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Another great day with my new friend, Dean. I'm gaining his trust.
Sammy too, but he likes to nestle in and peek out.
Dean stretches out and relaxes with me now.
Sammy not as much, but he's still learning to trust me.
I weighed Sam and Dean this morning. Sammy weighs 2 lbs 1 ounce and Dean is 2 lbs 3 ounces. I think that's a good weight based on their age and size, but I will know more on the 24th when they see the vet. Dean is slightly bigger in size than Sammy. Just about 2 ounces worth. For comparison, Scruffy is noticeably smaller than both of them, but not by much and he weighs 1 lb 13.5 ounces, which the vet says is good for him.
I expanded Sammy and Dean's wild grass intake with the very large dandelion leaves growing in my yet to be tilled and planted flower bed and garden. They liked that very much and wanted more, but they aren't quite used to the wild stuff yet, so they only got 2 small ones each. I think their trust is building rather nicely. They can tell when I have food so they come up to the side of the day pen to meet me now. Still tricky to pick them up though, but I expect that to get better too.
These two are pretty comfortable being outside in this covered pen. It's covered and screened. They're at ease munching on the grass in safety and shade. Both are doing that little happy squeak as they're eating. Getting used to the good life!
That looks like a good solution for them! | http://guinealynx.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&p=2296252 |
Actress Niharica Raizada, who next will be seen in ‘Total Dhamaal’, has condemned Thursday’s terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir by saying that it’s a matter of grief for the country that 200kgs of explosives have in one shot killed our CRPF troopers.
Forty-nine CRPF personnel were killed Thursday in one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
Reacting to Pulwama terror attack incident, Niharica said, “It is a matter of grief for the country that 200kg of explosives have in one shot killed our CRPF troopers. My head bows in sorrow and in pride for those courageous men who by no fault of theirs have lost their precious lives.”
Niharica said that Indian government should attack terrorist outfits instead of attacking Pakistani citizens, she said, “However, to condemn a whole nation, albeit we do not have the friendliest of relationship between India and Pakistan, we must attack the terrorists not a country. We must attack the attackers not a nation. There are many types of people in a nation so, we cannot speak bad about everyone in one breath.”
She added, “We must think, and strategically operate, first by strengthening our country’s security and then by responding to the attackers.
Actor-producer Ajay Devgn on Monday announced that his forthcoming film “Total Dhamaal” will not release in Pakistan. The decision comes after the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of 49 CRPF troopers last week.
Reacting to the decision of makers of ‘Total Dhamaal’, Niharica said, “It’s really nice gesture that the makers of the Total Dhamaal film have shown respect to their Jawaans by not releasing their film in Pakistan. We salute their bravery and we send love and condolences to their families.”
‘Total Dhamaal’ is directed and co-produced by Indra Kumar. It is the sequel to 2011 film Double Dhamaal and the third installment of the ‘Dhamaal’ film series.
It is releasing on 22nd February, 2019. | http://bollywoodtoday.in/its-a-matter-of-grief-for-the-country-niharica-raizada-on-pulwama-terror-attack/ |
Citation: Rosskopf, E.N., Burelle, N.K., Peterson, G.L., Waterford, C. 2007. Preliminary investigation of ethanedintrile for control of weeds and nematodes important in Florida production systems.. Proceedings of Methyl Bromide Alternatives Conference. 107:104.
Interpretive Summary:
Technical Abstract: A preliminary in vitro experiment was conducted with seeds of several weed species of importance in vegetable and ornamental production systems in Florida, and with root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) infested soil. The prepared weed and nematode inoculum were placed in open desiccators of measured volume, allowed to equilibrate to the test relative humidity, sealed, and injected with a test amount of EDN through a gas septum port, having first withdrawn an equivalent volume of air. The EDN was generated in the laboratory by injecting concentrated KCN into hot CuSO4 and collected into a Tedlar bag. Percent purity was analysed using a Thermal Conductivity Detector (TCD) fitted to an SRI model 8610C gas chromatograph using a 3 foot 1/8 inch column packed with Porapak Q 80/100 mesh, run at 100oC with a carrier gas (He) 20 mL-1. The quantity of EDN needed to achieve target concentrations was calculated based on percent purity and desiccator volumes. Actual concentrations were measured during exposure by taking samples and analysing them with a Flame Ionisation Detector (FID) using the same column and GC. Treatments consisted of an untreated control, 20, 50, and 100 mg ethanedinitrile/L. Sample bags were maintained in chambers for five hours and weed seeds were removed from the bags and allowed to germinate on moistened filter paper in Petri plates within 48 hours of treatment. Each treatment was replicated three times and a replicate consisted of three test bags containing the following number of seeds or tubers per bag: pigweed (Amaranthus hybridus)-10, portulaca (Portulaca oleracea)-20; sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia)-5; yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus)-5; purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus)-5; and large crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis)-10. In addition, 10-g of nematode-infested soil was placed into three 20-um mesh bags per treatment, replicated three times. Following fumigation, the contents of each packet was added to a four-inch pot containing clean sand and peat 3:1. A small depression was made in the sand and contents of the packet were added. One tomato (‘Tiny Tim’) was planted directly into the inoculum from the bag and clean sand:peat was used to fill in the plant hole. Plants were maintained in the greenhouse for 12 weeks, after which plant growth parameters were taken, nematodes were extracted from roots and soil, and root disease and gall ratings were performed. Plant growth measurements included top weight, root weight, and stem caliper at crown. The roots were rated for galling and root condition. Root galling was assessed using a root gall index based on a scale of 1 to 10, with one representing no galls and 10 representing severe (100%) galling. Nematodes were also extracted from plant root tissue, counted, and identified. Yellow and purple nutsedge tuber and pigweed, portulaca, and crabgrass seed germination was significantly reduced by the lowest concentration of EDN tested. Sicklepod germination was reduced with the highest concentration tested. Root-knot nematode control, reflected by the gall ratings, was significantly reduced with all concentrations of EDN tested. The numbers of nonpathogenic nematodes increased with the concentration of EDN tested, but the increase was not statistically significant. These results are similar to those obtained in Australia, where the number of free-living nematodes increased with the application of EDN. | https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=215577 |
Montreal Style Bagels
These are the Montreal Style Bagels we bake every week for Suntree Natural Foods in Port Hope and for pick-up at our farm – Thursday to Saturday.
We sell out every week so it’s only fair that we share a simplified version of our recipe for those in a pinch.
Makes 12 bagels
Here’s the recipe:
1.5 TBSP instant yeast
1 TBSP salt
1/2 TBSP brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (105-110°F)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (56 g)
1/2 cup honey (170 g)
700 g flour (up to 5% gluten flour if desired)
Dissolve yeast, salt and brown sugar in warm water.
Add oil/honey.
Gradually stir flour into wet mixture and blend until consistent (save a bit of flour for the counter knead). The mixture will be sticky.
Scrape mixing bowl contents onto the counter and add remaining flour (and a bit extra if necessary) as you knead the dough. Knead the dough until the texture is consistent, rest for 20 minutes maximum. You can refrigerate the dough up to 24 hours at this point.
Fill a medium pot with water and at least 1/2 cup honey – more if it’s a large pot.
Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (approximately 106g each).
Roll the dough into the bagel shape and boil in honey water for 1 minute.
Allow the bagels to cool slightly on a perforated tray or screen for about two minutes – not too long or they won’t be sticky.
Lift each bagel off of the tray and place on the seed (sesame, poppy or all dressed); toss seed on top of the bagel and flip once. Place the bagel on a baking tray. I’ll use parchment paper if I’m baking plain bagels.
Bake bagels for 15 minutes at 425°F Convection. This is close to our outdoor wood oven temperature. Rotate the bagel tray half-way through and reduce the time for plain bagels.
Enjoy! | https://www.headwatersfarm.ca/2021/03/24/montreal-style-bagels/ |
The Columbus Instruments Opto M4 is our latest implementation of our popular multi-channel activity monitor that supports a variety of sensor lengths and configurations (successor to the previous generation's Opto M3). Up to 32 channels are supported providing both ambulatory and total counts for each channel. Communication is via serial RS-422 using the CI Bus protocol (MDI Software). Cabling is simplified by the use of 8 channel hubs that connect to the Opto M4 with 25 pin shielded cables. Sensor cabling uses convenient RJ-45 connectors and sensor power is supplied from the Opto M4 controller over the signal cables so no external power supplies are required. Unique to this system is the ability to re-arrange sensors to change the coverage of each cage. For example, a 20 cage X axis only system can be reconfigured to measure X and Z axes in 10 cages. Additional sensors and brackets can be purchased to expand the number of cages or coverage per cage. The Opto M4 can also be integrated with other CI Bus compatible instruments to incorporates multiple measurement parameters such as feeding mass/bouts, drinking volume, VO2 and VCO2, etc.
17.5" x 17.5" Open Field(IMAGE)13" x 9" Mouse Cage(IMAGE)9.5" x 9.5" Mouse Open Field(IMAGE)
Click on any of the following titles to search for the document in a new window using Google Scholar. | http://www.colinst.com/products/animal-activity-meter-opto-m |
This preview shows pages 1-3. to view the full 15 pages of the document.
Lecture 1: Biology, Biologists, and Bioscience
Slide 1:
-historical perspective on biology and the major events involved with biology
-scientific revolution is really only about the physical sciences (chemistry, math,
astronomy, physics etc.)
-biology is a young science (e.g: DNA was only discovered ~60 years ago)
-biology deals with processes, events, histories etc.
-biology is put down since it has no mathematical proofs and it is held back for a long
period of time
Slide 2:
-biology is impeded due to dominance of physical sciences which involved math and was
deemed acceptable
-many misconceptions about biology impede biological development
-natural science vs. physical science
Slide 3:
-"bio" referring to the biosphere
-biology is the science of life
-the word biology is only 115 years old
-first definition by Treviranus
-biologists were known as naturalists who observed and collected; "stamp collectors"
-scientific community did not consider naturalists to have same rigor as those compared to
math, physics etc.
Slide 4:
-6 major periods of time involving innovations/changes in science
-1000 years of Greek and Roman times
-they travelled the word and had massive networks of commerce and ability to
sponsor learning and knowledge; culture engaged in learning
-450 CE: complete crash, where Rome is sacked by Germanic tribes and all of the
knowledge disappears and is not practiced
-entry into the Medieval Ages
-16th century: recovery from Medieval Ages and entry into renaissance and there is
economy and knowledge blossoms again; scientific revolution and knowledge is key
-19th century: people question the tenants of biology
-20th century: understanding of biological principles
Slide 5:
400 BCE - 450 CE:
-wealth produces luxury = philosophers = knowledge and understanding
Only pages 1-3 are available for preview. Some parts have been intentionally blurred.
-Hippocrates
-biology of the human body (condition of the human body)
-associated with medicine (Hippocratic oath)
-Aristotle
-gathers descriptions and locations from travellers regarding land and animals
-allows for knowledge of diversity of animals
-creates the first compendium of animals and creates an inventory of biodiversity
-Theophrastus
-creates first inventory of plants to look for medicinal value and healing
properties, agricultural benefits etc.
-groups / organizes plants based on observations such as reproductive structures
(the way the plant flowers and generates seeds)
-provides a basis for the catalogue that Linnaeus creates later on
-known as the "father of taxonomy and classification" in terms of plants due to his
authoritative compendium
Slide 6:
-scala naturae: the great chain of being
-there are very important divinities who are at the top (God / deity) and below
them are the arch angels, angels, man, birds, land and ocean animals, plants,
worms and bugs, and the devil
essentialism: contains the essence of life with no chance for change and will not be
promoted along the scala naturae
Slide 7:
-450 CE - 16th century: The Medieval Ages
-the sack of Rome by Germanic Goth tribes mark the end of education (no one maintains
education, learning, and knowledge of language, books since no one can read the content)
-economic collapse and infrastructure collapses in Europe (no more communication, unity,
co-ordination etc.)
-600 CE: mini ice-age (volcanic eruption which alters Earth's atmosphere and temperature)
-agricultural collapse along with economic collapse
-massive death; all time is spent on trying to survive, leading to the collapse of education
and science
-takes 400 years for recovery
-1000-1300 CE: High Middle ages
-marks the come back of commerce, culture, knowledge (ie: the great cathedrals that are
built during this time period)
-religious institutions redistribute books
-arrival of the Black Plague in 1300 CE killing 1/2 to 2/3 of the population in Europe in 4
years
Only pages 1-3 are available for preview. Some parts have been intentionally blurred.
-"ring around the rosy" in memory of this plague
-the late middle ages (1300 - 1500 CE) allows for commerce / exploration and allowing for
science to develop again (ie: exploration of Christopher Columbus)
Slide 8:
-while Europe was in its dark ages, the Muslim world was in its Gold ages
Al-Jahiz: discovers selectable traits based on breeding strategies (natural selection and
evolution)
Al-Dinawari: adds 600 plants to Theophrastus' catalogue and discovers life cycles of those
plants and publishes it
Avicenna: takes all medical documents from Greek/Roman culture, Arab, Hindu etc and
creates the largest compendium of human medicine/biology and is used for 600 years
Al-Baitar: adds 1200 more plants and creates compendium and identifies 300 plants, foods
and drugs; his compendium is used as a pharmacological reference till 1800s
Abu al-abbas Al Nabati: carries out scientific method and experiments with structure and
design
-the Muslim golden ages are ended by Europeans during crusades
-knowledge is starting to return and biology is beginning
Slide 9:
-using knowledge from the Bible, it is said that everything was created at once (Oct 23,
4004 BCE) by a designer
Slide 10:
-the church/pope is able to fund science
-16th -18th century: scientific revolution occurs
-major scientists appear
Copernicus- defies scala naturae; man is not at the centre (this is considered heretical by
the church); publishes his findings after death to avoid ex-communication
Kepler- planets are elliptical
-basically, scientific revolution is based upon the physical world and not the biological
world
Slide 11: | https://oneclass.com/study-guides/ca/uottawa/bio/bio1130/56084-lecture-1-biology-biologists-and-biosciencedoc.en.html |
Roger Simon, author of a critique of higher education called “Tenured Radicals” has a post about the upcoming burst of the higher education bubble. Four years at America’s so-called “top colleges” (Harvard, Yale & Princeton) now cost over $200,000 in tuition alone. Add room, board, books and incidentals and the total for four years at these schools is $250,000 – $300,000. How is it possible that schools can charge such high tuition and why are there suckers parents and students willing to pay such outrageous amounts? | https://www.keytblog.com/2010/09/back-to-school/ |
Donít Get to the Point
Teaching Indirect Questions
by Susan Verner53,575 views
Asking questions in English is pretty basic for ESL students.
Even beginning level students are familiar with how to ask yes/no and informational question in English. Direct questions, those that stand on their own, should be nothing new to the ESL teacher and student, but not all question in English are direct. Indirect questions, or embedded questions, are more complicated ways of asking for the same information, and once your students are at the advanced level they should be able to recognize and use indirect questions. Here is what you and your students need to know about these complex question structures.
Two Types of Indirect Questions
English has two different types of indirect questions. The first type occur in reported speech – when someone is relaying something that was said at an earlier time. The second type of indirect questions are embedded questions. These questions appear in dependent clauses within a larger statement or question. Though the two types of indirect questions are similar, they are not exactly the same.
Reported Questions
Reported speech occurs when a person tells what someone else said without using a direct quotation. In the example below, the first statement is a direct quotation. The second is reported speech.
“I will be there,” Mark said.
Mark said that he would be there.
Questions can also be changed from a direct quotations to reported speech. When they are, they are considered reported questions.
“Will you be there?” Mark asked.
Mark asked me if I would be there.
To change a direct question to a reported question, your students should make these six changes.
1
Change Pronouns
Often in reported questions, the pronouns need to be changed. Note in the previous example “you’ is changed to “me” because Mark’s conversation partner is reporting his question. This rule is not universal, however. See the following example.
“Will you be there?” Mark asked Sally.
Mark asked Sally if she would be there.
In this case, “you” must be changed to “she” because Sally is not the person reporting the question. To correctly change pronouns in reported questions, your students will have to determine who is reporting the question and who the question is about.
2
Change Context Expressions
Similar to change in pronouns, reported questions may need changes in context expressions. These expressions communicate when and where an activity takes place. Note the context expressions in the following question.
“Will you be here tomorrow?”
When reporting the question, the time and location at the moment are important. For example, if the reporting happens in the same context as the original question, the reported question is as follows.
He asked if you would be here tomorrow.
However, if the reporting happens at a different location and a different time, the reported question may read as follows.
He asked if she would be there yesterday.
To make these changes correctly, students must determine the context of the original question as well as the context of the reported question.
3
Change Tense When Necessary.
Tenses often change in reported questions, and this change is called backshifting. Backshifting depends on the tense of the quoted question as well as when the reported question takes place. For a brief explanation of how to backshift in reported questions, see this summary on My English Pages.
4
Change Word Order
In direct questions, subject and verb are inverted. For reported questions, the subject and verb are not inverted.
“Are you speaking English?”
He asked if we were speaking English.
5
Use an IF Clause When Necessary
The question words (who, what, where, when, why, how) stay the same in reported questions, but yes/no questions are changed to an if clause.
“Where are you going?”
He asked where I was going.
“Are you going?”
He asked if I was going.
6
Change Punctuation
While direct questions use a question mark at the end of the sentence, reported questions end with a period.
“Did you hear?”
He asked if I heard.
To practice reported question with your class, try this simple exercise. Arrange your class in a circle, and have one person ask a question of the second person on his left. That person acts as though she didn’t hear the question clearly and responds with, “What?” The person between them then repeats the question as a reported question. For example, one round might look like the following.
Student A: What are you doing tonight?
Student C: What?
Student B: He asked what you were doing tonight.
Student C: I’m studying for a test.
Continue around the circle until everyone has played each part in the dialogue.
Embedded Questions
Embedded questions, though similar to reported questions are not the same. Embedded questions are questions in dependent clauses associated with a main clause statement or question. The following are embedded questions.
I don’t know if he will come.
Do you think he will come?
I wonder where she lives.
Have you seen where she lives?
Like reported questions, embedded questions follow the same grammatical patterns.
1
Embedded questions follow the same word order as reported questions.
Do you think he will come?
Not:Do you think will he come?
2
Embedded questions do use backshifting when necessary.
I wonder where Jamie has gone.
Not:I wonder where Jamie did go.
3
Embedded questions use an if clause to introduce embedded yes/no questions.
Do you know if we have a test tomorrow?
Not:Do you know do we have a test tomorrow?
4
Embedded questions end in a period and not a question mark when they are part of an overall statement. It is also possible, however, for embedded questions to end with a question mark if they are part of an overall question.
I wonder where he went.
Do you know where he went?
To practice embedded questions, try this simple exercise in which students ask some of life’s big questions. Have students take turns sharing what they wonder with the class. Each student should start with a general statement. She should then ask her question to a specific member of the class. Student examples might look like the following.
I wonder why the sky is blue. Do you know why the sky is blue?
I wonder who invented cheese. Do you know who invented cheese?
I wonder what movie I would like best. Do you know what movie I would like best?
Though they may seem complicated at first, indirect questions can become a natural part of your students’ speech.
Beginners may not be ready for this complicated structure, but intermediate and advanced students should be able to use them in their everyday speech.
What are your favorite activities for practicing indirect questions?
P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.
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There are two ways to work with string samples. One is to use them to try to simulate the sound of a live string section. The other is to approach them as you would any other keyboard instrument and just use them as sounds. Both approaches are valid and useful, but they require different skills. Here I'll discuss simulating a live string section with a sampled-strings library.
FIG. 1: A string ensemble playing an Am7 chord in open inversion. Viola is written in bass clef instead of the usual C clef.
The more you know about how real strings are arranged, and the more sample choices you have, the better your sampled-string arrangements will sound. I currently use MOTU Symphonic Instrument, the Vienna Symphonic Library Vienna Strings samples converted for a MOTU Mach Five sampler, and IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik, all in Digidesign Pro Tools 7.
Most modern keyboards have an ensemble-strings patch, which is usually one consistent sound up and down the keyboard. If you are playing live or don't have samples of the individual string sections, then you must do your best to make this type of string patch sound realistic.
In most string arranging, each section plays the same note. For example, the cellos play the root of the chord, the violas the fifth, the second violins the third, and the first violins the root again, or a sixth, seventh, or ninth. The violas are tuned a fifth below the violins, the cellos are an octave below the violas, and the contrabass is a sixth below the cellos. Therefore, when the ensemble plays a chord, the notes will tend to be spread out across the range of the orchestra in what is called open inversions (see Fig. 1).
Keyboard players tend to play chords in close inversions. Real strings are sometimes written in close inversions, but when keyboard players play string samples in this way, it sounds like a keyboard. If you play the string parts in open inversions, it sounds more like real strings and less like a keyboard player (see Fig. 2 and Web Clip 1).
FIG. 2: A four-bar chord progression scored twice – first using close inversions, then using open inversions.
If you are using MIDI to do your string arrangement, and you have a string sampler that has samples of each of the string sections (violins, violas, cellos, and contrabasses), I highly recommend that you write each part separately. It's a lot more work than just playing chords or lines with a string patch, but it's worth it. Your arrangement will consist of four or five interesting melodies instead of one chord following another.
Sometimes I'll start with the cello part, and other times I'll start with the first violin. If interesting countermelodies occur to me as I'm playing, I'll put them in. I then go on to record the next part. I try not to duplicate notes that were in the previous part unless I want to emphasize a particular line. Because I don't have the gift of perfect musical memory, I will invariably play some notes that result in either unisons, octaves, or bad dissonances, which I go back and fix in the MIDI editor. It gets progressively harder to play the best notes with each successive part, but I can always go back and fix things. When I'm done, I listen to the strings soloed as well as in the arrangement to make sure everything works.
Next I go through each part and carefully draw in MIDI volume commands using a graphical editor. I try to bring out parts that play interesting melodies and to create crescendos and decrescendos that are effective and emotional. Sometimes doing the volume rides can take as long as arranging the notes.
Finally, I'll record the string parts as audio tracks. If you have the tracks available, I recommend recording each string section on a separate stereo track. That way, you can keep control of the balance and dynamics of the string section.
FIG. 3: A multivoice string arrangement with prepared dissonances.
I recommend studying traditional harmony and counterpoint. It also helps to study some of the great pop-music string arrangements. The Goo Goo Dolls' “Iris,” with its excellent use of dissonance, the Beatles' “Eleanor Rigby,” and Simon and Garfunkel's “The Boxer” are a few of my favorites.
Many string-section sample libraries, such as the Vienna Strings and MOTU Symphonic Instrument, are already panned to the position they would occupy in an orchestra. If your samples are not prepanned, then pan the first violins to eight o'clock, the second violins to ten o'clock, the violas to one o'clock, the cellos to three o'clock, and the basses to five o'clock.
If the basses are the only bass instruments in the mix, I'll often pan them back toward the center so the mix won't be unbalanced. I bus all the string tracks to an aux track, to which I apply EQ, reverb, and often some stereo spreading.
String samples sound exactly like live strings during the sustain portion of a note, but they tend to be less realistic for the transitions between notes. String players will connect the notes in legato passages, sometimes sliding from one note to the next. Each player in the section will do this slightly differently, creating a very complex sound.
With a sampler, each note gets a new attack. Some samplers allow you to choose between slow and fast attacks, enabling you to move smoothly between notes. Another way to connect notes is to modulate the sample-start position using the MIDI Mod Wheel. Use the full attack for the beginning of a phrase, and then move the Mod Wheel up to remove the attack part of the sample while playing the rest of the phrase. You won't get sliding effects with this technique, but the note connections will be more authentic.
I have not encountered any string samples that have a strong marcato attack followed by a sustain. Usually the marcato samples will be short, and the sustained samples will have slow attacks. So when I need a sustained note with a strong attack, which is often, I mix a small amount of the marcato sample in with the sustained sample. I'm careful not to use too much marcato, because that sounds quite artificial.
It helps to have a choice of sample sets, because each sample set has a different sound and feel (see Web Clips 2 through 4). I sometimes combine sample sets for a larger, fuller sound.
When a full sound is not what you want, you can use solo violin, viola, and cello sounds to create a string quartet. Similarly, use solo strings from two different sample sets to get a double quartet. Mixing a quartet or double quartet with an ensemble sample set gives you a very nice midsize ensemble sound; you can hear the individual instruments, but it sounds rich.
String libraries, no matter how realistic sounding, are just not the same as a live string section. The same samples are used repeatedly, and the number and variety of gestures are limited. But if you work within those limitations and strive to push beyond them, you can create some beautiful arrangements.
Steve Skinner has worked as an arranger-programmer for Bette Midler, Jewel, Celine Dion, R. Kelly, Diana Ross, the Bee Gees, and Chaka Khan. He arranged the musical Rent and coproduced the cast album. | https://www.emusician.com/gear/create-more-realistic-strings |
A large northwest swell has prompted a high surf advisory for north and west facing shores of most islands from 6 p.m. Thursday through 6 a.m. Saturday.
The National Weather Service expects surf on north shores to be 10 to 14 feet Thursday, rising to 12 to 16 feet Thursday night and 15 to 20 feet on Friday.
West shores can expect wave faces of 6 to 10 feet Friday, building to 8 to 12 feet Thursday night and 10 to 14 feet Friday.
South shores are also expecting a small swell to bring 3 to 5 feet surf, but not reaching advisory levels of 8 feet.
East shores may also see a bump from increased tradewinds with waves of 2 to 4 feet.
Forecasters say beachgoers can expect strong breaking waves and shorebreak. Rip currents can also make swimming difficult and dangerous.
Beachgoers should heed advice from lifeguards and exercise caution, the National Weather Service said. | https://www.staradvertiser.com/2014/10/09/breaking-news/northwest-swell-prompts-high-surf-advisory-3/ |
This special exhibition celebrates a major new installation in the Luce Center for American Art: Visible Storage ▪ Study Center that gives the public access to more than 350 additional objects from the Museum’s collections. Since its opening in January 2005, the Luce Visible Storage ▪ Study Center has housed approximately 2,100 objects in two types of storage units: vitrined cases and paintings screens. The facility also contains forty-two drawers for storage. Beginning in mid-October and in stages over subsequent months, they will be filled with works from the Museum’s renowned American holdings and opened to the public. Once the drawers are full, the number of objects on view in visible storage will rise to 2,500—an increase of almost 20 percent.
The drawers’ contents will encompass a variety of objects from the Americas—including art of the United States as well as of the indigenous and colonial peoples of North and South America—and dating from the pre-Columbian period to the present day. Although the works range widely in terms of medium, date, function, and geographical origin, they do share a diminutive scale and suitability for flat storage. Among the objects that will be installed in the drawers are: American and Hopi ceramic tiles; Mexican pottery stamps; jewelry and other ornaments from Native and South American cultures; Modernist jewelry; silverplated flatware and serving pieces; Spanish Colonial devotional objects; American portrait and mourning miniatures; commemorative medals; and embroidery. As in other sections of the Luce Visible Storage ▪ Study Center, objects in the drawers are densely installed to maximize the available space and are grouped by type, medium, or culture. Visitors can learn more about the works by using one of the nearby computer kiosks in the facility, or by accessing the Luce database online. To obtain a list of a drawer’s entire contents, use the Map feature and select numbers 41 through 47.
Held in conjunction with the drawers installation, Small Wonders from the American Collections features an eclectic selection of seventy works of art on the walls and in the display cases above the drawers. This exhibition both highlights objects that will be installed in the drawers and reveals a diversity of cultural traditions and artistic practices that constitute American art. A variety of jewelry and objects of personal adornment—although produced by different peoples—function similarly to signify information about the wearer’s identity. Flatware, pins, and other silver items on display reflect a broad array of forms, styles, and uses for this valuable metal. Ceramic tiles made contemporaneously by Native and non-Native Americans provide an interesting cross-cultural comparison with respect to the decoration and marketing of these wares.
[Image: Unknown Artist "Fan" (1822–31) Ivory sticks and painted paper mount. ]
Media
Schedule
Permanent event
Fee
Suggested Contributions: Adults $10, Seniors and Students $6, Members and Children under 12 and First Saturday of the month 5pm to 11pm Free
Venue Hours
From 11:00 To 18:00
thursdays closing at 22:00, | http://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2009/91C9 |
Q:
How to find items with *all* matching categories
I have two models, Item and Category, joined by a join table. I would like to query Item to find only items that match a list of categories. My models look like:
class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :categories
end
class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :items
end
I can easily find items that match ANY of the list of categories. The following will return items that belong to category 1, 2 or 3.
Item.includes(:categories).where(categories: {id:[1,2,3]})
I would only like to find items that belong to all 3 categories. What is the best way to accomplish this using ActiveRecord?
Do I need to fall back to writing the where condition myself and if so, what is the correct syntax for PostgreSQL? I've tried various flavors of "WHERE ALL IN (1,2,3)", but just get syntax errors.
UPDATE:
Based on the accepted answer to Find Products matching ALL Categories (Rails 3.1) I can get pretty close.
category_ids = [7,10,12,13,52,1162]
Item.joins(:categories).
where(categories: {id: category_ids}).
group('items.id').
having("count(categories_items.category_id) = #{category_ids.size}")
Unfortunately, when chaining .count or .size I get back a Hash instead of a record count:
{189 => 6, 3067 => 6, 406 => 6}
I can count the keys in the resulting hash to get the real record count, but this is a really inelegant solution.
A:
ActiveRecord
For ActiveRecord, you could put a method like this in your Item class:
def self.with_all_categories(category_ids)
select(:id).distinct.
joins(:categories).
where('categories.id' => category_ids).
group(:id).
having('count(categories.id) = ?', category_ids.length)
end
Then you can filter your queries like so:
category_ids = [1,2,3]
Item.where(id: Item.with_all_categories(category_ids))
You could also make use of scopes to make it a little more friendly:
class Item
scope :with_all_categories, ->(category_ids) { where(id: Item.ids_with_all_categories(category_ids)) }
def self.ids_with_all_categories(category_ids)
end
Item.with_all_categories([1,2,3])
Both will produce this SQL
SELECT "items".*
FROM "items"
WHERE "items"."id" IN
(SELECT DISTINCT "items"."id"
FROM "items"
INNER JOIN "categories_items" ON "categories_items"."item_id" = "items"."id"
INNER JOIN "categories" ON "categories"."id" = "categories_items"."category_id"
WHERE "categories"."id" IN (1, 2, 3)
GROUP BY "items"."id"
HAVING count(categories.id) = 3)
You don't technically need the distinct part of that subquery, but I'm not sure whether with or without would be better for performance.
SQL
There's a couple approaches in raw SQL
SELECT *
FROM items
WHERE items.id IN (
SELECT item_id
FROM categories_items
WHERE category_id IN (1,2,3)
GROUP BY item_id
HAVING COUNT(category_id) = 3
)
That will work in SQL Server - the syntax might be slightly different in Postgres. Or
SELECT *
FROM items
WHERE items.id IN (SELECT item_id FROM categories_items WHERE category_id = 1)
AND items.id IN (SELECT item_id FROM categories_items WHERE category_id = 2)
AND items.id IN (SELECT item_id FROM categories_items WHERE category_id = 3)
| |
With travel suspended for almost two years due to the covid-19 pandemic, the locomotive returned with six daily trips, with each ticket worth 100 kwanzas.
According to Angop, the trips take place from Monday to Friday, except holidays, with the first trip of the day taking place at 5:00 am and the last at 6:00 pm.
The return of the circulation of this locomotive comes to alleviate mobility problems, considered Jacob Hipólito, Director of Marketing, Communication and Image at CFM, noting that 500 seats are available on each trip.
In the first week of operation alone, the train took a total of 1500 people, including students, employees and people in general.
A membership that the head of CFM considered as "satisfactory", since before the stop of circulation, between 2500 and 3000 people were transported per day, on average.
"Adherence is satisfactory, as although before the stoppage it was already a consolidated service, the average daily transport was between 2500 and 3000 passengers and we believe that with time we will reach this figure and exceed it", he said, speaking to Angop.
He also took the opportunity to appeal to citizens to cooperate with CFM in the fight against vandalism.
Extending over a 905 kilometer line, which runs from Namibe to Menongue (Cuando Cubango), CFM has 56 stations, based in Lubango. | https://www.verangola.net/va/en/092022/Transports/32684/Suburban-train-from-Lubango-returned-to-service-and-transported-more-than-1000-people-in-the-first-week.htm |
Wellington Girls’ College is an all girls state high school with a roll of 1450 students including 60 international students from Asia and Europe. We enrol students from Year 9 (13 years old) – Year 13 (18 years old). Wellington Girls’ College has a long-standing reputation of excellent teaching and extra-curricular programmes and our national examination results are consistently amongst the top results for state high schools in NZ. There is a strong demand for places for New Zealand and overseas students at Wellington Girls’ College.
Students in Years 9 – 12 wear uniform, Year 13 students do not wear uniform.
Wellington (Te Whanganui-a-Tara) is the capital city and second most populous urban area of New Zealand, with 412,500 residents. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range.
The college is conveniently located in the heart of Wellington, three minutes’ walk from the transport centre and from government, five minutes’ walk from central city shopping.
Over 850 students at WGC are involved in sport and our top teams and individuals compete at a national level. There is a wide range of sporting activities and teams from beginner to elite level. The main sports season is April – August, during the winter season. Click here for more information about WGC sports
Drama, music, debating, cultural activities and clubs are an important part of daily life outside the classroom and students are encouraged to join extra activities during their time at school. Each year there are one or two major drama productions. We have a variety of choirs and orchestra groups which practise and perform throughout the year. Click here for more information about WGC Music.
Wellington Girls’ College occupies a small campus surrounded by diplomatic, commercial and residential buildings. The school has modern equipment and teaching spaces and makes good use of modern technologies including WIFI throughout the school. In addition to our own gymnasiums and sports field we have easy access to city facilities for practice and competition. The International Programme is based in the International House with English Language classrooms, staff offices, kitchen facilities, Wifi and computer access. | https://wgc.school.nz/international/about-us-wgc-international/ |
I have decided to make a series of different articles with the topic of minimalism. They will be called “The Minimalistic Way of:” and then I will dive into different topics.
This article is about how we can have a more minimalistic approach to our eating habits.
We all know that eating three meals a day is the most healthy way to eat. So the only thing we can discuss is what we are going to eat in those three meals.
WRONG!
Eating three meals a day is only a western cultural norm. There is an avalanche of studies showing up these days how NOT eating is can be healthier for us humans.
How can fasting makes us healthier?*
- Reducing Insulin Resistance
- Fighting Inflammation
- Hearth Health
- Boost Brain Function
- Boosting Metabolism / Weight loss
- Increases Growth Hormone (getting buff as fuck)**
- Longevity***
- Cancer Prevention
These are “only” the benefits fasting can have to our physic.
But fasting can also benefit us in our daily life.
Different Ways of Fasting
Fasting can be done in many different ways. But one of the more popular one is called 16/8, 8 hour diet or time restricted eating.
This means that we will be fasting for 16 hours (including sleep) and eat for 8 hours. The benefits of fasting already occurs when we have not eaten for 12 hours. But the sweet spot is around 16-24 hours.
Some of the most popular fasting patterns looks something like this:
16/8: This where we eat for 8 hours and fast for 16 hours (including sleep). This can be done by skipping breakfast, and only eat lunch and dinner. This is often done daily, or every weekday. When you get used to it, it is not that hard to do daily. This is also my favourite, because you save time daily.
OMAD: One meal a day. There is not much to it than that. It is one of the more extreme regiments. We could also call it 23:1. Fasting for 23 hours, and eating for 1 hour. I have heard some rumors about that Jakob Lund Fisker from earlyretirementextreme.com should eat this way.
5:2: Is more extreme the days we do fast, but we have more “normal” days. It suggest that in two non-consecutive days we will eat 500 kcal/day for women, and 600 kcal/day for men. For the other five days we eat normal. The fasts are typical done in Mondays and Thursdays.
How Fasting Can Save Us Time
If you decide to do the fasting I prefer, which is the 16/8. You will end up saving time each and everyday. 16/8 means that you fast for 16 hours (including sleep) and eat for 8 hours. And we can do that by only eating lunch and dinner, and skip breakfast.
Breakfast is the least social meal in our daily routine. Lunch is often spent at the job with co-workers, and dinner with the family.
But if we can skip breakfast, we don’t have to prepare that meal in the morning. When I have days like this. I can wake up at 7 AM, and be out on my bike on my way to training/work 7:15 AM. That is awesome. The only thing I spent time on will be:
- Take a piss
- Getting dressed
- Drink a glass of water
- Brush my teeth
- Pack a gym bag
And if I’m super lazy this will take me 30 minutes. And if I’m in a hurry, it can be done in 5 minutes. No need to spent hours in the morning. Instead I can sleep for another hour, rather than sit crunched over a bowl of oatmeal.
How Fasting Can Save Us Money
Let’s imagine again that we decide to give the 16/8 protocol a chance. So we skip one meal, and we decide it will be the breakfast. Breakfast is not the most expensive meal. It is cheap to eat breakfast at home. That won’t cost us more than 2 $/meal. But if we are one of those types who grabs something on our way to job. It can easily cost us 10 $/meal, for a croissant, coffee and a juice. But I imagine that people who reads this site is not that stupid with their money.
So let’s go for the 2 $/meal for the breakfast.
Preparing and eating breakfast can take between 15-30 minutes, give or take. If we imagine that we can be 30 minutes earlier on work each day. Because we don’t have to think about breakfast each morning. This leaves us with 10 hours/month of more work. If we have a job where we can work overtime, of course.
If we earn 15 $/hour after taxes the equation would look something like this:
15 $ x 10 hours = 150 $ + (2 $/meal x 30 days = 60 $) = 210 $/month
210 $/month for doing absolutely NOTHING!
How awesome is that?!
But it’s getting better.
Because you are an avid reader of this page. You do some index investing. If you can form this habit for the next 10 years. And invest those 210 $ each month.
If we have an annual 7 % ROI for those 210 $/month, your portfolio is going to be about 37.000 $ higher 10 years from now.
37.000 $ FOR DOING FREAKING NOTHING!
I think it is insane.
We are not doing anything. Research shows us that we are likely to be healthy doing so. AND we will be 37.000 $ richer.
Not to mention CO2 emission. ****
What’s not to like?
Think about this. In the western society we have never been fatter than we are today. And we are causing to much damage on the world. Food is one of the major reasons for this. The equation look like this:
Eating the we way do now + We will get to fat and sick = To much CO2
It seem so obvious. Everybody will win in this situation, just by skipping a couple of meals each week.
Just try it.
Did You Like This Article?
You can sign up for my e-mail newsletter and make sure you never miss a single article.
I will send you every article. And I promise you that I will never sell you anything or spam you. Just sending you encouraging writing about living a simple and prosperous life. | https://www.wannabewalden.com/the-minimalistic-way-of-eating/ |
Attorney General Donovan raised concerns about DHS’ use of Clearview AI earlier this year in a comment letter on CBP’s proposed Remote Video Surveillance Systems towers in Vermont towns. CBP issued its final agency action in August but did not directly address the privacy concerns, including unwarranted surveillance, raised by the Attorney General. Attorney General Donovan is now requesting information from the agencies about their current and planned use of Clearview AI both at the Vermont-Canada border and throughout the state.
A copy of today’s letter is available here. | https://ago.vermont.gov/blog/2021/12/13/attorney-general-donovan-raises-concerns-about-border-patrols-use-of-clearview-ai-facial-recognition-technology/ |
Navaratri Festivals 2014-2015-16 can be split in two words “Nav” meaning nine and “ratri” meaning night; thus Navaratri literally means nine nights. The celebrations of this festival begin on the first day of Ashvin month, according to the Hindu calendar and conclude on the tenth day of the month which is celebrated as Dussehra. According to the Gregorian calendar, this festival should always fall in the month of October; however the exact date varies every year.
Why is Navaratri celebrated?
Goddess Durga is worshiped during the festive celebrations of Navaratri and she is believed to be the personification of Devi. This form of Goddess Durga symbolizes feminine body and creative energy. The supreme goddess has nine aspects and thus Navaratri is dedicated to worship all the aspects of the goddess. Each form of the goddess is worshiped on a particular day throughout the nine days. The nine forms of goddess Durga are:
- The fortunate and auspicious- Bhadrakali
- Mother of universe- Jagdamba or Amba
- The food giver- Annapoorna
- The giver of joy- Sarvamangala
- The terrifying aspect- Bhairavi
- The violent one- Chandika
- The beautiful aspect- Lalita
- The life giver- Bhavani
- The one who listens- Mookambika
The Navaratri celebrations are dedicated to Eternal mother’s worship that has her origin in the Vedas. Goddess Durga is also said to be a combination of Trinity of goddesses, which are Parvati, Lakshmi and Saraswati. These are the three goddesses which are worshiped as the main goddesses during Navaratri. However the central theme of Navaratri is the victory of good over evil.
Legend of Navaratri
Navaratri is celebrated for a number of reasons throughout the country; however three of the most common reasons of celebrating the festival are:
According to Chaitra Navaratri, this festival is celebrated to commemorate goddess Durga’s victory over Mahishasura. Mahishasura was a demon who had defeated all gods. Goddess Durga was created by Vishnu, Mahesh and Brahma to kill the demon who had terrified all the gods.
The 9th day of the Chaitra Navaratri celebrations marks the birth day of Lord Rama and is celebrated as Ram Navami.
In the Sharad Navaratri, 10th day of the festival marks the victory of Lord Ram over Ravana, the demon king and thus is celebrated as Dusshera.
Why twice a year?
Beginning of summers and winters marks two of the most important junctions of solar influence and climatic change. These two connections are preferred as the revered opportunities to worship the divine power because:
It is believed that a divine power provides energy to the earth to move on its axis which in turn causes changes in the nature. Chaitra Navaratri is celebrated to show gratitude to the divine power for maintaining correct balance in the universe.
Minds and bodies of people undergo changes due to the external changes in nature and Sharad Navaratri is celebrated to worship the divine power so that it bestows its blessings on all of us to give us enough power to maintain our mental and physical balance.
Celebrations of the nine days
The Navaratri celebrations last for full nine days, with each day having special significance. The celebrations are marked by huge pomp and show and people dress up beautifully to pay obeisance to the nine forms of goddess Durga; along with offering prayers to the Trinity of goddesses.
- 1st to 3rd day of the festival
The first three days of the celebrations are dedicated exclusively to the worship of Maa Durga. During this time, the power and energy of the goddess are worshipped. Each and every day is dedicated to various manifestations of goddess Durga.
Kumari, which signifies a girl child, is worshipped on the first day while on the second day Parvati, the quintessence of a young woman, is worshiped. The third day is reserved for the worship of goddess Kali which symbolizes a woman who has reached her maturity.
Barley seeds are planted on the first day of the festival in a bed of mud. This pot is kept in the room where pooja is held on regular basis. By the 10th day, which marks the end of the celebrations, each seed has grown into a four to five inch long shoot. After the pooja on the last day, the shoots are given to the attendees and it is believed to be the lord’s blessings.
- 4th to 6th day of the festival
The next three days are devoted to worship the goddess of peace and prosperity, goddess Lakshmi. Although goddess Lakshmi is worshiped on these three days, goddess Saraswati is prayed to on the fifth day. 5th day of Navaratri is known as Lalita Panchami and this day is celebrated by keeping all the literature and books at one place and then lighting up a diya in front of them. This is done to call upon Maa Saraswati.
- 7th to 8th day of the festival
The seventh day of the celebrations is dedicated to goddess Saraswati, who is said to be the goddess of knowledge and art. Devotees offer prayers to the goddess and seek spiritual knowledge. Children worship the goddess to obtain her blessings. The knowledge of spiritual world can help a person to get free from all the earthly bonds, which would in turn help him to get closer to god.
While on the eighth day, a havan is performed. This consists of a sacrifice which is done to the holy fire. The sacrifice is done to honor the goddess Durga and to bid her farewell as well. The offerings are made out of rice pudding, sesame seed and clarified butter.
- 9th day of the festival
The ninth or the last day is the most important part of the celebration and is often regarded as the culmination of the majestic Navaratri celebrations. The last day is known as Mahanavami and on this day people perform Kanya pooja.
In this pooja, people worship nine young girls who have still not attained the age of puberty. Each girl symbolizes one of the various forms of goddess Durga. Their feet are washed by the lady of the house and at the end of the pooja, the girls are given parshad and new clothes as a mark of respect to the goddess.
The rituals
A large number of rituals are attached with the celebrations of Navaratri. The celebrations differ in each state of the country as people have their own ways of celebrating this festival. Some of the most famous and fascinating celebrations take part in the following states:
- In Gujarat
In Gujarat, devotees celebrate Navaratri in the form of Durga pooja. In the evening, after worshiping Goddess Durga, devotees perform their traditional dance such as Dandiya and Garba. Men and women dress up in beautifully embellished traditional clothes and dance to the tunes of devotional songs.
The main difference that separates Dandiya dance from Garba Rass is that the former is performed after worshiping goddess Durga while the lateral is performed before the aarti is done. Dandiya is performed with the help of wooden sticks while Garba includes hand and feet movements.
- In Maharashtra
In the Indian state of Maharashtra, goddess Durga is continuously worshiped for nine days. On the 10th day, devotees worship goddess Saraswati and school going children seek her blessings for their studies. People consider this day as auspicious and buy new clothes or ornaments. Devotees also visit various temples to mark their respect.
- In West Bengal
Navaratri is celebrated on a large scale in West Bengal. Gigantic idols of goddess Durga are constructed and installed in huge pandals. Devotees in large number visit one of these several pandals present in the city and worship to the goddess. People dress up in new clothes and then celebrate the event.
- In Kashmir
Hindu minorities in Kashmir celebrate Navaratri with pomp and show. Devotees observe fast throughout the nine days of the celebrations and eat only fruits or specially made food in the evening. Aarti is held on the last day of the celebrations after which the devotees break their fast.
Navaratri food
Some of the dishes which are traditionally prepared during the celebrations are:
- Sabudana puris and kheer
- Singhare ka halwa
- Makhane ki sabzi
- Kuttu atta roti and sabzi
- Fruits and fruit juice
India is a land of festivals and a large number of festivals are celebrated in the country; however Navaratri holds special relevance amongst people belonging to different religions. So, if you are planning a trip to India then plan it around September or October to take part in some of the most important festivals.
- When to celebrate Navaratri in 2014:
Chaitra Navaratri is falling on 31 March and will last till 8 April while Sharad Navaratri is falling on 25 September and will last till 3 October.
- When to celebrate Navaratri in 2015:
Chaitra Navaratri is falling on 27 March and will last till 5 April while Sharad Navaratri is falling on 13 October and will last till 22 October.
- When to celebrate Navaratri in 2016:
Chaitra Navaratri is falling on 25 March and will last till 3 April while Sharad Navaratri is falling on 1 October and will last till 10 October.
The post Navratri festivals 2014-2015-16 appeared first on MyHappyJourney.com Reviews. | https://www.blogarama.com/travel-blogs/295030-myhappyjourneycom-reviews-read-holid-blog/4217503-navratri-festivals-2014-2015 |
Table of Contents
What is budgeting and its role?
Budgeting is the process of creating a plan to spend your money. This spending plan is called a budget. Creating this spending plan allows you to determine in advance whether you will have enough money to do the things you need to do or would like to do. Budgeting is simply balancing your expenses with your income.
What is the role of budget in the government?
Government budgeting is important because it enables the government to plan and manage its financial resources to support the implementation of various programs and projects that best promote the development of the country. While distinctly separate, these processes overlap in the implementation during a budget year.
What is the role of budget in business?
Budgeting identifies current available capital, provides an estimate of expenditure and anticipates incoming revenue. By referring to the budget businesses can measure performance against expenditure and ensure that resources are available for initiatives that support business growth and development.
What are the roles of budget in economic management?
Budgeting have a role to play in this present economic development of Nigeria. A well prepared budget provides management with a planned programme based on research by the entire organization. In addition, a carefully planned budget, provides owing to co-ordination the various actions of the organization.
What is the role of budgets in planning and control?
Budgets are necessary to highlight the financial implications of plans, to define the resources required to achieve these plans and to provide a means of measuring, viewing and controlling the obtained results, in comparison with the plans. Also, the budget can prevent imminent issues.
What are the roles of a budget committee?
A budget committee is a group within an organization that oversees the allocation of financial resources for a company and allocates funds accordingly to parts of the organization. The budget committee produces and updates an organization’s budget manual, providing clear rules and guidelines for the budgeting process.
Why is budget important for a country?
Government budget is used to prevent business fluctuations of inflation or deflation to achieve the objective of economic stability. Policies of surplus budget during inflation and deficit budget during deflation helps to maintain stability of prices in the economy.
What is involved in budgeting?
The budgeting process is the process of putting a budget in place. This process involves planning and forecasting, implementing, monitoring and controlling, and finally evaluating the performance of the budget. A budget is essential for any organization.
What is the role of budget in planning and control?
What is the role of budgeting in management decision making?
Budget assists management to take decisions as to how to produce, where to produce, the quantity or units of the products that should be produced in a day, a week, or in a month. More also, budget helps in taking decisions on who is to do what.
Who is responsible for the budget?
The chief financial officer, controller or equivalent executive is ultimately responsible for managing the company’s finances, including top-level budgets. The CFO bears much of the responsibility for drafting corporate budgets based on input from the accounting team.
What are benefits of budgeting?
Benefits of budgeting include providing “guardrails” (i.e., designated limits) for spending, achieving financial goals (if savings is included as a fixed “expense”), and for peace of mind. | https://quick-advices.com/what-is-budgeting-and-its-role/ |
It is easy to assume the lack of life among the copper humps of the Rub Al Khali desert also known as the Empty Quarters. Defying common sense, however, a town has sprung up amid the swells of sands — 171 kilometres from Abu Dhabi and 144 kilometres from Dubai.
Aptly named ‘Al Ain’ which translates into ‘Garden City’, the township centres around its six oases. Before the 20th century when pearl fishing was still in vogue in the gulf countries, India was their biggest client. Al Ain served as a popular pit stop in the trade route. Cradled by the Al Hajar Mountains separating UAE from Oman, Al Ain has earned UAE’s first UNESCO World Heritage tag owing to the discovery of ancient tombs excavated at the foothills of these mountains.
Jebel Hafeet: History revisited
The craggy contours of the clay mountains was my companion along the serpentine roads going uphill to the highest point in Abu Dhabi Emirates — Jebel Hafeet, a mountain 1,249 metres tall. The searing heat rising from the Empty Quarters and the cool air moving down to the desert conjured up a film of fog on the slopes of the hill. Occasionally when the mist cleared, I saw green Al Ain, beyond which extended a sea of sand. Jebel Hafeet is at its best during sunrise and sunset. A hotel and a palace crown the mountaintop. However, it is not the summit that raised the eyebrows of historians, but the foothills where people from the Bronze Age are resting for 7000 years. UNESCO now protects the stone tombs, inscriptions and ancient irrigation systems found here at the sites of Hili Archaeological Park and Bidaa Bint Saud.
Quenching the thirst
The six oases of Al Ain that played a big role in winning the UNESCO tag are fed by the falaj irrigation system introduced by the people residing in the area during the Bronze Age. In ancient times, the water of the rivers and cascades in the mountain were channelled into small streams to ensure even distribution throughout the valley. Gravitational force was harnessed to its full potential. Nowadays, the water is supplied into the aflaj (plural of falaj) from dams, aquifers and direct pipelines. A canopy of vibrant green shrouded me in the oases.
Split by the aflaj recurrently, the land patches in the oases resembled pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Native date palm trees were accompanied by plantations of pomegranates, oranges, bananas and eggplants — foreign crops which adapted to the climate over time. The rain of lights that descended upon me in the palm groves of the oases in Al Ain inspired architect Jean Nouvel to design the spectacular dome of Louvre Abu Dhabi.
A fort that guards oases
The oases of Al Ain are the most fertile areas of Abu Dhabi Emirates, a value first noted by Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan (Zayed the first). Al Jahili Fort was constructed under his regime in 1898 to protect the oases. The mud-straw structure is a typical example of the vernacular military architecture of the region. The round tower of the fort, which comprises of four concentric tiers, offers strategic viewpoints overlooking the oases. Jaali windows and wooden doors with stout iron spikes gave away the Indian influence.
The living quarters for the royal family were added later to the fort. A dedicated section of the fort displays photos and belongings of the author of the book Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger, popularly known here as Mubarak bin London. Loved by the Bedouins, Thesiger was a British explorer who crossed the perilous Empty Quarters twice and documented his experience through his pen and camera. Being a good friend of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (founder of UAE), he was a bridge between the royal family and Bedouins of the desert.
Palatial affairs
In a courtyard of Al Ain Palace Museum, where the afternoon sun drinks up all life, a car stood under a shade from which a very quirky warning on a placard dangled, “To avoid embarrassment do not touch or open the car.”
The car in question had belonged to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. He lived in this sprawling yet humble palace with his family until 1966.
A large tent with cushioned seating on the floor, flanked by a charcoal-fuelled stove, coffee pots and lanterns welcomed us — a typical majlis. At the core of the hospitality in Bedouin culture is the majlis, a living room where guests are hosted and fed.
As I walked past the corridors, indoor majlis, servants’ quarters, children’s rooms and the Sheikh’s bedroom, I noticed the pervasive presence of by-products of palm trees in the roofing, flooring, doors, windows, mats and baskets.
I bid adieu to the palace the way Emiratis do — by smelling the aroma of Oudh wafting through the corridors of the palace. | https://www.deccanherald.com/sunday-herald/sh-top-stories/an-oasis-in-the-empty-quarters-917886.html |
Naruto, in the northeastern part of Tokushima prefecture, was formed in 1947 by uniting Muya town, Okazaki port, and some surrounding islands. Today, Naruto has a population of about 60,000. Most visitors to Naruto come to see the amazing whirlpools in the Naruto Strait, either up close from a boat or from a boardwalk called Uzu no Michi that was constructed under the bridge that connects Shikoku and Awaji Island.
Nowadays hundreds of thousands of people from around Japan and around the world come to see the whirlpools and to visit other sites in the Naruto area, including the Otsuka Art Museum, Otani pottery studio, and Temple 1, Ryōzen-ji and Temple 2, Gokuraku-ji along the Shikoku pilgrimage route.
Another significant attraction of Naruto, which at its peak in popularity attracts more than 50,000 people every year, is a giant-kite flying event. An eleven-page pamphlet entitled “Shikoku”, produced by Japan Tourist Bureau in 1936, states, “Apart from the industrial viewpoint, Muya has an attraction all its own – giant kites borne on the gale in summer at the beaches. The biggest of these kites measures more than sixteen meters in diameter and weighs about 4,000 kilograms. It takes 200 adults, it is said, to fly each kite.” In 1947 a similar pamphlet was published with a similar description, “Kite flying is a No. 1 attraction in the annual calendar of Naruto…. The flying season is in July and August when the strong wind prevails.” Then the “Japan – The Official Guide,” published in 1961, states, “An interesting annual kite-flying festival was formerly held in Naruto City. It originated more than 200 years ago at the time of the reconstruction of the main hall of Rengeji Temple … More than 1000 kites … were flown.” Unfortunately, there is no mention of the event in either the 1966 or 1975 guidebooks on Japan or any time after that.
Fortunately, Japanese source materials provide more information about these kites and the history of this event. One reference states that these circular kites called Wan Wan Dako (わんわん凧) originated in 1692 when the framework of the new main hall of Rengeji (蓮花寺) was completed. The master carpenter, to celebrate the work on the temple, made a circular kite like a round (wan) bowl with fifty sheets of paper each measuring 32cm x 47cm. After this there are no references to the kites until the early 1900s, and later in 1934-1936 when so many people wanted to see the 100+ giant kites flying that a temporary bus service was set up to transport people between Muya train station and Oote beach where the event was held and businesses in town closed for the day in order to allow everyone to go.
During World War II the event was not run and despite efforts made after the war to revive the event and despite a surge in interest in kites during the 1960s, interest slowly dissipated and it was stopped. However, in 1999 a 26-meter diameter kite was built as an attempt to get it recognized as the World’s Largest Kite for the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2008 an eight-meter kite was constructed and flown and in 2010, this tradition was designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Smaller events have been held since then, for example, on January 1, 2013, 2014 and 2015 a 3 to 4-meter kite was made and flown to celebrate the coming of the New Year, but only about 100-150 people attended.
In 2014, students at Naruto high school received help from members of the Naruto Large Kite Preservation Group (鳴門大凧保存会) to create a three-meter kite. While kite-flying events and workshops on how to make mini wan-wan kites are still held by this Preservation Group, the scale of the event continues to decrease because the group members are elderly and there are few who know how to make these giant kites.
This article was first published in the September 2015 issue of Awa Life. | https://henro.co/giant-kites-naruto/ |
WHITTIER – Kevin Long and Stephanie Meyer were supposed to spend New Year’s Eve walking down the aisle.
They had invited 130 guests, reserved a Newport Beach church for their nuptials and rented a yacht in Newport Harbor for the reception.
That was before Long was diagnosed with a serious heart condition that forced the Whittier couple to postpone their wedding.
Now they are thousands of dollars in debt.
“We are basically out about $10,000 so far – and we will have to plan it all over again,” said Meyer, 26.
The $2,500 down payment they paid to a Newport Beach yacht charter company is gone – the company is refusing to return the money. They also paid a $160 down payment for use of the church and another $800 to book a photographer.
And this is not counting the money they spent on invitations, programs, party favors, the wedding cake and everything else that goes into a big wedding.
The couple met four years ago at a softball game. They clicked instantly. They got engaged in July 2004 and immediately set about planning their wedding.
It took a lot of scrimping and saving and some help from their parents, but the couple – both of whom are graduates of La Serna High School – finally saved enough for their big Newport Beach wedding.
Then, in November, Long, 24, came down with a virus. He began vomiting every day.
“At first I thought I was just nervous about the wedding, but it turned out to be worse than that,” said Long.
After several tests, a CT scan of his chest revealed he had fluid on the lungs. Soon, doctors discovered the virus had attacked his heart. He was admitted to the intensive care unit at Whittier Presbyterian Hospital.
When Long was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy and the couple decided to postpone the wedding.
“For now, we have his name on a heart transplant list and we are taking it one day at a time,” said Meyer.
The couple has not given up on their big wedding. They’ve just changed the venue. | https://www.dailynews.com/2005/12/27/couple-heartbroken/ |
This is a continuation application of International Application No. PCT/JP2009/000382, filed Feb. 2, 2009.
The present invention relates to a robot used for carrying out a work (cooperative work) between a person and the robot in cooperation with each other, a controlling device and a controlling method for such a robot, as well as to a controlling program for the robot-controlling device.
In recent years, house-service robots, such as nursing robots and house-keeping support robots, have been vigorously developed. Moreover, in the industrial robots also, different from those conventional robots isolated from people, those which carry out a cooperative work with a person have increased in number. Since those robots carry out works near people, a physical contact with a person is inevitably required. For this reason, from the viewpoint of safety, those robots need to be mechanically flexible, and to move in a flexible manner.
As one example of a robot device, a device has been proposed in which a person and a robot arm transport an object in cooperation with each other. Among such devices, a technique has been proposed in which the rotating movement of a hand that is located at an end of the robot arm is controlled so that the rotating force of the hand corresponding to the end of the robot arm is set to zero, while the translation movement in a vertical direction of the hand is controlled so that the object is maintained in its horizontal state (see Patent Document 1).
By using the technique of Patent Document 1, even in a case where the mass of an object is unknown or changed on the way, which causes problems conventionally, a cooperative transporting operation can be achieved.
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In the related art of Patent Document 1, however, since a robot arm is shifted upward and downward so as to horizontally maintain an object A to be transported regardless of a force exerted on the robot arm , as shown in , a phenomenon tends to occur in which, in a case where another object B is located below the object A to be transported and when a person tries to lower the transporting object A, even if the objects A and B are made in contact with each other, the robot arm tries to further move downward. For this reason, as shown in , problems arise in that the objects A and B are pressed onto each other to be damaged and in that an excessive load is imposed on the robot arm .
In view of these issues, the present invention has been devised, and its object is to provide a robot which can carry out the transporting process even when, upon transporting an object by a person and a robot arm in cooperation with each other, the weight of the object is unknown or the weight is changed on the way, and can achieve safe robot controlling operations without pressing the objects onto each other beyond the necessity even when another object is located below the robot arm or the object being transported, and a controlling device and a controlling method for the robot, as well as a controlling program for such a robot controlling device.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the present invention has the following structures:
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot that has a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, and transports an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the robot comprising:
a driving unit that adjusts an angle of the hand;
a force detection unit that detects and outputs a force exerted between the object and the hand;
an angle detection unit that detects and outputs the angle of the hand; and
a control unit that carries out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the output of the angle detection unit and the output of the force detection unit.
With this arrangement, it becomes possible to achieve a robot controlling operation in which, by estimating a transporting force of the person regardless of the weight of the object to be transported, the object can be transported by the robot arm and the person in cooperation with each other.
Moreover, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot-controlling device that controls a robot provided with a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, so as to transport an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the robot-controlling device comprising:
an input unit to which force information detected by a force detection unit that detects a force exerted between the object and the hand, and angle information detected by an angle detection unit that detects an angle of the hand that is angle-adjusted by a driving unit are inputted; and
a control unit that carries out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the force information of the force detection unit and the angle information of the angle detection unit.
With this arrangement, it becomes possible to achieve a robot controlling operation in which the object can be safely placed thereon horizontally when the person tries to place the object, for example, on a desk.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot-controlling method that controls a robot provided with a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, so as to transport an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the robot-controlling method comprising:
acquiring force information detected by a force detection unit that detects a force exerted between the object and the hand, and angle information detected by an angle detection unit that detects an angle of the hand that is angle-adjusted by a driving unit; and
by using a control unit, carrying out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the force information of the force detection unit and the angle information of the angle detection unit.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a controlling program for a robot-controlling device that controls a robot provided with a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, so as to transport an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the controlling program for the robot-controlling device allowing a computer to carry out functions of:
acquiring force information detected by a force detection unit that detects a force exerted between the object and the hand, and angle information detected by an angle detection unit that detects an angle of the hand that is angle-adjusted by a driving unit; and
by using a control unit, carrying out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the force information of the force detection unit and the angle information of the angle detection unit.
With this arrangement, it becomes possible to achieve a robot controlling operation in which, by estimating a transporting force of the person regardless of the weight of the object to be transported, the object can be transported by the robot arm and the person in cooperation with each other.
As described above, in accordance with a robot of the present invention and the controlling device and controlling method for such a robot, as well as the controlling program for the robot-controlling device, upon transporting the object by the person and the robot arm of the robot in cooperation with each other, the control unit estimates the force imposed on the object in the vertical direction by the person while assisting the weight of the object, based upon the force being exerted on the hand of the robot arm and the angle of the hand corresponding to the end of the robot arm, and based upon the estimated force, the control unit carries out the force controlling operation in the vertical direction so that it is possible to provide a robot controlling operation which allows the robot arm and the person to transport the object in cooperation with each other even when the weight of the object is unknown or the weight is changed on the way.
Moreover, by estimating the force exerted by the person to try to transport based upon the force exerted on the hand of the robot arm and the angle of the hand, as well as by simultaneously controlling the force in the vertical direction based upon the force exerted on the hand of the robot arm, it is possible to provide a safe robot controlling operation in which, even when the object to be transported interferes with another object located below, the objects are prevented from being forcefully pressed onto each other.
Prior to detailed explanations of the embodiments of the present invention by reference to the drawings, the following description will discuss various aspects of the present invention.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot that has a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, and transports an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the robot comprising:
a driving unit that adjusts an angle of the hand;
a force detection unit that detects and outputs a force exerted between the object and the hand;
an angle detection unit that detects and outputs the angle of the hand; and
a control unit that carries out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the output of the angle detection unit and the output of the force detection unit.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the robot according to the first aspect wherein the control unit estimates a force that the person exerts on the robot in the vertical direction, by using the output of the angle detection unit and the output of the force detection unit, and carries out the force controlling operation so as to set the force in the vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the estimated force.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the robot according to the first aspect or the second aspect wherein the force detection unit detects and outputs a force exerted between the object and the hand in the vertical direction, and the control unit determines an input in the vertical direction of the force controlling operation based upon the output of the angle detection unit and the output of the force detection unit so as to carry out the force controlling operation in such a manner that, in a case where the person raises the object to cause the input in the vertical direction of the force controlling operation to become upward, the robot arm is raised, while, in a case where the person lowers the object to cause the input in the vertical direction of the force controlling operation to become downward, the robot arm is lowered; the control unit carries out the force controlling operation so as to increase an upward force of the robot arm in a case where the force in the vertical direction detected by the force detection unit becomes large; and the control unit carries out the force controlling operation so as to decrease the upward force of the robot arm in a case where the force in the vertical direction detected by the force detection unit becomes smaller.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot-controlling device that controls a robot provided with a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, so as to transport an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the robot-controlling device comprising:
an input unit to which force information detected by a force detection unit that detects a force exerted between the object and the hand, and angle information detected by an angle detection unit that detects an angle of the hand that is angle-adjusted by a driving unit are inputted; and
a control unit that carries out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the force information of the force detection unit and the angle information of the angle detection unit.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the robot-controlling device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, further comprising a transporting force estimation unit that estimates a force that the person exerts on the robot in the vertical direction, based on the output of the angle detection unit and the output of the force detection unit,
wherein based on the estimated force by the transporting force estimation unit, the robot-controlling device carries out the force controlling operation for controlling so as to set the force in the vertical direction of the robot arm to the predetermined force.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the robot-controlling device according to the fifth aspect wherein the transporting force estimation unit uses a value obtained by adding a value prepared by multiplying the output of the angle detection unit by a coefficient to a value prepared by multiplying the vertical component of the output of the force detection unit by a coefficient, as input in the vertical direction of the force controlling operation.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the robot-controlling device according to any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, further comprising a hand position detection unit that detects a position of the hand of the end of the robot arm, and
a transported object placed-state determining unit that determines whether or not the transported object has been placed on an object placing face based upon output of the hand position detection unit, output of the angle detection unit, and output of the force detection unit,
wherein, upon determination by the transported object placed-state determining unit that the object has been placed on the object placing face, a controlling operation in the vertical direction of the robot arm is switched from the force-controlling operation to a position-controlling operation.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the robot-controlling device according to the seventh aspect wherein, when the hand of the robot arm is directed downward from a horizontal face by the output of the angle detection unit, when variation of the hand position is turned from a downward direction to a constant state by the output of the hand position detection unit, and when a downward force in the vertical direction of output of the force detection unit is turned into a decrease, the transported object placed-state determining unit determines that the transported object has been placed on the object placing face.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot-controlling method that controls a robot provided with a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, so as to transport an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the robot-controlling method comprising:
inputting force information detected by a force detection unit that detects a force exerted between the object and the hand, and angle information detected by an angle detection unit that detects an angle of the hand that is angle-adjusted by a driving unit; and
by using a control unit, carrying out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the force information of the force detection unit and the angle information of the angle detection unit.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a controlling program for a robot-controlling device that controls a robot provided with a robot arm and a hand arranged at an end of the robot arm, so as to transport an object positioned between a person and the robot in cooperation with the person, with the object being held by the person and the hand, the controlling program for the robot-controlling device allowing a computer to carry out functions of:
acquiring force information detected by a force detection unit that detects a force exerted between the object and the hand, and angle information detected by an angle detection unit that detects an angle of the hand that is angle-adjusted by a driving unit; and
by using a control unit, carrying out a force controlling operation for controlling so as to set a force in a vertical direction of the robot arm to a predetermined force, based upon the force information of the force detection unit and the angle information of the angle detection unit.
Referring to Figures, the following description will discuss a robot, a controlling device and a controlling method for the robot and a controlling program for the robot-controlling device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in detail.
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First, the following description will discuss a structure of a robot system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. is a view that schematically shows the structure of the robot system in the embodiment of the present invention.
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As shown in , a robot system provided with a robot A having a robot arm and its controlling device in the embodiment of the present invention has its base end of the robot arm placed on a wall face near a working bench such as a kitchen or a table, and allows a hand on the end of the robot arm to hold, for example, to grab one end of an object to be transported, with the other end that is opposed to the end of the object being allowed to be held by a person who works in cooperation with the robot arm so that in this system, the person and the hand corresponding to the end of the robot arm of the robot A transport the object positioned between the person and the robot A in cooperation with each other, with the object being held therebetween. More specifically, while the hand of the robot arm grabs one end of an object (a portion to be grabbed of the object closer to the robot A with the object being positioned between the person and the robot A, for example, one handle of a pan), the person grabs the other end of the object (a portion to be grabbed of the object closer to the person with the object being positioned between the person and the robot A, for example, the other handle of the pan), and in this state, when the person applies a force in a direction in which the object is desirably carried, the robot arm of the robot system is allowed to move so that the object can be transported by the robot arm and the person in cooperation with each other.
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In the embodiment of the present invention, the object includes a pan containing water or cooking materials, or a piece of tableware, or a heavy object such as furniture, and also includes a concept that corresponds to an object the weight of which is changed on the way (for example, in a case where an empty pan is transported and water or cooking materials are put into the pan on the way), and an object to be handled that can be transported by the robot arm and the person , while being held in cooperation with each other.
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In the embodiment of the present invention, the base end of the robot arm is placed on the wall face near the work bench; however, in the case of an island kitchen without wall faces, it is placed at a position that is suitable for work, such as a ceiling face or a working side face of the island kitchen.
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is a view that shows specific structures of the controlling device forming the robot system and the robot arm to be controlled. Moreover, shows a fore arm link , a wrist portion and a hand in an enlarged manner.
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In the present embodiment, for example, the controlling device is formed by a general personal computer, and the controlling device is configured by an estimation parameter data base , an operation trajectory program-use data base and a transportation controlling unit . Among these, the estimation parameter data base , the operation trajectory program-use data base and the transportation controlling unit may be formed as a controlling program , as shown in .
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An input/output IF (interface) is designed to be provided with, for example, a D/A board, an A/D board and a counter board that are connected to an expansion slot, such as a PCI bus of the personal computer.
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The controlling device is connected to a motor driver that drives respective link manipulators of the robot arm through the input/output IF serving as one example of an input unit, and sends a control signal to the motor driver .
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When the controlling device for controlling operations of the robot arm is operated, respective pieces of joint angle information outputted from encoders to be described later of respective joint portions of the robot arm , and force information exerted on the end (hand ) of the robot arm that is outputted from a force detection unit to be described later that detects force information, are acquired by the controlling device through the counter board of the input/output IF , and based upon the respective pieces of joint angle information and force information thus acquired, the controlling device calculates control instruction values for rotation operations of the respective joint portions. The respective control instruction values thus calculated are given to the motor driver for drive-controlling the respective joint portions of the robot arm through the D/A board of the input/output IF , and in accordance with the control instruction values sent from the motor driver , motors of the respective joint portions of the robot arm are driven. These motor driver and motors function as one example of a driving unit. Moreover, the encoders function as one example of an angle detection unit that outputs angle information.
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The robot arm is prepared as, for example, a multi-link manipulator having six degrees of freedom, and has a hand , a fore arm link with a wrist portion to which the hand is attached being installed to its end, an upper arm link that has a tip end rotatably coupled to the base end of the fore arm link and a base portion to which the base end of the upper arm link is rotatably coupled and supported, and which is secured to a wall face .
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The wrist portion has three rotation axes for a fourth joint portion , a fifth joint portion and a sixth joint portion so that relative orientations (directions) of the hand to the fore arm link can be changed. That is, in , the fourth joint portion can change the orientation of the hand relative to the wrist portion around an Ψaxis (longitudinal axis). The fifth joint portion can change the orientation of the hand relative to the wrist portion around a Ψaxis (lateral axis) orthogonal the Ψaxis of the fourth joint portion . The sixth joint portion can change the orientation of the hand relative to the wrist portion around a Ψaxis (lateral axis) that is respectively orthogonal to the Ψaxis of the fourth joint portion and the Ψaxis of the fifth joint portion . That is, the hand is allowed to rotate relative to one end of the fore arm link in three axis directions of the Ψaxis, the Ψaxis and the Ψaxis, independently. In this case, the Ψaxis, the Ψaxis and the Ψaxis are coordinate axes that are respectively orthogonal to one another. Moreover, in , the hand coordinate system , which will be described later, are not necessarily made coincident with the Ψaxis, the Ψaxis and the Ψaxis.
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The other end of the fore arm link is allowed to rotate around the third joint portion relative to one end of the upper arm link . In the embodiment, to be allowed to rotate around the third joint portion refers to the fact that it is allowed to rotate around the lateral axis in parallel with the Ψaxis of the fifth joint portion . The other end of the upper arm link is allowed to rotate around the second joint portion relative to the base portion . In the embodiment, to be allowed to rotate around the second joint portion refers to a face that it is allowed to rotate around a lateral axis in parallel with the Ψaxis (lateral axis of the third joint portion ) of the fifth joint portion . An upper-side movable portion of the base portion is allowed to rotate around the first joint portion relative to the lower-side securing unit of the base portion . In the present embodiment, to be allowed to rotate around the first joint portion refers to the fact that it is allowed to rotate around the z-axis of the absolute coordinate system .
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As a result, the robot arm is made rotatable around the respective six axes from the first joint portion to the sixth joint portion independently, so that it forms a multi-link manipulator having six degrees of freedom.
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Each of the joint portions forming the rotation portions of the respective axes is provided with a motor (which is actually installed inside each of the joint portions of the robot arm ) serving as one example of a rotation driving device that is installed in one member of paired members that form each joint portion (for example, a rotation-side member and a supporting-side member that supports the rotation-side member), and drive-controlled by a motor driver , which will be described later, and an encoder that detects the rotation phase angle (that is, the joint angle) of the rotation axis of the motor (actually, disposed inside each of the joint portions of the robot arm ). Therefore, the rotation axis of the motor installed in one of the members forming each of the joint portions is connected to the other member of the joint portion so that, since the rotation axis is forwardly or reversely rotated, the other member is allowed to rotate around each of the axes relative to the one of the members.
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Reference numeral represents an absolute coordinate system in which the relative positional relationship is fixed relative to the lower-side securing unit of the base member , and represents a hand coordinate system in which the positional relationship is fixed relative to the hand . The origin position O(X, Y, Z) of the hand coordinate system viewed from the absolute coordinate system is defined as a position of the hand (that is, the hand position) of the robot arm . Moreover, the orientation of the hand coordinate system , viewed from the absolute coordinate system , is represented by coordinates (φ, θ, ψ) in which the roll angle, pitch angle and yaw angle are used. These coordinates (φ, θ, ψ) are defined as the hand orientation (the orientation of the hand ) of the robot arm , and the hand position and orientation vectors are defined as vectors r=[x, y, z, φ, θ, ψ]. Referring to , the following description will discuss the roll angle, pitch angle and yaw angle. Supposing a coordinate system in which the coordinate system is rotated by an angle θ relative to the Z-axis of the absolute coordinate system serving as a rotation axis (see ). The coordinate axes at this time are defined as [X′, Y′, Z]. Next, this coordinate system is rotated by an angle θ with Y′ serving as the rotation axis (see ). The coordinate axes at this time are defined as [X″, Y′, Z″]. Lastly, this coordinate system is rotated by an angle ψ with X″ serving as the rotation axis (see ). The orientation of the coordinate system at this time is represented by roll angle φ, pitch angle θ and yaw angle ψ, and the orientation vectors at this time are defined as (φ,θ,ψ). When a coordinate system, formed by parallel-shifting the origin position of the coordinate system of the orientation (φ,θ,ψ) to the origin position O(x, y, z) of the hand coordinate system , is coincident with the hand coordinate system , the orientation vectors of the hand coordinate system are defined as (φ,θ,ψ).
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8
d
In an attempt to control the hand position and orientation of the robot arm , the hand position and orientation vectors r are made to follow hand position and orientation desired vectors rgenerated in a desired trajectory generating unit , which will be described later, by using the transportation controlling unit .
13
30
5
3
13
30
31
3
13
7
14
18
19
The force detection unit detects or estimates a force generated between the hand of the robot arm and a transported object , and outputs the corresponding information. For example, the force detection unit is supposed to be a force sensor having 6 axes, located between the hand and the wrist portion ; however, this may have 6 axes or less, in such a case when the transporting directions of the object are limited. However, it is necessary to provide a means or a device that can always detect at least a force exerted in the vertical direction. The output from the force detection unit is given to the estimation parameter data base , a transporting force estimation unit , the desired trajectory generating unit and a transported article placed-state determination unit (transported object placed-state determination unit) .
13
13
13
13
10
10
12
5
10
13
13
9
13
13
9
22
13
13
FIG. 3B
a
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
qe
T
T
Moreover, as another example of the force detection unit , a force estimation unit (for example, see A of ) that estimates the force from a motor current value or the like, without using a sensor, may be used. In this case, the estimation of an external force by the force detection unit (force estimation unit A) is carried out by the following method. The electric current sensor of the motor driver measures each of values i [i, i, i, i, i, i]of currents that flow through the motor that drives the respective joint portions of the robot arm . Each of the current values i [i, i, i, i, i, i]measured by the electric current sensor of the motor driver is taken up by the force detection unit (force estimation unit A) through the A/D board of the input/output IF . Moreover, a current value q of the joint angle is taken up by the force detection unit (force estimation unit A) through the counter board of the input/output IF , and a joint angle error compensating output u, given from an approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit that will be described later, is taken up by the force detection unit (force estimation unit A).
13
13
5
13
13
5
7
14
19
ext
qe
ext
ext
v
ext
ext
v
−T
The force detection unit (force estimation unit A), which functions as an observer, calculates a torque τthat is exerted in each of the joint portions by an external force applied to the robot arm , based upon the respective pieces of information, that is, the electric current value i, the current value q of the joint angle and the joint angle error compensating output u. Moreover, the force detection unit (force estimation unit A) also converts the torque to an equivalent hand external force Fof the hand of the robot arm , based upon F=J(q)τ, and outputs the force Fthus converted to the estimation parameter data base , the transporting force estimation unit , the desired trajectory generating unit and the transported object placed-state determination unit . In this case, J(q) is a Jacob matrix that satisfies the following equation:
[Equation 1]
v=Jv
q
q
() equation (1)
x
y
z
x
y
z
x
y
z
x
y
z
T
5
36
5
36
where v=[v, v, v, λ, λ, λ], and (v, v, v) represent a translation speed of the hand of the robot arm in the hand coordinate system , while (λ, λ, λ) represents an angular velocity of the hand of the robot arm in the hand coordinate system .
FIGS. 3A and 3B
8
8
14
15
19
15
17
40
16
18
16
20
21
22
5
16
5
5
show a specific structure of the transportation controlling unit . The transportation controlling unit is configured by the transporting force estimation unit , the force controlling unit and the transported object placed-state determination unit . The force controlling unit is configured by an impedance controlling unit , a positional error calculation unit , a position controlling unit and the desired trajectory generating unit . Moreover, the position controlling unit is configured by a positional error compensating unit , a forward kinematical calculation unit and the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit so that an instruction value of the robot arm is outputted by the position controlling unit based upon the desired trajectory of the robot arm as well as the current position and orientation of the robot arm . Additionally, in addition to the above-mentioned method, the force controlling system may be designed by using another force controlling method such as a hybrid controlling method.
1
2
3
4
5
6
q
2
3
4
5
6
T
11
5
8
9
24
25
26
27
28
29
11
The current value (joint angle vectors) vectors q=[(q, q, q, q, q, q]of each joint angle, measured by the encoder of each of the joint portions, are outputted from the robot arm , and are taken up by the transportation controlling unit through the counter board of the input/output IF . In this case, q, q, q, q, q, and qrepresent joint angles of the first joint portion , the second joint portion , the third joint portion , the fourth joint portion , the fifth joint portion and the sixth joint portion that are detected by the encoders .
18
5
37
13
19
5
37
18
37
d
d0
d1
d2
1
2
d0
d1
d2
1
2
d
d
dΔ
The desired trajectory generating unit outputs hand position and orientation desired vectors rused for achieving desired actions of the robot arm based upon the hand position and orientation vectors r, the operation trajectory program-use data base , force information from the force detection unit and transported object placed-state determination information from the transported object placed-state determination unit , which will be described later. In a case where a positional controlling operation is carried out along a predetermined trajectory, the desired actions of the robot arm are preliminarily given to an operation trajectory program stored in the operation trajectory program-use data base as positions (r, r, r, . . . ) at respective points of time (t=0, t=t, t=t, . . . ) in accordance with desired operations, and the desired trajectory generating unit utilizes polynomial interpolation based upon information of the positions (r, r, r, . . . ) at respective points of time (t=0, t=t, t=t, . . . ) from the operation trajectory program-use data base , and the hand position and orientation vectors r to interpolate the trajectory between the respective points so that the hand position and orientation desired vectors rare generated. Moreover, in a case where a force controlling operation is carried out, by stopping the updates of the hand position and orientation desired vectors rfrom the start of the force controlling operation, the force controlling operation is achieved by hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r, which will be described later. Additionally, in an attempt to carry out a force controlling operation on one portion of the position and the orientation, by stopping the update of only the component to be force-controlled, the controlling operation is achieved.
17
5
5
19
17
5
14
16
18
40
dΔ
carry
dΔ
d
dm
The impedance controlling unit is a unit that allows the robot arm to achieve the control of the mechanical impedance value of the robot arm to a mechanical impedance set value, and to this is inputted transported object placed-state determination information from the transported object placed-state determination unit , and the impedance controlling unit also calculates the hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r used for controlling the mechanical impedance value of the robot arm to the mechanical impedance set value based upon the following equation (2), from inertia M, viscosity D, and rigidity K that are impedance parameters preliminarily set through experiments and a transporting force Foutputted from the transporting force estimation unit , and outputs the resulting data to the position controlling unit . The hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r are added to the hand position and orientation desired vectors routputted by the desired trajectory generating unit by the positional error calculation unit so that hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors rare generated.
[Equation 2]
r
s
{circumflex over (M)}+s{circumflex over (D)}+{circumflex over (K)}
F
dΔ
carry
2
−1
=() equation 2)
where the following matrixes are satisfied, with s serving as an operator.
<math overflow="scroll"><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><mo>[</mo><mrow><mi>Equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mn>3</mn></mrow><mo>]</mo></mrow></mtd><mtd><mstyle><mspace width="0.3em" height="0.3ex" /></mstyle></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mrow><mover><mi>M</mi><mo>^</mo></mover><mo>=</mo><mrow><mrow><mo>[</mo><mtable><mtr><mtd><mi>M</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>M</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>M</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>M</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>M</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>M</mi></mtd></mtr></mtable><mo>]</mo></mrow><mo></mo><mstyle><mtext></mtext></mstyle><mo>[</mo><mrow><mi>Equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mn>4</mn></mrow><mo>]</mo></mrow></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mi>equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>3</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mrow><mover><mi>D</mi><mo>^</mo></mover><mo>=</mo><mrow><mrow><mo>[</mo><mtable><mtr><mtd><mi>D</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>D</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>D</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>D</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>D</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>D</mi></mtd></mtr></mtable><mo>]</mo></mrow><mo></mo><mstyle><mtext></mtext></mstyle><mo>[</mo><mrow><mi>Equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mn>5</mn></mrow><mo>]</mo></mrow></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mi>equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>4</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mrow><mover><mi>K</mi><mo>^</mo></mover><mo>=</mo><mrow><mo>[</mo><mtable><mtr><mtd><mi>K</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>K</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>K</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>K</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>K</mi></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mn>0</mn></mtd><mtd><mi>K</mi></mtd></mtr></mtable><mo>]</mo></mrow></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mi>equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>5</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></math>
11
5
21
9
21
5
21
5
21
18
19
20
14
The joint angle vectors q, which are current values q of the joint angles measured by the encoders of the respective joint portions of the robot arm , are inputted to the forward kinematical calculation unit through the counter board of the input/output IF . Moreover, in the forward kinematical calculation unit , geometrical calculations are carried out to convert the joint angle vectors q of the robot arm to the hand position and orientation vectors r. Therefore, the forward kinematical calculation unit functions as one example of a hand position detection unit that detects the hand position of the robot arm . The hand position and orientation vectors r, calculated in the forward kinematical calculation unit , are outputted to the desired trajectory generating unit , the transported object placed-state determination unit , the positional error compensating unit and the transporting force estimation unit .
e
dm
dm
re
21
5
20
20
22
An error r(=r−r) between the hand position and orientation vectors r calculated by the forward kinematical calculation unit from the joint angle vectors q measured in the robot arm and the hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors r, is inputted to the positional error compensating unit , and a positional error compensating output uis outputted from the positional error compensating unit to the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit .
re
out
r
in
r
in
out
in
e
e
e
e
r
e
re
qe
e
20
5
22
22
22
22
20
22
10
5
22
−1
−1
Based upon the positional error compensating output uinputted from the positional error compensating unit and the joint angle vector q measured in the robot arm , the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit carries out approximation calculations of reverse kinematics by using an approximation u=J(q)u. In this case, J(q) is a Jacob matrix that satisfies the following equation, uis an output to the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit , and uis an output from the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit , and supposing that the input uis a joint angle error q, a conversion equation from the hand position and orientation error rto the joint angle error q, as represented by q=J(q)r, is obtained. Therefore, when the positional error compensating output uis inputted to the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit from the positional error compensating unit , a joint angle error compensating output ufor use in compensating the joint angle error qis outputted from the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit to the motor driver of the robot A as an output from the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit .
{dot over (r)}=J
q
{dot over (q)}
r
() [Equation 6]
qe
10
5
9
12
5
The joint angle error compensating output uis given to the motor driver of the robot A through the D/A board of the input/output IF as a voltage instructing value, and each of the joint portions is consequently driven to forward/reverse rotate by each of the motors so that the robot arm is operated.
17
5
With respect to the impedance controlling unit configured as described above, the following description will discuss a principle of the impedance-controlling operation of the robot arm .
e
e
20
16
16
20
16
5
FIGS. 3A and 3B
The impedance controlling operation basically corresponds to a feed-back controlling (position-controlling) operation of the hand position and orientation error rby the positional error compensating unit , and as shown in , a portion, surrounded by a dotted line and indicated by reference numeral , corresponds to a position controlling unit . For example, when a PID compensator is used as the positional error compensating unit , a controlling operation is executed by the positional controlling unit so that the hand position and the orientation error rare converged to 0; thus, it becomes possible to achieve a desired impedance controlling operation of the robot arm .
14
5
2
7
13
5
6
23
5
7
3
3
3
2
2
5
13
35
14
15
carry
p
p
z
z
FIGS. 5 and 6A
FIG. 5
FIG. 5
FIG. 6A
FIG. 2
a
b
a
The transporting force estimation unit estimates a transporting force Frequired for a cooperative transporting operation between the robot arm and the person from the output information from the estimation parameter data base , the output information from the force detection unit and the orientation information q of the hand of the robot arm , that is, the joint angle date (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q). Referring to to B, the following description will discuss one example thereof. In , ω, indicated by reference numeral , is an angle made by the hand of the robot arm relative to a horizontal face, and represents an angle determined from the hand position and the orientation vectors r by the estimation parameter data base . In this case, in this angle ω, the direction of an arrow of (anticlock wise direction) is defined as positive. As shown in , in a case where both of handles and of an object are respectively supported by the arm of the person and the robot arm , a force in the vertical direction to be detected by the force detection unit is defined as F(≦0). With respect to the orientation of the force Fin the vertical direction, the direction of the z-axis of the absolute coordinate system of is defined as positive. At this time, the input in the vertical direction of the force control (a component in the vertical direction of the input of the force control from the transporting force estimation unit to the force controlling unit ) is represented by the following expression:
[Expression 7]
p
z
ω
p
(−kF+kω) expression (7)
p
ω
z
p
z
p
p
ω
p
p
z
p
5
13
5
In this expression, for example, kand k are parameters to be determined by the value of the force Fin the vertical direction detected by the force detection unit and the positive/negative sign of the value of the angleω, made by the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face, that is, parameters (coefficients) to be determined by the value of the force Fin the vertical direction detected by the force detection unit and the positive/negative sign of the value of the angleω, made by the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face. Additionally, kand k may be parameter-set as finer values of the angle value ωwithout depending on the positive/negative sign of the value of the angle ω, and may be widely defined as parameters that are uniquely determined from the force Fin the vertical direction and the angle ω.
FIG. 6A
FIG. 6A
FIG. 6A
p
z0
ω
p0
p0
z0
5
5
3
2
3
5
2
5
3
2
5
2
As shown in , in a case where −kF+(−kω)=0 holds, since the input of the force control becomes 0, this state forms a balanced point to allow the robot arm to stop. In this case, ωrepresents an angle of the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face in a case where, as shown in , the object is held by the person , and the object is balanced and maintained between the robot arm and the person . Moreover, Frepresents a force in the vertical direction of the hand of the robot arm in the case where, as shown in , the object is held by the person with balanced and maintained between the robot arm and the person .
FIG. 6B
FIG. 6A
FIG. 6C
FIG. 6A
2
3
3
3
3
3
5
2
3
3
3
5
b
b
b
p
p+
p+
p
z
ω
p+
p
p−
p−
p
z
ω
p−
Suppose that, as shown in , the person raises one handle of the object upward from the balanced state shown in to form a state of ω=ω (a state in which the person raises the handle of the object by an angleω relative to the horizontal face)). At this time, an inequality −kF+kω>0 holds so that the input in the vertical direction of the force control is made upward so that the robot arm is raised. In contrast, suppose that, as shown in , the person increases the downward force from the balanced state shown in to form a state of ω=ω (a state in which the person lowers the handle of the object by an angle ω relative to the horizontal face). At this time, an inequality −kF+kω<0 holds so that the input in the vertical direction of the force control is made downward so that the robot arm is lowered.
14
5
2
2
3
5
2
3
3
13
3
5
3
5
3
z
As described above, in the transporting force estimation unit , by using the expression (7) to form the input in the vertical direction of the force control, the robot arm is allowed to move in an upward or downward direction desired by the person in cooperation with the person so that a cooperative transporting operation of the object between the robot arm and the person can be realized. Moreover, this technique does not preliminarily require the mass information of the object to be transported. Furthermore, when the weight of the object is changed, the force Fin the vertical direction to be detected by the force detection unit is also changed. As a result, in the case where the weight of the object is increased, the robot arm increases the upward force, while, in a case where the weight of the object is decreased, the robot arm decreases the upward force, so that even when the weight of the object is changed, the cooperative transporting operation can be carried out without causing any problems.
3
3
3
2
13
p
ω
p
ω
p
In a case where the variations in the weight of the transporting object are comparatively small (for example, in a case where a threshold value of a variation width of the weight of the object is preliminarily set to 5 kg, if the weight of the object to be transported is 5 kg or less) (in other words, if an weight variation of the object is so small as to be absorbed by the person side), k=0 may be set in the above-mentioned expression (7), and only kωmay be used. In general, since the output of the force detection unit has noise, by using only kω(that is, by eliminating the cause of noise), it becomes possible to reduce vibration factors caused by noise.
FIG. 6D
3
30
5
3
43
3
In a case where, as shown in , below the object to be transported or the hand of the robot arm , the object and an object that interferes with the object to be transported are located, a force
Z
N, Expression [8]
3
43
5
z
exerted between the object to be transported and the interfering object , makes the downward force Fin the vertical direction to be received by the robot arm close to 0 (for example, to about 0.5 N).
43
3
5
13
14
43
3
30
5
14
13
3
30
5
43
z
In the case of no interfering object , the weight of the object to be imposed on the robot arm is always detected as a downward force in the vertical direction. If the force Fin the vertical direction detected by the force detection unit is greater than 0, the transporting force estimation unit determines that there is an interfering object below the object to be transported or the hand of the robot arm , and for the purpose of safety, the transporting force estimation unit outputs the force in the vertical direction detected by the force detection unit , as it is. With this arrangement, it is possible to prevent the object to be transported or the hand of the robot arm from being pressed onto the interfering object .
13
13
3
30
5
3
30
14
z
Based upon these, supposing that the force in the vertical direction detected by the force detection unit is Fand that, by taking into consideration the influences from noise or error of the force detection unit , a threshold value to be used for making a switch as to whether or not the influences from the noise or error should be taken into consideration is set to −ε (in this case however, a distance between the object and the hand of the robot arm is relatively unchangeable because of the holding state, such as chucking, of the object by the hand ) in the transporting force estimation unit , the transporting force in the vertical direction, indicated by the following expression 9,
z
{circumflex over (F)} [Expression 9]
is represented by the following equation (8):
<math overflow="scroll"><mrow><mo>[</mo><mrow><mi>Equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mn>10</mn></mrow><mo>]</mo></mrow></math>
<math overflow="scroll"><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><mo>{</mo><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><mover><mi>F</mi><mo>^</mo></mover><mo>=</mo><mrow><mrow><mrow><mo>-</mo><msub><mi>k</mi><mi>p</mi></msub></mrow><mo></mo><msub><mi>F</mi><mi>z</mi></msub></mrow><mo>+</mo><mrow><msub><mi>k</mi><mi>ω</mi></msub><mo></mo><msub><mi>ω</mi><mi>p</mi></msub></mrow></mrow></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>if</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><msub><mi>F</mi><mi>z</mi></msub></mrow><mo>≤</mo><mrow><mo>-</mo><mi>ɛ</mi></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mrow><mover><mi>F</mi><mo>^</mo></mover><mo>=</mo><msub><mi>F</mi><mi>z</mi></msub></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>if</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><msub><mi>F</mi><mi>z</mi></msub></mrow><mo>></mo><mrow><mo>-</mo><mi>ɛ</mi></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mi>equation</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>8</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></math>
3
13
14
13
FIGS. 4B to 4D
The force that is varied by the weight of the object is given as a force in the vertical direction and a torque exerted around the pitch axis (see ); therefore, with respect to forces other than this, the force detected by the force detection unit , as it is, is outputted from the transporting force estimated unit . Supposing that the forces of the six axes, detected by the force detection unit , are represented by the following equation,
ext
x
y
z
φ
θ
Ψ
T
F=[FFFFFF] [Equation 11]
14
the output of the transporting force estimation unit is represented by the following equation (9):
[Equation 12]
F
=[F
F
{circumflex over (F)}F
l·{circumflex over (F)}F
carry
x
y
φ
Ψ
T
] equation (9)
where
“l” [Expression 13]
5
3
represented by the following manner corresponds to a distance from the hand of the robot arm to the center of gravity of the object to be transported.
z
p
p
ω
13
5
7
14
Based upon the output information Fof the force detection unit and the orientation information ωof the hand of the robot arm , the estimation parameter data base selects parameters kand k respectively on demand, and outputs the resulting parameter to the transporting force estimation unit .
FIG. 7
7
7
5
5
7
7
7
p
ω
z
p
p
p
ω
z
p
p
p
ω
shows one example of the estimation parameter data base . In the estimation parameter data base , the values of the parameters kand k are respectively set preliminarily, and stored in association with combinations of the vertical component Fof the force preliminarily exerted in the hand of the robot arm and the angle ωmade by the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face. Therefore, upon inputs of the pieces of information of the vertical component of the force and the angle ωto the estimation parameter data base , values of the parameters kand k are respectively outputted from the estimation parameter data base . For example, when F=−10 and ω=0.1 (that is, ωis positive), k=0.52 and k=32 are outputted from the estimation parameter data base .
19
2
3
90
90
5
30
13
3
3
30
5
2
2
3
3
3
2
a
a
a
b
FIG. 10
The following description will discuss the transported object placed-state determination unit in detail. In the present embodiment, there might be a state in which, in spite of an attempt of the person to place a transported object on an upper face (that is, an object placing face ) of the base , as shown in , the object is placed in a tilted manner due to an imbalanced state between the robot arm and the hand , caused by noise or an offset deviation of the force sensor serving as one example of the force detection unit . More specifically, for example, with one handle of the object being held by the hand of the robot arm , the arm of the person holding the other handle of the object is lowered, with the result that such a problem occurs in which the object is kept in a tilted state toward the person side.
19
3
90
11
19
a
a
c
FIGS. 11(
Therefore, the transported object placed-state determination unit is used for determining whether or not the transported object has been placed on the object placing face . Referring to graphs of ) to (), the following description will discuss one example of the transported object plated-state determining method in the transported object placed-state determination unit .
2
3
90
90
3
19
5
5
3
3
a
FIG. 11
1
1
First, immediately before the attempt of the person to put the transported object onto the object placing face of the base , in general, the object to be transported is shifted from above to below, and stopped to stand still at a certain position. This operation can be determined by the transported object placed-state determination unit by detecting a variation in a z-position (z-component of the hand position and orientation vectors r) of the hand position of the robot arm . More specifically, in , as indicated by a graph (a) showing the relationship between the hand z position and time t, when consideration is given to the hand z position (the hand position in the z-direction) of the robot arm , the z-position in a period prior to a certain point of time t, that is, a moment at which the object is placed, is continuously lowered, and the z-position in the period after the certain point of time t, that is, the moment at which the object is placed, is kept constant without being raised or lowered.
19
21
19
1
FIG. 11(
a
Therefore, when the transported object placed-state determination unit detects the fact that, after the hand z position, which is inputted from the forward kinematical calculation unit , has been continuously lowered, the z-position in the period after the certain time tis neither lowered, nor raised, and kept constant, the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that the transported object has been placed. The determination of the fact that the z-position has become constant is made, for example, when the z-position is located within a constant range Δz for a fixed period of time as shown in ). The fixed range Δz is preliminarily set to, for example, 10 mm or the like, based upon experiments or the like preliminarily carried out. In addition to this, a time-differential value of z may be calculated, and for example, when the absolute value of the time-differential value of z is a threshold value or less, that is, when the velocity of z is a threshold value or less, the z position may be defined as constant.
2
3
90
90
3
3
30
5
2
2
3
3
3
2
2
2
3
3
5
2
3
90
90
a
a
a
b
a
b
a
FIG. 10
FIG. 10
FIG. 11
p
p
p
1
Moreover, immediately before the attempt of the person to put the transported object onto the object placing face of the base , as shown in , with one handle of the object being grabbed by the hand of the robot arm , the arm of the person holding the other handle of the object is lowered, as shown in . Consequently, when the object is tilted toward the person side by the fact that the arm of the person holding the other handle of the object has been lowered, the angle ω, made by the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face, is made downward from the horizontal face, and by detecting this state, it becomes possible to determine that the person has started putting the transported object onto the object placing face of the base . More specifically, as indicated by a graph (b) showing the relationship between the angle ωand time t in , the angle ωis kept constant as a negative value during the period after the point of time t.
p
p
1
19
19
19
2
2
3
90
90
a
Therefore, when the angle ωis calculated from the position and orientation vectors r in the transported object placed-state determination unit so that the transported object placed-state determination unit has detected that the angle ωis kept constant at a negative value during the period after the point of time t, the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that the transported object is tilted toward the person side so that it is possible to determine that the person has started putting the transported object onto the object placing face of the base .
z
z
z
z
z
1
1
z
1
z
19
13
5
3
2
2
3
3
2
3
90
2
3
90
3
3
3
a
b
a
a
FIG. 11
The “constant state” mentioned here can be determined by using the same method as that for determining the z-position as described earlier. Moreover, the force Fin the vertical direction to be inputted to the transported object plated-state determination unit from the force detection unit , generated between the robot arm and the object , has a downward value when the person is moving the arm holding the handle of the object downward from the horizontal face, and when the person places the object onto the placing face , the absolute value of the force Fin the vertical direction becomes smaller to come closer to 0. After the placing process, the force Fin the vertical direction is kept constant at a negative value. By detecting this state, it is possible to determine that the person has tried to put the object on the object placing face , and has then put it thereon. More specifically, as indicated by a graph (c) showing the relationship between the force Fin the vertical direction and time t in , the force Fin the vertical direction prior to the period before the point of time tcorresponding to the moment at which the object is placed has a downward value, and during the period before the point of time tcorresponding to the moment at which the object is placed, the force Fin the vertical direction is raised, and thereafter, during the period after the point of time tcorresponding to the moment at which the object is placed, the force Fin the vertical direction is kept constant at a negative value.
19
3
19
13
19
19
z
1
z
1
z
z
z
The transported object placed-state determination unit is designed to determine that the transported object has been placed, when the transported object placed-state determination unit has detected the facts that the force Fin the vertical direction inputted from the force detection unit has a downward value, that during the period before the certain point of time t, the force Fin the vertical direction is lowered, and that during the period after the certain point of time t, the force Fin the vertical direction is kept constant at a negative value. With respect to the determination by the transported object placed-state determination unit of the fact that the force Fin the vertical direction is lowered, the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that it is lowered when the time-differential value of the force Fin the vertical direction reaches a certain threshold value or more. The threshold value is preliminarily set, for example, to 5N/s or the like, by experiments and the like preliminarily carried out. Moreover, the determination of the constant state can be made by using the same method as that for determining the position in the z-direction.
5
5
13
19
30
5
11
21
13
19
3
90
3
p
z
2
1
a
FIG. 11
As described above, in a case where, based upon information of the hand z position of the robot arm , information of the angle ωmade by the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face and the force information Fof the outputs of the force detection unit , the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that the hand of the hand of the robot arm is tilted downward from the horizontal face in accordance with the output of the encoder serving as one example of the angle detection unit, and determines that a variation in the hand z position is turned from a lowering state to a constant state in accordance with the output of the forward kinematical calculation unit serving as one example of the hand position detection unit, and then determines that the downward vertical force is turned to be decreased in accordance with the output of the force detection unit , the transported object placed-state determination unit regards “the object as being placed onto the placing face ” at a point of time tafter a lapse of predetermined time Δt from the point of time tcorresponding to the moment at which the object is placed (in ). The predetermined time Δt is preliminarily set to, for example, 1 second or the like, based upon experiments and the like preliminarily carried out.
19
3
90
3
5
19
3
90
5
11
5
19
3
19
5
3
3
90
13
13
19
19
30
5
3
90
2
3
19
3
a
a
a
a
z
z
z
Next, the following description will discuss a state in which the transported object placed-state determination unit regards “the object as being released from the placed state on the object placing face ”. In general, since it is assumed that the place on which the object is placed is a horizontal face, the angle of the hand of the robot arm is considered to be set from the downward direction relative to the horizontal direction to the horizontal direction. For this reason, during a period in which the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that “the object is being placed onto the object placing face ”, a signal indicating the transported-object placing state is continuously outputted therefrom, and the hand angle of the robot arm is continuously acquired from the encoder , and at the time when the hand angle of the robot arm has become upward from the horizontal face, the transported object placed-state determination unit regards “the object as being released from the placed state” so that the transported object placed-state determination unit stops the output of the signal indicating the transported object placing state. Moreover, since the force Fin the vertical direction exerted between the robot arm and the object is in general kept from the downward force to 0, even when the object is placed on the placing face . Therefore, the force Fin the vertical direction outside this range is detected by the force detection unit (that is, the force detection unit is allowed to detect the Fin the vertical direction being turned into an upward force), and in a case where the corresponding detection information is inputted to the transported object placed-state determination unit , since the transported object placed-state determination unit regards “the hand of the robot arm as pressing the object onto the placing face ” or “the person as raising the object upward”, the transported object placed-state determination unit regards “the object as being released from the placed state” in this case also.
FIGS. 8 and 9
FIG. 2
8
6
Referring to flow charts of , the following description will discuss operation steps of the transportation controlling unit . These functions of the operation steps can be respectively executed by a computer, as controlling program (see ).
FIG. 8
19
First, referring to the flow chart of , the following description will discuss a state in which no operations are carried out by the transported object placed-state determination unit .
11
5
4
11
1
Joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q) measured by the respective encoders of the joint portions of the robot arm are acquired by the controlling device from the encoders (step S).
4
22
5
2
r
Next, based upon the joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q) acquired by the controlling device , the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit executes calculations of a Jacob matrix Jand the like required for kinematical calculations of the robot arm (step S).
11
5
21
5
7
40
18
3
Next, based upon the joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q) from the respective encoders of the robot arm , the forward kinematical calculation unit calculates the current hand position and orientation vectors r of the robot arm , and outputs the resulting data to the estimation parameter data base , the positional error calculation unit , the desired trajectory generating unit and the like (step S).
5
13
7
14
18
4
ext
Next, based upon the output from the force sensor attached to the robot arm , the force detection unit calculates a force Fthat is exerted on the hand, and outputs the resulting data to the estimation parameter data base , the transporting force estimation unit , the desired trajectory generating unit and the like (step S).
14
21
3
14
7
5
p
p
p
FIGS. 4B to 4D
Next, the transporting force estimation unit determines an angle ωfrom the hand position and orientation vectors r calculated and found by the forward kinematical calculation unit in step S. In a case where the hand orientation is defined as shown in , the angle ω=θ holds. Moreover, the transporting force estimation unit outputs the angle ωto the estimation parameter data base (step S).
ext
p
p
ω
13
7
14
6
Based upon the force Fcorresponding to the output of the force detection unit and the angle ω, values of parameters kand k are determined by the estimation parameter data base , and respectively outputted to the transporting force estimation unit from the estimation parameter data base (step S).
p
ω
ext
p
carry
14
17
7
Next, based upon the parameters kand k, the force Fbeing exerted on the hand, the angle ωand joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q), the transporting force estimation unit calculates a transporting force F, and outputs the corresponding value to the impedance controlling unit (step S).
37
5
21
3
18
5
8
d
Based upon a trajectory operating program in the operation trajectory program-use data base for the robot arm preliminarily stored therein and the hand position and orientation vectors r found by the calculations in the forward kinematical calculation unit in step S, the desired trajectory generating unit calculates the hand position and orientation desired vectors rof the robot arm (step S).
carry
dΔ
5
14
17
40
9
Next, based upon the inertia M, viscosity D and rigidity K of the mechanical impedance parameters preliminarily set by experiments and an equivalent hand external force Fto be applied to the robot arm calculated by the transporting force estimation unit , the impedance controlling unit calculates hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r, and outputs the resulting values to the positional error calculation unit (step S).
40
18
17
40
21
20
20
5
20
22
10
20
20
dm
d
dΔ
d
dΔ
e
dm
dm
re
e
Next, the positional error calculation unit calculates hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors rcorresponding to a sum (r+r) of the hand position and orientation desired vectors rfrom the desired trajectory generating unit and hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r from the impedance controlling unit . Next, the positional error calculation unit calculates hand position and orientation error rcorresponding to a difference (r−r) between the hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors r, and the current hand position and orientation vectors r from the forward kinematical calculation unit , and outputs the resulting values to the positional error compensating unit . Lastly, the positional error compensating unit calculates a positional error compensating output uthat forms a controlling input for controlling the robot arm so as to allow the hand position and orientation error rto be converged to 0, and outputs the resulting value from the positional error compensating unit to the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit (step S). A PID compensator is proposed as a specific example of the positional error compensating unit . By appropriately adjusting three gains, that is, proportional gain, differential gain and integral gain, corresponding to an orthogonal matrix of a constant, the controlling process of the positional error compensating unit is exerted so as to converge the positional error to 0.
re
r
re
qe
2
22
10
5
11
Next, by multiplying the positional error compensating output uby a reverse matrix of the Jacob matrix Jcalculated in step S, the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit converts the positional error compensating output ufrom the value relating to the error of the hand position and orientation to a joint angle error compensating output uthat is a value relating to the error of the joint angle, and outputs the resulting value to the motor driver of the robot A (step S).
qe
qe
10
9
22
10
12
5
5
12
Next, the joint angle error compensating output uis given to the motor driver through the input/output IF as information from the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit , and based upon the joint angle error compensating output u, the motor driver changes the amount of electric current flowing through each of the motors of the joint portions. By this change in the amount of electric current, a rotating movement is generated in each of the joint portions in the robot arm so that the robot arm carries out operations (step S).
1
12
1
1
12
13
In the case of continuing steps S to S of the transport controlling operations, the sequence returns to step S, while in the other cases (in the case of neither turning off the power supply nor stopping the robot, but completing only the transport controlling operations), the steps S to S of the transport controlling operations are completed (step S).
1
12
5
3
2
5
By executing the above-mentioned steps S to S repeatedly as the controlling calculation loop, the control of the operations of the robot arm can be achieved, that is, the transporting operations of an object in cooperation with the person and the robot arm can be achieved.
FIG. 9
19
Referring to a flow chart of , the following description will discuss the placed-state determining operation of a transported object carried out by the transported object placed-state determination unit .
11
5
4
11
21
Joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q) measured by the respective encoders of the joint portions of the robot arm are acquired by the controlling device from the encoders (step S).
4
22
5
22
r
Next, based upon the joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q) acquired by the controlling device , the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit executes calculations of a Jacob matrix Jand the like required for kinematical calculations of the robot arm (step S).
11
5
21
5
7
20
18
19
23
Next, based upon the joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q) from the respective encoders of the robot arm , the forward kinematical calculation unit calculates the current hand position and orientation vectors r of the robot arm , and outputs the resulting data to the estimation parameter data base , the positional error compensating unit , the desired trajectory generating unit and the transported object placed-state determination unit (step S).
5
13
7
14
18
19
24
ext
Next, based upon the output from the force sensor attached to the robot arm , the force detection unit calculates a force Fthat is exerted on the hand, and outputs the resulting data to the estimation parameter data base , the transporting force estimation unit , the desired trajectory generating unit and the transported object placed-state determination unit (step S).
14
19
21
3
14
7
25
p
p
p
FIGS. 4B to 4D
Next, the transporting force estimation unit and the transported object placed-state determination unit determine an angle ωfrom the hand position and orientation vectors r calculated and found by the forward kinematical calculation unit in step S. In the case where the hand orientation is defined as shown in , the angle ω=θ holds. Moreover, the transporting force estimation unit outputs the angle ωto the estimation parameter data base (step S).
z
13
19
26
19
21
3
Next, force information Fin the vertical direction of the outputs of the force detection unit is inputted to the transported object placed-state determination unit (step S). Moreover, the transported object placed-state determination unit further determines the hand z position (z-component of the hand position and orientation vectors r) from the hand position and orientation vectors r calculated and found by the forward kinematical calculation unit in step S.
19
3
90
90
27
a
Next, based upon the inputted information, the transported object placed-state determination unit detects whether or not the object thus transported has been placed on the object placing face of a base such as a desk, and makes the determination (step S).
19
3
90
5
5
21
13
a
p
z
More specifically, as explained earlier, the transported object placed-state determination unit determines whether or not “the object has been placed on the placing face ” from the information of the hand z position of the robot arm and the information of the angle ωmade by the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face from the forward kinematical calculation unit , and the force information Fin the vertical direction of the outputs of the force detection unit .
p
2
1
5
21
19
30
5
21
13
3
19
3
90
FIG. 11
a
Therefore, for example, in a case where, based upon the angle ωmade by the hand of the robot arm relative to the horizontal face, calculated from the hand position and orientation vectors r calculated and found by the forward kinematical calculation unit , the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that the hand of the end of the robot arm is tilted downward from the horizontal face, that the variation in the hand z position has been turned from a lowering state to a constant state in accordance with the output of the forward kinematical calculation unit , and that the downward force in the vertical direction is turned into a decrease based upon the output of the force detection unit (at a point of time tafter a lapse of predetermined time Δt from the point of time tcorresponding to the moment at which the object is placed in ), the transported object placed-state determination unit regards “the object as being placed onto the placing face ”. In this case, the predetermined time Δt is preliminarily set to, for example, 1 second or the like, based upon experiments and the like preliminarily carried out.
19
3
90
a”.
In contrast, in the other cases, the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that “the object is not placed on the placing face
27
19
3
90
a”.
The following description will discuss a force controlling process that is carried out in step S in a case where the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that “the object is not placed on the placing face
ext
p
p
ω
13
14
7
7
14
28
Based upon the force Fthat is an output of the force detection unit and the angle ωinputted from the transporting force estimation unit , the estimation parameter data base respectively determines values of parameters kand k, and the resulting parameters are outputted from the estimation parameter data base to the transporting force estimation unit (step S).
p
ω
ext
p
carry
14
17
29
Next, based upon the parameters kand k, the force Fbeing exerted on the hand, the angle ωand joint-angle data (joint variable vectors or joint angle vectors q), the transporting force estimation unit calculates a transporting force F, and outputs the corresponding value to the impedance controlling unit (step S).
37
5
21
23
13
5
40
30
d
Based upon the trajectory operation program in the operation trajectory program-use data base for the robot arm preliminarily stored therein and the hand position and orientation vectors r found by the calculations in the forward kinematical calculation unit in step S and the force information from the force detection unit , the desired trajectory generating unit calculates the hand position and orientation desired vectors rof the robot arm , and outputs the corresponding data to the positional error calculation unit (step S).
carry
dΔ
5
14
17
40
31
Next, based upon the inertia M, viscosity D and rigidity K of the mechanical impedance parameter preliminarily set by experiments and an equivalent hand external force Fapplied to the robot arm calculated by the transporting force estimation unit , the impedance controlling unit calculates hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r, and outputs the resulting values to the positional error calculation unit (step S).
40
18
17
40
21
20
20
5
20
22
32
20
20
dm
d
dΔ
d
dΔ
e
dm
dm
re
e
Next, the positional error calculation unit calculates hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors rcorresponding to a sum (r+r) of the hand position and orientation desired vectors rfrom the desired trajectory generating unit and hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r from the impedance controlling unit . Next, the positional error calculation unit calculates hand position and orientation error rcorresponding to a difference (r−r) between the hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors r, and the current hand position and orientation vectors r from the forward kinematical calculation unit , and outputs the resulting values to the positional error compensating unit . Lastly, the positional error compensating unit calculates a positional error compensating output uthat forms a controlling input for controlling the robot arm so as to allow the hand position and orientation error rto be converged to 0, and outputs the resulting value from the positional error compensating unit to the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit (step S). A PID compensator is proposed as a specific example of the positional error compensating unit . By appropriately adjusting three gains, that is, proportional gain, differential gain and integral gain, corresponding to an orthogonal matrix of a constant, the controlling process of the positional error compensating unit is exerted so as to converge the positional error to 0.
re
r
re
qe
22
22
10
5
33
Next, by multiplying the positional error compensating output uby a reverse matrix of the Jacob matrix Jcalculated in step S, the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit converts the positional error compensating output ufrom the value relating to the error of the hand position and orientation to a joint angle error compensating output uthat is a value relating to the error of the joint angle, and outputs the resulting value to the motor driver of the robot A (step S).
qe
qe
10
9
22
10
12
5
5
34
Next, the joint angle error compensating output uis given to the motor driver through the input/output IF as information from the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit , and based upon the joint angle error compensating output u, the motor driver changes the amount of current flowing through each of the motors of the joint portions. By this change in the amount of electric current, a rotating movement is generated in each of the joint portions in the robot arm so that the robot arm carries out operations (step S).
21
36
21
21
36
37
In the case of continuing steps S to S of the transport controlling operations, the sequence returns to step S, while in the other cases (in the case of not turning off the power supply or stopping the robot, but completing only the transport controlling operations), the steps S to S of the transport controlling operations are completed (step S).
FIG. 9
19
27
3
90
a”.
Referring to , the following description will discuss a position controlling operation to be carried out in a case where the transported object placed-state determination unit determines in step S that “the object is placed on the placing face
37
5
3
90
3
3
19
3
90
37
18
a
a
The operation trajectory program-use data base preliminarily stores a trajectory through which the robot arm is operated upon determination that “the object has been placed on the placing face ”. In this case, as a trajectory used for correcting the tilt of the object , for example, the trajectory is proposed in which the object is moved downward in the vertical direction at a speed of 10 mm per second. In the case when the transported object placed-state determination unit determines that “the object has been placed on the placing face ”, the operation trajectory program of the operation trajectory program-use data base for use in the placed state, preliminarily stored, is inputted to the desired trajectory generating unit .
5
37
5
21
23
18
5
40
5
18
40
5
35
5
3
90
3
90
d
a
a
In a case where the force Fz in the vertical direction of forces exerted on the hand of the robot arm corresponds to a downward force, based upon the operation trajectory program of the operation trajectory program-use data base of the robot arm and the hand position and orientation vectors r calculated and found by the forward kinematical calculation unit in step S, the desired trajectory generating unit calculates the hand position and orientation desired vectors rof the robot arm , and outputs the corresponding values to the positional error calculation unit . Moreover, in a case where, among forces exerted on the hand of the robot arm , the force Fz in the vertical direction becomes 0, or is turned into an upward force, the desired trajectory generating unit continues to output the same value to the positional error calculation unit without updating the hand position and orientation desired vectors rd of the robot arm (step S). Thus, the robot arm is continuously lowered until the object has been placed on the placing face without any tilt, and stopped at a position where the object has been placed on the placing face without any tilt to no longer give the downward force to the robot.
40
18
17
17
40
21
20
20
5
20
22
36
20
20
dm
d
dΔ
d
dΔ
dΔ
d
dm
e
dm
dm
e
Next, the positional error calculation unit calculates hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors r, corresponding to a sum (r+r) of the hand position and orientation desired vectors rfrom the desired trajectory generating unit and hand position and r from the impedance controlling unit , and since the hand position and orientation desired correcting outputs r from the impedance controlling unit is 0, r=r, holds. Next, the positional error calculation unit calculates hand position and orientation error rcorresponding to a difference (r−r) between the hand position and orientation correcting desired vectors r, and the current hand position and orientation vectors r from the forward kinematical calculation unit , and outputs the resulting values to the positional error compensating unit . Lastly, the positional error compensating unit calculates a positional error compensating output u, that forms a controlling input for controlling the robot arm so as to allow the hand position and orientation error rto be converged to 0, and outputs the resulting value from the positional error compensating unit to the approximation reverse kinematical calculation unit (step S). A PID compensator is proposed as a specific example of the positional error compensating unit . By appropriately adjusting three gains, that is, proportional gain, differential gain and integral gain, corresponding to an orthogonal matrix of a constant, the controlling process of the positional error compensating unit is exerted so as to converge the positional error to 0.
34
Next, the aforementioned step S is carried out.
21
36
5
5
3
2
5
3
3
By executing the above-mentioned steps S to S repeatedly as the controlling calculation loop, the control of the transporting operations and placing operations of a transported object of the robot arm can be achieved, that is, the operations of the robot arm by which an object is transported in cooperation with the person and the robot arm and upon placing the object , the object can be placed without causing any tilt relative to the horizontal face can be achieved.
3
19
19
5
19
3
2
5
2
5
2
5
In the above-mentioned embodiments, after the determination of the placed-state of the object by the transported object placed-state determination unit , based upon the result of the placed-state determination in the transported object placed state determination unit , the force control and the positional control of the robot arm are automatically switched so as to carry out the transported object placing operation, and for the purpose of safety, for example, a button or the like may be installed so that, only when the transported object placed-state determination unit has determined the placed-state of the object and the person pushes the button, the force control and the positional control of the robot arm may be switched. With this arrangement, only when the person intends to do so, the force control and the positional control of the robot arm can be switched, while, in a case where the person does not intend to do so, the force control and the positional control of the robot arm are not switched; thus, it becomes possible to further enhance the safety.
Additionally, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the force control is carried out for all the directions of the six axes; however, with respect to movements except for the movements in the vertical directions and the amount of pitch, the moving operation can be carried out not by the force control, but by the positional control.
4
3
3
43
3
2
5
3
3
As described above, in accordance with the controlling device of the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to provide a controlling device which can transport the object smoothly without pressing the object onto an interfered object , and achieve safe robot controlling operations, even in a case where, upon transporting an object in cooperation with the person and the robot arm , the weight of the object is unknown or when the weight of the object is changed on the way.
5
9
5
39
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9
5
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4
39
38
2
2
FIG. 12
Moreover, not limited to the structure in which the base end of the robot arm is secured onto a wall face as shown in , another structure may be used in which the base end of the robot arm is supported by a moving member that is a sliding unit capable of moving along a pair of rails , with the rails being secured onto the wall face , so that the robot arm can be moved along the rails laterally, for example, in the horizontal directions. The moving member may have a built-in motor or the like that can drive itself to move under control of the controlling device , or the moving member is allowed to freely move along the rails by the force of the person in the transporting direction together with the person .
Additionally, by properly combining the arbitrary embodiments of the aforementioned various embodiments, the effects possessed by the embodiments can be produced.
The present invention is effectively used for a robot such as a house-keeping robot that works in cooperation with a man, a controlling device and a controlling method for a robot (arm) that controls operations of the robot arm of the robot and a controlling program for the robot controlling device. Moreover, not limited to the house-keeping robot, the present invention is also applicable to an industrial robot that works in cooperation with a man, or a controlling device and a controlling method for a robot arm of a movable mechanism in a production facility and the like, as well as to a robot having the controlling device for a robot arm and a controlling program for a robot arm.
Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Patent Document 1: JP-A No. 2000-343470
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Issues to be Solved by the Invention
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other aspects and features of the present invention will become clear from the following description taken in conjunction with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1
is a view that shows a schematic structure of a robot system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2
is a view that shows specific structures of a robot-controlling device and a robot arm serving as a controlled object that form the robot system in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3A
is a control block diagram of the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3B
is another control block diagram of the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4A
is an explanatory view that shows symbols and the like in the hand of the robot arm to be controlled by the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4B
is an explanatory view that shows a roll angle, a pitch angle and a yaw angle in the end of the robot arm to be controlled by the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4C
is another explanatory view that shows a roll angle, a pitch angle and a yaw angle in the hand of the robot arm to be controlled by the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4D
is the other explanatory view that shows a roll angle, a pitch angle and a yaw angle in the hand of the robot arm to be controlled by the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5
is an explanatory view that shows symbols and the like in the hand of the robot arm to be controlled by the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6A
is a view that shows an object transporting state in cooperation with the robot arm and a person in the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6B
is another view that shows an object transporting state in cooperation with the robot arm and a person in the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6C
is still another view that shows an object transporting state in cooperation with the robot arm and a person in the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6D
is the other view that shows an object transporting state in cooperation with the robot arm and a person in the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7
is a view that shows one example of an estimation parameter data base as a table in the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8
is a flow chart that shows operation steps used for carrying out object transporting operation controls in a movement control unit of the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9
is a flow chart that shows operation steps used for determining a placed state of a transported object in the movement control unit of the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10
is an explanatory view that shows a state upon placing the object by the robot arm in cooperation with a person in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11
FIG. 11(
FIG. 11(
FIG. 11(
a
b
c
p
z
is a view that explains one example of a determining method of the placed state of a transported object to be carried out by a transported object placed-state determining unit in the robot-controlling device in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention () is a graph that shows a relationship between a hand position z of the robot arm and time t, ) is a graph that shows a relationship between an angle ωof the robot arm and time t, and ) is a graph that shows a relationship between a force Fin the vertical direction of the robot arm and time t);
FIG. 12
is an explanatory view that shows a robot system in accordance with a modified example of the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 13A
is a view that shows the outline of a robot-controlling device in accordance with the related art; and
FIG. 13B
is a view that explains problems with the robot-controlling device of the related art. | |
The Golden Mask of Tutankhamen...Macchu Picchu...Angkor Wat...the city of Troy -- once, all of these treasures were lost to the world. Treasure Seekers tells the extraordinary tale of their discovery and chronicles the exploits of the greatest adventurers, archaeologists and explorers of all time. These are the men and women who sought - and found - the treasures that reveal the hidden world that is the past. Retracing the dramatic twists and turns on the path to discovery, Treasure Seekers captures the essence of adventure -- the spirit which drove these remarkable people to keep searching for the treasures that obsessed them...no matter the danger...or the odds. | http://jwmprods.com/Productions/Treasure-Seekers |
Charcuterie master Jamie Bissonnette of Toro and Copa infuses classic Vietnamese flavors such as fish sauce, palm sugar and Thai bird chiles to Italian bologna. The result is a spicy, salty sausage that may become your new sandwich fixture.
To learn more, read "A Little Cure-ious."
Vietnamese Bologna
Recipe adapted from "The New Charcuterie Cookbook" by Jamie Bissonette
Yield: 2 one-pound pieces of bologna
Prep Time: 30 minutes, plus chilling time
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes, plus chilling time
Ingredients
1½ pounds pork shoulder, deboned and diced into ½-inch cubes, chilled in the freezer for 2 hours
½ pound pork fatback, diced into ½-inch cubes, chilled in the freezer for 2 hours
5 ounces ice cubes
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) palm sugar, grated
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons garlic powder
1½ teaspoons black peppercorns, toasted
1 tablespoon pink curing salt No.1
2 red Thai bird chiles, seeded and minced into a paste
⅓ cup fish sauce
2 banana leaves, cut into 10- x 30-inch rectangles
Directions
1. Combine the meat and the fatback together in a grinder that has been set up with the small (⅛-inch) plate. Grind the meat into a bowl set over ice. Add ⅓ of the ice to the meat and fat and grind again. Repeat two more times until you have used all the ice; add the sugar in with the meat on the last grind. The meat should look paste-like and be pink in color.
2. In a small bowl, combine the salt, garlic powder, black peppercorns, curing salt, Thai chiles and fish sauce. Using your hands, knead the salt mixture into the meat like dough until the mixture is smooth and all the ingredients are mixed in.
3. Place ½ of the meat mixture toward the front of the leaf. Roll the meat in the leaf so the leaf overlaps itself. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap; using kitchen twine, tie each end and wrap three times throughout the length of the sausage. Repeat with remaining meat.
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Make sure the pot can hold the sausages easily. Place the sausages in the water, turn the heat off and cover to cook for about 45 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 160°.
5. Remove the sausages and transfer to an ice bath. Store in the refrigerator until completely chilled, about 15 minutes. When the sausage is ready, remove the plastic wrap and banana leaf and cut into chunks or slice to desired thickness.
Please check your inbox to verify your email address. | https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/recipes/How-to-Make-Jamie-Bissonnette-Vietnamese-Bologna |
Charming cabin nestled in a large parcel that is heavily treed. This 2 bedroom 1 bath cabin has been updated to provide all the amenities and comfort while enjoying the peaceful serenity of the whispering wind through the tall ponderosa pines. Updated kitchen and bath with a nice wood burning stove to take the chill out of the cool nights! Covered porch front and back! Perfect for a second home getaway, or full time living in relaxing Parks! Perfectly located halfway between Flagstaff and Williams, this has easy access off the I-40 for an easy commute.
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Unfortunately, we don't have any similar listings at the moment. Please remove or change some of the selected filters. | https://www.ashleighherman.com/property/az/86018/parks/maine-townsite-parks-cabin/13608-e-aspen-drive/62b15dd09ebbbbce8d07d64d/ |
Airport Technology Research Home About ATR News Airport Technology Research Plan Contact Us Careers
A typical bird strike containing only tissue and blood with no feather fragments for Microscopic or whole-feather comparisons. These types of samples will be the focus of the DNA identification method.
The FAA and the United States Air Force jointly sponsored a 5 year program to develop improved identification techniques for aircraft bird strike remains. The focus of the research was the development of a DNA-based identification for bird strike remains that lack morphological evidence for feather comparisons. Identification via DNA sequencing is the 'gold' standard, but other cheaper and faster methods will likely emerge as a result of the database development.
Work is being conducted by the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory and has recently been extended through Fiscal Year 2023. Rapid isolation of biological remains in the field is critical, and testing of several user-friendly field collection protocols is being be carried out to determine the highest probability of success.
For more detailed information about this project visit the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Lab page.
For more information on the FAA Wildlife R&D program visit the Official FAA Wildlife R&D website. | https://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/Airport-Safety/Wildlife-Hazard-Abatement/Bird-Strike-Identification |
QTY:
Make cupcakes with up to four flavors or colors! Two dividers slide together to create four sections. Fill each section with a different flavor/color of batter, or alternate every other section with two flavors/colors. Remove dividers before baking. | https://www.countrykitchensa.com/shop/essentials/cupcake-dividers/40/530/1611/646576/ |
I get excited when I see the outside temperature drop below 0°F (-18°C). This is not because I enjoy cold weather. It is because when the outside temperature gets this cold, I can conduct a particular experiment that I think is quite beautiful. The experiment is easy to carry out: boil some water and throw the hot water into the frigid air. Check it out below:
Isn’t that cool? Throwing very hot water into very cold air results in the rapid formation of a cloud.
This simple experiment brings several questions to my mind. First, what is going on here? I’ve thought about this experiment a bit, and I’m still not completely sure what is happening. My guess is that the hot water has a very high vapor pressure, which causes a lot of the hot liquid molecules to vaporize into the cold air. The vaporized water molecules quickly condense, then freeze (or do they just sublime?) into tiny particles of ice to form an ice cloud. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on what you think might be happening.
I’ve also wondered about the factors involved in cloud formation. I’ve conducted this experiment at outside temperatures ranging from 5°F (-15°C) to -4°F (-20°C). While I haven’t performed in-depth experiments, the cloud formation seems to work better at colder air temperatures. I think an analysis of cloud formation at various outside air temperatures would be a great winter project for students. The temperature rarely drops below 0°F (-18°C) where I live so unfortunately I haven’t had my students look at this.
A second set of experiments involves looking at the temperature of the water thrown into the air. As seen in the video, water close to its boiling temperature forms a nice cloud. However, I have tried using hot water from the tap (about 104°F or 40°C), but water at this temperature does not form a cloud. Is there a threshold temperature above which the water must be to form a visible cloud? And does this threshold temperature change with the temperature of the outside air?
I’ve conducted this experiment as a demonstration for my chemistry classes when the weather cooperates. (Be sure to do a trial run before demonstrating this to your classes! I once tried this experiment in front of my class when the outside temperature was too warm for cloud formation. I am sure my students wondered why their professor decided to take them outside on a cold day so he could throw hot water into the air for no reason at all). If you happen to try this demonstration for your classes or if you try any of the suggested experiments above, let me know how things work out. I would love to hear from you.
All comments must abide by the ChemEd X Comment Policy, are subject to review, and may be edited. Please allow one business day for your comment to be posted, if it is accepted.
Comments 10
Ice clouds v contrails
Your experiment reminds me of contrails, those cloud trails seen behind airplanes, and smokestack clouds. Of course the altitude of a jet plane is different and jet engines and smokestacks are 'throwing' water vapor and not boiling water into the air, but the products are both interesting and beautiful. Contrails have undergone significant study in order to understand their impact on the atmosphere and to debunk the conspiracy theory of "chemtrails". The Journal of Chemical Education published a tech report on a physical chemistry exercise (1) about contrails. Another article about fog machines (2) refers to similar experiments/demonstrations and may provide some answers to your questions. Relating your demonstration/experiment to contrails and smokestack clouds might provide some connections for students.
References
- Chen, Franklin. "Contrail. A Module from the Physical Chemistry On-Line Project", Journal of Chemical Education 2007 84 (4), 735.
- Vitz, Ed and Lyle, Kenneth S. "Fog Machines, Vapors, and Phase Diagrams", Journal of Chemical Education 2008 85 (10), 1385.
Thanks!
Yes! It does appear as though many condensation trails form during the ice cloud experiment. I will look into the reference on contrails you provided. Thanks for the input!
Awesome!
Remembering your entry about ice clouds made a -22F morning a much more fun experience...or experiment. We were able to do this ice cloud experiment until noon today and the kids loved it!! I have read about it in the past but not usually when the weather was cooperating. Thanks for a great end of the semester fun activity. And we can start a new semester with new students in January!! It's a two-fer!!
Hi Kathy, I'll bet you guys
Hi Kathy, I'll bet you guys had a blast. -22F is REALLY cold! What did the clouds look like and how did they behave at -22F? Were the clouds similar in structure and behavior to the clouds you see in the my video? Thanks for letting me know you gave this experiment a try.
Clouds
Hi Tom,
The clouds we made looked like yours except I rationed the water among the students in their styrofoam cups so we made little ones. I did notice that by the third class (when the temps had warmed up to -3F) there was more liquid water that hit the ground, but we still had clouds. =)
Thanks!
Thanks, Kathy
Related
Hi Tom,
In a related weather vein (vane..pun intended) i did an experiment to capture a snowflake using Super Glue. I read it years ago in Poplular Science. The idea was to collect a snowflake on a microscope slide, add a few drops superglue before it melts, then a slide cover to "freeze" it in time. So for weeks I kept Super Glue, slides, and slide covers outside on my front porch waiting for snow. When it finally came I capture several full snowflakes, then brought them with me to class. My students then used a microscope to see the elaborate crystal structure of the snowflakes.
Thanks for your video. If I can find my snowflake slides I will use my new document camera and a microscope to add some pictures.
John
fantastic
John, that is a fantastic idea - I hope you find the pictures! If you do find the pictures, could I talk you into potentially guest-blogging about how to carry out the experiment?
Ice cloud
Nice experiment. There are a few phenomena going on here as I see it. Hot water obviously evaporates and the rate of evaporation depends not only on temperature of water but also on atmospheric pressure, hence lower the pressure – higher the rate of evaporation. Water vapor itself is invisible. What we see are droplets of liquid water or tiny ice crystals in this case. First case is condensation and second either freezing or inverse sublimation. Now the rate of condensation depends on the relative humidity of the air. The higher the humidity, the less additional water vapor can the air receive and the stronger the condensation. I suggest you carry out before the experiment two measurements of atmospheric conditions: barometric pressure and relative humidity. These two factors, besides atmospheric temperature, will determine the cloud effect. Best wishes!
Great suggestions
Hi Eugenio:
I wish the weather around my home cooperated more often so that I could systematically study the ice cloud under various atmospheric conditions. However, the temperature where I live rarely drops below 10 Fahrenheit. Nevertheless, I appreciate your comments and insights and will start measuring the barometric pressure and relative humidity whenever I have the opportunity to conduct this experiment. | https://www.chemedx.org/blog/ice-clouds |
Among the recipes are fast, fresh, and summer is the recipe for the soufflé omelette and tomatoes, a recipe to try. It is one of the recipes from silver spoon's, then a perfect recipe. It is also a recipe light, perfect for those on a diet. A little butter, a little olive oil, eggs, tomatoes and a few little secret to follow and we will be able to bring to the table the soufflé omelette and tomatoes. The suggestion is to serve slices of frittata with the tomatoes above, but we can also add a tasty and simple side dish for the summer with vegetables of the season. Here is the recipe of the summer, the recipe for making a souffle omelette and tomatoes.
Other easy recipes, click here
Soufflé omelette and tomatoes
Ingredients: 4 eggs, 20 g butter, 50 g of diced tomatoes, 1 shallot, lemon, butter, olive oil, salt and pepper
Preparation: in a pan heat a half a tablespoon of oil with half a tablespoon of water and combine the chopped shallots in the end, we climb a little and combine the diced tomatoes, stir and after a few minutes of cooking remove from fire and keep aside.
Peel the eggs and hopefully in two bowls the egg yolks from the whites.
To the yolks add a little cold water, salt and pepper.
Assemble the egg whites with two drops of lemon.
Mix egg whites and egg yolks together.
In a pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil, then pour in the eggs and cook the omelet for a minute on both sides.
Transfer on a greased baking sheet and put under the grill the frittata and let them brown for 1 minute.
Remove from the grill and top with the tomatoes, or serve next to slices of omelet serve immediately. | https://www.bitfeed.co/page/the-recipe-for-the-omelette-souffle-in-a-tomato-sauce |
PHEM buffer has been used primarily for tissues and cell cultures being processed for immunocytochemical studies. Most antigens, especially intra cellular ones, stain better using PHEM than those processed using PBS, it also has a more limited effect on biochemical reactions and enzymes. Very good preservation of cellular ultrastructure, notably microtubules, is also an advantage of PHEM use.
Desired Fixative
200 ml of 2.5% Glutaraldehyde, 1.5% Paraformaldehyde in 0.1M PHEM buffer.
|Glutaraldehyde (Cat#1 6320)||50% x V1 = 2.5% x 200 ml||V1 = 10 ml of 50% EM Grade Glutaraldehyde|
|Paraformaldehyde (Cat# 15710-S)||16% x V1 = 1.5% x 200ml||V1 = 18.75 ml of 16% Paraformaldehyde
|
|0.2 M PHEM (Cat# 11162)||0.2 M x V1 = 0.1M x 200 ml||
|
V1= 100ml of 0.02M PHEM Buffer
Adjust to desired pH. QS with distilled water to 200 ml.
References
- Schliwa, Manfred, and Jonathan Van Blerkom. "Structural interaction of cytoskeletal components." The Journal of Cell Biology 90.1 (1981): 222-235. | https://emsdiasum.com/microscopy/technical/datasheet/11162.aspx |
Hello! Today for Lawn Fawn inspiration week we are featuring the Perfectly Plaid Winter papers. What better set to pair these wintery plaids with than Making Frosty Friends.
I paper pieced the cute snowmen and accessories from Making Frosty friends with the Perfectly Plaid Winter papers. The sentiment is white embossed on a piece of vellum die cut with a scalloped rectangle. I added stickles to a white cardstock stitched frame and layered that over the vellum. This was a perfect place to hide the adhesive on the vellum.
I added a few tiny clear sequins and some Guava cardstock die cut hearts as well as some black stickles to the hat and black enamel accents to their eyes and buttons.
Be sure to check out the Lawn Fawn Blog for more Perfectly Plaid Winter projects.
SUPPLIES: | https://mossymade.com/lawn-fawn-october-inspiration-week_76/ |
Homes plans for historic old Bass buildings will be reminder of when Burton was world centre of brewing – Staffordshire Live
Two historic former Bass maltings buildings are to be transformed into 143 apartments in a nod to Burton’s global brewing heritage.
Numbers 1 and 2 The Maltings, off Wetmore Road, Burton, are two impressive 19th century buildings once owned by Bass Brewery when it was the largest brewer in the world. Planners have said turning them into homes would “act as a memory of a time when Burton was at the centre of a global business which would have touched the majority of families in Burton”.
There were originally dozens of the Maltings buildings on the site but most have been bulldozed, leaving numbers 1, 2 and 3. Number 3 was recently converted into flats but, in August, it was left badly damaged by a large fire which started accidentally.
Read the latest planning stories here
Maltings Developments Limited has now been given permission by planning authority East Staffordshire Borough Council to turn buildings 1 and 2 into 143 apartments to provide a mixture of one and two-bed apartments and studios with additional apartments in the converted old water tower building to the north-west corner of the application site.
The buildings have been empty since the 1960s as the brewery business evolved and introduced new methods of production in new accommodation elsewhere.
The majority of the maltings building have been demolished leaving numbers 1, 2 and 3 in isolation. Originally built as numbers 16, 17 and 18, these survivors were given listed building status along with numbers 19 and 20 in June 1979. Numbers 19 and 20 have since been demolished.
The current number 3 suffered a serious fire in 1978 which resulted in the loss of much of the timber superstructure to the malting floors and the roof, and again in August, this year.
Numbers 1 and 2 have had many uses since they were emptied by the brewery with evidence remaining of a bakery products manufacturer which once occupied the buildings.
(Image: Maltings Developments Limited)
In more recent years planning permission was gained for the siting of additional flour silos in 1993.
The buildings are now empty and are starting to suffer decay to the fabric.
A report submitted alongside the application said: “The fact that the buildings continue to be empty demonstrates that the market for a building use appropriate for the full retention of all of its fabric does not exist. It has been established that residential use is a viable use as demonstrated by the acceptance of the conversion of number 3 in planning terms.
“The location of the buildings and access for large commercial vehicles is not ideal and it is foreseeable that the extant commercial uses around the site will continue to decline over the coming years as more contemporary commercial accommodation is built in more accessible locations elsewhere.
“These remaining examples of a particular building type will ……. | https://historic-homes.bmt-lines.com/homes-plans-for-historic-old-bass-buildings-will-be-reminder-of-when-burton-was-world-centre-of-brewing-staffordshire-live/ |
|Project by Keebler1||posted 08-27-2019 03:15 AM||1077 views||0 times favorited||12 comments|
This was my project for this years beer swap. I made it out of oak. Originally tried making a star at the top with my jigsaw but I had to put so much pressure on the wood to keep the jigsaw from bouncing that the star broke so I cut it off. I got to thinking about the project while driving one day(I drive a truck for a living) and decided the beer bottle caps would add a nice touch. I glued on another piec of oak on either side and used a hole saw to make the holes for the caps. I didnt have the correct saw but I was able to use one a little bigger. Without drilling all the way through I was able to put the caps on the center piece of the hole that the hole saw normally removes. I didnt glue the caps on so they can be pried off and swapped out as desired. I finished with 3 coats of deft. It will hold 8 beers.
12 comments so far
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#1 posted 08-27-2019 06:16 AM
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Interesting concept.
-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted
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#2 posted 08-27-2019 10:55 AM
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Glad you could participate! Wish I could have. Looking forward to the fall one!
-- I'd rather be a hammer than a nail
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#3 posted 08-27-2019 11:55 AM
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Nice beer tote Keebler. I like the caps and the use of rope for the handle.
-- We all make mistakes, the trick is to fix it in a way that says "I meant to do that".
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#4 posted 08-27-2019 11:57 AM
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My favorite part of this build is the handle (rope and a dowel). It keeps your hand away from the bottle tops and allows for easier carrying. The bottle caps decorations are also a nice touch, especially since you can replace them with new ones.
Hopefully, you will catch the Swap bug and participate in many more.
-- Earl "I'm a pessamist - generally that increases the chance that things will turn out better than expected"
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#5 posted 08-27-2019 12:21 PM
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I like the rope handle too :-) I think that might be the first tote I’ve seen with one of those. I really like the bottle cap idea too. That’s a cool way to personalize it. Nice job Keebler! Thanks for participating with us.
-- Kenny, SW VA, Go Hokies!!!
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#6 posted 08-27-2019 12:45 PM
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See, I thought the coolest part was that it can carry 8 beers instead of the usual 6.
Nice work Keebler
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#7 posted 08-27-2019 06:27 PM
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I can confirm it carries 8 beers :) Thanks for the tote Keebler, I’ve only had one of the beers so far, the Alamo Golden Ale, and it was good. I’d never tried the Alamo brand before. I saved the cap and may replace one in the tote with it.
-- "Duck and Bob would be out doin some farming with funny hats on." chrisstef
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#8 posted 08-27-2019 07:13 PM
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I like it!! Fun project
-- Kelly, woodworker under construction
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#9 posted 08-28-2019 12:04 AM
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Cool design. Really like the bottle caps.
CtL
-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."- PortablePastimes.com (Purveyors of Portable Fun and Fidgets)
Have your say...
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You must be signed in to post the comments. | https://www.lumberjocks.com/projects/411229 |
The utility model relates to the technical field of painting, and discloses a sponge brush for wall painting, which comprises a first telescopic rod, a first bolt is fixedly arranged on the first telescopic rod, the bottom end of the first telescopic rod is fixedly connected with a handle, and the top end of the first telescopic rod is fixedly connected with a first mounting rod and a second mounting rod. The first mounting rod and the second mounting rod are symmetrically distributed, a circular ring is fixedly connected to the end, away from the first telescopic rod, of the first mounting rod, a roller frame is fixedly mounted at the end, away from the first telescopic rod, of the first mounting rod, and a sponge roller is fixedly mounted on the roller frame. According to the sponge brush for wall painting, the roller frame can be rotated by unscrewing the claw nut, the roller is adjusted to be in the vertical state, fixing can be achieved by unscrewing the claw nut again, the wall at the high position can be transversely painted by holding the handle with the hand, the wall at the high position does not need to be transversely painted by a worker through a herringbone ladder, the safety performance is improved, and meanwhile operation is easier and more convenient. | |
Match context:
North America
Date:
2016-09-06
Result:
Forrest Faulk
9 : 8
Carter Mattig
Result type:
Normal match
Forrest Faulk
✓
Carter Mattig
Experience (prior):
54
9
Old rating:
1,460.1834
1,534.6603
New rating:
1,490.3664
1,501.4320
Rating change:
+30.1829
-33.2283
Rating today:
1,495.0867
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XG data:
Match info
Location:
Carolina
Event:
Cardinal Classic
Round:
4th Round
Transcribed by:
Forrest Faulk
Download:
Original XG file
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TXT format
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MAT format
Browse:
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Forrest Faulk ✓
Carter Mattig
Analyse level:
4-ply
4-ply
Checker errors (blunders):
33 (14)
34 (11)
Cube errors (blunders):
6 (4)
2 (0)
Resign error cost:
0.00
0.00
Luck (Jokers):
+4.57 (29)
-4.57 (25)
PR (moves):
8.67
6.25
PR (cube):
14.53
1.60
PR (overall):
9.2986 (Advanced)
5.7036 (Expert)
BMAB info:
Forrest Faulk ✓
Carter Mattig
BMAB registration number:
00330
This match counts towards BMAB experience and title:
☑
Average PR last 300 BMAB EP after this match:
7.6962
BMAB EP after this match:
63
BMAB Title after this match:
none
none
Average PR last 300 BMAB EP today:
7.9881
BMAB EP today:
81
BMAB Title today: | https://bgmastersab.com/north-america/match?id=9963 |
Between 1969 and 1972 six Apollo missions brought back 382 kg (842 pounds) of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust from the lunar surface. In addition, three automated Soviet spacecraft returned important samples totaling 300 g (approximately 3/4 pound).
Mass is not distributed uniformly inside the moon. Large mass concentrations ("mascons") lie beneath the surface of many large lunar basins and probably represent thick accumulations of dense lava. Relative to its geometric center, the moon's center of mass is displaced toward Earth by several kilometers.
The first human being walked on the moon on 20 July 1969.
The ancient Chinese greeted solar eclipses by using noisemakers and by shooting arrows toward the heavens.
Can you spot the face of the man on the moon?
This close-up image of the lunar surface is from the Luna 9 lander in the Oceanus Procellarum. This is the first image from the surface of the moon.
In 2009, a NASA team restored the first grainy video of Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon.
The face of the moon is marked by regions, called mare (Latin for "sea"). Galileo, who thought the dark featureless areas were bodies of water, named these regions. We now know them to be basalt (a type of lava) filled impact basins.
Between 4.5 and 4.3 billion years ago, a giant object hit the moon near its south pole and formed the South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the two largest proven impact basins in the solar system.
Two NASA LRO Videos: "Evolution of the Moon" and "A Tour of the Moon."
There are two high tides and two low tides every day on every beach on Earth. This is due to the moon's pull.
The atmosphere of the moon, called a surface boundary exosphere, is likely the same type of atmosphere found on many other planets.
When the snows were deep in January, wolf packs would often howl near Native American villages, prompting the title "full wolf moon" for the first full moon in January (according to climatologist Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University).
Relative to Earth, the moon is highly depleted in iron and in volatile elements that are needed to form atmospheric gases and water. However, there is an atmosphere.
September's full moon is referred to as the "Harvest Moon" because it occurs during harvest-time. The next "super" harvest moon will not occur until 2029.
Moon-rock ages range from about 3.2 billion years in the maria (dark, low basins) to nearly 4.6 billion years in the terrae (light, rugged highlands). Active geologic forces, including plate tectonics and erosion, continuously repave the oldest surfaces on Earth whereas old surfaces persist with little disturbance on the moon.
Native Americans referred to February's full moon as "Snow Moon." This is due to the cold and snowy weather typically found during the month of February.
Did you know the largest impact basin in the Earth-moon system is the South-Pole-Aitken basin on the moon measuring 2,500 km in diameter?
Most ancient religions had a moon god or goddess. One Roman moon goddess was named Luna, and this is why many modern words associated with the moon have "Luna" as their root.
The age of the oldest rock collected by the Apollo astronauts is 4.5 billion years old.
Only about 59 percent of the moon's surface is visible to us here on Earth.
A lunar day (or the time it takes from sunrise to sunrise) on the moon is approximately 708 hours. | https://moon.nasa.gov/moonfacts.cfm |
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Wildfire Danger
The wildfire danger in the Slave Lake Forest Area is MODERATE. Strong and gusty winds are expected today. Firefighters urge everyone to use caution when working or recreating in snow-free areas as the dead grass will ignite easily and winds will cause the fire to spread quickly.
if you spot a wildfire report it by calling 310-Fire (3473).
Wildfire updates will be provided weekly when the wildfire danger is low to moderate and daily when the wildfire danger reaches high to extreme. If you have any questions in the meantime contact Wildfire Information Officer Leah Lovequist 780-849-0945.
Wildfire Situation
SWF012 Firefighters and helicopters are fighting a new wildfire start south of the hamlet of Summerwood. The grass fire is 2.0 hectares and is not threating the community.
There were four new wildfires over the weekend. One is classified as out of control, one is under control and two have been extinguished.
Photo SWF011 April 25, 2022 9:38 am - Firefighters reported no visible flame on their flight of the wildfire this morning.
SWF011 started on Sunday afternoon and is located 14 kilometres southeast of Kinuso. Firefighters and helicopters responded and were able to slow the fire spread. At this time, there are 18 firefighters, two helicopters and various pieces of heavy equipment working to contain this wildfire. It is classified as burning out of control and is 136.3 hectares in size. The wildfire is not a threat to the community.
Since January 1st, 2022 in the Slave Lake Forest Area, there have been 11 wildfires which have burned 142.77 hectares.
SWF099 located northeast of Chipewyan Lakes which occurred in 2021 remains under control and will be scanned for hotspots in the spring when the snow has melted.
Since January 1st, 2022 in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta, there have been 108 wildfires which burned a total of 241.95 hectares.
For more information or to view the wildfires on a map, download the AB Wildfire App or visit Wildfire Status | AAF - Agriculture and Forestry (alberta.ca).
Firefighters burning
Over the next several weeks, firefighters will be burning areas of dead dry grass around communities in the Slave Lake Forest Area. Burning is an efficient way to remove this extremely flammable fire fuel. Trained firefighters conduct these burns under specific weather conditions to ensure the fires are controlled and to minimize the impact of smoke to roadways and communities.
If you have any questions about these grass burns contact Wildfire Information Office Leah Lovequist 780-849-0945.
Winter Burning
Do your part to prevent spring wildfires by revisiting your winter burns to ensure they are extinguished. If fires aren’t properly put out, they can spread and burn underground, under the snow and ice, all winter. Under the right conditions, these fires can re-emerge in the spring as wildfires.
When checking your winter burns, spread around any remaining debris so you can probe the area for hotspots. If you see smoke or feel heat, the fire is still burning. Douse any remaining hotspots with water and stir up the ashes. A fire is not out until there is absolutely no heat emanating from the ashes.
For more information on brush pile and windrow safe burning practices click here.
Wildfire Prevention
Spring is the time of year when wildfires are 100 per cent preventable. Most if not all of the wildfires we see at this time of year are human-caused. Please do your part to prevent wildfires this spring.
When riding your off-highway vehicle stop frequently to remove any build up of debris from your machine. Grass, muskeg, moss or other debris can begin to smoulder and drop to the ground as you're riding and spark a wildfire.
*New* Fire Permit Portal
From March 1st to October 31st, a fire permit is required for any type of outdoor burning in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta with the exception of a campfire for cooking or warming.Fire permits help ensure that when smoke or fire is reported, wildfire officials can determine whether this is a wildfire or a permitted burn.
Albertans living or recreating in the Forest Protection Area of the province can request a free fire permit using the new, convenient online fire permit portal.
Fire permits can also still be requested over the phone by calling your local forest area office.
Red Earth/Slave Lake (780) 849-7377
High Prairie (780) 523-6619
Wabasca (780) 891-3860
*New* Wildfire Dashboard
The new wildfire dashboard provides up-to-date wildfire information at the click of a button. This interactive tool displays important statistics on the number of active wildfires in the province, sizes, locations, suspected causes and more.The dashboard builds on the former wildfire status map by displaying the most frequently accessed information in one convenient location.
Wildfire Information
Download the Alberta Wildfire app today and get access to accurate, real-time information on wildfires in your area. You can also find information on fire advisories, restrictions and bans across the province and much more all on your mobile device.
Available for Apple and Android.
Before heading out, please check albertafirebans.ca to determine whether there are any fire advisories, fire restrictions or fire bans in effect for your destination.
Subscribe to the Slave Lake Forest Area Wildfire Update to receive an email when new information is posted.
Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Updates will be provided weekly when the wildfire danger is low to moderate and daily when the wildfire danger reaches high to extreme.
Unless conditions change you can expect your next wildfire update on April 26, 2022.
If you have any questions please contact:
Leah Lovequist
Wildfire Information Officer
Mobile:780-849-0945
Email: [email protected]
RELATED INFORMATION
Websites: | https://slavelake.ca/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1784&ARC=2761 |
Resettable combination locks are popular because they can be set to user-chosen codes. Multiple locks can be set alike to one another. Authorized users don't have to keep track of key or other physical credentials. These locks are often used to control access to construction zones, infrastructure, and sensitive areas (such as utility equipment and cellular towers) across the country. The most popular of these locks is the Master 175. Methods of attacking this lock have been known for some time, however the descriptions and documentation were not readily available. The talk will discuss the best method for decoding this lock and examine the path I took to create my own cutaways and instructional models. In the end, this will hopefully provide people skills both at some home-machining and also help them decode the lock well enough to teach others.
Max Power has been working in IT as a jack of all trades but with an fascination for risk and what trust is actually based in. Four years ago he dove straight into the Locksport: running the Boston TOOOL chapter, helping with the lockpick villages at major cons, and actively working in the community. When not at work or picking locks he can found trying to load as much weight as possible on to the bar, training for powerlifting competitions, because nothing is more fun than not bending when the bar does. | http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/circlecitycon2017/112-open-sesamee-max-power |
Q:
Why do we need the From type parameter in Scala's CanBuildFrom
I am experimenting with a set of custom container functions and took inspiration from Scala's collections library with regard to the CanBuildFrom[-From, -Elem, -To] implicit parameter.
In Scala's collections, CanBuildFrom enables parametrization of the return type of functions like map. Internally the CanBuildFrom parameter is used like a factory: map applies it's first order function on it's input elements, feeds the result of each application into the CanBuildFrom parameter, and finally calls CanBuildFrom's result method which builds the final result of the map call.
In my understanding the -From type parameter of CanBuildFrom[-From, -Elem, -To] is only used in apply(from: From): Builder[Elem, To] which creates a Builder preinitialized with some elements. In my custom container functions I don't have that use case, so I created my own CanBuildFrom variant Factory[-Elem, +Target].
Now I can have a trait Mappable
trait Factory[-Elem, +Target] {
def apply(elems: Traversable[Elem]): Target
def apply(elem: Elem): Target = apply(Traversable(elem))
}
trait Mappable[A, Repr] {
def traversable: Traversable[A]
def map[B, That](f: A => B)(implicit factory: Factory[B, That]): That =
factory(traversable.map(f))
}
and an implementation Container
object Container {
implicit def elementFactory[A] = new Factory[A, Container[A]] {
def apply(elems: Traversable[A]) = new Container(elems.toSeq)
}
}
class Container[A](val elements: Seq[A]) extends Mappable[A, Container[A]] {
def traversable = elements
}
Unfortunately though, a call to map
object TestApp extends App {
val c = new Container(Seq(1, 2, 3, 4, 5))
val mapped = c.map { x => 2 * x }
}
yields an error message not enough arguments for method map: (implicit factory: tests.Factory[Int,That])That. Unspecified value parameter factory . The error goes away when I add an explicit import import Container._ or when I explicitly specify the expected return type val mapped: Container[Int] = c.map { x => 2 * x }
All of these "workarounds" become unnecessary when I add an unused third type parameter to Factory
trait Factory[-Source, -Elem, +Target] {
}
def map[B, That](f: A => B)(implicit factory: Factory[Repr, B, That]): That =
factory(traversable.map(f))
}
and change the implicit definition in Container
object Container {
implicit def elementFactory[A, B] = new Factory[Container[A], B, Container[B]] {
def apply(elems: Traversable[A]) = new Container(elems.toSeq)
}
}
So finally my question: Why is the seemingly unused -Source type parameter necessary to resolve the implicit?
And as an additional meta question: How do you solve these kinds of problems if you don't have a working implementation (the collection library) as a template?
Clarification
It might be helpful to explain why I thought the implicit resolution should work without the additional -Source type parameter.
According to this doc entry on implicit resolution, implicits are looked up in companion objects of types. The author does not provide an example for implicit parameters from companion objects (he only explains implicit conversion) but I think what this means is that a call to Container[A]#map should make all implicits from object Container available as implicit parameters, including my elementFactory. This assumption is supported by the fact that it is enough to provide the target type (no additional explicit imports!!) to get the implicit resolved.
A:
The extra type parameter enables this behavior according to the specification of implicit resolution. Here is a summary from the FAQ answer to where do implicits come from (relevant parts bolded):
First look in current scope:
Implicits defined in current scope
Explicit imports
wildcard imports
Now look at associated types in:
Companion objects of a type (1)
Implicit scope of an argument’s type (2)
Implicit scope of type arguments (3)
Outer objects for nested types
Other dimensions
When you call map on a Mappable, you get the implicits from the implicit scope of its arguments, by (2). Since its argument is Factory in this case, that means that you also get the implicits from the implicit scope of all of type arguments of Factory, by (3). Next is the key: only when you add Source as a type parameter to Factory do you get all the implicits in the implicit scope of Container. Since the implicit scope of Container includes the implicits defined in its companion object (by (1)), this brings the desired implicit into scope without the imports you were using.
That's the syntactic reason, but there is a good semantic reason for this to be the desired behavior – unless the type is specified, the compiler would have no way of resolving the correct implicit when there may be conflicts. For example, if choosing between builder for a String or List[Char], the compiler needs to pick the correct one to enable "myFoo".map(_.toUpperCase) returning a String. If every implicit conversion were brought into scope all the time, this would be difficult or impossible. The above rules are meant to encompass an ordered list of what could possibly be relevant to the current scope in order to prevent this problem.
You can read more about implicits and implicit scope in the specification or in this great answer.
Here's why your other two solutions work: When you explicitly specify the return type of the call to map (in the version without the the Source parameter), then type inference comes into play, and the compiler can deduce that the parameter of interest That is Container, and therefore the implicit scope of Container comes into scope, including its companion object implicits. When you use an explicit import, then the desired implicit is in scope, trivially.
As for you meta-question, you can always click through the source code (or just checkout the repo), build minimal examples (like you have), and ask questions here. Using the REPL helps a lot to dealing with small examples like this.
| |
I have a problem.
I love rereading books.
(First step is admitting you have a problem, so I can check that off my list.)
But there are so many new books coming out all the time and old books that I hear about for the first time, so my to-read shelf on Goodreads just keeps getting loooonger and loooooooonger. What to do???
I’ve read 44 books this year (WOAH) and 16 of those have been rereads (YIKES). Clearly this is a problem. If I devote that much time to books that I’ve already read, how am I ever going to even make a dent in my TBR pile? Imagine how many more new books I could have discovered if I had read 16 new books instead of those rereads! But I can’t bring myself to regret them . . .
I blame this behavior on my younger self, who read everything she could get her hands and seemed to think there was a finite number of good books out there (because apparently she didn’t realize that new books come out???) and just reread her favorites over and over. She realized that she liked returning to the books she liked and unfortunately that habit remains today.
(^ me as a seven-year-old)
So what’s the big deal with rereading?
The Pros:
I get to revisit characters and worlds that I love! Who doesn’t like stepping back into a world you’re familiar with and characters that feel like old friends? There’s something so soothing about returning to a story that you already know, because you don’t have to stress about what’s going to happen and instead you can enjoy the ride.
It can be comforting during hard times. I often turn to old favorites when there’s a big change happening in my life (I reread The Hobbit during my first semester of college and Harry Potter while I was studying abroad) or if things just haven’t been going my way and I need something familiar (I reread The Goose Girl at the beginning of this semester). When life is rough or scary, I need my faves with me to have my back.
I know what’s going to happen, so I can appreciate other aspects. Sometimes when I’m reading a book for the first time, I’m so anxious to find out what’s going to happen that I fly through it super fast. Rereading gives me the opportunity to slow down and appreciate other things like characters and prose and themes that I might not have caught on the first read (or second, or third…). I reread The Raven Cycle earlier this year because the first time through was so fast and stressful, and I loved knowing what was going to happen so I could pay more attention to all the little details that I didn’t catch before!
I understand new things in different times of my life. Every time I reread an old fave, I relate to it in a new way based on what’s going on in my life. Maybe I understand the motives of a character differently, or I relate a theme to something in my own life in a way that I wouldn’t have when I was younger. That’s the beauty of well-written, timeless books – they grow with you and let you connect them to so many aspects of your own life.
It’s a guaranteed good read. If you’ve loved it every other time you’ve read it, you know you’ll love it again, right? Especially when I’ve been disappointed by other new books, it’s so much easier to pick up something I know I’ll enjoy because I need to remind myself why I love reading. Plus, this can be a great way to get yourself out of a reading slump!
The Cons:
Less time for new books. I mean, obviously. The logical consequence of rereading old books is that new books get neglected. And the TBR keeps growing and growing until one day I die in an avalanche of books (my greatest fear).
I could realize the book isn’t as good as I remembered. Is there anything worse than picking up a book you used to love and realizing you don’t love it anymore? The betrayal! The heartbreak! Truly one of life’s greatest disappointments. This is why I’m a little scared to pick up some of the books I really loved when I was younger, because what if they’re not as good anymore and my memory of them is tarnished forever?
I can get stuck in a rut. Often, when I reread something, I remember some other old book that I loved that I want to pick up again. And I get caught in a vicious cycle of going through old books and not picking up anything new. It’s a slippery slope and I don’t know how to prevent it from happening.
That said, here are some of my favorite books to reread (as in, I’ve read them so many times I’ve actually lost count of the exact number and my copies are probably falling apart).
Aaaaaand here are some of the books I want to reread at some point. Not now………..probably. Maybe. We’ll see. 😉
(OH NO THIS IS SO MANY SOMEBODY STOP ME.)
(It hasn’t even been a year since I read some of these I need help.)
let’s talk…
Do you like rereading books? If you had all the time in the world, what books would you reread? Any advice for my rereading problem? | https://weirdzeal.com/2018/04/12/rereading/?replytocom=173 |
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/749,562, filed on Jan. 22, 2020; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/193,652, filed on Nov. 16, 2018 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,587,679 issued on Mar. 10, 2020), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/368,368, filed on Dec. 2, 2016 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,171,569 issued on Jan. 1, 2019); the aforementioned applications being hereby incorporated by reference in their respective entireties.
BACKGROUND
A network service may identify a single service provider to provide a service for a requesting user and transmit an invitation message to the respective computing device of the identified service provider. However, in many instances, a service provider may decline invitations to provide services based on any number of factors. In such an instance, if the identified service provider declines the invitation, the network service must identify another available service provider, transmit another invitation message to that service provider, and wait for the service provider to accept or reject the invitation. This process may lead to undesirable delays and uncertainty from the requesting user's perspective.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The disclosure herein is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements, and in which:
1
FIG.
is a block diagram illustrating an example network system in communication with sets of client devices, according to examples described herein;
2
FIG.
is a flow chart describing an example method of operating a network system, according to examples described herein;
3
FIG.
is a block diagram illustrating an example client device executing a designated client application for communicating with the network service, according to examples described herein;
4
FIG.
is a block diagram illustrating an example client device executing a designated service provider application for communicating with the service, according to examples described herein;
5
FIG.
is a timeline diagram illustrating an example process of selecting a service provider, according to examples described herein;
6
FIG.
is another timeline diagram illustrating another example process of selecting a service provider, according to examples described herein; and
7
FIG.
is a block diagram illustrating a computer system upon which examples described herein may be implemented.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A network service, which is implemented by a computing system(s) (referred to herein as a “network system” for purposes of simplicity), is provided herein that links available service providers (e.g., drivers, couriers, autonomous vehicles (AVs), etc.) with requesting users throughout a given geographic region (e.g., a metroplex such as the San Francisco Bay Area). In doing so, the network system also communicates with a pool of service providers over the given geographic region, each operating a vehicle for providing services and one or more computing devices (“service provider devices”). The network system receives requests for services (e.g., a transport service or a delivery service, etc.) from requesting users via a designated user or client application executing on the users' mobile computing devices (“user devices”). In response, the network system can determine a number of candidate service providers from the pool of service providers and transmit invitation messages to the service provider device of one or more of the identified service providers to provide the requested service. A candidate service provider can view information pertaining to the invitation on a service provider device and can choose to accept or reject invitation via a designated service provider application executing on the service provider device. The service provider devices transmit acceptance messages (“acceptances”) in response to the invitations to the network system. In response, the network system selects one of the candidate service providers to service the request.
In various aspects, a request can include information regarding a start location (e.g., a pick-up location) for the service where the service provider will meet and pick up the user to begin a trip. The start location can be determined based on real-time location data generated by one or more geo-aware resources (e.g., GPS, GLONASS, etc.) of the user device. Alternatively, the start location can be specified by the user as a user input (e.g., by address or an input on a map displayed on the user device).
According to embodiments, the network system is configured to identify a plurality of candidate service providers in response to receiving a request for service from a user. Candidate service providers can be identified based on the start location and the locations of the candidate service providers. For example, the network system can determine a geo-fence surrounding the start location (or a geo-fence defined by a radius away from the start location) and identify a plurality of service providers within the geo-fence. As an addition or an alternative, the network system can identify candidate service providers based on the service providers' respective estimated times of arrival to the start location. For example, the network system can identify all or a set of service providers with an estimated time of arrival (ETA) at the start location of between five to seven minutes as candidate service providers. The plurality of candidate service providers can also be identified based on the service providers' status (e.g., available, assigned to a user, traveling to the start location, offline, on trip (e.g., is performing the service), etc.).
Furthermore, the network system can identify candidate service providers based on their respective acceptance metrics. An acceptance metric can be a measure of a corresponding service provider's historical data or record of accepting (and/or rejecting) received invitations for service (e.g., 70% rate of acceptance). As an example, the network system can identify candidate service providers using a threshold acceptance metric (e.g., above 75% rate of acceptance). The network system can also identify candidate service providers by examining the acceptance metric in combination with another metric or parameter (e.g., acceptance metric in combination with ETA to the start location).
According to embodiments, the network system is configured to transmit invitation messages to service provider devices of the plurality of candidate service providers. The invitations may be transmitted simultaneously to each of the plurality of candidate service providers. The invitations may also be transmitted according to an invitation transmission schedule determined by the network system. The invitation transmission schedule can be determined to, for example, offset imbalances in the process to select one service provider among interested service providers (e.g., candidate service providers who accepted their respective invitations) to service the request by scheduling some invitations to be transmitted before others. In one aspect, the invitation transmission schedule can be determined based on network performance metrics of the service provider devices (e.g., network latency, network bandwidth, etc.). For instance, the network system can determine an invitation transmission schedule that includes a delay for an invitation to be transmitted to a service provider device having significantly better network performance (e.g., lower network latency) than other service provider devices. In doing so, the network system can reduce advantages that one particular service provider may have in terms of accepting invitations due to having better network performance. In another aspect, the invitation transmission schedule can be determined based on historical record associated with the candidate service providers. For example, the network system can determine a transmission schedule that includes a delay for an invitation to a service provider who has a significantly higher ratio of confirmed acceptance messages to accepted invitations than other candidate service providers. In doing so, the network system can transmit invitations to service providers who have had a high share of their accepted invitations declined in the past before transmitting invitations to other candidate service providers.
The candidate service providers, through their service provider devices, can view the invitations and choose to accept or reject the invitations (e.g., via input or by allowing the time to accept lapse). Acceptance messages are transmitted by the service provider devices to the network system. The network system can select a service provider from the interested service providers (e.g., candidate service providers who accepted their invitations) to service the request. The selection among the interested service providers can be based on the time the acceptance messages are received by the network system. For instance, according to an example, the network system can select the service provider corresponding to the first-received acceptance to service the request. In another example, the network system can select a service provider to service the request in view of one or more of the considerations discussed above (e.g., network parameters, historical data, etc.).
According to embodiments, the network system transmits a confirmation message to the service provider selected to service the request. The service provider device of the selected service provider, through the designated service provider application, can display information included in the confirmation message to inform the service provider that he or she is now confirmed and assigned to service the request for the requesting user. The service provider device can also display a map and route guidance graphics to guide the service provider to the start location from the current location of the service provider. Similarly, the user device, through the designated user application, can display information related to the service and the service provider, including estimated time of arrival of the selected service provider to the start location. In certain implementations, the network system can transmit cancellations or rejections to interested service providers (e.g., candidate service providers who accepted their respective invitations) that are not assigned to service the request to inform those service providers that their acceptance messages were not confirmed. In some examples, the network system can identify additional candidate service providers in the event that no acceptance messages are received within a predefined amount of time after transmitting the invitations. For instance, in response to not receiving any acceptance messages within twenty seconds or one minute after transmitting the invitations to the plurality of candidate service providers, the network system can identify a number of additional candidate service providers.
In certain implementations, the network system can determine corresponding response intervals for one or more of the invitations transmitted to the plurality of candidate service providers. The response intervals can be included in the invitation transmission schedules determined by the network system. An invitation to service a request can expire or be revoked or be invalidated after the end of the response interval. A response interval can begin as soon as the network system transmits the corresponding invitation or can begin when the service provider device receives the invitation. As an example, an invitation to a candidate service provider can have a response interval of thirty seconds; if an acceptance corresponding to the invitation is not received by the network system within thirty seconds of the invitation being transmitted, the invitation can be revoked or invalidated and/or the candidate service provider would no longer be able to accept the invitation. In certain examples, each invitation transmitted to the candidate service providers includes information regarding an associated response interval (if any). In this manner, the service provider devices, through the designated service provider application, can display user interface content to inform the service provider of the time remaining in the response interval (e.g., a dynamically updated countdown timer).
In certain implementations, the network system can determine a response interval based on network performance of the corresponding service provider device, the cellular carrier(s)' network performance, and/or historical data associated with the corresponding service provider. For instance, the network system can determine a short response interval for an invitation transmitted to a device having above-average network performance metrics. As another example, the network system can determine a long response interval for an invitation transmitted to the device of a service provider having a low ratio of confirmed acceptance messages to accepted invitations. In some aspects, the network system can also determine a response interval based on a corresponding service provider's distance from the start location or the service provider's estimated time of arrival to the start location. For example, the network system can determine a shorter response interval for a service provider having a greater estimated time of arrival at the start location compared to other candidate service providers.
In various aspects, the network system can determine a value (e.g., cost) associated with a request. The value can be determined based on a distance and/or an estimated time of travel between the start location and a destination location provided by the user. The value can also be dynamically determined based on an estimated amount of supply and/or an estimated amount of demand in a given region for the service. For instance, the network system can estimate a likelihood or number of requests for service that may be made at any given time or interval based on a number of users in the given geographic region (or in a sub-region within the given geographic region) interacting with user applications. The network system can also estimate the likelihood or number of requests for service that may be made based on historical data collected for a specific day and/or time (e.g., amount of requests or interactions with the user applications during a specific time and/or day, such as New Year's Eve, Fridays at 5 P.M., etc.) or based on nearby events (e.g., a sporting event such as a baseball game). The network system can estimate a number of available service providers in the given geographic region (or that will be in the given geographic region) based on a number of service providers currently available to service requests for service in the given geographic region (or in a sub-region within the given geographic region). In certain implementations, the network system is configured to transmit the value as part of the invitation to the service provider devices. The service providers, by interacting with the service provider application executing on the service provider devices, can view the determined value and other information associated with the request for service (e.g., destination location, estimated time of arrival at the destination location, proposed route(s), traffic information) before choosing to accept or reject the invitation. As an alternative or in addition to, the network system can facilitate a bidding process through which the service providers can enter a desired value for a given invitation.
According to embodiments, a service provider can receive a plurality of invitation messages at any given time, each of the invitation messages corresponding to a respective request for service from a respective user. The service provider, through interactions with the service provider application executing on the service provider device, can view information pertaining to each received invitation message and can select one of the invitations to accept. The service provider application is configured to update a list of received invitation messages such that only unexpired invitations (e.g., invitations with time remaining in their respective response intervals) are displayed. Furthermore, the service provider application can remove, from view, content regarding invitations accepted by other candidate service providers.
Among other benefits, the examples described herein achieve a technical effect of improving user experience (e.g., reduced wait times) in requesting services. Embodiments described herein recognize that existing systems for facilitating the matching of service providers and users suffer from undesirable delays because a service provider selected to provide a requested service can reject or cancel the invitation. By transmitting a plurality of invitation messages and selecting a service provider among the interested service providers to service the request, examples described herein reduces wait times and uncertainty experienced by the requesting user during the process to assign an available service provider. Additionally, by scheduling the transmission of invitation messages according to various criteria, embodiments described herein can equitably select interested service providers to service requests despite, for example, network performance disparities between service provider devices or cellular carrier networks.
As used herein, a computing device refers to devices corresponding to desktop computers, cellular devices or smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headsets, tablet devices, television (IP Television), etc., that can provide network connectivity and processing resources for communicating with the system over a network. A computing device can also correspond to custom hardware, in-vehicle devices, or on-board computers, etc. The computing device can also operate a designated application configured to communicate with the network service.
One or more examples described herein provide that methods, techniques, and actions performed by a computing device are performed programmatically, or as a computer-implemented method. Programmatically, as used herein, means through the use of code or computer-executable instructions. These instructions can be stored in one or more memory resources of the computing device. A programmatically performed step may or may not be automatic.
One or more examples described herein can be implemented using programmatic modules, engines, or components. A programmatic module, engine, or component can include a program, a sub-routine, a portion of a program, or a software component or a hardware component capable of performing one or more stated tasks or functions. As used herein, a module or component can exist on a hardware component independently of other modules or components. Alternatively, a module or component can be a shared element or process of other modules, programs or machines.
Some examples described herein can generally require the use of computing devices, including processing and memory resources. For example, one or more examples described herein may be implemented, in whole or in part, on computing devices such as servers, desktop computers, cellular or smartphones, personal digital assistants (e.g., PDAs), laptop computers, VR or AR devices, printers, digital picture frames, network equipment (e.g., routers) and tablet devices. Memory, processing, and network resources may all be used in connection with the establishment, use, or performance of any example described herein (including with the performance of any method or with the implementation of any system).
Furthermore, one or more examples described herein may be implemented through the use of instructions that are executable by one or more processors. These instructions may be carried on a computer-readable medium. Machines shown or described with figures below provide examples of processing resources and computer-readable mediums on which instructions for implementing examples disclosed herein can be carried and/or executed. In particular, the numerous machines shown with examples of the invention include processors and various forms of memory for holding data and instructions. Examples of computer-readable mediums include permanent memory storage devices, such as hard drives on personal computers or servers. Other examples of computer storage mediums include portable storage units, such as CD or DVD units, flash memory (such as carried on smartphones, multifunctional devices or tablets), and magnetic memory. Computers, terminals, network enabled devices (e.g., mobile devices, such as cell phones) are all examples of machines and devices that utilize processors, memory, and instructions stored on computer-readable mediums. Additionally, examples may be implemented in the form of computer-programs, or a computer usable carrier medium capable of carrying such a program.
System Descriptions
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is a block diagram illustrating an example network system in communication with service provider devices and user devices, according to examples described herein. The network system can implement and manage a network service that connects requesting users with service providers that are available to service the users' requests for service . The network service can provide a platform that facilitates services to be requested and provided between requesting users and available service providers by way of a user application executing on the user devices and a service provider application executing on the service provider devices . As used herein, a user device and a service provider device can correspond to a computing device with functionality to execute a designated application associated with the network service managed by the network system . According to embodiments, the user device and the service provider device can correspond to mobile computing devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, VR or AR headsets, on-board computing systems of vehicles, smart watches, and the like.
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The network system can include a user device interface to communicate with user devices over one or more networks via a user application . According to examples, a requesting user wishing to utilize the network service can launch the user application and transmit a request for service (“request ”) over network to the network system . In certain implementations, the requesting user can view multiple different service types managed by the network system , such as ride-pooling, a basic or economy service type, a luxury vehicle service type, a van or large vehicle service type, a professional service provider service (e.g., in which the service providers are certified), a self-driving vehicle service, a rickshaw service, and the like. The network system can utilize the service provider locations to provide the user devices with ETA data of proximate service providers for each respective service. For example, the user application can enable the user to scroll through each service type. In response to a soft selection of a particular service type, the network system can provide ETA data on a user interface of the user application that indicates an ETA for the service type and/or the locations of all proximate available vehicles for that service type. As the user scrolls through each service type, the user interface can update to show visual representations of vehicles for that service type on a map centered around the user or a start location set by the user. The user can interact with the user interface of the user application to select a particular service type, and transmit a request .
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In certain implementations, the user device interface can receive user input and user application status from the user devices over the network . Interactions of users with the user application , including with any content displayed therein, can be transmitted as user inputs . Such inputs can include selections, text inputs, swipes, gestures, uploads, and the like. User application status can correspond to signals or data indicating a status of the user application . For instance, when the user first opens the user application , the user application can cause the user device to transmit a synchronization signal as user application status indicating that the user application is open. In addition, the user application status can indicate that the user is viewing or interacting with the home screen of the user application . Likewise, the user application status can also indicate that the user is entering a destination location, for example.
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In some examples, the request can include a start location within a given region (e.g., a metropolitan area managed by one or more datacenters corresponding to the network system ) at which a matched service provider is to rendezvous with the requesting user . The start location - can be inputted by the user by entering an address, searching a point of interest, setting a location pin on a user interface of the user application . The start location - can also be determined by a current location of the requesting user (e.g., utilizing location-based resources of the user device ). The requesting user can further input a destination during or after submitting the request (e.g., destination location -). Additionally, the requesting user can specify a class of service type (e.g., service type -). The start location -, destination location -, and service type - can be transmitted as part of the request .
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According to embodiments, the network system includes a service provider selection engine to select and/or select and/or assign a service provider to service a request . The service provider selection engine includes candidate identification , invitation scheduling , and service provider selection . In some implementations, the service provider selection engine can determine a mode of operation from a plurality of modes, including a single-invitation mode and a multi-invitation mode. In the single-invitation mode, the network system transmits a single invitation to an identified service provider in response to a request . In the multi-invitation mode, the network system can transmit a set of invitations to a plurality of identified service provider in response to a request . The network system can select at least one of the candidate service providers who accept their invitations to service the request . The determination of the mode of operation of the network system can be based on the service type - specified by the requesting user . For instance, the service provider selection engine can determine to operate in the multi-invitation mode for a particular service type (e.g., a rickshaw service or a taxi service) in which service providers may be likely to reject invitations. The determination of the mode of operation of the network system can also be based on historical data associated with the given geographic region (or a sub-region thereof) managed by the network system . For instance, the service provider selection engine can determine, based on historical data from one or more databases , that service providers in the given geographic region (or a sub-region thereof) reject received invitations at a rate above a certain threshold value (e.g., 30% of all received invitations are rejected). In response, the service provider selection engine can determine to operate in the multi-invitation mode. In some examples, an operator or administrator of the network system can manually select the mode of operation of the network system .
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In certain implementations, the service provider selection engine (and/or the candidate identification ) can determine a plurality of candidate service providers in response to a request . This determination can be based on the start location -. For example, the candidate identification can determine a geo-fence surrounding the start location - (or a geo-fence defined by a radius away from the start location) and identify a plurality of service providers within the geo-fence based on service provider locations received from the service provider devices . Likewise, the candidate identification can identify candidate service providers based on the service providers' respective estimated times of arrival at the start location as indicated by, for example, ETA data . For example, the candidate identification can identify all service providers with an estimated time of arrival at the start location - of between five to seven minutes as candidate service providers. The plurality of candidate service providers can also be identified based on the service providers' status (e.g., available, assigned to a user to pick up the user, offline, on trip, etc.). In addition, the candidate identification can identify candidate service providers based on the destination location - (if entered by the requesting user at the time of transmitting the request ). For instance, in identifying the candidate service providers, the candidate identification can filter out or ignore certain service providers in the service provider pool who indicate a preference to avoid trips to areas near the destination location -.
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Furthermore, the candidate identification can identify candidate service providers based on service provider data pertaining to each of the service providers in the service provider pool. The service provider data can be data stored in a database of the network system and can be historical data collected based on each service provider's interactions and transactions with the network system . In some examples, the service provider data can include the service providers' respective acceptance metrics. An acceptance metric can be a measure of a corresponding service provider's record in accepting received invitations (e.g., 70% rate of acceptance). As an example, the candidate identification can identify candidate service providers using a threshold acceptance metric (e.g., above 75% rate of acceptance). In the examples described herein, the candidate identification can identify a plurality of candidate service providers based on their respective acceptance metrics to maintain a level of likelihood that one of the candidate service providers would accept an invitation to service the request . For instance, given a pool of service providers with low acceptance metrics, the candidate identification can determine to identify a large number of candidate service providers to maintain the level of probability that one of the candidate service providers accepts the invitations to service the request. Conversely, given a pool of service providers with high acceptance metrics, the candidate identification can determine to identify a small number of candidate service providers. Furthermore, the candidate identification can also identify candidate service providers by examining the acceptance metric in combination with another metric or parameter (e.g., acceptance metric in combination with estimated time of arrival at the start location).
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In some examples, the invitation scheduling determines a transmission schedule to transmit invitations to the identified plurality of candidate service providers. Invitations to each of the identified candidate service providers can be transmitted simultaneously or can be transmitted at different times based on the transmission schedule determined by the invitation scheduling . The invitation scheduling can determine the schedule based on network performance metrics , which can indicate a performance (e.g., latency, bandwidth, throughput, etc.) of service provider devices in communicating with the network system through the network . For instance, the invitation scheduling can evaluate the network performance metrics of all candidate service providers to determine a transmission schedule that includes delays for invitations to be transmitted to service provider devices having above-average network performance metrics. In doing so, the invitation scheduling and the network system can determine a transmission schedule that compensates for disadvantages in accepting invitations certain service providers may experience due to poor or below-average network performance associated with their service provider devices in communicating with the network system . For instance, a service provider having a service provider device with poor connectivity (e.g., long latency, low bandwidth) has connectivity-based disadvantages in accepting invitations compared with another service provider. The other service provider may be able to accept an invitation associated with the same request before of the service provider with poor network connectivity if invitations are transmitted to both service providers at the same time. By determining a transmission schedule based on network performance metrics , the network system can compensate for network connectivity disadvantages experienced by certain service providers and more evenly and fairly select service providers for servicing requests . In this manner, service providers who are disadvantaged by network connectivity issues are incentivized to continue to make themselves available for providing services through the network system .
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In another aspect, the invitation transmission schedule can be determined based on service provider data , including, for example, data related to each service provider's historical record in being selected from among other candidate service providers. For example, the invitation scheduling can determine a transmission schedule that includes a delay to transmit an invitation to a service provider who has been selected more often than other service providers by the network system to service requests (e.g., the service provider has a significantly higher ratio of confirmed acceptances to accepted invitations than other candidate service providers.) In doing so, the invitation scheduling can transmit invitations to service providers who have had a high share of their accepted invitations declined in the past before transmitting invitations to other candidate service providers.
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In certain implementations, the invitation scheduling can determine the transmission schedule based on user experience factors. For instance, the invitation scheduling can determine that a first candidate service provider offers a desirable user experience compared to other candidate service providers (e.g., shortest ETA to start location, a vehicle type matching user's preferences, previous favorable experiences with the first candidate service provider, etc.) and can determine a transmission schedule such that the first candidate service provider receives his or her invitation before the other candidate service providers. Conversely, the invitation scheduling can determine that a second candidate service provider offers undesirable user experience compared to other candidate service providers (e.g., longest ETA to start location) and can determine a transmission schedule such that the second candidate service provider receives his or her invitation after the other candidate service providers. In this manner, the network system can improve user experience by favoring candidate service providers who are particularly suited to provide desired user experience for a given request in determining the transmission schedule .
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In some examples, the transmission schedule includes one or more response intervals associated with the invitations . The response intervals can also be determined by the invitation scheduling based on the network performance metrics , service provider data , and user experience factors. As one example, the invitation scheduling can determine a two second response interval for a service provider determined to have above-average network performance metrics and can determine a four second response interval for another service provider determined to have below-average network performance metrics . As another example, the invitation scheduling can determine a short (e.g., one second) response interval for a service provider who automatically or programmatically accepts all received invitations (e.g., through a selectable setting within the service provider application ). The invitation scheduling can make this determination based either one the service provider's historical data (e.g., service provider data ) in accepting invitations or via communications from the service provider application . Furthermore, the transmission scheduling can determine a long (e.g., ten seconds) response interval for service providers determined to offer desirable user experiences (e.g., short ETA to start location, etc.).
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According to embodiments, the service provider device interface receives the transmission schedule and transmits the invitation messages in accordance with the transmission schedule . In the examples described herein, invitation messages can include information such as the start location -, destination location -, and a value determined for the request . The invitation messages are transmitted to the service provider devices of the candidate service providers via the service provider device interface and the network . The candidate service providers can view the invitations via the designated service provider application executing on their service provider devices . Interacting with the service provider application , each candidate service provider can choose to accept or reject his or her respective invitation .
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Acceptance message(s) are transmitted by the service provider devices to the network system . The acceptance message(s) can be relayed by the service provider device interface to the service provider selection engine . In certain implementations, the service provider selection within the service provider selection engine can select one service provider among the interested service providers (e.g., candidate service providers who accepted the invitation and transmitted responsive acceptances). In one example, the selection of interested service providers can be based on the time of receipt of the acceptance message(s). For instance, the service provider selection can select a service provider whose acceptance message is received first by the network system . In some implementations, the service provider selection can cache or buffer the received acceptance message(s) and select a service provider from among the interested service providers based on one or more criteria including, for example, time of receipt of acceptance message(s) , one or more user experience factors, network performance metrics , and historical data pertaining to the service providers (e.g., service provider data ). For example, the service provider selection can receive and buffer a number of acceptance message(s) and select a service provider corresponding to the first received acceptance message to service the request . As another example, the service provider selection can select a service provider having desirable user experience factors (e.g., lowest ETA to start location among service providers who transmitted acceptance messages) to service the request .
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According to embodiments, the service provider selection engine is configured to generate a confirmation message to be transmitted to the selected service provider device by the service provider device interface . The confirmation message can inform the selected service provider to begin the service. The service provider selection engine is also configured to generate cancellation messages to be transmitted to interested service providers who were not selected to service the request . In some examples, the cancellation message includes information to the service providers to explain why they were not selected to service the request (e.g., a messaging explaining that the service provider accepted too late).
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In some aspects, the network system can include a mapping engine to generate ETA data and route data . The mapping engine can receive service provider locations and information regarding the request , including for example, start location - and destination location -, to generate ETA data pertaining to estimated times of arrival at the start location - for service providers in the pool of service providers managed by the network system . The ETA data can take into account traffic data in the environment surrounding the start location -. The mapping engine can further generate route data for service providers who are assigned to requests and are assigned to user and traveling to start locations and/or destination locations. The route data can include one or more optimal routes to respective pick-up or destination locations determined by the network system . The route data can be transmitted to the service provider devices via the service provider device interface and the network . Furthermore, the mapping engine can receive the selected service provider to determine service provider ETA . The selected service provider ETA can be transmitted to the user devices through the user device interface and the network . Users can view ETA information of service providers selected to service their respective requests via the user application executing on the user devices . In addition to or as an alternative, the network system can communicate with a third-party service (e.g., third-party mapping service, or third-party traffic data service) to determine traffic data, the ETA data , route data , and selected service provider ETA .
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In various aspects, the selected service provider is transmitted to the mapping engine which can generate service provider ETA (e.g., an estimated time of arrival for the selected service provider). The selected service provider ETA can be transmitted to the user device such that the user can view the selected service provider's ETA to the start location via the user application. The network system can also retrieve service provider profile information - from the database based on the selected service provider . The profile information pertaining to the selected service provider can be transmitted to the user device such that the user can view information pertaining to the selected service provider (e.g., picture, license plate number, service provider rating) within the user application . The mapping engine can also transmit route data pertaining to a determined optimal route of the selected service provider to the start location and/or to the destination location based on the selected service provider and the service provider location data received from the selected service provider's computing device .
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In some examples, the network system includes a value engine to determine a value associated with the request . The value engine can determine the value based on a distance and/or an estimated time of travel between the start location - and the destination location -. The value can be dynamically determined based on a likelihood or a number of requests for service being made (e.g., using service provider information and user information ). The service provider information can be generated by the service provider device interface (or another component of the network system ) based, for example, on a number of available service providers in communication with the network system in the given geographic region (or a sub-region thereof). Similarly, the user information can be generated by the user device interface based, for example, on a number of requesting users in communication with the network system (e.g., interacting with the user application ). In addition, the value engine can determine the value based on historical data received from the database . The historical data can correspond to historical value information collected for a specific time or day (e.g., Fridays at 5 P.M., New Year's Eve, etc.) or for certain nearby events (e.g., sporting event such as a baseball game, a concert, and the like). The historical data can also correspond to, for example, a number of users and available service providers in the given geographic region (or a sub-region thereof). In certain implementations, the value engine can facilitate a process by the candidate service providers to determine the value as a part of the service provider selection process. The network system can solicit proposals from the service providers who can enter proposals through the service provider application .
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According to examples provided herein, the network system can include a content engine that manages the manner in which content is displayed on the user devices and/or the service provider devices . Regarding the user devices , the content engine can provide content updates based on user inputs on a user interface generated by the user application . For example, a user selection on a content feature of the user application can cause the content engine to generate a new screen or user interface on the user application , or cause a current screen to pivot between certain displayed features. When inputting a particular start location, the user may utilize a location pin and map content, and set the location pin on a particular location in the map content to input the start location. Additionally, the content engine can cause a start location input box to overlay the map content, which can enable the requesting user to select the input box to cause additional features to be displayed on the user interface (e.g., overlaying the map content). In variations, to return to the map content, the user can input a gesture—such as a scroll or swipe gesture—anywhere on the screen. In response to the gesture, the content engine can cause the additional features to dismiss, and re-enable map content scrolling with the location pin. These dynamically pivoting interfaces can be provided by the content engine for the start location input, the destination location input, or both.
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According to embodiments, network system is configured to handle a plurality of requests at the same time in the given geographic region. The network system can identify a set of candidate service providers in response to each request . The sets of candidate service providers can also overlap. For instance, a given service provider can be identified as a candidate service provider for two or more requests . In such an instance, the service provider device of the given service provider can receive a plurality of invitation messages, each corresponding to a request. The service provider application can display the plurality of invitations and the given service provider can select from among the plurality of invitations to accept one invitation. In some examples, each of the invitations viewed by the given service provider has an associated response interval after which the invitation would expire. The service provider application of the given service provider can display a user interface feature (e.g., a countdown timer) with each of the received invitations such that the service provider can easily see when each of the invitations will expire. As an alternative to or in addition, the service provider application can refresh a list of received invitations periodically and, in that process, remove expired or invalid invitations.
Methodology
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is a flow chart describing an example method of operating a network system, according to examples described herein. In the below discussion of , reference may be made to features and examples shown and described with respect to . Furthermore, the process described with respect to may be performed by an example network system such as the one shown and described with respect to .
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Referring to , the network system can determine a mode of operation (). In certain implementations, the network system can determine between a single-invitation mode of operation in which a single invitation is sent to one identified service provider in response to a request for service and a multi-invitation mode of operation in which a number of candidate service providers can receive invitations in response to a request for service. The determination can be based on historical data (e.g., acceptance metrics) associated with a particular service type, geographic region, time period, and the like. For instance, the network system can determine that for a particular service type some aggregate measure of acceptance metrics of service providers (e.g., an average, a median, a quartile, etc.) is below a certain threshold. In response, the network system can determine to enter the multi-invitation mode of operation for that particular service type. Similarly, the network system can determine to enter into the multi-invitation mode of operation for a given geographic region (or a sub-region thereof) or a given time period (e.g., weekday rush hours) for which acceptance metrics of service providers are below some threshold value. In some examples, system administrators or operators of the network system can determine a mode of operation for a particular service type and/or a particular given region.
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The network system can receive requests for service () from a user device (e.g., service provider device of ). In response, the network system can identify a number of candidate service providers from a pool of service providers managed by the network system (). As described herein, the candidate service providers can be identified based on one or more parameters including: a distance to the start location, an estimated time of arrival at the start location, an acceptance metric, a service provider status (e.g., available, on-trip, offline etc.), etc.
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The network system can determine an invitation transmission schedule () that specifies the timeline each invitation is to be transmitted by the network system to a respective service provider device. The transmission schedule may also include response intervals, each dictating how long a corresponding invitation is valid. As described herein, the invitation transmission schedule can be determined based on network performance metrics, historical service provider data (e.g., ratio of confirmed acceptances to accepted invitations over a period of time), user experience factors (e.g., ETA to start location, etc.).
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The network system transmits the invitations to the identified candidate service providers based on the determined invitation transmission schedule (). If no acceptances or responses are received within a period of time (), the network system can repeat steps to to identify additional candidate service providers to service the request for service. For instance, the network system can increase the radius of a geo-fence used to identify candidate service providers in order to identify additional candidate service providers.
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If one or more acceptances are received, the network system can select one service provider among the interested service providers (e.g., a candidate service provider who accepted the invitation and transmitted an acceptance through his or her service provider device) (). The network system transmits a confirmation to the selected service provider to initiate the service (). In addition, the network system transmits cancellation messages to the interested service providers who are not selected to fulfill the request for service ().
User Device
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is a block diagram illustrating an example user device executing and operating a designated user application for communicating with a network service, according to examples described herein. In many implementations, the user device can comprise a mobile computing device, such as a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, VR or AR headset device, and the like. As such, the user device can include typical telephony features such as a microphone , a camera , and a communication interface to communicate with external entities using any number of wireless communication protocols. In certain aspects, the user device can store a designated application (e.g., a user app ) in a local memory . In variations, the memory can store additional applications executable by one or more processors of the user device , enabling access and interaction with one or more host servers over one or more networks .
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In response to a user input , the user app can be executed by a processor , which can cause an app interface to be generated on a display screen of the user device . The app interface can enable the user to, for example, check current value levels and availability for the network service. In various implementations, the app interface can further enable the user to select from multiple service types
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The user can generate a request via user inputs provided on the app interface . For example, the user can select a start location, view the various service types and estimated costs, and select a particular service to an inputted destination. In many examples, the user can input the destination prior to pick-up. As provided herein, the user application can further enable a communication link with a network system over the network , such as the network system as shown and described with respect to . The processor can generate user interface features (e.g., map, trip progress bar, content cards, etc.) using content data received from the network system over network . Furthermore, as discussed herein, the user application can enable the network system to cause the generated user interface to be displayed on the application interface .
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The processor can transmit the requests via a communications interface to the backend network system over a network . In response, the user device can receive a confirmation from the network system indicating the selected service provider and vehicle that will service the request and rendezvous with the user at the start location. In various examples, the user device can further include a GPS module , which can provide location data indicating the current location of the requesting user to the network system to, for example, establish the start location and/or select an optimal service provider or autonomous vehicle to service the request .
Service Provider Device
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is a block diagram illustrating an example service provider device executing and operating a designated service provider application for communicating with a network service, according to examples described herein. In many implementations, the service provider device can comprise a mobile computing device, such as a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, VR or AR headset device, and the like. As such, the service provider device can include typical telephony features such as a microphone , a camera , and a communication interface to communicate with external entities using any number of wireless communication protocols. The service provider device can store a designated application (e.g., a service provider app ) in a local memory . In response to a service provider input , the service provider app can be executed by a processor , which can cause an app interface to be generated on a display screen of the service provider device . The app interface can enable the service provider to, for example, accept or reject invitations in order to service requests throughout a given region.
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In various examples, the service provider device can include a GPS module , which can provide location data indicating the current location of the service provider to the network system over a network . Thus, the network system can utilize the current location of the service provider to determine whether the service provider is optimally located to service a particular request. If the service provider is optimal to service the request, the network system can transmit an invitation to the service provider device over the network . The invitation can be displayed on the app interface , and can be accepted or declined by the service provider. If the service provider accepts the invitation , then the service provider can provide a user input on the displayed app interface to provide a confirmation to the network system indicating that the service provider will rendezvous with the requesting user at the start location to service the ride request.
Service Provider Selection Process Timeline
5
FIG.
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FIG.
1
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FIGS. and
5
FIG.
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FIG.
is a timeline diagram illustrating an example process of selecting a service provider to service a request, according to examples described herein. In the below discussion of , reference may be made to features and examples shown and described with respect to . Furthermore, the service provider selection process described with respect to may be performed by an example network system such as the one shown and described with respect to .
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Referring to , user device can transmit a request . In response to receiving the request , network system enters a candidate service provider identification period . During this period, the network system evaluates parameters (e.g., distance from start location) associated each of the service providers it manages and identifies a plurality of candidate service providers. During this period, the network system can poll first service provider device and fourth service provider device to receive updated location data and in order to determine whether the first and fourth service providers should be identified as candidate service providers. Second service provider device and third service provider device may not need to be polled during this period if the network system has up-to-date location data pertaining to those devices.
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In accordance with examples described herein, the network system identifies first service provider device , second service provider device , and third service provider device as candidate service providers . At the end of the candidate service provider identification period , the network system transmits invitation to first service provider device , invitation to second service provider device , and invitation to third service provider device . In the process described by , the invitations - are transmitted simultaneously to each of the candidate service providers . In addition, the network system determined the same response interval for each of the invitations -.
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During the response interval , first service provider device transmits response (e.g., an acceptance message) and second service provider device transmits response (e.g., an acceptance message). Third service device transmits response (e.g., an acceptance message) outside the response interval . The network system selects a service provider among interested service providers (first, second, and third service providers) to service the request during the service provider selection period . The network system selects first service provider to service the request (e.g., due to response being received by the network system first). The network system transmits a confirmation to first service provider device to inform first service provider that he or she has been selected to service the request . The network system also transmits a notification to the user device , informing the user that first service provider is assigned to the user and is traveling to the start location. The network system further transmits cancellations and to second service provider device and third service provider device , respectively. The cancellations and can include information indicating a reason why the respective service provider was not selected by the network system . For instance, cancellation can include information specifying that the response arrived later than the acceptance of another service provider. Cancellation can include information specifying that the response was received outside the response interval .
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FIG.
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FIG.
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FIGS. and
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FIG.
1
FIG.
is another timeline diagram illustrating another example process of selecting a service provider to service a request, according to examples described herein. In the below discussion of , reference may be made to features and examples shown and described with respect to . Furthermore, the service provider selection process described with respect to may be performed by an example network system such as the one shown and described with respect to .
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Referring to , user device can transmit a request . In response to receiving the request , network system enters a candidate service provider identification period . During this period, the network system evaluates parameters (e.g., distance from start location) associated each of the service providers it manages and identifies a plurality of candidate service providers. During this period, the network system can poll first service provider device and fourth service provider device to receive updated location data and in order to determine whether the first and fourth service providers should be identified as candidate service providers. Second service provider device and third service provider device may not need to be polled during this period if the network system has up-to-date location data pertaining to those devices.
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In accordance with examples described herein, the network system identifies first service provider device , second service provider device , and third service provider device as candidate service providers . At the end of the candidate service provider identification period , the network system transmits invitation to first service provider device , invitation to second service provider device , and invitation to third service provider device . In the process described by , the invitations - are transmitted in accordance with a transmission schedule in which invitation is first transmitted to third service provider device , then invitation is transmitted to second service provider device , and lastly, invitation is transmitted to first service provider device . Furthermore, according to the transmission schedule determined by the network system , response interval corresponding to invitation is short in comparison to response intervals and .
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First service provider device does not transmit a response to the network system . Second service provider device transmits response (e.g., an acceptance message) during the response interval to the network system . Third service provider device transmits response (e.g., an acceptance message) during response interval . The network system selects a service provider among interested service providers (the second and third service providers) to service the request during the service provider selection period . The network system selects third service provider to service the request (e.g., due to response being received by the network system first). The network system transmits confirmation to third service provider device to inform third service provider that she or he has been selected to service the request . The network system also transmits a notification to the user device , informing the user that third service provider is assigned to the user and is traveling to the start location. The network system further transmits cancellation to second service provider device . The cancellation can include information indicating a reason why the respective service provider was not selected by the network system (e.g., information specifying that the response arrived later than the acceptance of another driver).
Hardware Diagram
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FIG.
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FIGS. through
1
FIG.
7
FIG.
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is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system upon which examples described herein may be implemented. A computer system can be implemented on, for example, a server or combination of servers. For example, the computer system may be implemented as part of a network service, such as described in . In the context of , the network system may be implemented using a computer system such as described by FIG. . The network system may also be implemented using a combination of multiple computer systems as described in connection with .
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In one implementation, the computer system includes processing resources , a main memory , a read-only memory (ROM) , a storage device , and a communication interface . The computer system includes at least one processor for processing information stored in the main memory , such as provided by a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, for storing information and instructions which are executable by the processor . The main memory also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by the processor . The computer system may also include the ROM or other static storage device for storing static information and instructions for the processor . A storage device , such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided for storing information and instructions.
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The communication interface enables the computer system to communicate with one or more networks (e.g., cellular network) through use of the network link (wireless or wired). Using the network link, the computer system can communicate with one or more computing devices, one or more servers, and/or one or more self-driving vehicles. In accordance with examples, the computer system receives requests from mobile computing devices of individual users. The executable instructions stored in the memory can include service provider selection instructions , which the processor executes to select a service provider to service the request . In doing so, the computer system can receive service provider locations of service providers operating throughout the given region, and the processor can execute the service provider selection instructions to identify a plurality of candidate service providers and transmit invitation messages to each of the candidate service providers to enable the service providers to accept or decline the invitations. The processor can further execute the service provider selection instructions to select a service provider among interested candidate service providers to service the request .
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FIG.
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The executable instructions stored in the memory can also include content generation instructions , which enable the computer system to access user profiles and other user information in order to select and/or generate user content for display on the user devices. As described throughout, user content can be generated based on information pertaining to the state of the request (e.g., ETA/destination info). By way of example, the instructions and data stored in the memory can be executed by the processor to implement an example network system of . In performing the operations, the processor can receive requests and service provider locations , and submit invitation messages to facilitate the servicing of the requests . The processor is configured with software and/or other logic to perform one or more processes, steps and other functions described with implementations, such as described by , and elsewhere in the present application.
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Examples described herein are related to the use of the computer system for implementing the techniques described herein. According to one example, those techniques are performed by the computer system in response to the processor executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the main memory . Such instructions may be read into the main memory from another machine-readable medium, such as the storage device . Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the main memory causes the processor to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative implementations, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement examples described herein. Thus, the examples described are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
It is contemplated for examples described herein to extend to individual elements and concepts described herein, independently of other concepts, ideas or systems, as well as for examples to include combinations of elements recited anywhere in this application. Although examples are described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the concepts are not limited to those precise examples. As such, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of the concepts be defined by the following claims and their equivalents. Furthermore, it is contemplated that a particular feature described either individually or as part of an example can be combined with other individually described features, or parts of other examples, even if the other features and examples make no mentioned of the particular feature. Thus, the absence of describing combinations should not preclude claiming rights to such combinations. | |
What’s causing this trend?
As smartphone use grows, fewer Americans are using desktops and laptops to access the internet. The number of US smartphone users will reach 232.8 million in 2019, surpassing desktop/laptop internet users (228.9 million) for the first time. And the number of those who access the internet exclusively on a mobile device will grow by 10.6%, reaching 55.1 million users.
But social network users have been largely mobile-exclusive for years. While they may use computers for school or work activities, their social media use is contained to tablets and phones.
We expect that social network users on desktops/laptops will decrease by 1.7 million in 2019.
Looking at individual platforms, the majority of Facebook’s US users have been mobile-only since 2016. This year, we expect that 66.3% of them will access the platform exclusively on a mobile device. Twitter will also continue to have a healthy share of mobile-only users at 22.9 million, or 43.1% of its US users.
Then there are the networks that are mobile-only themselves. Instagram, which can be accessed via desktop browsers but lacks essential features like the ability to post content, is the second-most-popular network in the country, with 106.7 million users. And Snapchat, another network that’s essentially mobile-only, will have 77.5 million US users this year. | http://hispanicad.com/media/marketing-mobile/more-half-us-social-network-users-will-be-mobile-only-2019 |
Copyright: © 2020 Ioannidis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.
Competing interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests. JPAI is a member of the editorial board of PLOS Biology. JB is an Elsevier employee. Elsevier runs Scopus and ICSR Lab, which is the source of this data, and also runs Mendeley Data, where the database is now stored.
There was great interest in the databases of standardized citation metrics across all scientists and scientific disciplines , and many scientists urged us to provide updates of the databases. Accordingly, we have provided updated analyses that use citations from Scopus with data freeze as of May 6, 2020, assessing scientists for career-long citation impact up until the end of 2019 (Table-S6-career-2019) and for citation impact during the single calendar year 2019 (Table-S7-singleyr-2019). Updated databases and code are freely available in Mendeley (https://dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw). The original database (version 1) can also be found in https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/1, the updated (version 2) can also be found in https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/2, and any subsequent updates that might appear in the future will be generally accessible in https://dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw.
S6 and S7 tabulated data include all scientists who are among the top 100,000 across all fields according to the composite citation index when self-citations are included and/or when self-citations are not included. Furthermore, in the current update, Tables S6 and S7 include also scientists who are not in the top 100,000 according to the composite index but are nevertheless within the top 2% of scientists of their main subfield discipline, across those that have published at least five papers. Another new feature in this update is that Tables S6 and S7 include new columns showing for each scientist the rank of their composite citation index within their subfield discipline (with and without self-citations) and the total number of authors within the subfield discipline. For example, for Kevin W. Boyack, rank is 50 and 52 for the composite citation index with and without self-citations, respectively, among the total of 10,391 scientists whose main subfield discipline is “Information and Library Sciences.” This extension allows the inclusion of more comprehensive samples of top-cited scientists for fields that have low citation densities and therefore would be less likely to be found in the top 100,000 when all scientific fields are examined together. Comparisons of citation metrics are more meaningful when done within the same subdiscipline. Of course, even within the same subdiscipline, different areas may still possess different citation densities, and assessing citation indicators always require caution.
Field and subfield discipline categories use the Science-Metrix classification as in our previous work , but multidisciplinary journals that were previously not assigned to a Science-Metrix field or subfield have now been assigned to a specific field and subfield using a character-based convolutional deep neural network. This machine learning approach was trained with a set consisting of over a million entries was found to be outperforming other approaches such as Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers . This allows a more accurate classification of scientists who publish many papers in multidisciplinary journals.
Tables S8 and S9 provide the 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th, and 99th percentile thresholds for each field and each subfield for career-long and single year 2019 impact based on citations and, separately, based on the composite indicator. The formula to calculate the composite indicator for career-long impact is derived by summing the ratio of log of 1 + the indicator value over the maximum of those indicator logs for 6 indicators (NC, H, Hm, NCS, NCSF, NCSFL) :
The formula to calculate the composite indicator for single year 2019 impact follows the same principle and only uses citations from publications published in 2019. Maximum log values across the population are in separate tables for career (S10) and single year 2019 (S11).
Given the increasing attention given to the analysis of self-citations, we also include in Tables S8 and S9 data for each discipline and each subdiscipline of the 95th and 99th percentile threshold for the percentage of self-citations and for the ratio of citations over citing papers within the set of selected top-cited researchers. Very high proportion of self-citations and/or ratio of citations over citing papers may or may not be justifiable and may require a closer look at the citation practices of these scientists. A percentage (4.9%) of the scientists who are in the top 2% of their subdiscipline for career-long impact when self-citations are included are no longer in the top 2% of their subdiscipline when self-citations are excluded, and 0.01% (n = 15) of these fall below the top 10%. Some scientists have extremely high ratios of citations over citing papers, far exceeding the 99th percentile threshold. Many papers by the same scientist may be fully legitimately often cited together in the same article. However, some authors have been found to manipulate peer-review to add multiple citations to their works [5,6].
Publications in author profiles currently have 98.1% average precision and 94.4% average recall . Comments for correction of author profiles should be addressed to Scopus, preferably by use of the Scopus to ORCID feedback wizard (https://orcid.scopusfeedback.com/).
References
- 1. Ioannidis JPA, Baas J, Klavans R, Boyack KW. A standardized citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field. (2019) PLoS Biol, 17(8), art. no.: e3000384. pmid:31404057
- 2. Ioannidis JP, Klavans R, Boyack KW. Multiple citation indicators and their composite across scientific disciplines. (2016) PLoS Biol,14 (7), art. no.: e1002501. pmid:27367269
- 3.
Archambault É, Beauchesne OH, Caruso J. Towards a multilingual, comprehensive and open scientific journal ontology. (2011) Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (ISSI), 66–77. Durban, South Africa
- 4. Zhang X, Zhao J, LeCun Y. Character-level convolutional networks for text classification. (2015) Advances in neural information processing systems, 649–657.
- 5. Van Noorden R. Highly cited researcher banned from journal board for citation abuse. (2020) Nature. 578 (7794): 200–201. pmid:32047304
- 6.
Baas J, Fennel C. When peer reviewers go rogue—Estimated prevalence of citation manipulation by reviewers based on the citation patterns of 69,000 reviewers. (2019) Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the International Society of Scientometrics and Informetrics (ISSI). 963–974. Rome, Italy
- 7. Baas J, Schotten M, Plume A, Côté G, Karimi R. Scopus as a curated, high-quality bibliometric data source for academic research in quantitative science studies. (2020) Quantitative Science Studies, 1(1), 377–386. | https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000918 |
A simple pink teepee makes a quick and moveable reading spot.
As summer winds down and play transitions from outdoors to afternoons spent indoors, it’s a good time to carve out some space for quiet time. One of my favorite things to do as a child was have a story read to me (it hasn’t changed much now that I’m an adult either).
I love this closet that was transformed into a library for children, complete with a ladder. I also like the idea of having a sturdy space where a child could tuck into a reading shelf and sit amongst the books.
A reading nook doesn’t have to be specially built or extra fancy. You can add some small touches like a strand of lights, a couple of cushy pillows, or an especially soft blanket with a stack of your favorite books to make this spot extra special. This sunny reading spot and cozy corner were made with little space and lots of pillows!
I made a reading nook many moons ago by adding branches over my favorite chair. The addition of a few scrap buntings and a couple of pillows made this my favorite go to reading spot.
Sometimes, you don’t even need a dedicated space to enjoy a good book. | https://blog.creativebug.com/reading-nook/ |
Colloidal Oatmeal Soap
Topic dermatitis is an inflammatory skin disease that affects up to 20% of children with no available cure. Vegetable oil and colloidal oatmeal have been shown to reduce local skin inflammation and itching at a low cost with minimal side effects when used topically. We have conducted a study to test the feasibility and efficacy of using near neutral-pH cold-processed vegetable oil with 1% colloidal oatmeal to reduce atopic dermatitis symptoms when used twice daily for 20 seconds for two weeks in atopic dermatitis patients. Our results showed that colloidal oatmeal soap significantly reduced atopic dermatitis symptoms within the first two weeks of use. The study showed that colloidal oatmeal soap can be used in atopic dermatitis treatment. Using natural products can decrease the disease flare-ups which helps in reducing the need for steroids. | https://insightresearchinstitute.com/colloidal-oatmeal-soap/ |
Ryhope Colliery Welfare 1, Newton Aycliffe 3
Aycliffe earned a well deserved 3-1 win away to Ryhope Colliery Welfare on Saturday.
They had slightly the better of the early exchanges, and went ahead on 11 minutes when Marc Costello got on the end of a Stuart Banks corner.
Five minutes later, a Ryhope player elbowed Aycliffe left back Scott Howes in the face, leaving him with a fat and bloodied lip. Unbelievably, not even a caution was handed out by the officials.
This set the pattern for the game, with Aycliffe trying to play their passing game on the deck, and the tall Ryhope side playing their physical game, with lots of high balls.
Aycliffe missed a chance on 25 minutes when after a good passing move, Ben Wood crossed to Josh Gray, who stretched to meet it, but put it over the bar.
Ryhope equalised against the run of play on 35 minutes, when a low cross was missed by the Aycliffe defence, allowing Lay to slot it past keeper James Winter.
Aycliffe had a chance in first-half injury time, when Costello got on the end of a cross, but put his header over.
The second half started off in a scrappy fashion, with the ball often high in the air.
After the hour mark, Aycliffe started to find their passing game again, and they had two chances within a minute for Gray and Wood, but neither was converted.
The pressure told on 70 minutes when substitute Matty Pennal broke away and crossed for Banks to slot it home.
Ryhope pressed for an equaliser in the last 20 minutes, launching more high balls, which the Aycliffe defence dealt with well.
Aycliffe were having some joy on the counter-attack at this stage, through the pace of Pennal.
He got his reward for persevering through some rough treatment, when he beat the two Ryhope centre halves and then curled the ball around the Ryhope keeper.
Aycliffe remain ninth in the Ebac Northern League Division One on 60 points with just three games to play.
Their next game is at home to Bishop Auckland on Saturday (April 15, 3pm kick-off). | http://www.aycliffetoday.co.uk/aycliffe-back-on-track-with-victory-at-ryhope/22490 |
Bachelor of Arts (BA) - Honours
Cognitive science is the scientific study of the mind and its processes. What is especially exciting about cognitive science is its interdisciplinary cooperation involving psychologists, philosophers, computer scientists, neuroscientists and others.
Though researchers from each of these fields have long studied thought, emotion, perception, memory, language and other aspects of cognition, cognitive science allows them to take advantage of research in the other disciplines. Different methodologies, intellectual histories and disciplinary divisions often isolate those with similar goals. Cognitive science aims to bring researchers back together. By approaching questions from a variety of perspectives, the cognitive scientist has a greater chance of finding answers to questions about cognition.
Cognitive science students may focus on several different areas (e.g. artificial intelligence, linguistic development, comparative cognition, philosophical psychology, human-computer interaction). The Cognitive Science program is housed in the Department of Philosophy and draws on the resources of several other programs, including Psychology, Linguistics and Computer Science.
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OUAC Code: YBJ
What you’ll learn
- Understand thought, perception and other mental processes
- See human cognition from a variety of angles, from the purely scientific to the philosophical.
- Learn about human interactions, emotional responses, and the links between thoughts and social behaviour.
Hands-on experiences
- Learn from leading national and international researchers through the Cognitive Science Speaker Series and Cognitive Science Workshops
- Write a senior thesis on a topic of your choice in COGS 4901 or do independent research in COGS 4750
The Cognitive Science program at York University provided me with an amazing and unique learning experience. I had the chance to take courses in a variety of fields that interested me such as psychology, linguistics and philosophy, and was able to later relate them to the study of the mind. The program allows for a lot of choice in courses, so students get to take classes that suit their interests. I am also thankful for the smaller class sizes, as they allow you to get to know your peers well. The abundance of knowledge I've gained has helped me succeed in pursuing further education. | https://www.yorku.ca/laps/phil/cognitive-science/ |
In last week’s blog, I discussed fiction novel character development techniques. I ended the blog by stating, “Make your characters real and believable by first making them real to you.”
An evolving fiction plot is not very interesting unless there is conflict and some sort of change in your protagonist by the end of the story. It could be the resolution of a world-changing event in a thriller, finding the killer in a murder mystery, or some major change in your main character’s world or their specific world view that makes the story interesting.
The problem arises when an author attempts to make a character believable by making an ordinary character do extraordinary (heroic) things. How does the writer make such fiction believable?
The main character in my most recent novel is simply a guy with a troubled past trying to do the right thing. The problem is the bad guys keep getting in the way of my protagonist’s normal life. My protagonist has two choices: ignore a world-changing event and hide his head in the sand, or step up to right the wrongs.
My task as a writer is to take this character who craves a normal existence and place him in situations that challenge his entire idea of what a normal life should be and force him to make choices he’d rather not make. My protagonist is a successful pharmacist who owns a very specialized pharmacy practice; and, in the last two novels, he’s turned his back on his everyday world to fight villains and avert sinister events that could have global consequences.
How does a writer make that monumental leap, and successfully take the reader along, in a journey to evolve this everyday guy into a hero, and still make it believable?
The answer lies in how the first act of the novel is handled—how one builds a character’s world in the first 25% of the novel by drizzling in enough history about a protagonist’s life so that an advanced or second level of background on this character is achieved. This is how a normal character’s heroics come off as believable.
In last week’s blog, I stated that I develop characters by using a 3P Model: building on the physical aspects of a character, and including some important psychological aspects and specific philosophies of the character.
Regarding advanced character development, the writer must focus on specific traits and skills that the character might possess, but that aren’t often visible, to meet the challenges that the writer presents for that character.
These traits and skills might include:
- Specific past traumas (both physical and psychological) that create specialized motivations to act out of the ordinary in certain situations. For instance, an adult abused as a child will react differently to seeing a child being yanked roughly by the arm than a person who grew up in a loving, caring family.
- If your character has hidden skills developed in a previous job or an earlier environment, those skills are never forgotten or lost and can re-emerge as necessary when the character is confronted with a life-threatening event.
- Hidden secrets can fester over time and force a character to react differently to tragic events. Creating an abnormal past for your protagonist allows secrets that should remain hidden to evolve into heroic actions when a character is confronted with saving his or her own life, or the life of a loved one.
- Specific, deep-seated feelings can often explain why an outwardly normal person might act in an extraordinary way regarding a tragic event.
I delight in writing fiction and in creating situations for my protagonist that goes beyond the limits of his everyday world and forces him to act in extraordinary ways. To do that in a believable fashion, I must first load the character’s background with secret histories, hidden skills and past experiences that the everyday person has never been exposed to.
Thoughts? Comments? I’d love to hear them! | https://jamesjmurray.com/2017/06/21/changing-ordinary-people-into-heroes/ |
A New Vision. A New Partnership.
The partnership among Strategic Steps, It's Logical and ResourceX brings a new vision of good governance that endeavors to address the responsibility on local governments to identify demands, determine how to deliver them, and at what scale; to actually respond to those demands with programs, services, amenities, and facilities; and then to check that the demand has been met to the ability of the local government. This process is a loop, where one period’s results will help inform the next period’s plans. This new partnership takes into account each step within this loop to ensure adequate emphasis and attention to each responsibility area.
Upcoming Events
Well-Being Baseline -
The Reason Why Municipalities Exist
Thursday, March 18, 10:30 AM CST
Strategic Planning Framework -
The Bridge between Why and What
Thursday, April 15, 10:30 AM CST
The strategic plan sets goals in place that drive a shared vision forward. That strategic plan is complemented by business plans that commit resources toward achieving these goals. This is where priorities lie and decisions are made. Part aspiration and part inspiration, the framework assigns certain roles and clearly defines accountability. All the pieces together are “the intent” within “Great Governance with intent”.
Priority Based Budgeting - Prioritizing Citizen Well Being
Thursday, May 20, 10:30 AM CST
The fundamental purpose of public service is to increase the well being of the people in our communities. While the objective is simple, the means to achieve that end can be obscure. Tune in to hear how a comprehensive strategy for governance, reinforced by priority based budgeting, puts the focus back on maximizing citizen well being in your community.
Contact Us to Learn More
Start with the People
On February 9, 2021 a partnership was announced among ResourceX, Strategic Steps and It's Logical to help municipal governments achieve great governance. This launch shares the vision Chris Fabian, Ian McCormack and Kelly Rudyk have for positively impacting communities in North America. Moderated by Michael Walters, City of Edmonton Ward 10 Councillor, the presentation and discussion focused on the pursuit of a long term vision that fulfills the obligations of local government to serve its citizens through the efficient and strategic alignment of resources. Click here to see the recorded event.
Great Governance
An intentional focus on creating the conditions to assist citizens in achieving their fullest potential. As elected officials and those who work for the community, it is our role to understand our public desires and strive to maximize well-being returns for their investment into the community. It is the utilization of strategic planning, developing a well-being baseline, and applying Priority Based Budgeting that helps achieve the overarching goal of great governance.
Strategic Planning Framework
Alignment of focus between Community – Council – Municipal Operations. Clarity of Purpose that thrives for a generation or more. With both alignment and clarity come expectations of commitment and performance to achieve well-being success for all stakeholders.
The framework includes a set of robust goals, strategies to achieve the goals and measures that identify when success has been achieved.
Well-Being Baseline
A powerful tool in creating a richer relationship between the community and the municipality is understanding the well-being of citizens – today, tomorrow and into the future. The relationship becomes one of driving value for community investments as opposed to minimizing tax increases. Value is determined by returns achieved in furthering well-being for all.
Priority Based Budgeting
Priority Based budgeting is a common sense, data-driven approach to budgeting and decision making. The philosophy of PBB is that resources should be allocated according to how effectively a program or service achieves the strategic plan, and goals, that are of most significant value to the community. Providing reallocation opportunities to address key objectives such as climate change, equity, well-being, homelessness and sustainability.
About the team
Building Great Governance Together
Working with our clients to build on existing strengths, we develop a set of recommendations that are practical, sustainable, strategic and grounded in the characteristics that make each organization distinctive and successful.
Innovative Strategic Planning
Empower your team and outfit them with the tools, knowledge and passion they need to succeed. Know your vision with absolute clarity and understand the steps required to move toward your ultimate goal and allocating your resources to maximize value. | https://www.resourcex.net/great-governance |
This tutorial performs a simple linear regression to build the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), a classical model developed by William F. Sharpe and Harry Markowitz. This model yields alpha and beta for each asset and is traded by going long on the stocks ranked with the highest alpha. This tutorial will demonstrate the following:
- How to use historical data
- Set an event handler
- Conduct linear regression
- Build your own functions in the QuantConnect Algorithm Lab
The implementation of the strategy demonstrates that stocks beat the market last month are likely to beat the market again in the subsequent month. This algorithm performs well when the market is smooth. However when the market volatility increases the model fails to capture alpha and it performs poorly. What we learn from this is that market fluctuations decrease the significance level of the linear regression coefficients, especially when we are using daily returns to fit the model.
CAPM Theory
The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) describes the relationship between systematic risk and expected return for assets, typically stocks. The formula for calculating the expected return of an asset given its risk is as follows:
where:
This formula can be better understood if we refactor the formula as seen below:
The left side of the equation gives us the difference between the asset return and risk free rate, the "excess return". If we regress the market excess return against the asset excess return, the slope represents the "beta" of the asset. Therefore, beta can also be calculated by the equation:
So beta can be described as:
The formula above indicates that beta can be explained as "correlated relative volatility". To make this simpler, beta can be calculated by doing a simple linear regression which can be viewed as a factor to explain the return, and the tracking error can represent alpha. To make this theory more convenient for our algorithm, we change the above formula into the following form:
r*(1-β) on the right hand side of the equation is a very small item, making it negligible in the context of the Dow 30 companies. If we regress the stocks return with the return of the benchmark, the slope and intercept will be beta and alpha.
Method
Our investment logic is simple and straightforward. We assume that stocks which beat the market last month will continue to beat the market. We rank stocks according to their alpha, and each month we "long" the top two stocks. For this strategy to work, we need to do the following at the start of each month:
- Get the historical price of Dow 30 stocks in the past 21 trading days and calculate their daily rates of return.
- Conduct simple linear regression on the return of each stock against a benchmark (S&P 500 index, SPY).
- Rank the stocks by their intercepts.
- Liquidate all our positions and purchase the first 2 stocks in our sorted list.
Dow Jones components change very infrequently, with the last change being on March 19th, 2015. To make the implementation easier we have simply listed the current Dow components in this algorithm. This means that the earliest start date of this algorithm is March 19th, 2015.
Step 1: Setup Event Handler
In the Initialize method we define a Scheduled Event to trigger a monthly re-balancing of the portfolio.
def Initialize(self): self.Schedule.On(self.DateRules.MonthStart(self.symbols), self.TimeRules.AfterMarketOpen(self.symbols), self.Rebalance)
Step 2: History Function
Each month we get the historical prices of the DOW30 components using the History API. The data is returned from the API as a pandas.DataFrame indexed by
Symbol objects. The close data is selected and the data frame is unstacked to create columns of
Symbol objects.
# Fetch the historical data to perform the linear regression history = self.History( self.symbols + [self.benchmark], self.lookback, Resolution.Daily).close.unstack(level=0)
Step 3: Symbol Selection Function
We aim to trade the two assets with the highest alpha to the benchmark. In order to conduct linear regression to find the alpha (linear regression intercept), we need to compute returns (percentage change of closing price) benchmark and the asset then conduct a linear regression.
def SelectSymbols(self, history): '''Select symbols with the highest intercept/alpha to the benchmark ''' alphas = dict() # Get the benchmark returns benchmark = history[self.benchmark].pct_change().dropna() # Conducts linear regression for each symbol and save the intercept/alpha for symbol in self.symbols: # Get the security returns returns = history[symbol].pct_change().dropna() returns = np.vstack([returns, np.ones(len(returns))]).T # Simple linear regression function in Numpy result = np.linalg.lstsq(returns, benchmark) alphas[symbol] = result # Select symbols with the highest intercept/alpha to the benchmark selected = sorted(alphas.items(), key=lambda x: x, reverse=True)[:2] return [x for x in selected]
Step 4: Rebalance Function:
This function is where all the action happens, it will be executed on the first trading day of each month as a Scheduled Event. The algorithm closes all positions of securities that were not selected using Liquidate and go 100% long for both of the selected symbols using SetHoldings.
def Rebalance(self): # Fetch the historical data to perform the linear regression history = self.History( self.symbols + [self.benchmark], self.lookback, Resolution.Daily).close.unstack(level=0) symbols = self.SelectSymbols(history) # Liquidate positions that are not held by selected symbols for holdings in self.Portfolio.Values: symbol = holdings.Symbol if symbol not in symbols and holdings.Invested: self.Liquidate(symbol) # Invest 100% in the each of the selected symbols for symbol in symbols: self.SetHoldings(symbol, 1)
Summary
We have demonstrated that during a smooth market, the stocks that beat the market last month are likely to beat the market again in the subsequent month. When there is market fluctuation, the significance level of linear regression will reduce and the model performance will decrease. We can understand this by looking at the covariance of the asse (x) and the benchmark (y). As the covariance reduces to zero, the beta will decrease.
As an experiment, we tested the algorithm on market data from 2015. This was a much more volatile period for the market with a fluctuation that returned a mean close to zero and dropped nearly 10% from Aug 18th to Aug 25th of that year. The algorithm performed quite poorly in this year with a return rate of -15.463%. The risks associated with this strategy include a high drawdown, lack of hedging and no stop-loss. Since we are using leverage, the risk is increased and it has a margin call in January as a result. We can improve the performance by applying the following techniques:
- Conduct optimizations: we can implement mean-variance analysis to determine the asset allocation each month and select more stocks to trade. This will lower our risk and manage the portfolio more scientifically.
- Take beta into consideration: If we want to be more aggressive, we can select targets by a combination of alpha and beta. This means we choose stocks with a high alpha that are more volatile than the market. If we are conservative investors however, we can make the strategy market-neutral, which means the portfolio would not be affected by the market performance. For example, if we long two stocks with beta 1 and -1 respectively at the same position size, our portfolio becomes market-neutral. | https://www.quantconnect.com/learning/articles/investment-strategy-library/capm-alpha-ranking-strategy-on-dow-30-companies |
Q:
finding highest number in Javascript from user input
I have tried two different Javascript code to find the largest number from three user inputs. I am not getting the highest number from none of the codes. Please help!
HTML Code:
Assignment 1: <input type="text" name="num1"><br>
Assignment 2: <input type="text" name="num2"><br>
Assignment 2: <input type="text" name="num3"><br>
<input type="button" id="high" value="high" onclick="high()">
<input type="text" id="avg">
<p id="result"></p>
JavaScript Code(Try 1):
function high() {
let num1 = document.getElementsByName("num1")[0].value;
let num2 = document.getElementsByName("num2")[0].value;
let num3 = document.getElementsByName("num3")[0].value;
var avg = Math.max(Number(num1),Number(num2),Number(num3))
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML=avg;
JavaScript Code(Try 2):
if(Number(num1)>Number(num2) && Number(num1)>Number(num3))
{
document.getElementsByName("avg")[0].value = num1;
}
if(Number(num2)>Number(num1) && Number(num2)>Number(num3))
{
document.getElementsByName("avg")[0].value = num2;
}
if(Number(num3)>Number(num2) && Number(num3)>Number(num1))
{
document.getElementsByName("avg")[0].value = num3;
}
A:
you are making things complex try this code .
Assignment 1: <input type="text" name="num1"><br>
Assignment 2: <input type="text" name="num2"><br>
Assignment 2: <input type="text" name="num3"><br>
<button onclick="high()">Submit</button>
<p id="result"></p>
<script>
function high(){
var arr = document.querySelectorAll("input");
var emptyarray = [];
arr.forEach((elem) => {
emptyarray.push(elem.value);
})
var max = Math.max.apply(null, emptyarray);
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML=max;
}
</script>
you will get the heighest number result , you can restrict the input field to just enter the number so that no one can add string instead of number and your code work fine .
| |
High school basketball: Central girls back in rankings
An Aberdeen team made its way back into the top 5 as the weekly high school basketball polls were released Monday, but little else changed in the rankings.
Aberdeen Central girls, the preseason No. 1 and defending state champions, re-appeared at No. 5 in the Class AA girls ranks after having fallen to receiving votes. They topped Rapid City Central, who fell out of the ranks, while Sioux Falls Roosevelt moved up to fourth and the top three, with Harrisburg on top, remained the same.
Class A girls stayed exactly the same as last week, led by St. Thomas More and Hamlin, who remained undefeated. Class B girls also did not change.
No boys' class changed the resident of its top spot, as Sioux Falls O'Gorman, Madison and Bridgewater-Emery remained No. 1 in Classes AA, A and B, respectively. There was some shifting below them, but most top fives remained relatively similar to a week ago.
Langford Area held its position at third in Class B, but Sully Buttes fell from fourth to fifth in the same class. Wolsey-Wessington moved up to fourth and Scotland fell out of the top 5.
In Class A, St. Thomas More fell two spots, from second to fourth, and Vermillion replaced Dell Rapids at fifth.
In Class AA, second through fourth rearranged while Sioux Falls Washington reappeared at fifth, replacing Sturgis. | https://www.aberdeennews.com/story/sports/high_school/2017/02/07/high-school-basketball-central-girls-back-in-rankings/44744771/ |
The UH cross country team bolted from the starting line Friday night at 6:30 p.m. in the Rice Invitational Relay, which began their season.
Men and women teams from Rice, UH, Texas Southern, Texas A&M, Baylor and Sam Houston State participated in the race, held along Allen Parkway, just west of Montrose, making it a neighborly affair.
This cross country race, held at Rice University, is unique among college sporting events. The field is wide open to anyone who wishes to race.
"Last year, a relay team composed of the Rice cross country coaches won the race," said race director Ray Davidson of Rice.
"This is a race to let us see where our kids are, to see who did what during the summer," Davidson said. "Plus, there's some local runners participating. It's a workout for the runners."
The Rice Relay's unique format consists of two-person teams. Each school can have as many teams as it has runners to compete.
UH men's coach Howie Ryan echoed the sentiments of Davidson.
"According to the NCAA, you have to have a meet within so many days after you start training," Ryan said. "You're allowed 21 days of training and then you have to have a race, which means by tomorrow we had to have a meet or be in trouble with the NCAA."
"I tried to create teams with my runners that would be competitive among themselves," UH women's coach Theresa Fuqua said. "As it turned out, we were. Our teams all finished within about 30 seconds of each other."
A fair crowd of parents, friends, classmates and small children showed up in the tranquil setting along Allen Parkway to watch their favorite athletes and cheer the runners.
Blue skies and golden sunshine with light humidity made the evening outing perfect for the runners and the spectators.
Runners from different schools mingled and talked with each other, moving among the crowd, creating small pools of laughter and introducing each other to parents and friends.
The colorful uniforms of the teams added to the festive air that made the contest seem more like a family reunion picnic than an athletic event.
"I'm just happy to get started and I'm satisfied," Fuqua said. "I'm real happy with my runners. We accomplished what we set out to do."
The UH men's team had a rigorous morning workout before the late afternoon race.
"We haven't had any hard workouts yet, mostly just doing mileage," Ryan said. "I thought the guys did pretty good. We had a couple freshmen that performed real well.
"We're thin, and we know that," Ryan said. "We kept our senior co-captain out because he's had slight injuries to his legs and this is a rough course. We didn't want to take the chance of getting him hurt. The team competed and that's what I wanted to see. I'm satisfied."
It was a great way to kick off the cross country season. The setting, the atmosphere and the race itself were unique to Houston.
The Rice Invitational Relay is the only race the cross country teams run in Houston, so if you missed it, you'll have to do a little leg work yourself to watch the Cougar distance runners in their next race Sept. 19 at the Southwest Texas Invitational. | http://archive.thedailycougar.com/vol65/11/sports/sports3.html |
Starting your career as a college professor may not be the traditional path, but many professors did start their careers as high school teachers. College professors bring years of experience in the classroom and extensive knowledge in their field to the table, which makes them excellent educators. If you’re interested in becoming a college professor, here’s what you need to know.
Are college professors the same as high school teachers in their first year?
One of the most common questions about college professors is: Do they start out as high school teachers? While some professors do, many do not. The reason is that high school teachers are more accessible to students, which can be a big help when it comes to tackling difficult assignments. Moreover, a high school teacher will be more flexible with his schedule and will often set aside time to answer questions from struggling students.
Another question that comes to most people’s minds is: “How does one become a college professor?” The truth is, professors do not become professors because they started as high school teachers. They were once just high school teachers, just like you. Now, they hold prestigious positions at universities around the country. While teaching in a high school is a great way to learn about various subjects, there are also benefits of teaching at a college or university.
Although post-secondary education lacks required credentials, professors can prove their expertise in their subject through teaching experience. To do so, they should have taken up adjunct or teaching assistantship positions while still in high school. After completing graduate school, a professor must have an impressive SAT/ACT score, and have a track record of delivering high-quality instruction. Despite all these challenges, professors are often in great demand, so it’s important to pursue a career in this field.
How can a high-school teacher become a college instructor? A master’s degree is the minimum requirement to be a community college full-time faculty member. However, many high school teachers don’t have this degree. There are many subjects that don’t align perfectly. Salary scales are a part of this.
Can a teacher at high school be considered a professor The subset of teacher that is called “Professor” is also known as “teacher”. A professor is someone who teaches in post-secondary schools and has (usually) the highest academic degree in her area. Originally Answered: What is the difference between a “teacher” and a “professor”? The term “professor” is reserved for college instructors.
Do college teachers look like high school teachers or are they different? College professors have the responsibility of teaching students and doing original research for publishing. While college professors have some similarities to high school teachers, there are some key differences. Giving lectures to students. Original research.
Are college professors the same as high school teachers? – Similar Questions
Are you able to become a professor without a Ph.D.
A master’s degree is required for those who wish to become professors at community colleges. Doctorates are required for those who wish to teach at four year colleges and universities. To be competitive for professor positions, one should have post-doctoral experiences.
Is a high-school teacher an academic?
High school teachers are those who teach technical and vocational subjects in public and private secondary schools. They typically work from grades 9-12. It is possible to do this by understanding the backgrounds of students and being able teach in the best way.
What is the average annual salary for a college professor
The average annual earnings of full-time college professors in America was $140,543 for 2020-21. The highest average annual earnings are attained by senior-level faculty members at private institutions. The annual earnings of adjunct and other non-tenured faculty are significantly lower.
Is it necessary to have a master’s degree in order to teach college classes?
A master’s degree is the minimum education requirement for college professors. This can be enough to qualify someone for teaching at a community college. For a full-time, tenured university professor position, you will typically need a doctoral degree.
Is it necessary to be a teacher in order to become a professor?
Most universities require that an associate professor or another position be taught at the college level for a minimum of five years before they can award the title college professor. Every university has its own requirements.
Does a college professor call on students?
When professors pose a question in class, they often find that the same few students raise their hands — while everyone else avoids eye contact. Some instructors call on random students to avoid this dynamic. Larkin, Canisius College’s professor emerita, says that nobody likes being put in a position of pressure.
Are instructors professors?
Most of the time, “professor” refers to a tenure-track professorship appointment. “Instructor,” similar to “lecturer,” covers everybody else who teaches in universities, with jobs that are contract, full time or part time. These individuals do not hold the title professor, courtesy or otherwise.
What is the average salary of high school teachers compared to college professors?
Professors generally make $20,000 more than teachers on average. However, there are many factors that influence the salaries of both educators. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salaries of teachers and professors based on their grade level/setting were $61,660 as of May 2019.
What is the minimum amount of college required to become a high school teacher?
It will generally take you at least four years before you can become a teacher. Your personal timeline will depend on the course you choose to study, your location, and what subjects and grades you are interested in teaching.
What’s the difference between teaching college and high school?
High School: Teachers grade homework. College: Professors rarely check homework, but assume students have done it and can perform the same tasks on a test. High school teachers hold high school students accountable for doing their homework. Teachers collect and grade it.
You can teach college with a PhD.
Contrary to popular belief you can become a college professor even without a Ph. D. College professor requirements differ from one school to the next. Schools often require potential professors with advanced degrees to be able to teach, such as a Master in Science or Master of Arts.
Do you qualify to be called a Professor if your master’s degree is in English?
The American title Professor is for those who have completed a PhD and are professors at any level. Doctors are those who have earned a terminal degree. This means that they have attained the highest level of their study beyond a bachelor’s degree. Instructor is the name given to master levels.
Do I qualify to teach if my PHD is in education?
Though the processes vary among states, in general, PhDs will be getting certified as public school teachers through what is called an “alternate” or “alternative” route teaching process.
Is it difficult to become a high school educator?
A bachelor’s degree is not enough to be a high school educator. You will need to take the PRAXIS exam and earn a bachelor’s in education. High school teachers are expected to be subject-matter experts, so you’ll need a degree in your area of interest—and that’s just the first step.
How much do Harvard Teachers Make?
Harvard University: $226,394
Harvard professors are the best of all Ivy League faculty members. They make an average annual salary of $226.394.
What is the salary of a college professor with a PhD in education?
According to PayScale, PhD professors’ salaries can range from $50,000 to $150,000.
What is the salary of a Centennial College professor?
Centennial College professor salaries average $197,554 annually. Centennial College professor salaries can vary from $137,305 to $221,607 per annum.
What is the best way to become a teacher with a bachelor’s degree?
You can get a teacher license in the United States if you have a bachelor’s degree.
Is it difficult to become a college teacher?
It is extremely difficult to be a professor. Tenure-track positions are highly competitive because there are more qualified candidates than full-time college-level teachers. A doctoral degree is required in the subject area you wish to teach. Teaching experience.
Is it possible to teach high school without a PhD?
No. The US does not require a degree in education in order to teach high schools. A PhD is not an advantage. Private schools allow you to teach with any degree they consider necessary.
Why is it that teachers choose to call on shy students?
One reason a shy student might be shy is because loud students always answer. So calling them allows them to participate and gives me the chance to assess their abilities. | https://www.hks-siblab.org/education/do-college-professors-start-as-high-school-teachers/ |
Addressing the One Percent: An Interview with Jeffrey Brenner, MD
So-called superusers, who bounce in and out of the hospital, account for 30 percent of health expenditures. The fix for this vexing challenge requires nothing less than a redesign of the way America delivers health care, says a physician turned community activist.
Of the 79,000 residents in Camden, N.J., 386 constitute the top 1 percent of emergency department (ED) visitors. In 2011, they made a total of 5,000 trips to one of the city’s three EDs for an average of 13 visits per patient.
Nearly 80 percent of those ED patients visited more than one hospital during the year—and inpatient high-utilizers are just as transient. “They are highly mobile, and they go from ED to ED, hospital to hospital, in search of better care,” says Jeffrey C. Brenner, MD, executive director and medical director of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers.
To address the issue, all three Camden hospitals now send information about every ED visit and inpatient admission—patient names, addresses, insurance type, and more—to a database that Brenner created. He and his team scour the data to identify community members who had more than two inpatient stays in the last six months. Then they enroll these superusers in a citywide care management service, which works with all of the providers in Camden to ensure these patients get needed primary care, behavioral health, and social services so they are less likely to need costly inpatient care.
“One hospital and one clinic can’t solve this,” Brenner says. “This problem operates at the community level.”
So far, the results are mixed. “We do not always hit a home run because these are very difficult patients,” Brenner says. “We score with some, and some are much more challenging.”
What Success Looks Like
Here’s what a home run looks like. Last November, a 55-year-old man with nine chronic conditions was admitted to a Camden hospital and assigned to a care manager at Camden Coalition, which runs the care management program. In the previous year, the patient visited the ED nine times and had six inpatient stays, racking up total charges of $312,000. He is a dual-eligible covered by Medicare and Medicaid, which paid a total of $59,000 for that care.
“We coordinated his home care, transport, meals, crutches, wheelchair, and dialysis. We got him to see a nephrologist, got him on the transplant list, and arranged numerous other services,” says Brenner. In the six months after the 55-year-old patient “graduated” from care coordination, he had had no ED visits and no hospitalizations.
A Virtual Organization
Case management for superusers is just one of several ways that the Camden Coalition carries out its mission statement: to improve the health status of Camden residents by increasing the capacity, quality, and access of health care. Other initiatives include helping establish a medical clinic in an apartment building where a high concentration of superusers live and forming a citywide diabetes collaborative to help primary care practices improve health outcomes for patients with diabetes.
Organized as a not-for-profit agency, the Coalition gathers providers, social service agencies, churches, and other constituencies to work together on some of healthcare’s thorniest problems. Representatives from all of these entities serve on the Coalition’s board.
Brenner refers to the Coalition as a virtual organization because it has no employees. Rather, all of its staff members are employed by Cooper University Hospital and leased to the Coalition. | https://www.camdenhealth.org/addressing-the-one-percent-an-interview-with-jeffrey-brenner-md/ |
Recombinant interferon alpha treatment decreases heart rate variability indices and impairs exercise tolerance in patients with chronic hepatitis.
Complications of interferon (IFN) therapy include cardiac arrhythmias, impaired cardiac function and myocardial ischemia. Decreased heart rate variability (HRV) indices, impaired exercise tolerance and decreased left ventricular (LV) function are related to unfavorable outcome of heart disease. To investigate the effect of IFN therapy on HRV, exercise tolerance and cardiac function, 24-h ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring (AECG), two-dimensional echocardiography, and exercise treadmill testing (ETT) was performed in 9 patients (age 56 +/- 9 years-old) with chronic hepatitis and without underlying heart disease before and after treatment with IFN (recombinant alpha 2b; 10 x 10(6) U/day for 4 weeks). HRV parameters consisted of standard deviation of RR interval (sdNN, ms), SDANN (ms), S.D. index (ms), rMSSD (ms), pNN50 (%) and frequency analysis of heart rate spectrum resulted in low (ms, 0.04-0.15 Hz), high (ms, 0.15-0.40 Hz) and total (ms, 0.01-1.00 Hz) frequency components. Ischemia was not detected by AECG or ETT, and LV function was normal after INF treatment in all patients. However, INF treatment resulted in a decrease in exercise tolerance time (449 +/- 94 s vs. 329 +/- 67 s, P < 0.05) and a decrease in several HRV parameters (S.D. index, 42 +/- 5 ms vs. 37 +/- 9 ms; rMSSD, 22 +/- 5 ms vs. 19 +/- 4 ms; pNN50, 4 +/- 3% vs. 2 +/- 1%; P < 0.05). Further, patients treated with INF tended to have a lower sdNN and total frequency spectra, although this difference did not reach the level of statistical significance. These data suggest that the arrhythmogenic effect of INF may be mediated by decreases in HRV and impairment of exercise tolerance even in patients without overt heart diseases. Further, INF therapy may be contraindicated in patients with predisposing severe cardiac disorders, including arrhythmias, ischemia and decreased LV function.
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Great news: We've finally finished proofreading the 1977 puzzles, and Jim Horne has now posted them on XWord Info, where they can be viewed, solved, and analyzed. This year contains the first two months of Will Weng–edited puzzles, so enjoy! Thanks, Jim!
Incidentally, a couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from Jim, who announced that he'd created a new feature that allows you to search for keywords in clues as well as entries! This very useful feature recently allowed Will Shortz to quickly locate all crosswords with word ladder themes (by searching for "word ladder" in puzzle clues) to help a friend with a book. Jim suggested that I do a similar clue search for "Stepquote," which turned up a surprising number of pre-Shortzian Stepquotes that weren't constructed by Eugene T. Maleska and, even more significant, that were confined to daily puzzle grids! The clue search also makes researching how current events played into New York Times crosswords much easier. I did a clue search for "U.S.S.R." and was able to see how crosswords reflected developments in and changing attitudes about the Cold War, which was truly fascinating! I can't wait to explore the clue search in more detail—thanks so much again for creating it, Jim!
In other news, litzer and proofreader Todd Gross recently uncovered some very interesting articles. He found three on pre-Shortzian constructor James A. Brussel, who, in addition to being a crossword constructor, was also a psychiatrist and a criminologist who helped track down the Mad Bomber! Todd also found two articles on Jordan S. Lasher, one of which erroneously listed him as Joseph Lasher! On top of all this, Todd came across a fascinating early article on late crossword puzzle editor and ACPT judge Doug Heller. Great finds, Todd! Links to the articles about James A. Brussel and Jordan Lasher can be found on the Pre-Shortzian Constructors page.
- February 4, 1945
- BOMBING
- "War of attrition."
- ATTACK
- "Onset."
- GROWING
- "Expanding."
- March 4, 1945
- NAZIDOM
- "Hitler's world."
- FINALLY
- "At long last."
- DOOMED
- "Is kaput."
A couple of days ago Jeff Chen of XWord Info forwarded an e-mail he had received from a solver who had been trying to find a couple of puzzles on XWord Info, one by Frances Hansen and the other by Maura B. Jacobson. The solver's 200-puzzle omnibus of Maleska-edited puzzles indicated that these puzzles had all originally run between 1979 and 1985, yet he couldn't find them on XWord Info. I was able to search through my data and find the exact dates for both puzzles, which had actually first appeared in 1976—the year we are currently proofreading. The solver also wondered why some of the puzzles in his book had different titles than the ones on XWord Info. I explained to him that puzzle titles, clues, and even grids were often changed in the versions that were reprinted in books and that, where possible, the litzed puzzles on XWord Info reproduced whatever was in the original puzzles, not in reprinted versions later on. It was gratifying to be able to find the Hansen and Jacobson puzzles quickly for this solver and was yet another instance of the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project being able to serve as a resource for the community at large.
On Saturday while I was at the Latin convention, I received an e-mail from Roy Leban of Puzzazz. Roy is very busy but wanted to digitize at least one puzzle before we were through. I took one puzzle out of a packet and sent it to him, along with instructions. Even though one puzzle may not seem like much (especially, as Roy noted, when compared to Mark Diehl's litzing achievement!), it still helps a lot. Welcome, Roy!
I got to thinking that other people in the crossword community who've been too busy to litz might be interested in trying one puzzle too before we're all done, so I'm officially launching the One-Puzzle Litzing Challenge! If you'd like to digitize one puzzle to see what it's like and help along the project, just let me know. If you end up liking it, you can always ask for more puzzles, but if one is enough, that's fine too!
Today's featured pre-Shortzian puzzle was published on March 3, 1964; constructed by Diana Sessions; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Tracy Bennett. This impressive construction features a five-part Space Age theme in a 70-word grid! The theme consists of five asymmetrically arranged entries containing a planet (or what was considered a planet at the time this puzzle was published), most of which are clued in a way that doesn't relate to the planet in question. Thus, this puzzle's constructor largely passed on entries that would directly reference the planets (such as SATURN'S RINGS and NEPTUNE'S MOON) in favor of ones that would more subtly reference them (such as SATURNINELY and NEPTUNE'S CUP). My favorite theme entry is EARTH MAN, which was clued as "Future moon visitor." Talk about an optimistic outlook! What really makes this puzzle stand out, however, is the cleanliness of the nonthematic fill, given the open grid and constraints imposed by the theme. I particularly like the entries PRANCES, NEPHEW, MOSCOW, SPEAK UP, PRALINE, YOSEMITE, and PUPPET—that's a lot of fun fill! UNITO (clued as "Joined: It."), UNIOS ("Fresh-water mussels."), and MUR ("Wall: Fr.") are the only real trade-offs, making this pre-Shortzian puzzle very successful in my books! I look forward to seeing what other masterpieces Diana Sessions has in store as I continue to review packets sent in by litzers. I've already seen a few Sundays by her that have amazingly open centers and unusually clean fill, such as this one from 1983! For now, here's the solution to this week's featured puzzle: | http://www.preshortzianpuzzleproject.com/2014/04/1977-puzzles-up-on-xword-info-new-xword.html |
What is LAND as a factor of production?
natural resources
What is LABOR as a factor of production?
human effort
What is CAPITAL as a factor of production?
tools used to produce something
What is ENTREPRENEURSHIP as a factor of production?
risk takers and business owners
Allocate
to distribute, pass out.
Opportunity cost
giving up the next best alternative when making a choice
Tradeoffs
giving up one thing to get something else
Production Possibilities curve
illustrates the trade-offs between two options
Marginal benefits
additional benefit received from consuming one more good
Marginal cost
the cost incurred from producing one more unit of a good
Rational decisions
when the marginal benefits of an action equal or exceed the marginal costs
Division of Labor
breaking up labor process into smaller pieces (assembly line is an example)
Specialization
doing one thing well...expert in one part of production
Voluntary exchange
both parties gain when each chooses to exchange (as opposed to being forced to exchange)
3 basic economic questions
what to produce, how to produce it, for whom to produce it?
3 Economic systems
Command economy, Market system and Mixed system
Command Economy
government makes the economic decisions (communism)
Market system economy
Individuals and businesses make the economy decisions so competition, private ownership, profit motive and little government regulation
Mixed economy
government, individuals and businesses make the economy decisions
Government Regulation
government places control over an industry
Government Deregulation
taking gov't controls off an industry. Usually leads to more competition and lower prices
Education
leads to higher standard of living, more money and better job security
Investments-factories, machinery, technology, health, education and training leads to... | https://quizlet.com/174799925/georgia-economics-eoc-2016-pt-1-fundamental-economic-concepts-flash-cards/ |
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test used to detect abnormalities related to electrical activity of the brain. This procedure tracks and records brain wave patterns. Electrodes are placed on the scalp and then send signals to a computer to record the results. Normal electrical activity in the brain makes a recognizable pattern. Through an EEG, doctors can look for abnormal patterns that indicate seizures and other problems.
The most common reason an EEG is performed is to diagnose and monitor seizure disorders. EEGs can also help to identify causes of other problems such as sleep disorders and changes in behavior. | http://ajhospital.in/special_equipments_EEG.html |
Is Math Driving You Mad?
Though it might seem as if the most talented writers are great at everything, especially if they have successful freelancing businesses, there are likely a few challenges beneath the surface. Often, these challenges deal more with the business aspects of … Continue reading
The Five Greatest Benefits of Writing in a Different Location
Welcome to the very first post on KBJWriting.com. I hope to share some of the lessons learned in my five plus years as a freelance writer by answering questions and addressing concerns of writers and those in need of quality … Continue reading
Posted in Blog Tagged freelance writing, freelance writing jobs, work at home, writing, writing jobs, writing tips 2 Comments
Welcome to KBJ Writing
Please visit the About and Portfolio pages to learn more. | https://kbjwriting.com/tag/freelance-writing/ |
A survey of white dwarfs shows they get more magnetic as they age, and we don't know why.
White dwarfs are supposed to be dead remnants of stars, doomed to simply fade away into the background. But new…
A white dwarf star has been found that's more massive than our Sun, but about the same size as our…
White dwarfs have some surprisingly strong magnetic fields, and one team of astronomers may have finally found the reason why.…
Astronomers have developed a new technique to search for exoplanets - by looking for their crushed up bones in the…
Chandrasekhar found there is an upper limit for the mass of a white dwarf, but some white dwarfs can break…
If quark matter stars exist, they could look like white dwarfs that are unusually small. | https://www.universetoday.com/category/white-dwarf/amp/ |
The question What can cause a question to be bumped? says that answers will bump a question.
However, recently I noticed some older questions not being bumped after I answered them.
One example is this question.
I'm wondering if this is a bug, or if there are criteria for when not to bump a question, such as it's age, downvotes (the linked answer for example does note an exception for edits, but not for answers), existing close votes, and so on.
Edit: After asking this question, I upvoted the question I linked, and it got bumped, suggesting that downvotes may restrict bumps. I would still be interested in a general answer though. | https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/283947/do-not-all-answers-bump-a-question |
* The earnings gender gap is the difference between male and female median annual earnings expressed as a percentage of male median earnings. Full-time workers are those who worked 35 or more hours per week for 50 or more weeks during the previous 12 months. The analysis excludes holders of the D.D.S., D.V.M., M.D., and other non-research degrees.
Since the humanities were dropped from the biennial Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) in 1995, the National Science Foundation’s National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) is the only source of nationally representative data on the occupations and earnings of humanities Ph.D.’s.
Conducted every two years, the NSCG gathers detailed education, occupation, and earnings information from a sample of individuals drawn from the larger pool of all those identified via the American Community Survey (ACS) as holders of a baccalaureate degree. Given the size of the NSCG sample, reliable estimates are available only for broad academic fields. For the NSCG disciplinary categories included in each of the field-of-degree categories employed by the Humanities Indicators, see the provided crosswalk.
Another key difference between these indicators and the ACS-based earnings indicators is that the Ph.D. holders considered here are those whose doctoral degree was in the humanities (irrespective of the field of their undergraduate and any terminal master’s degree). The ACS does not collect data about the field of advanced degrees. The ACS-based indicators thus describe the earnings of undergraduate humanities majors who went on to pursue advanced degrees, regardless of the field of the advanced degree.
For an occupation and earnings comparison by gender for all advanced degree holders with a humanities background, see Indicator III-3l: Occupational Distribution of Humanities Majors Who Went On to Obtain an Advanced Degree (in Any Field), by Gender, 2015. | https://humanitiesindicators.org/content/indicatordoc.aspx?i=309 |
We conducted an impact evaluation of Youth with Hope (Jóvenes con Porvenir), the first large-scale vocational training program implemented in Mexico. Results indicate that participants increased their likelihood of finding a job; their reported monthly income; their number of hours worked per week; their access to professional networks; and their optimism about their future
About a third of Mexico’s population consists on young people aged 15 to 29 years old. A large proportion of the more than 30 million youngsters in Mexico face considerable challenges due to the education and employability crisis in the country. The youth crisis is even more worrisome in states where drug trafficking and crime organizations have expanded, and street gangs have grown. In the last few years, the number of social programs aimed at increasing employability among youths in Latin America have increased considerably.
The government of Zapopan launched in 2013 the Jóvenes con Porvenir program (Youth with Hope) as a vocational training program for 15- to 30-year-olds who were not attending formal education and lived in Zapopan. Participants enrolled in tuition-free courses, which were contracted to private higher education institutions. More than 500 courses were offered on trades and careers in both technical and vocational fields. Students could choose one course per semester, and were allowed to enroll in up to three courses. From February of 2013 to February of 2015, the program offered nearly 32,000 scholarships to almost 24,000 beneficiaries.
The evaluation involved a quasi-experimental design leveraging the fact that the program was directed exclusively to Zapopan’s residents. The control group was then constructed by a random sample of young residents from Guadalajara’s metropolitan area with similar observable characteristics, but who were ineligible to participate in the program for exogenous reasons. To control for non-observable characteristics, we included in the control group respondents who signaled interest in participating in Youth with Hope if they were eligible. We selected a random sample of 10 percent of the total number of beneficiaries (1,635 students) and 875 youngsters in the control group. A baseline survey was carried out before the Youth with Hope courses started. The follow-up surveys were carried out six months and one year after the baseline, when courses had concluded. | http://povgov.com/publications/11 |
Produced by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and UNESCO, and published by the OECD, the 2013 World Social Science Report represents a comprehensive overview of the field gathering the thoughts and expertise of hundreds of social scientists from around the world.
This edition focuses on the transformative role of the social sciences in confronting climate and broader processes of environmental change, and in addressing priority problems from energy and water, biodiversity and land use, to urbanisation, migration and education.
The report includes 100 articles written by 150 authors from 41 countries all over the world. Authors represent some 24 disciplines, mainly in the social sciences.
The contributions highlight the central importance of social science knowledge for environmental change research, as a means of understanding changing environments in terms of social processes and as framework for finding concrete solutions towards sustainability.
English
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Bringing poor people's voices into policy discussions
The Equity and Sustainability Field Hearings project set out to ensure that poor communities have the opportunity to share their views on sustainable development and poverty issues. Coordinated by the Initiative for Equality, civil society and research groups are working to find out what poor and disadvantaged communities think about their future. Their responses will be compiled and included in the Sustainable Development Goals dialogue and decision-making processes.
English
- Click to access: | https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/world-social-science-report-2013/bringing-poor-people-s-voices-into-policy-discussions_9789264203419-61-en |
Community in Unity, created by Alaska Public Media in 2015, invites residents of Alaska to sit down and participate in face-to-face discussions in order to tackle relevant community issues. Recorded for radio broadcast, the group conversations have included topics ranging from homelessness to race and identity with the hopes of getting people who wouldn’t normally meet together. For the topic of incarceration – identified as a prevalent subject within the community – a separate series was made where episodes were hosted within correctional facilities across the state involving people who are currently incarcerated.
Snapshot
Project Goals: Anne Hillman, the host and producer of Community and Unity, said the primary goal of the project is to get people who wouldn’t normally interact into the same space for an open conversation. “The goal is to help people understand other people’s perspectives and life experiences with the hope that it will reduce barriers between them.” She added, “For the prison series, the goal is to reduce the stigma and fear associated with incarceration, so that people will have better experiences reintegrating into the community upon release.”
Tools and Technology: Alaska Public Media uses its audio equipment in order to record, produce, and prepare the Community in Unity radio episodes/podcasts. Promotion of radio episodes and Community in Unity events is done through the Alaska Public Media Facebook page, ads on the radio, and newspaper ads when funding allows.
Impact: On average, roughly 30 to 40 people attend the Community in Unity conversations, and Hillman said the highest turnout was for the first prisoner re-entry conversation with over 100 participants. This episode caught the attention of a charity organization called 100 Women Charitable Foundation. After members of this charity organization saw the Community in Unity panel discussion, the foundation donated $10,000 to an organization that worked directly with former prisoners re-entering communities. Since beginning the conversations inside of the prisons, community members have started donating books, newspaper subscriptions, and other supplies to different facilities to increase the number of opportunities for people who are incarcerated. People are also volunteering time to teach classes. Inmates who participated in the conversations said they felt like they were actually being listened to and were less afraid of what they would face when released. About 10 to 15 inmates participate in each event. They have drawn in crowds from the public ranging from 20 to 50 people. According to Hillman, the conversations fill a hole in public dialogue. “There aren’t that many opportunities to have open conversations about topics that impact the community and invite everyone to be an equal participant,” Hillman said. She added that local community members regularly approach her to say how much they enjoyed the Community in Unity episodes and how the conversations have changed their perspectives.
Organization Background: Alaska Public Media is comprised of alaskapublic.org, the Alaska Public Radio Network, KAKM-TV, PBS KIDS, and KSKA radio. Based out of Southcentral Alaska, Alaska Public Media reaches 97% of the Alaska population with its statewide news content, which is also broadcast around the state through the Alaska Public Radio Network. Alaska Public Media reports annual funding of $5.6 million – with 75% of said funding coming from community donors and the remaining funding stemming from state and federal support.
Project Resources: Hillman said that, aside from the costs of providing food, the overall financial resources required to host the Community in Unity discussions are minimal. “You can do this for very little money; if you aren’t traveling and don’t pay for print ads, you can keep it under $200.” The Alaska Public Media advertising team assists with promotion, and Hillman said she occasionally receives recording assistance from an audio engineer. Preparing for the conversations, including meeting with stakeholders before the events, can take considerable amounts of time. Depending on the topics and the community, stakeholder meetings are highly encouraged. When holding conversations inside of prisons, meeting ahead of time with the inmates who have volunteered to participate is essential so they understand what they will experience.
Here’s what worked
1. If people can’t come to you, go to them
“The idea is to get people who wouldn’t normally be in the same space together in a room,” said Hillman, “and that’s very obviously happening with the prison conversations.” Hillman sought to hold Community in Unity in one of Alaska’s correctional facilities so prison inmates could participate with staff and community members to discuss incarceration. The Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska, agreed to host the discussion, and it turned out to be very well-received by both participants and listeners. After it’s success, the Department of Corrections invited Alaska Public Media to host conversations in all of their facilities.
2. Setting agreements
Hillman said, “I start each conversation with a set of agreements that basically say enter this conversation with respect, but also understand that it might draw up a lot of feelings and that’s okay.” Starting the discussions this way helps to set a tone that is non-combative and gets participants on the same page.
3. Moderating to promote interaction
Everyone who participates in the events sits in a circle, on equal footing. No one is promoted as an expert, and people are asked to sit near others who they may not know. It creates a dynamic that reduces feelings of “Us vs. Them.” The set-up makes recording for radio slightly more involved. “When I moderate, it is me with a microphone running from person to person around the circle, and then sitting down on the floor in front of them so I’m not blocking anyone’s view.” She said this method is effective because it gets participants to look at each other and form connections when speaking.
Here’s what could have worked better
1. Reaching new audiences
With the series on prisoner re-entry approaching its final episode, Hillman said she is investigating possible methods to pinpoint the next discussion topic. “I need to figure out ways to tap into more ideas of what topics to focus on and really get more community input on what to cover.”
2. Gauging impact
Hillman said she is looking for ways to better gauge the impact of Community in Unity beyond the comments and stories frequently shared with her by audience members. She explained that – aside from the tangible metrics such as public donations – the effects of Community in Unity have primarily consisted of anecdotal evidence from participants and listeners.
3. Emphasizing aesthetics and refreshments
Small details such as providing food and improving décor can have a big impact on discussions. For conversations where more resources were spent on refreshments and decorations, Hillman reported that audience members engaged more and stayed longer to chat with other workshop attendees.
Here’s what else you should know
- Building trust: Community in Unity was created as a new way to get more voices and perspectives on the air and pursue topics with more depth. The side result is that it builds trust with the community. “If what traditional newsrooms have come to realize is that people don’t necessarily trust us, it’s because we’re not visible and it’s because we’re not listening enough,” said Hillman. “This is a way to put ourselves out there to listen and remove ourselves from dictating the narrative.”
- Communities collaborating: Hillman said collaborating with community partners helps to focus the conversation on more relevant topics and to draw in more audience members. Collaborations also open new spaces and relationships, as was shown by the partnership with the Department of Corrections that allowed conversations to happen in multiple correctional facilities.
- Award winning: The Alaska Press Club awarded the Solutions Desk, a reporting project, and Community in Unity the 2017 Public Service Award for its coverage on incarceration. Alaska Press Club noted that the project “gave a voice to the voiceless” within the Spring Creek Correctional Center.
Learn More
To learn more about Community in Unity, don’t hesitate to contact Anne Hillman through Gather or via e-mail at [email protected]. To listen to past episodes, go to Alaska Public Media’s website or subscribe to the Solutions Desk podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or NPR One. | https://letsgather.in/case-studies/how-alaska-public-media-uses-face-to-face-public-conversations-to-tackle-important-community-issues/ |
Atlantis is a city completely underwater. It lies deep under the sea a few kilometres off of the coast of Izlude. Because it is so deep, none but the merfolk have gone here. Because of the deep underwater pressure that keeps out visitors and the lifestyle of the residents, many other races are not even aware of the city's existence, or its peoples' existence for that matter.
But unknown to most, Atlantis is a heavily populated city. It has many libraries and academies, and boasts of ancient merfolkian architecture made of marble and semi-precious gems. The people have established trade routes with other merfolk cities and the faerie city of Bellan Dejour. Despite their loose ties with humans and other races, the merfolk of Atlantis do not view them with contempt; it is simply a great inconvenience for the merfolk to make daily travels to the shore. | http://advent-ro.wikidot.com/cities:atlantis |
AREA’s four main families of street furniture are:
L'ARBRE, combining all forms of furniture to protect and highlight plant life against an urban backdrop.
LA RUE, presenting matching furniture in line with the development of different ways of getting around town.
LA PAUSE, proposing all forms of seating, litter-bins and fountains to enhance the comfort and cleanliness of public places.
L'ÉVASION, offering new perspectives to revamp urban areas, combining relaxation, sport and leisure activities.
Our values
Since 1987, AREA has been a forerunner in creating street furniture in France. It has built up a recognized identity by fostering its own distinctive approach to sector design:
FREE: imagining tomorrow’s city with boundless vision
CREATIVE: observing how urban behaviours develop and providing innovative solutions
SUSTAINABLE: taking direct interest in projects along with public space designers and showing core concern for end-users by empowering them in the design of their environment. | https://www.archiexpo.com/soc/area-50642.html |
The present invention relates to the preparation of hydroxythiol compounds, and, more specifically, to the preparation of isomerically pure hydroxythiophenols. In particular, the present invention relates to a commercially feasible hydroxythiophenol synthesis in which significant quantities of the isomerically pure reaction product are obtained.
General methods for the preparation of thiol compounds using the Grignard-sulfur reaction are known in the literature. Halide compounds are reacted with magnesium metal and then sulfur powder to produce a thiol. The extension of the Grignard reaction to hydroxy halide compounds requires protection of the reactive hydroxyl group. However, even when hydroxyl group protection is employed, low yields are obtained.
Isomerically pure hydroxythiophenols are important reagents and starting materials for a variety of pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical processes. 3-Hydroxythiophenol, in particular, has been used as a key starting material for the synthesis of a new drug for the prevention of breast cancer. The commercial demands for these compounds have created a need for their practical large scale production.
Diazonium salt reactions are generally employed to substitute a phenyl ring with a hydroxyl group. An isomerically pure hydroxythiophenol could thus be prepared by reacting an isomerically pure aminothiophenol with NaNO2 and H2SO4 to form the corresponding diazonium salt, which could then be converted to a hydroxythiophenol by reaction with water.
The diazonium salt reaction with aminothiophenol, however, produces a poor yield of diazonium salt. Furthermore, aminothiophenols are sulfur-containing nucleophiles that tend to react violently with diazonium reagents. General methods for the preparation of thiophenols using the aryl Grignard-sulfur reaction are known in the literature, but, consistent with other hydroxy halide compounds, low yields are obtained. There remains a need for a commercially practical method of producing hydroxythiophenols in high yield.
This need is met by the present invention. It has now been discovered that the Grignard-sulfur reaction produces poor yields of hydroxythiol compounds because the well-known hydroxyl protecting groups typically employed with Grignard reactions form species upon de-protection that attack thiol groups. This is particularly a problem in the preparation on hydroxythiophenols. Therefore, significant quantities of isomerically pure hydroxythiol compounds may be produced by means of the Grignard-sulfur reaction if the species formed upon de-protection of the hydroxyl group is removed from the reaction mixture before it reacts with the newly-formed thiol group, or if a hydroxyl protecting group is employed that upon de-protection forms species that are inert toward thiol groups.
The present invention incorporates the discovery that previous attempts to synthesize hydroxythiol compounds using an Grignard-sulfur reaction were unsuccessful because of the protecting groups employed. For example, the commonly-used tetrahydropyranyl protecting group, formed dihydropyran upon de-protection, which attacked the newly-formed thiol group. By either using a hydroxyl protecting group that upon de-protection forms a species that is inert toward the thiol group, or that is removed from the reaction mixture before it reacts with the newly-formed thiol group, isomerically pure hydroxythiol compounds are produced in commercially useful yields.
The present invention thus provides an improved method for the preparation of hydroxythiol compounds in which, as shown in Step I, a hydroxyl-protected halogenated compound is reacted with magnesium in a Grignard-suitable solvent to form a hydroxyl-protected magnesium halide compound:
Step I
The magnesium halide is then reacted with sulfur in the Grignard-suitable solvent, as shown in Step II, to form a hydroxyl-protected, thiomagnesium halide, which may contain some di- and polysulfide species:
Step II
According to one embodiment of the method of the present invention, the hydroxyl protecting group is selected so that upon de-protection the species that are formed by the protecting group are inert toward thiols. In this aspect of the method of the present invention, the hydroxyl group may be hydrolyzed and de-protected, before the thiomagnesium halide is converted to the thiol.
According to another embodiment of the method of the present invention, when the hydroxyl group is de-protected, the species that is formed is removed from the reaction mixture before it reacts with the newly-formed thiol group.
In both embodiments, the reaction mixture is then treated with a reducing agent (to reduce the di- and polysulfide species that form). This increases the reaction yield. The de-protection, thiol conversion and reduction is shown in Step III:
Step III
Because the reaction itself does not generate isomers, the method of the present invention is useful for the synthesis of isomerically pure regio-isomeric hydroxythiol compounds, and particularly useful for the synthesis of isomerically pure hydroxythiophenol compounds. Hydroxythiophenol synthesis is depicted in Steps I-III when R is an unsubstituted or substituted phenyl group.
For purposes of the present invention, an xe2x80x9cisomerically purexe2x80x9d reaction product contains the same level of isomeric impurities as its starting material. Therefore, with the method of the present invention, the isomeric purity of the reaction product will depend upon the isomeric purity of its starting material, and it is possible to obtain an isomeric purity of 95 wt % and greater.
Thus, to obtain an isomerically pure end product, an isomerically pure starting material must be employed. Such materials are also commercially available or may be prepared by known methods. Isomerically pure halogenated phenols and alkylphenols, when not available commercially, are prepared using well-known halogenation reactions that are essentially conventional. Suitable reagents, solvents and process conditions may be determined by reference to March, J., Advanced Organic Chemistry (2nd Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1977), (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference) and through routine optimization of reaction parameters. The alkyl and aryl halide isomers that form have distinct boiling points and are separated on a commercial scale by distillation.
Another aspect of the present invention, provides intermediate compounds having the structure of Formula I:
Y is selected from straight-chained or branched, unsubstituted or substituted C1-C20 alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, tertiary amino, amido and alkoxyl groups; n is between 0 and 4, inclusive; Pg is a protecting group that upon de-protection forms a species that is inert toward thiols; and X is selected from SH, Z, MgZ and SMgZ, wherein Z is selected from F, Cl, Br and I.
The method of the present invention utilizes halogenated hydroxyl compounds as starting materials. The compounds are commercially available. Alternately, they may be prepared using the conventional techniques described above. The hydroxyl group is protected with a suitable protecting group, to provide a compound having the structure of Formula II:
Xxe2x80x94Rxe2x80x94OPg xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(II)
wherein X and Pg are as described above for Formula I and R is a substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic radical, a substituted or unsubstituted cyclic aliphatic radical, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic radical, a substituted or unsubstituted araliphatic radical or a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic radical.
More preferably, R is a substituted or unsubstituted, straight-chained or branched C1-C20 alkyl radical, a substituted or unsubstitued C3-C10 cycloalkyl radical, a substituted or unsubstituted C6-C15 aryl radical, a substituted or unsubstituted C7-C13 aralkyl radical, or a substituted or unsubstituted 3-6 member heterocyclic radical. Essentially any substitution group that is inert toward Grignard reagents or is capable of being protected from reaction with Grignard reagents may be employed. Suitable substitution groups, substitution groups requiring protecting groups, protecting groups and methods of protection are well-known. Pg may be used as a protecting group. Examples of substitution groups include C1-C6 aliphatics such as alkyls, alkoxys and alkenyls, C6-C15 aryls, C3-C8 cyclic aliphatics, tertiary aminos and amidos. The substitution groups may be straight-chained or branched and substituted or unsubstituted, as well.
R as a C1-C20 alkyl radical may be, for example, a methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, neopentyl, n-hexyl, n-heptyl, n-octyl, or 2-ethylhexyl radical. Any of these groups may be substituted with methoxy, ethoxy, n-propoxy, isopropoxy, n-butoxy or methanesulphonyl, to form, for example, methoxymethyl, 2-methoxyethyl, 2-ethoxymethy, n-butoxyethyl, 3-methoxypropyl, 1-methoxybutyl, 2-methoxybutyl, methanesulphonylmethyl or 2-methanesulphonylethyl. In a preferred class of alkyl radicals, R is a straight chain C2-C6 alkyl radical, especially a ethyl or butyl radical.
R as a C3-C10 cycloalkyl radical may be, for example, a cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, methylcyclopentyl, cylcohexyl, methylcyclohexyl dimethylcyclohexyl, cycloheptyl, or cyclooctyl radical. Any of these groups may be substituted by methoxy, ethoxy, n-propoxy, isopropoxy or n-butoxy. In a preferred class of cycloalkyl radical, R is a C6-C8 cycloalkyl radical, even more preferably, a dimethylcyclohexyl radical.
R as a 3-6 ring member heterocyclic radical may include known heterocyclic atoms such as N, O and S. Suitable heterocycles include, for example, pyran, thiophene, pyrrole, furan, pyridine, or derivatives thereof
R as a C6-C15 aryl may be, for example, phenyl, o-tolyl, m-tolyl, p-tolyl, o-xylyl, m-xylyl, p-xylyl, alpha-naphthyl or beta-naphthyl. Any of these groups may be substituted, for example, with C1-C14 alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, amino (primary, secondary or tertiary), amido, alkoxyl or hydroxyl. In a preferred class of compounds, R is C6-C12 aryl, especially phenyl or naphthyl.
R as a C7-C20 aralkyl radical may be, for example, benzyl, 4-methylbenzyl, o-methylbenzyl, p-methylbenzyl, diphenylmethyl, 2-phenylethyl, 2-phenylpropyl or 3-phenylpropyl, and preferably a C7-C9 aralkyl, especially benzyl. Any of these groups may also be substituted, for example, with C1-C14 aryl, aralkyl, tertiary amino, amido or alkoxyl groups.
In a still more preferred embodiment, R is a aryl or aralkyl radical, so that the compound of Formula II is a hydroxyl-protected aryl halide. The compound is formed by protecting the hydroxyl group of a halogenated phenol or alkylphenol by conventional methods.
Examples of suitable protecting groups for Pg include silyl groups such as trialkyl-silyls, including trimethylsilyl, triethylsilyl, t-butyldimethylsilyl, C1-C10, alkyl and substituted alkyl groups may also be employed, including methyl and substituted methyl groups, such as methoxymethyl, t-butyl, dihydropyranyl groups; ethyl and substituted ethyl groups such as 1-ethoxyethyl, 1-methyl-1-methoxyethyl, and C6-C20 aryl and substituted aryl groups, and C7-C20 aralkyl and substituted aralkyl groups, such as benzyl and substituted benzyl groups, such as p-methoxybenzyl, and p-phenylbenzyl groups. 2-(Trimethylsilyl)ethoxymethyl (SEM) may also be used, which is an alkylsilyl, as well as a substituted methyl, protecting group.
Hydroxyl protecting groups that upon de-protection form protecting group species that are inert toward thiophenols include alkylsilyl groups, such as the aforementioned silyl protecting groups, SEM, and groups that form unreactive alcohols upon de-protection, including alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, alkoxy, aryloxy and arylalkoxy groups. Protecting groups that upon de-protection form species that are reactive toward thiophenols include groups that form species that are reactive with sulfur-containing nucleophiles, such as tetrahydropyran and t-butyl protecting groups.
When the aryl or aralkyl group of R is a phenyl or alkylphenyl group the compound of Formula II is an intermediate compound of Formula I in which X is F, Cl, Br or I and Y and n are as described above for Formula I. When n is zero, the compound of Formula I corresponds to the compound of Formula II in which R is an unsubstituted phenyl group, and when n is one or two, the compound of Formula I corresponds to the compound of Formula II in which R is a substituted phenyl or alkylphenyl group. Accordingly, Y of Formula I represents the groups with which the aryl and aralkyl groups of Formula I may be substituted, i.e., for example, straight-chained or branched, substituted or unsubstituted C1-C20 alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, tertiary amino amido or alkoxyl.
The hydroxyl-protected halide compound is then allowed to undergo the Grignard reaction of Step I using magnesium in a conventional Grignard-suitable solvent. This reaction step is essentially conventional, and suitable reagents, solvents and process conditions may be determined by reference to the above cited March, J., Advanced Organic Chemistry (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference) and by routine optimization of reaction parameters. Typically, an ether is employed as a Grignard solvent. Examples of suitable ethers include tetrahydrofuran (THF), diethyl ether, isopropyl ether and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE).
A magnesium halide compound is obtained having the structure of Formula II, in which R and Pg are as described above with respect to Formula II and X is selected from MgF, MgCl, MgBr and MgI. When R is a phenyl or alkylphenyl group, the compound of Formula II is an intermediate compound of Formula I in which X is MgF, MgCl, MgBr or Mgl and Y and n are as described above for Formula I. When n is greater than zero, Y of Formula I again represents the groups with which the aryl and aralkyl R groups of Formula II may be substituted.
The magnesium halide compound is reacted as depicted in Step II with elemental sulfur suspended in a dry Grignard-suitable solvent under an inert atmosphere such as nitrogen.
This reaction step is also essentially conventional, and suitable reagents, solvents and process conditions may be determined by reference to the above-cited Advanced Organic Chemistry and by routine optimization of reaction parameters.
A thiomagnesium halide compound is thus obtained, having the structure of Formula II, in which R and Pg are as described above with respect to Formula II and X is selected from SMgF, SMgCl, SMgBr and SMgI. When R is a phenyl or alkylphenyl group, the compound of Formula II is an intermediate compounds of Formula I in which X is SMgF, SMgCl, SMgBr or SMgI and Y and n are as described above for Formula I. When n is greater than zero, Y again represents the groups with which the aryl and aralkyl R groups of Formula II may be substituted.
As depicted in Step III, the thiomagnesium halide compound is treated with a dilute aqueous mineral acid such as a 10% solution of an acid such as hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid to effect hydrolysis and de-protection of the hydroxyl group. This reaction step is also essentially conventional, and suitable reagents, solvents and process conditions may be determined by reference to the above-cited Advanced Organic Chemistry and by routine optimization of reaction parameters.
The protected hydroxyl group may be hydrolyzed and de-protected either before or after the thiophenol group is formed. If the protected hydroxyl group is hydrolyzed first, then the resulting compound has the structure of Formula II, in which R is as described above with respect to Formula II, Pg is H and X is selected from SMgF, SMgCl, SMgBr and SMgI. If the thiophenol is formed first, then the resulting compound has the structure of Formula II in which R and Pg are as described above with respect to Formula II and X is SH. For either compound, when R is a phenyl or alkylphenyl group, the compound of Formula II is an intermediate compound of Formula I in which X is SH and Y and n are as described above for Formula I. Y again represents the groups with which the aryl and aralkyl R groups of Formula II may be substituted.
If the protecting group species that is formed by de-protection of the protecting group is not inert toward thiol groups, then the protecting group species should be removed from the reaction mixture before it reacts with the newly formed thiol group. The species that forms can be removed by essentially conventional techniques, including distillation, extraction with water or reaction with a stronger nucleophile than the thiol group. In fact, the hydroxyl group can be de-protected before the thiophenol group is formed when a nucleophile is added that is strong enough to react preferentially with the de-protected species over the newly-formed thiol group, thereby consuming the species that form upon de-protection.
Following the treatment with the dilute acid, Step III continues with the treatment of the organic layer with a reducing agent such as a mixture of sodium metabisulfite and KOH, a mixture of a metal (such as Zn, Fe or Sn) and H+ or metal hydrides, such as NaBH4 or LiAlH4, at an elevated temperature up to the reflux temperature to reduce any di- and polysulfide species that have formed. Acidification of the aqueous layer with a concentrated mineral acid such as hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid is performed if a basic reducing agent is employed. Th desired product is thus obtained, which is extracted into an organic solvent such as toluene, diethyl ether, isopropyl ether, methyl tertbutyl ether or halogenated solvents such as dichloromethane or chloroform. These steps are also essentially conventional, and suitable reagents, solvents and process conditions may be determined by reference to the above-cited Advanced Organic Chemistry or through routine optimization of reaction parameters. When R of Formula II is phenyl, the product is a hydroxythiophenol.
| |
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The Post East is a coffee, smoothie and juice bar which specializes in gluten-free, vegan and organic foods and drink. Although there are non-vegetarian options, many of the dishes are vegan or can be made vegan. These include the waffles, the sprout sandwich with chipotle tempeh, and the post caesar. They have their own ranch dressing and almond parmesan. They also offer an interesting selection of smoothies, which are made with non-dairy milks.
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Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko's speech at the economic policy conference
Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko gave a speech at the conference on the theme of ecologically sustainable economic policy in the 2020s on 1 June 2022.
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, Members of the Economic Council, and other followers of the economic policy conference
Promoting biodiversity and combating biodiversity loss are among the key challenges facing humanity. The report published in February 2021 under Professor Dasgupta’s leadership has been a much-needed and welcome opening for discussion on the relationship between the economy and nature.
A key driver of biodiversity loss is the ecologically unsustainable economic activity of humankind. One of the main points of the report is that we should address the management of natural capital just like the management of other assets, taking into account its value to both the economy and otherwise to humankind. The report can be considered pivotal and even revolutionary. The report has also significantly increased discussion on nature and the economy in Finland.
It is important to assess the impact of biodiversity and climate change on the economy and economic policy instruments in cooperation with international partners and institutions. Finland is engaged in this work through, for example, the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, which brings together more than 70 countries and 25 international institutions for economic cooperation. Finland currently co-chairs the Climate Coalition with Indonesia.
The task of the Climate Coalition is to help our member states adapt to and combat climate change based on the Helsinki Principles. The goal is also to utilise the Climate Coalition to assess impacts on biodiversity and increase understanding from an economic policy perspective.
The Climate Coalition supports concrete action in its member states. We seek, among other things, to assess the importance of the circular economy and how finance ministers could promote it. In this field, we Finns could add value based on our experiences.
We are currently considering in the Climate Coalition how to integrate aspects related to biodiversity and biodiversity loss into our work with the Helsinki Principles. A report on nature-related risks and policy recommendations will be published in June. The aim of the report is to enable us as finance ministers to better identify the economic impacts and risks of biodiversity loss and to take them comprehensively into account in planning economic policy. The work of Sir Dasgupta and the UK Treasury has been a basis for our deliberations. Your work is ground-breaking and lays the foundation for progress! Many thanks for that!
It should be emphasised that economic policy or increasing economic growth have no intrinsic value in themselves. Economic growth, and particularly sustainable economic growth, can, however, facilitate the achievement of primary goals. We can aim, for example, to increase wellbeing, promote health or safeguard biodiversity. Maintaining a welfare state requires sustainability of public finances.
In Finland, the idea of the government programme and, at the same time, our entire welfare society is to build a socially, ecologically and economically sustainable society. The three dimensions of sustainability must form a balanced and compatible entity. A sustainable economy is a prerequisite for the stability of society and thereby also for attention paid by society to the environment. A sustainable society reduces the risk of crises.
Sustainability challenges for public finances mean at least three things in terms of biodiversity. Firstly, sustainable public finances and sustainable economic growth enable the protection of biodiversity with public funds. Secondly, biodiversity loss is a phenomenon of such magnitude that it cannot be resolved by public funds and actions alone; the whole of society must be involved – both civil society and the private sector. Thirdly, we need to find the means to enable humankind and nature to exist together while simultaneously preventing biodiversity loss.
Biodiversity is a more challenging phenomenon than climate change, particularly from the perspective of economic control. To meet the challenge of measurement, the goal is ecosystem accounting that would also take into account natural capital services that do not generate marketable products or services. Utilising ecosystem accounting in economic decision-making would require monetary indicators. Alongside this development work, it is essential to develop and improve other metrics and indicators that will help us to improve the effectiveness and evaluation of the fight against biodiversity loss.
In addition to monitoring the state of nature, it should be possible to use information to select cost- efficient and effective measures, even though evaluation is challenging. It is not just a matter of using public funds efficiently, but also of achieving as effective measures as possible with public funds.
A large, and perhaps the most significant, proportion of measures affecting biodiversity are local. This is another reason why biodiversity loss is a more complex phenomenon than climate change. We cannot solve diversity loss solely through regulatory control such as emissions regulations. The local dimension emphasises the need for bottom-up measures based on local solutions.
The local dimension is also highlighted with regard to where decisions are made. For example, in terms of forest policy, we Finns know best about the state our own forests and believe in Finland that detailed forestry regulations must remain within the competence of individual EU Member States.
Global markets and chains of operation are expanding local problems into global ones. On the one hand, our consumption and investment choices may cause biodiversity loss on the other side of the world. On the other hand, the loss of biodiversity on the other side of the world is also affecting our consumption options and prices due to impaired production opportunities there.
Biodiversity and biodiversity loss, as well as the associated risks, have also emerged in the financial markets. Compared to climate risks, however, their definition has proved even more challenging.
Biodiversity loss and climate change are strongly interlinked and cannot be resolved as separate phenomena. At best, their connection offers the opportunity for synergies, with benefits for both biodiversity and climate. This is also an important theme in the current green transition.
Emission-based taxes and emissions trading, among other things, have been used to mitigate climate change. However, biodiversity is difficult to address with equally straightforward economic control. Therefore, in addition to taxes and fees, the range of instruments must also include legislation and lighter measures, such as advice and voluntary commitments. Various standards, regulations and licensing systems can also include effective instruments. When comparing instruments, attention should be paid to their effectiveness as well as to their harmful side effects.
There also remains much work to be done to increase our understanding in the Ministry of Finance of the phenomena of climate change and biodiversity. Correspondingly, moreover, the Ministry of the Environment should have a better understanding in the future of economic realities. Cross-administrative expertise is needed on both sides.
Work on identifying and defining risks to biodiversity is only just beginning. Reaching a sustainable growth path requires a change in the structures of the economy and society. Achieving change requires not only changes in the private sector, but also action by the public sector to support and accelerate this change.
There is an urgent need to combat biodiversity loss and promote biodiversity, so it is important to act now. However, few things move forward globally without a financial interest. Understanding the market economy and recognising countries’ economic boundary conditions is also the beginning of wisdom in promoting biodiversity. | https://vm.fi/en/-/minister-of-finance-annika-saarikko-s-speech-at-the-economic-policy-conference |
Recent crises have highlighted the crucial need for Europe to secure and strengthen its position as a leader in medical innovation. As the European Commission works on revising pharmaceutical legislation, we need to ensure that Europe has the right environment to bring the next generation of treatments to patients. The challenge for the coming decades is not whether medical innovation will happen, but where it will happen. This article is part of a series explaining that where innovation happens matters to patients, healthcare systems, the research community, jobs and the economy.
***
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of health systems around the world and our ability to meet society’s health needs when we act quickly to achieve a collective result. The widespread impact of COVID-19 on all aspects of our healthcare systems revealed where weaknesses existed that could only withstand a small amount of pressure. We have seen health systems become overwhelmed, indicating the need for newer and faster scientific and medical innovations to deal with the emerging crisis. Despite external pressures on the healthcare system, the biopharmaceutical industry has risen to the challenge.
As of this month, more than 4,500 interventional clinical trials related to COVID-19 are registered on clinicaltrials.gov. The first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in Europe at the end of 2020 – a record for our industry and our regulatory systems. This rapid development and scaling up of drugs and vaccines could serve as a model for how we can move faster to solve some of the toughest diseases we continue to battle, such as heart disease and cancer. The regulatory and reimbursement framework in Europe has been key in accelerating the establishment of effective and innovative options for COVID-19. This same framework is essential to foster and accelerate innovation and to ensure that each of the EU member countries has the most resilient health system possible.
From Amgen’s perspective, our research and development organization aims to discover, develop and deliver transformative medicines that fill important treatment gaps in oncology, cardiometabolic and inflammatory diseases. To realize this vision, we must exploit the opportunities arising from rapid scientific progress and new technologies. Innovation is at the core of our business and is key to identifying new therapeutic targets, new, innovative and better medicines that keep patients out of hospital and ultimately improve health outcomes for communities in which we live and work by preventing morbidity and mortality.
For example, we have overcome some of the toughest challenges in cancer research by actively working to be a leader in identifying biomarkers, such as the KRAS gene. A key regulator of signaling pathways responsible for cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival in lung cancer patients, KRAS G12C The mutation has been one of cancer researchers’ toughest challenges over the past 40 years, with many viewing the mutation as untreatable and leaving patients with limited options. Taking on the KRAS Challenge was a race against cancer to quickly deliver a breakthrough discovery as researchers found one of the missing pieces of the puzzle for people with non-small cell lung cancer. This investment in research to understand the genetic basis of disease, how genetic variations are expressed biologically as disease, and to identify biomarkers and generate targeted therapies for these variations, allows us to develop new, precise and personalized medicines that optimize patient outcomes.
For these innovative therapies to reach more patients as quickly as possible, we need the right regulatory environment. We see EU reforms linked to revisions to orphan, pediatric and general pharmaceutical legislation as a unique opportunity to update regulations to support the development of cutting-edge medicines and modernize regulatory processes to prepare for a new technology transformation. It is also an opportunity to reaffirm Europe as one of the leading regions for investment in cutting-edge health technologies.
Embracing innovation will lead to healthier and more resilient communities
Many people severely affected by COVID-19 suffered from a range of underlying chronic health conditions, including respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension and diabetes, and were often also of advanced age. While medical services related to the management of these conditions have been deprioritized during COVID-19 (such as reduced screening or doctor visits), to avoid a future increase in prevalence rates or severity of these conditions , we need to ensure that health systems return to pre-COVID-19 levels. Technologies like telehealth have received incredible momentum during COVID-19 and learning from this global health challenge can lead us to new, more accessible ways to enable communities to be healthier and more resilient before a another crisis does not occur.
The spirit of innovation is how responsive we can be to solving global health challenges, and for our industry, how quickly we can develop new medicines that respond quickly and appropriately to the health needs of our communities is essential, as it is our main contribution to health care systems and outcomes. Rewarding innovation is the key to progress. A regulatory and reimbursement ecosystem that broadly rewards and protects innovation has a direct impact on incentivizing research, development and investment in new drugs and medical technologies, including drugs for rare diseases, and enables in turn to Europeans to access these medicines and technologies for better health outcomes.
Innovation fuels economic growth across the continent
As an industry, our clinical trial footprint and ability to develop, manufacture and supply medicines in Europe has a positive impact on society. According to the most recent estimates, the pharmaceutical industry was assessed as having contributed €206 billion in gross value added to the EU economy through direct and indirect impacts. This contribution represents 1.4% of the region’s GDP. According to the most recent estimates, nearly 2.5 million jobs were supported by our industry, many of which are both highly skilled and highly productive.
To maintain momentum in Europe and globally, medical innovation must not only survive, but thrive. As such, continued support for a trusted innovation ecosystem is needed to advance solutions for current and future residents of the European Union. As we look to the future, it is important that research and development can thrive through policies that encourage the work and investments needed to create healthier and more resilient communities. Our industry is committed to solving society’s greatest health challenges as quickly as possible, and a rewarding innovation environment is essential to enable that success. | https://www.terasemfoundation.org/innovation-is-the-foundation-of-resilient-health-systems-politico/ |
Introduction {#section1-1756287218807591}
============
In populations where life expectancy is increasing, the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is on the rise.^[@bibr1-1756287218807591]^ Additionally, although medical therapy is effective at mitigating immediate LUTS, it often does not cure the underlying condition and delays intervention.^[@bibr1-1756287218807591]^ As a result, urologists are faced with treating older patients with multiple comorbidities refractory or intolerant of BPH medications in need of surgical intervention for LUTS/BPH. This aging population of men suffering from LUTS/BPH often has concurrent cardiovascular diseas requiring anticoagulation (AC) or antiplatelet (AP) therapy.^[@bibr2-1756287218807591]^ The challenge of when to offer surgical intervention, which BPH surgery to perform, and how to manage blood thinners in the perioperative period is common among practicing urologists. In fact, in 2017, a survey completed by members of the Endourological Society found that the majority of BPH surgeons prefer to continue some form of anticoagulant therapy, in most cases, low-dose aspirin, during BPH procedures.^[@bibr3-1756287218807591]^ In this review, we aim to clarify the approach to surgical management of BPH in the anticoagulated patient.
Current anticoagulants/antiplatelets {#section2-1756287218807591}
====================================
Prior to the advent of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in 2010, there were limited therapeutic options for patients requiring AC therapy. Vitamin K antagonists such as warfarin were the mainstay of therapy in secondary stroke prevention for atrial fibrillation and venous thrombosis prevention. The use of warfarin posed a challenge for clinicians due to its multiple interactions with food and medications. DOACs, also referred to as novel anticoagulants, reduced the involvement of clinicians and patients in the treatment and monitoring of AC therapy by decreasing the need for routine lab monitoring and reducing the number of drug--drug and diet interactions with therapy. Additional benefits of DOACs included shorter therapeutic half-life, and fewer major bleeding complications compared with warfarin.^[@bibr4-1756287218807591]^ Examples of DOACs include direct factor Xa inibitors such as: rivaroxaban (Xeralto^®^, Janssen Ortho LLC Gurabo, Puerto Rico or Bayer AG Leverkusen, Germany), apixaban (Eliquis^®^, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ), Enoxaparin (Lovenox®): sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC, Bridgewater, NJ, Enoxaparin (Lovenox, sanofi-aventis U.S. LLCÛridgewater, NJ) and direct thrombin inhibitors like dabigatran (Pradaxa^®^, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ridgefield, CT) ([Table 1](#table1-1756287218807591){ref-type="table"}). Though DOACs provide much benefit, they do have disadvantages, such as a lack of reversal agents for factor Xa inhibitors, and only recently was idarucizumab approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for reversal of dabigatran.^[@bibr5-1756287218807591]^ Like warfarin, the current indications for DOAC treatment are venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention, embolic stroke prevention in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, and prevention of VTE after orthopedic surgery.^[@bibr6-1756287218807591]^
######
Common anticoagulant/antiplatelet medications encountered by urologists.^[@bibr24-1756287218807591]^
Warfarin Dabigatran (Pradaxa^®^) Rivaroxaban (Xarelto^®^) Apixaban (Eliquis^®^) Enoxaparin(Lovenox^®^) Clopidogrel (Plavix^®^)
-------------------------- ----------------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------
Target Vitamin K epoxide reductase Thrombin Factor Xa Factor Xa Antithrombin III ADP (P2Y12)
Half-life (h) 20--60 12--17 5--9 9--14 4.5 N/A
Onset of peak effect (h) 72--96 2 2--3 3 3--5 2--8
Duration of action 2--5 days 24--36 h 24 h 24 h 24 h 7--10 days
Metabolism *Via* cytochrome P450 *Via* P-glucoprotein transporter *Via* cytochrome P450 (30%) and *via* P-glucoprotein transporter *Via* cytochrome P450 (15%) and *via* P-glucoprotein transporter metabolized in the liver by desulfation and depolymerization *Via* cytochrome P450 (15%) 85% inactive
ADP, adenosine diphosphate.
As opposed to anticoagulants, AP therapy continues to be the principal treatment to reduce risk of thrombosis of coronary stents or coronary artery bypass grafts (CABGs). Primary and secondary prevention treatment of ischemic heart disease postcoronary stenting or CABG includes dual AP therapy of aspirin with a P2Y12 inhibitor, most commonly, clopidogrel. According to the updated 2016 American College of Cardiology guidelines, dual AP therapy should be given for at least 12 months in patients with recent acute coronary syndrome treated with either CABG or percutaneous coronary stenting.^[@bibr7-1756287218807591]^
Current guidelines/recommendations {#section3-1756287218807591}
==================================
In 2014, the American Urological Association (AUA) published a review paper on AC and AP therapy in urological practice. The review suggests that a multidisciplinary approach to the management of antithrombotic medications in patients with recent thromboembolic events, mechanical valves, atrial fibrillation and cardiac stents reduces high morbidity and mortality when managing medications.^[@bibr8-1756287218807591]^ According to the review paper, no elective procedure should be performed in patients within 1 year after placement of bare metal or drug-eluting stent. In the setting of BPH surgery, low-dose aspirin should be continued perioperatively in patients with cardiac risk factors because the data suggest no increased risk of major bleeding. Most relevant, the bleeding risk for patients who require continuation of aspirin for laser prostate outlet procedures is significantly low.^[@bibr8-1756287218807591]^ The AUA best practice review states that there is not enough evidence to determine the best time to resume anticoagulant therapy postoperatively except that therapy be resumed once the bleeding risk has decreased.^[@bibr8-1756287218807591]^ The 2018 AUA surgical management of LUTS attributed to BPH guidelines recommend that holmium or thulium laser enucleation (HoLEP/ThuLEP) or GreenLight photovaporization (PVP) be considered in patients who are at higher risk of bleeding, specifically those on AC drugs.^[@bibr9-1756287218807591]^
According to the 2018 European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines for treatment of non-neurogenic male LUTS, all types of laser prostatectomy seem to be safe in chronically anticoagulated patients. The guidelines concluded that PVP (532 laser) is safe and effective, HoLEP has been performed safely, diode laser is an alternative and thulium laser is safe as well.^[@bibr10-1756287218807591]^
Procedures {#section4-1756287218807591}
==========
Transurethral resection of the prostate {#section5-1756287218807591}
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Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is still the most common surgical intervention offered for LUTS/BPH.^[@bibr3-1756287218807591]^ The most common practice, before TURP, is to discontinue all oral AC or AP therapy for a few days prior to surgery and to preoperatively bridge with heparin or low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) therapy.^[@bibr11-1756287218807591]^ Descazeaud and colleagues studied the impact of oral AC on the morbidity of patients undergoing TURP and found that chronic oral AC has a significant impact on bleeding complications, duration of hospitalization and thromboembolic events. Duration of hospitalization was 6.4 days in the anticoagulated group *versus* 4.7 days in the control group, while bladder clots occurred in 13% of anticoagulated groups *versus* 4.7% in nonanticoagulated group.^[@bibr2-1756287218807591]^ Ong and colleagues reported that chronic anticoagulated patients who underwent enoxaparin bridging had higher risk of bleeding complications (44%) when compared with no oral AC (8%). Additionally, patients continuing perioperative AP therapy had a higher complication rate (17%) *versus* patients who stopped (4%) therapy. These complications included requiring continuous bladder irrigation (CBI) greater than 2 days and clot retention necessitating catheter reinsertion. Patients on oral AC also had significantly higher thromboembolic complications and prolonged hospital stay when compared to non-anticoagulated patients.^[@bibr12-1756287218807591]^ A retrospective study by Taylor and colleagues found higher bleeding complication rates in patients continuing AP therapy or in chronically anticoagulated patients undergoing TURP (26.3% *versus* 9.8%). Most importantly, the study found that patients who withheld their oral AC preoperatively had significantly higher rates of cardio and cerebrovascular complications.^[@bibr13-1756287218807591]^ The AUA best practice review paper suggests that due to the high rate of bleeding complications in oral AC patients undergoing TURP that that alternative bladder outlet procedures, such as laser therapy, be offered.^[@bibr8-1756287218807591]^
Laser ablation {#section6-1756287218807591}
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Overall, laser ablative procedures of the prostate have been found to be safe and effective in the anticoagulated patient.^[@bibr14-1756287218807591]^ Chung *et al*. analyzed 162 men undergoing 532 nm PVP while on chronic AC. Of the patients 19% were on warfarin, 62% on asa, 12% were on clopidogrel and 7% were on 2 or more anticoagulants. All anticoagulants were continued at time of surgery except warfarin which was stopped 1--3 days preoperatively. Average age was 72 years with a mean transrectal ultrasound volume measurement of 91 g. There were no significant differences in length of stay between the control and anticoagulated groups (1.1 days *versus* 1.2 days). Delayed bleeding requiring CBI occurred in six (3.7%) patients and three of these required a blood transfusion. Reoperation for clot evacuation and fulguration of bleeding was required in one (0.6%) patient. The study concluded that PVP in patients with systemic AC is safe and effective.^[@bibr15-1756287218807591]^ Another study by Woo and colleagues assessed patients undergoing PVP while continuing therapeutic levels of warfarin. There were no reported secondary surgeries or blood transfusions, although two (4.7%) patients required prolonged catheterization for bleeding. One (2.3%) patient was readmitted for a secondary bleed that was managed with bladder irrigation alone. The study concluded that PVP is safe, with good early outcomes in patients on therapeutic levels of warfarin.^[@bibr16-1756287218807591]^ Ruszat and colleagues evaluated the outcomes of 500 GreenLight PVP procedures at a single center, of which, 225 patients underwent PVP while continuing AC therapy. Forty-three patients required postoperative CBI for hematuria, but, no blood transfusions were needed. The authors concluded that PVP is safe and effective in high-risk patients, especially those actively on AC.^[@bibr17-1756287218807591]^
Knapp and colleagues compared adverse events in men undergoing PVP with or without continued AC. PVP was performed in 59 patients with continued antithrombotic therapy (7% heparin, 44% warfarin, 34% clopidogrel, 1.5% dipyridamole--aspirin, 15% novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC), 3% clopidogrel and warfarin) and 272 patients who were not on antithrombotic therapy. There was no difference in total operation or laser time between the two groups, but the antithrombotic group was found to have significantly longer length catheter-dwelling times (32.4 h *versus* 15.6 h) and hospital length-of-stay days compared with the control group (46.6 *versus* 23.1). No patient required a blood transfusion. There was no significant difference between groups when comparing overall adverse events, but there was a higher rate of high-grade adverse events in the antithrombotic group (grade IIIa sepsis 5% *versus* 0.7%, bladder neck contracture 3.4% *versus* 0.4%, and grade IVb sepsis 1.7% *versus* 0%). The study concluded that continuing AC at time of PVP is not associated with an overall increased risk of adverse events; however, it is associated with higher-grade risks.^[@bibr18-1756287218807591]^ Thus, PVP is safe to perform in the actively anticoagulated patient but should be carried out with caution.
Laser enucleation {#section7-1756287218807591}
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HoLEP has been proven safe and effective in anticoagulated patients.^[@bibr19-1756287218807591]^ In 2006, Elzayat and colleagues published one of the first studies assessing the safety of HoLEP in patients on antithrombotic therapy. A total of 81 patients were on AC; 14 underwent HoLEP without withdrawal of oral anticoagulants, 34 were with LMWH bridging, and 33 stopped 5 days prior surgery without bridging. Mucosal bladder injury and capsular perforation occurred in two and one patients, respectively. One patient who did not stop clopidogrel required intraoperative platelet transfusion due to bleeding, and morcellation was postponed because of decreased vision. Blood transfusion was required postoperatively in seven patients (8.4%). Three patients (3.6%) had clot retention and required rehospitalization for CBI within 2 weeks of surgery. The study compared these complication rates with TURP and determined that complication rates with HoLEP in the anticoagulated patient were considerably lower. The authors concluded that the hemostatic properties of the holmium laser allow HoLEP to be safer and effective when compared with other BPH treatment options on anticoagulated patients. Specifically, the low depth of penetration of the holmium laser limits eschar formation which can contribute to delayed bleeding seen with other BPH procedures.^[@bibr20-1756287218807591]^
El Tayeb and colleagues compared 116 patients taking AC therapy with 1558 nonanticoagulated patients who underwent HoLEP at their institution. There was no difference in specimen weight between groups (69.8 g in the AC group *versus* 68 g in the control). There was no significant difference in both enucleation (51 min *versus* 65 min, AC *versus* control, respectively) and morcellation (5 g/min *versus* 4.5 g/min AC *versus* control, respectively) times between cohorts. There was no difference in postoperative outcomes except for longer length of stay (27.8 h *versus* 24 h) and duration of CBI (15 h *versus* 13.5 h) in the anticoagulated group, which was of low clinical significance. The transfusion rate was not significantly different (3.5% anticoagulated *versus* 1.6% control) and only two patients (1.9%) in the anticoagulated HoLEP group required clot evacuation *versus* 10 (0.7%) in the control group.^[@bibr21-1756287218807591]^
Bishop and colleagues compared the immediate postoperative outcomes in patients with and without AC therapy undergoing HoLEP.^[@bibr22-1756287218807591]^ The authors compared 52 patients on antithrombotic therapy at the time of HoLEP with 73 patients not on anticoagulant therapy at time of HoLEP. The median length of hospital stay was longer in the antithrombic group (2 days *versus* 1 day). Blood transfusion was required in four (7.7%) patients *versus* none in the nonanticoagulated group.^[@bibr22-1756287218807591]^ Studies such as the ones highlighted from Bishop and colleagues^[@bibr22-1756287218807591]^ and El Tayeb and colleagues^[@bibr21-1756287218807591]^ confirm that HoLEP is a safe and feasible treatment option for patients with large-gland BPH on anticoagulant or AP therapy requiring surgical intervention.
Thulium laser vapoenucleation (ThuVEP) and thulium laser enucleation (ThuLEP) utilize a similar technique as HoLEP, and the AUA guidelines recommend them as alternative to HoLEP in medically complex patients, specifically those requiring AC.^[@bibr9-1756287218807591]^
Open simple prostatectomy and robotic simple prostatectomy {#section8-1756287218807591}
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There are no studies or case reports within the literature evaluating the safety of open prostatectomy or robotic simple prostatectomy (RASP) in patients on AP/AC. In 2008, Krane and colleagues compared outcomes of patients undergoing robotic radical prostatectomy (RALP) who required AC therapy *versus* standard nonanticoagulated patients. Though the surgical technique of RALP compared to RASP is significantly different, the risk of bleeding and bleeding sequalae can be considered equivalent and thus RALP in patients on AC can be considered a surrogate for potential outcomes of RASP on AC. Patients on AC in this study either discontinued AC 7 days prior or were bridged with LMWH for 3 days before surgery. The authors found 6.7% transfusion rate compared with 1.7% in standard patients. Readmission rates (5% *versus* 0.6%) were higher after RALP in the anticoagulated population compared with standard patients.^[@bibr23-1756287218807591]^ More data are needed prior to advocating AC bridging and RASP for men with LUTS due to large-gland BPH.
Novel/emerging therapies {#section9-1756287218807591}
------------------------
New minimally invasive novel therapies for BPH lack evidence for specific recommendation on the management of antithrombotic therapy. To our knowledge, there are no published studies or data specifically focusing on the safety of Urolift^TM^, Rezum^TM^, Aquablation^TM^ and prostate artery embolization in patients requiring AC. The use of these modalities to surgically treat LUTS/BPH in anticoagulated patients was not commented on in the 2018 AUA guidelines on BPH.
Conclusion {#section10-1756287218807591}
==========
As longevity improves and prevalence of cardiovascular disease increases, urologists should anticipate a rise in surgical consultations for LUTS/BPH in patients on antithrombotic therapy. According to the AUA best practice statement and published data, laser enucleation and ablation procedures such as HoLEP and PVP provide clinicians with the safest surgical management options for BPH in patients requiring chronic antithrombic medication ([Table 2](#table2-1756287218807591){ref-type="table"}). The decision on how to manage these patients should utilize a multidisciplinary approach involving the urologist, cardiologist, primary care and anesthesiologist to develop a patient-specific management plan.
######
Bleeding complication and transfusion rates in comparative studies on patients requiring anticoagulation.
Study Year Procedure *n* Bleeding complication rate (%) Transfusion rate (%) Level of evidence
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Descazeaud *et al.*^[@bibr2-1756287218807591]^ 2011 TURP 206 15 1.9 II
Ong *et al.*^[@bibr12-1756287218807591]^ 2015 TURP 126 12.6 2.4 II
Taylor *et al.*^[@bibr13-1756287218807591]^ 2011 TURP 72 2.6 5.5 II
Ruszat *et al.*^[@bibr17-1756287218807591]^ 2008 PVP 222 9.8 0 II
Chung *et al.*^[@bibr15-1756287218807591]^ 2011 PVP 162 4 2 II
Woo *et al.*^[@bibr16-1756287218807591]^ 2011 PVP 43 4.7 0 II
Knapp *et al.*^[@bibr18-1756287218807591]^ 2017 PVP 59 1.7 0 II
El Tayeb *et al.*^[@bibr21-1756287218807591]^ 2016 HoLEP 116 0 3.5 II
Bishop *et al.*^[@bibr22-1756287218807591]^ 2013 HoLEP 52 0 7.7 II
Elzayat *et al.*^[@bibr20-1756287218807591]^ 2006 HoLEP 83 3.6 8.4 II
HoLEP, holmium laser enucleation; PVP, GreenLight photovaporization; TURP, transurethral resection of the prostate.
**Funding:** This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
**Conflict of interest statement:** No competing financial interests exist. Dr. Krambeck is a consultant for Thermedx, Boston Scientific and Lumenis.
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A healthy knee has linings of cartilage and lubricating joint fluid (synovial fluid) to protect and cushion between the main leg bones, allowing pain-free knee movements. However, in osteoarthritis, the cartilage lining gradually wears out, and the synovial fluid loses its shock-absorbing qualities, producing the symptoms of osteoarthritis.
Doctors grade the severity of osteoarthritis by a combination of the symptoms including pain, stiffness, swelling, or loss of range of motion and X-ray appearance of the knee.
Symptoms can be worse in the mornings or after a period of inactivity. Pain may also increase after weight-bearing activities. This is an irreversible condition and the symptoms may worsen with time, although with appropriate treatment, your symptoms can improve.
If your knee pain is sudden in onset and severe or associated with significant swelling, redness, or heat of the knees, other systemic signs of infection such as high fevers, seek medical attention for further evaluation.
We recommend resting from the provoking activity, such as jogging or stair climbing. However, prolonged rest or a sedentary lifestyle is advised as a treatment for knee osteoarthritis due to the risk of weight gain which places even more stress of the knees. Inactivity also leads to wasting of the muscles that support the knee, leading to more knee pain and instability. If the knee is swollen, icing, compression, and elevation can be helpful Pain medications can also help for temporary relief.
The doctor will assess your symptoms and examine your knee, as well as other factors like your exercise routine, footwear, and lower limb muscle strength and flexibility. X-rays or an MRI of the knee may be ordered if necessary. If you are diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis, there are a wide range of treatment options to reduce your pain and improve function.
Non-surgical treatments include lifestyle modifications such as weight loss if you are overweight, aerobic and strengthening exercises under physiotherapy instruction, or use of walking aids such as a cane, hiking stick, or walking frame.
Sometimes wearing specialized shoes or knee brace for knee arthritis can be helpful. Pain medications such as anti-inflammatory medications, can be prescribed to help reduce pain and swelling in the joint.
Supplements like glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate are commonly used by patients with osteoarthritis and might help with pain, although studies have not demonstrated that it prevents the progression of osteoarthritis.
Corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory medications that can be injected into the joint for short term pain relief. Visco-supplementation involves injecting substances (Hyaluronic Acid) similar to synovial fluid into the knee joint.
If the knee symptoms do not respond to these conservative treatments and the joint degeneration is severe, knee replacement surgery may be advised. Surgical treatment is individualised and the patient makes an informed decision after consultation with the Orthopaedic surgeon. | http://csmc.sg/common_sports_injuries/knee_knee_osteoarthritis.html |
If you have a taste in jazz music and listen to it on a regular basis, then it is a great idea to write from experience. You can write about the music that you like and dislike in the genre. It will be to your advantage to write about the specific songs and albums that you now about, because it will be your familiarity with the project that can set you apart from the rest.
However, if you don’t listen to jazz music then do not worry. That’s because you can do the research that will be required to achieve a top grade in this project. You’ll see that great info gathering skills can make up for a lack of experience in a particular subject.
Here are a bunch of different topics that you can select from if you are having difficulty in coming up with one on your own.
Name your top 3 jazz albums of all time?
What type of jazz genre do you like the most and why?
What are the biggest differences between jazz and county music?
What can be done to improve the popularity of the jazz genre?
Is smooth jazz one of the best types of jazz out there?
Who are the most popular jazz artists today?
Who are the most popular jazz artists of the last 50 years?
What are the biggest reasons why jazz is not mainstream?
How can a jazz musician make a name for himself in New York?
What are the top jazz clubs in London?
What type of instruments are played in top jazz music? | http://www.teachenglishinmexico.org/what-it-takes-to-compose-a-descriptive-paper-on-jazz-music |
Developmental staging and thalidomide teratogenicity in the green monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops).
The developmental stages of 11 Cercopithecus aethiops embryos, 24 to 45 days post-mating, are described. The onset of organogenesis in this species is approximately five to seven days later than that reported for macaques and baboons. This temporal difference in the embryonic period is an important factor in the analysis of the subsequent teratogenic study. Oral administration of thalidomide in single or multiple (3-day) treatment periods to pregnant green monkeys between days 28 and 33 resulted in defects of the limbs which resemble those observed in macaques and baboons. However, the sensitive period occurs approximately four days later than that reported for another nonhuman primates. These results indicate that the sensitive period of the limbs to thalidomide coincides with their earliest development.
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TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND ART
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
EXAMPLES
Measurement of Diversity
Results
Subjects and Sample Collection
DNA Extraction
PCR Amplification, Purification, and Measurement of Concentration
T-RFLP Analysis
Statistical Analysis
Mean Difference in Diversity Indices
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus plantarum
The present invention relates to the use of one strain of for the manufacture of a composition for increasing the diversity of the gastrointestinal tract and to the use of one strain of for the manufacture of a composition for prophylactic treatment.
It is a general consensus in biology that a high diversity (variation of different types of organisms) is beneficial for the global ecosystem as well as for local more limited ones, and also for the individual human being. A high diversity indicates that the ecosystem is in healthy balance. In contrast, an unbalanced or disturbed, or diseased, ecosystem opens up for “overgrowth” of a few organisms, taking over the system and causing further disturbances and new diseased conditions. This also applies to the ecosystem of the human gut.
2
4
7
8
10
11
Streptococcus
Lactobacillus
FEMS Microbial Ecology
The bacterial flora of the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a complex ecosystem. The composition and activity of the bacterial flora play important roles in human health due to its contribution to nutrition, development and constant tuning of the immune system, and colonization resistance. The GI tract can be regarded as a specialized tube extending from the mouth to the anus. It is divided into several well-defined anatomical regions, including mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine (duodenum, jejunum and ileum), and large intestine (caecum, colon and rectum). The bacterial concentrations in the stomach and upper two thirds of the small intestine (duodenum and jejunum) are relatively low because of the acidity in the stomach, short transit time of content, secretion of bile and pancreatic juice. The concentration is normally in the range of 10to 10colony forming units of bacteria (cfu) per ml of gastric or intestinal content, and examples of typical resident bacteria in these regions are and . The distal part of the small intestine (ileum) has normally a concentration of 10-10cfu per ml and is usually dominated by the same types of bacteria that are found in colon, i.e. different classes of Firmicutes, Bacteriodetes, Fusobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Proteobacteria and Bifidobacterium (WANG, M., AHRNÉ, S., JEPPSSON, B. & MOLIN, G. (2005). Comparison of bacterial diversity along the human intestinal tract by direct cloning and sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. 54: 219-231). The highest bacterial concentration is found in the large intestine because of the longer transit time (up to 60 h). It has been estimated that bacterial biomass makes up 40-55% of the faecal solids, and the concentration of live bacteria is normally around 10-10cfu per g of intestinal content. In an undisturbed, balanced and healthy colon also the bacterial diversity is at its peak. However, due to the extremely high bacterial concentration, the colon is also the part of the GI tract that is most vulnerable for translocation where live bacteria or toxic parts of bacteria pass through the mucosal barrier and into the mesenteric lymph nodes and other extra-intestinal sites, such as the spleen, liver, kidney, peritoneal cavity and bloodstream. Low bacterial diversity (LBD) increases the risk of large intestinal bacterial overgrowth (LIBO) and small intestinal overgrowth (SIBO), which may lead to translocation.
It has been demonstrated in the technical field that the diversity of the gastrointestinal tract in patients with Crohn's disease is low, [Manichanh C., Rigottier-Gois L., Bonnaud E., Gloux K., Pelletier E., Frangeul L., Nalin R., Jarrin C., Chardon P., Marteau P., Roca J., and Doré J. (2006) Reduced diversity of faecal microbiota in Crohn's disease revealed by a metagenomic approach. Gut 55:205-211] [Ott S. J. Musfeldt M., Wenderoth D. F., Hampe J., Brant O., Fölsch U. R., Timmis K. N., and Schreiber S. (2004) Reduction in diversity of the colonic mucosa associated bacterial microflora in patients with active inflammatory disease. Gut 53:685-693].
It has further been demonstrated that newborn with a low diversity in the gastrointestinal tract run a greater risk to become allergic, [Wang, M., Karlsson, C., Olsson, C., Adlerberth, I., Wold, A., Strachan, D. P., Martricardi, P. M., Åberg, N., Perkin, M. R., Tripodi, S., Hesselmar, B., Saalman, R., Molin, G. & Ahrné, S. (2008). Reduced diversity in the early fecal microbiota of infants developing atopic eczema: Low diversity in early microbiota of infants developing atopy. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 121:129-134.
It has further been demonstrated that female rats suffering from “overgrowth” (low diversity) in the gastrointestinal tract gave birth to babies with an enhanced haptoglobin level and immature intestine, [FÅK, F., Ahrné, S., Molin, G., Jeppsson, B. & Weström, B (2008). Microbial manipulation of the rat dam changes bacterial colonization and alters properties of the gut in her offspring. American Journal of Physiology—Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology 294: 148-154.
Thus, there seems to be a connection between low diversity in the gastrointestinal tract and several physiologically disturbed conditions in human beings and other mammals.
It is known that the use of antibiotics lowers the bacterial diversity in the gastrointestinal tract. Since the use of antibiotics is huge worldwide there is indeed a need within the technical field to provide novel ways to overcome this problem of low diversity in the gastrointestinal tract, said low diversity affecting the general health of mankind.
It is further generally known that the lifestyle of mankind in developed countries causes many unhealthy disturbances and conditions such as cardiovascular diseases in view of e.g. stress and overweight. It is known that people with these disturbances and conditions often have a low bacterial diversity in the gastrointestinal tract.
Thus, there is a need within the technical field to overcome the problem of physiologically disturbed conditions related to or due to low diversity in the gastrointestinal tract of individuals.
Bifidobacterium
Lactobacillus
WO 01/11077 A2 discloses methods of diagnosing or treating irritable bowel syndrome and other disorders caused by small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) by administration of anti-microbial or probiotic agents, e.g. a species of or , or normalizing intestinal motility by employing a prokinetic agent.
The above mentioned problems are solved by the present invention.
Lactobacillus plantarum
The present invention relates, in one aspect, to the use of one strain of for the manufacture of a composition for increasing the bacterial diversity of the gastrointestinal tract by administration of said strain to an individual with a view to producing an increased diversity index difference compared to placebo.
Lactobacillus plantarum
The present invention relates, in a further aspect, to the use of one strain of for the manufacture of a composition for prophylactic treatment of a healthy individual against developing a low bacterial diversity (LBD); of an individual having LBD against developing physiologically disturbed conditions, large intestine bacterial overgrowth (LIBO) or small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO); and of an individual having LIBO or SIBO against developing physiologically disturbed conditions.
Lactobacillus plantarum
The invention further relates to a method for increasing the bacterial diversity of the gastrointestinal tract by administration of one strain of to an individual to produce an increased diversity index difference compared to placebo.
The present invention also relates to the treatment of one or a wide array of physiologically disturbed conditions based on a low bacterial diversity (LBD) in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of an individual, optionally induced via small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and/or large intestine bacterial overgrowth (LIBO), by improving and/or increasing the bacterial diversity and eradicating small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and large intestinal bacterial overgrowth (LIBO) in the gut.
Lactobacillus plantarum
1
13
14
25
Further, the present invention also relates to a strain for use in the production of an increased diversity index difference as defined in any one of claims - and/or for use in prophylactic treatment as defined in any one of claims -.
Lactobacillus plantarum
It is totally unexpected according to the present invention that administration of one single strain of increases the diversity of the gastrointestinal tract, i.e. the total number of different types of bacteria increases in the gastrointestinal tract by giving only one single strain.
Lactobacillus plantarum
Thus, it is not only an increased amount of the administered strain that is observed, but also an increase of other bacterial types. Further, the administration and colonization of said single strain opens up for the growth of new bacterial groups which previously have not been able to grow in the gastrointestinal tract of the individual. This is in contrast to what has been suggested within the art, where it has been suggested that only a mixture of different bacterial strains can provide a mixture of bacterial strains in the gastrointestinal tract, i.e. an increased diversity. Thus, within the technical field it is often objected to giving only one single strain in view of the presumption that the biological diversity is thereby decreased. Put in another way, the main argument for giving mixtures of different types of bacteria is that these mixtures meet the requirement of diversity.
Lactobacillus plantarum
Therefore, it is totally unexpected in accordance with the present invention that administration of only one single strain of provides an increased diversity.
As stated above, individuals having one or more different physiologically disturbed conditions, as defined below, often simultaneously show LBD (Low Bacterial Diversity), which either is a reason behind the disturbed conditions or is caused by the disturbed conditions. LDB as such is not to be regarded as an ordinary disease condition, but may lead to physiologically disturbed conditions including different diseases or to LIBO (Large Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth) or SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth) in course of time. Although LIBO and SIBO are not necessarily a result of LBD, this is often the case. An individual having LIBO or SIBO also automatically has LBD in the gastrointestinal tract. LIBO and SIBO are as such also not to be regarded as ordinary disease conditions, but each involves a considerable risk of development of several physiologically disturbed conditions including different diseases, as defined below, e.g. translocation. LIBO and SIBO may alternatively be a result of different physiologically disturbed conditions. The composition according to the present invention may be administered to a healthy individual for prophylactic treatment against developing LBD. Further, said composition may also be administered to an individual having LBD, irrespective of the origin of LBD, for prophylactic treatment against developing one or more physiologically disturbed conditions, SIBO or LIBO. Moreover, said composition may also be administered to an individual having LIBO or SIBO, irrespective of the origin thereof, for prophylactic treatment against developing one or more physiologically disturbed conditions, e.g. translocation. In a further embodiment individuals having LDB and/or SIBO and/or LIBO and at the same time also suffering from one or more of the above-mentioned physiologically disturbed conditions may be subjected to administration with said composition with a view to increasing the bacterial diversity in the gastrointestinal tract and thereby improving the overall health condition of the individual, optionally also alleviating the effects of said one or more physiologically disturbed conditions.
The increased diversity observed in connection with the present invention can be measured in the form of a diversity index measured by the well known T-RFLP method using the enzyme HaeIII for cutting and calculating the Shannon-Weaner and Simpson's indices described below. Said increased diversity index difference is at least 0.15, preferably 0.30, more preferably 0.45, and even more preferably 0.60 when the Shannon-Weaner's index is used.
Said increased diversity index difference is at least 0.02, preferably 0.04, more preferably 0.06 and even more preferably 0.08, when the Simpson's index of diversity is used.
diff
—
total
diff
after
—
product
before
—
product
product
placebo
—
total
after
—
placebo
before
—
placebo
placebo
Lactobacillus plantarum
The calculation of the diversity index difference (Di) is performed by, in a first step, calculating the diversity difference (Di) of the individuals taking the product containing one strain of , i.e. the value of the diversity index after intake (Di) of strain is subtracted by the value of the diversity index before intake (Di), which is divided by (n) being the number of individuals taking the product. Thereafter, the value obtained in the above first step is subtracted by the diversity difference obtained for the placebo (Di=Di−Di) divided by nbeing the number of individuals taking the placebo. The equation for the diversity index difference is as follows:
diff
—
total
after
—
product
before
—
product
product
after
—
placebo
before
—
placebo
placebo
n
n
Di=Σ(Di−Di)/()−Σ(Di−Di)/()
The diversity index could, of course, be measured by other known means and a person skilled in the art realizes what such other known means could be. Furthermore, the enzyme used for the cutting, HaeIII, could be replaced by any other known enzyme.
Lactobacillus plantarum
The general health of mankind could become better in view of the increased diversity index provided in the gastrointestinal tract in accordance with the present invention. It has already been discussed above that many physiological disturbances are connected with a low diversity index. By being able to easily take one strain of in the form of a solid or liquid formulation, for instance a food product as discussed below, facilitates for individuals to stay healthy.
Lactobacillus plantarum
Furthermore, the increased diversity index provided herein counteracts the negative effects of modern society and welfare state. For instance, as discussed above the huge amount of antibiotics taken worldwide knocks out the balance in the GI tract. This knocked out balance could become normal and healthy again by giving one strain of in accordance with the invention.
Lactobacillus plantarum
Furthermore, it is believed that many physiologically disturbed conditions of modern society could be prevented by the continuous intake of one strain of in accordance with the invention.
In an embodiment of the invention said composition is a liquid formulation or a solid formulation, wherein said solid formulation is selected from the group consisting of tablets, sucking tablets, sweets, chewing tablets, chewing gums, capsules, sachets, powders, granules, coated particles and coated tablets, enterocoated tablets and capsules, and melting strips and films, and said liquid formulation is selected from the group consisting of oral solutions, suspensions, emulsions and syrups. The composition of the invention may be administered in accordance with any conventional means. However, the strain is preferably administered orally.
In an embodiment of the invention said composition comprises a carrier material, wherein said carrier material is independently selected from the group consisting of oat meal gruel, lactic acid fermented foods, resistant starch, dietary fibres, carbohydrates, proteins, and glycosylated proteins.
Lactobacillus plantarum
In an embodiment of the invention said composition is a medical food, a functional food, a dietary supplement, a nutritional product or a food preparation. Thus, the strain may be given to the individuals in many different forms. Said food preparation may be selected from the group consisting of beverages, yoghurts, juices, ice creams, breads, biscuits, cereals, health bars, and spreads. Thus, it is realized that the composition could be easily taken in the form of a food product on a daily basis. Thus, the general health of mankind could become better by the use of the composition according to the invention.
Lactobacillus plantarum
6
14
8
12
9
11
The strain of is present in the composition in an amount of about 1×10to about 1×10CFU (colony forming units), preferably from about 1×10to about 1×10, and more preferably from about 1×10to about 1×10.
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus plantarus
The expression “increased diversity difference compared to placebo” used throughout the application text means that the bacterial diversity change of individuals administrated with the strains was compared with other individuals who during the time of the study were administrated with a similar product but without the strain. These types of studies are blinded, i.e. during the study neither the volunteers nor the persons handling the study and analyzing results know which individual got placebo and which one got treatment product. This rules out many sources of error and false results.
The expression “large intestinal bacterial overgrowth (LIBO)” used throughout the application text means that one or a few bacterial types to a high degree dominates the bacterial flora of the large intestine, i.e. they are present in considerably higher numbers than the majority of other types of bacteria.
The expression “small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)” used throughout the application text means that one or a few bacterial types to a high degree dominates the bacterial flora of the small intestine, i.e. they are present in considerably higher numbers than the majority of other types of bacteria.
The expression “low bacterial diversity (LDB)” used throughout the application means an unbalanced bacterial composition in an individual's gastrointestinal tract which may be defined by a diversity index difference of at least 0.15 according to Shannon-Weaner's index of diversity or a diversity index difference of at least 0.02 according to Simpson's index of diversity. It should be noted that the term “diversity” sometimes used in the present application text is intended to mean “bacterial diversity”.
The expression “physiologically disturbed conditions” used throughout the application text means any undesired health condition or conditions in connection with or due to the presence of LDB and/or the presence of LIBO or SIBO, such as gastrointestinal disorders, e.g. translocation, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and undesired conditions due to antibiotics intake. Furthermore LDB, SIBO and LIBO can be negative factors for development of coronary disorders, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, diabetes type 2, allergies, atopic eczema and autoimmunity.
The expression “for increasing the diversity of the gastrointestinal tract” used throughout the application text means that an increased flora of micro-organisms in the gastrointestinal tract is obtained in the form of presence of different types of bacteria. This means that the risk of “overgrowth” of certain negative bacteria is decreased, leading to a better general health of individuals. Thus, overgrowth of certain bacteria in the GI tract is decreased in accordance with the invention. Thereby, a desirable balance is provided.
The diversity index is measured by the T-RFLP method using the enzyme HaeIII for cutting and calculating the Shannon-Weaner index and Simpson's index of diversity.
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus plantarum
, Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus plantarum
As stated above, the present invention also relates to the treatment of one or a wide array of physiologically disturbed conditions based on a low bacterial diversity (LBD) in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of an individual, optionally induced via small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and/or large intestine bacterial overgrowth (LIBO), by improving and/or increasing the bacterial diversity and eradicating small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and large intestinal bacterial overgrowth (LIBO) in the gut. LBD is treated by ingestion of one strain of selected from the group consisting of 299, DSM 6595299v, DSM 9843, HEAL-9, DSM 15312, HEAL-19, DSM 15313, and HEAL-99, DSM 15316.
L. plantarum
Lactobacillus
Lactobacillus
L. plantarum
L. plantarum
is a bacterial species in the huge and relatively diverse genus of , which comprises about 90 validly named species or subspecies. By tradition, the spp. have been divided into three functional groups depending on their fermentation abilities; the obligately homofermentatives (Group I), the facultatively heterofermentatives (Group II) and the obligately heterofermentatives (Group III). Group I ferment hexoses exclusively to lactic acid, and cannot ferment gluconate or pentoses, while Group II also ferment hexoses to lactic acid but are additionally able to ferment pentoses and/or gluconate. Group III ferment hexoses to lactic acid, acetic acid and/or ethanol and carbon dioxide. is facultatively heterofermentative. The type strain of is ATCC 14917.
L. plantarum
Lactobacillus
differs from many other spp. in the following points:
L. plantarum
1) has a relatively large genome, which indicates the ability to adopt to many different conditions.
L. plantarum
2) possesses a striking ability to ferment many different carbohydrates.
L. plantarum
L. plantarum
2
2
2
2
2
3) has a high growth requirement for manganese and can accumulate high intercellular levels of manganese. Manganese provides a defence for against oxygen toxicity by the reduction of oxygen radicals to HO. The produced HOcan then be converted to Oand water by manganese cofactored pseudocatalase.
L. plantarum
L. plantarum
4) has a high tolerance to low pH. The fact that frequently predominates in spontaneously, lactic acid fermented foods where the pH usually is below 4.0 and also survives the passage through the acid conditions of the human stomach, points to its high resistance to acid conditions.
L. plantarum
5) can possess tannase activity and is also able to metabolise phenolic acids.
L. plantarum
Ensete ventricosum
L. plantarum
L. plantarum
L. plantarum
Lactobacillus
J. Appl. Bacteria
Lactobacillus
J. Appl. Microbiol.
L. plantarum
frequently occurs spontaneously, in high numbers, in most lactic acid fermented foods, especially when the food is based on plant material, for example, in brined olives, capers (caper berries), sauerkraut, salted gherkins, sour-dough, Nigerian ogi (made from maize or sorghum), Ethiopian kocho (made from starch from ), Ethiopian sourdough made out of tef (Eragrostis tef) and cassaya. Thus, it is obvious that individuals consuming lactic acid fermented products of plant origin also consume large amounts of . Furthermore, occurs in grape juice and wine. frequently occurs on the human gastrointestinal mucosa, from the mouth to the rectum [Molin, G., Jeppsson, B., Ahrné, S., Johansson, M.-L., Nobaek, S., Ståhl, M., and Bengmark, S. (1993). Numerical taxonomy of spp. associated with healthy and diseased mucosa of the human intestines, 74: 314-323; Ahrné, S., Nobaek, S., Jeppsson, B., Adlerberth, I., Wold, A., and Molin, G. (1998). The normal flora of healthy human rectal and oral mucosa, 85: 88-94)]. Hence, it is obvious that the species has a unique position in connection to human food and the human intestine, and in the perspective that humans have eaten lactic acid fermented foods since the beginning as this is a spontaneous process if plant materials are pressed into a closed area, in a pit in the ground, for example, it is understandable that an organisms naturally dominating in these environments also have a key roll to play in the human gut.
Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis is a community fingerprinting method based on the restriction endonuclease digestion of fluorescently end-labelled PCR products, and it reveals information for both known and unknown bacterial groups. T-RFLP patterns are generated in a series of steps: Briefly, community DNA is extracted directly from the sample. The genes of interest are PCR amplified using primers in which one is fluorescently labelled. After purification, the PCR products are digested with a restriction endonuclese, usually a 4-base cutter. The digested product is mixed with a fluorescently labelled DNA size standard, and the fragments are then separated by electrophoresis using either gel or capillary-based systems, equipped with a laser detector so that only the fluorescently labelled terminal fragments are visualized. The output from such an analysis is in two forms: 1) an electropherogram showing the profile of a bacterial community as a series of peaks of varying height, 2) a table generated from an automated fragment analysis program including most importantly the size, in base pairs, and the height (or area) of each peak. The T-RFLP profiles between samples can be numerically compared by using statistical methods. Several statistical methods have been applied to compare microbial communities.
T-RFLP analysis of microbial communities in ecological studies has become increasingly used in recent years. It is reproducible and gives high resolution.
The subjects were all males in good physical condition but with a defined well-controlled cardiovascular disease. They underwent flexible sigmoidoscopy before and after ingestion of test solutions for four weeks. Biopsies were taken in a standardized fashion from mucosa of lower sigmoid colon for further analyses.
11
L. plantarum
16 volunteers were included in the diversity evaluation, derived from a larger cohort of subjects included in a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study. Nine subjects consumed 100 ml of treatment product per day for four weeks, corresponding to a daily intake of 10colony forming units of per day. Seven subjects consumed 100 ml per day of a similar product but without bacteria for four weeks.
The mucosal biopsies were treated in ultrasonic bath for 5 minutes and then vortexed for 2 minutes. The samples were transferred to UV treated 1.5 ml tubes and centrifuged at 9 000 rpm for 7 minutes. 380 μl buffer G2 and 30 μl Proteinas K (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) were added to the pellet. The samples were treated in water bath at 56° C. until totally dissolved. The suspensions were further disintegrated by shaking together with 12-15 glass beads (2 mm in diameter) for 45 minutes at 4° C. in an Eppendorf Mixer (model 5432, Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany). After centrifugation at 5 000 rpm for one minute, the supernatant was transferred to two different 2 ml sample tubes (200 μl in each tube). Further purification was done in BioRobot® EZ1 with EZ1 DNA Tissue Card and EZ1 DNA Tissue Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer's instruction. The DNA was eluted in 200 μl.
The 16S rRNA gene was amplified with the universal forward primer Cy5-ENV1 (5′-AGA GTT TGA TII TGG CTC AG-3′), fluorescently labeled with Cy5 at the 5′ end, and the reverse primer ENV2 (5′-CGG ITA CCT TGT TAC GAC TT-3′), which anneal with 8-27 by and 1511-1492 bp, respectively. The PCR reaction mixture contained 0.2 μM of each primer, 0.2 mM of each deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Ind.), 5 μl of 10×PCR reaction buffer (100 mM Tris-HCl, 500 mM KCl, pH 8.3), 2.5 U/μl Taq polymerase (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany) and 0.2-10 μl of template, in a final volume of 50 μl. Amplification was made in an Eppendorf Mastercycler (Hamburg, Germany) using the following program: one cycle at 94° C. for 3 minutes, followed by 32 cycles at 94° C. for 1 min, 50° C. for 45 sec and 72° C. for 2 min, with an additional extension at 72° C. for 7 min.
PCR products (5 μl) were verified on a 1.5% (w/v) agarose gel in 1×TBE buffer (89 mM Tris, 89 mM boric acid, 2.5 mM EDTA) after staining with ethidium bromide.
PCR products from three reactions were pooled to reduce bias in PCR and to get enough DNA for T-RFLP analysis. The amplicons were purified and concentrated by MinElute PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Elution was made with 30 μl of sterile distilled water.
The concentration of the purified DNA was measured spectrofluorometrically by FluoroMax-2 with DataMax for Windows™ (ISA Jobin Yvon Spex Instruments S.A., Inc., New Jersey), using Quant-iT™PicoGreen®(Invitrogen, Eugen, Oreg., USA) that intercalates with double stranded DNA. The QuantiT™PicoGreen® was used according to the manufacturer's instruction. Excitation was performed at 480 nm.
Aliquots of 200 ng purified PCR products were digested during 16 hrs at 37° C. separately with 15 U of restrictionendonuclease HaeIII (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, USA), in a total volume of 10 μl. After digestion, the enzymes were inactivated by heating at 65° C. for 15 min. The digests were mixed with 1 μl of internal size standard and 4 μl of formamide loading dye (3.3 μl deionised formamide, 0.7 μl 25 mM EDTA with 5% w/v Dextran Blue) and the mixture was denatured at 94° C. for 3 min and then immediately placed on ice, prior loading to the polyacrylamide gel.
E. coli
′; E. coli
The internal size standards contained Cy5-ENV1 primer (20 by as described above) and 697 by PCR product amplified from ATCC 11775 by using primer 685r (5′-TCT ACG CAT TTC ACC GCT AC-3numbering 705-685) and Cy5-ENV1. External size standards, consisting of ALFexpress Sizer 50-500 (GE Healthcare, Uppsala, Sweden) and Cy5 labeled 697 by PCR product, were also loaded on the sample-containing polyacrylamide gels to estimate the lengths of the T-RFs. The fluorescently labelled fragments were separated and detected with an ALFexpress II DNA sequencer with a 7% ReproGel Long Read gel (GE Healthcare, Uppsala, Sweden) for 700 min under the following conditions: 1500 V, 60 mA, and 55° C.
i
i
i
i
2
The peak areas of fluorescently labelled T-RFs were estimated by using ALFwin™ Fragment Analyser 1.03 program (Amersham Biosciences, Uppsala, Sweden). The relative abundance of each T-RF within a given T-RFLP pattern was calculated as the peak area of the respective T-RF divided by the total peak area of all T-RFs detected within a fragment length between 20 to 697 bp. Simpson's (D) and Shannon-Weaner (H′) indices were calculated by using the equations: D=Σpand H′=−pIn p, where pis the relative abundance of ith peak in the community (Magurran A, 1996), Ecological diversity and its measurement, Chapman and Hall, London. The use of Simpson's index of diversity (1-D) instead of the original formulation of Simpson's index ensures that the value of the index increases with increased diversity. For each individual, indices were calculated for the samples before and after treatment. The difference in diversity was obtained by subtracting index before treatment from index after treatment. The differences in the bacterial diversity between individuals in the probiotic and placebo groups were detected using Mann-Whitney Rank Sum Test (SigmaStat, Systat Software, Point Richmond, USA). A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
L. plantarum
When analysing the data from the T-RFLP profiles a statistically significant difference in diversity of the intestinal microbiota in individuals treated with 299v during four weeks was found compared to individuals who received placebo. The restriction endonuclease HaeIII was used as the cutting enzyme and the mean difference in diversity as measured by Shannon index was 0.2305803 for the probiotic group and −0.3929243 for the placebo group (p=0.026).
L. plantarum
Calculating Simpson's Index of diversity confirmed the higher diversity by giving 299v. HaeIII was used as the cutting enzyme and the result was statistically significant, the mean difference by Simpson's Index of Diversity was 0.0367907 for the probiotic group and −0.04792 for the placebo group (p=0.026).
Shannon
Simpson's
Di<sub>before 299v </sub>− Di<sub>after 299v</sub>
0.2305803
0.0367907
Di<sub>before placebo </sub>− Di<sub>after placebo</sub>
−0.3929243
−0.04792
Di<sub>total</sub>
0.6235046
0.0847107
Significance of Di<sub>total</sub>
P = 0.026
P = 0.026
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus plantarum
The results above show that the bacterial diversity of the human gut increases when administrated a single strain of , i.e. between individuals given the strain and individuals given a placebo.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
depicts the T-RFLP profile of HaeIII-digested 16S rRNA genes amplified from human mucosa. | |
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Pollution + Florida’s Coral Reefs: “We Are Changing The Chemistry Of The Planet”
Stories about the demise of the world’s coral reefs are becoming all-too-commonplace, unfortunately. We’ve all heard the sad descriptions of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, for example. Hundreds of miles of its most pristine northern sector are dead, with overheated seawater reported as the culprit. A researcher at the Harbor Branch of Florida Atlantic University, Brian Lapointe, PhD, has a slightly different take on the global coral problem, however. With a career spent studying nutrients, algal growth, and eutropication, Lapointe has analyzed water quality and living coral cover in the Florida Keys over the last 4 decades. While many scientists attribute coral demise to sea-surface temperatures associated with climate change, Dr. Lapointe’s findings about Florida’s coral reefs show otherwise.
Instead, increasing nutrient pollution from septic tanks, combined with new policies to “send water south” from Lake Okeechobee, have increase nitrogen concentrations and phytoplankton biomass at Looe Key, his study site. Sewage discharge makes it difficult for coral to thrive and damages the complex relationships that exist among the plants, coral, and other animals that are part of the reef ecosystem.
What we’re seeing, Lapointe outlines, is destruction of the coral reefs due to nutrient dominance. As the nitrogen-phosphorous balance in the ocean gets out of balance, certain membranes in the coral start to break down. The coral can’t get enough phosphorous, which leads to what Lapointe calls “phosphorous limitation and eventual starvation.”
“It degrades the ability of these organisms to survive high light and high temperatures,” Lapointe explains. “This is real, ladies and gentlemen. We are changing the chemistry of the planet.”
Nearly every Wednesday during the southern high season of January through March, the Harbor Branch of the Florida Atlantic University opens its door for a free lecture. The intent is to share with the public the research that usually takes place behind closed doors in laboratories. In this week’s session, Dr. Brian Lapointe talked about “Chasing Nutrients and Coral Reef Decline at Looe Key, Florida Keys: A Four Decade Quest.”
As the audience entered, a short film played on the overhead screens. Virtually, we swam along the reef with divers. Only the sounds of the scuba diver’s breathing were evident as we floated by schools of black and blue fish, coral with tree-like branches, and white chrinolated coral. We came to realize that we were watching a chronological unveiling of the life of a reef over a series of decades. The colors slowly weakened and bleached and became covered by meadows of brown algae in what we later learned in the lecture is a “coral algae shift.”
The Looe Key reef has evolved from being dominated by branching coral with schools of fish living in a 3-dimensional space to a loss of habitat so that, by 2018, much of the coral was white — ghost white. Why? Increasing nutrient inputs elevate the nitrogen to phosphorus (N:P) ratio in reef macroalgae, a condition known to cause metabolic stress in coral. That stress makes them more susceptible to coral diseases and bleaching.
Looe Key: 4 Decades of Analyzing the Coral Reef
Named after the 1743 British warship “Looe,” the Key was a problem for schooners who were circumnavigating the world for commerce. Louis Agassi was asked in 1851 about the ways to reduce the prominence of “unfavorable” reefs for the safety of navigation. “I do not see the possibility of eliminating in any way,” he mused, the growth of the coral reefs.
Little did Agassi know about the problem that would become anthropogenic-caused (human-caused) algae.
“Nutrient pollution is pushing Florida’s refs beyond their capacity to survive,” Lapointe wrote back in 1990. So what did the Florida cognoscenti do then? They let water out of Lake Okeechobee so it would cleanse the Keys, interpreting the reef change problem as a shortage of fresh water.
Such misinformed decision-making pushed more nutrients toward the Florida Keys and led them to be declared a dead zone in 2003.
Many people have argued that overfishing is the cause of the reef decline. Lapointe’s perspective is different, however. He says that the nitrogen content is a significant contributing factor to Florida coral reef loss. Mass tourism and agriculture change the reef due to nitrogen increases, which inspire algae blooms. Formerly “gin clear” water is now emerald green, due to a cyano bacterial bloom. Coral has been overgrown by algae — and not reduced grazing fish, Lapointe indicates, as his data indicates that grazing fish actually seem to be increasing over time.
Algae has replaced corals at Looe Key. High N:P ratios reduce resistance, and the reefs become susceptible to diseases. The result? Coral bleaching.
Poop is the Problem & It’s Expensive to Fix
The primary culprit is septic systems. “Do you know how many toilets are flushing in Orlando? We need to do more up there,” he says. He allows that agriculture, too, has a role to play. “Even with the cattle farms — we can do a lot more to treat the systems. A lot of people think that the problem is sugar cane, but their water goes south, into the Everglades. 95% or more of the water in Lake Okeechobee comes from its north, and nitrogen can move a mile a day.”
The release of water from Lake Okeechobee filled with nitrogen creates levels that starve the reefs of phosphorus and photo-oxydated stress. Lake Okechobee releases 120 million metric tons of reactive N per year. “We’re at a level that is double of a Woods Hole peak level warning from the late 20th century,” according to Lapointe.
“Lake Okeechobee calls for treatment and storage,” he continued. “Money is always the problem in getting these problems fixed.” He discussed how a major problem is septic system “infrastructure that’s at the end of its life cycle, which would cost an estimated $18 billion to fix. That’s just getting infrastructure that’s already in place up to grade. It’s not going to be cheap.”
Although the Environmental Protection Agency might once have been a partner in such septic system infrastructure upgrading, the “EPA isn’t looking so good with the cuts” to its funding, Lapointe reminded the audience.
Photo courtesy Brian Lapointe | HAB Lab
Solutions are Possible to Restore Florida’s Coral Reefs
An emphasis of Lapointe’s work has been the role of land-based nutrient pollution in supporting harmful algal blooms and degrading coral reef and seagrass ecosystems. He tries to educate the public, business community, and policymakers regarding the need for improved wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to mitigate the harmful algal blooms and help secure Florida’s water future.
Lapointe’s findings suggest that local and regional actions to moderate anthropogenic nitrogen loading can increase the resilience of coral reefs under the current temperature stress.
“There is some hope. Bonair is one of the last beautiful reefs in the Caribbean,” he described. Government officials “got scared, and the Dutch government helped fund the central sewer construction. It was reported 2 years ago that, after the plant went online, corals are starting to grow again.”
“We, too, can make a difference. I’m just hoping that this sad story of the Florida Keys will resonate around the world,” Lapointe emphasized. A plan to treat the water north of Lake Okeechobee is necessary to solve the Florida Keys reef problems, Lapointe argues. “By these small island states taking action, they can make a change. We need to bring our wastewater upgrades up to par, I think, with what we’re spending on Everglades restoration.”
Other solutions can help the coral to revive, too, at least in part. “Denitrification can remove some of the nitrogen that we’ve been seeing,” he answered in response to an audience member’s question. “It takes nitrogen. Bacteria break it down and release it to the atmosphere, taking it from the reactive form.”
Photo courtesy Brian Lapoint | HAB Lab
Looe Key and Rock Pile videos are available on YouTube. More information about Dr. Lapointe’s work can be found at Lapointe HAB Lab.
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1. Introduction {#sec1-nanomaterials-08-00520}
===============
After several decades of development since it was discovered on electrochemically roughened silver in 1973 \[[@B1-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B2-nanomaterials-08-00520]\], surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has become a powerful analytical tool for applications of chemical and biological molecule detection, environmental monitoring, and food safety \[[@B3-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B4-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B5-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B6-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B7-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B8-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. SERS is able to identify molecules through vibrational fingerprint signals and can even detect single molecules \[[@B9-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B10-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. It is well accepted that a Raman signal can be enormously enhanced by noble metal nanostructures with sub--10 nm gaps between them, which we call 'hot spots' \[[@B9-nanomaterials-08-00520]\] Over the past decades, significant efforts in the areas of electron beam lithography \[[@B11-nanomaterials-08-00520]\], colloidal lithography \[[@B12-nanomaterials-08-00520]\], chemical synthesis \[[@B13-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B14-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B15-nanomaterials-08-00520]\], and self-assembly \[[@B16-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B17-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B18-nanomaterials-08-00520]\] have been made to develop highly active SERS substrates. All of these efforts are been focused on sufficiently high electromagnetic field enhancement, good SERS signal stability, and convenience in fabrication and manipulation. However, the above-mentioned requirements are hardly being met simultaneously. Electron beam lithography, nanoimprint lithography, and colloidal lithography can fabricate highly-uniform Ag or Au nanostructures leading to stable and reproducible SERS signals, but these methods are generally expensive and time consuming for large-scale fabrication. Ag or Au nanoparticles (NPs) formed by chemical synthesis is a very popular approach to SERS substrate preparation, and tremendous Raman enhancement could be achieved effortlessly by rich 'hot spots'. However, the downside of this kind of method is that the stability cannot be guaranteed because of the uneven distribution of 'hot spots'. For example, the NPs often aggregate in solution, which is not conducive to long-term preservation \[[@B19-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. With regard to the SERS measurement, a general and simple method is mixing analytes with NP solutions, and then measuring the mixtures directly \[[@B20-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. However, this method is incapable of trace detection. An improved method is to dry the mixtures. It is true that the NPs will be closely packed after drying \[[@B21-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B22-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B23-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B24-nanomaterials-08-00520]\], but this gives rise to a challenge of terrible aggregation caused by the coffee ring effect, also resulting in signal instability. Although, a coating method has been proposed to realize uniform and high-density Ag NPs distribution in drying process \[[@B25-nanomaterials-08-00520]\], this method suffers from oxidation of Ag NPs as time goes on. Therefore, it is still a great challenge to fabricate large-scale SERS substrates with uniform and high-density hot spots via simple and low-cost strategies.
The coffee-ring is a pattern left by a puddle of a particle-laden liquid after evaporation, which is almost familiar to everyone \[[@B26-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. It is difficult to eliminate this ubiquitous effect from many applications, including the printing, assembly, and distribution of nano/molecular materials \[[@B27-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B28-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. Closely packing Ag or Au NPs is the easiest way to obtain SERS substrates that might have a substantial enhancement of detection signals. The coffee-ring effect will make the Ag or Au NPs form as a ring, so that the distribution of the 'hot spots' is nonuniform and uncontrollable \[[@B22-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B23-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B29-nanomaterials-08-00520]\].
Herein, we present a convenient and inexpensive strategy to fabricate large-scale SERS substrates with stable and ultrasensitive performance. It involves a green chemistry synthesis method of Ag NPs and a facile approach of dropping the Ag NPs/glucose solution to form a flat film array for SERS detection. Viscous forces from the ropy glucose suppresses the coffee-ring effect, and thus leads to a uniform and compact deposition, but not aggregation of Ag NPs. Due to the wettability of the Ag NPs/glucose film, uniform distribution of analytes is also realized. These make the SERS signal more consistent and sensitive. In this strategy, no toxic chemicals or sophisticated instruments are required to fabricate the SERS substrate. In addition, thanks to the protection of glucose, oxidation of the Ag NPs is avoided, which results in their long-term storage (at least 6 months). Finally, we demonstrate the application of such SERS substrates for detection of R6G (Rhodamine 6G) and thiram (pesticide) down to 10^−14^ M and 10^−10^ M, respectively.
2. Materials and Methods {#sec2-nanomaterials-08-00520}
========================
2.1. Materials {#sec2dot1-nanomaterials-08-00520}
--------------
Silver nitrate (99.9%), R6G (C~28~H~31~N~2~O~3~Cl, 99%) and thiram (C~6~H~12~N~2~S~2~, 99.9%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Darmstdt, Garmany), Ammonia (25% *w*/*w* aqueous solution) and D-glucose were supplied by Beijing Chemical Works (Beijing, China), and SYLGARD 184 Silicone Elastomer Base and SYLGARD 184 Silicone Elastomer Curing Agent were purchased from Dow Corning Corporation (Midland, MI, USA). All the reagents used in this work were of analytical grade. Deionized water (Milli-Q purification system, Millipore Co., Bedford, MA, USA) was used for all experiments.
2.2. Characterizations {#sec2dot2-nanomaterials-08-00520}
----------------------
UV-visible spectra were recorded with a 1 cm path length quartz cell using an Agilent Cary 8454 spectroscopy system (Agilent Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA). Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces were treated with a BD-20AC laboratory corona treater (Electro-Technic Products Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) measurements were conducted on Tecnai G2 F20 (FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA). The Raman spectra were obtained using a Renishaw inVia Reflex Raman Microscope and Spectrometer (inVia Reflex, Gloucestershire, UK) equipped with a 633 nm laser and 50× objective. The integration time of all spectra acquisition for each measurement was set to be 10 s. The laser power was 1.7 mW. Four spots on the same SERS substrate were examined, and the spectra were averaged for final analysis.
2.3. Preparation of Ag NPs {#sec2dot3-nanomaterials-08-00520}
--------------------------
The Ag NPs were prepared according to our previous reports \[[@B30-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. Briefly, approximately 1 mL of ammonium hydroxide was added drop by drop into a fast stirring silver nitrate solution (85 mg in 10 mL water). A dark-brownish precipitate was formed and then dissolved as the amount of ammonium hydroxide is increased. Subsequently, a small amount of as-prepared Tollens solution (40 μL) was added into a fresh solution (40 mL) of D-glucose with a concentration of 0.1 M to 0.5 M. After four hours at room temperature, Ag^+^ ions were reduced by glucose in the presence of ammonia, and the color of the glucose solution turned to yellow, indicating the formation of Ag NPs \[[@B31-nanomaterials-08-00520]\].
2.4. Fabrication of SERS Substrates {#sec2dot4-nanomaterials-08-00520}
-----------------------------------
Firstly, the thin PDMS films with a thickness of 0.5 mm were prepared by mixing a Slygard 184 elastomer with a curing agent in a 10:1 ratio at 70 °C for two hours. Then the PDMS films were punched to form an array of holes with a diameter of 5 mm. Subsequently, the punched PDMS films were treated by O~2~ plasma using a BD-20AC laboratory corona treater (Electro-Technic Products Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for 30 s. Then, the treated PDMS surface was bonded to a glass slide under 70 °C for 2 h. Finally, 100 μL of prepared colloidal Ag NPs were dropped into each hole of the PDMS films. After the droplets were evaporated, the pie-shaped substrates of Ag NPs were formed, and then stored at room temperature for SERS detecting. The fabricated SERS film array and the SERS detection process is shown in the [Figure 1](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f001){ref-type="fig"}.
3. Results and Discussion {#sec3-nanomaterials-08-00520}
=========================
3.1. Characterization of Ag NPs {#sec3dot1-nanomaterials-08-00520}
-------------------------------
UV-vis absorption spectra of the colloidal Ag NPs synthesized in 0.5 M glucose is given in [Figure 2](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f002){ref-type="fig"}a. The absorption peak was around 415 nm, exhibiting a sharp plasmon absorption maximum. It indicated that the Ag NPs were monodispersed and relatively uniform in a stable colloidal solution \[[@B30-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B31-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. A TEM image of Ag NPs is given in [Figure 2](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f002){ref-type="fig"}b. The size of the Ag NPs was 35 ± 3 nm (the UV-vis absorption spectra and TEM images of the Ag NPs synthesized in 0.1--0.5 M glucose are given in [Figures S1 and S2](#app1-nanomaterials-08-00520){ref-type="app"}). Since the amount of glucose is excessive, the Ag^+^ ions have been completely reduced. Moreover, it was a green and highly-efficient synthesis method that does not need a heating condition or any relatively toxic organic surfactants.
3.2. Suppression of the Coffee-Ring Effect/Pie-Shaped SERS Substrates {#sec3dot2-nanomaterials-08-00520}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When a drop of liquid dries on a solid surface, the liquid evaporates first from the edge and is replenished by liquid from the interior, which results in capillary flow in the drop during its drying process. The suspended particles are driven to the edge by the capillary flow, and then left highly concentrated along the original drop edge, finally depositing in a ring-like pattern after evaporation \[[@B28-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. Many attempts to suppress and ameliorate the coffee ring effect have thus far focused on manipulating the capillary flow \[[@B32-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B33-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B34-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B35-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. In our strategy, the solution became viscous owing to the existence of massive glucose during the evaporation of the as-prepared colloidal Ag NPs, and the capillary flow is therefore burdened by viscidity resistance, which prevented the suspended particles from reaching the drop edge and ensured their uniform deposition. [Figure 3](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f003){ref-type="fig"}a shows the evaporation process of a drop of as-prepared colloidal Ag NPs dropped onto a clear glass directly. As the water evaporates, the concentration of the glucose is increased, which resulted in an increasing viscosity of the solution \[[@B36-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. Finally, the droplet had turned into a rigid film and the coffee-ring effect was almost eliminated after evaporation. As the droplet turned to a rigid film, the volume shrunk dramatically, therefore the gap between the Ag NPs would decrease and even turn into an aggregate, which exhibits higher SERS activity \[[@B37-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. In order to make the rigid film well-shaped and standardize the fabricating process, the colloidal Ag NPs were dropped into an array of holes, which were defined by PDMS structures bonded on the glass substrates ([Figure 3](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f003){ref-type="fig"}b). [Figure S3](#app1-nanomaterials-08-00520){ref-type="app"} shows the extinction spectrum of the SERS substrate with 0.2 M glucose. Thanks to the protection of glucose, oxidation of the Ag NPs was also prevented, which resulted in superior stability of the SERS substrates. From the test, the stability and sensitivity of SERS signals could remain for at least 6 months ([Figures S4 and S5](#app1-nanomaterials-08-00520){ref-type="app"}). The characteristic peaks of R6G were still very distinct after 6 months, and the intensity of the peaks was comparable to the intensity when the substrate was deposited.
3.3. Optimal Concentration of Glucose {#sec3dot3-nanomaterials-08-00520}
-------------------------------------
According to the enhancement mechanism of SERS signals, more sensitive SERS signal could be realized when analytes are close enough to the Ag NPs surface. In our strategy, the glucose protected the Ag NPs from oxidation while preventing the touch between the analyte and the Ag NPs to some extent. Therefore, the optimal concentration of glucose is of great necessity. In experiments, colloidal Ag NPs with different concentrations of glucose, ranging from 0.1 M to 0.5 M, were used to fabricate the SERS substrates. R6G (10^−8^ M) was employed as a SERS probe to evaluate the performance of these SERS substrates. As shown in [Figure 4](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f004){ref-type="fig"}, the SERS signal intensity of these five substrates was in the order: 0.2 M \> 0.1 M \> 0.3 M \> 0.4 M \> 0.5 M, suggesting the substrate fabricated with a 0.2 M concentration of glucose showed a stronger signal than the others. When 1 μL of R6G solution was dropped onto the SERS substrates, the water would dissolve the glucose that covered the Ag NPs, and then the Ag NPs were exposed to analytes. Hence, a lower concentration of glucose was more likely to supply bare Ag NPs, resulting in a higher Raman enhancement. As shown in [Figure S6](#app1-nanomaterials-08-00520){ref-type="app"}, there was a risk of oxidation of Ag NPs with a much lower concentration of glucose (such as 0.1 M). Accordingly, we choose a 0.2 M Ag NPs/glucose solution to fabricate the SERS substrates for later detection.
3.4. Sensitivity and Reproducibility of SERS Substrates {#sec3dot4-nanomaterials-08-00520}
-------------------------------------------------------
Sensitivity and reproducibility are major concerns for any SERS substrates. Hence, we employed different concentrations of R6G to investigate the performance of the SERS substrates. As shown in [Figure 5](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f005){ref-type="fig"}a, the strong peaks at 612 cm^−1^, 774 cm^−1^, 1127 cm^−1^, 1185 cm^−1^, 1310 cm^−1^, 1360 cm^−1^, 1509 cm^−1^, 1573 cm^−1^, and 1650 cm^−1^ were in good agreement with previous reports on pure R6G \[[@B38-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B39-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B40-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. These SERS spectral feature peaks can still be clearly identified even when the concentration was down to 10^−14^ M, corresponding to 10 zeptomoles of R6G molecules in a 1 μL sample volume, which is far below previous works \[[@B38-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B39-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B40-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B41-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. The reproducibility of the SERS substrate was further investigated by taking SERS spectra of R6G at the concentration of 10^−10^ M from 20 random locations on a single pie-shaped substrate. The average relative standard deviation (RSD) of the intensities (at 1509 cm^−1^) was 6.8% ([Figure 5](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f005){ref-type="fig"}b and [Figure S7](#app1-nanomaterials-08-00520){ref-type="app"}) which is lower than previously reported \[[@B40-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B42-nanomaterials-08-00520]\], indicating that the substrates possess good signal uniformity.
3.5. Application for Thiram Detection {#sec3dot5-nanomaterials-08-00520}
-------------------------------------
Thiram is a typical sulfur-containing pesticide molecule, which is widely used in agriculture. In this contribution, the SERS substrates were employed to detect thiram for future practical applications. The SERS spectra of thiram with a concentration varying from 10^−6^ M to 10^−10^ M are shown in [Figure 6](#nanomaterials-08-00520-f006){ref-type="fig"}. The SERS signal intensity gradually increased with the increase of thiram concentration, pointing to the possibility of quantitative analyte determination. The main Raman bands include 563 cm^−1^ attributed to υ(S-S), 1147 cm^−1^ corresponding to $\mathsf{\rho}$(CH~3~) and υ(C-N), and 1383 cm^−1^ corresponding to $\delta_{s}$(CH~3~) and υ(C-N), and 1511 cm^−1^ corresponding to υ(C-N), $\mathsf{\delta}$(CH~3~), and $\mathsf{\rho}$(CH~3~) \[[@B42-nanomaterials-08-00520],[@B43-nanomaterials-08-00520]\]. We could identify the spectrum of the thiram even at the concentration of 10^−10^ M. The result suggested that the ability of SERS substrates to have a detection sensitivity of 10^−10^ M of thiram, which is far below the maximum residue limits of thiram for vegetables (5 mg/kg, equal to ≈2 × 10^−5^ M). It is evident that such SERS substrates would have great potential for real world applications.
4. Conclusions {#sec4-nanomaterials-08-00520}
==============
In summary, we have demonstrated a method for a simple and economically viable design of large-scale, highly efficient, ultrasensitive, uniform, and low-cost SERS substrates, especially emphasizing the suppression of the coffee-ring effect. In this method, the glucose acts to achieve this suppression. First, Ag NPs were synthesized by a modified Tollens method in which glucose serves as a reducing agent. Secondly, a Ag NPs/glucose solution was dropped into a hole-shaped PDMS structure. After evaporation, a flat and uniform SERS film array was formed by means of viscidity resistance in a ropy glucose solution, which prevented the suspended particles from reaching the drop edge and ensured a uniform deposition. Thirdly, owing to the protection of glucose, oxidation of the Ag NPs was also avoided, which resulted in long-term storage (at least 6 months) of the SERS substrates. Subsequently, the performance of the SERS substrates fabricated with different concentrations of glucose was investigated, and the result suggested that the optimal concentration of glucose was 0.2 M. Finally, we demonstrated the application of such SERS substrates for detection of R6G and thiram down to 10^−14^ M and 10^−10^ M, respectively. Thus, such a convenient fabrication method and superior performance of the obtained SERS substrates would provide an opportunity to bring the SERS technology closer to real-world applications.
We thank the Electron Microscopy Laboratory of Peking University for the use of their equipment.
The following are available online at <http://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/8/7/520/s1>, Figure S1: UV-vis absorption spectra of the colloidal Ag NPs synthesized in 0.1--0.5 M glucose; Figure S2: TEM images of the Ag NPs synthesized in 0.1--0.5 M glucose; Figure S3: SERS intensity of 10^−10^ M R6G collected at 1509 cm^−1^ from 20 random spots of a pie-shaped SERS substrate; Figure S4: SERS spectra of R6G (10^−10^ M) collected from the SERS substrates at different storage times ((a) 0 months, (b) 2 months, (c) 4 months, and (d) 6 months).
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Click here for additional data file.
Conceptualization, J.Z. and W.W.; Methodology, J.Z.; Software, G.L. and M.W.; Investigation, J.Z. and G.L.; Writing-Original Draft Preparation, J.Z.; Writing-Review & Editing, W.W. and P.L.; Visualization, Z.C.; Project Administration, W.W.; Funding Acquisition, W.W., All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
This research was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2015CB352100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61474006), and the National Key Laboratory Foundation.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Two of us (Saguy and Williams) recently proposed that we should all use they/them pronouns. In a post in Scientific American, Hanna et al. disagreed with this proposal. This provides a helpful opportunity to clarify our idea, and to explain how it fits into broader debates about gendered language. To do so, we have collaborated on this response with Robin Dembroff and Daniel Wodak—philosophers who have independently been developing their own argument for why we should do away with gendered pronouns. Together, we seek to address some common misunderstandings about our proposal.
One thing Hanna et al. object to is our perceived failure to take “trans perspectives” into account. In fact, our work draws extensively on trans perspectives, including published work by trans authors and interviews with LGBTQ+ activists. The fact that we considered how the use of gendered pronouns may reinforce gender inequality does not mean our piece was not informed by trans perspectives.
Such an assumption risks reinforcing divisive rhetoric that on matters of gender justice, the needs of women and those of transgender and gender-nonconforming people are inevitably in conflict. We believe it is crucial to take into account multiple perspectives on gendered language and develop an intersectional approach; after all, research shows that women of color are disproportionately at risk of being misgendered.
Leaving aside this methodological issue, Hanna et al.’s primary concern is that “a move toward gender-neutral pronouns ignores the important work that gendered pronouns perform in everyday life.” They contend that “avoiding the act of gendering manifests as another form of violence.”
This is a subtle issue; it needs to be handled with care. Most fundamentally, we disagree with the claim that “avoiding the act of gendering” is always a “form of violence.” It is wrong to misgender others. But it is not generally important to gender others correctly, as long as we do not gender others incorrectly. When a student refers to a university instructor as “Professor So-and-So,” this avoids misgendering by avoiding any act of gendering in the first place.
That said, selective avoidance of gendering can be wrongful. Consider an example from one of the interviews that informed this work. During an interview with a self-described gender-nonconforming person, we were told of a recent experience going through airport security. Every other passenger was addressed as “Thank you, sir” or “Thank you, ma’am.” When it came to this person, the TSA officer just said “Thank you,” which was experienced as stigmatizing because it was a glaring departure from a practice of showing respect via gendering.
Hanna et al.’s view is the equivalent of insisting that the TSA continue thanking “sirs” and “ma’ams”—that is, continue gendering passengers by default. Our view is the equivalent of insisting that the TSA should just say “thank you” to everyone and avoid gendering anyone. Hanna et. al. acknowledge the serious harms of misgendering but they offer no plausible solution to the pervasive problem of misgendering, especially for transgender and gender-nonconforming people and people of color.
We do. Our proposed solution is to use gender-neutral pronouns as the default, with the long-term goal of using they/them pronouns for everyone. That’s a far cry from advocating for the willful misgendering of a person who asks to be referred to using a specific pronoun or legitimizing the refusal to gender a trans person while gendering everyone else.
Hanna et al. further contend that our proposal is based on a “Western-centric view of language,” pointing out that there are languages like Bangla that don’t have gendered pronouns. True. There are also languages with less gendered grammar than Bangla and languages with more gendered grammar than English. This raises questions for Hanna et al. and anyone else who defends the status quo in English: if gendered pronouns are so valuable, should languages like Bangla introduce them? Are trans and gender-nonconforming persons wronged when they are not gendered (correctly or incorrectly) by the accepted pronouns in Bangla or Finnish or Malay or Kurdish? Presumably not.
It is worth reflecting on why this is so. One reason is connected to Hanna et al.’s observation that, without grammatical gender, people can still gender themselves. But crucially, without grammatical gender they have more autonomy over whether and when they are gendered: trans women can declare their gender when doing so is safe and significant, without risking misgendering by others’ use of gendered pronouns.
Another reason why avoiding gendering does no harm connects back to the discussion of equality. The preference for gendered pronouns among English-speaking trans and gender-nonconforming people is best understood as a preference for equality: just as our interviewee prefers to be treated like other passengers, a trans woman may understandably prefer to be called “she” in a world where cis women are called “she.” If cis women were all called “they”—as they are in the languages mentioned above—equality requires that trans women be called “they” too. This is particularly important in institutional contexts.
As Hanna, et al. point out (citing Dean Spade), institutions have long used gender categorization to marginalize trans and gender-nonconforming people. In light of this history, we think efforts to remove gendered language from legislation and institutional processes should be lauded. Certainly, they should not be opposed as a form of “administrative violence.”
The differences between grammatical gender systems in natural languages provide a fruitful basis for empirical research. This includes testing Hanna et al.’s hypothesis that a natural language without gendered pronouns “doesn’t have the effect of reducing gender inequality, nor does it reduce the cisnormative desire to categorize by gender.”
In fact, studies find that grammatical gender in natural languages does affect gender inequality and essentialism in gender categorization. Of course, there are confounding variables here: plenty of other social, cultural and political factors affect levels of gender equality. But a clear implication of this research is that gendered language affects gendered thought. That finding undermines Hanna et al.’s most important objection: “Getting rid of gendered pronouns as a means of addressing gender inequalities would be the equivalent of treating symptoms without treating the root of the illness.” On the contrary, evidence suggests that degendering English would reduce gender discrimination and gender essentialism. If this is right, it is an important tool of addressing gender injustices, root and branch. | https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/we-should-all-use-they-them-pronouns-eventually/ |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to neckties, and, more particularly, is directed towards reversible neckties which can be worn with either of two sides facing outward from the wearer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Reversible neckties having two sides or faces, each face being suitable for facing outward from the wearer, are well known in the industry. The materials used in the two sides of the necktie may be of different colors or different types of fabric, or may have different imprinted patterns. Both sides are most commonly joined together by stitching operations when the necktie is turned inside out. The necktie is stitched with a discontinuous peripheral seam to leave an open area for everting the necktie. After the necktie is everted, the open area is stitched closed. Therefore, some stitching remains visible in the completed necktie.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,057 to Luceri discloses two methods of fabricating a reversible necktie. In both methods, the peripheral seam is completed by a stitching operation performed after the necktie assembly is turned "right side out" or everted. This method suffers from the disadvantage that stitching is visible in the neck band region of the necktie.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,825 to Hughes discloses a reversible necktie in which the peripheral seam is completed by means of an outside lock stitch placed in the neck band region after eversion of the necktie. This method also suffers from the disadvantage that the stitching is visible in the neck band region of the necktie.
The present state of the art indicates a need for a method of fabricating a reversible necktie in which no visible line of stitching is present in the peripheral seam of the completed necktie.
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Did you know?
The Whaleshark has about 3,000 tiny teeth, but their favourite meal is Plankton!
Wildlife of the Ningaloo
There is an abundance of wildlife, considering the harsh dry conditions. A variety of plants, birds, marsupials, reptiles, other mammals and fishes inhabit Exmouth and the Cape Range National Park.
Flora
The flora of the Cape Range Peninsula is incredibly diverse with over 630 plant species recorded. It is much more diverse than similar arid and semi-arid areas in Western Australia and is known to have twice as many species as other similar areas within the same biogeographic region.
Many species in the Cape Province are at the end of their geographic range and are hence considered extremely important from an ecological perspective. The peninsula is also a region of biogeographic overlap and therefore has a diversity of species from temperate, arid and tropical botanical provinces.
Birds
The Emu is the largest bird native to Australia and can reach up to 2m in height. Emus are a common sighting around Exmouth and the National park, often spotted strolling down the streets during the hottest months.
After breeding, the male does most of the incubation, losing significant weight during this time as he does not eat. The eggs hatch after around eight weeks, and the young are nurtured by their fathers. They reach full size after around six months, but can remain with their family until the next breeding season half a year later.
Emus can travel great distances and, if necessary, can sprint at 50 km/h (31 mph). Emus use their strongly clawed feet as a defence mechanism. Their legs are among the strongest of any animal, allowing them to rip metal wire fences.
Emus can live between 10 and 20 years in the wild and are pre-dated by dingos, eagles and hawks. They can jump and kick to avoid dingos, but against eagles and hawks, they can only run and swerve.
Other common birds around the Cape Rage and Exmouth include; the Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Fairy Tern, Gallah, Cockatoo, Osprey, Miner, Brahminy Kite, Spotted Harrier, Australian Bustard, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Honey eater White-breasted Woodswallow and many more!
Check out birdlife.org.au for a full comprehensive guide.
Marsupials
Black-footed Rock Wallaby. These little guys can be seen all year round hidden within the sheer gorge walls at Yardie creek within the Cape Range National Park.
Kangaroo. The Red Kangaroo and Euro – Common Wallaroo are often found in this area. The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all Kangaroos and in fact the largest mammal to native Australia. Watch out when travelling on the roads in the National Park as Kangaroos and Wallaroos are prolific between dusk and dawn.
Whales and Dolphins
The cetacean order of mammals includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. These are then members of one of two suborders – the toothed whales or the baleen whales. The Ningaloo area plays host to six species of toothed whales and eight species of baleen whales (ATA Environmental, 2000).
The baleen whales are generally sighted in the deeper waters of the Ningaloo coastline (ATA Environmental, 2000). Five of the eight species of baleen whales found in the region are listed as rare or likely to become extinct (ATA Environmental, 2000).
Humpback Whales are the fifth largest of the great whales. They can reach 18 metres and weigh up to 40 tonnes. Humpback whales migrate twice annually through the Ningaloo Marine Park waters, other frequenters of the Ningaloo area include the minke, southern right and blue whales.
The majority of the dolphins found in Ningaloo Marine Park and Exmouth Gulf are bottlenose dolphins, however there are many sightings of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and Spinner dolphins. The density of dolphins in the Ningaloo and Exmouth Gulf area is comparable to the densities found in the Great Barrier Reef and in Torres Strait (Preen et al, 1997)
Turtles
There are four species of turtle found in the waters of the Ningaloo and Exmouth Gulf. These are the Loggerhead, Green, Hawkesbill and Leatherback turtle.
Many turtles throughout the world have become endangered. While this is still the case for turtles in the Ningaloo, it has been found that the density of turtles in the Ningaloo Marine Park exceeds the highest densities of turtles that have ever been recorded in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area. This high density has partially been attributed to the particularly clear waters of the area.
During November to March the turtles can often been seen nesting on the beaches and then hatching and making their way back to the sea!
Manta Rays
Like whale sharks, manta rays are filter feeders and have large toothless mouths which they use like a sieve to scoop up plankton and krill.
There are two species of Manta, in both species their wingspans measure several metres, with the larger species (Manta birostris) reaching 7 metres. This size enables the Manta to swim at rapid speeds, occasionally leaping out of the water and landing with a slap. Unlike stingrays, manta rays do not have a sharp barb, making them very safe to swim with. | https://www.ningaloowhalesharks.com/wildlife-of-the-ningaloo/ |
Draba cana Rydb.
Hoary Whitlow Grass
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Basis for Listing
Draba cana (hoary whitlow grass) is an arctic disjunct not known to exist in Minnesota until it was discovered here in 2001. As of 2015, there were three records, all from crevices and shelves on cliff faces adjacent to water bodies in the boreal forest region (Border Lakes and North Shore Highlands subsections). This habitat preference essentially limits the potential range of the species in Minnesota to the northeast corner of the state. It seems unlikely that the species has been systematically overlooked or that many additional populations will be found. This leads to the conclusion that D. cana is very rare in Minnesota; hence, it was designated endangered in 2013.
The species is also listed as endangered in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2013) and threatened in Michigan (Reznicek et al. 2011).
Description
Draba cana is a perennial that grows to a height of 10-30 cm (4-12 in.). The stems are covered with simple and branched hairs. The basal leaves have a short petiole and a narrow blade about 2 cm (0.8 in.) long and are covered with hairs; they form a rosette at the base of the plant. There are also 3-10 leaves scattered along the stem, which are similar but often smaller than the basal leaves. There are 15-47 flowers arranged in a compact raceme at the top of the stem, which may elongate in fruit. The flowers have four small green sepals and four slightly larger white petals. The fruits are flat, slender, hairy, and about 1 cm (0.4 in.) long. The fruits are held close to the stem and point straight upwards; they may be flat or slightly twisted (Al-Shehbaz et al. 2010). The most distinctive feature of D. cana is the dense covering of hairs on all parts of the plant, which gives it an ashy gray or blue-green color.
Habitat
Based on available evidence, the habitat of D. cana in Minnesota is rock crevices and small ledges on cliffs. One cliff site is north-northwest-facing, another south-facing, and the last south-southeast-facing.
The crevices and ledges where the plants are rooted may be fairly dry, not wet or mossy. They may have small amounts of loose and gravelly “soil” or just rock chips. Some habitats, or portions of habitats, are in shade for portions of the day, others are in direct or filtered sunlight nearly all day.
Habitats in Wisconsin are reported to be exposed dolomite cliffs (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2013). Habitats in Michigan are reported to be limestone cliffs (Reznicek et al. 2011). In fact, the species is often reported to occur on basic rock, rather than acidic rock. The general bedrock types in the region of Minnesota where D. cana has been found are likely to be weakly alkaline or pH neutral. Basic materials such as calcite or limestone do occur in the region but are quite localized. It is unknown whether the rarity of D. cana in Minnesota has anything to do with specificity for a certain type of bedrock substrate.
Biology / Life History
Draba cana is a perennial insect-pollinated plant species. Apparently, it reproduces only by seed; it does not grow from fragments, suckers, or off-shoots. The seeds have no specialized structures that might indicate how they are dispersed. It appears they are released from the pod while still on the plant and then simply respond to gravity. It seems likely that certain small mammals and birds gather or eat the seeds, which may result in the seeds being dispersed within the habitat or between habitats.
Conservation / Management
The expansion of mineral mining in northeastern Minnesota could impact rare plants that occur exclusively on bedrock habitat.
Recreational rock climbing could directly threaten this species. Although this particular threat seems remote at this time, it does need to be considered.
Best Time to Search
Draba cana can be easily identified when in flower or fruit, from early June through the middle of August. In an especially dry year, plants can be expected to senesce earlier than in a moist or normal year.
Authors/Revisions
Welby Smith (MNDNR), 2018
(Note: all content ©MNDNR)
References and Additional Information
Al-Shehbaz, I. A., M. D. Windham, and R. Elven. 2010. Draba. Pages 269-347 in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, editors. Flora of North America north of Mexico Volume 7. Oxford University Press, New York, New York.
Michigan Natural Features Inventory. 2007. Rare Species Explorer [web application]. Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Lansing, Michigan.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2003. Field guide to the native plant communities of Minnesota: the Laurentian mixed forest province. Ecological Land Classification Program, Minnesota County Biological Survey, and Natural Heritage and Nongame Research Program. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St. Paul, Minnesota. 352 pp.
Reznicek, A. A., E. G. Voss, and B. S. Walters. 2011. Michigan Flora Online. University of Michigan. <http://www.michiganflora.net/species.aspx?id=642>. Accessed March 7, 2013.
Voss, E. G. 1985. Michigan Flora. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae-Cornaceae). Cranbrook Institute of Science Bulletin 59 and the University of Michigan Herbarium. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 727 pp.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 2013. Wisconsin's rare plants. <http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/endangeredresources/plants.asp?mode=detail&speccode=pdbra112q0>. Accessed 7 March 2013. | https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/profile.html?action=elementDetail&selectedElement=PDBRA110M0 |
Visual attention in preterm born adults: specifically impaired attentional sub-mechanisms that link with altered intrinsic brain networks in a compensation-like mode.
Although pronounced and lasting deficits in selective attention have been observed for preterm born individuals it is unknown which specific attentional sub-mechanisms are affected and how they relate to brain networks. We used the computationally specified 'Theory of Visual Attention' together with whole- and partial-report paradigms to compare attentional sub-mechanisms of pre- (n=33) and full-term (n=32) born adults. Resting-state fMRI was used to evaluate both between-group differences and inter-individual variance in changed functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks relevant for visual attention. In preterm born adults, we found specific impairments of visual short-term memory (vSTM) storage capacity while other sub-mechanisms such as processing speed or attentional weighting were unchanged. Furthermore, changed functional connectivity was found in unimodal visual and supramodal attention-related intrinsic networks. Among preterm born adults, the individual pattern of changed connectivity in occipital and parietal cortices was systematically associated with vSTM in such a way that the more distinct the connectivity differences, the better the preterm adults' storage capacity. These findings provide first evidence for selectively changed attentional sub-mechanisms in preterm born adults and their relation to altered intrinsic brain networks. In particular, data suggest that cortical changes in intrinsic functional connectivity may compensate adverse developmental consequences of prematurity on visual short-term storage capacity.
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Every now and then, we can all use a relaxing getaway. Luckily, there are several places throughout Alabama that’ll allow us to do just that. One of these places in particular is a treehouse Airbnb, which you can read all about below.
Take a look:
During these uncertain times, please keep safety in mind and consider adding destinations to your bucket list to visit at a later date.
What do you think? Does this treehouse sound like the perfect place for a relaxing getaway? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
For another Alabama treehouse that’s perfect for a relaxing getaway, be sure to take a look at the following article: Wake Up In A Glass Treehouse At This Spectacular Airbnb In Alabama. | https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/alabama/alpaca-treehouse-al/ |
Introduction: Rasmussen's encephalitis (RE) is a very rare chronic inflammatory unilateral encephalopathy with still unknown etiology. It predominantly affects children under the age of 10, but can also affect adolescents and adults. Current evidence on possible etiologies are divided in two main theories. The first one is based on brain inflammation caused by a reaction to a foreign antigen. The second one is based on an autoimmune disease that is limited to a single hemisphere of the brain. The common presentation is intractable and frequent focal motor seizures, often associated with progressive neurological decline, and progressive unilateral focal cortical atrophy. Progression of the inflammatory process in MRI is considered a good biomarker in RE.
Objectives: Report a rare case of a female infant presenting atypical manifestations of uncommon symptoms without seizures caused by Rasmussen's encephalitis.
Case Report: A ten-year-old right-handed female presented to the emergency department with sudden onset of abnormal involuntary movements of the right upper and lower limbs, face paresia of the same side and loss of attention without loss of consciousness. The involuntary contractions were brief, random, irregular, and worsened with activity, along with a positive milkmaid grip sign. She also displayed reduced movement speed and hyperactive biceps, triceps, patellar and ankle jerk reflexes. Associated with the motor abnormalities, the girl presented with a recent but progressive decrease in cognitive functions, which caused a decline in school performance and impaired reasoning, and affective blunting. She had no sign of previous neuropsychomotor development abnormality. She was taken to a quaternary hospital where a MRI and a CT of the brain were performed. MRI showed atrophy of the left cerebral hemisphere, predominantly in the operculum and head of the caudate nucleus, hypersignal in the insular cortex and adjacent white matter. CT presented with hypoattenuation of the left frontal lobe and parieto-occipital white matter associated with atrophy of the head of the caudate nucleus of the same side and enlargement of the adjacent fissures and sulcus. A subsequent PET-CT showed a left cerebral hemisphere hypometabolism, predominantly in the basal ganglia, temporal, frontal and insular lobes. Functional evaluation detected diffuse unilateral disorganization of brain electric activity, but no epileptic paroxysmal discharges were found on the electroencephalogram. After hospitalization, human immunoglobulin at the dose 2g/kg/day was used for five days. The girl remained stable, with no complications. After sixteen days, she was discharged with a rehabilitation program and follow-up care. | http://www.revistas.usp.br/revistadc/article/view/163025 |
Weapons: making, selling and using them
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Horizons_109_E
Swiss legislators are currently debating dual-use goods, such as the kitchen knife, the perfect example of a product that is both utensil and weapon. They’re trying to find a solution to the inevitable moral issues that arise out of legislating the arms trade, in particular defining categories of military goods and of authorised export-destination countries.
Associations
After more than a hundred years, the publication of the collected works of Leonhard Euler is finally nearing completion. But the archives of this great mathematician from Basel still have much more to offer.
After more than a hundred years, the publication of the collected works of Leonhard Euler is finally nearing completion. But the archives of this great mathematician from Basel still have much more to offer.
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It’s time for another one of my awesome jokes. It was a piece of cake making up this one, or should I say, a piece of pie…
What’s a mathematician’s favorite dessert?
Pie!
Pie
Did you you know that the pasty pie, and the symbol of pi, both came from Greece? Romans borrowed the idea (when they took over Greece) and made the first pie that was made with sweet ingredients like honey and goat cheese, while the greeks made their pie with meat. One of the first fruit pies was made in the 1500s. It was Queen Elizebeth who was served a cherry pie.
Now pies can be found everywhere and are a staple dessert for a lot of holidays. It’s so popular that people decided to create the biggest pie in the world, weighing 3,699 pounds!
Pi π
The symbol for pi also came for Greece. For years, many countries tried to estimate the value of pi. But Archimedes is known to be the first to calculate the exact numbers of pi. Later in the 1700s, Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician was the first to use pi in geometry.
Fun fact: A man named Fabrice Bellard, was able to calculate pi all the way up to 2.7 trillion numbers! | https://youcancallmejoshua.com/jokes/joke-time-%F0%9F%A5%A7/ |
Both teams look to bounce back from disappointing seasons in an early showdown between ranked teams.
Penn State (0-0) vs. Wisconsin (0-0)
Kickoff: Noon, Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI
The Betting Line: Penn State +5.5
TV: FOX - Gus Johnson (play-by-play), Joel Klatt (analyst), Jenny Taft (sideline)
Weather: Highs around 70 with cloudy skies and chances of scattered thunderstorms early in the day.
COACHES:
James Franklin:
PENN STATE RECORD: 60-28, 8th Year
OVERALL RECORD: 84-43, 11th Year
VS. WISCONSIN: 2-0
Paul Chryst:
WISCONSIN RECORD: 56-19, 7th Year
OVERALL RECORD: 75-38, 10th Year
VS. PENN STATE: 0-2
FUN FACTS
This is Penn State’s fourth season opener against a Big Ten squad (as a Big Ten member)...the Nittany Lions are 2-1 in these games, with victories over Minnesota in ‘93 and ‘94, and the loss to start the 2020 season against Indiana...this is the sixth consecutive season where Penn State’s first Big Ten game is on the road...this is the seventh time in the series where both teams are ranked...this will be the 13th season opener against a ranked opponent, with Penn State at 7-5 in those contests...this will be Penn State’s 135th season fielding a football team.
WISCONSIN OFFENSE VS. PENN STATE DEFENSE
Let’s start with the running game, since this is Wisconsin after all. Clemson transfer Chez Mellusi got the nod as the starting running back, following the footsteps of many standouts during the past few decades. The four-star prospect has played sparingly for the Tigers the last two seasons, and rushed for 151 yards on 27 carries with three touchdowns in 2020. The Badgers leading returning rusher Jalen Berger will also be in the mix throughout the afternoon.
Wisconsin’s offensive line was not as dominant as we’ve come to expect, and will look to get back to its regular standing as one of the best offensive lines in college football on an annual basis. They also struggled in pass protection, allowing two or more sacks in four of seven games. Penn State will be breaking in several new faces along the defensive line, so this will be an excellent test for both units.
Graham Mertz returns at quarterback after having a tale of two seasons in his first year as the starter. Mertz had one of the best single-games in Big Ten history right off the bat, completing 20 of 21 attempts with five touchdowns and no interceptions against Illinois. After a 49-11 whooping of Michigan, Mertz looked to be a future star with a 75% completion rate, and a 7-0 touchdown:intercerption ratio. Then things suddenly became more difficult. Metz tossed just two more touchdown passes in the remaining six games, and was picked off five times. Like the offensive line, he’ll also be looking to bounce back and prove his initial success wasn’t just by catching defensive coordinators off guard.
Mertz will be aided by an experience group of passcatchers though. Tight end Jake Ferguson is back after leading the team with 30 catches in 2020, which included four touchdowns for one of the Big Ten’s premier red zone threats. Senior Danny Davis III has worked his way into a starting spot, while Jack Dunn and Chimere Dike are back after combining for 40 receptions for 444 yards last season.
PENN STATE OFFENSE VS. WISCONSIN DEFENSE
Wisconsin boasted one of the nation’s stingiest defenses in 2020, ranking 5th is yardage allowed per game and ninth in scoring defense. Expectations will be high this fall as many starters are set to return.
The Badgers return standouts on all three levels, and will make Penn State’s offense earn their yardage. Inside linebacker Jack Sanborn is back after leading the team with 52 tackles, including 4.0 TFLs. His counterpart in the 3-4 scheme, Leo Chenal, returns as the team’s sack leader in 2020. Outside linebacker Nick Herbig also returns after leading the Badgers with 6.0 TFLs. If you haven’t caught on, Wisconsin will boast one of the nation’s top linebacker units this fall.
Safety Colin Wilder is one of the top all-around defensive backs in the Big Ten and does an outstanding job in run support. Scott Nelson starts opposite of Wilder, and is standout in his own right, contributing two interceptions and 4.0 TFLs last season. Simply put, the Badgers defense is littered with experience and talent and will be among the best units the Nittany Lions face all season.
However, Penn State returns plenty of talent as well - nine starters will be back, as well as many regular contributors who will be a year improved. Most notable is the explosive Jahan Dotson, who reached a totally new level in 2020 as he became a human highlight machine as the MVP of the offense. Parker Washington will be starting opposite Dotson, and has huge potential after a breakout season as a true freshman - which he put together without an offseason with his new team.
The running back position is stacked, and Noah Cain will be back after missing nearly all of the 2020 campaign. Penn State also returns tight end Brenton Strange, who came on strong after replacing an injured Pat Freiermuth. There is also plenty of hype surrounding his backup Theo Johnson, who boasts exceptional athleticism and should see plenty of time on the field as well.
Sean Clifford is back for his third year as a starter. While 2020 was an up-and-down year for Clifford, he will be looking to bounce back under new offensive coordinator and “quarterback whisperer” Mike Yurcich. He will also be behind a veteran offensive line.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Wisconsin kicker Collin Larsh is automatic from close range but has struggled with longer attempts. He connected on five of seven attempts in 2020, missing both attempts beyond 40 yards. In 2019 he was two of four from 40-49 yards, and missed his only 50-yard attempt. His career long is 44 yards. Punter Andy Vujnovich averaged 41.7 yards per punt in 2020, and did not have a touchback in 34 attempts.
Penn State returns most of its key special teams members. Jake Pinegar is back for his fourth year as the starting kicker, but may get pushed by true freshman Sander Sahaydak who is the top kicker in the incoming class. Jordan Stout also returns as the punter after averaging 41.5 yards per punt in his first year in the role. He’ll also serve as the kickoff specialist, where he regularly blasts the ball out of the end zone.
We will need to wait until Saturday to find out who will be the return men for the Nittany Lions, as no official depth chart was released heading in to the season. All signs point to Jahan Dotson as the team’s punt returner, giving Penn State one of the most explosive returners in the nation.
PREDICTION
Penn State-30, Wisconsin-27
It’s always difficult to make a reasonable prediction for early-season games, but this one is even more so. Both teams have the talent to be ranked in the top 10 by season’s end. They are both trying to answer some key questions to bounce back from disappointing seasons as well.
The key to this game will be Penn State’s offense vs. Wisconsin’s defense. The Nittany Lions have the returning talent to be exceptional on offense this year. The Badgers defense can already be assumed to be exceptional this year. Clifford will need a steady game with limited mistakes. If Penn State plays smart, Dotson, Parker Washington, and company can make plays on the perimeter while the offensive line help pave the way for the stable of talented backs to keep the chains moving. If the Nittany Lions don’t come out sharp, the Badgers defense will have no problem shutting them down. The more points the better for Penn State, while a low-scoring affair will certainly favor the Badgers.
The other key will be Penn State’s defensive line against the Wisconsin run game. Surprisingly, neither is guaranteed to be a strength like in typical years. The Nittany Lions will be depending on several newcomers, while the Badgers had a disappointing ground game in 2020, only rushing for 200 yards in one game.
We will learn quite a bit in week one this year, but for now, I’m sticking with the good guys. Dotson rises to the occasion with two touchdown receptions, including one in the fourth quarter that sends Penn State fans everywhere into a frenzy. Noah Cain and Keyvone Lee each churn out 75 yards, with Cain getting his first score since 2019. Brandon Smith is the MVP of the defense for the day, with a sack and 12 tackles, while newcomer Arnold Ebiketie chips in a sack, three TFLs and a forced fumble.
Let’s do this. | https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2021/9/2/22643043/penn-state-nittany-lions-football-wisconsin-badgers-game-preview-2021-fox-big-noon-saturday |
Cybersecurity and COVID-19: Is your Data Secure?
The outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has rapidly spread to many countries throughout the world, including Canada. This has resulted in major disruption to business across the country. Many companies have activated their crisis management/business continuity plans, including full or partial shut-down of operations. And with increasing number of employees working from home, major news outlets such as the BBC and the US Department of Homeland Security are now reporting a significant uptick in email scams linked to COVID-19. Security experts note that this is the worst they have seen in years. We remind businesses that their IT systems may be particularly vulnerable to a cyber-attack.
What to do if your data security may have been compromised:
Step 1
Contain the Breach
Key Items to Consider
- Assemble your breach management team immediately and appoint an appropriate individual to lead the initial investigation
- Consider who needs to be made aware of the incident internally, and potentially externally
- Do not destroy valuable evidence that may help in determining the cause of the breach
Personnel Involved
Senior management, board members, operations and IT (internal/external)
Step 2
Evaluate the risks
Key Items to Consider
- Determine what type of data was compromised
- Assess the cause and extent of the breach and identify which individuals were affected
- Consider the extent of the harm that is foreseeable from the breach
Personnel Involved
Senior management, board members, operations, IT (internal/external), legal, communications and insurance provider
Step 3
Notification of the Breach
This is a requirement mandated under privacy laws in Alberta (and similar federal laws if it applies to the business)
Key Items to Consider
- Conduct a through legal/business assessment if the breach needs to be notified to the privacy commissioner(s), individuals and other stakeholders
Personnel Involved and Commentary
Personnel Involved: senior management, board members, operations, IT, legal and communications
Threshold for notification: Real risk of significant harm (may include bodily harm, humiliation, damage to reputation or relationships, loss of employment, business or professional opportunities, financial loss, identity theft, negative effects on the credit record and damage to or loss of property)
Timing: Without unreasonable delay. Breaches are typically reported within a week from the date of the breach. However, in light of profound effect of Covid-19 on businesses, we anticipate Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner may grant businesses some additional time and latitude to report breaches.
Content of the Report: In writing and as mandated by law
Penalties: There are prescribed penalties under privacy laws for failure to notify the privacy commissioner, individuals and other stakeholders.
In addition, businesses may be exposed to private civil suits for damages, class action law suits and reputation hardships that may result due to non-compliance.
Step 4
Prevent the Breach
Key Items to Consider
- Look at the root cause of the breach and ensure that steps are taken to prevent it from occurring again.
- Consider the following: a audit of both physical and technical security; review of internal policies and procedures and any changes required; and a review of employee training practices and service delivery partners (i.e. dealers, retailers, outsourced work, etc.)
Personnel Involved
Senior management, board members, operations, IT (internal/external), legal and insurance providers
In addition, note that sector-specific laws and regulations exist that impose additional obligations for businesses that typically carry higher information security risks, such as those in financial services (IIROC dealers and MFDA members), health care, and telecommunications. Publicly traded companies must disclose material business risks, which can include cybersecurity issues and data breach or other cyber incident details.
Please note that this article does not constitute legal advice. It’s intended to identify basic issues, and is not meant to be interpreted with specific application to a specific factual scenario. Should your organization have questions, or should you require more information, please contact Rishi Chakraborty. | https://www.mcleod-law.com/resource/cybersecurity-and-covid-19-your-data-secure/ |
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“The Institute delivered informative exam preparation sessions which were very helpful in my pre-exam studies. I also had two very experienced and helpful supervisors. | https://www.institute.healius.com.au/ |
Claimants should be requested to follow the instructions below:
- Identify a treating doctor who will be responsible for managing the condition.
It is advisable not to change doctors frequently as this may result in an ineffective management plan for the condition. Claimants should advise of changes to their treating doctor.
- For all treatment, claimants must obtain a current referral from their treating doctor.
The continuation of provision of services will depend on the continued provision of referrals for treatment, or the agreement to an indefinite referral for treatment.
- Present the referral and Treatment Authority letter to the proposed treating practitioner.
The referral should include the accepted condition/s treated, the number of treatments required to manage your condition and a prediction of the outcome of the treatment. This notification should take place at the first or second treatment. Use of Standard Letter 'Physiotherapy/Start Treatment' can be used for this purpose.
- The treating practitioner should send their accounts directly to DVA.
If the treating practitioner will not bill DVA directly, please contact DVA.
- The treating practitioner should be willing to discuss your case with DVA staff.
This may include progress reports as requested. The cost of these reports will be reimbursed to the provider. Make sure appropriate authorities are signed by the claimant.
- There should be no assumption that any treatment will continue indefinitely if an indefinite referral and treatment plan has not been approved by DVA.
All treatment is subject to approval (whether in a Treatment Authority or prior-approval) and must be clinically necessary for the conditions for which there is an accepted liability with DVA.
- Specific Treatment Expectations exist for different health disciplines.
Please refer to the DVA website or DVA staff for further information. Please note that the Treatment Expectations have been developed in line with current DVA health policy, injury management policies implemented by the health industry, workers' compensation, Comcare and compulsory third party insurers. The expectations have been developed to ensure that all injured persons receive treatment that is medically necessary, will cause no harm and ensure the achievement of identified functional outcomes. | http://clik.dva.gov.au/military-compensation-srca-manuals-and-resources-library/medical-treatment-handbook/ch-21-how-do-srca-clients-access-treatment/211-claimants-requesting-access-treatment-within-australia |
Health and Medical Ethics in Medical Practice Discussion Essay
MUST OWN INTERVENTION & REFLECTION: BASIC ISSUES IN BIOETHICS. DO NOT BID IF YOU DON’T OWN THIS BOOK!
You will submit a essay synthesizing course readings and outside research into an articulate and cogent response to the following question: are there occasions in the delivery of health care when deception is warranted?
Must read:
Munson: Chapter 3, pages 253 – 296
Based on your reading of the textbook, Scripture, and additional sources:
Review the following scenarios of medical deception provided and rank them with commentary regarding appropriate behavior (most appropriate to least appropriate):
A physician intentionally submits faulty information to an insurance company in an attempt to help a sick patient pay for needed healthcare services.
A physician recognizes the patient has psychosomatic symptoms and prescribes a placebo pill in hopes that the emotional relief of the placebo will help the patient recover (thus saving the patient from possible treatments which would be more invasive and/or extensive).
A physician does not provide full disclosure of a surgical procedure because he/she suspects the patient is not emotionally stable enough to handling all the details of the surgery, treatment and recovery.
Review the following scenarios and rank them with commentary regarding a physician’s ethics (most ethical to least ethical):
Physicians accept pharmaceutical perks if they recommend a specific drug for treatment.
When prescribing pain medication, some physicians may “undertreat” a patient if they sense their patient may have a propensity for addiction.
A physician treating a patient with a terminal illness fails to disclose secondary ailments/diseases which may arise (in an attempt to protect the patient’s emotional stability and will to fight).
Recount occasions from your personal life experiences of being lied to/misled by a health care clinician and, in retrospect, comment on the correctness of this decision.
Provide a rationale (in terms of biblical commandments, guidelines, or inferences) on whether or not a Christian clinician should deceive a patient. | https://termhomework.com/health-and-medical-ethics-in-medical-practice-discussion-essay/ |
Many people come to me because their anxiety has started to interfere with their day-to-day living. Those negative thoughts make them feel bad, so they continue to think about what happened, hoping that next time they’ll get it right.
Fortunately, practicing self-compassion helps them break the cycle of self-criticism.
My specialty is working with women who struggle with anxiety. Many people come to me because their anxiety has started to interfere with their day-to-day living. They describe getting caught up in the negative loop of self-judgment; when they perceive that they’ve made a mistake or done something wrong, they can’t stop thinking about it. They think about what they could have done differently and put themselves down for the perceived infraction. Those negative thoughts make them feel bad, so they continue to think about what happened, hoping that next time they’ll get it right.
Why are we so quick to blame ourselves?
Women, at least many of us, judge ourselves way harder than we would ever judge another person. We expect perfection from ourselves but forgive or allow imperfection in others.
We’ve all experienced how making a small mistake, saying the wrong thing, or forgetting something can make us feel bad about ourselves for much too long. But doesn’t everyone make mistakes? I often ask people in the therapy room, “Does beating yourself up make you feel better?” The reality is it usually makes them feel worse. It doesn’t inspire them to be perfect; it just leaves them feeling defeated and unmotivated.
So why do we continue to be our own worst enemies? What purpose does that negative, critical voice serve? Many people in therapy feel like it keeps them on track, or they believe it will keep them from making future mistakes. But when we dig deep, they can often identify that voice as a critical parent, caregiver, partner, or coach who used criticism as a way to motivate or punish.
Over time, those stories you heard about your faults became your own. You owned them, internalizing them so they felt true. But through therapy, you come to recognize the stories as just that—merely stories that someone else assigned to you. Stories you can choose to let go of and no longer hold as true.
Self-criticism usually stems from our deep-seated fears, like fear of failure, disappointment, or abandonment. Our inner critic believes that constantly reminding us of our faults will keep those fears from becoming reality. Instead, what usually happens is that listening to the critical voice makes us feel anxious and depressed.
But self-compassion is about offering yourself the same compassion you’d offer a friend, family member, or stranger.
It’s finding the voice within us that can recognize that we’re imperfect, and the ability to love both the imperfections and the perfections. Self-compassion acknowledges we’re human, just like everyone else!
Research has shown that people who practice self-compassion are more likely to be more optimistic, happier, and more satisfied with their lives. They ruminate less—that is, they don’t dwell on negative thoughts. They have less anxiety and stress, and have more positive feelings about their bodies.
Self-compassion isn’t about ignoring or pushing away negative thoughts when they pop up. It’s about being more understanding and compassionate with yourself when they do surface. That leads you to feeling better about yourself, creating less negative self-talk, being more accepting of yourself, and having a greater ability to put things in perspective.
The first step toward bringing more self-compassion into your life is recognizing when your critical voice shows up and how it expresses itself. Start to notice when you’re hard on yourself. Listen to the way you talk to yourself and ask if you’d talk to a friend in the same way. Doing this can highlight just how tough you can be toward yourself.
Next, when you notice you’re beating yourself up, try asking yourself what you might say to a friend who was struggling. If you respond in a kinder, more compassionate voice, try offering yourself those same words.
Self-compassion takes a lot of practice. Your first attempts might not feel genuine if you’re used to being hard on yourself. If you find you’re unable to come up with something to say, you can start by imagining what a good friend might say to you if they knew you were struggling. Offer those words to yourself and see if you don’t start to notice a break in the cycle of negative self-talk. Then, you can start to feel better about your whole self.
If you would like guidance and support in becoming more self-compassionate, contact a licensed therapist in your area.
Here’s to a happy, healthy, safe new year filled with love, light, and self-compassion! | https://www.notestream.com/streams/5a53ed496d034/ |
As dams across the country age, so do their intake gates, and testing them requires dewatering. To meet the challenge of dewatering these structures without upsetting sensitive aquatic...
Design of Hydraulic Steel Structures
Technical Engineering and Design Guides, as adapted from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 22 This manual prescribes guidance for designing hydraulic...
Hydraulic Importance of Defects in Vertical Groundwater Cut-Off Walls
Additive Effectiveness in Minerally-Enhanced Slurry Walls
Remediation of a Contaminated Thin Aquifer by Horizontal Wells
Prefabricated Vertical Drains Zone of Influence Under Vacuum in Clayey Soil
Electrophoresis: Innovative Technique to Repair Leaking Impoundments
John F. Kennedy Student Paper Competition and Specialty Seminar Summaries
This proceedings,
Managing Water
Coping with Scarcity and Abundance
The proceedings, | https://cedb.asce.org/CEDBsearch/records.jsp?terms=Hydraulic%20conductivity&start=560 |
Why you should read this article: • To gain knowledge of the prevalence, epidemiology and prevention of hepatitis A • To understand the risk factors for transmission and treatment of hepatitis A • To know who to contact and what action to take in a suspected case Hepatitis A is a viral infection that affects the liver, with debilitating symptoms and jaundice. It is primarily transmitted through contaminated food and water. Infections such as hepatitis A require prompt public health action to identify a source and put in place measures such as immunisation to mitigate infection or prevent transmission. The practice nurse facilitates these processes, offers health promotion advice and assists with contact tracing and immunisations where necessary. This article is one of a series describing the joint working between the local Public Health England Health Protection Team and primary care in preventing the spread of infectious disease, referencing Public Health England guidance.
Evaluating sleep quality in patients with hypertension
Discussion of sleep quality should form part of the overall lifestyle advice for patients
Exploring the attitudes and behaviours of community nurses towards patient self-care
A focus on self-care must be integral to the function and purpose of community nursing
Preventing measles outbreaks: a global health challenge
Why you should read this article: • To understand the factors that can lead to a measles outbreak • To familiarise yourself with the benefits of a vaccination programme • To improve your knowledge of the measures that can prevent a measles outbreak Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. In late 2019, Samoa experienced an epidemic of measles, which resulted in overwhelming pressure on local healthcare services and a significant number of deaths. Gaining control of the epidemic required assistance from healthcare professionals from other countries and the implementation of a vaccination programme. This article will review the series of events that led up to the outbreak and consider the role of primary healthcare, policymakers and governments in preventing a measles outbreak elsewhere in the world.
Using play to educate children about asthma
Why you should read this article: • To recognise the importance of improving asthma knowledge among children and their families • To understand the potential benefits of using play to provide education about asthma • To consider the play interventions you could incorporate into asthma reviews and consultations Asthma morbidity and mortality rates continue to rise, and it has been identified that many adults and children with the condition do not receive basic asthma care and education. In this article, the author details her history of severe childhood asthma and how she has used her experience to create an innovative health literacy approach for primary school-aged children called BreathChamps, with the organising principles of fun and play. The article discusses the evidence for play improving asthma health literacy in children and their families, and outlines some methods that nurses can use to provide asthma education in their practice.
Can general practice nurses increase the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception?
A systematic review of accessibility barriers
CPD articles
How to support nursing students to develop community care planning skills
Nurses and nursing students should learn the principles of effective care planning
Ethical challenges in delivering person-centred care
Why you should read this article • To understand the difference between normative ethics and teleological ethics, and how they are applied in everyday care situations • To enhance your knowledge on ethics derived from the principles of person-centred care • To count towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD, or you may wish to write a reflective account (UK readers) • To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers) Nurses working across community and primary care settings face a number of ethical issues in their everyday work. Ethical principles underpin optimal practice. There are two main approaches to ethical reasoning: normative ethics, based on the rights and obligations of an individual; and teleological ethics, based on anticipating the consequences of an action. Issues can arise when ethical principles based on the obligations of the nurse or an analysis of the possible consequences of an action are applied to care. Nurses have to manage patients’ expectations, service protocols and economic constraints, as well as proceed in a person-centred and ethical way. This article explains the two main approaches to ethical reasoning, before identifying their limits and proposing some person-centred principles of care negotiation that will enable nurses to provide care that is principled and practical.
How to make clear and compelling written arguments: advice for nurses
In healthcare clearly formulated arguments can mean nurses’ efforts are directed effectively
Dengue fever
Nurses involved in travel health should be aware of the signs of dengue fever and what to do
Tracheostomy care in community settings
Risks associated with tracheostomy cannot be eliminated, but they can be addressed
Continuing professional development: lymphoma in primary care
This article summarises the diagnosis, treatment and long-term consequences of lymphoma
Research focus
How primary care nurses can identify and manage self-harm
Primary care nurses need to be able to identify and manage self-harm. This research focus explores high risk groups and management strategies
How can community and primary care nurses support and treat people with hoarding... | https://rcni.com/primary-health-care/evidence-and-practice |
Organizations indicate that the crisis would cause 11.5 million new unemployed in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Labor Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Work in times of pandemic: challenges against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (May 2020) was presented simultaneously in Santiago de Chile and Lima, Peru, through a joint virtual press conference led by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, and the ILO Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Vinícius Pinheiro.
In addition to providing estimates on the dynamics of the labor market in recent months, the joint ECLAC-ILO report explores some of the policies implemented by countries to protect formal employment, protect the earnings of workers in the formal economy, and informal and protect the productive sector.
According to the document, the implementation of policies for reactivation will require a strong component of training and education in safety and health for actors in the world of work. This requires reinforced institutional and budgetary resources that guarantee compliance, and must include good practices such as the implementation of a health and safety at work protocol that includes induction of personnel, the adoption of outdated entry and exit times for avoid crowds, disinfection routines and hand washing system, mandatory use of masks, and a protocol in case any worker shows symptoms.
It also adds that if the crisis continues for a longer time, a new round of measures will be necessary, aimed both at protecting employment and income for workers and limiting the impact on companies, with a special focus on vulnerable groups such as migrants in an unregulated situation , domestic workers and caregivers of the elderly, informal salaried and independent workers in critical sectors and health workers in the first line of response to COVID-19.
Looking to the future, both United Nations officials point out that the crisis is beginning to forge numerous changes in the world of work that will be permanent in order to move towards "better normality." "The policies for recovery must aim not only at a 'new normal' similar to the previous one, but at a 'better normal' with greater formality, equity and social dialogue," said Bárcena and Pinheiro.
In terms of the situation, ECLAC and ILO indicate that the pandemic has generated strong negative effects in the labor market, with consequences in the formal sector (reduction of hours, fall in wages and dismissals) and the informal sector (fall in employment due to distancing and prohibition. circulation, less access to income compensation). They also warn that women workers are the most vulnerable and labor-intensive sectors such as tourism, commerce, manufacturing, real estate and entertainment have been highly affected. In addition, Micro and Small Businesses concentrate 46.6% of total employment in the region and are at high risk of experiencing bankruptcies.
Before the pandemic Latin America and the Caribbean showed low growth and in 2020 the worst economic contraction since 1930 is expected, with an estimated drop in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of -5.3%, which will have negative effects about the job market. An increase in the unemployment rate of at least 3.4 percentage points is projected, reaching 11.5%, which is equivalent to more than 11.5 million new unemployed. If the economic contraction deepens, the unemployment rate will be higher.
Along with the increase in unemployment, a marked deterioration in the quality of employment is expected, the report indicates. Informal work is the source of income for many households in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the average informality rate is approximately 54%, according to ILO estimates, a situation that affects the most vulnerable groups.
Meanwhile, according to ILO calculations, the health crisis caused by COVID-19 and the containment measures cause a loss of around 10.3% of working hours in the second quarter of this year, which is equivalent to 31 million full-time jobs (assuming a 40-hour week).
This situation will negatively affect the dynamics of poverty and inequality and the achievement of the commitments of the 2030 Agenda, add the UN agencies. ECLAC estimates that by 2020 the poverty rate would increase to 4.4 percentage points and extreme poverty 2.6 percentage points compared to 2019. This implies that poverty would then reach 34.7% of the Latin American population (214 , 7 million people) and extreme poverty at 13% (83.4 million people). An increase in inequality is also expected in all the countries of the region, with increases in the Gini index of between 0.5% and 6.0%.
Beyond poverty, large population groups live in chronic conditions of economic insecurity and are vulnerable to loss of income from work. Hence, ECLAC has proposed an emergency basic income (IBE) for an amount equal to a poverty line for six months to meet basic needs and sustain household consumption. This would mean an additional expense of 2.1% of GDP to cover all people who will be in poverty in 2020.
In this area, the long-term strategic objective is the gradual implementation of a universal basic income, supported by sustainable and innovative financing mechanisms, adds the Commission.
The report reiterates that it is necessary to rethink the development model and consolidate the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, without leaving anyone behind, as indicated by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Likewise, in parallel to labor policies, a social protection system based on a rights-based approach, sensitive to differences, with universal, redistributive and solidarity policies is required. |
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