By Scott CantrellSpecial Contributor but there was some dynamic inflation — like grade inflation — in the Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio espagnol With assured leadership by the young Uzbek guest conductor Aziz Shokhakimov the audience responded to all three pieces — including a 2-year-old trombone concerto by Canadian composer Samy Moussa and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring — with audible and visible enthusiasm The Moussa replaced a not-yet-ready trombone concerto by American composer Andrew Norman. The Moussa retained the scheduled soloist, the brilliant Dutch trombonist Jörgen van Rijen for the 27-minute Moussa; the DSO program page listed three is a variant spelling of the biblical city whose walls were brought down by sonic assaults What that had to do with the music wasn’t clear News RoundupsCatch up on the day's news you need to know GoogleFacebookBy signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy The trombone got a surge of movie-music lyricism at one point But the majority of the string writing was repetitive mini-motifs less interesting than garden-variety Philip Glass Moussa joined van Rijen and Shokhakimov onstage for hugs and bows although mezzo-fortes tended to get inflated into fortes I sometimes wonder if conductors accustomed to concert halls with drier acoustics don’t fully adjust to the visceral power and presence of sound at the Meyerson Brilliantly dispatched flourishes from co-concertmaster Nathan Olson were joined by notable cameos from David Buck (flute) Theodore Harvey (cello) and Emily Levin (harp) Rimsky-Korsakov was for his day a wizard of orchestration and his pupil Stravinsky learned a lot from him The influence is obvious in the brilliant colors of The Firebird but three years later Stravinsky pushed coloristic touches much further in the huge orchestration of The Rite of Spring sometimes syncopated and shifting meters measure by measure But spooky passages create unearthly effects — starting with the bassoon’s high opening solo beautifully played by principal Ted Soluri Shokhakimov led a sonic spectacular of a performance every section of the orchestra giving its all it’s a shame the audience wasn’t given play-by-play supertitles identifying the action represented in the music 2025: An earlier version of this review misspelled the last name of flutist David Buck Repeats at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. $71 to $300. 214-849-4376, dallassymphony.org Thank you for reading. We welcome your thoughts on this topic. Comments are moderated for adherence to our Community Guidelines Please read the guidelines before participating has been partially constructed using self-healing concrete marks a significant milestone in Dutch infrastructure construction is enthusiastic: "The initial findings are positive in every respect." Delft's self-healing concrete can reduce the need for nearly half of the horizontal reinforcement steel regular concrete requires. The key ingredient of this innovation lies in the addition of bacterial spores that deposit limestone These bacteria become active when water infiltrates concrete producing limestone that fills cracks in the concrete the concrete is better protected from water damage significantly reducing the need for steel reinforcement which greatly contributes to lowering the project's CO2 emissions In the Vijfeiken Tunnel in Rijen, a wall of self-healing concrete has been installed in the pump cellar beneath one of the tunnel's access ramps. By incorporating the "healing agent" from the Delft spin-off Basilisk the amount of horizontal reinforcement steel throughout the 25-meter-long wall has been reduced by 35% This construction element is expected to require no maintenance and will have a significantly extended lifespan is pleased with the leadership shown by the Province of North Brabant "It is fantastic to see such clients embrace the technology developed at TU Delft and use self-healing concrete." wherein the concrete industry has committed to achieving a 49% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 "Green Basilisk's self-healing concrete is one of the innovations contributing to this reduction." such as self-healing concrete and new recycling methods that facilitate closing the concrete recycling loop Innovation & Impact Centre Van der Burgh Tower (Building 26C) Van der Burghweg 1 2628 CS Delft innovation-impactcentre@tudelft.nl Travel directions Floorplan Campus Map and buildings The Innovation & Impact Centre of TU Delft assists in setting up collaborations between industry government and knowledge institutions to co-work on global challenges and bringing innovations and stimulate the technology transfer to society.  Turkey shut down the pipeline in March 2023 after an arbitration court ordered it to pay Iraq $1.5bn (Tl45.23bn) in compensation Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has said that disagreements over payments with producers are further delaying the reopening of a key pipeline, reported Bloomberg The closure of the northern-Iraq-to-Turkey pipeline has resulted in a monthly revenue loss of almost $1bn (ID1.31trn) for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and companies in the region It has also kept about half a million barrels of crude oil per day from entering the global market.   During an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos Al-Sudani said that the oil companies “have an issue with the cost of producing barrels”.  The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan Turkey shut down the pipeline in March 2023 following an order from an arbitration court asking it to pay $1.5bn to Iraq in compensation for transporting oil without Baghdad’s approval Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis Ankara claimed the closure was due to undertaking of necessary repair works after two massive earthquakes in February 2023.   In October last year, Turkey announced that the pipeline was ready for operations and left the decision to Iraq to resume flows Despite the slow progress in resolving the shutdown the reduced supply has inadvertently helped Iraq adhere more closely to its OPEC+ production limits.   to meet its new target for January this year Iraq will need to cut output by approximately 300,000 barrels per day.   Baghdad has requested Kurdistan to reduce its output to help Iraq comply with its OPEC+ limits Oil companies in Kurdistan expressed their readiness in December last year to discuss resuming supplies through the pipeline These companies have production contracts with the KRG; however Baghdad does not recognise them because it states that the KRG lacks the rights to the oil Al-Sudani mentioned that the federal government was considering a budget amendment to enable Baghdad to pay international oil companies operating in Kurdistan Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network. Play Duration: 5 minutes 3 seconds5m Presented by Wanwan long 9pla ol konsituensi insait long Autonomous Region blong Bougainville oli kisim 200,000 kina aninit long ABG Konstituwensi Ikonomik Investmen Grant. ABG i kamapim displa investmen program bilong helpim ol lokol instiusen na ol lain bilong graun long impruvim ol ikonomik aktiviti. Niusmeri Kuntamari Crofts i askim Minista bilong Commerce na Economic Development, husat em ABG Vice President Patrick Nisira long toktok moa long displa Konstituwensi Ikonomik Investmen Grant. Aunonomous Region blong Bougainville kisim sapot long strongim ekonomi Published: YesterdayMon 5 May 2025 at 7:30am FooterABCABC PacificABC Pacific is the trusted voice in the Pacific, connecting our neighbours with news, music, sport and conversations for all ages. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Volume 7 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1007361 Professionals are increasingly confronted with complex problems that require generic skills These generic skills are important for a variety of domains and contexts As the evaluation of such skills can be difficult this paper reported on the development of the Generic Skills Learning Systematic university students’ self-perceived generic skills learning after following a complex problem-solving course can be evaluated The systematic was developed by analysing 43 learner reports in an iterative process in which students described what they had learned during the course A formative audit was performed to increase and ensure quality The Generic Skills Learning Systematic consists of two steps Step one is identifying students’ learning where learning is viewed as any described change in generic skills The changes are called learning categories for which five were distinguished: value Three checks are described to help with identifying the reported changes in students using an adapted version of an existing categorisation resulting in 36 generic skills in total the application of the systematic is described and frequency distributions are given to provide insight into the usability of the systematic for educators The results show that students report learning in a variety of learning categories and generic skills indicating the broadness of learning in such a complex problem-solving course educators are advised to rethink the choices made in education regarding the instruction and assessment of students Broadening our scope of learning and paying attention to the different learning categories can aid the development of the professionals of the future The result is an increasing need to train and support students in the development of generic skills (Ramaley, 2014), by designing learning environments with suitable learning opportunities (Crebert et al., 2004). A common way to develop the generic skills of university students is to use complex problem-solving learning environments (Ward et al., 2018) Utrecht university has therefore developed generic skills learning opportunities in the context of complex problem-solving little is known about how students develop generic skills in these educational environments both in relation to which generic skills students develop and in what way they develop them aims to answer the following research question: How can a complex problem-solving course provide insight in university students’ generic skills learning a systematic is developed based on student self-reports and an overview of students’ learning is provided to give an example of the application of the systematic The systematic can be used by students and teachers to provide directions for evaluating generic skills learning they are thought of as more generalisable as they are less context dependent instead of promising to have a certain set of generic skills By choosing complex problems that include diverging perspectives students can apply their own context and knowledge in contributing to the solution The instrument was validated to get insight in students’ perceptions of the value of a set of generic skills next to their current competency level taking changes into account when evaluating students’ generic skills learning in complex problem-solving environments might be more realistic compared to only focusing on improving the skills As the importance of generic skills for graduates becomes apparent universities develop learning environments in which students can develop these skills The evaluation of students’ learning experiences however due to the complexity and variety of generic skills learning This paper aims to provide insight into students’ generic skills learning during adaptive complex problem-solving by answering the following research question: How can a complex problem-solving course provide insight in university students’ generic skills learning In order to answer these research questions we aimed to develop a systematic that students and teachers could use to provide directions for evaluating generic skills learning the data of generic skills learning in a complex problem-solving course is shown as an example of how to apply the systematic and the possible results the systematic could yield The course furthermore provided students with opportunities to develop generic skills without them being narrowed down by educators beforehand During the pitching event on the fourth day and the solution presentation on the 10th day students participated in real-world situations where skills could be practised and during other coaching moments throughout the course students received feedback on the process and product The course was given in person once a year and three times in total Visual overview of the complex problem-solving case course A total of 51 participants took part in the course over the 3 years For the development and application of the systematic convenience sampling was used by including all students in the sample two participants dropped out before the end of the course due to personal reasons Six participants did not hand in a report (see instrumentation) because they did not need the learning credits They were recently graduated students and master’s students who did the course next to their fixed curriculum This resulted in data from 43 participants with a gender division of 30 women and 13 men The participants were following a Bachelor (six participants) or Master (31 participants) programme or were recently graduated from (six participants) six of the seven faculties of Utrecht University: Medicine (20 participants) Social and Behavioural Sciences (three participants) Law Economics and Governance (four participants) as successful complex problem-solving requires people with different backgrounds and experiences to collaborate Looking at this diverse group of (recently graduated) students might limit the possibility to generalise the results to a specific field but it is a more authentic group regarding the context of complex problem-solving we used the information from learner reports in the current study Two entire in-person day workshops on personal development were given in which students were guided by a coach to get insight into their own development possibilities for formative feedback were given in the form of written feedback and individual conversations with a coach Feedback included prompts to make the personal learning objectives more concrete and to reflect more deeply as opposed to main descriptions of the situation The daily journal entries were rewritten in a final learner report This learner report was limited to five pages of text or 15 min of video or audio The time investment for the learner report assignment was approximately 12 h for the student The learner reports were part of the assessment of the course although the topics in the report and the self-perceived learning of students were not assessed which was shared with students before the start of the course The rubric consisted of three criteria: whether students (1) followed a reflection cycle (2) described different angles (their environment Each criteria had three levels: insufficient the learner report could increase or decrease the individual grade of a student (20% of the final grade) with 0.5 points The criteria and standards were not incorporated into the development of the systematic The final dataset consisted of 43 written learner reports in which students reflected on their learning processes during the course The second part describes the application of the systematic and the subsequent results Frequencies of students’ generic skills learning are presented for the learning categorisation The complete report includes all research decisions and interactions between the auditor and auditee and is available on request The authors performed the research according to the rules of the Ethical Review Board of the Dutch Association for Medical Education (NVMO) The following criteria must and have been met: data were gathered from regular educational activities the researchers had access to the data due to their educational role as a teacher or the data were completely anonymous for the researcher and reports were irreducible to individuals The Generic Skills Learning Systematic is based on an existing generic skills categorisation and an inductive categorisation for learning phrases were selected in which generic skills were mentioned in combination with a change A phrase includes all information necessary to code it in regard to both the learning category and generic skill The final version of the developed systematic consisted of two steps and three checks which together determined whether a written phrase in the learner report indicated learning a generic skill (see Figure 2) The first step was the identification of a student’s learning by categorising the described change due to a large amount of text in students’ learning reports that selecting all instances of change might be difficult This prompted the development of three checks aiming to help with the identification of a change These checks included determining whether: (A) the student used a change indication word (B) the described change was explicitly related to the course or educational programme and (C) the described change included the student’s own perspective The second step was to code the generic skill on which the student reported change Decision tree representing the students’ generic skills learning systematic The category describing the urge to change included words like “have to” and “must” and was linked to a student’s self-level The category describing the intention to change later included words like “will” and “future” and was linked to a student’s intention The category described receiving new information with words such as “noticed,” “found out,” and “realised” was related to the value The overarching category can be linked to all the learning categories as it includes general words such as “learned,” “better,” and “improved” As several change indication words can be applied to multiple learning categories the context in which the change indication word was used should be leading the phrases “I learned how to present” and “I learned that I’m not a good presenter” have the same indication word (i.e. but the first is understanding and the second is self-level it was examined whether the student attributed the learning to the course A self-level example from a learner report which was related to the course is “the Belbin test shows that I could be a coordinator I realised that I easily could fill in the supportive role especially when someone else is more dominant in a group and prefers to lead.,” as the Belbin test was part of the course A progress example is “I had discussed my struggle on Monday with my teammates so it was easier for me and for them to address anything related to it whenever that popped up.,” as this describes a change in behaviour An example which is not attributed to the course is the statement “from that conversation in the train I became aware of the importance of listening.,” as this statement could indicate an already existing belief The context should therefore include a reference to the followed education referred to whether learning reflects the student’s own learning (e.g. “we collaborated better”) or the perspectives of others (e.g. “a team member said I collaborated better”) can also be included in educational activities with a strong emphasis on collaboration An example that was not coded was “they collaborated better,” as this excluded the learning of the student writing the learner report The skill definitions were adapted to the context of complex problem-solving and skills that weren’t distinguishable in our data were merged which was originally composed of multiple skills but couldn’t be located in our data We furthermore added the code general for learning categories and generic skills when the information in the learner report was not clear or incomplete (e.g. “I learned a lot” was coded as general-general) Table 3. Generic skills categorisation with four generic skills categories adapted from Dunne (see Bennett et al., 1999) with the names of the skills on the left and skill definitions on the right the phrases in the learner reports indicating a change in generic skills were highlighted and transferred to rows in Microsoft Excel the indication word(s) were selected and placed in the column next to the phrase the learning category and generic skill were coded When a phrase referred to multiple learning categories and/or generic skills it was placed on a separate row for each code resulting in one phrase being on several rows Coding was done by the first author with support from the second and last authors 12 phrases were coded each round of which two to three needed to be discussed between researchers The discussed differences resulted in correcting the coding scheme and the coding itself to be more precise We chose based on these discussions to be strict with coding where ambiguities with too much interpretation were not coded This might have resulted in missed information when students were not using explicit wording An example from a student is “I realised I might have answered too quick for my mind to keep up,” which could refer to multiple underlying skills (e.g. We furthermore chose to include the “we” statements in our case course as collaboration was such a large part of the course Another aspect resolved in discussion was that a skill working as a mechanism for improving a skill was not coded “I listened to my team and this helped me to improve my leadership skills” indicates an improvement in leadership skills not in listening similar examples from other learner reports were reviewed on whether they could provide a clearer picture If these examples did not provide new insights and these decisions were written down in a “comments” column in the Excel file all learner reports were coded again and checked for completeness and consistency in coding we only reported on the absolute numbers for clarity learning about the self-level was described in 40 of the 43 learner reports Understanding and progress were described quite often as well Learning about the value of a generic skill was mentioned the least there was not sufficient information to select the right learning category and the relation between learning categories and generic skills The last column of Table 4 shows the generic skills categories frequencies. Skills in the management of others category were reported the most by our students, with 39 mentioning them. Within this category, the skill collaborating had the highest prevalence, being described in 36 reports, followed by giving feedback (17), respecting (11), and leadership (10) (see Supplementary Table A) The second highest frequency was the management of self category Although coping with stress in that category was clearly mentioned the most (by 12 students) the other skills were mentioned by one to seven students Skills in the management of information category were described by 25 out of the 43 students communicating was described the most (by 17 students) and the other skills between one and six students The management of tasks skills were mentioned the least 15 students included these in their reports executing and prioritising were mentioned more often (by seven and five students respectively) compared to the other skills in this category Zooming in on the skills which are mentioned less often over all the generic skills categories shows that eight skills were mentioned by only one student and three skills by two students in total these 14 coded phrases were retrieved from 11 individual learner reports indicating a large variation in reported skills and key features were not mentioned by any of the students in their learner reports Zooming out to the generic skills categories eight students reported learning skills on all four categories in their learner report The learning categories frequencies are also showed against the generic skill categories in Table 4. Supplementary Table A provides a more detailed description by including the specific generic skills within the generic skills categories as well The relative high frequency of learning on the self-level matched the learning of the generic skills the self-level learning category had the highest prevalence for respecting (management of others) and coping with stress (management of self) students reported more often to have progressed instead of having more insight into their self-level this is the case for formulating intentions For the skill creativity (management of information) both progress and intention were mentioned twice whereas self-level was mentioned only once Other skills showed a more even distribution among the learning categories Students did not learn mostly on one learning category for that skill for communicating (management of information) and collaborating (management of others) a relatively large number of students reported understanding the skill better when compared to the increased understanding of the other skills in students The three types of metacognitive knowledge can be linked to the learning categories Strategic knowledge refers to the what and how of strategies and could be reflected in understanding Cognitive task knowledge refers to when and why these strategies should be used and could be reflected in value and intention self-knowledge refers to knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses and could be reflected in self-level and progress Action should then be taken based on these intentions with both being higher for the students with a double enrolment the complex problem-solving learning environment provided students with opportunities to develop their generic skills in a variety of ways A mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative methods could help with getting a more accurate insight in what students learned during complex-problem solving These more personal attributes are reflected in important professional attitudes which might be an additional learning category in the context of medical education other domains might emphasise different generic skills compared to the generic skills found in our sample exploring challenges in other fields might provide new insights on generic skills learning in problem-solving contexts The last point for discussion is the practical use of the systematic the selection of relevant phrases and the coding have been done by hand A helpful improvement to save time would be to use text analysing software for this in the future way the sample size can be increased as well and more generalised conclusion might be drawn regarding the output of student’s generic skills learning providing students with opportunities to practice reflection can Instructing students clearly using the learning categories terminology could furthermore help students and educators to use the same concepts to describe and evaluate learning it might also result in a reduction of the number of phrases that were too ambiguous to be coded in this paper students in the presented complex problem-solving course are the creators of their own learning by learning those generic skills in the ways relevant to themselves The proposed systematic in this paper helps with looking beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and to appreciate students’ differences in learning By contributing to the knowledge about generic skills development and improving the practical use of evaluation methods educators can continue improving education to prepare students for a complex and changing society the Generic Skills Learning Systematic and findings of this study are intended to support educators in expanding their perspective on what learning entails and show the variety in relevant generic skills for the professionals of the future which includes the raw data used and coded from the learner reports The 43 complete learner reports cannot be shared due to participants’ identifiable data in the reports (e.g. Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements and RK coded data and discussed the results HR developed the systematic framework with the supervision of RB and RK GD and HVMR contributed to practical implications The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: 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after complex problem-solving Copyright © 2022 van Ravenswaaij, Bouwmeester, van der Schaaf, Dilaver, van Rijen and de Kleijn. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Heleen van Ravenswaaij, aC52YW5yYXZlbnN3YWFpai0yQHVtY3V0cmVjaHQubmw= Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Pauline van Rijen bids farewell to the plant and produce market she started 16 years ago The Katikati A&P Show has taken over the weekly fresh produce market on Fridays Pauline van Rijen who has run the local farmers market for the last 16 years is handing over the reins to the group who have been involved from the beginning A&P Show president Louellen Davies says they are keen to carry on the market as they wish to continue giving back to the community They have a dedicated subcommittee to concentrate on the market and they are Farmers’ Markets New Zealand members Stallholders sell produce related to the land with the emphasis on being homegrown and wholesome The market is a one-stop-shop for fresh produce “You can come along and get your Friday night meal and you can get your veges for the week fruit trees and pretty much all fruit and vegetables They plan on introducing new features such as a children’s area music and more stalls (they encourage potential stall holders to get in touch) The showgrounds area has been beautified with seating added for the markets Times have been changed to cater for those wanting to pop down after their work day Local groups who are fundraising have the opportunity to have a stall free of charge When: Every Friday evening from 4-6.30pm rain or shine Info: Ph 027 4444 649 or info@katikatifarmersmarket.nz A small community is shocked by the death and praying for the surviving child Dutch safety board says Malaysia Airlines plane was hit over eastern Ukraine by missile from Buk system as reconstruction of front section is unveiled A Buk surface-to-air missile downed flight MH17, Dutch investigators have said as they unveiled a reconstruction of the plane that showed huge shrapnel damage to the cockpit and front section. Read moreTjibbe Joustra, the chairman of the Dutch safety board, said the Malaysia Airlines plane was hit by a 9N314M warhead on 17 July 2014, as it flew at 33,000ft (10,000 metres) above eastern Ukraine The warhead was fitted to a “9M28 missile” fired from a Russian-built Buk missile system Speaking in front of the reconstructed plane – pieced together from parts of recovered debris fitted around a metal skeleton – Joustra said all other scenarios to explain the disaster An animated video was shown to journalists at the Gilze-Rijen airbase in the Netherlands where the plane was part reassembled over three months It showed the Buk missile exploding on the left-hand side of the cockpit with hundreds then penetrating the plane with tremendous force The impact and ensuing pressure drop killed the three pilots instantly,he said On-board microphones captured the moment of impact – “a sound ping” This allowed investigators to determine the devastating blast occurred on the upper-left hand side of the cockpit The front section of the Boeing 777 below the pilot’s port window was perforated with large shrapnel holes Five windows in the business class section were visible together with a door where the passengers entered The pilot’s seats had been remounted in the cockpit – a haunting sight together with much of its upper front half Exit holes left by shrapnel could be seen on the other right side; exploding fragments had ripped through the fuselage Animation shows Russian-built Buk missile hit Malaysia Airlines MH17 GuardianAccording to Joustra The cockpit and the floor of the business class tore away almost instantly from the main body and crashed The rest of the plane continued flying for about five miles in an easterly direction hitting the ground about a minute to a minuter and a half later In a briefing on Tuesday morning to relatives of the victims Joustra said the passengers on board – two-thirds of whom were Dutch nationals – would have been unconscious within seconds The board had previously made clear its findings would not deal with blame and liability; a criminal investigation by the Dutch prosecutor’s office is scheduled to conclude in early 2016 Joustra said the Buk had been fired from a 320 sq km area of eastern Ukraine the scene of a conflict between pro-Russia separatists backed by Moscow and Ukrainian government forces He said “further forensic investigation” would be needed to determine the exact launch site Ukraine and Russia had all carried out their own simulations into the missile’s probable trajectory Russia was the only one of seven countries involved in the report’s preparation that dissented from its central conclusions adding that Moscow believed “it was impossible to determine the type of missile or warhead with any certainty” It is widely assumed that Russia-backed separatists were responsible for bringing down MH17 but the US has stopped short of blaming Moscow directly The Kremlin has blamed Kiev – variously suggesting that a Ukrainian military jet shot down the Boeing 777 or that a missile was launched from a government-held area Malaysia Airlines MH17 wreckage reconstruction unveiled by crash investigators GuardianThe Russian simulation includes areas under Ukrainian government control. The other simulations suggest the Buk was fired from separatist areas. An open source investigation by the website Bellingcat tracks the Buk from a Russian military base in Kursk It was then smuggled across the Ukrainian border In Moscow, the makers of Buk missile systems gave a press conference on Tuesday morning apparently to distract attention from the Dutch report The manufacturer said it had performed two experiments it says prove one of its missiles could not have been launched from areas under pro-Russia separatist control Relatives of passengers react to Dutch investigation findings GuardianThe Dutch safety board report, published in English and Dutch, concedes that family members had to wait “an unnecessarily long period of time” for formal confirmation that their loved ones were dead. The Dutch authorities “lacked management and coordination”, he said. The victims came from nine countries, including Malaysia and Australia, and with 10 victims from the UK. Joustra also said there was a simple, “dispiriting” answer to the question: why was MH17 allowed to fly above eastern Ukraine? It had not occurred to anybody that the airspace was unsafe for civilian jets at cruising altitude, he said. This was despite 60 Ukrainian aircraft and helicopters had been downed since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in spring 2014. Read moreAbout 160 civilian planes flew over the area on the day of the disaster Three were in “close proximity” when the Buk was fired Ukraine should have closed its airspace to civilian traffic COVID-19-adapted to a maximum of 40 musicians socially distanced on the extended Meyerson Symphony Center stage are selected by lottery from advance subscribers Thursday’s concert brought back the Slovak conductor Juraj Valčuha who led exciting Strauss and Respighi performances in 2019 and the brilliant Dutch trombonist Jörgen van Rijen who introduced a James MacMillan concerto here in 2018 premiere of a brand-new Trombone Concerto by American composer Bryce Dessner co-commissioned by the DSO and three European orchestras also a guitarist in the rock band The National Dessner is getting commissions from major orchestras and ensembles and composing film scores Twenty-five minutes long, in the traditional fast-slow-fast movement sequence, the concerto adds percussion to a classical scoring for paired winds, horns and trumpets. Rapid-fire single-note blasts from the trombone, answered by horn and bassoon, set strings dancing all around, with lots of minimalist pattern-work. In the middle movement, the trombone emerges from hushed oozes of strings to sing more lyric music, again answered by horn. Virtuoso trombone chatters and slides open the finale and recur subsequently as signatures, winds sometimes joining in the chatters. A contrasting section, dreamlike, revives more lyric impulses. At least on first hearing, this longest of the three movements felt interminable, loosely strung together from a multiplicity of ideas that had accumulated on the composer’s computer. A standing ovation suggested that others were more excited. I wonder how many trombonists could match van Rijen’s virtuosity, or his command of tones from matte-finish to high gloss. I imagined a tauter orchestral performance, but Valčuha and the necessarily spread-out ensemble did what they could with the rhythmic challenges — and the finale’s challenge to attention spans. Special praise goes to Kevin Haseltine’s glowing horn contributions. Hungarian folk music, often Gypsy-inflected, inspired concert works by native sons Liszt, Kodály, Bartók and Ligeti, even the German Brahms. Kodály’s 1933 Dances of Galánta is a 15-minute rhapsody that’s atmospheric as often as obviously dancelike. Valčuha’s balletic direction, without baton, animated the mysteries as well as the frenzies, ultimately evoking earthy foot stompings and wild swirls of multicolored skirts. Prominent clarinet solos were delivered with an amazing range of volume, color and texture by the DSO’s excellent principal Gregory Raden. The Beethoven First Symphony that opened the concert was less compelling. With the chamber-orchestra version of the DSO, Valčuha still seemed to cultivate full-orchestra plushness in music that wanted more focus, more sinew, more nervous energy. This Beethoven felt a little too comfortable, too well fed. Between the reduced string sections and the deep spread of players, the DSO continues to wrestle with balances. Perhaps feeling lonely far upstage, perhaps playing as if they still were padded by lots of strings, winds and brasses were often louder than necessary. Repeats at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. Tickets currently limited to advance subscribers. 214-849-4376, mydso.com. Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London Robyn joined Newsweek in 2022 having previously worked at environmental publication LetsRecycle She has also worked on a range of consumer magazines at Damson Media focusing on pop culture She is a journalism graduate of Kingston University You can get in touch with Robyn by emailing r.white@newsweek.com either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content A prehistoric jet black river creature with shark-like teeth has been caught in the Choctawhatchee River in Florida The melanistic longnose gar was found by the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute while biologists were on a routine long-term monitoring trip Photographs posted by the institute show the bizarre creature being held up to the camera It appears to have black eyes and a long row of black teeth "What's black as tar, has armored scales and a mouth full of teeth? A melanistic longnose gar!" the institute said on Facebook." Melanism is an abnormal extent of dark coloration in the skin or feathers of animals and is characterized by excessive deposits of melanin It's relatively rare in animals and is not seen often by biologists." In comments to the Facebook post the Institute said the gar was released back into the water after it was caught The longnose gar has swum through North American waters for over 100 million years Gars are known for being large fish. Longnose gar usually reach about 3 feet, however some species such as the alligator gar as they like to bask on the surface of the water melanistic animals are occasionally spotted by fishermen In May, Texas anglers Justin Jordan and Terrell Maguire were out fishing on a marsh in southeast Texas when they came across a "very rare" melanistic alligator gar. Jordan estimated it was about 5 feet long—however the species can reach enormous lengths Alligator gars are the biggest of the gar fish species The fish only live in North and Central America and are known for their size including the longnose gar and the Florida gar They are sometimes mistaken for smaller alligator gars however it's strictly prohibited to catch the alligator gar Any that are caught have to be released back into the water and how many live in North America's waters It's unclear how big the gar caught by the Institute was however the biggest longnose ever caught in the state weighed 41 pounds Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations Photo by Andy Campbell This morning's Cronut™ line reached epic lengths, and if you were on it you probably helped break the World Record for Waiting On Line For A Cronut™ Our in-house Cronut™ line expert Marc Yearsley tells us this line is "like double, maybe even triple" of what it is normally. He added that it usually stops at "that first table that you see below and to the left of the streetlight." Is it because people are on vacation this week and have more time to wait on line for pastry? Is it because at the end of this line there were not just Cronuts™ but also the answer to the meaning of life and a blueprint for world peace? No. A Dominique Ansel rep told us this morning, "The lines have been quite long this past week because it's the first week of the Blackberry Cronut! So many of the fans on line tell me they came back just for this flavor." And just when things die down from that, a new flavor will be introduced—the bakery says, "For August, we're holding a Facebook vote on two flavors that Chef Dominique is proposing: coconut [ed. note: YES!!!!! CocoCronut!] or passion fruit [ed. note: nope]." Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor. The chef and owner of Gulaabo show us what to eat in Little Punjab: bread pakoras, kebabs and a delicious dal makhani. The southern Brooklyn neighborhood is still home to traditional italian delis, restaurants and pork shops. Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily. Gothamist is a website about New York City news 'Cross and road racer passionate about cause She has been seen on the streets of Amsterdam dressed as everything from a bunny rabbit to a seal to make her point known Project 1T4i presents team kit and bike for 2012 First look: Project 1t4i team Felt bikes for 2012 "Many people - especially the kids - love the outfits and it more easily grabs people's attention," said Van Rijen She also sets up stands throughout The Netherlands to hand out informational brochures While her message may be received positively my most periodically she runs into passerbys who feel threatened and lash out with harsh words She handles those situations just as she does when on the bike - brushes them off and keeps her eye on the goal Van Rijen's venture into animal rights began a few years ago after watching a few documentaries about animal abuse that broke her heart I knew I had to do something to help," said Van Rijen Her unwavering dedication led her to recently complete 560 hours of volunteer work for two animal organizations "I used those hours towards my diploma in marketing and communications but I will continue to be involved in animal rights." During these busy periods in Van Rijen's life, she seamlessly continues to help the animals by donating to several organizations. "If it's not with my time than it's with my money," said Van Rijen. "Once my racing and studies are over, I see myself again becoming heavily involved with helping animals. At this time, I'm not sure if it will be my money-making job but I do see myself spending lots of time in the future most likely at the animal sanctuary donating my time. I really liked it there." The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox! Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. and New York report long food bank lines ahead of Thanksgiving I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Americans across the United States have lined up in miles-long queues at food banks after thousands lost their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic those impacted have turned to charities like food banks in order to put food on the table reported about 35 million Americans were impacted with food poverty in 2019 The nonprofit estimated that number could grow an additional 17 million from the pandemic meaning more than 50 million Americans could need food assistance by the end of 2020 “About 40 per cent of the people who are turning to us for help have never before relied upon the charitable food system,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot States like California, New York, Wisconsin, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan have reported long lines at their food banks with people waiting hours to pick up items volunteers estimated more than 1,000 people lined up on Saturday outside one food bank alone to pick up items a charity that serves the Santa Clara area of California reported families in need rose from the organisation helping 1,400 households a month in February to 4,400 households a month in November Similarly food banks have reported increased lines and need across New York State New York City launched GetFoodNYC to address the increased need from residents for a free meal The $170m plan will include opening more than 400 food hubs where New Yorkers could pick up food or for-hire delivery drivers can deliver directly to them In Austin, Texas, about 1,400 cars lined up outside one food bank on Monday morning during the last major handout prior to the Thanksgiving holiday on Monday as hundreds waited to pick up a free meal for Thanksgiving The US unemployment rate rose to a record high of 14.7 per cent in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics That number has since declined to 6.9 per cent unemployed in October but the level still causes concern about the potential “food cliff” charities are bracing for this year but organisations like the Boy Scouts of America were forced to postpone their food drives due to the pandemic “We don’t see the numbers diminishing,” CEO Jilly Stephens told the publication. “When the days get colder and shorter, people need that food.” If demand were to continue without the necessary funding and resources, organisations like City Harvest will face a “food cliff” where they will have to cut back on supplies.  Ms Stephens said the organisation was expecting its biggest surge in demand to happen in January after federal assistance programmes expire at the end of this year.  Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies This comprehensive package enhances Gilze Rijen Air Base (EHGR) for Microsoft Flight Simulator X by leveraging the modular framework of the Netherlands 2000 v4 scenery Authored by The Netherlands 2000 Scenery Design Team this freeware add-on focuses on delivering a detailed representation of th.. this freeware add-on focuses on delivering a detailed representation of the Royal Netherlands Air Force installation complete with accurately modeled ground elements and optimized for a seamless experience In order to integrate this air base smoothly you need to install it through the NL2000 v4.0.32 installer it will merge with the broader Dutch landscape provided by the NL2000 collection By relying on aerial imagery and precise data the creators have constructed an accurate environment that captures the unique operational layout and extensive ramp space of Gilze Rijen Air Base Located in the southern part of the Netherlands Gilze Rijen Air Base serves as an important home for helicopter activity within the Royal Netherlands Air Force Its layout accommodates diverse rotary-wing operations: training missions which contribute to a genuinely immersive rotary-wing flying experience Chopper departing from Gilze Rijen Air Base Gilze Rijen is just one of many airfields included under the Netherlands 2000 v4 lineup The modular nature of NL2000 ensures you can selectively install specific regions or airfields that matter most to your flying habits Adding EHGR not only completes your network of Dutch air bases but also highlights the overall realism brought to every part of the country—from bustling metropolitan areas to specialized military installations Developed by The Netherlands 2000 Scenery Design Team this rendition of Gilze Rijen showcases their dedication to accuracy and technical quality The team’s effort to collect data and continually refine the models produces an authentic representation of the base immersing virtual pilots in the day-to-day operations of this strategic hub View important Copyright © information related to freeware files here The archive nl2k_v4_03_ehgr.zip has 8 files and directories contained within it This list displays the first 500 files in the package Signing-up for PRO gives you super fast, unrestricted speed to the thousands of MSFS, FSX, P3D & X-Plane downloads which include aircraft, scenery, and more - click here to view the library for free or.. Sign-Up Now PRO membership payments go directly back into the website to pay for hosting It's what also enables us to offer a free download tier Join over 145,000 subscribers of our free dedicated flight simulation newsletter Are you using the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 release The archive ehgrv2.zip has 6 files and directories contained within it Higher education should take steps in order to no longer be paralysed by the ongoing threat of Covid-related lockdowns argue UU professors Berent Prakken and Harold van Rijen They think it's high time the university deploys new educational models and comes up with a different set-up for its academic year UU welcomes their advice: “a shorter summer break Sometimes it feels as though universities are caught up in an exhausting loop: from a sudden lockdown to an expected permission to reopen Comparing the situation to the movie Groundhog Day in which the main character continuously lives through the same day However, many employees do not realise that universities may have to deal with contagious viruses for a lot longer, says Harold van Rijen, director of the Graduate School of Life Sciences. Together with the Vice-dean of Medicine, Berent Prakken, he wrote an op-ed for Dutch newspaper Volkskrant (available in Dutch only Ed.) this month, in which they argue for a new approach to university education one that would offer students and lecturers guidance and peace Berent and I have been thinking about ways to make education more flexible in order to avoid the adverse effects of the Covid regulations as much as possible” “But we have noticed that it is quite hard to get a sense of urgency for this sort of plan The high workload might make that understandable but a lot of people are still in a ‘it will be over soon and then we’ll go back to how things were’ mode Van Rijen has also noticed the resilience of students and lecturers slowly fading way “We can’t keep on telling them to cheer up and stick it out a little longer But I also don’t really know how we should proceed Moving along with the virusConsidering the many responses Prakken and Van Rijen received it looks like their ideas resonate with a lot of people UU's Executive Board wrote they would take the professors’ proposition into account DUB has been told the subject has also been put on the vice-deans' agenda for discussion Prakken and Van Rijen argue that higher education “should move along with the rhythm of the infection rate” That would mean the university would hold lectures and working groups on campus in the autumn and then return to online education from mid-December until April classes and examins could be held on campus again.  If the university were to adopt this approach it would be possible to have shorter summer holidays and longer winter breaks lectures and working groups are at a standstill for eight weeks while classes could take place on campus in that period No Covid diplomasThe question is whether a prolonged period without in-person education would be attractive to students and lecturers universities have been frequently accused of preferring online education over classes on campus. The critics say institutions have been using the Covid regulations to cut back on housing expenses. Van Rijen’s propositions can therefore be seen as legitimising the idea of having less classes face to face Van Rijen admits that the op-ed has received a lot of "hate mail" as well including a long message from a student who abhorred the idea of having exclusively online classes for a long period of time. Van Rijen understands the resistance but thinks it also originates from the way educational programmes have responded to the lockdowns Classes that were supposed to happen on campus were simply transferred to the online environment regardless of whether that was the right fit or not. “That only makes students feel as though they're being shortchanges – they get the feeling they are studying for a Covid diploma But that's all the more reason to take action now and find a new approach that preserves UU's principle of offering engaging Brainstorming a long-term visionVan Rijen acknowledges he has a privileged position As a professor of Innovative Forms of Learning in Higher Education he has a team that is aware of all the latest technical and pedagogical possibilities the National Program of Education (NPO in the Dutch acronym) has specifically allocated funds to Medicine students whose graduation has been delayed because of the situation in hospitals and labs the introductory phase for Master’s students has been adjusted: part of it is now online and the in-person meet-ups are smaller “There are big differences between the study programmes Each discipline has their own specific needs and wishes we think that lecturers and study programmes should start brainstorming a long-term vision for their education considering the current circumstances will continue Additionally, they must define what they need to fulfill that vision there is a lot of knowledge within the UU about engaging and small-scale online forms of education We need to make sure that more lecturers and study programmes use that knowledge.” Perhaps their most important point is that a pro-active approach might take away some of the Covid chagrin as well as additional efforts in a time where people are already busy Coromandel and Taupo teams excelled in the Bay of Plenty finals of the Vista Foundation 48 Hours competition announced on Thursday at an event in Rotorua ‘Impalpable' a short film made by the Temporary Estate team from Tauranga brought a poignant moment to the screen also winning them the City Manager Bring in the Feels award The Temporary Estate's youngest team member and one of the stars of their film is Janneke Wills and their sound and post production person Paul Harling who worked remotely with them over the competition weekend from his home in Wellington Peta van Rijen from Temporary Estate also won the WIFT Outstanding Female Filmmaker award Runner up was Tinker Tailor from the Coromandel who won the Bay of Plenty competition in 2018 Their film ‘Refraction' also won the Best Script award received awards for Best VFX for Sandi Cutts prosthetic makeup work Best Use of ‘Something Invisible' award "It was amazing to see the films that people came up within just 48hours,” says Annie Lawler who coordinates Vista Foundation 48Hours for the Bay of Plenty region skills and teamwork obviously improve year on year and I look forward to seeing how our region does in the national finals coming up next month." Eighteen Bay of Plenty teams competed in the Vista Foundation 48Hours film competition on the first weekend in March extreme bonding and meltdowns in what is NZ's largest guerrilla film-making competition aiming to make the best short film in just 48 hours An additional weekend for the Auckland teams ran the following weekend once the Auckland region dropped back to Alert Level 2 Filmmakers didn't know what genre they will be shooting until the start of the competition editing and adding a musical soundtrack must occur within the 48-hour window beginning Friday evening at 7pm and ending Sunday at 7pm they must also include some random elements The compulsory elements to be included were ‘something invisible' Shakeel Roa and Cameron Alers from Budget Boy Films from Tauranga Boys' College attracting young filmmakers from around the Bay of Plenty The top school team award went to Budget Boy Films a team from Tauranga Boys' College who filmed ‘Rien Ici' Budget Boy Films also won the Best Sound Design award and the Best Use of Genre award The Great Lakes Film Society team who are from Taupo and won the top Bay of Plenty prize in 2019 The genre that the Great Lakes Film Society were given this year was particularly poignant 'We had an awesome day filming our 'Race against Time' genre at Nuki's boxing Gym in Taupo,” says team member Kerence Stephen Kerence says the location and theme to their film are unintentionally symbolic The Great Lake Film Society team filmed at Nuki's boxing Gym in Taupo 'Two of our team were undergoing treatment for cancer at the time of filming and literally fighting for their lives,” says Kerence 'One of our lead cast who was thrown around the ring all day had been recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma positive energy and good times that 48Hours provides.” 'Our team are such an amazing bunch and the fun we have together is seriously medicine for the soul,” says Kerence 'The fighters in our team are so positive and truly inspirational.” who has previously acted in Bollywood films won the Best Performer award for her performance in Team Goodas's crime film ‘Number 15' Team Goodas also won the Best Use of Technical Element award The Best Animation award was won by Sagewood Studios for their ‘Puddles' musical with their film ‘Joyless Pussies' won Best VFX for Sandi Cutts prosthetic makeup work who were given ‘romantic comedy' as their genre also won the Best Use of ‘Something Invisible' award Karl Oemcke and Gerrard Pollock won Best Original Score/Song Band Nutty Mosquitoes won the Best Under 18 Film for their film ‘The Breath of Death' The Best Disqualified Film award was won by Hands On who unfortunately had a technical issue while editing and were unable to upload their film in time before the 48 Hours competition ended at 7pm on the Sunday night The Bay of Plenty heats were screened on Facebook and Youtube on March 18. The regional final was on April 15 in Rotorua. The grand finals in May will have the finalists screened in Auckland, live-streamed and shown on TV2. Information on the competition is on the website: www.48hours.co.nz How do you feel about Tauranga’s rapid population growth Back to top