't Woudt is a small village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located about 5 km southwest of the city of Delft, in the municipality of Midden-Delfland.
't Woudt (then spelled "'t Woud") was a separate municipality between 1812 and 1817, when it was divided into Groeneveld, Hoog en Woud Harnasch, and a part that merged with Hof van Delft.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope for NASA's Explorers program, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method in an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission. It was launched on April 18, 2018 atop a Falcon 9 rocket. During its primary mission, it is expected to find more than 20,000 exoplanets, compared to about 3,800 exoplanets known when it launched.
The primary mission objective for TESS is to survey the brightest
stars near the Earth for transiting exoplanets over a two-year period.
The TESS project will use an array of wide-field cameras to perform a
survey of 85% of the sky. With TESS, it will be possible to study the
mass, size, density and orbit of a large cohort of small planets,
including a sample of rocky worlds in the habitable zones of their host stars. TESS will provide prime targets for further characterization by the James Webb Space Telescope,
as well as other large ground-based and space-based telescopes of the
future. While previous sky surveys with ground-based telescopes have
mainly detected giant exoplanets, TESS will examine a large number of
small planets around the nearest stars in the sky. TESS will record the
nearest and brightest main sequence stars hosting transiting exoplanets,
which are the most favorable targets for detailed investigations.
TESS will use a novel highly-elliptical orbit with an apogee
approximately at the distance of the Moon and a perigee of 108,000 km,
above the geosynchronous satellites. TESS will orbit Earth twice during the time the Moon orbits once, a 2:1 resonance with the Moon.The orbit is expected to remain stable for a minimum of 10 years.
Led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with seed funding from Google,
TESS was one of 11 proposals selected for NASA funding in September
2011, down from the original 42 submitted in February of that year.On April 5, 2013, it was announced that TESS, along with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), had been selected for launch
The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third
edition in 1984, and attracts many top athletes. It has also been ranked
as one of the top 10 marathons in the world by Runner's World magazine. The event is the most popular marathon in the Netherlands, followed by the marathons of Amsterdam and Eindhoven.
Münster is een oude
Hanzestad in het noordelijke deel van de deelstaat Noordrijn-Westfalen.
De stad is gebouwd om een klooster dat hier in de achtste eeuw in
opdracht van Karel de Grote werd gebouwd. Ondanks het feit dat de stad
door de eeuwen heen meerdere malen is verwoest door een grote
stadsbranden, de stad gedeeltelijk gesloopt werd door de Wederdopers en
hij tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog bijna geheel is platgebombardeerd is
er nog veel van de oude schoonheid van Münster te zien. De meeste
gebouwen werden na de Tweede Wereldoorlog in originele staat herbouwd.
De stad is bij de meeste mensen bekend omdat hier de vrede van Münster
werd getekend. Dit vredesverdrag heeft ervoor gezorgd dat Nederland zijn
huidige landsgrenzen heeft. Münster is tegenwoordig een populairs
toeristische bestemming die veel te bieden heeft als stad. Naast de vele
prachtige monumenten en kerken in de stad zijn er een aantal mooie
parken en leuke musea in de stad te vinden. De Kreativkai, de
Prinzipalmarkt en de wijk de Kuhviertel zijn de populairste
uitgaansgebieden van Münster.
De Dom van Münster is de oudste kathedraal van Münster en samen
met het historische raadhuis één van de belangrijkste publiekstrekkers
van de stad. De huidige kerk is aan het begin van de dertiende eeuw in
de gotische stijl gebouwd op de resten van oudere kerken. De oudste dom
op deze plaats stamt uit het begin van de negende eeuw. Sommige delen
van de tweede dom uit de twaalfde eeuw zijn verwerkt in de huidige Dom
van Münster. Dit is met name te zien aan de twee Romaanse torens die de
ingang van de huidige kathedraal vormen. Net als grote delen van de
centrum van Münster werd een groot deel van de kathedraal tijdens de
Tweede wereldoorlog verwoest.
In de kathedraal bevind zich een astrologisch uurwerk uit de eerste helft
van de zestiende eeuw. Het klokkenspel van dit uurwerk wordt nog
dagelijks gebruikt. Op het plein van de kathedraal wordt iedere woensdag
en zaterdag een grote markt gehouden met meer dan honderdenvijftig
kramen.
Het historische stadhuis van Münster is wereldwijd bekend om zijn
Friedenssaal. In deze zaal werd de belangrijkste onderhandelingen voor
de vrede van Westfalen gedaan, de vrede van Münster was hiervan een
onderdeel. Andere onderdelen van deze vrede waren het verdrag van
Münster en het verdrag van Osnabrück. Het is één van de weinige gotische
gebouwen ter wereld dat niet bedoeld is als geloofsgebouw. De
zogenaamde pronkgevel van het gebouw werd gebouwd in de tweede helft van
de veertiende eeuw. Tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog is het pand
grotendeel verwoest en in de jaren erna weer opgebouwd. De houten
inrichting van de Friedenssaal was tijdens de oorlog uit voorzorg
verwijderd en op een veilige plaats opgeborgen waardoor het gespaard
bleef van de verwoestingen.
Het stadhuis en de Friedenssaal zijn nog steeds te bezoeken. In de zaal
ligt het originele document met de handtekeningen van de Vrede van
Westfalen.
Een handelsoorlog is een conflict tussen twee staten, waarbij beide elkaar via economische sancties proberen te treffen.
Meestal ligt een economisch conflict ten grondslag aan een
handelsoorlog. Een staat voelt zich bijvoorbeeld onheus beconcurreerd
door de industrie van een andere staat, of ergert zich over het feit dat
een andere staat via subsidies of heffingen zijn binnenlandse markt
afsluit en wel exporteert. Dit laatste heeft vaak tot kleine conflicten
met Japan geleid, terwijl tijdens de Grote Depressie de meeste landen
via eenzijdige maatregelen en tegenmaatregelen een meervoudige
handelsoorlog veroorzaakten die de depressie uiteindelijk verergerde.
Ook heeft Europa kleine handelsoorlogen met de Verenigde Staten van Amerika (staal) en China (textiel) gevoerd.
De wapens in een handelsoorlog bestaan vaak uit heffingen,
importbeperkingen of -verboden, waardeaanpassingen van de nationale
valuta, en binnenlandse subsidies. Soms kan een handelsoorlog een (van
de) reden(en) zijn om een "echte" oorlog in de zin van een gewapend
conflict te beginnen.
Ook kunnen economische middelen weleens ingezet worden in een echte oorlog. Zo trachtten de geallieerden in 1939-1940 bijvoorbeeld olie voor extreem hoge prijzen van Roemenië
te kopen, waardoor de prijs steeg en Duitsland (dat een chronisch
deviezengebrek had) nauwelijks nog olie kon kopen. De Duitsers sloegen
echter terug door de Roemenen een wortel (wapens voor olie) met stok
(dreigementen met oorlog) voor te houden.
Boracay
is a small island in the central Philippines. It's known for its
resorts and beaches. Along the west coast, White Beach is backed by palm
trees, bars and restaurants. On the east coast, strong winds make
Bulabog Beach a hub for water sports. Nearby, the observation deck on
Mount Luho offers panoramic views over the island. Offshore, coral reefs
and shipwrecks are home to diverse marine life.
Filipijnen sluiten 'open riool' en vakantie-eiland Boracay
Correspondent Michel Maas
Het
Filipijnse eiland Boracay is zes maanden verboden gebied voor
toeristen. Volgens president Duterte is het ooit idyllische eiland met
de witte stranden veranderd in een beerput. Vorig jaar trok Boracay
bijna twee miljoen bezoekers.
In februari dreigde de president de
hotels, restaurants en andere toeristische bedrijven al met sluiting.
Hij beschuldigde hen ervan hun afvalwater te lozen in de zee. "Ik reken
het jullie aan dat jullie van Boracay een visvijver en open riool hebben
gemaakt", zei hij toen. "Jullie maken het schoon of ik sluit het eiland
voorgoed. Er komt een tijd dat er geen buitenlander meer naartoe kan."
'De beuk erin'
Volgens
correspondent Michel Maas is president Duterte geen man van halve
maatregelen en heeft hij daarom gezegd dat het hele eiland meteen maar
moet worden afgesloten. "Duterte was op Boracay en zei dat de zee naar
stront stinkt en dat die smeerboel meteen moet worden opgeruimd. Zijn
methode is 'de beuk erin' en nu gaat alles op slot."
Gevolgen
De
afsluiting heeft grote gevolgen voor de tienduizenden mensen die
werkzaam zijn in de toeristenindustrie. De 500 hotels, resorts en
winkeltjes waren vorig jaar samen goed waren voor een omzet van zo'n 870
miljoen euro.
Maas: "De regering heeft gezegd dat er voor al die
mensen een noodfonds komt zodat ze een basisinkomen kunnen krijgen, maar
cijfers worden niet genoemd. En er is ook niet gezegd hoe alle troep
moet worden opgeruimd."
Het is de prijs van het succes. Tien jaar geleden kwam het eiland ineens op lijstjes van mooiste stranden.
Hoe
Boracay precies wordt afgesloten, is ook nog niet duidelijk. Eerder had
het ministerie van handel en industrie voorgesteld het eiland in fases
af te sluiten om de schade voor bewoners en bedrijven zoveel mogelijk te
beperken.
De problemen waar Boracay mee kampt zijn volgens Maas
een direct gevolg van het toerisme. "Het is de prijs van het succes.
Tien jaar geleden kwam het eiland ineens op lijstjes van mooiste
stranden en toen raakte alles in een stroomversnelling.
"Hotels
namen de plek van bamboehutjes in, op de stranden werden resorts gebouwd
en er kwam zelfs een groot winkelcentrum. Maar er is geen riolering,
dus al het afvalwater wordt rechtstreeks in zee geloosd. Daarover was
Duterte ook zo boos."
Plastic-noodtoestand
Vervuiling
op stranden is ook op andere toeristische trekpleisters een probleem.
Op de stranden van Bali zag het bijvoorbeeld zwart van de bekertjes,
zakjes, flesjes, doppen en tasjes. Daarom riep de regering van Indonesië
in december de 'plastic-noodtoestand' uit. Mannen, vrouwen, kinderen,
bulldozers en vrachtwagens worden massaal ingezet om de stranden op te
ruimen. Op het hoogtepunt werd per dag honderdduizend kilo plastic
afgevoerd.
Martin
Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born
Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to
Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors
of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to
1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from
1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin
Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating
from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A.
degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro
institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather
had graduated. After three years of theological study at
Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected
president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded
the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in
graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the
doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he
met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon
intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters
were born into the family.
The mission of the OPCW is to implement the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention
(CWC) in order to achieve the OPCW’s vision of a world that is free of
chemical weapons and of the threat of their use, and in which
cooperation in chemistry for peaceful purposes for all is fostered. In
doing this, our ultimate aim is to contribute to international security
and stability, to general and complete disarmament, and to global
economic development.
To this end, the Secretariat proposes policies for the implementation of the CWC to the Member States of the OPCW, and develops and delivers programmes with and for them. These programmes have four broad aims:
to bring about universal membership of the OPCW by facilitating international cooperation and national capacity building.
Two
fundamental principles underline our approach. The first is the
centrality of the CWC’s multilateral character. The second is the equal
application of the provisions of the CWC to all States Parties.
We do this with integrity, in an efficient,
competent and cost-effective manner, and in a healthy working
environment which recognises our legitimate interests and supports our
development. All our work is guided and supported by the internal vision of our Organisation.
April Fools' Day (sometimes called All Fools' Day) is an annual celebration in some European and Western countries commemorated on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes often expose their prank by shouting "April fool"
at the unfortunate victim(s). Some newspapers, magazines and other
published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the
next day or below the news section in smaller letters. Although popular
since the 19th century, the day is not a public holiday in any country.
Aside from April Fools' Day, the custom of setting aside a day for
the playing of harmless pranks upon one's neighbour has historically
been relatively common in the world
Honderden
mensen hebben vandaag afscheid genomen van de onlangs overleden
wereldberoemde Britse wetenschapper Stephen Hawking. In Cambridge vond
een afscheidsceremonie plaats waarbij ook verschillende bekende
gezichten aanwezig waren zoals acteur Eddie Redmayne, Hawkings vertolker
in de film The Theory of Everything.
Redmayne, die een Oscar kreeg voor zijn rol als Hawking, was
tijdens de dienst een van de sprekers. Ook zijn tegenspeelster Felicity
Jones, die Hawkings vrouw Jane speelde, was aanwezig. Verder zaten
behalve de naaste familie van Hawking onder meer Queen-gitarist Brian
May, model Lily Cole en Space X-topman Elon Musk in de kerk van de
universiteit van Cambridge.
Hawking overleed op 14 maart op 76-jarige leeftijd. De
combinatie van Hawkings theorieën met zijn handicap (bij Hawking werd
op 21-jarige leeftijd de ziekte ALS vastgesteld) maakte van hem een
icoon: de briljante geest in een verlamd lichaam.
Buiten
de kerk in het centrum van Cambridge hadden zich al uren voor de
begrafenis veel mensen verzameld om getuige te zijn van de
begrafenisstoet en afscheid te nemen van de legendarische Britse
kosmoloog en natuurkundige.Zes portiers van Gonville en Caius College droegen de kist naar de Great St Mary’s Church. Ze
waren speciaal door de familie van Hawking gevraagd om dit te doen;
zij assisteerden de professor bij lezingen of diners en waren goed
bevriend met hem.
Isaac Newton
Een
dankdienst voor Hawkings levenswerk volgt nog in de abdij van
Westminster in Londen op 15 juni. Zijn as zal dan worden begraven naast
het graf van Sir Isaac Newton die daar werd begraven in 1727, en in de
buurt van die van Charles Darwin.
De
decaan van Westminster, John Hall, zei dat het 'volkomen passend' was
dat de laatste rustplaats van de professor 'in de buurt van zijn
collega-wetenschappers ligt'.
Een hacker heeft vandaag een zoekmachine met wachtwoorden en
e-mailadressen toegankelijk gemaakt. In de database zitten
honderdduizenden gegevens van Nederlanders, maar de zoekfunctie lijkt te
zijn uitgeschakeld.
Wie wil controleren of zijn gegevens op
internet staan, krijgt een melding te zien dat de zoekfunctie niet
werkt. De AD-journalist die als eerste melding maakte van de zoekmachine
en die ook contact heeft met de bewuste hacker, zegt dat dat expres zo
is. De hacker zou bij nader inzien toch niet willen
dat de gegevens op straat komen te liggen en zegt dat hij tevreden is
over wat de zoekmachine teweegbrengt. "Misschien heb ik mijn doel ook
wel bereikt, als ik de vele reacties vandaag zie.
Het AD had
eerder toegang gekregen tot de zoekmachine en erover geschreven. In het
interview zegt de hacker dat hij de zoekmachine uit angst voor de
juridische consequenties helemaal niet meer online wil zetten, maar
uiteindelijk verscheen toch een uitgeklede versie.
Oud en versleuteld
De
wachtwoorden zijn afkomstig uit tientallen grote datalekken van de
afgelopen jaren, bij onder meer LinkedIn, Dropbox, Playstation en Uber.
Ze waren versleuteld. De eerste tekens van mailadressen en wachtwoorden
werden wel getoond; om die reden linkt de NOS niet naar de zoekmachine.
De database
zou combinaties van zo'n 1,4 miljard mailadressen en wachtwoorden van
over de hele wereld bevatten. Zo'n 3,3 miljoen daarvan zouden van
Nederlanders zijn.
'Tipgever, geen hacker'
De
hacker wil met het project duidelijk maken dat internetgebruikers
persoonlijke informatie goed moeten beveiligen. "Ik ben een tipgever,
geen hacker", zegt hij tegen de krant.
Volgens
het AD zijn deze gegevens tot nu toe vrijwel alleen beschikbaar op
afgesloten of onbekende websites, waar de data te koop werden
aangeboden. De gegevens zijn echter steeds makkelijker te vinden.
In de database staan veel gegevens van personeel van grote
overheidsinstanties en bedrijven in Nederland. Ook staan er
parlementariërs op de lijst, waardoor hackers mogelijk toegang hebben
tot gevoelige informatie. Criminelen kunnen de mailadressen en
wachtwoorden gebruiken om bijvoorbeeld persoonlijke informatie te winnen
of online aankopen te doen.
'Blijft een gevaar'
De gegevens zijn afkomstig uit datalekken die al eerder in het nieuws waren. Zo ontvreemdden hackers in 2012 meer dan 160 miljoen wachtwoorden en andere data bij netwerksite LinkedIn. In 2014 en 2016 verschaften criminelen zich toegang tot tientallen miljoenen gegevens bij taxidienst Uber.
De
bedrijven hebben destijds gebruikers geadviseerd hun wachtwoorden aan
te passen. "Maar het blijft een gevaar omdat mensen heel vaak
wachtwoorden hergebruiken", zegt Herbert Bos, hoogleraar Systems en
Network Security in AD. "Als mensen je e-mail en wachtwoord hebben, hebben ze je identiteit."
Beveiligingsonderzoeker
Rickey Gevers is niet onder de indruk van de zoekmachine: "Die database
met 1,4 miljard adressen en wachtwoorden staat al zeker een halfjaar
online, ik heb hem zelf ook."
Gevers zegt verder dat er al
zoekmachines bestaan waarmee je de database kunt doorzoeken. "En ik moet
nog zien dat die nieuwe zoekmachine online komt. Er zijn mensen
opgepakt voor zulke dingen." Voor wie vreest dat zijn of haar gegevens
in de database staan, heeft Gevers een tip: "Wijzig je wachtwoorden
geregeld."
Chinese Space Station Is Tumbling Toward an Easter Sunday Crash
ARLINGTON, Va. – The falling Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is
tumbling in orbit and may crash back to Earth early Easter Sunday (April
1), experts say. Estimates for the crash of Tiangong-1range sometime
between March 31 and April 1, with a focus of 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on
April 1, according to Aerospace Corp., which is tracking the space
lab's fall. That April 1 target comes with an error of 16 hours, so the
spacecraft could potentially begin its fiery death dive anytime between
Saturday and Sunday afternoon. An analysis by the European Space Agency
also supports that re-entry estimate.
But scientists and engineers still cannot pinpoint exactly where and
when the 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) space station will fall. Partly that
is because the school bus-size Tiangong-1 is tumbling as it falls, which
makes it hard to predict how atmospheric drag will affect the
spacecraft's re-entry time and path, Aerospace Corp. engineers said
Wednesday (March 28).
"It is tumbling," Roger Thompson, a senior engineering specialist with
Aerospace Corp., told reporters at the company's office here Wednesday.
"We have been able to confirm that there is a tumble, we just can't tell
the orientation."
Aerospace Corp. confirmed using U.S. Air Force radar data and telescope observations, Thompson said. Tiangong-1 launched in September 2011
to test docking systems and other technology needed for an even larger,
multi-module space station to be built in the 2020s. The station was
visited by China's uncrewed Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in November 2011 and
two crewed missions, one each in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
In March 2016, Tiangong-1 stopped communicating with its mission
control center in Beijing, leading the China Manned Space Engineering
Office (CMSEO) to declare its mission over. Tiangong-1 has been space junk ever since.
Currently, Tiangong-1 is expected to fall to Earth somewhere between
the latitudes of 42.7 degrees north and 42.7 degrees south, a range that
spans the border of South Dakota and Nebraska in the north and Tasmania
in the south.
As re-entry day nears for Tiangong-1, satellite trackers will be able
to make more refined predictions for where and when it will crash. In a
statement today (March 29), CMSEO officials said the public should not
fear being hit by debris from Tiangong-1.
"There is no need for people to worry about its re-entry into the
atmosphere. It won't crash to the Earth fiercely, as in sci-fi movie
scenarios, but will look more like a shower of meteors," the statement
said according to the state-run Xinhua news service.
You can still see the Tiangong-1 space station in the night sky, if you know when and where to look and have good weather.
In fact, the chances of being struck by debris from Tiangong-1 are less than 1 in a trillion, according to a fact sheet from Aerospace Corp.
If you are able to see the Tiangong-1 re-entry, you can report your
sighting to Aerospace Corp.'s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris
Studies through the CORDS website here. Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@Spacedotcom,Facebook andGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.
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But scientists and engineers still cannot pinpoint exactly where and
when the 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) space station will fall. Partly that
is because the school bus-size Tiangong-1 is tumbling as it falls, which
makes it hard to predict how atmospheric drag will affect the
spacecraft's re-entry time and path, Aerospace Corp. engineers said
Wednesday (March 28).
"It is tumbling," Roger Thompson, a senior engineering specialist with
Aerospace Corp., told reporters at the company's office here Wednesday.
"We have been able to confirm that there is a tumble, we just can't tell
the orientation."
Aerospace Corp. confirmed using U.S. Air Force radar data and telescope observations, Thompson said.
Tiangong-1 launched in September 2011
to test docking systems and other technology needed for an even larger,
multi-module space station to be built in the 2020s. The station was
visited by China's uncrewed Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in November 2011 and
two crewed missions, one each in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
In March 2016, Tiangong-1 stopped communicating with its mission
control center in Beijing, leading the China Manned Space Engineering
Office (CMSEO) to declare its mission over. Tiangong-1 has been space junk ever since.
Currently, Tiangong-1 is expected to fall to Earth somewhere between
the latitudes of 42.7 degrees north and 42.7 degrees south, a range that
spans the border of South Dakota and Nebraska in the north and Tasmania
in the south.
As re-entry day nears for Tiangong-1, satellite trackers will be able
to make more refined predictions for where and when it will crash. In a
statement today (March 29), CMSEO officials said the public should not
fear being hit by debris from Tiangong-1.
"There is no need for people to worry about its re-entry into the
atmosphere. It won't crash to the Earth fiercely, as in sci-fi movie
scenarios, but will look more like a shower of meteors," the statement
said according to the state-run Xinhua news service.
You can still see the Tiangong-1 space station in the night sky, if you know when and where to look and have good weather.
In fact, the chances of being struck by debris from Tiangong-1 are less than 1 in a trillion, according to a fact sheet from Aerospace Corp.
If you are able to see the Tiangong-1 re-entry, you can report your
sighting to Aerospace Corp.'s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris
Studies through the CORDS website here.
Writer best known for his crime fiction books featuring the Berlin private detective Bernie Gunther
Berlin held a great fascination for the author Philip Kerr, who has
died aged 62 of cancer: it was a place where the impact of evil upon
essentially decent people was felt especially keenly. His morally
ambiguous fictional private detective Bernie Gunther first appeared in
March Violets (1989), set in the city in 1936, after the Nazis’ rise to
power, and the first of his Berlin Noir trilogy. Each book, he later
admitted, was aimed at painting Gunther into a corner “so that he can’t cross the floor without getting paint on his shoes”.
A German Requiem (1991) ended the trilogy by taking events to the end
of the second world war and Vienna, but the lure of his protagonist and
Berlin, which proves as much a character as its citizens, remained
strong. The One from the Other (2006) was the first in a run of 10 more
Berlin Noir novels. If the Dead Rise Not (2009) won the Ellis Peters Historic Crime award, and Greeks Bearing Gifts, set in 1957, is due to be published next month.
In the intervening years, Kerr produced standalone books, starting
with the ambitious A Philosophical Investigation (1992), which married
cyber-punk crime with the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. A complex
and demanding tale of a serial killer, it led to him being listed
alongside Iain Banks and AL Kennedy as one of Granta’s Best Young
British Novelists under 40. But critical acclaim was not matched by
sales. His commercial breakthrough arrived only in 1995 with Gridiron, a
Towering Inferno-style action story.
Gunther was not Kerr’s only serial crime solver. In 2014 his love of
football led him to embark on the first of three Scott Manson thrillers
about a Premier League football coach and all-round fixer.
Born in Edinburgh,
Philip was the son of William Kerr, a building planner, and his wife,
Ann (nee Brodie). His parents had converted from the Free Church of
Scotland to the evangelical Baptist church, deeming it more
“family-friendly”.
It was not an easy fit for a boy with an aversion to water. “I could not swim or even bear to have my head under water and
consequently the spectacle of full immersion baptism – and by extension,
the very idea of washing away the sin that was required to make my
peace with Jesus – was horrifying to me,” he later wrote.
As a result, from an early age he knew that “Jesus and I were not
going to get along.” The final break came after his father’s death. When
he saw a white horse galloping across a field six months later, Philip,
by now a trainee tax lawyer aged 22, realised he needed to rebel
against the path chosen for him.
He read widely, including “unsuitable” novels hidden by his parents. At the age of 12 he stole the key to a cupboard in which DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was hidden.
This resulted in his first paid work as a writer. Aware his father
would miss his copy of the book and that his friends wanted to read it,
Kerr wrote his own version, The Duchess of the Daisies, which he rented
out for “the edification of his schoolmates”.
Resentment of the church became entwined with an uncomfortable
relationship with his birthplace, of which he said: “If you want to scar
a child for life then bring it up in the city of John Knox.” At the
upmarket Melville school his dark complexion led to racist bullying by his sandy-haired contemporaries
and masters. The experience reinforced his sense of exclusion and in
later years he described himself as a “deracinated Scot”. When he was 15
the family moved to the Midlands. His time at Northamptonshire grammar
proved happier, and he returned to it for speech days.
Though he had wanted to study English at Birmingham University, Kerr
bowed to paternal pressure and took up law. After a year in a kibbutz,
Kerr returned to Birmingham for a postgraduate degree in jurisprudence.
After he left law, work as an advertising copywriter included a spell
at Saatchi and Saatchi – though he had a tendency to get fired. While
colleagues enjoyed boozy lunches, he preferred to be in the London
Library, where he worked on five unpublished “sub-Martin Amis” novels
until turning to crime in March Violets.
By the time Gridiron was published he was married to the journalist
and author Jane Thynne, whom he had met while he was working as a gossip
columnist on the London Evening Standard, and with whom he had three
children, William, Charlie and Naomi.
Though the film rights to Gridiron and other novels were sold, none
made it further than development. Steven Spielberg optioned the fantasy
series The Children of the Lamp (2004-11), written under the name PB
Kerr. The author regarded his relationship with Hollywood with wry
amusement and enjoyed recounting anecdotes about La La Land. While
waiting for Tom Cruise in the actor’s trailer, he found himself fretting
about being late for a further meeting that day, with Robert De Niro.
His commitment to research led him into dangerous situations,
sometimes in the seamier areas of Berlin, or as when travelling with the
St Petersburg police for Dead Meat (1993), his thriller set among the
Russian mafia. One particularly frightening day ended with the discovery
of holes in the flak jacket he had been wearing. They marked where the
previous wearer had been shot.
Kerr’s non-fiction works ranged from a research guide to anthologies
of feuds and lies. He continued working until recently, copyediting his
last novel, due for publication next year.
He is survived by Jane and his children.
• Philip Ballantyne Kerr, writer, born 22 February 1956; died 23 March 2018
24 maart 1882
Dr. Robert Koch ontdekt tuberkelbacil
Wereld
Stop Tuberculose Dag herdenkt de dag in 1882 waarop Dr. Robert Koch de
wetenschappelijke wereld verbaast door aan te kondigen dat hij de
oorzaak van tuberculose, de tuberkelbacil had ontdekt. Koch’s ontdekking
opende de weg naar diagnose en genezing van tuberculose.
World Tuberculosis Day
24 March 2018
Each year we commemorate World TB Day on March 24 to raise public
awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences
of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB
epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced
that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the
way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
Despite significant progress over the last decades, TB continues to be
the top infectious killer worldwide, claiming over 4 500 lives a day.
The emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) poses a major health
security threat and could risk gains made in the fight against TB.
The theme: "Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world"
The theme of World TB Day 2018 - “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world”-
focuses on building commitment to end TB, not only at the political
level with Heads of State and Ministers of Health, but at all levels
from Mayors, Governors, parliamentarians and community leaders, to
people affected with TB, civil society advocates, health workers,
doctors or nurses, NGOs and other partners. All can be leaders of
efforts to end TB in their own work or terrain. This is a critical theme, given the political importance of
the upcoming UN General Assembly high-level meeting on TB this year,
which will bring together Heads of State in New York. It follows on from
a very successful Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in Moscow on
16-17 November, 2017 which resulted in high-level commitments from
Ministers and other leaders from 120 countries to accelerate progress to
end TB. World TB Day provides the opportunity to shine the spotlight
on the disease and mobilize political and social commitment for
accelerate progress to end TB.
Background
Last year, WHO reported that 10.4 million people fell ill with
TB and there were 1.8 million TB deaths in 2016, making it the top
infectious killer worldwide. This disease is deeply rooted in
populations where human rights and dignity are limited. While anyone can
contract TB, the disease thrives among people living in poverty,
communities and groups that are marginalized, and other vulnerable
populations. These include: migrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, miners
and others working and living in risk-prone settings, the elderly,
marginalized women and children in many settings etc. Factors such as
malnutrition, poor housing and sanitation, compounded by other risk
factors such as tobacco and alcohol use and diabetes, affect
vulnerability to TB and access to care. Furthermore, this access is
often hindered by catastrophic costs associated with illness, seeking
and staying in care, and lack of social protection, resulting in a
vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health. The transmission of
multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) adds great urgency to these concerns.
Synopsis Originating in ancient China, tai chi is one of the most
effective exercises for health of mind and body. Although an art with
great depth of knowledge and skill, it can be easy to learn and soon
delivers its health benefits. For many, it continues as a lifetime
journey. There are many styles and forms of tai chi, the major ones being
Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu (different words in Chinese) and Sun. Each style has
its own features, but all styles share the same essential principles. The essential principles include mind integrated with the body;
control of movements and breathing; generating internal energy,
mindfulness, song (loosening 松) and jing (serenity 静). The ultimate
purpose of tai chi is cultivate the qi or life energy within us to flow
smoothly and powerfully throughout the body. Total harmony of the inner
and outer self comes from the integration of mind and body, empowered
through healthy qi through the practice of tai chi. Tai Chi for Health programs are modernized tai chi incorporating medical science to deliver health benefits more quickly.
Just what is tai chi?
There is much more to tai chi than one can see, and virtually no one
can describe such a complex art in one simple sentence. Yes, it’s
aesthetically pleasing, easy and enjoyable to practice. It can be a
meditation and an integral exercise for all parts of the body and the
mind. It brings tranquility and helps you think more clearly. Tai chi
can be many things for different people; regular practice will bring
better health and wellness.
The flowing movements of tai chi contain much inner strength, like
water flowing in a river, beneath the tranquil surface there is a
current with immense power—the power for healing and wellness.
With consistent practice, people will be able to feel the internal
energy (qi 氣), convert it to internal force (jing 勁) and use it to
generate more internal energy. This process would greatly enhance tai
chi development, leading to a more balanced mental state; at the same
time your fitness, agility and balance will improve. The unique feature
of tai chi is that it is internal. Internal means building the inner
strength from inside out, therefore you can continue to develop at any
age.
Numerous studies
have shown tai chi improves muscular strength, flexibility, fitness,
improve immunity, relieve pain and improve quality of life. Muscle
strength is important for supporting and protecting joints and is
essential for normal physical function. Flexibility exercises enable
people to move more easily, and facilitate circulation of body fluid and
blood, which enhance healing. Fitness is important for overall
functioning of the heart, lungs, and muscles. In addition to these
components, tai chi movements emphasize weight transference to
improve balance and prevent falls.
Aside from the health benefits, tai chi runs deep and strong. It’s
easy to learn and becomes a way of life for many practitioners. Yet,
because of its depth, no one ever knows it all, and thereby lies the
fascination and the never-ending challenge of the art. There will be
times, no matter how brief, when a practitioner will enter a mental
stage of tranquillity, moving to a different world, time, and space, a
world where there is no schedule, no hustle and bustle. Yet the person
still feels very much a part of the world. In a non-religious sense,
it’s a spiritual experience. Such an experience is so satisfying that it
is beyond words. Being part of the world, being in harmony with the
world and nature, thus is the paradox of tai chi, health and beyond.
Penguin Books is a Britishpublishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane, his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.
Penguin's success demonstrated that large audiences existed for serious
books. Penguin also had a significant impact on public debate in
Britain, through its books on British culture, politics, the arts, and science.
Penguin Books is now an imprint of the worldwide Penguin Random House, an emerging conglomerate which was formed in 2013 by the merger with American publisher Random House.Formerly, Penguin Group was wholly owned by British Pearson PLC, the global media company which also owned the Financial Times,[7]
but in the new umbrella company it retains only a minority holding of
25% of the stock against Random House owner, German media company Bertelsmann,
which controls the majority stake. It is one of the largest
English-language publishers, formerly known as the "Big Six", now the "Big Five".
Elizabeth
Gilbert was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1969, and grew up on a
small family Christmas tree farm. She attended New York University,
where she studied political science by day and worked on her short
stories by night. After college, she spent several years traveling
around the country, working in bars, diners and ranches, collecting
experiences to transform into fiction.
These explorations
eventually formed the basis of her first book – a short story collection
called PILGRIMS, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award, and
which moved Annie Proulx to call her “a young writer of incandescent
talent”.
During these early years in New York, she also worked as a
journalist for such publications as Spin, GQ and The New York Times
Magazine. She was a three-time finalist for The National Magazine Award,
and an article she wrote in GQ about her experiences bartending on the
Lower East Side eventually became the basis for the movie COYOTE UGLY.
In
2000, Elizabeth published her first novel, STERN MEN (a story of brutal
territory wars between two remote fishing islands off the coast of
Maine) which was a New York Times Notable Book. In 2002, Elizabeth
published THE LAST AMERICAN MAN – the true story of the modern day
woodsman Eustace Conway. This book, her first work of non-fiction, was a
finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics
Circle Award.
Elizabeth
is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE, which
chronicled her journey alone around the world, looking for solace after a
difficult divorce. The book was an international bestseller, translated
into over thirty languages, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide.
In 2010, EAT PRAY LOVE was made into a film starring Julia Roberts. The
book became so popular that Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the
100 most influential people in the world.
In 2010, Elizabeth
published a follow-up to EAT PRAY LOVE called COMMITTED—a memoir which
explored her ambivalent feelings about the institution of marriage. The
book immediately became a Number One New York Times Bestseller, and was
also received with warm critical praise. As Newsweek wrote, COMMITTED
“retains plenty of Gilbert’s comic ruefulness and wide-eyed wonder”, and
NPR called the book “a rich brew of newfound insight and wisdom.”
Her
latest novel, THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, published in Autumn 2013, is
a sprawling tale of 19th century botanical exploration. O Magazine
named it “the novel of a lifetime”, and the Wall Street Journal called
it “the most ambitious and purely-imagined work of (Gilbert’s)
twenty-year career.” Elle Magazine said, “Looks like Gilbert keeps
raising on the bar.”
THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS was a New York
Times Bestseller, and Janet Maslin called it “engrossing…vibrant and
hot-blooded.” The novel was named a Best Book of 2013 by The New York
Times, O Magazine, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and The New
Yorker.”
“The Signature of All Things”
Elizabeth
Gilbert’s first novel in twelve years is an extraordinary story of
botany, exploration and desire, spanning across much of the 19th
century. The novel follows the fortunes of the brilliant Alma Whittaker
(daughter of a bold and charismatic botanical explorer) as she comes
into her own within the world of plants and science. As Alma’s careful
studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man
she loves draws her in the opposite direction—into the realm of the
spiritual, the divine and the magical. Alma is a clear-minded scientist;
Ambrose is a Utopian artist. But what unites this couple is a shared
passion for knowing—a desperate need to understand the workings of this
world, and the mechanism behind of all life.
The Signature of All
Things is a big novel, about a big century. Exquisitely researched and
told at a galloping pace, this story novel soars across the globe—from
London, to Peru, to Philadelphia, to Tahiti, to Amsterdam and beyond. It
is written in the bold, questing spirit of that singular time. Alma
Whittaker is a witness to history, as well as maker of history herself.
She stands on the cusp of the modern, with one foot still in the
Enlightened Age, and she is certain to be loved by readers across the
world.
Cambridge Analytica LLC (CA) is a privately held company that combines data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication for the electoral process. It was created in 2013 as an offshoot of its British parent company SCL Group to participate in American politics.
In 2014, CA was involved in 44 US political races. The company is partly owned by the family of Robert Mercer, an American hedge-fund manager who supports many politically conservative causes. The firm maintains offices in London, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
In 2015, it became known as the data analysis company working initially for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. In 2016, after Cruz's campaign had faltered, CA worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and on the Leave.EU-campaign for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. CA's role in those campaigns has been controversial and is the subject of ongoing criminal investigations in both countries. Political scientists dispute CA's claims about the effectiveness of its methods of targeting voters.
On March 17, 2018, The New York Times and The Observer reported on Cambridge Analytica's use of personal information acquired from Facebook,
without permission, by an external researcher who claimed to be
collecting it for academic purposes. In response, Facebook banned
Cambridge Analytica from advertising on its platform. The Guardian further reported that Facebook had known about this security breach for two years, but did nothing to protect its users.
A series of undercover investigative videos released in March 2018,
showed Cambridge Analytica's Chief Executive Officer boasting about
using prostitutes, bribery sting and "honey traps" to discredit
politicians whom it conducts opposition research on. Nix also claimed
that the company "ran all of (Donald Trump's) digital campaign",
including possible illegal activities. The Information Commissioner of
the UK has asked for a warrant to search the company's servers.
A
closer look at body fat: Where does it come from, why do we need it,
what are the best ways to burn it off, and where the heck does it go?
Body fat, or the more technical term adipocytes (adipo means fat and cyte means
cell), is found in many places around the human body and mostly
underneath your skin, what we call subcutaneous fat. There is also some
on top of your kidneys, inside your liver, and a small amount in your
muscle tissue, which we call visceral fat.
An adult male often tends to carry his body fat in his chest,
abdomen, and buttocks. An adult female tends to carry her fat in the
breasts, hips, waist, and buttocks.
The main role of body fat is to serve as a type of energy storage
facility. Up until the mid-nineties, it was thought of strictly as a
passive place for us to store energy for the hard times, the times when
our ancestors’ hunt didn’t go well (or the weather was poor) and there
wasn’t enough food available. This turned out to be incorrect and it
does have other uses but it is exceedingly good at storing energy.
A single pound of fat contains roughly 3,500 calories of stored
energy. Assuming you could burn 100% body fat as fuel, this is enough
energy for a 150-pound person to trudge about 35 miles. And that is only
one pound of fat and most of us have a lot more than that to spare.
The multiverse idea
states that there are an arbitrarily large number of Universes like our
own, but whether there are any with differences in the laws of physics
remains an open question.
"We are all agreed that your theory is
crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to
have a chance of being correct." Niels Bohr spoke these words to
Wolfgang Pauli about the latter's theory of elementary particles, but it
could just as easily apply to many of today's most controversial modern
physics ideas. One that's gotten a lot of attention recently is that of a Multiverse.
In short, it's the idea that our Universe, and all that's contained
within it, is just one small region of a larger existence that includes
many similar, and possibly many different, Universes like our own. On
the one hand, if our current theories of physics are true, the
Multiverse absolutely must exist. But on the other hand, as Sabine Hossenfelder rightly points out, it's unlikely to teach us anything useful.
The observable
Universe might be 46 billion light years in all directions from our
point of view, but there's certainly more, unobservable Universe,
perhaps even an infinite amount, just like ours beyond that.
Why must the Multiverse exist? Quite simply: there must be more
Universe than the part that is observable to us. If you look just at the
portion of the Universe we can see, you can measure its spatial
curvature, and find that it's incredibly close to flat. No regions
repeat; no locations connect or loop back on one another; no
large-curvature regions show themselves on a scale approaching that of
the Universe we can observe. If the Universe were a hypersphere, the
four-dimensional analogue of a sphere, it must have a radius of
curvature hundreds of times the size of what we can observe. There must
be more Universe out there than what we can access.
Inflation causes
space to expand exponentially, which can very quickly result in any
pre-existing curved space appearing flat. If the Universe is curved, it
has a radius of curvature hundreds of times larger than what we can
observe.
But this isn't just a conclusion from observations; it's the same
conclusion that we'd draw from our leading theory of the Universe's
origin: cosmological inflation. Prior to the hot Big Bang, the fabric of
the Universe was expanding at an exponential rate, where every 10-35 seconds or so, it would double in scale in all dimensions. Inflation went on for at least as long as 10-33
seconds or so, but could have lasted far longer: seconds, years,
millennia, trillions of years or an arbitrarily long length of time.
When inflation ends, the Universe we're left with is stretched flat, the
same temperature everywhere, and far, far vaster than anything we can
ever hope to observe. Considering the finite nature of all we can see,
inflation is the natural way to create a Multiverse of possibilities.
Bock et al. (2006, astro-ph/0604101); modifications by E. Siegel
Inflation set up
the hot Big Bang and gave rise to the observable Universe we have access
to, but we can only measure the last tiny fraction of a second of
inflation's impact on our Universe.
Without a solid knowledge of how inflation began, or if it ever had a
beginning, we cannot know how much "Multiverse" there is out there
beyond our actual Universe. But based on the properties of inflation
that imprint themselves on the Universe we inhabit, we can draw a few
conclusions about it. In particular:
The lack of spatial curvature,
The adiabatic nature and spectrum of fluctuations imprinted on the cosmic microwave background,
The magnitude of imperfections that gave rise to the large-scale structure we see,
The constraints on the gravitational waves inflation could have created,
And the superhorizon fluctuations that we observe (on scales larger than the visible Universe),
all give us some important constraints on the type of inflation that
occurred, and teach us two very important lessons, if the implications
of these verified and validated theories are correct, about our
Multiverse.
The fluctuations in
the CMB are based on primordial fluctuations produced by inflation. In
particular, the 'flat part' on large scales (at left) have no
explanation without inflation, and yet the magnitude of the fluctuations
constrains the maximum energy scales the Universe reached at the end of
inflation. It's far lower than the Planck scale.
1.) Inflation did not occur at arbitrarily high energies. There's an energy scale at which the laws of physics no longer make sense: the Planck scale, or about 1019
GeV. This is about 100 trillion times larger than the maximum energies
the LHC achieves, and a factor of about 100 million higher than the
highest energy cosmic particles we've ever detected in the Universe.
From the imprints of inflation, we can conclude that the temperature at
the start of the hot Big Bang never got higher than about 1015 or 1016
GeV, safely below the Planck scale. This implies that inflation likely
occurred below that scale as well. If true, this would mean that the
inflationary epoch obeyed the current laws of physics, as well as every
region of the Multiverse that inflation created.
Artist’s
logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe. Note that we're
limited in how far we can see back by the amount of time that's
occurred since the hot Big Bang: 13.8 billion years, or (including the
expansion of the Universe) 46 billion light years. Anyone living in our
Universe, at any location, would see almost exactly the same thing from
their vantage point.
2.) There are countless regions where inflation did not end, and still continues today.
The idea that the Big Bang happened everywhere at once may apply to our
Universe, but certainly ought not to apply to the vast majority of
Universes existing in the Multiverse. Assuming that inflation is a
quantum field, like all fields we know of, it must spread out over time,
meaning that in any region of space, it has a probability of ending at a
certain time, but also a probability of continuing on for a while
longer.
If inflation is a
quantum field, then the field value spreads out over time, with
different regions of space taking different realizations of the field
value. In many regions, the field value will wind up in the bottom of
the valley, ending inflation, but in many more, inflation will continue,
arbitrarily far into the future.
In the region that became our Universe, which may encompass a large
region that goes far beyond what we can observe, inflation ended
all-at-once. But beyond that region, there are even more regions where
it didn't end. Those regions grow and inflate as time goes on, and even
though many of those new regions will see inflation end, the ones where
it doesn't will continue to inflate. Inflation, therefore, should be
eternal to the future, at least in some regions of space. This is
irrespective of whether it was eternal to the past or not.
Wherever inflation
occurs (blue cubes), it gives rise to exponentially more regions of
space with each step forward in time. Even if there are many cubes where
inflation ends (red Xs), there are far more regions where inflation
will continue on into the future. The fact that this never comes to an
end is what makes inflation 'eternal' once it begins.
Accepting all of this leads to an inescapable conclusion: we live in a
Multiverse, and our Universe is just one of countlessly many that exist
within it. However, the standard predictions that come out of this are
difficult to do science with. They include:
That different regions where inflation ends should never collide or interact.
That the fundamental constants and laws in different regions should be the same as they are here.
And that unless inflation was truly eternal to the past, there
isn't enough "space" to contain all the parallel Universes that the
many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics would require.
The idea of
parallel Universes, as applied to Schrödinger's cat. As fun and
compelling as this idea is, without an infinitely large region of space
to hold these possibilities in, even inflation won't create enough
Universes to contain all the possibilities that 13.8 billion years of
cosmic evolution have brought us.
It's always possible to construct a contrived model that defies these
generic predictions, and some scientists make a career of doing so. Writing in NPR, Sabine Hossenfelder is right to criticize that approach, stating, "Just because a theory is falsifiable doesn't mean it's scientific."
But just because variants of the Multiverse are falsifiable, and just
because the consequences of its existence are unobservable, doesn't mean
that the Multiverse isn't real. If cosmic inflation, General
Relativity, and quantum field theory are all correct, the Multiverse
likely is real, and we're living in it.
An illustration of
multiple, independent Universes, causally disconnected from one another
in an ever-expanding cosmic ocean, is one depiction of the Multiverse
idea.
Just don't expect it to solve your most burning questions about the
Universe. For that, you need physics you can put to an experimental or
observable test. Until that day arrives, the consequences of a
Multiverse will likely remain in the realm of science fiction: where
they presently belong. It's okay to speculate, but if you insist on
attributing a physics problem's solution to an untestable feature of the
Universe, you're essentially giving up on physics. We all know that the
mysteries of the Universe are hard, but that's no reason to not even
try to find a solution. The Multiverse is real, but provides the answer
to absolutely nothing.
Astrophysicist and author Ethan Siegel is the founder and primary writer of Starts With A Bang! His books, Treknology and Beyond The Galaxy, are available wherever books are sold.
In sommige landen worden vaders en het vaderschap jaarlijks in het zonnetje gezet op 19 maart, de naamdag van Sint Jozef.
Vaderdag
wordt op deze dag gevierd in België (voornamelijk in Antwerpen en de
Kempen), Spanje, Italië, Portugal, Liechtenstein en sommige Midden- en
Zuid-Amerikaanse landen.
19 maart was trouwens de oorspronkelijke dag waarop in tal van streken het vaderschap geëerd werd. Sint Jozef wordt namelijk beschouwd als het ideaalbeeld van de vaders. Sint Jozef was de man van Maria en de (wettige) vader van Jezus.
Griepprik heeft 49 procent van griepgevallen in Europa voorkomen
De BiltDe
griepprik van het griepseizoen 2017-2018 heeft tot nu toe ongeveer 49%
van de griepgevallen bij gevaccineerde mensen in Europa voorkomen. Het
B/Yamagata-griepvirus veroorzaakt dit griepseizoen de meeste infecties
in Nederland, maar was niet opgenomen in de griepprik. Ook blijkt dat
het andere B-griepvirus (van de Victoria-lijn), dat wel is opgenomen in
de griepprik, toch voor gedeeltelijke bescherming heeft gezorgd. Dat is
de conclusie van tussentijdse onderzoeksresultaten van het Europese
I-MOVE-project naar effectiviteit van de griepprik. In dit project
werken verschillende instituten in Europa samen, waaronder het RIVM en
het NIVEL. De eerste Nederlandse schattingen geven een effectiviteit van
45% aan.
Europees project effectiviteit griepprik
Binnen verschillende Europese landen worden gegevens van patiënten
met griepachtige klachten verzameld. Het RIVM en NIVEL zijn Nederlandse
deelnemer aan het Europese I-MOVE project. Deze Europese aanpak levert
grotere aantallen patiënten op dan alleen vanuit Nederland. Hiermee kan
de effectiviteit van de griepprik nauwkeuriger worden geschat.
Onderzoeksgegevens
Het RIVM en het NIVEL hebben gegevens aangeleverd van patiënten die
bij de huisarts zijn geweest en van patiënten die zijn opgenomen in het
ziekenhuis met griepachtige klachten. Bij deze patiënten is onderzocht
of de infectie werd veroorzaakt door het griepvirus. In de analyse wordt
de vaccinatiegraad bij patiënten die geen infectie met een griepvirus
bleken te hebben vergeleken met de vaccinatiegraad bij patiënten die wel
een infectie met het griepvirus bleken te hebben.
Onderzoeksresultaten
Uit de analyse blijkt dat de vaccin-effectiviteit tegen het
B/Yamagata-griepvirus in Europa tot nu toe 49% was bij mensen die de
huisarts bezochten met griepachtige klachten. Het is opvallend dat de
effectiviteit zo hoog is, aangezien het virus niet is opgenomen in de
meest gebruikte trivalente griepprik. De resultaten laten zien dat het
andere B-virus (van de Victoria-lijn), dat wel is opgenomen in de
griepprik, toch voor gedeeltelijke bescherming heeft gezorgd. Bij
ouderen is de effectiviteit van de griepprik wat lager, namelijk 34%
vaccin-effectiviteit tegen B-griepvirussen (Yamagata-lijn en
Victoria-lijn samen genomen) bij patiënten van 65 jaar en ouder, die in
het ziekenhuis zijn opgenomen. Aan het einde van het griepseizoen worden
alle analyses opnieuw uitgevoerd, wanneer er meer gegevens beschikbaar
zijn. Griepseizoen 2017/2018 in Nederland
De griepepidemie in Nederland duurt nu al 13 weken. De epidemie wordt
gedomineerd door het B/Yamagata-griepvirus. Gemiddeld duurden
griepepidemieën de afgelopen 20 jaar negen weken, waarmee deze epidemie
langer duurt dan gemiddeld. Voor Nederland is ook de voorlopige
vaccin-effectiviteit berekend voor mensen die de huisarts bezochten met
griepachtige klachten. Hieruit blijkt dat in Nederland de effectiviteit
45% is, wat overeenkomt met de Europese schatting. De nauwkeurigheid is
echter minder, omdat het aantal deelnemers veel kleiner is dan in de
Europese studie. De Nederlandse schattingen worden ook aan het eind van
het seizoen herhaald als er meer gegevens beschikbaar zijn. In Nederland
zijn er te weinig gegevens beschikbaar om een schatting te maken voor
patiënten die in het ziekenhuis zijn opgenomen.
De afgelopen weken was de sterfte bij mensen in de leeftijdsgroep 75
jaar en ouder verhoogd, ten opzichte van de sterfte die in deze tijd van
het jaar wordt verwacht (sterftedata ontvangen van het CBS). Griep is
één van de mogelijke oorzaken van oversterfte, maar er zijn meer
factoren, zoals de recente koude periode, die hieraan bij kunnen dragen.