Study Guides & ResourcesAAT Failed the (AAT) Exam? Steps To Get You Back on Track
You are aware of how crucial it is to pass exams if you are working toward an Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) qualification. However, failing an exam at some point in one’s education is common. Don’t worry if you’ve failed an AAT exam; it doesn’t mean the end of your career.
You can get back on track and complete your AAT certification with the right mindset and a solid plan. After failing an AAT exam, the following steps can assist you in getting back on track:
Assess the Reasons You May Have Failed the Exam
It is absolutely necessary to spare some time to consider the reasons you may have failed the exam. Did you feel like you weren’t prepared enough? Also, did you require assistance with particular ideas or subjects?
During the exam, did you require more time? Identifying the areas to focus on as you prepare for future exams can be made easier if you know what caused your failure.
The AAT websites or your tutor are two places to look for feedback on your performance. They might be able to tell you where you went wrong and what you can do to get better.
You should also go over the exam and any study materials or notes you took. This can help you find areas in which you may have made mistakes or gaps in your knowledge.
Being honest about any obstacles or distractions that might have affected your performance is also essential.
For instance, was there a lot going on in your personal life that made it hard to concentrate on studying? Did you find it hard to stay motivated? You can develop strategies to overcome these issues in the future by recognizing them.
Make A Study Plan To Perform Better Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT)
Once you have a better understanding of the reasons behind your exam failure, it is time to make a study plan. As you prepare for future exams, having a clear plan can help you stay focused and on track.
When creating your study plan, you should think about setting specific objectives.
For instance, you want to finish a certain number of practice exams and read a certain number of chapters every week. The process may be easier to manage if your study materials are broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks.
Finding a study environment that works for you is also essential. Some people find that they study better in a group setting or with some background noise, while others prefer a quiet, private space.
Try out a variety of settings to discover what works best for you. The flexibility that comes with studying online is one of its advantages.
You can learn at your own pace and on your own time, which can be particularly useful if you have other commitments or a busy schedule.
You can get a variety of materials and tools to help you prepare for your exams from online resources like the AAT’s own learning platform and sites like
If you want to get ready for your Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) exams, you should think about using an online study resource.
Practice exams, video tutorials, and individualized feedback are just a few of the features on this platform that are made to help you succeed.
The ease of accessing the platform from any device is one of the benefits of using it. This means you can study anywhere, at home, at work, or while traveling.
As you work through the material, you will also have the support of knowledgeable tutors who can answer your inquiries and offer direction.
You’ll find revision notes, advice on how to prepare for the exam, and a progress tracker among these to help you monitor your progress.
You can use all of these features from the convenience of your own home, making it simple to fit your studies in around other commitments.
In conclusion, don’t let the fact that you failed an AAT exam hold you back.
You can get back on track and earn your AAT qualification if you take the time to figure out why you might have failed, make a solid study plan, and use resources.
Keep a positive attitude, keep your eyes on your targets, and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
You can earn your AAT certification and advance in your accounting career with a little effort and dedication.
Designing an eco friendly glazed kitchen extension
The buzzwords of the moment are “going green” and environmentally friendly design. Designers and homeowners alike are searching for novel strategies to lessen the environmental impact of our homes.
A glazed extension is the ideal way to connect the home and garden, making the transition between the two spaces seamless. As a result, designing a room that not only looks good but also has a low environmental impact should be a top priority.
Consequently, numerous brands, designers, and appliance manufacturers have made significant progress toward making it simple to design an eco-friendly, bespoke glazed extension.
Using sustainable materials to build the extension It’s important to look at the materials used to build the room before getting into the specifics of the room inside. Timber is a material that many designers use a lot. If it is sourced correctly, it has little effect on the environment. Accoya is one of the best examples of environmentally friendly timber that is also an excellent building material.
Accoya® is a novel type of wood that is made from Radiata pine, a fast-growing, readily available FSC® or PEFCTM-certified tree species. Acetylation, a chemical process that does not harm the environment and increases the strength of the pine, makes it far more long-lasting and stable than its original form. Additionally, the process of acetylation enhances the timber’s in-ground performance and paint retention, thereby reducing future maintenance requirements. Going Here
Accoya® is a Class 1 wood that is about as long-lasting as you can get. Accoya® is the ideal material for making an eco-friendly glazed extension due to the eco-friendliness of the timber.
The significance of glazing that is energy-efficient Given that popular extensions like orangeries, garden rooms, and conservatories are primarily made of glass, it is essential to ensure that they have the highest possible energy rating. Understanding U-values is essential when investigating the energy efficiency of windows.
What do U-Values mean?
A metric called U-values is used to determine a door or window’s insulation and energy efficiency. The window’s insulation and, consequently, its energy efficiency improve with a lower value. The U-value of the entire window or door, not just the central pane, is essential for homeowners who truly want to construct an energy-efficient glazed extension.
Alternative home energy solutions
One great way to reduce the environmental impact of a glazed extension is to install a variety of alternative energy sources. There are a variety of renewable energy sources to choose from, but which one is best for each property should be considered early in the design process.
Solar panels capture the sun’s energy and convert it into electricity that can be used to power lighting, heating, and other household appliances. Solar panels can now be added to each individual tile, making them more discrete and subtle than the large, unsightly panels that sit on top of a roof. To ensure that the solar panels operate as efficiently as possible, it is essential to consider the roof’s orientation. However, as technology advances, direct sunlight is becoming less of a problem.
Wind turbines make use of the wind’s energy to generate electricity. A smaller turbine can be attached to a property’s roof, while a larger turbine can be erected on the ground in an appropriate location. The ability of wind turbines to store excess energy for times when there is less wind is one of their primary advantages; as a result, the property relies significantly less on traditional sources.
Ground source heat pumps heat buildings and supply hot water by utilizing heat stored in the earth. With the help of a ground heat exchange loop, a homeowner can make use of this eco-friendly source of energy throughout the entire year because the temperature below the ground rarely falls below 10 degrees Celsius, even in the winter.
Choosing the right kitchen appliances
One of the most common uses for a glazed extension is a kitchen or dining room because of its size and access to the garden. Most of the time, the appliances in a kitchen are the ones that use the most energy and have a big effect on the environment.
In order to make it simpler for homeowners to select the most eco-friendly option, energy efficiency ratings have been assigned to all home appliances. However, it is essential to take into account the appliance in its entirety, not just its energy rating. The size of the machine will altogether affect its energy utilization, for instance, two apparatuses could have a similar energy rating yet the bigger thing will, obviously, utilize the most energy. Therefore, it is essential to avoid “over-speccing” by selecting an appliance that meets the requirements of the household.
Create a Master List of All Inventory
Making a rundown of all your stock will save you the difficulty of going through boxes to track down something specific. It’s monotonous as well as will cause a ton of wreck that will be challenging to explore. The upside of making a rundown is you should simply take a gander at the stock rundown and see which box/compartment contains which thing.
Additionally, it’s memorable’s challenging all that you have stored in the plastic storage boxes unit, particularly assuming you intend to save it as long as possible. While huge furniture pieces, similar to beds, tables or couches, are not difficult to recall, more modest things like gadgets or garments frequently slip from memory when stored for longer.
We prescribe adding every thing to a bookkeeping sheet to keep up with association and centered storage arranging. It’s a lot more straightforward to access and deal with your unit along these lines. Notwithstanding, in the event that you are old-school and lean toward a scratch pad and a pen, feel free to record everything.
Remember to order them for most extreme accommodation. To be above and beyond, you can likewise take photographs.
Put resources into Great Quality Containers and Cardboard Boxes
There’s nothing more awful than having boxes break down while in storage or self-destructing when you move them around in the storage unit to impeccably fit them all. Putting resources into great quality boxes to stay away from burden is the best choice, whether momentary storage or long haul storage.
There are various types of boxes to store different things, similar to vertical closet boxes, which allows you to store garments upward on holders guaranteeing they hold their shape and quality. There are clear plastic holders which are significantly more advantageous than cardboard boxes.
They are, be that as it may, more costly, yet when you consider their common sense, they merit the additional expense.
Furthermore, clear plastic receptacles make following what’s inside your storage unit substantially more sensible. They make it conceivable to see what’s inside a holder without digging through it, making it simpler to find your things. Finally, we prescribe you pick STORED to be your storage supplier. You will get faultless administrations and can buy all the essential pressing materials in amazing quality at reasonable rates.
Orchestrate Every one of the Boxes In a calculated way
However vital as it seems to be to load your possessions with absolute attention to detail to drag out their lives, it’s likewise fundamental to orchestrate your boxes and compartments for simple access in a calculated way.
As you begin putting away things in the storage unit, make sure to begin with huge and more overweight boxes. Keep them first on the base towards the rear of the unit, then, at that point, stack lighter boxes and things on top of them.
In particular, never keep weighty boxes and things on top of lightweight compartments. They will smash the lightweight and more modest boxes and harm your things on the off chance that you do as such. To make a steady base for lighter things and simple access, store weighty boxes and things like furniture at the base.
Then, there will be things you really want to utilize all the more oftentimes, similar to occasional garments and so on, and there will be things you won’t require admittance to for quite a while. While you won’t require these things consistently, you will make outings to the storage unit to recover them something like one time each year. Make sure to store these things towards the front of the unit in a simple to-arrive at spot.
Patent-Protected Keys are Key to Securing Your Home or Business
We seldom contemplate the keys we use to get to our homes and organizations every day. While keys might appear to be identical, there can be a major contrast in how much security a key can give. The most solid keys are licensed keys, which are safeguarded against unapproved key duplication, as the key producer controls the dispersion of the chambers in the lock.
In light of this the key spaces are not promptly accessible at places that copy keys, similar to home improvement shops. The main individuals that can arrange key spaces to cut keys for licensed keys are approved people whose marks are on record with the manufacturer.1
How Patent-Safeguarded Keys Work
These keys are unique in relation to the ones in the past that have “don’t copy” stepped into them and are frequently copied in spite of the advance notice. That is on the grounds that with those standard keys, the spaces to cut new keys are promptly accessible. With licensed keys, the spaces are not promptly accessible.
Licensed items, similar to patent-safeguarded key frameworks, are remarkable, credited to one proprietor, can’t be replicated and have legitimate security, and copying a patent-safeguarded key without communicated consent of the proprietor or association can result in extreme monetary penalties.
Licensed keys, or high security keys as they are frequently called, don’t simply shield you from duplication. They work with locks that are inordinately difficult to pick, since the locking systems are matched to explicit pins on your extraordinary key(s).3
Patent Safeguarded Keys for Home and Business
You would require a specialty check out this Locksmith with specific devices to open a patent-safeguarded lock. Moreover, some patent-safeguarded lock frameworks have mechanical keys with a computerized chip where approved proprietors can erase a key’s information from a distance, subsequently delivering the key unusable. This can be helpful for guardians when kids lose their key and for entrepreneurs when a representative is terminated, on leave, or laid-off and incapable to return a patent-safeguarded key.
For entrepreneurs, there are extra benefits to having patent-safeguarded locking frameworks introduced. On the off chance that you have huge, costly or significant resources inside your business and you need to ensure that certain main representatives approach these resources, a solid entryway with a patent-safeguarded key framework will offer an additional degree of safety. You may likewise need to think about this degree of safety in the event that it is vital that specific representatives can’t get to the explicit region of your structure.
All organizations that have moved into another area ought to likewise change existing locks to guarantee that workers of the previous business, or workers for hire with admittance to the structure during development or rebuilding, can’t utilize their keys to get to the business. In the event that you have been the survivor of a break-in, that is likewise a valid justification to update your entryways and locking components.
One component that should be thought about with patent-safeguarded key frameworks is that utility licenses lapse for 20 years. A few patent-safeguarded key frameworks utility licenses are terminating this year including Medeco’s M3 and Commander’s XC.
When a patent lapses for patent-safeguarded key frameworks the patent turns out to be essential for the public space. While the maker will in any case stick to laid out security guidelines, it is ideal to either redesign your vital framework or go with an item with a patent that is longer in term. An expert locksmith can give master counsel on which patent-safeguarded lock to decide for your home or business.
Locksmith Administrations in Michigan
Thirty years of involvement with practically all aspects of locksmithing has made Activity Locksmith one of the most believed locksmith organizations in Michigan. Our diligent effort and devotion guarantee an unparalleled piece of handiwork with a safe home and business. We handle everything from re-keying to entryway fix and establishment, camera and expert key frameworks, code infringement, keyless section thus significantly more.
TIPS TO PREVENT RED MOLES ON YOUR BODY
Red moles are otherwise called cherry angiomas. You might have them on your skin and have never acknowledged what they are. More often than not they will show up on the chest, back, neck or face, yet can spring up anyplace on the body. It’s justifiable when you are worried about the presence of a red mole and need to go through red mole expulsion right away, yet truly nothing remains to be stressed over.
WHY AM I GETTING RED MOLES
Research recommends the improvement of red moles is hereditary. Be that as it may, there are a lot of hypotheses with respect to how they can appear on your body. So before you investigate the expulsion of cherry angioma methods, this is the thing you really want to be aware of conceivably keeping them from happening.
HOW ARE THEY TREATED
Red moles likewise are known as cherry angiomas are normal skin developments that can foster in many region of the body generally tracked down in individuals 30 years or more established. Cherry angiomas don’t generally should be dealt with notwithstanding, you really do have the choice to eliminate it for restorative reasons.
Ordinarily, you would possibly need to have it taken out on the off chance that the region it is in is effectively knock which can prompt dying. A portion of the Victoria House Clinic treatment to eliminate cherry angiomas incorporate freezing, consuming the angiomas.
Shield YOUR SKIN FROM THE SUN: In the event that your skin is continually presented to coordinate UV beams, your possibilities fostering a red mole might increment. An excess of sun openness could make red moles create, and might cause existing red moles on the body to deteriorate.
While by far most of red moles aren’t perilous, there is an insignificant opportunity they could develop into something more hazardous, so safeguarding them when you can is generally best. What’s more, on the off chance that it at any point arrives at that point, you can constantly get a red mole expulsion technique finished.
Remain HYDRATED AND Appropriately Fed: It’s critical to remain hydrated and consume a sound eating regimen for some reasons, yet a few clinical experts propose this can likewise keep red moles from creating. It’s not unexpected to foster a couple of red moles throughout the span that could only be described as epic.
Yet on the off chance that you have a huge sum all around your body, it very well may be an indication of a hidden issue. So in the event that you’re a by and large sound individual and have a decent slimming down and practicing schedule, yet foster red moles frequently, think about visiting a clinical expert for an exam.
Different Reasons for RED MOLES
Red moles are generally inherited, however can likewise create as you age, as life becomes distressing or for the overwhelming majority different reasons. In the event that you just have irregular red moles creating on the body, numerous clinical experts recommend utilizing a cherry angioma evacuation laser to dispose of them.
The red moles won’t return in that area, however there’s generally the chance of others creating in different regions. The red mole expulsion process is basic, speedy and clear, so the vast majority will get treated on a case by case basis and spotlight more on arrangements as opposed to causes.
‘Now and Then,’ the Beatles’ Last Song, Is Here, Thanks to Peter Jackson’s AI
Following a lot of hype—and a quarter century of work—“Now and Then,” presumably the last song to feature all four original Beatles, is here. The track dropped yesterday and the music video, directed by Peter Jackson, hit YouTube today. Sweet and haunting, it’s full of piano and strings, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the machine learning technology Jackson used on the docuseries Get Back.
How the AI technology became the thing that saved the song is a bit of a journey. Years after John Lennon died in 1980, his wife, the musician and multimedia artist Yoko Ono, told his bandmate Paul McCartney that she had a demo tape Lennon had recorded at their apartment in the Dakota in New York City.
In the 1990s, when the three remaining Beatles—McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison—were working on recordings for their Anthology records, they tried to salvage “Now and Then” from an old cassette. At the time, Lennon’s vocals were too awash in the sounds of the piano he was playing, and the technology to extract them didn’t exist. “‘Now and Then’ just kind of languished,” McCartney says in a new short documentary about the song.
Harrison died in 2001, and it seemed the song might languish forever. Then, in 2022, as Jackson was working on Get Back, a documentary created from 1969 footage of the band making the album/concert/film that would become Let It Be, he and his team developed AI technology that allowed him to separate out all of the various instruments and voices in the recordings. “We thought, ‘Well, we’d better send John’s voice to them, off of the original cassette,” McCartney says.
Frantic English Channel operation underway after cruise ship passenger incident | UK | News
A major search operation was launched in the English Channel to find a cruise ship passenger who has reportedly gone overboard.
The emergency response involves the RNLI and Coast Guard.
We’ll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.
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U2’s The Edge on The Sphere’s Opening Night: ‘This Is Definitely Working’
Are you a fan of Las Vegas, the city?
I find it confounding but fascinating. It’s sort of America writ large—incredibly imaginative, ambitious, audacious. But it’s also a place with so many sad stories because of the gambling aspects. You’ve got this litany of amazing artists that have spent a lot of time—Elvis to Frank Sinatra and the whole Rat Pack era. But there’s also the Atomic City phase, where people could come and see the bombs being tested in the Nevada Test Site in the ’50s. These were televised events. So it’s a very crazy place.
Paul McCartney was at the Sphere show. Did you get a chance to talk to him afterward?
We did for a few minutes.
What was his reaction to the show?
Well, he loved it.
Another thing that was unique about your performance was that your bandmate Larry Mullen, Jr., was sitting this out due to health issues. How did having a different drummer affect the performance for you?
Brin [van den Berg] has done incredibly well, a powerhouse of a drummer and also a great guy. He’s made a difficult time for the rest of us as easy as possible. The fact that he’s such a fan of Larry’s playing means that he’s really at pains to try and recreate as close to the original live arrangements as possible. If I didn’t look over the drum kit, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.
So is the Sphere the future of entertainment?
I think it’s a new area, a new category, a new medium. From the very first time we saw the mock-up in Burbank with the one-quarter scale screen and we understood the kind of audio system, we thought this is definitely a kind of next step for our band and for our creative team. This could be something like a completely new paradigm. We’re maybe uniquely suited to exploring the potential. But there’s still so much that can be done here.
I think you missed a beat when you played the song “Vertigo” and didn’t use the visuals to actually create vertigo.
That would be no problem whatsoever. [I’ve been on a virtual] roller coaster ride in the mock-up in Burbank where literally you had to hold on to your seat because the balance was so impacted. But we don’t want to push it to the point where people are uncomfortable.
No, you don’t want barfing, do you?
No, that would not be good.
Russell Brand: All the companies that have cut ties with the comedian – from publisher to women’s charity | UK News
A talent agency and a women’s charity are among the organisations that have cut ties with Russell Brand in the past seven days.
The comedian, 48, has been accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse by multiple women, with the alleged offences taking place between 2003 and 2013.
The first allegations came from four women who featured in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.
Brand, 48, vehemently denied those claims but other women have since come forward, with the Met Police confirming they received a separate sexual assault allegation on Monday.
Brand performed a stand-up gig as the Dispatches film aired on Saturday but he has laid low since.
Meanwhile, a slew of organisations have pressed pause on – or entirely halted – their work with the star.
His management company
Tavistock Wood announced its decision to “terminate professional ties” with Brand hours before Saturday night’s Dispatches film aired.
The talent and literary agency, which also counts Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance among its clients, was first made aware of one sexual assault allegation against Brand in 2020.
In a statement issued on Saturday afternoon, it said Brand “categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020”.
“We now believe we were horribly misled by him,” it added.
Tour promoters
As Dispatches aired, Brand performed a sold-out gig at a theatre in northwest London but the remaining dates were soon called off.
The comedian had been due to perform his Bipolarisation comedy set at the Theatre Royal in Windsor on Tuesday, with more dates scheduled in Wolverhampton and Plymouth later this month.
But tour promoters said in a statement on Monday: “We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it – but we know you’ll understand.”
Ticket holders have been promised full refunds.
YouTube
One of the simplest – and most lucrative – ways to make money on YouTube is by securing advertisers, whose promotional clips appear at the start, end and midway through an original video.
Creators are paid based on how many times an advert is viewed and while earnings can vary wildly, Brand’s 6.6 million-strong subscriber list means his channel – where he’s posted more than 2,400 videos – is estimated to have been generating anything between $70,000 (£57,000) and $1m (£810,000) a year.
In light of the allegations against Brand, YouTube has suspended adverts on all of his channels, which include his main page, Football Is Nice and the spirituality-focused Awakening With Russell.
YouTube sponsors
Sticker Mule and Vivobarefoot – two of the 10 companies that have sponsored videos on Brand’s YouTube channel - have said they will no longer work with the star.
An advert for Sticker Mule, a custom label maker company, appears under one of Brand’s most recent videos, in which he accuses Joe Biden of lying about where he was the day after 9/11.
The company said it “suspended their relationship with Russell Brand pending further information” while Vivobarefoot, a “minimalist running shoe company”, has “stopped” any upcoming activity with Brand.
Read more:
Why are the Russell Brand allegations coming out now?
Sachs’ granddaughter speaks out
Brand addressed the claims before they were aired. Pic: YouTube/Russell Brand
Bluebird publishers
Pan Macmillan imprint Bluebird has “paused” all work with the comedian.
Bluebird has published self-help books by Brand, including Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions and Mentors: How To Help And Be Helped, and was to publish another – Recovery: The Workbook – in December 2025.
It is currently unclear if the book will be released.
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Trevi women’s charity
Devon-based charity Trevi helps vulnerable mothers struggling with drug addiction and worked with Brand for a year before cutting ties with him over the weekend.
It said: “Today’s media revelations have been difficult to process but our priority remains and continues to be the safety and well-being of all women and girls now and in the future.
“We have ended our association with Russell Brand and the Stay Free Foundation.
“As a charity whose values put women’s voices at the heart of what we do, we always prioritise supporting women affected by violence and abuse and empower them to live without violence and fear.”
The charity added that women in need support as Brand dominates headlines should contact The Survivor Pathway.
Wanderlust Festival
Brand had been due to headline Australia’s Wanderlust Festival in February 2024 but in a statement issued on Wednesday, the event’s organiser said it “agreed” Brand will no longer appear at the festival.
Top US Spies Meet With Privacy Experts Over Surveillance ‘Crown Jewel’
Senior United States intelligence officials met privately in Virginia yesterday with over a dozen civil liberties groups to field concerns about domestic surveillance operations that have drawn intense scrutiny this summer among an unlikely coalition of Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the US Congress.
The closed-door session, convened at the Liberty Crossing Intelligence Campus—a sprawling complex housing the bulk of the nation’s counterterrorism infrastructure—comes amid a backdrop of political furor over past misuses of a powerful surveillance tool by, principally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Republican lawmakers, who remain aggrieved over the FBI’s botched operation to surveil a former Trump campaign aide amid its 2016 Russia investigation, have formed an extraordinary alliance with Democratic rivals who’ve long been critical of the FBI’s power to warrantlessly access information about Americans “incidentally” collected by spies in the process of monitoring foreign threats.
The meeting, organized by the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, was attended by top officials from the National Security Agency (NSA), US Department of Justice (DOJ), and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), among others. General Paul Nakasone, the NSA director, is believed to have attended, though neither the IC, nor any source at the meeting, would confirm or deny his presence. (All sources spoke with WIRED on background citing rules established ahead of the gathering.)
Privacy and civil liberties advocates in attendance Thursday say one of their chief objectives was putting the intelligence community (IC) on notice: Without significant privacy reforms, any effort to reauthorize the use of its most powerful surveillance weapon—Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—will be a doomed undertaking. The 9/11-era program, occasionally referred to as the “crown jewel” of US intelligence, is set to expire at the end of the year. Sources in Congress with knowledge of ongoing negotiations over the program say Biden administration officials have privately encouraged lawmakers to pass a “clean bill” this winter, airing fears that any potential lapse in surveillance would pose a national security threat. Targets of the 702 program have expanded in the past decade beyond terrorists in the Middle East, and today include foreign cybersecurity threats linked to Iran, Russia, and China, as well as drug traffickers involved in the production of fentanyl, a dangerous opioid flooding US streets.
The fate of the 702 program hangs by a precarious thread, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle increasingly scrutinous of the FBI’s ability to tap into data that the intelligence community has long claimed is only unintentionally collected on Americans—a byproduct of casting a wide surveillance net over the communications of tens of thousands of individuals each year believed or assumed to be agents of hostile foreign powers. Restricting the bureau’s access to this data for domestic criminal investigation without first obtaining a court order remains one of the top reforms sought after by IC’s bipartisan critics.
Sources at the meeting say the conversation was largely one-sided, with Haines and other intelligence officials framing the event as purely an opportunity to bear witness to the concerns of civil rights advocates. While none expected a true back-and-forth discussion, some advocates nevertheless expressed frustration over the lack of reciprocity, with one describing it bluntly as “stonewalling.” A spokesperson for the IC said such “listening sessions,” in which top officials gather to bear witness to the concerns of relevant civil society stakeholders, are commonplace, and that, generally speaking, the IC does not disclose the nature of its conversations with members of Congress.
Its guests on Thursday included privacy and national security experts from the American Civil Liberties Union, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Electronic Information Privacy Center, and Demand Progress, among a dozen other groups. The largely progressive coalition further included conservative nonprofits such as FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity. Bob Goodlatte, a former Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee who now serves as a senior advisor to the nonprofit Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability, also attended.
University backs plans for new Southampton college
Published: 22 August 2023
The University of Southampton has announced its support for a new college opening in the city that is aiming to increase the range of high-quality education options for young people.
The new University Technical College (UTC) in Southampton will create 600 spaces for 14 to 19-year-olds across A-Levels and T-Levels. It joins several other colleges in the region already working in partnership with the University of Southampton, offering more life chances for young people to receive an outstanding educational experience.
Professor Anna Barney, Associate Vice-President (Education) at the University of Southampton, said: “We are delighted to support adding another unique educational offer in Southampton that will increase opportunities for pupils and help economic growth in our region.
“We firmly believe that close cooperation between schools and colleges, local employers and our university is the best way to ensure positive educational outcomes for local pupils. We are closely involved with plans for sixth form development across the city and look forward to exploring how this new initiative may be integrated to enhance current educational provision.”
The new UTC Southampton will deliver a “broad and ambitious” academic curriculum to create highly skilled students who are ready for both university and the workplace. It will allow more young people in Southampton to engage with a specialist STEM environment and will bolster the number of individuals trained for high-end technical jobs in the region.
Professor Jane Falkingham, Vice-President for Engagement and International at the University of Southampton, said: “Underpinning our support is a commitment to be active members in developing and supporting the new school, contributing to the resources and leadership required to support both the operation and enhancement of education provision in the UTC.”
Through the UTC, the University hopes it will positively affect the employability and life chances of nearby pupils and to support the skills needs of local and national employers.
Read more about how the University of Southampton is improving educational opportunities for young people at www.southampton.ac.uk/schools-colleges.
GitHub’s Hardcore Plan to Roll Out Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
You’ve heard the advice for years: Turn on two-factor authentication everywhere it’s offered. It’s long been clear that using only a username and password to secure digital accounts isn’t enough. But layering on an additional authentication “factor”—like a randomly generated code or a physical token—makes the keys to your kingdom much tougher to guess or steal. And the stakes are high for both individuals and institutions trying to protect their valuable and sensitive networks and data from targeted hacking or opportunist criminals.
Even with all its benefits, though, it often takes a little tough love to get people to actually turn on two-factor authentication, often known as 2FA. At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas yesterday, John Swanson, director of security strategy at GitHub, presented findings from the dominant software development platform’s two-year effort to research, plan, and then start rolling out mandatory two-factor for all accounts. And the effort has taken on ever-increasing urgency as software supply chain attacks proliferate and threats to the software development ecosystem grow.
“There’s a lot of talk about exploits and zero days and build pipeline compromises in terms of the software supply chain, but at the end of the day, the easiest way to compromise the software supply chain is to compromise an individual developer or engineer,” Swanson told WIRED ahead of his conference presentation. “We believe that 2FA is a really impactful way to work on preventing that.”
Companies like Apple and Google have made concerted efforts to push their massive user bases toward 2FA, but Swanson points out that companies with a hardware ecosystem, like phones and computers, in addition to software have more options for easing the transition for customers. Web platforms like GitHub need to use tailored strategies to make sure two-factor isn’t too onerous for users all over the world who all have different circumstances and resources.
For example, receiving randomly generated codes for two-factor via SMS text messages is less secure than generating those codes in a dedicated mobile app, because attackers have methods for compromising targets’ phone numbers and intercepting their text messages. Primarily as a cost-saving measure, companies like X, formerly known as Twitter, have curtailed their SMS two-factor offerings. But Swanson says that he and his GitHub colleagues studied the choice carefully and concluded that it was more important to offer multiple two-factor options than to take a hard line on SMS code delivery. Any second factor is better than nothing. GitHub also offers and more strongly promotes alternatives like using a code-generating authentication app, mobile push message-based authentication, or a hardware authentication token. The company also recently added support for passkeys.
The bottom line is that, one way or another, all 100 million GitHub users are going to end up turning on 2FA if they haven’t already. Before starting the rollout, Swanson and his team spent significant time studying the two-factor user experience. They overhauled the onboarding flow to make it harder for users to misconfigure their two-factor, a leading cause of customers getting locked out of their accounts. The process included more emphasis on things like downloading backup recovery codes so people have a safety net to get into their accounts if they lose access. The company also examined its support capacity to ensure that it could field questions and concerns smoothly.
July: Bats struggle during organic farming transition | News and features
Bat activity falls as farms make the transition to organic agriculture, new research shows.
Organic farming is better for biodiversity than conventional farming, which relies heavily on substances such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers.
However, little is known about how wildlife is affected by the transition period when a farm goes organic.
The new study, led by the universities of Bristol, Göttingen and Exeter, assessed the effects of organic farming by monitoring insect-eating bats at citrus orchards in Cyprus.
Activity of three of the four species included in the study was significantly lower at farms in the transition period, compared to conventional farms.
However, activity increased on established organic farms – suggesting a “time-lag” before the organic biodiversity boost for the most abundant bat species.
“We were surprised by our results – we expected the transition to organic farming to bring positive effects from the start,” said Penelope Fialas, from the University of Exeter.
“We can’t be certain why bats are negatively affected, but previous research suggests soil can suffer – with knock-on effects for other wildlife – when fertilisers, pesticides and other aspects of conventional farming stop.
“The soil and the wider ecosystem may take time to recover.”
Fialas added: “Our findings suggest the transition to organic farming should be managed carefully, to limit any negative effects on biodiversity.
“For example, neighbouring farms could avoid simultaneous transitions, allowing wildlife to find alternative habitats nearby while each farm switches its methods.”
Prof Gareth Jones, from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences said: “We’ve long known that organic farms often harbour higher biodiversity than otherwise similar conventional farms.
“The transition to organic farming has been little studied, however, and determining if the detrimental effects during transition observed here hold for other animals and plants would be an interesting future research project.”
The study examined 22 matched pairs of citrus orchards, comparing bat activity at certified organic farms with conventional farms, and organic-transition farms with conventional farms.
The bat species included in the study were: Kuhl’s pipistrelle (P. kuhlii), Savi’s pipistrelle (H. savii), common bent-wing (M. schreibersii) and common pipistrelle (P. pipistrellus).
The findings showed:
– Activity of Savi’s pipistrelles was three times lower – and activity of Kuhl’s pipistrelles and common bent-wings was twice as low – on organic-transitional farms compared to conventional farms.
– Activity of Kuhl’s pipistrelles was twice as high on organic farms compared to conventional farms.
– Activity of Kuhl’s pipistrelles and Savi’s pipistrelles was higher or organic farms than on organic-transition farms (by threefold and twofold respectively).
– The presence of “semi-natural” areas surrounding the farms did not affect these differences.
The study was partially funded by the University of Göttingen.
Paper:
“Transition to organic farming negatively affects bat activity.” by Penelope Fialas and Gareth Hones et al in Journal of Applied Ecology.
What Is a High Refresh Rate? Frame Rate? (Phones, TVs, Monitors)
What About TVs and Monitors?
The benefits of a high refresh rate for a TV or monitor are much the same as for a smartphone. The onscreen action should appear smoother, and the image can appear sharper. Here too, the frame rate of the content is important. There are times when the frame rate will not match the refresh rate, and that can make TV shows and movies look worse.
The ‘Soap Opera Effect’ Explained
Some TVs and monitors are better than others at dealing with differences between the frame rate and the refresh rate. Many simply reduce their refresh rate to match the frame rate, but displays with a fixed refresh rate have to find other ways to deal with this discrepancy.
When a movie is running at 24 frames per second, for example, but the refresh rate is higher, the TV may insert extra frames to fill the gaps. This can be relatively straightforward when the refresh rate is divisible by the frame rate, as the TV can show multiples of the same frame. A 120-Hz refresh rate showing 24-fps content, for example, can display each frame five times. But with a 60-Hz refresh rate and 24-fps footage, you end up showing an uneven number of frames, which can cause a juddering, shaky effect for some viewers.
Some TVs use motion smoothing (or frame interpolation). They generate and insert new frames by processing and combining the surrounding frames. Some manufacturers are better than others at doing this, but it can also lead to something called the “soap opera effect,” which many people feel looks unnaturally smooth.
At least with movies, the frame rate is fixed. With games, the frame rate can fluctuate wildly. If you go from an enclosed tunnel to a wide vista, for example, or there’s an explosion, the frame rate can easily drop from 60 fps to 20 fps as your hardware struggles to deal with the higher processing burden. There are complications when the frame rate doesn’t match the refresh rate, and the picture may suffer stuttering and tearing effects as a result.
Many Monitors Use Variable Refresh Rate
Windows via Simon Hill
This solution to the difference between frame rate and refresh rate has been around in PC gaming for many years. The most popular formats are tied to the big graphics card manufacturers, so you have AMD’s FreeSync and Nvidia’s G-Sync, but there’s also the generic Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). This is important for console gamers playing on TVs. VRR is supported by the HDMI 2.1 standard, which is one of the reasons you will see people discussing whether a TV has an HDMI 2.1 port or not. (It also brings support for 4K at 120 Hz and Auto Low Latency Mode.)
Some of the latest smartphone and tablet displays support some kind of VRR. Apple’s ProMotion brought a 120-Hz refresh rate to the 2017 iPad Pro, for example, but it adjusts automatically to match the content. Changing the refresh rate like this reduces the risk of stutter or other unwelcome effects, and it can also reduce power consumption. The refresh rate might jump to 120 Hz when you use the Apple Pencil or play a game, but then drop much lower when the screen is static on a menu or webpage.
Should I Even Worry About Refresh Rates?
Some people pick up on higher refresh rates more than others. You may have to look at displays with different refresh rates side by side to see the difference. Gamers who play fast-paced games will feel the most benefit, but anyone can enjoy the upgrade. A higher refresh rate reduces motion blur and makes action feel smoother, can make the picture appear sharper, and can make smartphones feel more responsive and speedy. Then again, they may already feel pretty smooth, and if you don’t notice, don’t sweat it.
Circuit Judge Application Seminar 2023
The seminar
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is launching a selection exercise in July 2023 to recruit circuit judges.
A seminar is taking place online via Microsoft Teams on Monday 10 July 2023 from 5pm – 6pm for those interested in applying for appointment as a circuit judge.
The seminar aims to help attendees be better prepared to make an application and provides guidance and advice on the JAC’s selection process. The panel will include two circuit judges and a representative from the JAC.
Who should attend?
Candidates are expected to have previous judicial experience, sitting as a judge in a salaried or fee-paid capacity or a similar role, such as the chair of an equivalent body, for which a legal qualification is required.
Applications are particularly encouraged from women, ethnic minority lawyers, disabled lawyers and solicitors who are currently underrepresented within the judiciary.
Please note that 7 years’ legal post qualification experience is needed for those seeking appointment to the role through the JAC’s selection exercise.
Overview of the role
Circuit judges sit in the Crown, County Courts and Family Courts. It is the responsibility of the judge to exercise control over proceedings, both during the pre-trial stage and when presiding over the trial itself, ensuring the proceedings are conducted efficiently and fairly.
Judges sitting in the civil jurisdiction are expected to deal with the whole range of civil cases in the County Court, including personal injury and clinical negligence claims, consumer credit and other cases involving personal debt, and housing and possession disputes, often involving actions by mortgage lenders or landlords.
Judges sitting in the crime jurisdiction are expected to deal with a broad range of criminal cases in the Crown Court. When presiding over a trial, a judge must balance the right of the defendant to a fair trial with the interests of the victims and witnesses. The judge must maintain order in the courtroom, and ensure the case is presented to the jury in a comprehensible fashion. The judge will also be required to pass sentence in the event of a guilty plea or conviction by the jury.
In the family jurisdiction, judges deal with a broad range of cases including those relating to financial relief, private children’s cases and public children’s cases. Following a contested family hearing it will be necessary to deliver a reasoned judgment, often extempore, making appropriate findings of fact and applying the law in a way which makes clear to the parties why the court has reached its decision. Family cases can involve high emotions which must be effectively managed by the judge.
Register
Please register for this seminar at: Circuit Judge Application Seminar
If you have any queries regarding the seminar or would like to ask a question to the panel, please email: JudicialHRDiversityEvents@judiciary.uk
