions will involve.(WATCH the NASA video of the historic launch below.)Launch This Far Out Story to Pals on Social Media…AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookFacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterTwitterShare to EmailEmailEmailShare to RedditRedditRedditShare to MoreAddThisMore MORE: In Historic First, NASA Lands on Asteroid and Collects Samples of Debris That Helped Form Our Earth“I expect to be the first of many,” Walker told Nat Geo of her flight. “And I look forward to the day that we don’t have to note such events.”
Having had to rely on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for almost a decade, it will be the first American-made spacecraft to carry astronauts into space in nine years. Pilot Victor Glover is the first Black astronaut to go on an extended stay aboard the ISS, and engineer Shannon Walker is the first woman to orbit in a commercial spacecraft.
Star Files View Comments Mandy Gonzalez Lin-Manuel Miranda Hamilton’s Mandy Gonzalez to Release Solo RecordSchuyler Sister Mandy Gonzalez will release Fearless, her debut solo album on October 20 via Arts Music, a new umbrella formed by Warner Music Group. The record includes seven tracks and features original songs from Tom Kitt, Jennifer Nettles, Bill Sherman and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who penned the title track. Gonzalez will also duet with Tony nominee and In the Heights pal Christopher Jackson. The album is now available for pre-order, and Gonzalez will perform selections from the record at Café Carlyle from October 24 to November 4.Doctor Who’s Pearl Mackie Tapped for West End Revival of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday PartyStage and screen star Pearl Mackie is set to join Zoë Wanamaker, Stephen Mangan and Toby Jones in the previously announced London revival of Harold Pinter’s dark play The Birthday Party. Best known for her role as Bill Potts in BBC’s wildly popular Doctor Who series, Mackie has appeared on stage in the National Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Only Human, Obama-ology and more. Ian Rickson will direct the West End production, set to begin previews on January 9, 2018 and open on January 18 at (appropriately) The Harold Pinter Theatre.Daniel Oreskes & More Join Oscar Nominee Chloë Sevigny in Downtown Race RiotCasting has been announced for Seth Zvi Rosenfeld’s world premiere of Downtown Race Riot. The production, which kicks off The New Group’s 2017-2018 season, is directed by Scott Elliott and stars Chloë Sevigny as a strung-out, free-wheeling single mom Mary Shannon, whose son Pnut and his Haitian best friend Massive wrestle with their obligation to join a racially charged riot in Washington Square Park in 1976. Oslo’s Daniel Oreskes, Cristian DeMeo, David Levi, Moise Morancy, Sadie Scott and Daniel Sovich round out the cast. The limited off-Broadway engagement will run at Signature Center’s Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre from November 14 through December 23. Opening night is scheduled for December 3.Catch a Special Performance of Martin Moran’s Solo Play The Tricky PartThe Barrow Group Theatre Company will present a one-night only special benefit performance of the Obie Award-winning solo play The Tricky Part on October 16. Written and performed by Martin Moran and directed by Barrow Group Co-Artistic Director Seth Barrish, The Tricky Part details the complicated sexual relationship Moran had with a counselor at a Catholic boys’ camp beginning when he was 12. Originally developed at The Barrow Group, the production premiered off-Broadway in 2004. Moran has since performed the moving show throughout the United States and internationally.P.S. We’ve seen the gorgeous production photos, the triumphant pre-Broadway opening curtain call and glamorous red carpet photos from Frozen’s Denver premiere. Another great way to celebrate the Frozen opening? Watching Magic Mike hunk Channing Tatum perform “Let It Go” (in full Elsa garb, nacht) on Ellen. Enjoy!
Northeast Johnson County native Adam Edward Gagnon, 36, is in Johnson County jail today on charges stemming from a August 2015 incident that left him and another man with serious injuries suffered in car wrecks.Police report that Gagnon struck a car in the intersection of 95th Street and Mission Road on Monday, August 3, just after 4:45 p.m. He then fled the scene of the wreck, continuing southbound on Mission at a high rate of speed. When he reached the intersection with 103rd Street, Gannon ran a red light and hit three other vehicles. He suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of the collision. Another man was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries suffered in the accident as well.Police found several weapons inside the black Mazda Gagnon was driving, but did not determine if they played any role in the accidents.Overland Park police forwarded their investigation of the accident to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office for review. The DA’s office eventually issued a warrant for Gagnon’s arrest on two counts of aggravated battery, and charges of failure to stop at the scene of an accident, reckless driving, disobeying a traffic control device, and improper driving.Gagnon, who currently resides in Overland Park according to police, is being held on $25,000 bond. He has a first court appearance scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.
DMB Associates announced today the four builders that will construct homes at Victory, Arizona’s first multi-builder community for people 55 years and better which will be located in the multi-generational community of Verrado.Only four homebuilders were selected among the interested top local and national homebuilders. The Phase One roster includes Lennar (NYSE: LEN), Maracay Homes (NYSE: WY), Standard Pacific (NYSE: SPE) and T.W. Lewis by David Weekley Homes. The combined purchase by the homebuilders totals $40.68 million.Similar to DMB’s process of collaborating with lifestyle, health and longevity experts on the design of the community, DMB engaged an expert architect, universal design experts, and kitchen and bath designers to educate homebuilders on how the lifestyle, needs and motivations of Baby Boomers differ from traditional homebuyers.As a result of the collaboration, these homebuilders will be offering innovative, easy living home designs with an emphasis on entertaining, personal retreats, dream kitchens including the latest appliances and technology, open floor plans, and casual living that creates connections between the indoor and outdoor living spaces.“By collaborating with multiple builders, Victory at Verrado plans to offer its residents more choice, quality and personalization than other communities constructed by a single homebuilder. Multiple homebuilders, coupled with Verrado’s unique architectural guidelines and front porch emphasis, will create diverse and traditional looking neighborhoods,” said Nick Taratsas, DMB senior vice president and general manager of Victory. “No other developer has spent this kind of time and attention to educate builders on the specific needs of Baby Boomers.”The first phase of homes will range from approximately 1,400 square feet to more than 3,000 square feet, available on four distinct lot sizes. Home prices are planned to range from the $200,000’s to more than $500,000. DMB, which has a growing list of interested buyers, plans to start sales in January 2015.The residents of Victory will enjoy all of the existing amenities the small town of Verrado offers today. In addition, the Victory Club, which will be located at the center of the Victory District, will be the hub of the indoor and outdoor amenities designed and built exclusively for Victory residents. The Victory Club is planned to open in December 2015. Tom Lehman is designing Victory’s 18-hole golf course and clubhouse which is planned to open late 2016. An extensive path and trail system connecting the new Victory district and adjacent White Tank Mountain range and Verrado is being planned as well.DMB broke ground on Victory at Verrado in October 2013. The district will have 3,500 homes at build out.Victory’s Phase One Builders and Number of Lots:Lennar – 125Maracay Homes – 98Standard Pacific – 120T.W. Lewis by David Weekley Homes- 74
In the period from February 24 to April 03, 2017, Heraklea, in collaboration with mystery shopping agencies in the region, conducted a survey for the ninth time in a row on the basic elements of service quality with the aim of finding the best in the region.In addition to Croatia, five other countries in the region participated in the survey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia. Mystery shoppers visited 800 different facilities, such as car dealerships, banks, gas stations, retail outlets, supermarkets, outlets of telecommunications companies, tourism and hospitality facilities and service industries.“We measured five basic elements of good, ie quality service, such as: greeting, determining the needs / wishes of customers, knowing the product, offering an additional product and thanking for the visit, according to the acronym of the English word GUEST (guest) for Greet, Understand, Explain, Suggest, Thank. Looking at the results by industry, we can conclude that the most prominent car dealerships with a result of 94,44%, recording an increase in service quality of 3,81 percentage points compared to last year. Supermarkets, as in previous years, stood out as the activity with the most areas for improvement with a result of 55,30%. ” points out Željka Bakmaz from the Herakle agency.The leading position in the quality of service in the region was again this year by Slovenia with a result of 79,03%, although it recorded a decrease of 2,42 percentage points compared to the previous year. According to this year’s results, Macedonia is in second place with a result of 77,01% and achieved a growth of 10,57 percentage points. Montenegro is in fourth place with a result of 73,47% and is better by 10,51 percentage points compared to the previous year. With a result of 73,40%, Serbia is very close to it, in fifth place, and achieved a growth of 5,27 percentage points compared to last year’s results. Bosnia and Herzegovina stood out with the highest area for improvement with a result of 59,06% and a decrease of 7,10 percentage points compared to last year, and it was the only one below the average for this year, which is 71,85%.Croatia took third placeCroatia ranked third in this year’s survey. In the category of greetings (92,91%) we achieved the best result, and the most areas for improvement in the category of offering additional products (42,18%). Looking at the results by activities, Croatia achieved a leading position in the category of car dealerships with a result of 100%, while in second place are service activities with 93,62%. These two categories are also the only ones that have achieved growth this year compared to the previous year. Motor shows grew by 5,56 percentage points, and service activities grew by 4,04 percentage points.The highest areas for improvement were recorded in supermarkets, which achieved a result of 59,81% and a decrease of 2,22 percentage points. Banks were in third place this year (80,95%) and recorded a decline of 1,40 percentage points compared to last year. Gas stations (79,22%) recorded the largest decline of as much as 12,78 percentage points, while tourism and catering (72,48%), retail (71,72%) and telecommunications (66,67%) recorded an average of 8 percentage points points fall in the quality of service compared to the previous year.Quality of service is one of the main competitive advantages and an important element of business improvement. Also, the quality of service affects the increase in sales, the image of the company, gaining new customers, reducing complaints and customer satisfaction that results in loyalty.“Quality is never a coincidence; it is the result of high goals, sincere endeavor, smart guidance and skillful implementation; it means a wise choice among many possibilities ”- William A. FosterIt is this thought that clearly shows that the improvement of the service is a continuous process in which we constantly need to invest in order for companies to achieve a competitive advantage, better results and satisfied and loyal customers. If we take into account that the basic elements of service quality have been measured, as well as personal and business etiquette, we can conclude that there is a lot of room for improvement, both in Croatia and in the countries of the region.Results of the Regional Services Survey – GUEST 2017 The product knowledge category achieved the best overall result of 92,26%, however, it recorded a decrease of 0,88 percentage points compared to the previous year. All countries achieved an equally good result above 90% in this category, except Bosnia and Herzegovina, which with a score of 87,07% recorded the highest areas for improvement.In the category of greetings, Macedonia is in first place with a score of 86,00%, while in last place is Bosnia and Herzegovina with a score of 59,00% and recorded a decrease of 14,24 percentage points compared to last year and the largest deviation from results of other countries in the region. The overall result in the greeting category is 79,29%, by which this category took a high second place. Since the greeting represents the first contact with the customer or guest, it is necessary to continuously improve the area, because there is still room for improvement.The category of gratitude for the visit with a total score of 75,28% recorded an increase of 6,53 percentage points compared to the previous year. For the fourth year in a row, Slovenia took the leading position in this category with a result of 94,95%. At the bottom of the scale is Macedonia with a score of 67,00%, although it recorded growth in this category of as much as 29,00 percentage points compared to the previous year. In Croatia, 74,00% of employees thanked for the visit.The category of determining the needs / wishes of customers achieved a result of 67,86% and here Montenegro stood out as the leading country with a result of 87,76%, while Bosnia and Herzegovina has the most areas for improvement here with a result of 58,39%.As in previous years, the worst ranked category is offering additional products with a score of 39,95%. In the first place in this category, Slovenia stood out with 52,53%. Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded the most areas for improvement, achieving a result of only 20,67%, which is a decrease of 1,4 percentage points compared to last year.First-ranked Slovenia achieved a leading position in the categories of offering an additional product and thanks for the visit / purchase, while second-ranked Macedonia is in first place in the category of greetings, but last in the category of thanks for buying. Montenegro, which is in fourth place, is the best in two categories, determining the wishes / needs of the customer and product knowledge. On the other hand, Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved the worst result in the categories of greeting, determining the wishes / needs of customers, knowing the product and offering an additional product.
The study showed that workaholics scored higher on all the psychiatric symptoms than non-workaholics. Among workaholics, the main findings were that:32.7 per cent met ADHD criteria (12.7 per cent among non-workaholics).25.6 per cent OCD criteria (8.7 per cent among non-workaholics).33.8 per cent met anxiety criteria (11.9 per cent among non-workaholics).8.9 per cent met depression criteria (2.6 per cent among non-workaholics).“Thus, taking work to the extreme may be a sign of deeper psychological or emotional issues. Whether this reflects overlapping genetic vulnerabilities, disorders leading to workaholism or, conversely, workaholism causing such disorders, remain uncertain,” says Schou Andreassen.The pioneering study, published in the open-access journal PLOS One, is co-authored by researchers from Nottingham Trent University and Yale University.Affects identification of disordersAccording to Schou Andreassen, the findings clearly highlight the importance of further investigating neurobiological deviations related to workaholic behaviour.“In wait for more research, physicians should not take for granted that a seemingly successful workaholic does not have ADHD-related or other clinical features. Their considerations affect both the identification and treatment of these disorders,” says Schou Andreassen.Seven diagnostic criteria for workaholismThe researchers used seven valid criteria when drawing the line between addictive and non-addictive behaviour.Experiences occurring over the past year are rated from 1 (never) to 5 (always):You think of how you can free up more time to work.You spend much more time working than initially intended.You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness or depression.You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them.You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and/or exercise because of your work.You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.Scoring 4 (often) or 5 (always) on four or more criteria identify a workaholic.Accordingly, the Bergen Work Addiction Scale operationalizes workaholism by the same symptoms as traditional addictions: salience, mood modification, conflict, tolerance, withdrawal, relapse and problems.In line with previous research, 7.8 per cent of the current sample classified as workaholics, which is close to an estimate (8.3 per cent) found in a (and, to date, only) nationally representative study conducted by Dr. Andreassen and colleagues in 2014. Share on Twitter Email Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway have examined the associations between workaholism and psychiatric disorders among 16,426 working adults.“Workaholics scored higher on all the psychiatric symptoms than non-workaholics,” says researcher and Clinical Psychologist Specialist Cecilie Schou Andreassen, at the Department of Psychosocial Science, at the University of Bergen (UiB), and visiting scholar at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.Workaholics score higher on all clinical states Pinterest
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