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As a potentially life-threatening neuromuscular disease he was born with progresses, Multimedia Entertainment Activist Nicholas Snow is focused on preserving his legacy

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As a potentially life threatening neuromuscular disease he was born with progresses, Multimedia Entertainment Activist Nicholas Snow is focused on preserving his legacy and grateful that his living-powerfully-with-HIV memoir, Life Positive: A Journey to the Center of my Heart; his HIV Testing/safer sex awareness anthem (subtitled in 21 languages), The Power To Be Strong; and four decades Multimedia Entertainment Activism (currently under the banner of PromoHomo.TV®) will live on forever.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — For most of his life, Nicholas Snow has known he had some sort of muscle disease. He’s never been able to do a pull-up, has always been an awkward runner, and despite his basketball player-worthy height of six feet three inches, has never been good at sports.

“Just look around you and every minute you see someone in need. I believe that everybody has talent in some way, so use it to really make this world a better place.” …Bruno Brugnano

In fact, throughout elementary, junior high and high school in the 1970’s in Flagstaff, Arizona, because of his lack of athleticism, Snow was often bullied and called a fag (a decade before he knew he was gay).

Snow struggles from the results of childhood trauma due to bullying to this day, which is one reason he has fought so hard for decades to make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ folks and their allies.

LIFE POSITIVE

Snow’s living-powerfully-with-HIV memoir, Life Positive: A Journey to the Center of My Heart (http://www.LifePositiveBook.com) was published 11 years ago, continuing his quest to inspire voluntary and confidential HIV counseling and testing worldwide, and to further combat stigma faced by people living with HIV/AIDS.

After going public with his HIV status at a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Snow for a time was one of the world’s leading freelance proponents of HIV testing, having reached over 5,000,000 people with his campaign, including on national television in Malaysia and in Thailand (on Modern 9 TV during a telethon for the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre). Snow visited Kuala Lumpur, celebrating the good work of the PT Foundation and Malaysian AIDS Council, generating media impressions reaching 2.5 million people, or about 10% of Malaysia’s population.

In her official synopsis, editor Kristin Johnson writes, “In Bangkok, Thailand, Hollywood’s primo promo homo on the go-go Nicholas Snow is eking out a modest living as a foreign correspondent, actor and media personality when, in a moment of personal desperation, he makes a decision that changes his life forever. Decades into the AIDS pandemic and completely armed with the knowledge to protect himself, during a moment of passion with a man who is unaware of having HIV, Nicholas has a rare slip in his safer sex behavior and becomes HIV positive.”

Johnson continues, ‘What might have been the end of a lifetime of dreams turns out to be only the beginning of a remarkable journey that Nicholas himself chronicles in real time as he is living it. Part 12-step-program 4th-step inventory, part reality-show-on-paper, this is the painful yet triumphant saga of how Nicholas Snow uses his own mistake as an opportunity to empower millions of people throughout the world by disclosing not only his HIV status, but his experience, strength and hope as well.”

Concludes Johnson, “From Hollywood to Bangkok, to Bali and beyond, including Kuala Lumpur and Palm Springs—with profound expansion to Singapore, Mumbai and throughout all of Asia, and ultimately in 21 languages across the globe—Life Positive: A Journey to the Center of My Heart could easily be entitled Eat, Pray, Disclose.”

THE POWER TO BE STRONG

Yes, if you ask your smart speaker to “Play The Power To Be Strong by Nicholas Snow” it will!

Almost 15 years ago—and in support of a key message in his song’s lyrics, “life goes on,” Nicholas Snow and collaborators premiered the HIV testing/safer sex awareness music video, “The Power To Be Strong,” online at Fridae.com, and theatrically with Hindi subtitles at the Kashish—Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.

“‘The Power To Be Strong’ song and music video campaign was created to reach millions of people around the world about the importance of voluntary HIV counseling & testing and increased adherence to safer sex, and to empower the valiant efforts of any organization or individual participating anywhere in the battle against HIV/AIDS,” explains Snow.

Snow chronicles the creation of The Power To Be Strong music video campaign in detail in Life Positive.

“I became HIV positive decades into the AIDS epidemic, completely armed with the knowledge to protect myself. It’s still a bit shocking to me,” explained Snow at the time. Determined to prevent as many people as possible from making his same mistake, and well into his journey as a person living with HIV, Snow and his impassioned friends are presenting to the world “The Power To Be Strong.”

“A lot of people at risk for HIV are isolated, lonely and disenfranchised, and have subconsciously disqualified themselves from life in general,” explained Snow. “I want to get their attention and empower their self-esteem with the lyric, ‘No matter who you are, no matter what you feel, this is your moment now, and your life is real, so get tested and live longer and be strong.'”

With music and lyrics written by Snow in 2009, “The Power To Be Strong” was produced and arranged by Bruno Brugnano, one of Thailand’s music industry leaders who has created over 100 albums for Thai and International artists, including Bird Thongchai McIntyre, Tata Young, Christina Aguilar, and His Majesty the King of Thailand’s oldest daughter, Princess Ubol Ratana. It was Brugnano—who has won several of Thailand’s equivalents of the Academy Award and the Grammy Award—that suggested the song’s opera-backed chorus, provided beautifully by soprano Ayano Kimura who was recommended by Somtow Sucharitkul, conductor of the Bangkok Opera.

The video and song can be viewed and listened to for free at a variety of web sites including http://www.YouTube.com/ThePowerToBeStrong.

The music video was directed by acclaimed film and video director O Nathapon, who was born and raised in Thailand.

Brugnano stated, “This was a great opportunity for me because it combined two of the most important things for me, helping other people through music. What could be better? Everybody put a lot of heart and emotion into the project… Support the cause because nothing is too far from us. Just look around you and every minute you see someone in need. I believe that everybody has talent in some way, so use it to really make this world a better place.”

The Power to Be Strong single is available for preview and purchase on iTunes and Amazon.com. The music video, with 21 subtitled versions, is available at http://www.YouTube.com/ThePowerToBeStrong.

To find out what Snow is up to now, simply visit http://www.PromoHomo.TV to view hundreds of episodes of multiple series he’s produced for the growing online television network.

Media Contact

Nicholas Snow, Nicholas Snow Productions LLC, (760) 808-2787, PromoHomoTV@gmail.com, http://www.promohomo.tv

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SOURCE Nicholas Snow Productions LLC

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Earth’s pulse monitored: a review highlights remote sensing time series progress

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As urbanization accelerates and environmental dynamics shift, the need for accurate and timely terrestrial monitoring has never been more urgent. A review has introduced a novel approach to remote sensing time series analysis, integrating multi-source data to enable near real-time monitoring. This innovative methodology promises to transform environmental conservation and urban planning by providing unprecedented insights into terrestrial changes and offering a more precise understanding of environmental dynamics.

GUANGZHOU, China, Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — An international team of researchers from South China Normal University, the University of Connecticut, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made a significant breakthrough in remote sensing. Their review, published (DOI: 10.34133/remotesensing.0285) in the Journal of Remote Sensing on December 11, 2024, addresses key challenges in remote sensing, such as incomplete data and noise interference. The team’s new time series analysis technique leverages advanced data reconstruction and fusion methods, significantly enhancing the precision and efficiency of remote sensing for monitoring environmental changes.

The research team has developed an advanced time series analysis technique that combines deep learning algorithms with traditional remote sensing methods to integrate data from various remote sensing sources. This innovative approach allows for the extraction of subtle patterns from large, complex datasets, which is crucial for monitoring critical environmental parameters such as land use and vegetation health. Unlike conventional techniques that struggle with incomplete or noisy data, this new methodology offers enhanced accuracy and more reliable insights into terrestrial dynamics, paving the way for more effective environmental monitoring.

Central to the study’s success is the integration of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to address the challenges posed by missing or noisy data. The LSTM networks capture temporal trends over time, while the GANs generate synthetic data that mimics real-world observations to fill gaps and correct for atmospheric distortions. This dual approach has resulted in a cleaner, more accurate time series dataset, which was validated against independent ground truth measurements. The researchers demonstrated significant improvements in key vegetation indices, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), setting a new benchmark in the field of remote sensing.

Experts in the field have lauded the study’s potential to revolutionize remote sensing applications. They see the method as a transformative tool for enhancing high-resolution monitoring and extending its coverage, particularly in agricultural surveillance, urban planning, and environmental management. “This method represents a crucial advancement in our ability to monitor environmental changes,” says Professor Fu. “As it evolves, it could play a key role in addressing climate change and other global challenges.”

The methodology’s future applications are vast, especially in global environmental monitoring and supporting sustainable development goals. By integrating multi-temporal data from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites, the team has created a framework for accurate and continuous terrestrial analysis. As computational power advances and algorithms improve, this technology is expected to become a vital tool for natural resource management, disaster response, and climate change mitigation. In the years to come, it could provide critical data to help policymakers address pressing environmental issues on a global scale.

References

DOI

10.34133/remotesensing.0285

Oiginal Source URL

https://doi.org/10.34133/remotesensing.0285

Funding information

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 42425001 and 42071399).

About Journal of Remote Sensing

The Journal of Remote Sensing, an online-only Open Access journal published in association with AIR-CAS, promotes the theory, science, and technology of remote sensing, as well as interdisciplinary research within earth and information science.

Media Contact

George Hua, Chuanlink Innovations, 1 8656606278, TranSpread1@gmail.com, http://chuanlink-innovations.com/

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SOURCE Journal of Remote Sensing

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ZINZINO AB (PUBL.): ENTERS INTO AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE DIP FINANCING TO ZURVITA INITIATING CHAPTER 11 PROCESS

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GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Zinzino has in a press release dated 20240617 announced that a letter of intent to acquire 100% of the shares in the North American direct selling company Zurvita Inc. “Zurvita or the Company” was signed. Since then, Zinzino has negotiated with the owners of Zurvita Inc. and instead concluded that the purchase of Zurvita’s assets in a Chapter 11 proceeding for the Company is in Zinzino’s best interest.

Zinzino is providing a debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to Zurvita, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings on the 20th December 2024. By entering as a financier in Zurvita’s Chapter 11 with loans totaling USD 4.5 million, Zinzino simultaneously makes an offer to acquire the company’s assets via a so-called stalking horse bid. If the bid is accepted, the DIP loan will be converted into part of a debt-settled purchase price, which will be determined after Zurvita has completed the sale process that is subject to higher and better offers in accordance with the applicable terms of Chapter 11. Other bidders have the right to submit bids for Zurvita during the process and if another bid is accepted, Zinzino’s loan will be repaid and certain of its costs associated with the process will be reimbursed. 

Zurvita is a direct selling health company with operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The brand portfolio offers a range of innovative health and wellness products. The business has total annual sales of approximately USD 30 million with good gross margins. A potential transaction with Zinzino is expected to add growth through the synergies arising from the joint networks, combined with Zinzino’s test-based product concept. The profitability of the Company will thus be able to develop well by utilizing Zinzino’s existing technical platform and organization.

A visionary mindset, tech first perspective, test-based nutrition at the cellular level and a strong position to capitalize on current trends will form the basis of the new partnership. Following the acquisitions of VMA Life in 2020, Enhanzz in 2022, the strategic partnership with ACN and the recently completed asset acquisition of Xelliss, Zinzino has been looking for further strong investments to maintain its sustainable, profitable growth, strengthen its distribution power, expand into new markets and leverage the product portfolio in new consumer areas.

– “Individualized advice and tailored solutions are the future, and not just in health and wellness,” says Dag Bergheim Pettersen, CEO of Zinzino. “Together, we have years of combined industry experience and everything it takes to drive the modern, personalized shopping experience through direct sales”. Jay Shafer, CEO and co-founder of Zurvita, states “After considering multiple options for the company and under the guidance of our attorneys and third-party advisors, we feel this presents the best opportunity to continue Zurvita’s mission, deliver the highest quality products, and provide continuity for our staff and consultants. We are excited to see what the future holds for Zurvita.” 

For more information:
Dag Bergheim Pettersen CEO Zinzino +47 (0) 932 25 700, www.zinzino.com

Pictures for publication free of charge:
marketing@zinzino.com

Certified Adviser:
Carnegie Investment Bank AB (publ.)

Zinzino AB (publ.) is obliged to publish this information in compliance with current EU regulations governing market abuse. The information was provided by the above contact person for publication at 20.00 on the 21st of December 2024.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/zinzino/r/zinzino-ab–publ–enters-into-agreement-to-provide-dip-financing-to-zurvita-initiating-chapter-11-pr,c4086040

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Meet With Culture: Exquisite Craftsmanship of Traditional Chinese Architecture

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BEIJING, Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Temple of Agriculture in Beijing played a significant role during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Over nearly 600 years, 25 emperors personally visited or sent ministers to perform spring farming ceremonies and offer sacrifices to Shennong, the god of agriculture.

 

Built in 1420 during the Yongle reign, the temple’s predecessor was the Temple of Mountains and Rivers in Nanjing. When Emperor Zhu Di moved the Ming capital to Beijing, he constructed a larger temple inspired by the Nanjing temple, which gradually evolved into the Temple of Agriculture.

The Taisui Hall, the largest building complex in the temple, now serves as a major exhibition hall of the Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum, showcasing models of classical Chinese buildings and demonstrating the solemnity of royal architecture.

Ancient Chinese architecture is predominantly wooden-structured, chosen for its availability, versatility, and earthquake resistance. Artisans developed sophisticated techniques in material selection and construction. The wooden framework consists of columns, beams, girders, and purlins, with innovative structural forms like lifting-beam and piercing-bracket structures.

A unique architectural element is the dougong (bracket sets), which supports weight and connects beam frames with column walls. Mortise-tenon joints were invented to create elastic frameworks by connecting different components.

While discussing the Temple of Agriculture, it’s worth noting another remarkable example of architectural hierarchy which could be found in the Temple of Heaven. The hierarchy of architectural designs reflected social stratification, with eave structures like the triple-layered eaves of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest representing the highest-level architectural design.

Over centuries, the Temple of Agriculture has transformed from an imperial garden to a public park and a museum for historical architecture, now standing as a significant cultural landmark that symbolizes China’s agricultural civilization and architectural heritage along Beijing’s Central Axis.

Quickly join Alexandre to study and explore the traditional Chinese architecture.
https://youtu.be/YpA03WiZ9Wc

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/meet-with-culture-exquisite-craftsmanship-of-traditional-chinese-architecture-302337935.html

SOURCE China International Communications Group

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