Agricultural sector education and training authority

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse show that drug overdose deaths have increased significantly since 2019, and opioid-involved overdoses are a top reason why. Indeed, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes on its website that "nearly 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2020 involved an opioid." Opioids are substances such as Vicodin, OxyContin, and Percocet that are commonly prescribed by doctors to treat patients for moderate-to-severe pain relief, but research shows that about a third of patients misuse them, and a staggering three million Americans abuse them - often to the point of addiction or overdose. And while opioid abuse has been getting significantly worse across America year after year over the past decade, one state has been more successful than any other in bucking the nationwide trend. The efforts of public health officials and hospital workers in Michigan have been well … [Read more...] about The One State Bucking Nationwide Opioid Abuse Trends

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A biased bid selection process represents one of the biggest threats for procurement officials. Such bias leads to a bad selection decision for a government contract, wasting taxpayer money. Moreover, it may lead to a procurement bid protest. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) put out a report in 2017, which found that a “flawed selection decision” was one of the top four reasons for successful bid protests - and over 22% of bid protests succeeded that year. So how should procurement officials protect their procurement selection process from bias? Doing so requires a basic grasp of behavioral science research on cognitive biases and how to defeat them . What Do Lawyers Working on Bid Protests Say About Bias? In 2021, the US Congress commissioned a bid protest study at the Defense Department referencing the work of Dr. Christopher Yukins , a professor of procurement law at the George Washington … [Read more...] about Prevent Costly Procurement Disasters: 6 Science-Backed Techniques For Bias-Free Decision Making

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Key Takeaways Silicon Valley Bank Gets A Savior Banking Crisis Ripple Effects Being Felt S&P 500 Aiming For A Close Over 4,000 Stocks closed out last week with solid gains. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 1.5%. The banking sector, which remain under pressure, stabilized a bit, with the S&P Regional Banking ETF ending the week relatively unchanged, but looking higher in premarket. Early Monday morning, First Citizen Bancshares agreed to buy Silicon Valley Bank. That news, along with a report by Bloomberg that U.S. regulators are considering expanding the emergency lending program I mentioned in my column last week, is giving some much needed stability to the banking sector. Shares of First Republic Bank FRC , which have been under significant pressure of late, are up 27% in premarket. Meantime, Caterpillar is down about 1% in premarket. The stock was downgraded by an … [Read more...] about Banks Bouncing Back

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin If you’re wondering about getting your child certified in scuba diving, you might consider doing it while on vacation. There are several reasons why. 1. Part of the certification process involves online coursework (aka homework), and it’s easier to get buy-in from a kid when the payoff is scuba diving in the Caribbean with a chance of seeing turtles, rays and a plethora of other fish. 2. The water is warmer in the Caribbean than other options in the U.S. (including the quarry in Pennsylvania, where many New Yorkers go for their open water dives). 3. Doing their open-water dives in a place brimming with marine life will get your child interested in making scuba diving a life-long activity. 4. It’s one-stop-shopping, which is easier for everyone. Once you decide that you’re going to get your child certified on vacation, the next question is where you should do it. While there are plenty of places in the … [Read more...] about Getting Your Child Certified In Scuba Diving While On Vacation

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Crypto continues to have a rocky 2023, with one of the most recent announcements being a pending lawsuit against Coinbase by the Securities and Exchange Commission. While the SEC continues to hammer on virtually every crypto-native organization or service provider, there are other issues that investors need to keep in mind. Taxes are a part of any business conversation, and rarely a fun one to discuss. Enjoyable or not, however, taxes are an important topic for any investment or business decision; crypto taxes and tax treatment continue to provide fertile ground for debate, discourse, and wide ranging conversation. Even as the Internal Revenue Service has continuously updated guidance, issued multiple online Q&A documents, and made changes to tax forms for U.S. taxpayers, the tax situation surrounding crypto continues to be a complicated one. Straight-forward crypto transactions, such as using bitcoin (or other crypto) … [Read more...] about What Crypto Investors Need To Know About NFT Tax Changes

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin One major consideration for women, specifically women who want a family, is how motherhood will impact their careers. And one question these women often ask themselves is whether it makes sense to delay motherhood in order to realize their full potential. Motherhood penalizes professional women in several ways. Not only does it negatively affect their income and leadership status, it also influences their ability to get promoted and hired. They are often overlooked when it comes to career-advancing opportunities. A recent survey of 1,000 U.S. women who chose to delay motherhood after the age of 35 by WIN , a leading family-building benefits provider, revealed motivating factors, challenges, and benefits to women’s decisions and how fertility benefits factor into the journey. According to the survey, relationships, lifestyle, and finances were major considerations that impacted women’s decisions. By waiting to … [Read more...] about Does It Make Sense To Delay Motherhood For Your Career?

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Widely circulated reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating $20 billion crypto exchange Coinbase are just the tip of the iceberg, according to a staffer from U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis’ (R-Wy) office. The staffer says every U.S. crypto exchange—and the largest crypto exchange in the world, Binance—are in various stages of being investigated. There are more than 40 U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges, according to crypto data site, CoinGecko. The SEC has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Coming in the wake of a number of SEC actions asserting the regulator’s domain over the crypto industry, and an equally strong response by the U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) pushing back against what it characterizes as “regulation through enforcement,” the staffer says the SEC urgently wants to resolve its dispute with the CFTC over crypto jurisdiction. If the matter isn’t … [Read more...] about Every U.S. Crypto Exchange (And Binance) Is Being Investigated By The SEC, Says Senator Lummis Staffer

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Beena Ammanath - Global Deloitte AI Institute Leader, Founder of Humans For AI and Author "Trustworthy AI." Statistically speaking, your organization is likely already using artificial intelligence, and you probably have full-scale deployment of at least three AI applications. A recent survey revealed as much, as well as that nearly every business leader sees AI as critical to business success over the next five years. AI may be transforming business and impacting the bottom line, but do business leaders understand how AI works, its applications and the potential risks? They need to. Being a successful leader in this era requires AI literacy. Counter to common assumptions, AI is not the sole province of data scientists and machine learning engineers. The technology is intellectually accessible without a data science background. AI literacy refers to a solid grasp of the different types of AI, the data they … [Read more...] about Leadership In The Age Of AI: How To Build Your AI Literacy

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin If you live an active lifestyle and think that you can’t get the protein you need from a strictly plant-based diet, Natalie Rizzo, M.S., RD, is here to prove you wrong. Rizzo is a New York City-based media dietitian, marathon runner, mom and the author of a brand new cookbook. Planted Performance: Easy Plant-Based Recipes, Meal Plans, and Nutrition for All Athletes is filled with delicious recipes, meal plans, meal prep tips and more. “The amount of athletes who are trying out plant based diets is on the rise, but many people are adapting this style of eating without proper nutrition education,” Rizzo told me. “I always say sports nutrition is different from regular nutrition, and when you throw plant-based eating into the mix, you have a recipe (pun intended) for confusion.” Her goal with Planted Performance is to teach active people and athletes how to incorporate more plants into their diet to boost their performance … [Read more...] about These Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies Are A Delicious Pre-Workout Treat