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Women can be described as genetic mosaics because they have two distinctly different types of cells throughout their bodies. Unlike males, who have one X chromosome, females have two X chromosomes in every cell. Much has been written about the Y chromosome and its role in inducing maleness.This is the only book about the X chromosome a...
other books by Barbara Migeon
Kobo ebook|Mar 15 2007
$62.99
Kobo ebook|Sep 28 2016
Hardcover|Sep 28 2016
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:0199927537
ISBN - 13:9780199927531
Look for similar items by category: | https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/females-are-mosaics-x-inactivation/9780199927531-item.html |
The Institute of Black Culture (IBC) and Institute Hispanic and Latino Culture (IHLC) serve as gathering spaces for students at the University of Florida to congregate before, in between, and after classes. The two-story buildings promote the University’s supportive and inclusive campus culture that embraces and celebrates the multifaceted nature of its students.
Students were heavily involved in the planning and construction process, participating in project input sessions and social media polls hosted by the University’s Multicultural & Diversity Affairs department. Each building houses study areas, meeting and event space, multi-purpose spaces, staff offices, multipurpose spaces, a lounge area and living room with a balcony overlooking the main campus road.
Features
TLC prepared an energy model to inform design decisions as they relate to energy use and optimization of building systems for the buildings. Energy modeling contributed to reducing energy use intensity of the IBC and IHLC was by 6.5% and 16.9% respectively over the baseline model while potable water usage was reduced by a total of 23.41%. The project is on track to meet the LEED v4 Gold certification goal.
Building energy efficiency was achieved by optimizing envelope performance, variable flow air handling units, and zoning spaces to allow for occupancy diversity reduction, reduced window to wall ratios with optimized glazing orientation, sun-shades, full airside economizer, energy recovery unit and efficient LED lighting with automatic lighting controls to reduce the lighting power density. | https://tlc-engineers.com/projects/university-of-florida-institute-of-black-culture-institute-of-hispanic-and-latino-culture/ |
Mū (無) is a sunken continent that lies at least 2000 meters below sea level. It is also the place where the final rounds of the Shaman Fights were held.
AboutEdit
According to an American writer, who had heard it from a Tibetan High Monk, The Continent of Mū was once populated by an extremely advanced people but sunk overnight due to an unknown divine rage. It is sacred land to the Patch Tribe as it was the place of the very first Shaman Fights and it is a tradition that the finals are always held there
Despite the massive decay seen on the outside, the Plants on the inside are completely intact and every piece of machinery appear to be working perfectly. The entire continent is protected by a 5 meter thick Over Soul barrier created by the Patch Tribe.
At the depths of the continent lies the King's Sanctuary where Shaman King slumbers while uniting with the Great Spirit. To reach it, one has to follow the path through the Plants or get lost in the maze around it, though three of the Patch Priest passed through the maze to their Plants with ease.
PlantsEdit
The Plants are the on the path to the King's Sanctuary and Great Spirit and the Patch Tribe protect them by standing guard at their own individual Plants.
The Plants were created as experimental facilities equipped with each and all conditions in order to migrate out into space. They were created by human hands as a perfect reproduction of nature, with 10 various environments so that any organism would be able to survive. Each plant also contains 2 gates which act as the entrance and exit to each individual plant. These gates will only open if the Patch guarding them wants them to or is defeated. Apparently, the plants can be turned off.
- Desert
- The first Plant is the Desert which is Guarded by Namari. This Plant is a true desert as there nothing in it but sand and heat. The Plant is hard to fight in as there is absolutely no water anywhere except for a single small oasis. This was a problem for Tao Ren and Horohoro since there is no water present in the air.
- Valley
- The Valley is what it says, a deep rocky valley. This Plant is designed for Bron to use his power at full power. When the valley plant is open the door is literally in the air. If the door closes the unfortunate person is dropped straight into the valley below. The door out is at the bottom of the plant and is not easy to reach. Those who can fly also have an advantage here since there is no floor to fight on.
- Volcano
- The Volcano Plant is a volcanic field. The field is littered with thousands of active volcanoes. The area is hard to fight as the volcanoes constantly erupt spewing gas and lava everywhere. The plant has little solid ground and is extremely hot all the time due to the all the lava. This plant is guarded by Magna.
- Lake
- The Lake Plant is a very deep lake surrounded by small amounts of land. This plant is Guarded by Radim. The plant is designed to force someone to fight at maximum speed. To fight on the lake itself Radim is required to speed up to his max and walk on water.
- Plateau
- The Plateau Plant is guarded by Kalim. The plant is nothing more than a wide expanse of Grassland. The plant is fairly easy to fight in since there is no environmental hazards or requirements. The only foreseeable problem is that it is a long expanse and takes quite a bit of time to cross. There is also a small farm in the plant that belongs to Kalim.
- Forest
- The Forest is guarded by Renim. This plant is a large dense tropical forest with rivers and trees.
- Cave
- The Cave Plant is guarded by Nichrome. The cave plant is a really big cave and is very dark. The darkness is a major problem since no one can see what they were doing. Ren was able to counter the darkness of the cave by running his electricity through his over soul in very short bursts like a light bulb, creating light to see with.
- Sea
- The Ocean Plant is guarded by Thalim. This plant is composed of a large sandy beach area, covered with tropical palms, and an equally large sea at the other side. A beach hut is also present, that has been converted into a cafe by Thalim.
- Glacier
- The Glacier is guarded by Silva. As its name suggests this plant is composed of a single large glacier, that is surrounded by water filled with large fragments of ice on the side nearest to the entrance.
- Universe
- The Universe Plant is the final plant and is guarded by Rutherfor. It is a large room with no gravity and it is a vacuum. It appears to resemble space due to images of space projected upon the surrounding walls. These projections are precisely altered to reproduce the stars actually movements. What makes it unusual compared to the other plants is that where most of them are cuboid in shape, this plant is spherical. It is also the only Plant to show sign of damage.
King's SanctuaryEdit
The room after the final plant is the throne room. The room itself is spartan except for a stone throne and the shaman king crown. The room is big and the throne is surrounded by overgrown plants and grass. The Chief of the Patch Tribe guards this room themselves and if they fail the king must fight the entering intruder. The mortal body of the Shaman King rest in this room and when Hao entered was the previous Shaman King reduced to nothing but a skull.
TriviaEdit
- Mū (無) can translate into "nothingness" or "non-existence"
- It is based on the fabled Continent of Mu
- Most of the Plants offer a slight advantage to the specific Patch guarding it, dependent on their guardian ghost and Over Soul's abilities. For an example, Namari's Red Rope could travel under the sand present in the Desert Plant to conduct sneak attacks and Renim's Clear Coat could make use of the large dense forest present in the Forest Plant to best use its unique power of disguise. | https://shamanking.fandom.com/wiki/M%C5%AB?veaction=edit |
The large 80-pound metal sign with North Cowichan’s now retired coat of arms on it that was located adjacent to the main door at the municipal hall will be donated to the Chemainus Museum.
Council made the decision to donate the hand-made 42 inch by 46.5 inch sign and the grant document that describes the coat of arms, which was located outside council chambers, to the museum at its meeting on Nov. 17.
In a report, Barb Floden, the municipality’s manager of communication and public engagement, said that while no longer relevant to North Cowichan, the sign and the grant document are historical artifacts that hold importance and tell a story to the community.
“The coat of arms was developed in the late 1980s with the very best of intentions by community volunteers and represented the municipality as an official emblem for more than 30 years,” Floden said.
“After discussions amongst staff, it was determined that the Chemainus Valley Historic Society be approached to determine their interest in acquiring these objects, as they operate the Chemainus Museum. The Chemainus Museum curator and the board chair expressed a keen interest in acquiring and eventually displaying these artifacts in order to tell this part of North Cowichan’s history to museum visitors and researchers.”
Council decided at its meeting on Aug. 18 to drop the coat of arms, which was adopted in 1989, because of perceptions it raises around colonialism, racism and gender inequality.
In a report to council by Floden at the time, she said the coat of arms, which features a white logger and a white pioneer woman standing next to North Cowichan’s shield, is not in harmony with the 94 calls to action outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Report, nor council’s 2019-2022 strategic plan and its call for more inclusion in the community. | https://www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com/news/north-cowichans-retired-coat-of-arms-heading-to-chemainus-museum/ |
Russell's teapot, sometimes called the celestial teapot, cosmic teapot or Bertrand's teapot, is an analogy first coined by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) to illustrate the idea that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making scientifically unfalsifiable claims rather than shifting the burden of proof to others, specifically in the case of religion. Russell wrote that if he claimed that a teapot were orbiting the Sun somewhere in space between the Earth and Mars, it would be nonsensical for him to expect others not to doubt him on the grounds that they could not prove him wrong. Russell's teapot is still referred to in discussions concerning the existence of God and has drawn some criticism for comparing the unfalsifiability of a teapot to God.
Contents
Russell's argument
In an article titled "Is There a God?" commissioned, but never published, by Illustrated magazine in 1952, Russell wrote:Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.
In 1958 Russell elaborated on the analogy as a reason for his own atheism:I ought to call myself an agnostic; but, for all practical purposes, I am an atheist. I do not think the existence of the Christian God any more probable than the existence of the Gods of Olympus or Valhalla. To take another illustration: nobody can prove that there is not between the Earth and Mars a china teapot revolving in an elliptical orbit, but nobody thinks this sufficiently likely to be taken into account in practice. I think the Christian God just as unlikely.
Contemporary usage
Analysis
Peter Atkins said that the point of Russell's teapot is that no one can prove a negative, and therefore Occam's razor suggests that the more simple theory (in which there is no supreme being) should trump the more complex theory (with a supreme being). He notes that this argument is not good enough to convince the religious, because religious evidence is experienced through personal revelation or received wisdom which cannot be objectively verified and are not accepted forms of scientific evidence.
In his books A Devil's Chaplain (2003) and The God Delusion (2006), Richard Dawkins used the teapot as an analogy of an argument against what he termed "agnostic conciliation", a policy of intellectual appeasement that allows for philosophical domains that concern exclusively religious matters. Science has no way of establishing the existence or non-existence of a god. Therefore, according to the agnostic conciliator, because it is a matter of individual taste, belief and disbelief in a supreme being are deserving of equal respect and attention. Dawkins presents the teapot as a reductio ad absurdum of this position: if agnosticism demands giving equal respect to the belief and disbelief in a supreme being, then it must also give equal respect to belief in an orbiting teapot, since the existence of an orbiting teapot is just as plausible scientifically as the existence of a supreme being.
Carl Sagan uses Russell's teapot for a chapter 'The Dragon In My Garage' in his book The Demon-Haunted World and he says "Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true."
Counterarguments
Philosopher Brian Garvey criticises Russell's teapot analogy on the grounds that the believer and non-believer with regard to the teapot are simply disagreeing about one item in the universe and may hold in common all other beliefs about the universe, which is not true of the atheist and the theist. Garvey argues that it is not a matter of the theist propounding existence of a thing and the atheist simply denying it - each is asserting an alternative explanation of why the cosmos exists and is the way it is: "the atheist is not just denying an existence that the theist affirms – the atheist is in addition committed to the view that the universe is not the way it is because of God. It is either the way it is because of something other than God, or there is no reason it is the way it is."
Literary critic and novelist James Wood, without believing in God, says that belief in God "is a good deal more reasonable than belief in a teapot" because God is a "grand and big idea" which "is not analogically disproved by reference to celestial teapots or vacuum cleaners, which lack the necessary bigness and grandeur" and "because God cannot be reified, cannot be turned into a mere thing".
Philosopher Paul Chamberlain says it is logically erroneous to assert that positive truth claims bear a burden of proof while negative truth claims do not. He notes that all truth claims bear a burden of proof, and that like Mother Goose and the tooth fairy, the teapot bears the greater burden not because of its negativity but because of its triviality, arguing that "When we substitute normal, serious characters such as Plato, Nero, Winston Churchill, or George Washington in place of these fictional characters, it becomes clear that anyone denying the existence of these figures has a burden of proof equal to, or in some cases greater than, the person claiming they do exist."
Another counter-argument, advanced by philosopher Eric Reitan, is that belief in God is different from belief in a teapot because teapots are physical and therefore in principle verifiable, and that given what we know about the physical world we have no good reason to think that belief in Russell's teapot is justified and at least some reason to think it not.
Parody
The concept of Russell's teapot has been extrapolated into more explicitly religion-parodying forms such as the Invisible Pink Unicorn and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
See also
- The Root of All Evil?, a television documentary written and presented by Richard Dawkins
- Parody religion
References
- ^ Bertrand Russell: Is There a God?
- ^ a b c Garvey, Brian (2010). "Absence of evidence, evidence of absence, and the atheist’s teapot". Ars Disputandi 10: 9–22. http://www.arsdisputandi.org/publish/articles/000339/article.pdf.
- ^ Atkins, Peter. "Atheism and science". In Clayton, Philip and Simpson, Zachary R.. The Oxford handbook of religion and science. pp. 129–130
- ^ Richard Dawkins. A Devil's Chaplain. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-33540-4.
- ^ a b Richard Dawkins. The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
- ^ http://www.users.qwest.net/~jcosta3/article_dragon.htm
- ^ Wood, James (18 December 2006). "The Celestial Teapot". The New Republic (27). http://www.tnr.com/article/the-celestial-teapot
- ^ a b Chamberlain. Paul, Why People Don't Believe: Confronting Seven Challenges to Christian Faith, pp. 82-83, Baker Books 2011
- ^ http://www.religiondispatches.org/contributors/ericreitan/
- ^ Eric Reitan. Is God a Delusion?. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 78–80. ISBN 1-4051-8361-6.
- ^ Wolf, Gary (November 14, 2006). "The Church of the Non-Believers". Wired News. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/atheism.html.
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List of atheists · Demographics · Religion · History · Anti-clericalism · State atheism · Criticism · Discrimination · Negative and positive · Implicit and explicit · Antitheism · Antireligion · Atheist Alliance International · Christian atheism · Atheism in Hinduism · Jewish atheism
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Irreligion by country · UnaffiliatedCategories:
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Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Look at other dictionaries: | https://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/1969048 |
When I first viewed this elaborate cross-over-the-traffic-and-get-to-the-metro system, it looked pretty impressive.
Escalators, ramps and stairs all in place to keep us safely above the masses of traffic below.
But it turns out that it was all a waste.
After we'd walked far into the pathways of metal and concrete, there were wires blocking the way.
We thought to just cross over them, but a schoolboy walking behind us said that the path further on was not completed yet and we couldn't get to the metro station that way.
So we had to make our way back down through the maze, once again far away from our destination, blocked by lanes of busy traffic.
Of course, everyone else was also crossing on foot, so we just joined the rest of the chaos and managed not to get run over. | http://blog.lindsaywashere.com/2012/01/foot-over-bridge-fail.html |
The Conservation Tillage & Technology Conference (CTC) will be held in- person March 14-15 at Ohio Northern University in Ada. The first day of this year’s conference will feature David Hula, four-time winner of the National Corn Growers Association Y ...
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Double Crop Sunflower in Ohio, is it an Option?
https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2023-05/double-crop-sunflower-ohio-it-option
In addition to double cropping with forages and double cropping with wheat and soybean, other alternatives may become feasible within the crop system. In 2022, three field experiments were established to study sunflowers’ viability as a double crop after ...
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2023 Corn College and Soybean School Recordings Available
https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2023-05/2023-corn-college-and-soybean-school-recordings-available
Did you miss our Corn College and Soybean School webinar? We have you covered! Check out the AgCrops Team YouTube channel for all the recordings: go.osu.edu/cornsoy You can also find a pdf of the presentation slides on the AgCrops Team website (https://ag ...
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Battle for the Belt: Which crop should be planted first, corn or soybean?
https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2023-05/battle-belt-which-crop-should-be-planted-first-corn-or-soybean
Which crop has the smallest yield penalty for delayed planting? Can we adjust management practices to mitigate losses due to late planting? How are insects, diseases, weeds, and other factors affected by planting date? We will address these questions (and ...
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Ohio Saves Week
https://extension.osu.edu/events/ohio-saves-week
OSU Extension and the Office of Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague are proud participants in Ohio Saves Week, an annual statewide campaign and recognition of the larger America Saves Week that encourages individuals and families to place a renewed focus on the ...
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Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference
https://agcrops.osu.edu/events/conservation-tillage-and-technology-conference-1
CTC will be March 14-15, 2023, at Ohio Northern University. Connect with other great farmers and CCAs, experience new ideas, and increase your net income. David Hula, the Corn Yield Champion (4 years!) will be our keynote speaker. PLUS, he will be on the ...
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Ohio Land Values and Cash Rents Analysis
https://aede.osu.edu/about-us/publications/ohio-land-values-and-cash-rents-analysis
Xiaoyi Fang Ani Katchova Barry Ward Report Monday, February 27, 2023 OhioLandValues2023.pdf Farm Income Enhancement Program ...
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Drones for Spraying Pesticides
https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2023-05/drones-spraying-pesticides
Traditionally, aerial spraying of pesticides has been done using conventional fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters with a pilot onboard. However, this is changing. Small, remotely piloted aircraft are being used to apply pesticides around the world, especia ...
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Kendall Lovejoy
https://agcrops.osu.edu/people/kendall-lovejoy
Kendall Lovejoy Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources ...
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Harvesting
https://agcrops.osu.edu/node/4425
Harvest date should be determined by crop maturity, not by the calendar. Plan to harvest fields with potential lodging or harvest loss problems (such as stalk rot or deer damage) first. All field shelled corn with more than 15 percent moisture must be dri ... | https://soilfertility.osu.edu/search/site?page=4&f%5B0%5D=hash%3A65mbny&f%5B1%5D=hash%3Afjjuex&f%5B2%5D=hash%3Asu2m9n&f%5B3%5D=hash%3Add6ij1&f%5B4%5D=hash%3At2bqqb&f%5B5%5D=hash%3Altcll7&f%5B6%5D=hash%3Atvu48e&f%5B7%5D=hash%3Ajyksc9&f%5B8%5D=hash%3Anth1qc |
Beginning January 1, 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) required individuals to carry minimum essential health coverage or make a shared responsibility payment, unless exempt. Individuals will report on their 2014 federal income tax return if they had minimum essential health coverage for all or part of the year. Individuals who file Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, will indicate on Line 61 if they were covered by minimum essential health coverage for 2014, if they are exempt from the requirement to carry minimum essential health coverage or if they are making an individual shared responsibility payment.
Minimum essential coverage is a term used to describe the type of coverage an individual needs to have to meet the individual responsibility requirement under the ACA. Nearly all individuals covered by employer-sponsored health insurance are treated under the ACA as carrying minimum essential coverage. Coverage obtained through the ACA Marketplace as well as Medicare, TRICARE and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) qualifies as minimum essential coverage. An important exception to minimum essential coverage is coverage that provides limited benefits, such as stand-alone dental insurance, accident or disability income insurance and workers’ compensation insurance. If you have any questions whether your health coverage is minimum essential coverage requirement, please contact our office.
Many of these exemptions are quite technical and have various sub-categories of exemptions. Some exemptions are available only through the ACA Marketplace, others only from the IRS and others from either the ACA Marketplace or the IRS. Please contact our office for more information about a particular exemption and how to apply for an exemption.
The individual’s flat dollar amount, which is $95 per adult and $47.50 per child, limited to a family maximum of $285, but capped at the cost of the national average premium for a bronze level health plan available through the Marketplace in 2014.
For 2014, the annual national average premium for a bronze level health plan available through the Marketplace is $2,448 per individual ($204 per month per individual), but $12,240 for a family with five or more members ($1,020 per month for a family with five or more members).
Emma and Noah are married and have two children under 18. The couple did not have minimum essential coverage for any family member for any month during 2014 and no one in the family qualified for an exemption from the individual shared responsibility requirement. For 2014, their household income is $70,000 and their filing threshold is $20,300. The IRS explained that to determine their individual shared responsibility payment using the income formula, the couple would subtract $20,300 (filing threshold) from $70,000 (2014 household income). The result is $49,700. One percent of $49,700 equals $497. The couple’s flat dollar amount is $285, or $95 per adult and $47.50 per child. The total of $285 is the flat dollar amount in 2014. The family’s annual national average premium for bronze level coverage through the Marketplace for 2014 is $9,792 ($2,448 x 4). Because $497 is greater than $285 and is less than $9,792, their shared responsibility payment is $497 for 2014, or $41.41 per month for each month the family is uninsured (1/12 of $497 equals $41.41).
Please contact our office for more information about the ACA’s individual shared responsibility requirement. | https://dwdcpa.com/blog/affordable-care-acts-individual-mandate/ |
Villa Sinedina A is a welcoming two-story independent house. It sleeps four people. From Villa Sinedina A you will enjoy a pleasant view of the greenery. Villa Sinedina A is 90 square meters (970 square feet). It features a nice private terrace, a private patio and a reserved outdoor area.
You will be roughly 10 km (6.2 miles) from Tertenia, roughly 300 meters (330 yards) from a restaurant and a grocery store. You will find the beach at 3 km (roughly 1.86 miles). You will reach Villa Sinedina A from the street level along a 50-meters (165-feet) route that crosses the garden through a pathway.
To stay at Villa Sinedina A you will need a car. You will be able to park it free of charge inside the entrance gate.
The garden is 500 square meters (5380 square feet) large. It is partly shaded by trees. In the garden you will find a brickwork barbecue and a wood-fired pizza oven. From the garden you will enjoy a broad view of the greenery. You will share the garden with the other guests staying at the complex, and there will be an area reserved for your exclusive use.
The living room is paved with tiles. The furnishings are simple and comfortable. In the living room you will also find a cooking area. The kitchenette is equipped with a four-burner gas cooker, a refrigerator with freezer, a microwave oven, an Italian-style coffee-maker and other small appliances. The dining table can accommodate four guests. In this room you will find a satellite television (local channels). From the living room you will be able to enter the garden through a double-glazed French door. The room also has a double-glazed window overlooking the gardens of the surrounding houses.
The second bedroom has two twin beds (80 cm/32 inches), that can be pushed together into a matrimonial bed if requested (please contact our staff in advance to make arrangements). From the bedroom you will be able to enter the terrace with a view of the garden and of surrounding countryside through a double-glazed French door. The room has a double-glazed small window.
US$ 67
Enter dates to see price: | https://www.summerinitaly.com/holiday-home/villa-sinedina-a |
Official Answer. Gabapentin may cause weight gain, but it is a rare side effect. Studies have shown that a small number of people taking gabapentin, a drug used to treat epilepsy and postherpetic neuralgia, experienced weight gain. People who do gain weight may gain about 5 pounds after 6 weeks of use.
Can gabapentin cause weight loss?
The surgery group given prophylactic gabapentin had 68.5% less weight loss than the untreated group (2.40 kg vs 7.63 kg, P = . 02), and the p16-positive group receiving prophylactic gabapentin showed 60% less weight loss than their untreated counterparts (3.61 kg vs 9.02 kg; P = . 004).
Do you gain weight with gabapentin?
Even though it can be helpful for these conditions, like with all medications, gabapentin has a number of possible risks and side effects. Weight gain isn’t gabapentin’s most common side effect, but it still impacts some people who take it. Weight gain happens in about 2% of people who take gabapentin.
What is the most common side effect of gabapentin?
Dizziness and drowsiness are common gabapentin side effects. Weight gain and uncoordinated movement are possible side effects.
What should I avoid while taking gabapentin?
Dizziness or drowsiness can cause falls, accidents, or severe injuries. Avoid taking an antacid within 2 hours before or after you take gabapentin. Antacids can make it harder for your body to absorb gabapentin. Avoid drinking alcohol while taking gabapentin.
Does gabapentin make you retain water?
The most common side effects, occurring in around 10% of participants taking gabapentin, were: dizziness. sleepiness. water retention, which refers to swelling of the arms, hands, legs, and feet.
Does gabapentin cause bloating?
bloating. body aches or pain. breath that smells fruity. burning, dry, or itchy eyes.
What are the worst side effects of gabapentin?
Serious side effects
- violent behavior, aggressiveness, or anger.
- anxiousness or restlessness.
- anxiety that is new or worse.
- depression that is new or worse.
- irritability that is new or worse.
- mania.
- panic attacks.
- suicidal thoughts or behavior.
Does gabapentin make you feel good?
Gabapentin can produce feelings of relaxation, calmness and euphoria. Some users have reported that the high from snorted gabapentin can be similar to taking a stimulant. It can also enhance the euphoric effects of other drugs, like heroin and other opioids, and is likely to increase the risks when taken in this way.
Why is gabapentin bad?
Some of the severe side effects include trouble breathing and allergic reactions. People who start to use gabapentin should pay attention to shifts in mood or emotions. For example, a person who experiences increased anxiety, anger, or panic attacks should contact a doctor right away.
Is it safe to take gabapentin long-term?
According to researchers, long-term use of gabapentin — a nonopioid pain medication — among older adults may cause altered mental status, dizziness, drowsiness and renal dysfunction, and it could also lead to polypharmacy, which in itself can lead to adverse events and hospital stays.
Is 300mg gabapentin strong?
Gabapentin in low doses is a useful drug in treatment of CTS symptoms with no side effects and intolerance. Gabapentin with dose of 300 mg/day is more effective than the dose of 100 mg/day.
How long can I take gabapentin for nerve pain?
Gabapentin is used to manage long-term (chronic) pain, not to be taken for pain as needed. Chronic pain can interfere with sleep and work, and lead to depression. Studies show that pain relief may start within one week and reach a maximum effect in about 4 weeks.
How long does it take for gabapentin to kick in?
Response and effectiveness. Peak concentrations of gabapentin (immediate-release) occur within 2 to 3 hours. Although gabapentin may improve sleep problems due to nerve pain within a week, it may take up to two weeks for symptom relief from nerve pain to occur.
Does gabapentin help you sleep?
Conclusions: Gabapentin enhances slow-wave sleep in patients with primary insomnia. It also improves sleep quality by elevating sleep efficiency and decreasing spontaneous arousal. The results suggest that gabapentin may be beneficial in the treatment of primary insomnia. | https://chronvivant.com/antidepressants/best-answer-do-you-lose-weight-on-gabapentin.html |
Kemp And Woods Want A Second Year Of No State Tests In Georgia
Georgia’s governor and the state school superintendent plan to ask for federal permission to suspend all state standardized testing in public schools for a second year.
Gov. Brian Kemp and State Superintendent Richard Woods said in a joint statement Thursday that the tests would be “counterproductive” given disruptions to the upcoming 2020-2021 school year from COVID-19. They also said they would rather the state spend the money it would pay for tests on helping students in other ways.
“In anticipation of a return to in-person instruction this fall, we believe schools’ focus should be on remediation, growth, and the safety of students,” the two elected Republicans said. “Every dollar spent on high-stakes testing would be a dollar taken away from the classroom.”
Georgia and most other states nationwide canceled standardized testing this spring after in-person classes were suspended in March.
Kemp and Woods said they also want to suspend the numerical grading system of schools and school districts that underlies the A-to-F grades issued by the governor’s office. The U.S. Department of Education would have to approve both the suspension of tests and the suspension of the grading system.
The federal government requires testing in math and English/language arts in grades 3-8, as well as for high school students to take at least one test in math, science and English/language arts.
The state says it’s also suspending its teacher evaluation system for the school year that begins in August.
Budget documents show Georgia saved $10 million by not administering its tests, called Georgia Milestones.
Georgia lawmakers are currently considering a proposal backed by Kemp and Woods to permanently cut four standardized tests in Georgia’s high schools and one in middle schools. All those tests are above the minimum required by the federal government. Right now, those eight high school tests account for 20% of a student’s grade in those high school courses.
“These efforts are in line with our longstanding shared belief that assessment has a place and a purpose in education, but the current high-stakes testing regime is excessive,” the two said in the joint statement. | https://www.wabe.org/kemp-and-woods-want-a-second-year-of-no-state-tests-in-georgia/ |
Join CEES in welcoming three marine biologists who have dedicated their lives to saving the oceans: world-famous oceanographer and activist Sylvia Earle, renowned coral reef biologist Nancy Knowlton of the Smithsonian, and policy advocate Amanda Leland of the Environmental Defense Fund. These scientists will offer perspectives during a panel discussion on the fundamental services oceans provide to the people of our planet, and how climate change is having a devastating effect on marine life.
- Sylvia Earle: Arguably the most famous oceanographer on the planet, Dr. Earle is a diver, writer, and scientist-in-residence for National Geographic. She is also the founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER), a research group that designs robotic sub sea systems. She has campaigned for public awareness of the need to protect ocean systems for more than 30 years. A film documentary of her life, Mission Blue, was just released in 2014.
- Nancy Knowlton: Knowlton is the Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a scientific leader of the Census of Marine Life. She wrote the book, Citizens of the Sea, to celebrate the ten years of the Census. She founded the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, San Diego. Knowlton has devoted her life to studying, celebrating, and striving to protect the multitude of life-forms that call the sea home.
- Amanda Leland: Leland is Vice President for Oceans at the Environment Defense Fund. EDF works to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends, focusing on the most critical environmental problems. She is responsible for leading a diverse team of 50 scientists, lawyers, and advocates for healthy and abundant oceans. She focuses on strategies to transform resource management to achieve productive and profitable fisheries in the US. | https://sustainability.wfu.edu/events/proect/ |
The best episodes of this are “We,” according to IMDb.
NBC’s hit drama series This is us came to an end last week after six heartbreaking seasons. Fans watched as the Pearson family mourned the loss of their father and eventually their mother, started families of their own, and grew into the people they were always meant to be.
Throughout the series, not every episode of This is us was a winner. Some had viewers crying their eyes out, while others looked like plot holes waiting to be passed. Regardless, there are many of the 106 episodes that were near perfect, including the four that featured the deaths of major characters.
10 The Fifth Wheel (Season 2 Episode 11) – 9.2
The Fifth Wheel focused on the various losses that the Pearson family had to endure alone and eventually together. From Kevin’s addiction that led him to lose Sophie a second time, to Kate’s miscarriage and Randall’s heartbreaking goodbye to Deja, no one was safe from pain on this episode.
“The Fifth Wheel” finally acknowledges the elephant in the room; that the spouses of Pearson family members are never quite as valued as Pearsons themselves. Watching Beth, Toby and Miguel interact and exchange jabs with the Big Three was fun and a nice break from the contentious, awkward therapy session that took place at Kevin’s rehab facility.
9 The Car (Season 2 Episode 15) – 9.2
“Das Auto” took 40 minutes to explain how important a vehicle can be in a family’s history. From the day Jack brought home the family station wagon until Rebecca drove the car home alone after his death, this car has been with the Pearsons through the good, the bad, and the ugly moments of their lives.
Season 2 of This is us refused to give viewers time to grieve, with each episode making her a little more teary-eyed and a lot more heartbroken. The Car was no exception, especially seeing how incredibly happy this car made Jack and how sad it made Rebecca to drive without him in it.
8th Strangers: Part Two (Season 4, Episode 18) – 9.3
“Strangers: Part Two” AKA the season four finale This is usShe did exactly what the show did best. Mixing flashbacks and flashforwards with today’s moments, it unveiled shocking revelations.
At the beginning of the season, Kevin stated that he would be married and have a child by the time he was 41, and in this episode he got exactly what he wanted. Madison announced she was pregnant after their one-night stand, and a flash-forward revealed they were engaged. Meanwhile, other big revelations took place, like the fact that Kate and Toby are having another child and Randall and Kevin have become estranged after a falling out over Rebecca’s deteriorating health.
7 Family Reunion (Season 6, Episode 16) – 9.3
The sixth season of This is us has jumped through time a lot, eventually airing its final episodes in the late 2020s and early 2030s. As Rebecca’s health continued to deteriorate following the loss of Miguel, the Pearson siblings joined forces for an official meeting to discuss how to approach their end-of-life care.
“Family Meeting” resurrected the Pearsons. Randall wanted Rebecca to live with him, Kevin wanted to give her the best care in the world, and Kate wasn’t sure what to do. Finally, they came to a decision about how best to love their mother in her final moments. Seeing the Big Three unite for Rebecca was something she would have wished for, even if she couldn’t be fully present at the moment.
6 This Will Be the Day (Season 2 Episode 13) – 9.3
The episodes leading up to Jack’s inevitable death were among the most terrifying viewers had ever seen. Especially at the end of That’ll Be The Day, fans yelled at the TV for Jack to unplug the crockpot and avoid the events of the next episode.
The episode was also a turning point for Kate, as she was finally able to heal some of the guilt and trauma she suffered from Jack’s death. At 37, she was able to adopt another dog and slowly stopped blaming herself for her father running back into their burning house. Additionally, fans found out that Kevin wasn’t even home the night of the infamous fire and stormed out after a huge argument with Jack that ended in him never seeing his dad again.
5 The Shack (Season 4, Episode 14) – 9.5
“The Cabin” was a big episode of The Big Three. The Pearson siblings, each struggling with their own lives, came together to process current and past wounds. The entire episode was dedicated to this family cabin, having seen so much over the years.
Fans learned how abusive Kate’s ex-boyfriend Marc really was from the fact that he left her out in the cold and verbally abused her. In the early ’90s, viewers experienced a trip into the cabin and the memories made there, including the Pearson family’s time capsule. The episode felt like a time capsule, uncovering the past and leaving room for the future.
4 Memphis (Season 1, Episode 16) – 9.5
“Memphis” was the first episode of This is us That made fans realize just how heartbreaking this drama series was going to be. Killing off a character as prominent as William in the very first season was brave, as was the decision to have an episode solely focused on the relationship between just two characters; Randall and his birth father.
“Memphis” gave viewers and Randall a chance to say goodbye to William, something no one was willing to do. The father and son didn’t spend much life together, but the moments they shared were rewarding and full of love. William’s death inspired Randall to live and love harder, a wake-up call he didn’t know he needed.
3 Miguel (Season 6, Episode 15) – 9.6
For six seasons, fans wondered how Miguel and Rebecca ended up getting married. They knew neither of them would ever betray Jack, but neither could they understand how Rebecca could end up with her late husband’s best friend.
“Miguel” ended up answering every question viewers had about Miguel. It was a tribute episode all around him, something that surely should have happened years ago. Viewers learned about Miguel’s personal struggles, his relationships with Shelly and Rebecca, and how the Pearsons didn’t appreciate their stepfather until his final moments.
2 The Train (Season 6, Episode 17) – 9.7
“The Train” could have served as the series finale for This is us. Instead, fans were left with an episode consisting mostly of flashbacks filmed three years ago, while the penultimate episode perfectly summed up what the show was about; Life and Death of Matriarch Rebecca Pearson.
Rebecca’s time on the train (led by none other than Randall’s biological father, William) showcased her journey in processing her strengths and imperfections throughout life. While she went on a drive, her children said tearful goodbyes and eventually made peace with the loss of another parent. They also showed some appreciation for their mother, something six seasons in the making.
1 Super Bowl Sunday (Season 2, Episode 14) – 9.7
“Super Bowl Sunday” was the post-Super Bowl show of 2018. For the first time, This is us aired on a Sunday night and answered some of the biggest questions like; How did Jack die?
The 14th episode of the second season explained how everything went and showed every heartbreaking detail. Mandy Moore gave an outstanding performance as the grieving widow, and Jack emerged as the hero his children remembered him as. Although it took nearly two seasons, fans finally got the answer they wanted, delivered in a perfect TV episode. | https://howtousehypnosis.com/the-best-episodes-of-this-are-we-according-to-imdb/ |
Having cancer means going through a similar process.
It begins with a life-changing diagnosis. Sometimes, being able to attach a label to the troubling physical symptoms can be a relief, but most often it is shocking, unleashing a tidal wave of anxiety. Suddenly, you are aware of your own mortality as you are given a stage and survival statistics. You begin to wonder how much of your life remains. This is a frightening place to be.
But most cancer patients are quickly plunged into treatment, the second stage, which may or may not also involve surgery. Depending on the type and frequency of chemotherapy or radiation, the focus here is on managing side effects, which can be debilitating at times. If all goes well, it works, and the end result is remission or no evidence of disease.
Lots of folks remain here for years, or sometimes forever, having defeated the beast and reclaimed their lives. They are the lucky ones.
Unfortunately, for many, the cancer returns. This is the chronic stage. Here, treatment becomes a way of life, with medical appointments occupying much of your social calendar. Although not impossible, at this point, there is little hope for a cure as the goal is to simply manage the disease, to keep those nasty little malignant cells from finding their way to other parts of the body.
But cancer is crafty. Sometimes, it figures out a way around the medicine designed to contain it, developing a resistance as it begins to grow, metastasizing. Most oncologists call this progression. At this point, they throw whatever is available in their medical arsenal to contain the damage, with stability as the ultimate goal.
And when all of the available options fail, hospice is recommended. Here the emotional, spiritual, and physical needs are addressed as the patient is gently cared for in the transition from this life into the next.
The idea of stages has been weighing heavily on my mind. In the four years since diagnosis I have been through so many therapeutic measures, I often wonder how many remain. It is kind of like eating at your favorite restaurant every day for a year. Eventually, you will have tried everything on the menu. Then what? It‘s a scary question with ambiguous answers.
And the past month has meant big changes for me as my gyno oncologist has decided to change to a surgery-only practice, and I have moved my care into the hands of a new doctor, one who is incredibly skilled and kind, but with whom I have no history. Those connections are vital. But I have high hopes that this will be a good change on many levels. I‘m already seeing some impressive differences.
So yesterday, I had my second visit with her, this time to review the results of my recent PET scan to determine if I am to continue with my current treatment. I was optimistic, hopeful that this newest combination would be the magic formula to keep me stable.
The news was disappointing. I was at the chronic stage, but now I have progression. Cancer has spread to my lungs and is dancing around my liver. The tumor in the presacral space has doubled in size and become highly active. Two of my lymph nodes are positive. I think they call this a kick-in-the-gut moment. As irrational as it may be, I can't help but feel like a failure, disappointed in my body's inability to overcome this thing.
I was brave. I listened attentively to the treatment plan I am to begin as soon as insurance agrees to pay for it. I nodded in understanding and thanked everyone for their efforts to save me. But when I got to my car I cried, and then I called a friend and cried some more. It is easy to revert back to that denial stage at such moments, to speculate on medical errors or to rationalize that you have enough strength to continue the fight. The survival instinct is strong. I also think it is human nature to want to be optimistic, even when circumstances prove otherwise.
And I am.
When you have cancer, you become a quick study in medical terminology and procedures. You spend your free time researching and wondering. But you also spend it praying, reserving some quiet time with The Almighty, in whose hands your future rests. Faith grows in this uncertain soil. But let's face it: none of us get out of this life alive, in spite of what we might think. We all have that return ticket home with an undisclosed date and time stamped on it. God is the conductor of this train.
Until then, I will embrace each moment, live with a sense of urgency, seek new adventures, do what brings me joy. I will spend time with those who mean so much to me and remember to laugh at the absurdity of life. I will try to be productive, to consistently work on this new novel I recently started. And I will pray that I will be able to accept whatever comes along because it is there that peace dwells. | https://www.paulamillet.com/single-post/the-five-stages-of-cancer |
One of the latest trials at the OMEX UK Field Trials site is looking into biofortification of Winter Wheat. This trial will be assessing the results from using three different products. On the trial we’ll be looking a selenium, zinc and iodine, all of which are important for human health and nutrition.
What is Biofortification
The World Health Organisation defines Biofortification as:
“Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. It differs from conventional fortification in that biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during processing of the crops. It may therefore present a way to reach populations where supplementation and conventional fortification activities may be difficult to implement and/or limited.”
Running the trial
The trial will be run using foliar applications of selenium, zinc and iodene. The three have been trialed individually on separate plots, and also as a combined treatment of the three. Results will be taken from analysing the grain, post harvest, and identifying how well the products have been absorbed and how much they have improved the nutrients in the crop. | https://www.omex.com/blog/biofortification-on-winter-wheat |
The mission of Laramie County Community College is to transform our students' lives through the power of inspired learning. Our over-arching goal is that our accomplishments as a community college will distinguish LCCC from others in the nation, in turn benefiting our communities and bringing pride to the Great State of Wyoming. Our core values include Passion, Authenticity, and the Desire to Make a Difference.
A copy of official or unofficial transcripts are required for this position. You can upload transcripts in your applicant profile. A cover letter detailing how you meet the minimum and preferred qualifications for this position is required. You can upload a cover letter when you create an applicant profile.
Job Summary: Core responsibilities of this position include:
The Instructor/Clinical Coordinator position is a full-time benefited position responsible for instruction and development of curriculum overall coordination of clinical instruction and clinical rotations for the Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) department. These responsibilities include but are not limited to: develop clinical site contacts in coordination with the Echocardiography Instructor; understand and communicate the program’s clinical needs to all stakeholders; coordinate, plan, and communicate the clinical schedules each semester; evaluate and ensure the effectiveness of clinical affiliate/clinical education centers; assist with tracking student clinical progress; conduct clinical site visits and report the overall status of the areas of responsibility to the Program Director. This position participates in recruitment, retention, and academic advising of students, serving on various committees, coordinating and/or participating in school-based community events and service-learning activities and participating in local, state, regional, or national professional activities and organizations, and comprehensive program assessment. The essential functions of this position require the ability to work a variable work schedule including day, evening, and weekend courses, which may be located on the Cheyenne campus, Outreach campuses, and clinical sites as assigned. This is an 11-month faculty position with faculty having 206 assigned duty days.
Laramie County Community College is dedicated to student success and aspires to develop world-class community college faculty. The College’s faculty positions have the primary responsibilities of teaching assigned courses, holding regular office hours, being available for students, advising, and collaborating on departmental objectives. In addition, all faculty work in alignment with the College’s mission, vision, and values to continuously improve as professional educators and experts in their field. Faculty further serve the College in collaborative and collegial relationships across the institution. Full-time faculty are offered provisional status upon employment. All LCCC faculty are supported by the Faculty Academy within the Center for Excellence in Teaching.
LCCC in its strategic plan has identified important Core Values and Aspirational Values, which are inherent in the
cultural fabric of the College. The person fulfilling this role is expected to bear these qualities and advocate for them. http://lccc.wy.edu/StrategicPlan/index.aspx#goal1
Other tasks may be assigned based on contemporary institutional need.
Salary and Benefits: This is a Faculty 8 position. Starting salary: $83,348.00.
Salary and Benefits: For full listing of benefits and faculty salary schedule, visit http://lccc.wy.edu/about/humanresources/benefits.
Priority Screening Date: Position is open until filled. For full consideration, apply by July 1st, 2022.
Starting Date: August 1st, 2022.
For information about Cheyenne http://lccc.wy.edu/about/welcome.
Essential Functions: (to perform successfully in this position, an individual must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily as well as possess education/experience, employ the knowledge, skills, and abilities as listed in representative fashion; reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions – this position is Exempt, i.e., is not eligible for compensatory or overtime pay provisions of the FLSA. This listing of essential duties is not all-inclusive, but representative; other duties may be assigned).
Facilitate Learning 75-85%:
Faculty employ effective teaching practices coupled with the development and use of appropriate educational materials, delivery strategies, and effective assessment practices. Responsibilities associated with this function include:
Teaching:
Curriculum Development:
Instructional Delivery:
Assessment of Student Learning and Continuous Improvement:
Clinical Coordination 5-10%
In addition to the normal instructional duties listed, the Clinical Coordinator serves as the point of contact between the college and clinical sites for DMS students. This position collaborates with the DMS Echocardiography program’s Instructor to provide the overall coordination, planning, and direction for student clinical site placement and ensure its alignment with the DMS program’s clinical scheduling and protocols. This position ensures that LCCCs clinical operations meet the College, accreditation, and stakeholder requirements. (i.e. policies, procedures, best practices, etc.) The responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Service to the College (5-10%)
Faculty contribute to the College by engaging in activities that support, stimulate, and sustain the institution and the community. Responsibilities associated with this function include:
Align with Core Values:
Build Relationships:
Professional Development (5-10%)Faculty are knowledgeable about their subject matter and maintain relevancy in their field through activities such as research, publications, presentations, professional association memberships, and/or conference attendance. Responsibilities associated with this function include:
Nonessential Functions: An employee in this position may perform some of these responsibilities on an infrequent basis.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
All LCCC faculty are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the competency areas appropriate to their faculty level as defined in the College’s Administrative Procedure 2.17.1P. In addition, requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities for this position include.
Physical/Mental Demands: (The physical demands and work environment characteristics described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform essential functions of this position and/or may be encountered while performing essential functions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.)
NOTE: This position description is a general description; it is not intended as an employment contract, nor is it intended to describe all duties someone in this position may perform. All employees of the College are expected to perform other tasks as assigned by their respective supervisor/manager regardless of job title or routine job duties.
Education and Experience Requirements:
Minimum Qualifications:
All LCCC Faculty are required to meet the minimum faculty qualifications as defined within the College’s Administrative Procedure 2.7P.
Preferred Qualifications:
LCCC DOES NOT SPONSOR H1B VISAS.
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer
Laramie County Community College is an equal opportunity and affirmative action educational institution and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, genetic information, political affiliation, disability, veteran status or sexual orientation in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its educational programs or activities.
http://www.lccc.wy.edu/
http://www.lccc.wy.edu/about/humanresources
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The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will become effective on May 25, 2018, and require organisations to identify and protect sensitive personal data of EU Citizens.
The new regulations mean that any organisation, big or small, will need to comply with new rules regarding the collection, storage and usage of personal information regarding EU citizens.
But reports have suggested that many IT security professionals are either not preparing or are unaware of any changes that need to be made to their business processes to ensure compliance.
It’s crucial that organisations do not stick their heads in the sand regarding the new regulations, or believe that the rules do not apply to them without fully understanding them. After all, those that do not comply with the new regulations face potentially severe penalties.
So the question is, where do you start?
Well, consider the objectives of the GDPR. They are to 1) give citizens and residents back control of their personal data and 2) simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.
Another key point to understand early on is that although the UK has voted to leave the EU, UK business will still have to comply with new regulations if the data they handle is about EU citizens, or has the potential to identify individuals within the EU. What’s more, digital minister Matt Hancock has confirmed that the UK will replace the 1988 Data Protection Act (DPA) with legislation that mirrors the GDPR post-Brexit.
The key stipulations of GDPR are:
- Firms with over 250 employees must employ a Data Protection Officer (DPO). This person is responsible for ensuring that a business collects and secures personal data responsibly.
- The requirement to appoint a DPO will also apply to small businesses employing less than 250 staff if the processing carried out is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of data subjects, the processing is not occasional, or the processing includes special categories of data as defined in GDPR Article 9.
- Breaches in data security must be reported immediately to data protection authorities such as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK. Ideally, breaches should be reported within 24 hours if possible but at least within 72 hours.
- Individuals have more rights dictating how businesses use their personal data. In particular, individuals have a ‘right of access’, ‘a right to data portability’ and a ‘right to be forgotten’.
[easy-tweet tweet=”GDPR provides for a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of annual turnover” hashtags=”GDPR,DataManagement”]
Failure to comply with the GDPR will lead to heavier punishments than ever before. Under current rules, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can fine up to £500,000 for malpractice, but the GDPR provides for a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of annual turnover (whichever is higher). What’s more, individuals can sue a business for compensation to recover both material damage and non-material damage, like distress.
So what are the steps your business should be taking? I believe that there are three steps to getting a business ready for the GDPR:
Data management begins with discovery
Before you can implement any processes regarding the treatment of data, and requests for data under GDPR legislation, you must find the relevant data within your organisation. The advice from the UK’s ICO and other national authorities concur with this approach, identifying “identifying what data you hold” as a key step.
Given how rapidly data is collected, created and stored by organisations, it would be impossible to find this out manually. What is correct at the beginning of this year could be wildly different in 6 months’ time. Moreover, attempting this manually will result in a catalogue of where people think data is held and processed (usually the systems designed to hold the data, like a CRM system) rather than where data is held (such as in a spreadsheet extracted from the CRM system to run a regular report).
This task of creating a data inventory does not need to arduous, by using Big Data and Machine Learning principles as part of an eDiscovery and data mapping process, you have the ability to rapidly find and categorise data and to do so on an on-going basis – ensuring continual compliance for your business rather than just at a single point in time. The added benefit of a digital discovery process is that you can also uncover the unknown data resident in your organisation.
Classification
Once you’ve found your data, you need to be able to classify it. Not only for corporate governance but also for the GDPR which distinguishes between Personal Data and Sensitive Personal Data.
To make sure that your classification is applied consistently, it shouldn’t be left to people to try to remember, or a lengthy guidebook. Here, Machine Learning and Big Data make sure that nothing is left to chance and that every data point is classified as it should be every single time.
Implement Relevant Processes
Once you have identified and classified your data you have a robust platform upon which to implement your processes. This third step is where you can apply the skills of your people and any consulting teams that you engage to do the following:
- Decide which processes are required – this may include:
- De-duplication
- Handling of requests for information
- Handling requests for deletion of data
- Managing interactions with third-parties and assessing their compliance status
- Communication of the GDPR and what it means, throughout your organisation
- Decide which processes can be automated, and which need to be handled by people.
These are the first steps in what will be an on-going process. But I believe that these steps are crucial for any organisation that wants to get it right first time. After all, understanding the type of data that will be affected under the GPDR is one thing, but having to search for where that data is held and who is responsible for it is another issue entirely and, unfortunately, without the right tools I can see many organisations running into trouble.
In a perfect world, all data would be stored securely, and processes would be in place to ensure personal data is kept separately under a security framework.
But in my experience, that’s just not the reality. Across the organisations we have worked with, there is an average of 10GB of unstructured data per employee, and 9% of that data contains personally identifiable information.
So don’t be caught out when the GDPR comes into force next year. Get a grip on your data now and understand what the new rules mean for your business. | https://www.comparethecloud.net/articles/where-do-i-start-with-general-data-protection-regulation/ |
Rappeler Hooded Sweatshirt Bone
Double lace hooded sweatshirt, cut in a oversize drop-shoulder fit. The Rappeler hoodie was designed with two extra long drawstrings so that the user could use them to tie their markers to the end, while still allowing you to stash it in the pockets. Laces can be worn down or tied in different configurations according to the wearer's preference, so that they can function as artistic embellishments on the garment that can constantly change, unlike a permanent print or embroidery. | https://storefront.goodfight.shop/products/rappeler-hooded-sweatshirt-bone |
Last night I went along to a track session with the East London Runners. I’ve not been to a track session since the summer when I attended two of the Sweaty Speed Sessions, and managed to injure myself both times! However, I wanted to get back to track running as I know that intervals can really help to improve speed and stamina for any race distance. I also like running on a track as they are safe, well-lit and the surface cushions your joints.
There were several newbies at the track last night, and the regular members of the club were friendly and welcoming. We started with a warm-up, then went onto the interval training sticking to the inside lane of the track.
I must admit I ‘lost track’ of what I was doing! I think we were doing an 800m run, then a 200m recovery, followed by a 400m sprint, which we were to repeat 4 times. However once we started I seemed to forget which interval I was on, and ended up running at the same pace throughout the session with no sprints or recovery jogs! I tend to zone out a bit when I’m running and I found the interval training a bit confusing as it took more thought then my usual steady-pace runs, but I’m sure I’ll get the knack of it once I start attending regular sessions!
I covered about 4 miles in total, and we finished with some core work.
Yesterday I found out I won a copy of Julie Creffield’s (aka Fatty Must Run) new eBook. Julie organises a monthly 5k running event aimed at overweight runners- she aims to get one million overweight people all over the world participating in a single running event on one given day. The Big Fat Run has been taking place on the last Sunday of every month since August, and is gradually growing in numbers, with people of all sizes and shapes getting out and walking, jogging or running 5k. The event is organised via Facebook, and participants report back with their finishing time and a photo. I’ve taken part in the event since it began 4 months ago, as I think it is a fantastic idea to inspire overweight people to get into running. Having lost over 5 stone myself, I know how intimidating it can be to start a fitness programme feeling self-conscious about your size and weight. The Big Fat Run Facebook focuses on supporting the participants, no matter how long it takes to complete the 5 kilometres.
Julie has recently published an eBook full of advice on building up to a 10k including nutrition, maintaining motivation and a straight-forward training plan. As I’ve completed the August, September, October and November Big Fat Runs- Julie sent me a complimentary copy of the book. I’m already running more than 10k, but I’m keen to get into the book as I can always use more tips on my training. You can sign up for the December Big Fat Run on Facebook. | https://paddlepedalpace.co.uk/2013/11/track-session-and-running-ebook/ |
Labour MSP Mark Griffin’s British Sign Language (BSL) (Scotland) Bill has been formally introduced in the Scottish Parliament.
To see this article in BSL, courtesy of Tessa Padden, from our supporter, Signworld, who offer online BSL learning, press play below.
The Bill, which seeks to increase awareness of BSL and improve the services available for Scotland’s Deaf population, has been widely supported within the Deaf community and received the support of 43 MSPs from all political parties to move it to Stage One proceedings.
The Bill would place a requirement on the Scottish Government to produce a national plan for BSL. Relevant public authorities would also have to develop their own plans, highlighting what they will do to increase awareness of the language within their organisations and across Scotland.
1,192 responded to the public consultation, a high figure for Members Bills.
Mark said:
I am delighted that my British Sign Language Bill has been formally introduced.
BSL is the first language of many Deaf people in Scotland. It is the only language some have ever known, or ever will know, yet getting access to basic information in BSL can be incredibly difficult.
Simple things that so many of us take for granted such as arranging a medical appointment or reporting a crime are incredibly difficult for those who communicate in BSL. This has to change.
My Bill seeks to increase awareness of BSL throughout Scottish society, put pressure on the Scottish Government and relevant public authorities to develop action plans on improving access to information in BSL and work towards breaking down the barriers facing Scotland’s Deaf population on a daily basis.
I look forward to working with the members and stakeholders, as they look closely at the proposals over the next few months.
Professor Graham Turner, Director of the Centre for Translation & Interpreting Studies at Heriot-Watt University said:
We warmly welcome the BSL Bill and hope it will create the circumstances in which BSL is appropriately recognised as one of Scotland’s native languages.
The cultural heritage of BSL users must be protected and promoted so signers can flourish in a smarter, healthier and fairer society.
Over 12,500 British Sign Language users share far fewer than 100 professional interpreters in Scotland. It’s vital this Bill harnesses the hearing population’s growing interest in learning BSL and experiencing its creative richness; provides equal access to vital everyday services for BSL users; and enables Deaf people to secure and sustain employment that recognises their full potential.
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Update (January 22, 2004): After massive media publicity and threats of a lawsuit, the dog discussed in this entry -- "Bella" -- has been returned to its original owners.
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Greetings. Up in the San Francisco Bay area, you'd better pray you never lose your dogs. Even if you find them, the "Humane" Society folks may not give them back.
In a story that has the area enraged, a dog owner who lost their beloved pet found her at a shelter after only a few days, but was told she'd already been adopted, and the new "owners" wouldn't consider cancelling the "transaction" -- even when the dog's real owners offered to buy them another similar dog.
In this case, the "rules are rules" attitude of the Humane Society, combined with a selfish woman who wouldn't give up the dog to its rightful owner, puts many other animals at risk as upset supporters of the Society threaten to withhold future financial contributions.
Yes, people should have their dogs tagged. Yes, people shouldn't lose their dogs. But situations like this, especially when we're talking about a short span of days and the dog being found by the rightful owners before anyone else had even taken possession, are exactly the ones where common sense needs to prevail.
In this case, the Humane Society has shown itself lacking both common sense and compassion. In the interests of truth in advertising, they should consider removing the word "humane" from their name.
--Lauren--
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Greetings. Since the topic of outsourcing is of great concern currently, I have made available a preview copy of my "Inside Risks" column that will appear in the upcoming February 2004 edition of Communications of the ACM (CACM).
It is titled "Outsourced and Out of Control" and is located at:
http://www.pfir.org/outsourced-cacm
As the column discusses, while the issue of job losses is serious enough, other factors, such as privacy and security risks, also need to be considered.
--Lauren--
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Greetings. As we begin the new year, I'd like to remind the readership about the People For Internet Responsibility categories of discussion available over at PFIR Forums.
Included are such sundry topics as Internet Governance and Control; Civil Liberties vs. Technology; E-Mail Issues, Problems, and Solutions; Voting Systems - Benefits and Risks; plus others.
These of course all represent areas where current trends are of great concern, and your active participation in the discussions is most cordially solicited!
Thanks very much. All the best for 2004! | https://lauren.vortex.com/archive/2004_01.html |
Ukrainian design is honest, natural, alive… and even mystical. Ukrainian design is symbolical, minimalistic and … ironical. But how to identify it as a phenomenon? And is everything possible with design could be touchable?
The first attempt to segment or understand the order of atoms composing matter called “Ukrainian design”, almost undiscovered in Europe yet, started with formulation of research results in mid-2017. By that time under initial observation, system participants were divided into three abstract categories: GREEN TRIANGLES, BLACK SQUARES and WHITE CIRCLES.
In the process of development over the past two years, designers have more and more acquired specific features, recognition and self-awareness, that prompted me to revise the system structure a bit. The more designers “work” the bigger and deeper their knowledge of themselves become, that logically gave more content to the definition itself, and “volume” expression to the designers. Here we are talking primarily about the object design, as a rather new self-expression for Ukrainians, a new relevant area of professional activity.
So, in fact, this research arose from the need to systematize Ukrainian object design, highlight the general features that can characterize it, present it in a more understandable way to the European society. The direction of segmentation (or identification) is aimed at accelerated and harmonious integration of knowledge about the “different” way of thinking of Ukrainians to the “knowledge base” of the European design community, to make to fall in love with contemporary and traditional mental Ukrainian features. Ironically, as soon as foreigners begin to determine the uniqueness and attractiveness of Ukrainian otherness, we begin to value and change ourselves our attitude towards our own “treasures”. The treasures of Ukraine are people, so it would be inappropriate to define the objects separately from people who create them. This research is the result of a combination of observing people in the design and analysis of the meanings, forms and materials they use, and subjects and objects they design.
What is the design like in Ukraine today? Or in other words – what are people like in Ukrainian design nowadays?
“GREEN PYRAMIDS” – “CAN-DOERS” — THOSE WHO CAN DO
We codename the first category, which stands out in a clear direction, and which is quite understandable and mastered by Ukrainian designers, as “voices of nature”, or “green pyramids”. For modern designers of this category, the territory itself determines the choice of material, technology and philosophy of the subject itself. They are like pyramids, stable and confident. Naturalness is their priority accent. They use materials and techniques inherent to people living in a particular area. One of the features is the use of manual labor elements, for example, in the traditional processing of materials. For Ukrainians, wood, clay, leather, stone, wool, natural fabrics (linen, hemp) are as natural as their own self-consciousness. We can also talk about mysticism of Ukrainians, their traditional tribal connection with the original forces of nature, the mystical daemons of the elements, and so on.
EXTRACT – Attention is given to material, skill, and tradition preservation. “Live in Memory” and on Earth.
This category includes designers who claim their “green choice”. They are characterized by ethical design, environmental design, design that combines traditional materials and national heritage. Ukrainianity may be expressed in the symbolism of objects decorating, and maybe not be, but in any case, you will hear the “voice” of Ukrainian land.
The design protecting the vibrations of natural elements, tries to discover the natural properties of the material. These objects have tradition-based history, “ethnic memory,” the energy that comes from nature and human hands, these objects are body amulets in a metaphysical sense, and even in the truest sense of the word, with regard to designers of clothing from hemp or linen.
The prominent representatives of this category are Victoria Yakusha, Yuri Ryntovt, Inna Pedan, Olena Shabaltas, Khrystyna Haydamaka, Mykhailo Samoriz, VelikaBogaiha ceramics and the likes.
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BLACK CUBES – “KNOWERS” – THOSE WHO KNOW.
This category includes designers with a clear, precise position. They determined, above all, within themselves. They have found a clear form of consciousness, sufficient even for self-irony and a little isolated philosophical position.
Their language of expression is the symbolism of the content prevailing over the choice of materials for the object manufacturing.
They create code-items. The main argument is “object-message”, information contained in a concentrated form, which “speaks” by form, color, or symbols.
Several word-markers for recognizing “black cubes” are meaning, symbol, consciousness, irony, uncompromising.
Much of their attention is directed to the sense, they “live in Eternity over the Noosphere”
They are like in the black square, the symbol of suprematism, which contains everything. Looking at the depths of the black square, it is possible to extract any meaning and any form from it.
The designers of this category are Serhiy Gotvyansky, Slava Balbek, Dmytro Kozynenko, Artem Kolyuka, Levantin design, Kofta, Yuriy Zymenko, Natasha Yegorova, Andriy Sukhin, Den and Katerina Vakhrameev, Nazar Maleets, Yulia Yalanzhi, Fedir Vozyanov, Anna Manakova, Volodymyr Karalyus and others.
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WHITE SPHERES – “WANTERS” — EMOTIONAL.
The white field in reality is diverse and multicolored, giving birth to a whole “rainbow” spectrum. Here are all the designers who are “on the road”, in development, in the search. They are easy to transform, they seek, flexibly respond to internal and external requests.
They freely choose any tools, themes, forms, materials, not giving preference to something certain. The designers of the white field are extremely productive.
The white field produces objects of various categories, which can be attributed to different individual directions that are shaped in the world design.
Their attention is distracted around, for developments, for research and searches, they “live in the future”,” fly among the clouds”.
All object innovations are born in this sector, because interest, curiosity is the first characteristic for “white” designers.
Residents of the white field are Vitalik and Yura Kyryliv (Hochu rayu), Valery Kuznetsov, Iryna Gumenchuk, Vahan Avakyan, Maria Krasyuk, Iryna Holub, Rostik Sorokovy, Ulyana Zachkevych and many others.
Here are several word-markers for recognizing “white spheres”: emotionality, curiosity, unexpectedness, courage, innovation, and meaning.
Between each category there are “transitional” territories. At the same time, a designer, studio or manufacturer can exist between only two categories: between green and white, green and black, black and white. But it can never hold the characteristics of the three sectors at once. In this case, it should be classified as a white category – those who are in search.
For example: the “black and green” are Sergiy Makhno, Svoya Studio, Artem Zakharchenko. The “black and white” are Pavel Vetrov, Kateryna Sokolova, Yevhen Lytvynenko, and Igor Gavrylenko.
Designers from the main categories appeal to their audience — “green” to “green”, black to “black” and these are usually consumers with high and “middle +” income. These are those consumers who already know the price of quality and understand the meaning of paying for sense.
“HEXAGONAL PRISMS” – “DEVELOPERS”, THOSE WHO FORM SENSES.
In mid-2018, changes in the composition, but rather in the very structure of the design environment system, became noticeable. Until now, individual activists, as clearly to say “people around the design” began to turn chaotic point movements into attempts to create a systematic approach to the very process of developing an ecosystem of design.
“Designers of design development”, which are commonly referred differently, starting from pr-managers to architects and industrial/graphic designers, are classified as “hexagonal prisms” if they, in parallel to main activity or continuously and systematically, project, implement processes and events where designers participate. Accordingly, these “prisms” provide the very habitat; create conditions for the development of the environment, giving additional links in the chain of design value to designers. In other words, they are “service” designers of field design development (eco-system).
To this category Yaroslav Belinsky, Olga Bogdanova, Sana Shevchenko, Ornela Ostapenko, Tetyana Telegina, Iryna Pryma, Olga Teerefeeva, Olga Protasova, Tetyana Stakhovska may be included. And I will not forget about myself – Anastasiya Biletska and others, who, in parallel with or by the main activity, devote time to the development of the design environment.
Several word-markers for recognizing “hexagonal prisms” are social orientation, meaning, development, systemacity, generator, starter.
Thus for today, the eco-system of Ukrainian design is almost fully evolving, but requires systematization of processes and orderly structure. Designers and “system designers” should together build a harmonious system of interaction between the design community and the state, with the community and with international professional partners. In plain language, the task for the community is to integrate the principles of design thinking into everyday life of people in order to improve its conditions and enhance the level of culture with design tools. Created at the end of March, the Design for Ukraine Association aims to develop and implement comprehensive measures designed to streamline the system and establish all necessary network links, both local and international. Among the top-priority projects of the Association are such as Design Navigator, the first in-depth study of the ecosystem; Ukrainian Design Week, a week of design, the foundation of the Museum of Design, etc. The main ambitious goal of Design for Ukraine is to build the Design Center institution. The Center will consolidate the knowledge base of the industry, work out development programs for other sectors of the creative industries, taking into account design-thinking approaches, and supervise programs for implementing design in various spheres of public life. Also, the Center must constantly monitor the functioning of the design sector in order to identify timely new and useful innovations and methods of practical application. | http://maino-design.com.ua/en/is-anybody-here-or-what-is-the-design-today-in-ukraine/ |
Western Concert Flutes GIFs Cliparts
The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist (in British English), flutist (in American English), or simply a flute player. This type of flute is used in many ensembles, including concert bands, military bands, marching bands, orchestras, flute ensembles, and occasionally jazz bands and big bands. Other flutes in this family include the piccolo, the alto flute, and the bass flute. A large repertory of works has been composed for flute. Predecessors The flute is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. The precursors of the modern concert flute were keyless wooden transverse flutes similar to modern fifes. These were later modified to include between one and eight keys for chromatic notes. 'Six-finger' D is the most common pitch for keyless wooden transverse flutes, which continue to be used today, particularly in Irish traditional music and historically informed performances of early music, including Baroque. During the Baroque era the traditional transverse flute was redesigned and eventually developed as the modern traverso.
Download Western Concert Flutes Animated GIF Images. Western Concert Flutes belongs in Music Folder. There are a total of 21 Images. Click on any of Western Concert Flutes Image to open and download it. | https://freegifimg.com/music/western-concert-flutes |
Official health status
In May 1994, the OIE Global Assembly of Delegates requested the OIE Commission for Foot and Mouth Disease and Other Epizootics (now called the Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases) to develop a procedure for official recognition by the OIE of the free status of Foot and Mouth Disease from the Member Countries. Since then, the procedure has been extended to include the official recognition of sanitary status for the Rinderpest, African Horse Sickness, the Classical Swine Fever, Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (PCB), the risk status for Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (EEB), in addition to the validation of the official control programs of the Foot and Mouth Disease , from the PCB and the PPR.
The official recognition of the sanitary status of the Member Countries is of great importance for international trade and constitutes one of the essential legal links between the OIE and the World Trade Organization (WTO), within the framework of the WTO Agreement on the Application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS Agreement), which entered into force in 1995. In 1998, the official agreement between the WTO and the OIE confirmed the mandate of the OIE to recognize pest-free and disease-free zones, as stipulated by the SPS Agreement.
A country may lose or improve its commercial attractiveness to importing potential or existing partners, depending on its official health status. By acquiring and maintaining an official status, a country also shows transparency and, therefore, helps to promote animal health and public health throughout the world, becoming creditor of the trust of its partners and the international community.
The procedure for granting, suspending and restoring the official disease status is applied in an objective and transparent manner, in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure.
Download the standardized Operational Procedures:
Procedure for official recognition of a status / validation of official program
Procedure for the annual reconfirmation of an official status
Procedure for the restitution of a suspended status
Procedure for sending an expert mission
You can visit the OIE website to know the sanitary status of the countries of the Region of the Americas for the different diseases. | http://www.rr-americas.oie.int/en/animal-health/official-disease-status/ |
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to facial recognition in a multi-stream environment. More particularly, at least some embodiments of the invention relate to systems, hardware, software, computer-readable media, and methods for real time facial recognition and related analyses in edge, and near-edge, computing environments.
BACKGROUND
Facial recognition technologies may produce acceptable results when deployed in some circumstances, such as when there is a need to recognize faces offline in a cloud computing environment. However, performing facial recognition in other environments may be difficult, at best.
For example, an attempt to implement facial recognition processes in an edge computing environment would present a significant challenge in that edge computing devices typically lack the computational power that would be needed to perform the data gathering and analysis that would be needed. To illustrate, if a large database of faces is employed in facial recognition processes, it may be highly time-consuming to go through the entire database for each frame of gathered data. As such, facial recognition processes may proceed too slowly to be useful.
A related concern is that because edge devices, and near-edge devices, are at the outer periphery of a cloud environment, such devices would suffer from problems such as connectivity latency with the cloud. Again, such a result may be unacceptable in some circumstances, as excessive latency may significantly slow data gathering and analysis.
A further problem that may be encountered is that of unseen angles. That is, a database of faces may stores vectors of faces that were generated from images of faces at some specific angle. In some instances, the face images may have been captured at some unseen angle and, consequently, there may be a low recognition rate for such face images.
Finally, problems such as those noted may be further aggravated in circumstances where there was a need for real time, or near real time, facial recognition. That is, real time data gathering and analysis may be difficult, if not impossible, in environments such as those just noted since problems such as latency and constrained computing resources would only be made worse when real time processes are needed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order to describe the manner in which at least some of the advantages and features of the invention may be obtained, a more particular description of embodiments of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, embodiments of the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1
discloses aspects of an example environment and architecture for some embodiments.
FIG. 2
discloses aspects of an example forecasting method.
FIG. 3
discloses aspects of an example HPG update and forecasting method.
FIG. 4
discloses aspects of an example forecasting method.
FIG. 5
discloses aspects of an example host computing device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS
A. Aspects of an Example Architecture and Environment
B. Aspects of Some Example Decision Flows
C. Aspects of Example Forecast Generation
D. Example Methods
E. Further Example Embodiments
F. Example Computing Devices and Associated Media
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to facial recognition in a multi-stream environment. More particularly, at least some embodiments of the invention relate to systems, hardware, software, computer-readable media, and methods for real time facial recognition and related analyses in edge, and near-edge, computing environments. Some particular embodiments may be employed in environments where one or more cameras capture respective video streams that are to be analyzed. Such video streams may, or may not, also include corresponding audio information such as voices and other sounds for example. One example environment may be a business or other commercial environment where cameras are used to observe and record the faces and behavior of persons at the business site so as to distinguish between authorized visitors such as employees, and unauthorized visitors. The foregoing examples are provided only by way of illustration and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.
By way of brief overview, facial recognition systems may be used to identify or verify a person identity from an image/video by comparing facial features with faces within a database. This technology may be of particular interest in applications such as security, entertainment, and archival tagging, for example. Deep learning techniques in face detection may help to facilitate recognition of a very large number of people, such as by mapping faces from images into high dimensional Euclidean space. Each face may be transformed into a feature vector which allow similarity comparison by calculating its distance from other faces acquired beforehand. This database of faces can be very large. Moreover, the database may include one or more faces that appear only rarely, or only once. For example, a database of an airport may include the face of a traveler who is at the airport only infrequently. Such faces may be excluded from consideration and analysis in some cases.
Thus, in embodiments of the invention, a high probability group (HPG) approach may be employed that involves generating, saving, and analyzing, a set of facial images of persons who, based on historical and/or other data, are forecast to likely appear in a video at one or more future relevant times. On the other hand, images of the face of the hypothetical airport traveler may be initially collected for a database, but not included in the HPG, which may be a subset of a larger facial imagery database of the airport. This is because there may be no/little basis for expecting that particular traveler to appear on a regular basis, or again, either at the same time as before or at any other particular time.
At least some embodiments of the invention involve an HPG including, or otherwise associated with, a forecasting procedure that helps predict which faces are likely to appear in the near future based on the appearance history of one or more individuals. This procedure may help to identify faces that are relatively more relevant to a particular query, or criteria. The HPG may then be augmented with the faces predicted as likely to appear in the near future. Example embodiments of the invention may be agnostic to the particular face detection algorithm being employed, and the basic recognition algorithm may complement each such algorithms used now or in the future.
Examples of an HPG in accordance with some embodiments of the invention may embody, and/or otherwise take into account, in their structure, function, and operation, a variety of considerations. For example, a video is a sequence of image frames where each frame is usually close to those that came before. For this reason, there may be a good chance that each face in one or more new frames has already appeared in previous, that is, older, images. As another example, respective multi-stream videos may come from a group that includes cameras that are geographically close to each other, such as on the same office, floor, building, or campus, for example. Thus, persons, such as employees for example, who appear on one camera may be likely to appear on one or more of the other cameras as well. Another consideration that may be embodied in one or more example embodiments is that different cameras produce respective face images from different angles. Thus, the collection of face images from a variety of different angles may result in better image construction and recognition. Still another consideration is that people such as friends and co-workers often travel in small groups. These small groups may appear many times during a day/week/month. Thus, the appearance of one individual may permit an inference to be drawn that one or more persons of one or more related groups may be close by. A further consideration is that some persons may be treated by embodiments of the invention as being related to each other in some way, even if those persons are not all traveling in a small group, such as a mailman/delivery worker and the office manager who receives deliveries from the mailman/delivery worker. As another example of this consideration, people may be treated as related to each other who have regular meetings but may not typically be found together outside of those meetings. In this case, again, the appearance of one person in a particular place and/or at a particular time may suggest that a related person or persons is close by, will be close by in the near future, or was recently close by. At least some of the foregoing considerations thus reflect the notion that people often have one or more habits that involve performing the same/similar actions at the same/about the same time of day on multiple occasions.
In general, an HPG according to at least some embodiments is shared by a group of datastreams, and may be employed as follows for each new image frame that is checked. If the image belong to an already tracked face the image may be assigned to that face, and note that tracking may be implemented on an individual stream basis. If the image belongs to a face that is not being tracked, the image may be checked against the faces already found in the HPG and, if the image is close enough to a tracked face, the image is then assigned to that face and tracking of further similar or identical images may begin. On the other hand, if the image is not close enough to any of the tracked faces found in the HPG, a new face id may be generated for that image, and tracking of the new face may begin. As well, the new face id may be added to the HPG.
Thus, error rates in identifying and classifying an image of a face may be reduced by collecting images of the same person from all the video appearances of that person so as to have more examples of the face of that person. As well, when there are enough images of a new face id in the HPG, an attempt may be made to match the corresponding face to the large database of known faces to obtain the name, or other information, of that person. For example, such other information may be status information, such as whether or not an image captured by a company security camera is the face of a company employee. This matching operation may be conducted in parallel to face detection and HPG matching. For example, if a face was matched, any related persons may be imported to the HPG using the face-network.
Finally, if the HPG should become too large, one or more faces may be removed from the HPG according to various criteria. For example, if a particular face has not appeared for a particular period, or amount, of time, that face may be removed from the HPG. Even if the face were removed from the HPG, that face may still be ‘remembered’ by recording and retaining the timestamp of the last appearance of that face. Embodiments of the invention may provide for optimizing, for one or more particular times of a day, or days, a history window from which the HPG will be composed. This may be done, for example, by learning for each time of day, such as particular hours, or particular times such as morning and noon, what is the best window, denoted by time stamp, to use in a particular set of circumstances.
Embodiments of the invention, such as the examples disclosed herein, may be beneficial in a variety of respects. For example, and as will be apparent from the present disclosure, one or more embodiments of the invention may provide one or more advantageous and unexpected effects, in any combination, some examples of which are set forth below. It should be noted that such effects are neither intended, nor should be construed, to limit the scope of the claimed invention in any way. It should further be noted that nothing herein should be construed as constituting an essential or indispensable element of any invention or embodiment. Rather, various aspects of the disclosed embodiments may be combined in a variety of ways so as to define yet further embodiments. Such further embodiments are considered as being within the scope of this disclosure. As well, none of the embodiments embraced within the scope of this disclosure should be construed as resolving, or being limited to the resolution of, any particular problem(s). Nor should any such embodiments be construed to implement, or be limited to implementation of, any particular technical effect(s) or solution(s). Finally, it is not required that any embodiment implement any of the advantageous and unexpected effects disclosed herein.
In particular, one advantageous aspect of at least some embodiments of the invention is that facial recognition processes may be performed with an HPG, which may be significantly smaller in size than a full dataset of all faces, with the result that embodiments may be employed in edge computing environments by one or more edge computing devices that lack robust processing capabilities. An embodiment of the invention may reduce or eliminate latency problems by operating on a reduced size dataset in an edge computing environment. A reduced size dataset, such as an HPG for example, may enable queries of the dataset to be performed on a local cloud, or even at an edge device. An embodiment of the invention may perform any of the disclosed face recognition functionalities in real time, which enables such functionalities to be effectively implemented in dynamic environments that may change quickly over time. An embodiment of the invention may process data from multiple sources, each of which may capture data, such as concerning a face, from different respective angles. In this way, a more comprehensive data set may be obtained for analysis than would be possible with a lesser number of, or only one, data sources.
The following is a discussion of aspects of example operating environments for various embodiments of the invention. This discussion is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, or the applicability of the embodiments, in any way.
Embodiments of the invention may be employed in any environment that comprises one or more devices for collecting unique information about one or more persons, such as facial images and/or portions of facial images, for example. New and/or modified data collected and/or generated in connection with some embodiments, may be stored in a data protection environment that may take the form of a public or private cloud storage environment, an on-premises storage environment, and hybrid storage environments that include public and private elements. Any of these example storage environments, may be partly, or completely, virtualized. The storage environment may comprise, or consist of, a datacenter which is operable to service read, write, delete, backup, restore, and/or cloning, operations initiated by one or more clients or other elements of the operating environment.
At least some embodiments may be employed in a environments that comprise, or consist of, a cloud computing environment with which one or more edge devices may communicate. Such edge devices may serve as access points to the cloud computing environment and may transmit data to, and/or receive data from, the cloud computing environment. In some embodiments, one or more edge devices may comprise data collectors such as video cameras for example. These edge devices and/or other edge devices may process some or all of the collected data. In some embodiments, the video cameras are not edge devices but communicate with edge devices.
The data collected by video cameras and/or edge devices may be stored in any of a variety of storage environments. Example public cloud storage environments in connection with which embodiments of the invention may be employed include, but are not limited to, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, and Google Cloud. More generally however, the scope of the invention is not limited to employment of any particular type or implementation of cloud storage.
Devices in the operating environment may take the form of software, physical machines, or virtual machines (VM), or any combination of these, though no particular device implementation or configuration is required for any embodiment. Where VMs are employed, a hypervisor or other virtual machine monitor (VMM) may be employed to create and control the VMs. The term VM embraces, but is not limited to, any virtualization, emulation, or other representation, of one or more computing system elements, such as computing system hardware. A VM may be based on one or more computer architectures, and provides the functionality of a physical computer. A VM implementation may comprise, or at least involve the use of, hardware and/or software. An image of a VM may take various forms, such as a .VMDK file for example.
As used herein, the term ‘data’ is intended to be broad in scope. Thus, that term embraces, by way of example and not limitation, data segments such as may be produced by data stream segmentation processes, data chunks, data blocks, atomic data, emails, objects of any type, files of any type including media files, word processing files, spreadsheet files, and database files, as well as contacts, directories, sub-directories, volumes, and any group of one or more of the foregoing.
Example embodiments of the invention are applicable to any system capable of storing and handling various types of objects, in analog, digital, or other form. Although terms such as document, file, segment, block, or object may be used by way of example, the principles of the disclosure are not limited to any particular form of representing and storing data or other information. Rather, such principles are equally applicable to any object capable of representing information.
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With particular attention now to , one example of an operating environment for embodiments of the invention is denoted generally at . In general, the operating environment may include one or more data collection devices , examples of which include, but are not limited to, cameras operable to capture still images, and video cameras. The data collection devices may be individually operable and controllable and/or may be operable and controllable as a group. The data collection devices may all operate at the same time, in overlapping timeframes, and/or abutting timeframes. Each of a group of data collection devices may have a different respective visual perspective of a particular physical area through which one or more people, whose facial images are to be captured, may travel. Each of the data collection devices may capture a respective stream of still images and/or video. In some embodiments, one or more of the data collection devices may process part or all of the collected stream. Some embodiments of the data collection devices may operate autonomously or semi-autonomously. For example, a data collection device may include a motion sensor, an audio sensor, and/or a heat sensor, that may detect the presence of a user entering, passing through, and/or remaining in, one or more areas monitored by the data collection device . Such detection by one or more sensors may trigger data collection by that data collection device . Data collection by the data collection device may cease when the presence of a person, or persons, is no longer detected in the monitored area. There may be a time delay between the time when the presence of the person is no longer detected and the time when data collection ceases.
102
It was noted above that in some embodiments, the data collection device may be implemented as an edge device. As used herein, ‘edge device’ embraces, but is not limited to, a device that may serve, among other things, as an entry point to a network and/or other system, such as a datacenter or other cloud computing environment, that may be external to the device. An edge device may receive data from, and/or communicate data to, the network and one or more constituent elements of the network. An edge device may undertake processing and/or other workloads that might otherwise be handled by the network. Example edge devices include, but are not limited to, any device, which may or may not be portable, that is capable of communication with a network and/or other system. Thus, an edge device may comprise, for example, a video camera, a mobile phone such as a cellular phone or satellite phone, a laptop computer, a tablet, a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled device, radios such as 2-way radios, and any Internet of Things (IoT) device. Any edge device may include a power source, such as one or more batteries which may or may not be rechargeable, solar cells, or any other power source of limited capacity which must be replenished or replaced when the power of the power source has been exhausted. Other edge devices may be connected to a power source separate from the device itself. As well, any edge device may include one or more applications and/or other elements, which may comprise hardware and/or software.
FIG. 1
102
102
104
102
106
102
106
108
106
With continued reference now to , the edge devices may stream video data to a respective computer which may be onboard the edge device , or may be a separated cloud or edge device. The computer may comprise, or consist of, a dedicated camera connector which may serve as a gateway by way of which the edge devices communicate with other devices and systems and/or which may generate image frames , from one or more of the edge device video streams, for further processing. The frames may be fed to one or more face detection and tracking algorithms, which may be implemented as a face detection and tracking module for example, that may operate to detect one or more regions of interest (ROI) of an image in one or more of the frame(s) . Any suitable face detection and tracking algorithm may be employed. Examples of such face detection and tracking algorithms that may be employed in some embodiments of the invention include, but are not limited to, Python, Raspberry Pi, and OpenCV.
Visual Object Tracking using Adaptive Correlation Filters
Details concerning some example visual object tracking processes are disclosed in ‘,’ by Bolme et al., Computer Science Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colo. 80521 (‘Bolme et al.’). Bolme et al. is attached hereto as Appendix A, and is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
FIG. 1
108
110
110
112
110
110
110
112
112
110
110
112
112
As further indicated in , a face detected by the face detection and tracking module may be matched to a face in an HPG and, if the identity of the face is not known, a new face id is generated for the face. In this example, a face in the HPG which is not recognized by name may be matched to a database of faces so that the face in the HPG may be identified, and the HPG updated to indicate the identity of the face. The faces in the HPG may be a subset of the faces in the database . Thus, embodiments of the invention may serve, among other things, to limit, or minimize, the number of times that a match must be run against the database of faces by augmenting the relatively smaller HPG set with relevant faces that may not have appeared yet, and then comparing faces against the HPG rather than the database . The database may be referred to herein as a database of known faces (DKF).
FIG. 1
114
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114
Finally, the example operating environment of may comprise a forecast module which may be implemented as a stand-alone component, or as part of the face detection and recognition module . However, no particular configuration of the forecast module is required. The forecast module may receive data from, and/or transmit data to, any one or more of the database , HPG , and the face detection and recognition module . In general, embodiments of the forecast module may comprise, or consist of, a forecasting algorithm that implements a procedure which predicts which faces are likely to appear in the near future based on the appearance history of one or more individuals, where part or all of such appearance history may reside in any one or more of the database , the HPG , and/or, the edge devices . This procedure may help to identify faces that are relatively more relevant to a particular query, or criteria. The HPG may then be augmented with the faces predicted by the prediction module as likely to appear in the near future.
FIG. 1
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
106
110
110
200
200
200
With continued attention to , and directing attention now to as well, aspects of example decision flows for each new video frame are disclosed. Initially, a forecast mechanism, examples of which are disclosed elsewhere herein, may predict which individuals are more likely to appear in the next part of a day. If the faces corresponding to those individuals are not already in the , the facial images may be imported into the HPG . For example, in the example probability graph of , it can be seen that a particular individual is very likely to appear between 09:00-11:00 on Tuesday. As also shown in the probability graph , the appearance probability that a given individual will appear at a particular place, at a particular time, may vary from one day of the week to another or, more generally, from one timeframe to another. As well, and with reference to the same 11:00 timeframe, the probability that a particular person will appear at a particular place at that time may vary from one day of the week to another. Thus, it is more probable that the person will appear in a particular location at 11:00 am on Wednesday than at the same time on Thursday. Various other relations will be apparent from the probability graph , and the foregoing are provided only by way of illustration.
106
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110
If the image from a particular video frame belongs to an already tracked face, the image may be assigned to that face. On the other hand, if the image from the video frame does not correspond to a tracked face, the image may be checked against the faces already found in the HPG and, if the image is close enough to a face in the HPG , then the image may be assigned to that face and tracking of that image may begin. If the image is not close enough to any of the faces found in the HPG , a new face id may be generated for that image, and tracking of the image may begin. As well, the new face id may be added to the HPG .
110
112
110
In general, embodiments of the invention may operate to collect images of the same person from all their video appearances and, in this way, reduce error rates by having more images, or examples, of the face of that person. When there are enough images of a face corresponding to a new face id in the HPG , an attempt may then be made to try to match the person to the large database of known faces to get information such as, but not limited to, their name, and/or their status as an employee/not an employee. This operation of attempted matching may be conducted in parallel with face detection and HPG matching.
110
110
110
102
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106
Embodiments of the invention may use the HPG to consistently learn, or unlearn, so as to improve the accuracy and reliability of the data in the HPG . Thus, for example, each face on in HPG may have one or more associated timestamps, which may be assigned by an edge device or camera connector , that each correspond to a particular date and time that the face appeared in a video frame . These timestamps may be used to learn the probabilities, for example, that one or more specific individuals will appear at a particular time on a particular day.
m=number of day segments
ds=day segment, 1 ds m
n(d)=number of time series per day of week, analyzed for user
ds
f={1—person appeared, 0—person did not appear, the time series of appearances records if a person appeared, or did not, on some day segment
d,i
m
t=(a1, a2, . . . , a), time series i of appearances during day of week d
d,ds
d,i
S=Σi≤n(d) t(ds), the sum of appearances of an individual on during a day segment on some week day
The probability will be:
d,ds
p(x | d, ds)=S/n(d), the probability that an individual will appear during a day segment on some week day
To illustrate, a time period such as a day may be divided into segments such as, for example, morning/noon/afternoon. Following is an illustrative example.
110
Each day, a new time series may be collected, and probabilities may be calculated for each known individual. In real time, before the day segment is changing, for example moving from morning to noon, or other granularity, the HPG may be updated for the next segment by adding all the individuals whose probability of appearance is higher than some established threshold.
110
110
As noted herein, the HPG should remain small enough to be effective. To this end, performance experiments may be run to find optimal threshold sizes for the HPG . In some example embodiments, the experiments may be run using a random grid search to optimize runtime, although other approaches may alternatively be employed.
112
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110
FIG. 1
To briefly summarize a few points, example embodiments of the invention may be advantageous in that they provide for improved scalability of face recognition in multi-stream videos. For example, example embodiments may provide for faster identification of one or more persons by reducing, substantially in some cases, the number of searches run against the large database of known faces (DKF). Instead, most searches may be run against a smaller set of faces, such as the HPG , and then running once using a collection of images from the HPG against the DKF . Moreover, a face-network, which may comprise multiple instances of part or all of the overall configuration, such as the edge devices , disclosed in for example, will reduce the number of searches even more since faces that were not yet seen in one environment, or portion thereof, may already have been imported into the HPG before their appearance in another environment, or portion thereof.
102
As another example, embodiments of the invention may provide for improved recognition performance, inasmuch as such embodiments may use relatively more images of the same person to recognize the identity of that person. That is, it may be relatively easier to identify the person in the same video or videos captured on multiple occasions that are close in time to each other, than to match the face to a set of images captured a long time ago. For example, collecting several images of the same face, especially from different angles, enables better and faster recognition of that face. The use of multiple video streams, such as from multiple respective edge devices , may provide these different angles and perspectives on one or more faces.
FIG. 3
As disclosed herein, embodiments of the invention may employ a forecasting process to augment an HPG with faces that are predicted to appear at a particular place and/or time. The HPG may be created and maintained generally as outlined below in the discussion of .
300
In general, a face tracking process may be implemented over a period of time. The face tracking process may begin and/or end when a particular face has not been detected, for example, for a certain period of time. As well, multiple faces may be tracked at any one time.
302
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302
The face tracking process, which may be performed on a video frame by video frame basis, may involve receiving one or more video streams and examining a region of interest in a video frame of the video stream, and identifying a facial image in the video frame. The video streams may be received from respective sources, such as edge devices for example. Some of the video streams may comprise video taken from different perspectives at the same general location. The video streams may be broken into respective sets of video frames.
306
The facial image of the video frame may then be compared to facial images from one or more additional video frames which may closely follow, in time, the video frame of interest. If the similarity between the facial image of the video frame and the facial images in subsequent video frame(s) is sufficiently high, then the facial images are all assumed to be of the same face if the time difference between the video frames that are being compared is small enough. Tracking may stop, for example, when a particular face has not appeared at a particular time, and/or in a particular place, for a set period of time.
306
In more detail, and as part of the comparison process , a face detection and tracking module may check to see if the facial image in the video frame being examined is already being tracked. That is, the face detection and tracking module may look for a relatively high correlation between the facial image in the video image region of interest and the facial images in earlier video images. This correlation inquiry could be based on time and/or location of the facial image in the current video image and the facial images in the earlier video images.
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310
If it is determined that there is a high correlation, then it can be assumed that the face corresponding to the facial image in the current video image is already being tracked. In this case, the facial image in the current video image may then be assigned to the face being tracked.
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On the other hand, if it is determined that the face is not currently being tracked when the video image comes in, the facial image in the video frame may be checked against the faces in the HPG. If it is determined that the facial image in the video frame is close enough to a face in the HPG, then that facial image may be assigned to that face in the HPG. Because the facial image is new, either in the sense that it has either appeared for the first time or reappeared after the passage of a certain amount of time, tracking of the face may begin.
314
318
If it is determined that the facial image in the video frame is not close to any face in the HPG, then a new face id may be generated, and tracking of the new face may begin. As well, the new face may be added to the HPG.
FIG. 3
FIG. 4
320
320
318
318
As further shown in and discussed in further detail in connection with , a forecast may be generated. In general, the forecast may involve identifying, from historical facial images in video frames, one or more individuals whose probability of appearing at a particular place and time exceeds some threshold. The faces of these individuals may then be used to update the HPG. By thus augmenting the HPG , the need to compare the predicted faces, when they actually appear in the future, to the DKF may be reduced, or avoided altogether. By reducing the number of such comparisons performed, embodiments of the invention may operate relatively faster than would be the case if the system (i) waited until a face was actually detected, and then (ii) compared the detected face to the DKF.
318
318
FIG. 3
In general, and with particular reference to part of the process of , multiple facial images may be collected of the face associated with person whose face id has been added to the HPG. When enough of these facial images have been collected, an attempt may be made to match the face in the HPG to a face in the DKF. If a match is found, then information concerning that person may be obtained from the DKF.
FIG. 4
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
FIG. 4
400
400
400
300
Turning now to , and with continued reference to , details are provided concerning forecasting methods that may be employed in connection with processes such as those disclosed in . One example of a forecasting method is denoted generally at in . The method may be performed on ongoing basis, or at particular dates and times, such as may be specified in a schedule for example. The method may run concurrently with part, or all, of the example method , although that is not required.
400
Generally, in the performance of method , a new time series may be collected each day, or other time period such as week, month, or hour for example, and probabilities may be calculated for each known individual for one or more of the time period(s). In real time, before the segment changes, for example moving from morning to noon, or between other times, the HPG may be updated for the next day, or other segment, by adding to the HPG all the individuals whose probability of appearance during the upcoming time segment of interest is determined to be higher than some established threshold. In this way, the probability of appearance of a person, such as in the next segment or any other subsequent segment, is forecast, and the HPG updated, notwithstanding that the person may not yet have actually appeared in the segment(s) of interest. That is, the forecast process, and corresponding update to the HPG, may anticipate the appearance of a person at a particular place and time in one or more future segments.
5
For example, the history of the appearances of a person for a Saturday, or group of Saturdays, may be used as a basis to predict that the person will appear at a particular place and/or time on any one or more Saturdays subsequent to the most recent Saturday. Note that the history of the appearances of a person may be determined, for example, by examining the HPG to identify the respective timestamps associated with the various facial images that have previously been recorded of that person. Additionally, or alternatively, the history of the appearances of a person for a Saturday, or group of Saturdays, may be used as a basis to predict that the person will appear at a particular place and/or time on one or more days, subsequent to the most recent Saturday, other than a subsequent Saturday. Finally, a forecast as to the likelihood that a person will appear in a given place at a given time may be based on as few as one prior appearance by that person, or may be based on any other number of prior appearances by that person. In some cases, the forecast may be based on a selected number of prior appearances, such as the last appearances for example, and/or the forecast may be based on all prior appearances that took place less than, for example, 6 months ago. As these examples indicate, a forecaster has wide latitude in terms of the parameters that may be specified, and adjusted, for use by a forecast algorithm.
In more detail, embodiments of the invention may use the HPG to consistently learn, or unlearn, so as to improve the accuracy and reliability of the data in the HPG. Thus, for example, each face in the HPG may have one or more associated timestamps, which may be assigned by an edge device, that each correspond to a particular date and time that the face appeared in a video frame. These timestamps may be used to learn, and revise, the probabilities, for example, that one or more specific individuals will appear at a particular time, in a particular location, on a particular day or other time period.
FIG. 4
400
402
404
406
With particular reference now to , the method may begin when a particular time period, such as a day for example, is divided into a number of segments. Time series information may then be collected for the particular time period. Using the time series information, probabilities for each known individual may be calculated , such as by way of the algorithms and time series processes disclosed herein. As shown in the disclosed example algorithm, one or more of the calculated probabilities may be based in whole, or in part, on historical information concerning past appearances by the individual at a particular time and/or location.
408
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404
FIG. 4
Each of the probabilities may then be compared to a particular threshold, and any individuals, that is, faces, whose corresponding probability of appearance meets or exceeds an established threshold may then be added to the HPG, thereby updating the HPG for the next segment of the time period. As indicated in , the method may return to for another iteration.
Advantageously then, embodiments of the invention may provide for, and/or improve, scalability of face recognition in environments where multiple video streams are employed. For example, the majority of facial image comparisons may be performed against the HPG, rather than against the larger DKF, so that faces may be matched relatively more quickly than would be the case if the comparisons were run against the HPG. Further, the faces in the HPG may be recognized with a relatively higher level of confidence, since multiple facial images, obtained from different respective angles and perspectives, may be associated with a given face.
Following are some further example embodiments of the invention. These are presented only by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.
Embodiment 1. A method, comprising: accessing an appearance history of a person, the appearance history including information concerning an appearance of a person at a particular time; generating, based on the appearance history, a forecast that comprises a probability that the person will appear again at some future point in time; determining that the probability meets or exceeds a threshold; and updating a high probability group database to include a facial image of a face of the person.
Embodiment 2. The method as recited in embodiment 1, wherein the appearance history comprises one or more timestamped facial images of the person.
Embodiment 3. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-2, further comprising collecting a plurality of video streams, and generating the appearance history of the person using information from the plurality of video streams.
Embodiment 4. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-3, further comprising collecting a plurality of video streams, and the plurality of video streams comprises a plurality of facial images of the person, each of the facial images comprising a different respective perspective of the face of the person.
Embodiment 5. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-4, further comprising capturing, from a plurality of different angles, a respective plurality of facial images of the person.
Embodiment 6. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-5, wherein, at the time the forecast is generated, the person has not yet appeared at the future point in time.
Embodiment 7. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-6, wherein updating of the high probability group database to include a facial image of a face of the person is performed before the future point in time that the person was forecast to appear.
Embodiment 8. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-7, wherein all faces in the high probability group database collectively form a subset of faces included in a database of known faces.
Embodiment 9. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-8, wherein the facial image added to the high probability group database is obtained from a video stream.
Embodiment 10. The method as recited in any of embodiments 1-9, wherein generating the forecast comprises: dividing a time period into segments; collecting time series information for the time period; calculating, using the time series information, a probability that the person will appear again at the future point in time, and the future point in time falls within one of the segments.
Embodiment 11. A method for performing any of the operations, methods, or processes, or any portion of any of these, disclosed herein.
Embodiment 12. A non-transitory storage medium having stored therein instructions that are executable by one or more hardware processors to perform the operations of any one or more of embodiments 1 through 11.
The embodiments disclosed herein may include the use of a special purpose or general-purpose computer including various computer hardware or software modules, as discussed in greater detail below. A computer may include a processor and computer storage media carrying instructions that, when executed by the processor and/or caused to be executed by the processor, perform any one or more of the methods disclosed herein, or any part(s) of any method disclosed.
As indicated above, embodiments within the scope of the present invention also include computer storage media, which are physical media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer storage media may be any available physical media that may be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.
By way of example, and not limitation, such computer storage media may comprise hardware storage such as solid state disk/device (SSD), RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, flash memory, phase-change memory (“PCM”), or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other hardware storage devices which may be used to store program code in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures, which may be accessed and executed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer system to implement the disclosed functionality of the invention. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer storage media. Such media are also examples of non-transitory storage media, and non-transitory storage media also embraces cloud-based storage systems and structures, although the scope of the invention is not limited to these examples of non-transitory storage media.
Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts disclosed herein are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
As used herein, the term ‘module’ or ‘component’ may refer to software objects or routines that execute on the computing system. The different components, modules, engines, and services described herein may be implemented as objects or processes that execute on the computing system, for example, as separate threads. While the system and methods described herein may be implemented in software, implementations in hardware or a combination of software and hardware are also possible and contemplated. In the present disclosure, a ‘computing entity’ may be any computing system as previously defined herein, or any module or combination of modules running on a computing system.
In at least some instances, a hardware processor is provided that is operable to carry out executable instructions for performing a method or process, such as the methods and processes disclosed herein. The hardware processor may or may not comprise an element of other hardware, such as the computing devices and systems disclosed herein.
In terms of computing environments, embodiments of the invention may be performed in client-server environments, whether network or local environments, or in any other suitable environment. Suitable operating environments for at least some embodiments of the invention include cloud computing environments where one or more of a client, server, or other machine may reside and operate in a cloud environment.
FIG. 5
FIGS. 1-4
FIG. 5
500
With reference briefly now to , any one or more of the entities disclosed, or implied, by and/or elsewhere herein, may take the form of, or include, or be implemented on, or hosted by, a physical computing device, one example of which is denoted at . As well, where any of the aforementioned elements comprise or consist of a virtual machine (VM), that VM may constitute a virtualization of any combination of the physical components disclosed in .
FIG. 5
500
502
504
506
508
510
512
502
500
514
506
In the example of , the physical computing device includes a memory which may include one, some, or all, of random access memory (RAM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) , read-only memory (ROM), and persistent memory, one or more hardware processors , non-transitory storage media , UI device , and data storage . One or more of the memory components of the physical computing device may take the form of solid state device (SSD) storage. As well, one or more applications may be provided that comprise instructions executable by one or more hardware processors to perform any of the operations, or portions thereof, disclosed herein.
Such executable instructions may take various forms including, for example, instructions executable to perform any method or portion thereof disclosed herein, and/or executable by/at any of a storage site, whether on-premises at an enterprise, or a cloud storage site, client, datacenter, or backup server, to perform any of the functions disclosed herein. As well, such instructions may be executable to perform any of the other operations and methods, and any portions thereof, disclosed herein.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. | |
The lack of diversity in a monoculture system eliminates all the functions that nature provides to plants and the soil.
Planting the same crop in the same place each year zaps nutrients from the earth and leaves soil weak and unable to support healthy plant growth. Because of the problem that soil structure and quality become so poor, farmers are forced to use chemical fertilizers to encourage plant growth and fruit production. These fertilizers, in turn, disrupt the natural makeup of the soil and contribute further to nutrient depletion.
Monocropping also creates the spread of pests and diseases, which must be treated with yet more chemicals. The effects of monocropping on the environment are severe when pesticides and fertilizers make their way into ground water or become airborne, creating pollution.
With no ground cover plants to help improve moisture retention in the soil, and the tendency for land planted with a monoculture to lack topsoil, which serves to increase rain runoff, modern monoculture agriculture requires huge amounts of water to irrigate the crops. | https://www.ecoprojectwane.com/monoculture/ |
A 4 page thesis paper on the 19th century author Jules Verne. Discussed is Verne's uncanny ability to write futuristic stories that actually turned out to be accurate predictions of what was to come. It is argued that Jules Verne's talent was actually to forecast the effects that his predicted technologies would have upon society itself. 'Five Weeks in a Balloon,' 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth, '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,' & 'Paris in the 21st Century' are among the novels cited. A supporting bibliography also lists 5 critical sources as well.
A 6 page report on Jules Verne's 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' in which the writer analytically examines the story's reliance upon general scientific knowledge. Key characters and subplots are explored in great detail and a supporting bibliography lists 4 critical sources.
A 17 page paper on the socioeconomic issues put forth by Victor Hugo in his novel. The paper discusses what role Hugo felt religion, politics, and social planning played in the reformation of society. It also deals substantially with Hugo's role as a romantic writer, and the implications of this in his novel. No additional sources cited.
A 10 page paper examining the role of the Romantic writer Victor Hugo in the French people’s re-evaluation of their national character during the post-revolutionary period. The paper looks particularly at his novels Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Bibliography lists 8 sources.
This 3 page paper explores the dilemma of Daru in the Albert Camus short story, 'The Guest,' and questions Daru's decision to allow the Arab prisoner to choose his own destiny. No additional sources cited.
This 3 page paper explores the dilemma of Daru in the Albert Camus short story, 'The Guest,' and concludes that the only resolution is to allow the Arab prisoner to choose his own destiny. No additional sources cited.
A 5 page analytical review of Albert Camus' 'The Plague'-- a book detailing the universal condition of man. As described by the writer, the plague itself was meant to be an analogy for that which is hostile towards man... it represents death incarnate. An examination of its presence in Oran follows as it relates to this thesis. 1 additional source is cited.
A 6 page paper on the short story by Albert Camus. The paper examines the story's plot, point of view, theme, protagonist, irony, and major symbols, as well as the influence of existentialism in this work. Bibliography lists 8 sources.
3 pages in length. Assessing the importance of original language and style of Albert Camus' The Stranger is an integral component to comprehending the subtle nuances associated with the French novel. The relationship between the translation and the original text could not help but lose something in the adaptation, inasmuch as considerable ambiguity exists between the two distinct versions. The writer discusses that while the French tale holds true to Camus' literary accuracy, the English rendition counts on a significant amount of literal and implied interpretation in order for it to portray the same passionate associations that exist in the original. No additional sources cited. | http://pages.essayfind.com/categories/127-000.html |
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge provides a place for people to enjoy wildlife-dependent activities and learn about the complexities of the natural world.
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge offers public and permit hunting opportunities. Public hunting for waterfowl and deer is available at the Metzger Marsh Unit of the refuge. Other areas are open to public hunting for small game, upland birds, migratory birds, and turkey. Inquire with the refuge for site information. Waterfowl and deer permit hunts are managed in partnership with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. Hunters must apply for permit hunts through the Division of Wildlife process each year.
If you have been selected for a hunt most questions can be answered by reading the specific hunt information on the Division of Wildlife website. Many refuge hunts are part of a partnership so you may find them under Magee Ottawa. Unit maps are available on the Hunting page. Other questions may be answered by calling the office and leaving a message at extensions 31 or 32.
Ottawa Refuge provides many ways to view a variety of wildlife on land and water. Named one of the Top 10 birdwatching spots in the country, the refuge is a stop for many migrating birds in the spring and fall. Bald eagles are commonly seen on nests, roosting, or soaring above the refuge. Mudflats in the Crane Creek estuary and managed wetlands host large numbers of shorebirds. Wintering tundra swans are common in the coastal marshes and can be seen feeding in the fields surrounding the refuge. You may borrow field guides and binoculars at the visitor center to make your wildlife viewing more enjoyable.
National wildlife refuges across the country provide opportunities for visitors to make their own connections to the natural world. Self-guided hikes and staff-led programs help visitors learn more about the wildlife and habitats behind the landscapes. Ottawa Refuge provides a calendar of events that highlights a variety of opportunities throughout the year. Programs and events are free, geared for youth and adults, and provide a range of opportunities that maximize first-hand experiences on the refuge. Contact the refuge for more information about upcoming programs and the calendar of events (419-898-0014 or [email protected]).
National wildlife refuges serve many purposes, and one of our most important roles is as outdoor classrooms to teach about the natural environment. Ottawa Refuge’s education program focuses on increasing understanding of the ecological significance of the area and developing a life-long appreciation of wetlands and associated biological diversity. Opportunities include school field outings, educational “trunks," and classroom presentations. All activities are free and include an indoor or outdoor option to avoid poor weather. Contact the refuge to schedule a program (419-898-0014 or [email protected]).
Perhaps the fastest growing activity on national wildlife refuges in the past ten years has been wildlife photography. You don’t need to purchase expensive equipment or have any experience to get started. A small camera or basic cell phone will do just fine for most visitors.
Ottawa Refuge provides enhanced opportunities to photograph wildlife in natural habitats by providing platforms, brochures, interpreters, viewing areas, a photo blind, and tour routes. Wildlife photography is a high-priority activity in the National Wildlife Refuge System. We welcome beginning and expert photographers alike to record their outdoor adventures!
The refuge protects important habitat for migratory waterfowl, songbirds, and shorebirds such as the dunlin. | https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Ottawa/visit/visitor_activities.html |
In the Popol Vuh, an ancient Mayan book, the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque are described as having been converted into the Sun and the Moon, respectively, so that they might explain how the Mayan gods came to create the world.
The Popol Vuh, also known as ″The Book of Council,″ tells the tale of two well-known Mayan demi-gods who go by the names Hunahpu and Xbalanque and are known as the Hero Twins.
The Popol Vuh myth asserts that at the dawn of time, there existed just the two gods who were responsible for creating the universe: Gucumatz and Tepeu. These gods came to the conclusion that they should construct earth out of the primordial water.
The Mayan tale of the Hero Twins is one of the most well-known stories, and it begins with a set of identical twin brothers.One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpus enjoyed playing ball games from the Maya culture.They were quite skilled at the activity, which led to an excessive amount of noise being produced whenever they participated.Because of this, the Lords of Death became irritated, and they called the lads down to the underworld.
The gods in the heavens anointed the Hero Twins as their successors as kings and queens of the earth.It is said that one of the twins was transformed into the Moon, while the other became the Sun.The Hero Twins successfully resurrected their deceased father and elevated him to the status of maize deity.It was thought that the kings and queens of the Maya were descended from a pair of brothers named the Hero Twins.
The Mayan origin myth, as well as the tale of the Hero Twins and their triumph over the rulers of Xibalba, are contained inside the Popol Vuh (the underworld). It starts with the beginning of all that is and then moves on to the narrative of this spectacular struggle that had place.
The Popol Vuh is a holy Maya scripture that recounts the Maya creation stories and details the early Maya kingdoms. It was written in the 16th century. The vast majority of Maya texts were obliterated by overzealous priests during the colonial era; nevertheless, by some stroke of luck, the Popol Vuh managed to survive, and the original copy may be found in the Newberry Library in Chicago.
The gods, who inhabited in either the sky or the sea, were the ones who first saw the enormous potential of the void.Plumed Serpent, the deity of the sky, and Hurricane, the god of the sea, collaborated to construct the world.Together, they were responsible for its formation.The conversation between the two ″great intellectuals″ helped to fill in the blanks.Whatever it was that they stated was made up.
Itzamná, whose name can also be pronounced Eetz-am-NAH and is sometimes spelled Itzam Na, is one of the most important gods in the Mayan pantheon. He is considered to be the supreme father of the universe and the creator of the world. He is believed to have ruled based on his esoteric knowledge rather than his physical power.
The Xibalbans were overjoyed to learn that the twins had apparently passed away, and they scattered their ashes in a river. However, this was all a part of the plan that the lads had developed, since once the ashes were in the river, they regenerated into bodies, at first that of a pair of catfish, which then converted into bodies of a pair of young boys. This was all part of the plan.
After making it look as though they had perished in an oven made of stone, Hunahp and Xbalanqe transformed themselves into itinerant performers as the next part of their series of illusions. The two brothers first declined to put on a show for the lords of Xibalba when they were invited to do so.
Kukulkan, often written K’uk’ulkan, is the name of a Mesoamerican snake deity that was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula prior to the Spanish Conquest of the Yucatán. Kukulkan’s name means ″Plumed Serpent″ or ″amazing Serpent.″
What did the twins instruct the mosquitoes to perform, and how did this assistance benefit them while they were in the underworld? They were instructed to bite the lords of the underworld in order to acquire their names. This was done so that when the twins encountered the lords, they could address them by their proper name.
When they were trying to catch the animals that were destroying their grandmother’s garden, they accidentally severed the tails of the rabbits and deer while doing so. This led them to the discovery of their father’s baseball equipment. This animal was successfully captured by the Hero Twins, who then roasted its tail over a fire. | https://www.mundomayafoundation.org/nubia/2-the-popol-vuh-is-a-creation-story-of-the-mayan-culture-who-are-the-heroes-of-this-story.html |
Pythagoras placed great value in mathematics, and his mathematical achievements were prompted by a discovery in the field of music. Working with a monochord (comparable to a guitar with one string), Pythagoras discovered that the note produced by plucking a string of a certain length could be ‘reproduced’ one octave higher by plucking a string exactly half as long, or one octave lower by plucking a string exactly twice as long. Continuing on, he discovered the beautiful symmetry of strings and vibrations: simple mathematical proportions that account for the pleasing harmonies we hear when the right notes of the musical scale are played together as chords. Pythagoras found that these harmonic proportions can be expressed quite simply as ratios of the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. Other ratios of string length produce irritating disharmony.
Thus Pythagoras discovered that ‘Number’ somehow underlies the phenomena and experience of music. Like other Greek philosophers of his era, he was looking for a fundamental ‘something’ that could unify and explain life, mind, and nature. But rather than a primary physical substance, he came up with a primary idea. All things, he concluded, in their essence, are ‘Number’. He found that the motions of the heavenly bodies follow regular patterns which are understandable and predictable in terms of the same numerical principles of harmony and proportion − and thus was born the ancient notion of ‘the harmony of the spheres’; he saw that the various surfaces of tangible objects can be viewed as examples and illustrations of the perfect figures of geometry; he saw that beauty and physical health are dependent upon a harmony of material elements, and he saw that psychological health was also to be achieved through temperance or moderation, again requiring a proper harmonious balance. The Pythagoreans would eventually conclude that the perfection of a soul requires the restoration of inner harmony, and that achieving this is not dissimilar to achieving the perfect attunement of a musical string.
For Pythagoras, then, as for Plato who followed him and for many ancient people, the domain of mathematics was sacred. It could also be practical of course, but this did not detract from its divine essential nature. | http://spirituality-and-religion.com/pythagoras/ |
Popular music is one of the cultural fields – together with film, photography, and jazz – which in the second half of the twentieth century have apparently gained much in status and recognition (Janssen, 1999; Janssen, Kuipers & Verboord, 2009). Popular music has become ‘aesthetically mobile’ - developing from a devalued form of entertainment to the status of art. This reordering of the position of popular music seems to be an aspect of a more general change in cultural classification systems of modern western societies. DiMaggio (1987, 1991) has argued that the cultural classification systems of western societies have become more differentiated, less hierarchical, with weaker boundaries and less universal. The number of genres has expanded, genres are no longer ranked in a hierarchical status hierarchy, the boundaries between genres have become less potent and less strongly defended and the consensus on how to classify cultural genres has diminished. The hierarchical, universal classification of ‘popular’ and ‘high culture’ seems to have eroded and given way to a multitude of genres that cannot be ranked in one hierarchical dimension and broad classifications such as high vs. low seem to have been displaced by more finely grained classifications and distinctions. Although genres such as popular music, jazz, literature and theatre can no longer be placed easily within ‘high’ or ‘low’, new hierarchies seem to have appeared within (previously ‘popular’) genres (Holt, 1997; Baumann, 2001). In this dissertation, I study the way in which popular music critics create, maintain and contest new and old symbolic boundaries and classification structures within popular music. How do critics within the field of popular music ‘make sense’ of cultural products? What kind of criteria do they use to evaluate popular music and how do they classify artists into categories? Do they create or draw upon established hierarchical boundaries such as ‘art’ vs. ‘commerce’ in making distinctions? Do they classify along other lines? | https://repub.eur.nl/pub/18631 |
In this open access book, experts on integration processes, integration policies, transnationalism, and the migration and development framework provide an academic assessment of the 2011 European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals, which calls for integration policies in the EU to involve not only immigrants and their society of settlement, but also actors in their country of origin. Moreover, a heuristic model is developed for the non-normative, analytical study of integration processes and policies based on conceptual, demographic, and historical accounts.The volume addresses three interconnected issues: What does research have to say on (the study of) integration processes in general and on the relevance of actors in origin countries in particular? What is the state of the art of the study of integration policies in Europe and the use of the concept of integration in policy formulation and practice? Does the proposal to include actors in origin countries as important players in integration policies find legitimation in empirical research?A few general conclusions are drawn. First, integration policies have developed at many levels of government: nationally, locally, regionally, and at the supra-national level of the EU. Second, a multitude of stakeholders has become involved in integration as policy designers and implementers. Finally, a logic of policymaking—and not an evidence-based scientific argument—can be said to underlie the European Commission’s redefinition of integration as a three-way process.This book will appeal to academics and policymakers at international, European, national, regional, and local levels. It will also be of interest to graduate and master-level students of political science, sociology, social anthropology, international relations, criminology, geography, and history.
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This open access book examines the methodological complications of using complexity science concepts within the social science domain. The opening chapters take the reader on a tour through the development of simulation methodologies in the fields of artificial life and population biology, then demonstrates the growing popularity and relevance of these methods in the social sciences. Following an in-depth analysis of the potential impact of these methods on social science and social theory, the text provides substantive examples of the application of agent-based models in the field of demography. This work offers a unique combination of applied simulation work and substantive, in-depth philosophical analysis, and as such has potential appeal for specialist social scientists, complex systems scientists, and philosophers of science interested in the methodology of simulation and the practice of interdisciplinary computing research.
Agent-Based Modelling --- ABM --- Artificial Intelligence --- AI --- Computational social science --- Social simulation --- Population sciences
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In this edited volume leading scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds wrestle with social science integration opportunities and challenges. This book explores the growing concern of how best to achieve effective integration of the social science disciplines as a means for furthering natural resource social science and environmental problem solving. The chapters provide an overview of the history, vision, advances, examples and methods that could lead to integration. The quest for integration among the social sciences is not new. Some argue that the social sciences have lagged in their advancements and contributions to society due to their inability to address integration related issues. Integration merits debate for a number of reasons. First, natural resource issues are complex and are affected by multiple proximate driving social factors. Single disciplinary studies focused at one level are unlikely to provide explanations that represent this complexity and are limited in their ability to inform policy recommendations. Complex problems are best explored across disciplines that examine social-ecological phenomenon from different scales. Second, multi-disciplinary initiatives such as those with physical and biological scientists are necessary to understand the scope of the social sciences. Too frequently there is a belief that one social scientist on a multi-disciplinary team provides adequate social science representation. Third, more complete models of human behavior will be achieved through a synthesis of diverse social science perspectives.
social science integration opportunities and challenges --- water managing --- social ecological systems --- status of integration --- humanity and the biosphere (mahb) --- representing human individuals --- environmental problem solving --- human sustainability --- livelihoods, poverty and conservation --- resouce challenges and conflicts --- emerging infectious diseases --- land degradation and desertification --- risk governance research --- science during crisis --- facilitating social science integration --- land change research and modeling --- solving sustainability challenges --- natural resource social science integration --- the social-ecological system framework --- climate change and society
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This compact open access reference delves beyond popular concepts of educated consumers and an informed public by examining the science behind deliberative engagement. Using data from four longitudinal studies, the authors assess public engagement methods in deliberative discussions of ethical, legal, and social issues concerning innovations in nanotechnology. Coverage includes the theoretical origins of the studies, forms of engagement and variations used, and in-depth details on cognitive, affective, and social components that go into the critical thinking process and forming of opinions. Not only are the findings intriguing in and of themselves, but researchers from varied fields will also find them useful in pursuing their own projects.Featured in the coverage:Experimental methods and measures used in relation to specific outcomes.Forms of deliberative engagement affecting objective and subjective knowledge.Effects of engagement variables on attitude formation, change, and polarization.Tracing the processes leading to policy acceptance and support.Study conclusions and evaluation.Plus supplemental materials giving readers access to full study data.Since public engagement methods are widely regarded as valuable for policy input, planning purposes, and understanding societal processes, Deliberative Engagement with Science stands to have a wide audience among psychologists, researchers, academics, and policymakers, as well as professionals in the corporate sphere and the tech industries. | https://www.doabooks.org/doab?func=search&addFilter=utpub:%22Springer%20Nature%22&template=&fromYear=&query=kw%3A%22Social%20Science%22&toYear=&uiLanguage=en |
The Eastside Neighborhood has historically been one of the most challenged communities in San Antonio. In 2010, blight was pervasive, with over 180 vacant lots and abandoned structures. The dropout rate at Sam Houston High School hovered around 46% and close to 43% of adults in the area did not graduate from High School. 44% of the households were living below the federal poverty level and safety and security were elusive.
Today, this long-neglected neighborhood is benefitting from four major federal designations: a Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant, a Byrne Criminal Justice Grant, a Promise Neighborhood Implementation Grant and a Promise Zone. Together, these grants and designations are working to holistically improve the neighborhood through targeted investments in housing, people, education, economic development, services, and safety measures.
The FY2012 Choice grant focuses on the redevelopment of the isolated and distressed 246-unit Wheatley Courts public housing site into a 412-home, mixed-income neighborhood called East Meadows. Built in three phases, the new community is walkable, sustainable, and inter-generational and have improved connections to the broader neighborhood. The community includes 332 homes for families in one-to-four-bedroom garden apartments and townhouses and 80 one and two bedroom homes in a universally-designed building for seniors. At the heart of the community is a two acre park with both passive and active space for all residents of the neighborhood. A mixed-use building on Walters Avenue houses a BiblioTech, an all-digital public library that works to bridge literacy and technology gaps in low-income communities.
In a parallel effort, a series of Neighborhood initiatives are also being undertaken. The Neighborhood initiatives include increasing green space (the “lungs” of the community), establishing community gardens and a fresh-food co-op, improving pedestrian and transit connectivity, building infill housing and rehabbing acquired single family properties, incentivizing neighborhood-level retail and services as well as business relocation, establishing a new community center and creating a retail façade program.
The Human Capital, or “People” Initiatives are being implemented in coordination with the Promise Neighborhood team. Led by Urban Strategies, Inc., the People Initiatives include improving education at every level, strengthening the relationship with the City of San Antonio Police Department and other partners and coordinating with the Byrne Grant to promote a safe neighborhood, creating new workforce career ladders and partnering with growing industries, making job creation a priority for policy makers and local businesses, ensuring the lowest-income residents have access to wrap-around services, including healthcare and encouraging a sense of community, neighborhood stability and cohesion through promotion of programs and activities that bring people together. Examples of community building activities include block parties, community gardens, and movies in the park and back to school programs.
The future of the Eastside is bright. Anchored by the newly-constructed East Meadows Apartments and supported through Human Capital programs and a comprehensive neighborhood plan, the Eastside is moving beyond the challenges of the past and growing into a vibrant, welcoming, diverse, desirable place that people from all backgrounds are choosing to call home. | http://www.mccormackbaron.com/community-profiles/east-meadows |
Autonomía indígena originaria Campesina in Bolivia [Electronic resource]: realizing the indigenous autonomy? (2012)In the last five years, Bolivia has been experiencing legal and institutional changes. A new legal scenario is dawning for indigenous peoples, at least in theory. The participation of indigenous people in the constituent ...
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The Basque diaspora in Latin America: Euskal Etxeak, integration, and tensions (EURAC research, 2016)The establishment of the Basque diaspora in Latin America can be divided in several different periods. First, from the 16th to 18th century, the socalled original diaspora of Basques who were part of the Spanish colonial ...
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Bridging borders through institution-building: the EGTC as a facilitator of institutional integration in cross-border regions (2016)This article examines cross-border integration at the sub-state level in the frame of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). The EGTC is a supranational and directly applicable EU legal instrument that ...
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Commission's approach to minority protection during the preparation of the EU's Eastern enlargement: is 2 better than the promised 1? (EURAC research, 2007)Although minority protection was one of the Copenhagen political criteria and thus was at the core of the conditionality principle presupposing a fair assessment of the candidate countries' progress towards accession to ...
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The cultural industries: a clash of basic values?; a comparative study of the EU and the NAFTA in light of the WTO (EURAC research, 2004)Originally coined in the 1940s by protagonists of the Frankfurt School, the concept of ‘culture industry’ was gradually transformed from a derogatory term into the potentially more constructive concept ‘cultural industries’ ...
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The debate on European values and the case of cultural diversity (EURAC research, 2004)‘Values’ have become a topic of discussion at the European level. This article tries to briefly track the reasons for this phenomenon as well as to detangle the foggy notion of ‘values’ in this context. The author ...
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Die Europäische Union und das Rahmenübereinkommen zum Schutz nationaler Minderheiten: ignorieren, parallell "umsetzen" oder gar beitreten? (EURAC research, 2014)This paper looks at the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) through the lense of European Union law. It does so by posing four major questions: does the fact that 24 of ...
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Die Europäische Union und das Völkerrecht kultureller Vielfalt: Aspekte einer wunderbaren Freundschaft (EURAC research, 2007)Cultural Diversity is an important topos in the European Union. It is part of the Union’s self–portrayal, can be found in diverse legal instruments, is the rationale behind numerous legal provisions. At the same time, the ...
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Die neue Kärntner Landesverfassung - Eine Posse in drei Akten =The new Constitution of the Region of Carinthia – A Farce in three Acts (2017)During the reform process of the Carinthian Constitution the coalition parties had agreed that in the new regional constitution also the Slovenian minority would be included, stating literally that: “The region of Carinthia ...
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Die Sprache und der Binnenmarkt im Europa der EU: eine kleine Beziehungsaufstellung in 10 Punkten (EURAC research, 2005)“Language and Markets” is the topic of this article, which examines their relationship in ten short points. Specifically, it addresses the interrelationship between res publica (the state), lingua (the language) and forum ...
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Direkte Demokratie und Sprachminderheiten in der Schweiz und in Südtirol: ein Vergleich (EURAC research, 2010)
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The discipline of minority issues in the Russian Federation (2017)The Russian Federation presents a rich pattern of different nationalities within its population and represents a unique, original model of governance of ethnic diversity. This model is based on both territorial and ...
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Diversity and equality: an ambiguous relationship ; reflections on the US case law on affirmative action in higher education (EURAC research, 2006)The concept of diversity has become increasingly salient in equality discourse. In the EU and in many of its member states, the term ‘diversity’ is now often used in place of ‘equality’ by advocates of voluntarist ...
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E. Chile (2017)In 2016, environmental matters attracted significant attention in Chile. The greatest development was Chile’s ratification of the Paris Agreement; the treaty was signed in September 2016 and finally adopted on 10 February ...
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EU film policy: between art and commerce (EURAC research, 2004)The establishment of the European internal market has involved the cinematographic sector as a result of its economic nature. However, film, as a cultural medium, does not lend itself easily to the trends towards uniformity, ...
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The European convention on human rights and the protection of the Roma as controversial case of cultural diversity (EURAC research, 2004)The Roma are often the victims of systemic discrimination which is closely related to the prejudices against them and their particular way of life, their own minority identity. When studying to what extent the Roma and ...
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Europeanization of minority rights: discourse, practice and change in Turkey (EURAC research, 2010)In the ethnically fragmented countries, it is almost taken for granted that the EU has a positive impact on minority rights protection. Those states made important legislative changes improving the protection level granted ...
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Five years of constitutional jurisprudence in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a first balance (EURAC research, 2004)The article reflects the experiences of the author after having served as one of the three international judges of the Constitutional Court of BiH from 1997 to 2002. Based on the relevant case-law of the Constitutional ... | https://bia.unibz.it/handle/10863/6043/browse?type=title |
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Farming techniques evolved with the development of human civilisation in the Middle Ages...
Did Viking warriors really wear helmets with horns?
Numerous legendary empires were built (and destroyed) in the course of history.
The dreaded warriors of the Mongol Empire helped to make it one of the largest empires in...
Narrow streets and colourful houses gave medieval towns a special atmosphere.
A Romanesque style Benedictine church with a special gateway, built in the 13th century...
Farmhouses in the Middle Ages were simple, single-storey structures built from earth, mud...
The Vikings were a seafaring Nordic people who originated in what is today Denmark, Sweden and... | https://www.mozaweb.com/Extra-3D_scenes-Jameh_Mosque_Isfahan_15th_century-139702 |
V1000 Single Beam Spectrophotometer Grating 1200 lines/mm
This product is an economic analysis instruments, with RS232 output. Excellent photometric precision instruments higher than the same file. Widely used in medical testing, food, petrochemical industry, environmental protection and monitoring, and other fields.
RS232C interface is optional 100mm colorimetric stand (suitable for power plants, waterworks and sugar refiner, etc) Digital display the measuring value; Auto light door and zero setting. The instrument adopts imported tungsten lamp, ensure its service life.
Model:
V1000
Optical system:
Czerny-turner CT grating monochromator, 1200/mm
Wavelength range:
350-1020 nm
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+/- 3 nm
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≤1nm
Measurement range:
0-199.0%T, 0-1.999A, 0-1999C
Photometric accuracy:
+/- 1.0%T
Photometric repeatability:
0.5%T
Spectral bandwidth:
6 nm
Measuring optical path:
100 mm
Stray light:
<= 1.0%T (340 nm)
Stability:
<= 0.004 A/h(500 nm preheat 1 hour)
Display modes:
4 LCD
Basic Measurement:
T,A,C
Data output (print):
RS232C
Light source:
6V10W
Operating voltage:
220V/110VAC,50-60Hz
Our Services: | https://graigar.en.alibaba.com/product/60743545200-801716325/V1000_Single_Beam_Spectrophotometer_Grating_1200_lines_mm.html |
Measuring just 1.5 to 1.9 m in length and weighing between 45 and 85 kg, the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is the smallest cetacean in British waters. It has a short, rotund body, with a blunt snout and no obvious beak. The dorsal fin is small and triangular in shape, and there is a slight dorsal ridge extending back from the fin to the tail flukes. Colouration is variable, but the species has a typically dark grey head and jaws, wth a pale throat and ventral surface and a dark back and flanks. In adults, there is often a striking grey line from just below the eyes to the anterior insertion of the flipper. The flippers, tail flukes and dorsal fins are all dark grey to blackish in colour.
Harbour porpoises are usually seen in small groups of less than ten animals, although larger aggregations of up to 50 individuals can sometimes be seen. The swimming motion is usually inconspicuous – involving surfacing with a rolling motion – although the animals occasionally surface with a vigorous vertical motion, causing a splash. The characteristic unobtrusive respiration sequence and small size of this animal makes it difficult to observe in all but the calmest of sea conditions. Moreover, the species is notoriously shy and generally avoids approaching boats.
The harbour porpoise is found in cold temperate and sub-arctic waters of the Northern Hemisphere, commonly inhabiting shallow coastal bays, estuaries and tidal channels of the Atlantic coast of Europe, east and west coasts of North America and the Pacific coast of Asia. The species is currently abundant in the central and northern North Sea and continental shelf west of the British Isles. However, it has now virtually disappeared from the Baltic, and the winter migration which it once undertook from the Baltic to the North Sea has ceased. The species is still regularly seen in the Danish Wadden Sea and particularly in the northern North Sea, west of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, in north-west Scotland, western Ireland and along the Welsh coast. Most sightings occur on the continental shelf within 10 km of the coast, and typically in water less than 100 metres in depth.
Although harbour porpoises do not seem to make long migrations, they do undertake seasonal movements related to food availability: generally inshore in summer and offshore in winter, but sometimes also north in summer and south in winter. In northern Scotland and in Danish coastal waters, the species is present year-round. In the Black Sea, North Atlantic and North Pacific, however, populations have become semi-isolated and have subsequently been proposed as separate sub-species.
Harbour porpoises reach sexual maturity at an age of 3 to 6 years, and at body lengths of about 1.35 metre in males and 1.45 metres in females. Mating occurs in the summer and the gestation period is one year or less. Subsequently births are typically in summer, and have been recorded between May and August (with a strong peak in June) around the British Isles. The period of lactation is uncertain, but it is thought to occur for around 8 months as females calve every 1 to 2 years.
These phocoenids appear to feed upon a variety of fish and cephalopod species; the diet varying with location and availability of prey items accordingly. Prey species may include herring, mackerel, sprat, pollack, hake, sardines, sandeel, squid, octopus, crustaceans, molluscs and even polychaete worms.
Studies of harbour porpoises in Scotland and west Wales have indicated that foraging is closely related to tidal cycle. It is suggested that pelagic shoaling fish (such as sandeels, whiting and herring) become concentrated in the tidal race and that the channels are used by the porpoises to herd and catch these prey items.
The species usually hunts alone or in small groups, but may form loose aggregations if there is a large amount of food (despite still tending to feed semi-independently). Because of its large surface area to mass ratio, the dimunitive harbour porpoise must consume up to 10% of its body weight per day to survive in the cold temperate waters of the North Sea.
Large aggregations of harbour porpoises are usually related to feeding or seasonal movements, and often comprise a number of small, cohesive pods, spread over a wide area. There may be some sexual segregation, possibly of females travelling singly with their young while males associate in schools. Immature animals of both sexes may also form separate groups.
Play is not frequently observed, but there are documented cases of porpoises picking up objects such as starfish or seaweed and carrying these in mid-water for hours at a time, balancing them on their flukes or flippers. They occasionally breach, possibly during intense foraging periods and in a social context, and have been observed leaping over one another and performing tail slaps when socialising. Feeding schools are often associated with seabirds. | http://www.crru.org.uk/harbour_porpoise.asp |
Seven major milestones through which each successful project undergoes, 1. Identification of pragmatic project notion. 2. transformation of the notion into appraisal 3. evaluation of different aspects of the project 4. Presentation: Detailed financial and project is presented for approval from relevant authorities 5. Implementation: Post financing, early stages of implementation 6. Monitoring: Early evalauation and assessment of the project implementation. 7. Final Evaluation: Efficiency and the performance is evaluated and compated with the earlier proposal.
Link to This DefinitionDid you find this definition of PROJECT CYCLE helpful? You can share it by copying the code below and adding it to your blog or web page. | https://thelawdictionary.org/project-cycle/ |
Bitcoin price news: Why is BTC rising? Bitcoin hits $4k again - will BTC recover?
BITCOIN (BTC) has begun 2019 with a bang after surpassing the psychological $4,000 mark for the first time in weeks. So what is the reason for bitcoin’s recovery?
The flagship cryptocurrency endured a calamitous 2018, which witnessed more than £7,500 wiped from its value in just 12 months. This crypto crash, known as the bitcoin bubble, lead some analysts to question whether the digital asset even had a future at all. But the bitcoin price, which had been languishing under £3,000 ($3,750) for the last few weeks, yesterday spiked in value following surges in trading volume, according to CoinDesk.com data.
Why is bitcoin rising?
A surge of 6.5 percent in 30 minutes is not entirely uncommon for bitcoin
Despite boasting a daily trading volume into the billions of dollars, bitcoin continues to experience with volatile price fluctuations.
These oscillations are thought to be caused by big money bitcoin players shipping large amounts of crypto at above or below the current market value.
One so-called bitcoin whale moved approximately $10million of bitcoin on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.
READ MORE: War of words ERUPTS between cryptocurrency big hitters
Bitcoin price news: BTC yesterday spiked in value following surges in trading volume
This move pushed the daily bitcoin volume above $5billion, a 2019 high.
And where bitcoin goes, other cryptos follow, with while ripple added almost five percent gain and ethereum witnessing a two percent jump in 24 hours.
Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at brokerage firm eToro, said: "A surge of 6.5 percent in 30 minutes is not entirely uncommon for bitcoin and could very well be caused by a single large order on an exchange or even by a lack of liquidity in the market.
"What's interesting about this move is that it did bring us above the $4,000 level and so far is holding onto the gains."
READ MORE: Is the world LOSING interest in BTC?
Crypto across the board are seeing positive momentum with litecoin, NEO and Cardano leading the top 25.
The total market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies is up £4.78billion ($6.1billion) from yesterday’s top of $132 billion and is currently sitting just above £108billion ($138billion).
In further good news for the nascent crypto industry, CoinFlex – a former subsidiary of the bitcoin exchange Coinfloor, has announced plans to offer physical bitcoin futures to Asian investors from February.
The move by CoinFlex puts it in direct competition with the New York Stock Exchange and Eris Exchange, with both immensely expected to be offering similar deals.
READ MORE: New cryptocurrency platform will TOKENISE the stock market
Physical bitcoin futures are considered crucial in solving market manipulation.
Some industry insiders believe cash-settled contracts leave unregulated bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets open to misuse.
Mark Lamb CoinFlex CEO and co-founder of CoinFloor has revealed his company will offer futures contracts for bitcoin, bitcoin cash and ethereum that can be leveraged up to 20 times.
"Crypto derivatives could become an order of magnitude larger than spot markets and the main thing that’s holding back that growth is the lack of physical delivery," Lamb said.
"Volumes are reduced because of a problem of trust when it comes to cash-settled trades." | https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/1068439/bitcoin-price-news-why-is-btc-rising-BTC-USD-cryptocurrency-news |
At its F8 developer conference, Facebook revealed that it would be rolling out a slew of new features for its Live Video service to help the site steal users away from the current king of streaming apps, Periscope.Yesterday, one of those updates arrived on the desktop: an interactive map that shows streamers from across the world.Once you re connected, you ll see a list of the most popular streams down the left side of the page; but some of the most enjoyable moments come from checking out random users across the world.With the feature still being in its infancy, the feeds do vary in quality and most of them seem to have under 100 viewers.I spent several minutes fascinated by a Columbian man having a deep, albeit one-way, conversation with his cat.Dots indicate the areas where streams are taking place, hovering over one will bring up a preview, and clicking on it will expand so you can post comments.
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Google’s new ATAP movie moves when you move in a virtual vehicle
Ronald Griffis
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May 20
This video is by far the most complicated 360 video released by the group - but not the most jarring.It's not even just spherical.Depending on which way your screen is pointing, you'll see something different, and the environment will react to your vision.If you have an iPhone or iPad, you'll want to head to the Apple app store to find the Google Spotlight Stories app.There you'll find Google and the groups they worked with for this video at work.If you're in search of the full collection of videos like this as produced by Google, head to the Google Spotlight Stories collection on YouTube.
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Pearl is Google's most interactive Spotlight Story yet
Annie Kelley
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May 20
Google took the I/O opportunity to show off its latest Spotlight Story, called Pearl.It s not just a static video — not only can you move the screen around to look where you want, but you can also interact with the video.Depending on where you look, you ll see different things, and the environment will change accordingly.Osbourne himself talked about the film at Google I/O, saying that he wanted the audience to be in control more.Sure, this isn t the first time we ve seen a 360-degree video from Google, but this one certainly has more depth than the others.And, if you want to see the entire Spotlight selection, head to the Spotlight Stories YouTube channel.
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Epic Games explains why its backing Google Daydream VR
William Figueroa
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May 21
It also showed off a demo of a classic fantasy-type dungeon experience running on the platform.GamesBeat interviewed Nick Whiting, the technical director at Epic Games, about Epic s support for Daydream.GamesBeat: What makes Daydream different from other VR platforms?Nick Whiting: It s mobile-based.It seems like you guys were deliberately trying to show something that looked like a video game.Whiting: We wanted to do something where you had interaction in the world.Is this something where you re going to produce money-making experiences this year, or are you still in an experimental phase?Whiting: It s definitely something where we want to be on the up side of the wave.We don t have a decisive winner.Nobody knows what form the VR market is going to take in the next few years.Unreal can still deliver those kinds of experiences.We can get a lot of valuable lessons about what works and what doesn t.GamesBeat: The Unreal engine experiences we ve seen so far have tended to show us new ideas and new images, rather than stuff based on familiar Epic franchises.
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ForcePhone uses sonar to add 3D Touch-like system to practically any phone
Robbie Kromer
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May 26
Over the past few months, Apple, Huawei, ZTE, and others have made splashes in the smartphone world with tech accurate enough to measure the amount of downward force on a screen, or force touch, as the capability s become known.But researchers at the University of Michigan may have discovered a low-cost, easy solution: a 3D Touch-like system of feedback that s adaptable to practically any smartphone, recognizes when weight s being applied to the touchscreen, and that can even tell when the phone s being squeezed.Once booted, the app generates a constant, 18 kHz tone inaudible to human ears that the phone emits through its speakers.When force is applied to the phone s touchscreen with a finger or object, the resulting acoustic shift — a nearly microscopic expansion and contraction of the tiny, cavernous spaces within the handset s housing — alter the tonal frequency.Shin, much like Apple, Huawei, and others, see force touch as a paradigm shift in interactivity.I think we re offering a natural interface, like how you turn a knob, said Yu Chih Tung, a doctoral student in the University of Michigan s computer science program who partnered with Shin to create ForcePhone.
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Google app on iOS catches up to Android
Mark Alexander
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May 27
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Asus Zenbo: A robot for $599 that will help you run your home in a much smarter way
Rosalie Lee
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May 30
The Asus Zenbo AsusTaiwanese electronics maker Asus launched a smart mini robot called Zenbo at Computex 2016.It is the brainchild of Asus Chairman Johney Shih who had a vision for enabling robotic computing and making it available to the public at large.Zenbo has a built-in library of stories that it can tell in a variety of entertaining voices, while displaying accompanying images on its screen and controlling the room lighting to add a new level of interactivity and fun to story time for kids.One can rely on it to perform their everyday digital functions like video calls, social media posting, online shopping, and of course stream movies and TV shows through its screen using just voice commands.Although there are lots of robots like these in the Chinese market, this is the first to be associated with a relatively bigger and more global name like Asus and the availability of the robot also seems more promising than others.If the Zenbo can do things as claimed by the company it may just give really tough competition to the Echo and other devices.
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ZapWorks takes mobile AR and VR creation to the masses
James Lamb
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Jun 01
Zappar has built augmented reality and virtual reality tools that make it easy for people to create mobile content for these emerging forms of media.The ZapWorks tools are on display at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California.It wants to enable digital creatives to make snackable and immersive experiences.ZapWorks has been in development for more than five years.The company built it to meet its own need for powerful AR creation tools, as it created attention-grabbing AR campaigns for partners like Rovio for Angry Birds, Coca-Cola, Pez, and Warner Bros. Worldwide, we ve made thousands of bite-sized AR experiences for hundreds of brands over the past five years, using our proprietary authoring tools to help partners engage with their audience on mobile and sell more product, said Caspar Thykier, cofounder and CEO of Zappar, in a statement.Instead of keeping the tools to ourselves, and in line with our mission to truly democratize AR for the first time, we re setting the full suite loose through ZapWorks—reimagining what s possible on the mobile canvas as we begin to not only look at our phone screens, but see through them.We pride ourselves on being the pioneer of interactive candy, so it s a natural next step to move into AR and add another layer of interactivity for our customers.What Zappar is doing with these tools will really bring this tech to bear in the marketplace.
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AMD outs Polaris-based Radeon RX 480, new APUs
Oliver Dyer
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Jun 01
AMD has formally announced the Radeon RX 480, a $199 Polaris-based graphics card it claims is ready for virtual reality use.Aimed, entirely unsurprisingly, at those looking to build a new rig or upgrade an existing system for use with virtual reality headsets, the Polaris-based Radeon RX 480 is claimed to offer 'premium VR capability' - which, using the yardstick normally associated with such performance, means it should be roughly equal to Nvidia's last-generation GeForce GTX 970 graphics card - at a price of just $199 around £138 excluding taxes for the 4GB model.'VR is the most eagerly anticipated development in immersive computing ever, and is the realisation of AMD's Cinema 2.0 vision that predicted the convergence of immersive experiences and interactivity back in 2008,' crowed Raja Koduri, AMD's senior vice president and chief architect for the Radeon Technologies Group.The Radeon RX Series is a disruptive technology that adds rocket fuel to the VR inflection point, turning it into a technology with transformational relevance to consumers.'Combined with architectural improvements, the result is claimed to be a low-power, high-performance card at a price point AMD hopes will help it win back some of the market share it has lost to Nvidia in recent years.At the same time, AMD announced the commercial release of the Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge APUs for mobile devices, claiming improved compute performance and lower power draw in devices ranging from 35W FX processors to its 15W A9, A6, and E2 ultra-mobile and embedded parts.
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Asus ZenBook 3 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 4: What's the difference?
James Neely
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Jun 01
The ZenBook 3 come with a fixed keyboard that can be used comfortably on your lap the Surface is more for tables , yet it also manages to achieve a relatively generous 0.8mm of travel for each key.Microsoft's stylus ships with every device, and adds a whole new level of note-taking/scribbling interactivity that the ZenBook 3 lacks.Similarly pricedWhile we're looking at two very takes on ultra-portable computing here, the end results are similarly priced.Its incredible desirable design and powerful hardware still, months on, make it one of the most desirable devices on the market today.The changes include fixes for the sleep/battery drain bug that meant putting your machine to sleep did not necessarily mean it wasn't burning through the battery, and there have also been several fixes released for various graphics driver-related bugs.In theory, the docking system works in the same way it did on the Surface Pro 3, using a magnetic lock to hold the stylus on the tablet s short side.
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AMD Radeon RX 480 GPU could offer premium virtual reality experience on the cheap
Carl Fox
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Jun 01
Announced at the Computex Expo 2016 in Taiwan, the RX 480 spearheads AMD's strategic focus on bringing affordable virtual reality experiences to PC via the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.With price still a key factor in adoption rates for VR, AMD hopes that the card's Polaris-based architecture – the fourth generation of the company's Graphics Core Next GCN tech – will boost VR sales and act as the "catalyst for the expansion of the addressable market to an estimated 100 million consumers over the next 10 years".With an enviable spec for such a low-price point, the RX 480 could adequately fit the bill for existing desktop owners looking to upgrade their PCs and enter virtual reality craze, as well as those hoping to build their first VR-ready rig on the cheap."VR is the most eagerly anticipated development in immersive computing ever, and is the realisation of AMD's Cinema 2.0 vision that predicted the convergence of immersive experiences and interactivity back in 2008," said Raja Koduri, the senior vice president and chief architect at AMD's Radeon Technologies Group."The Radeon RX Series is a disruptive technology that adds rocket fuel to the VR inflection point, turning it into a technology with transformational relevance to consumers."The GTX 1070 and the eye-watering nine teraflop GTX 1080 are aimed squarely at the enthusiast market, with the GTX 1070's $379 starting price still adding a considerable cost to the entire VR package.
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NBA launches fitness app that links you to your favorite stars
Gerardo Diaz
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Jun 01
View photosMoreHttps%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f103454%2fstphcrryo987In between fits of rage-joy at the success of the Warriors see GIF below , Apple exec Eddie Cue may want to channel his NBA fervor in another, more productive direction — the new NBA Fit app.The NBA's first-ever fitness app, launched on Wednesday, was produced in partnership with Under Armour, combining the league's exclusive content with the fitness interactivity of the Under Armour Connected Fitness platform.SEE ALSO: The Rock's new motivational app may finally get you off your ass and into the gymUsing the app you can track and share fitness goals and progress as well as participate in virtual fitness training challenges."Through this partnership, we are able to combine Under Armour s connected fitness expertise with the league s fitness knowledge to create an experience that inspires people to be active, eat healthy and play together," Todd Jacobson, the NBA's senior vice president of social responsibility, said in a statement on the league's website.The tie-up with Under Armour is also synergistic in another way: Under Armour's biggest star endorser, Stephen Curry, is also the NBA's current MVP, drawing in big ratings for the league during the NBA playoffs in recent weeks.In many ways, the app looks like a play by the NBA to create a kind of mobile app-based social network.
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Tech for Good - Getting Kids to Read More, and Enjoy It
James Desmond
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Jun 02
And working with our publisher, Hachette, plus some very well respected video games developers at Insight Studios, we think we may be onto something.The concept is simple: the G-Story format mixes traditional written story narrative with real gameplay challenges.Study after study from the Literacy Trust, the Reading Agency and similar bodies show that uncommitted readers are more likely to be motivated by reading from a screen than from paper.In our Outernet series, developed with Harry Potter guru Barry Cunningham over 15 years ago, we had a narrative in books that was extended on the Web - by visiting the Outernet site and inputting passwords embedded in the text of the books, more narrative, interactivity and gameplay could be accessed.When the player takes a shot on goal, he may score - or he may miss.Every one of those eventualities had to be considered and described.
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Try new things within the visualization
Marcel Carroll
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Jun 03
How can open data solutions, visualization of big data and interactivity to hang together with industrial automation and digitisation?In the same way that drawings and maps are more visual than drawing, and map data in tabular form or as graphs , all the data can be better described if the visualization is done with multidimensional symbolic language that is similar to the reality that the numbers represent.This visualization speeds up the learning and able to to a greater extent to describe the implicit knowledge, skills, that might otherwise be lost.Niklas Johansson: Interactive visualizations and digital services can help you, as a company critically questioning the possibilities of their own processes and see any alternative and more efficient production.One result may be that companies can focus on innovative to develop their business and become more competitive both nationally and internationally.We are sure that there is a great need to be able to collect data from different sources and visualize it in aggregate on a helhetsnivå.
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Interactive 3D videos help Holocaust survivors tell stories
Thomas Jones
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Jun 06
Holocaust survivors are having their life stories recorded to create 3D interactive videos.The technology uses natural language understanding, similar to a smartphone's personal voice assistant app, to allow viewers to ask the survivors about their life and experiences.After converting speech into text, the system finds the best video response to match the question asked.The project could eventually be used in museums or classrooms."You can read about the Holocaust in a book or see it on a movie or on TV, but until you actually interact with someone who has actually lived this experience in person, it doesn't have the same sort of ... reality that these things actually happened and how horrendous it was," said research scientist Andrew Jones.BBC Click's Marc Cieslak visited the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies to find out more.
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Genvid Technologies aims to create ‘revolutionary esports broadcasts’
Charles Houston
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Jun 06
It wants to make esports broadcasts more compelling to watch, bringing multiple camera angles and interactivity into the live streams of furious game matches.New York-based Genvid is starting a limited alpha test soon, and I ve seen a demo of how it could work with a game like Unreal Tournament 2016.The company says this could help esports companies achieve what has been lacking so far: better storytelling, more emotion, a focus on the most-exciting players and action, and a step up in broadcast quality.In esports matches, it s often hard to figure out what s going on.As a result, esports broadcasts, which are generating an estimated $325 million in sponsorship and marketing revenues this year according to market researcher Newzoo , could eventually attract wider, more casual audiences, said Jacob Navok, founder and chief executive of Genvid, in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat.Maybe you could fire up dozens of cameras in a virtual arena.Dynamic cameras, direct input that affects the game state, and clickable interactive video interfaces bring the in-engine spectator experience to livestream feeds.Genvid s platform will be built on top of Amazon s online services, including its graphics processing unit GPU servers.
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Here’s What Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst Has to Get Right
Felton Woodall
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Jun 06
Even now, playing it is jarring and exhilarating.For the sequel to work, though, the developers must find a way of expanding upon the gut-level experience of playing the original while retaining the rich sensory environment that made it so immersive.What s more, the central character is a woman of color although DICE doesn t address this directly, Faith appears to be Asian who is not a sex object, but a defiant, powerful hero.The game highlights vital points of interactivity—useful pipes and platforms and ledges—in a blood-red shade of crimson.DICE/EAAll of the marketing for Mirror s Edge: Catalyst emphasizes that network of relationships in an encouraging way.It promises, implicitly, that DICE hasn t changed the things players loved most about the original.
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Valve releases free Destinations tool for creating VR worlds
Wesley Reese
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Jun 09
When it comes to virtual reality, most people don't really care about how it gets made, they just want to experience it.However, for those that are interested in creating virtual worlds to explore, Valve has some good news for you today.Destinations isn't a new game, but rather a VR content creation package from Valve.This is really exciting, because Valve is handing you the keys to the same Source 2 tool set that they use internally to develop VR locations.They're also including a number of example Destinations that were created using photogrammetry, and one example map, that users can utilize to get a better understanding of how you can add interactivity to your locations.Destinations is currently listed as Early Access, so expect them to continue updating and adding to these tools over the coming months.
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Atari cofounder’s son takes video games beyond the couch
Steven Sentell
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Jun 29
That s the view of Brent Bushnell, the cofounder of Two Bit Circus and the opening speaker at the Gamelab game developer event in Barcelona, Spain.At Two Bit Circus, Bushnell and cofounder Eric Gradman have created a way to engineer fun using a combination of interactivity, electronics, and physical real world experiences.Among the events they created was the Steam Carnival, which was held last year in San Francisco and Los Angeles as a collection of interactive experiences, such as a real live version of Asteroids where players zap life-size rocks projected on the floor.My cofounder and I were frustrated with out-of-home entertainment, which hasn t changed since laser tag and mini golf, he said.The company has created its Steam Carnival, which will move to Dallas this year.Two Bit Circus also created a wall of buttons, which is a mash-up of Whack-A-Mole and Twister.It is also creating virtual reality entertainment and its story rooms such as an interactive space adventure.And it created a VR experience where you can feel like a football player on the gridiron.One thing he has found is that millennials value experiences over owning things, Brent said.And experiment.Disclosure; The Gamelab organizers paid my way to Barcelona.
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Marketing Day: An interactive history, Amazon Prime Day & Google’s My Activity site
Thomas Cann
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Jun 30
Ads on digital billboards are now being triggered by four speeds of passing trafficJun 30, 2016 by Barry LevineNew campaign for Dannon Yogurt goes beyond previous message-changing based only on slow and fast traffic.Why the digital advertising ecosystem loves nativeJun 30, 2016 by James SmithColumnist James Smith explains why native advertising is a win for consumers, publishers and advertisers.
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© Techsite.io 2021. | https://www.techsite.io/search?q=Interactivity |
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 2
EXAMPLE 3
EXAMPLE 4
EXAMPLE 5
EXAMPLE 6
EXAMPLE 7
EXAMPLE 8
The present invention provides novel pyrrolo-[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids useful as anti-tumour agents. The present invention also provides a process for the preparation of new pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids as antitumour agents. More particularly, the present invention provides a process for the preparation of 7-methoxy-8-[n′-(4″-acridonylcarboxyamido)alkyl]-oxy-(11aS)-1,2,3,11a-tetraydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one and 7-methoxy-8-[n′-(4″-acridinylcarboxyamido)-alkyl]-oxo-(11aS)-1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one with aliphatic chain length variation of these compounds and it also describes the DNA binding, anticancer (antitumour) activity. The structural formula of the novel pyrrolo[2,1-c]-[1,4]benzodiazepines of the invention is given below:
J. Antibiot.,
J. Mol. Biol.,
Biochem. Biophys. Acta,
Biochmestry,
J. Org. Chem.,
Pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine antitumour antibiotics are commonly known as anthramycin class of compounds. In the last few years, a growing interest has been shown in the development of new pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepines (PBDs). These antibiotics react covalently with DNA to form an N2-guanine adduct that lies within the minor groove of duplex DNA via an acid-labile aminal bond to the electrophilic imine at the N10-C11 position (Kunimoto, S.; Masuda, T.; Kanbayashi, N.; Hamada, M.; Naganawa, H.; Miyamoto, M.; Takeuchi, T.; and Unezawa, H. 1980, 33, 665.; Kohn, K. W. and Speous, C. L. 1970, 51, 551.; Hurley, L. H., Gairpla, C. and Zmijewski, M. 1977, 475, 521.; Kaplan, D. J. and Hurley, L. H. 1981, 20, 7572). The molecules have a right-handed twist, which allows them to follow the curvature of the minor groove of B-form double-stranded DNA spanning three base pairs. A recent development has been the linking of two PBD units through their C-8 positions to give bisfunctional alkylating agents capable of cross-linking DNA (Thurston, D. E.; Bose, D. S.; Thomson, A. S.; Howard, P. W.; Leoni, A.; Croker, S. J.; Jenkins, T. C.; Neidle, S. and Hurley, L. H. 1996, 61, 8141).
J. Med. Chem.
J. Med. Chem.
Recently, PBD dimers have been developed that comprises two C2-exo-methylene substituted DC-81 subunits tethered through their C-8 position via an inert propanedioxy linker (Gregson, S. J.; Howard, P. W.; Hartely, J. A.; Brooks, N. A.; Adams, L. J.; Jenkins, T. C.; Kelland, L. R. and Thurston, D. E. 2001, 44, 737). Recently, a noncross-linking mixed imine-amide PBD dimers have been synthesized that have significant DNA binding ability and potent antitumour activity. (Kamal, A.; Ramesh, G.; Laxman, N.; Ramulu, P.; Srinivas, O.; Neelima, K.; Kondapi, A. K.; Srimu, V. B.; Nagarajaram, H. M. 2002, 45, 4679).
Streptomyces
Naturally occurring pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepines belong to a group of antitumour antibiotics derived from species. Recently, there is much impetus for the PBD systems as they can recognize and bind to specific sequence of DNA. Examples of naturally occurring PBD's include anthramycin, DC-81, tomaymycin, sibiromycin and neothramycin.
However, the clinical efficacy for these antibiotics is hindered by several limitations, such as poor water solubility, carbiotoxicity, development of drug resistance and metabolic inactivation.
The main object of the present invention is to provide new pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]-benzodiazepine hybrids useful as antitumour agents.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a process for the preparation of novel pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]-benzodiazepine hybrids useful as antitumour agents.
Accordingly the present invention provides novel pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids of formula IV or VII wherein R═H, OH and n is 2–3.
In one embodiment of the invention, the compound of the invention is selected from the group consisting of 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetra-hydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one; 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]-benzodiazepin-5-one; 7-Methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)pyropyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetra-hydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one; 7-Methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxyamido)propyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2-3,11a tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one, 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one; 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxyamido)ethyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)-1,2,3,-11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one; 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxo-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetra-hydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one and 7-Methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido) propyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2,-3,11a tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one.
The present invention also provides a process for preparation of pyrrolo-[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids of formula IV and VII wherein R═H, OH and n is 2–3,
the process comprising reacting an acridone or an acridine acid with (2S)-N-[4-(n′-aminoalkyloxy)-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]-pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I
in the presence of EDCI and HOBt in organic solvent for a period of 24 h to obtain (2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acrido-nylcarboxamido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II/(2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula V where ‘n’ is 2–3,
2
2
isolating the compound of formula II/formula V and then reducing the compounds of formula II/formula V with SnCl.2HO in presence of an organic solvent up to a reflux temperature, isolating the (2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolid-dine-2-carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula III/(2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acridinylcarbox-amido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula VI where n is 2–3 by known methods,
reacting compound of formula III/formula VI with a known deprotecting agents in a conventional manner to give novel pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids of formula IV/formula VII wherein n and R are as stated above.
In one embodiment of the invention, the organic solvent used for the reaction of the acridone/acridine acid with compound of formula I comprises dimethyl furan.
3
In another embodiment of the invention, the compound of formula II/formula V is isolated by washing with saturated NaHCO, brine, drying and evaporation of the solvent.
In another embodiment of the invention the organic solvent used during the reduction of compound of formula II/formula V comprises methanol.
3
2
4
In a further embodiment of the invention, the compound of formula III/formula V is isolated by adjusting the pH of the reaction mixture to about pH 8 with a saturated NaHCOsolution, diluting with ethyl acetate, filtering through celite and extracted an organic phase and drying the organic phase over NaSO.
2
3
In another embodiment of the invention, the deprotecting agent used for obtaining the compound of formula IV/formula VII comprises HgCland CaCOin MeCN-water (4:1).
The present invention provides novel pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids of formula IV or VII wherein R═H, OH and n is 2–3 and also provides a process for the preparation thereof.
The process of the invention comprises reacting an acridone or an acridine acid with (2S)-N-[4-(n′-aminoalkyloxy)-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]-pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I
in the presence of EDCI and HOBt in organic solvent for a period of 24 h to obtain (2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acrido-nylcarboxyamido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II/(2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula V where n is 2–3,
2
2
The compound of formula II/formula V is isolated and then reduced with SnCl.2HO in the presence of an organic solvent such as methanol up to a reflux temperature to obtain (2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula III/(2S)-N-{4-[n′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-alkyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula VI were n is 2–3. The compounds of formula III/formula VI are then isolated by conventional methods.
The compounds of formula III/formula VI with a known deprotecting agents in a conventional manner to give novel pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids of formula IV/formula VII wherein n and R are as stated above
3
3
2
4
The organic solvent used for the reaction of the acridone/acridine acid with compound of formula I comprises dimethyl furan and the compound of formula II/formula V is isolated by washing with saturated NaHCO, brine, drying and evaporation of the solvent. The organic solvent used during the reduction of compound of formula II/formula V comprises methanol and the compound of formula III/formula V is isolated by adjusting the pH of the reaction mixture to about pH 8 with a saturated NaHCOsolution, diluting with ethyl acetate, filtering through celite and extracted an organic phase and drying the organic phase over NaSO.
2
3
The deprotecting agent used for obtaining the compound of formula IV/formula VII comprises HgCland CaCOin MeCN-water (4:1).
J. Med. Chem.
J. Med. Chem.
Chem. Commun.
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The precursors, acridone acid (Atwell, G. J.; Cain, B. F.; Baguley, B. C.; Finlay, G. J.; Denny, W. A. 1984, 27, 1481), acridine acid (Atwell G. J.; Rewcastle, G. W.; Baguley, B. C.; Denny, W. A. 1987, 30, 664) and (2S)-N-[4-(n-aminoalkyloxy)-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I (Thurston, D. E.; Morris, S. J.; Hartley, J. A. 1996, 563–565) have been prepared by literature methods.
1. 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetra-hydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
2. 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2-3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
3. 7-Methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetra-hydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
4. 7-Methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2-3,11a tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
5. 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(11aS)-1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
6. 7-Methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2,3-11a-tetrahydro-5-H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
7. 7-Methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetra-hydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
8. 7-Methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2,-3,11a tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one
Some representative compounds of formula IV/VII present invention are given below
1. The ether linkage at C-8 position of DC-81 intermediates with acridone/acridine ring moiety.
2. Up to refluxing the reaction mixture for 12–48 h.
3. Synthesis of C-8 linked PBD antitumour antibiotic hybrid imines.
4. Purification by column chromatography using different solvents like ethyl acetate, hexane, dichloromethane and methanol.
These new analogues of pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine hybrids linked at C-8 position have shown promising DNA binding activity and efficient anticancer activity in various cell lines. The molecules synthesized are of immense biological significance with potential sequence selective DNA-binding property. This resulted in design and synthesis of new congeners as illustrated in Scheme-1/Scheme-2, which comprise:
The reaction schemes are given below and are representative of the process of the invention.
The following examples are given by way of illustration and therefore should not be construed to the present limit of the scope of invention.
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3
Compound acridone acid (0.239 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), EDCI (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (2S)-N-[4-(2-aminoethyl)ox-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I (0.443 g, 1 mmol) in DMF was added to it at the same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silicagel using ethylacetate/hexane (8.2) solvent to give compound (25)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
2
2
3
2
4
The compound (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitro-benzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.664 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was then adjusted to pH 8 carefully with saturated NaHCOsolution, diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude compound (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
2
3
3
2
4
2
2
A solution of compound (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.0634 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TLC indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through a celite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 mL), brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one.
3
Compound acridone acid (0.239 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), EDCI (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-[4-(2′-aminoethyl)-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethylthioacetal of formula I (0.459 g, 1 mmol) in DMF was added to it at the same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silica gel using ethyl acetate/hexane (8:2) solvent to give (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
2
2
3
2
4
The compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.680 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was then adjusted to pH 8 carefully with saturated NaHCOsolution diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}-pyrrol-idine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
2
3
3
2
4
2
2
A solution of compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.650 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TLC indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through a celite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 ml), brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS)1,2,3,-11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiaze-pin-5-one.
3
Compound acridone acid (0.239 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), EDCI (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (2S)-N-[4-(3′-aminopropyl)-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I (0.457 g, 1 mmol) in DMF was added to it at the same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silica gel using ethylacetate/hexane (8:2) solvent to give compound (2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitro-benzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
1
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3
H NMR (CDCl) δ 1.20–1.50 (m, 6H), 1.60–2.20 (m, 6H), 2.60–2.80 (m, 4H), 3.10–3.3 (m, 2H), 3.65–3.8 (m, 5H), 4.20–4.30 (m, 2H), 4.55–4.70 (m, 1H), 4.8 (d, 1H), 6.75 (s, 1H), 7.15 (t, 1H), 7.25 (t, 1H), 7.35 (d, 1H), 7.50 (s, 1H), 7.58–7.63 (t, 1H), 7.9 (bs, 1H), 8.15 (d, 1H), 8.35 (d, 1H), 8.55 (d, 1H); 12.3 (bs, 1H), MS (FAB) 679 [M+H].
2
2
3
2
4
The compound (2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.678 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was complete. The reaction mixture was then adjusted to pH 8 carefully with saturated NaHCOsolution, diluted with ethylacetate, filtered through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford crude (2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
1
3
H NMR (CDCl) δ 1.20–1.45 (m, 6H), 1.55–2.35 (m, 6H), 2.60–2.85 (m, 6H), 3.6 (s, 3H), 3.7–3.8 (m, 2H), 4.15–4.25 (m 2H), 4.62–4.75 (m, 2H), 6.25 (s, 1H), 6.8 (s, 1H), 7.15–7.3 (m, 2H), 7.35 (d, 1H), 7.65–7.70 (t, 1H), 7.85 (br, 1H), 8.05 (d, 1H), 8.35 (d, 1H), 8.65 (d, 1H); 12.3 (bs, 1H).
2
3
3
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4
2
2
A solution of compound (2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.648 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TCL indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through a celite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 mL), brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]-benzodiazepin-5-one.
1
+
3
H NMR (CDCl) δ 1.20–1.30 (m, 2H), 1.85–2.40 (m, 6H), 3.5–3.8 (m, 6H), 4.20–4.30 (m, 2H), 6.80 (s, 1H), 7.2–7.35 (m, 2H) 7.40 (d, 1H), 7.5 (s, 1H), 7.65 (d, 1H), 7.75 (t, 1H), 8.05 (d, 1H), 8.45 (d, 1H), 8.65 (d, 1H); 12.25 (bs, 1H), MS (FAB) 525 [M+H].
3
Compound acridone acid (0.239 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), EDCI (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-[4-(3′-aminopropyl)-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I (0.473 g, 5 mmol) in DMF was added to it at the same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silica gel using ethyl acetate/hexane (8:2) solvent to give (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
2
2
3
2
4
The compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.694 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was then adjusted to pH 8 carefully with saturated NaHCOsolution, diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrro-lidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
2
3
3
2
4
2
2
A solution of compound (4R)-hyroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.664 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TLC indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through a celite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 mL), brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido) propyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS) 1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiaze pin-5-one.
3
Compound acridine acid (0.223 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), EDCI (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (2S)-N-[4-(2′-aminoethyl)-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I (0.443 g, 1 mmol) in DMF was added to it at the same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silica gel using ethyl acetate/hexane (8:2) solvent to give compound (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzo-yl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
2
2
2
4
The compound (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}-pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.648 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was then through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude compound (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl)pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
2
3
3
2
4
2
2
A solution of compound (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl)pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.618 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TLC indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through a celite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 mL), brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)ethyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one.
3
Compound acridine acid (0.223 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), EDCI (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-[4-(2′-aminoethyl)-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxyldehyde diethyl thioacetal for formula I (0.459 g, 1 mmol) in DMF was added to it at the same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silica gel using ethyl acetate/hexane (8:2) solvent to give (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
2
2
3
2
4
The compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.664 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was then adjusted to pH 8 carefully with saturated NaHCOsolution, diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrro-lidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
2
3
3
2
4
2
2
A solution of compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.634 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TLC indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through a celite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 mL), brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-ethyl]-oxy-(4R)-hyroxy-(11aS)1,2,3-11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiaze-pin-5-one.
3
Compound acridine acid (0.223 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), EDCI (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (2S)-N-[4-(3′-amino-propyl]oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I (0.457 g, 1 mmol) in DMF was added to it at same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silica gel using ethylacetate/hexane (8:2) solvent to give (2S)-N-{4-[2′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitroben-zoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
1
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3
H NMR (CDCl) δ 1.20–1.50 (m, 6H), 1.60–2.40 (m, 6H), 2.60–2.85 (m, 4H), 3.10–3.25 (m, 2H), 3.85–3.9 (m, 5H), 4.20–4.30 (m, 2H), 4.65–4.70 (m, 1H), 4.82 (d, 1H), 6.8(s, 1H), 7.4–7.8 (m, 4H), 7.85–8.05 (t, 2H), 8.10 (d, 1H), 8.82 (s, 1H), 11.9(bs, 1H), MS (FAB) 663 [M+H].
2
2
3
2
4
The compound (2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.662 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was then adjusted to pH 8 carefully with saturated NaHCOsolution, diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude compound (2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
1
3
H NMR (CDCl) δ 1.20–1.5 (m, 6H), 1.60–2.40 (m, 6H), 2.60–2.80 (m, 4H), 3.55–3.7 (m, 2H), 3.8 (s, 3H), 3.9–4.00 (m, 2H), 4.15–4.25 (m, 2H), 4.65–4.80 (m 2H), 6.25 (s, 1H), 6.8 (s, 1H), 7.50–7.80 (m, 4H), 7.90–8.00 (m, 2H), 8.85 (s, 1H), 8.95 (d, 1H), 11.9 (bs, 1H).
2
3
3
2
4
2
2
A solution of compound (2S)-N-{4-[3-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.632 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TLC indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through acelite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 mL),brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo [2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one.
1
+
3
H NMR (CDCl) δ 1.20–1.30 (m, 2H), 1.95–2.45 (m, 6H), 3.5–3.8 (m, 5H), 4.25–4.45 (m, 3H), 6.80 (s, 1H), 7.50–7.80 (m, 5H), 7.95–8.1 (m, 2H), 8.15 (d, 1H), 8.90 (s, 1H), 9.00 (d, 1H); 12.00 (bs, 1H), MS (FAB) 509 [M+H].
3
Compound acridine acid (0.223 g, 1 mmol) was taken in dry DMF (10 mL), (0.203 g, 1.5 mmol) and HOBt (0.288 g, 1.5 mmol) was added and the mixture was cooled at 0–5° C. and the mixture was stirred for 30 min. A solution of (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-[4-(3′-aminopropyl)-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula I(0.473 g, 5 mmol) in DMF was added to it at the same temperature and the solution was stirred at room temperature for overnight. The mixture was washed with saturated NaHCO(50 mL), brine, dried and solvent was evaporated. The crude material was chromatographed over silica gel using ethyl acetate/hexane (8:2) solvent to give compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-}4-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II as a yellow liquid.
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The compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-nitrobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal II (0.678 g, 1 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 mL) and added SnCl.2HO (1.128 g, 5 mmol) was refluxed for 2 h or until the TLC indicated that reaction was completed. The reaction mixture was then adjusted to pH 8 carefully with saturated NaHCOsolution, diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered through celite and extracted. The combined organic phase was dried over NaSO, and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrro-lidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III.
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2
2
A solution of compound (4R)-hydroxy-(2S)-N-{4-[3′-(4″-acridinylcarboxamido)-pyropyl]-oxo-5-methoxy-2-aminobenzoyl}pyrrolidine-2-carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal III (0.648 g, 1 mmol), HgCl(0.8145 g, 3 mmol) and CaCO(0.3 g, 3 mmol) in MeCN-water (4:1) was stirred slowly at room temperature until TLC indicates complete loss of starting material. The reaction mixture was diluted with EtOAc (30 mL) and filtered through a celite bed. The clear yellow organic supernatant was extracted with saturated 5% NaHCO(20 mL), brine (20 mL) and the combined organic phase is dried (NaSO). The organic layer was evaporated in vacuum and purified by column chromatography (90% CHCl-MeOH) to give compound 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridinyl carboxamido) propyl]-oxy-(4R)-hydroxy-(11aS) 1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c]-[1,4]-benzodia-zepin-5-one.
Biological Activity: In vitro biological activity studies were carried out at National Cancer Institute (USA).
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Cytotoxicity: 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)propyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one of formula IV was evaluated for primary anti-cancer activity (Table 1) and in vitro against sixty human tumour cells derived from nine cancer types (leukemia, non-small-cell lung, colon, CNS, melanoma, ovarian, prostate, and breast cancer). For each compound, dose response curves for each cell line were measured at a minimum of five concentrations at 10 fold dilutions. A protocol of 48 h continuous drug expose was used and a sulforhodamine B (SRB) protein assay was used to estimate cell viability or growth. The concentration causing 50% cell growth inhibition (GI50), total cell growth inhibition (TGI, 0% growth) and 50% cell death (LC50, −50% growth) compared with the control was calculated. The mean graph midpoint value s of logTGI and log10LC50 as well as logGI50 for IV are listed in Table 2. The mean graph itself is shown in Table 4. As demonstrated by mean graph pattern, compound IV exhibits an interesting profile of activity and selectivity for various cell lines. The mean graph mid point of logTGI and logLC50 showed similar pattern to the logGI50 mean graph mid points.
TABLE 1
In vitro one dose primary anticancer assay<sup>a </sup>acridone linked PBD
hybrid of IV
Growth percentages
(Lung)
(Breast)
(CNS)
PBD hybrid
NCI-H460
MCF7
SF-268
IV
0
0
10
<sup>a</sup>One dose of IV at 10<sup>−4 </sup>molar concentration
50
50
The novel pyrrolobenzodiazepine hybrid 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acridonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one of formula IV has shown to posses <10 nano molar potency (at the LClevel) against one melanoma cancer (UACC-62) and 0.1 micro molar potency against colon cancer (HCC-2998), CNS cancer (SNB-75), breast cancer (MDA-MB-435) and also have >10 micro molar potency against two melanoma cancer cell lines (LOXIMVI, M14) and one renal cancer (SN12C). The LCvalues of nine cancers (average of six to nine cancer cell lines) of compound 7-methoxy-8-[3′-(4″-acidonylcarboxamido)-propyl]-oxy-(11aS)1,2,3,11a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one of formula IV listed in Table 3.
TABLE 2
log<sub>10 </sub>GI50 log<sub>10 </sub>TGI and log<sub>10 </sub>LC50 mean graphs midpoints(MG_MID)
of in vitro cytotoxicity data for the compound IV against human tumour
cell lines.
Compound
Log<sub>10 </sub>GI50
Log<sub>10 </sub>TGI
Log<sub>10 </sub>LC50
IV
−7.73
−5.56
−4.32
TABLE 3
Log LC50 (concentration in mol/L causing 50% lethality)
Values for Compounds IV
Cancer
Compound IV
Leukemia
−4.00
non−small−cell lung
−4.14
Colon
−4.33
CNS
−4.425
Melanoma
−5.09
Ovarian
−4.012
Renal
−4.27
Prostate
−4.00
Breast
−4.40
Each cancer type represents the average of six to nine different cancer cell lines. | |
A year after the war in Iraq, discontent with America and its policies has intensified rather than diminished. Opinion of the United States in France and Germany is at least as negative now as at the war’s conclusion, and British views are decidedly more critical. Perceptions of American unilateralism remain widespread in European and Muslim nations, and the war in Iraq has undermined America’s credibility abroad. Doubts about the motives behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism abound, and a growing percentage of Europeans want foreign policy and security arrangements independent from the United States. Across Europe, there is considerable support for the European Union to become as powerful as the United States. | https://www.pewresearch.org/global/dataset/march-2004-survey-data/ |
Khazdair, M.R. and Boskabady, M.H. (2015) The relaxant effect of <em>Ferula assafoetida</em> on smooth muscles and the possible mechanisms. Journal of HerbMed Pharmacology, 4.
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Abstract
Asafoetida (<em>Ferula asafoetida</em>) an oleo-gum-resin belongs to the Apiaceae family which obtained from the living underground rhizome or tap roots of the plant. <em>F. assa-foetida</em> is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of variety of disorders. Asafoetida is used as a culinary spice and in folk medicine has been used to treat several diseases, including intestinal parasites, weak digestion, gastrointestinal disorders, asthma and influenza. A wide range of chemical compounds including sugars, sesquiterpene coumarins and polysulfides have been isolated from this plant. This oleo-gum-resin is known to possess antifungal, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic and antiviral activities. Several studies investigated the effects of<em> F. asafoetida</em> gum extract on the contractile responses induced by acetylcholine, methacholin, histamine and KCl on different smooth muscles. The present review summarizes the information regarding the relaxant effect of asafetida and its extracts on different smooth muscles and the possible mechanisms of this effect. | http://eprints.skums.ac.ir/4748/ |
One encouraging aspect of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the flexible approach of the ACCC, which has demonstrated both a willingness and an ability to work collaboratively with businesses to mitigate and minimise the otherwise catastrophic impacts that COVID-19 could have on our economy.
The ACCC has moved quickly to ensure that the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (‘CCA’) will not unnecessarily stand in the way of business initiatives that are in the best interests of the public during this time. We have seen the ACCC quickly move to authorise businesses to take action which might otherwise raise competition issues across the banking, aviation, retail and medical equipment industries, amongst other. These initiatives include:
- Authorising medical industry groups including the Medical Technology Association of Australia, Medicines Australia (MA), the Generic Biosimilar Medicines Association (GBMA) and their respective members to share information between each other, co-ordinate orders and supply requirements, prioritise requests and jointly tender to ensure the continued supply of critical medicine and COVID-19 medical equipment. The authorisation was granted to assist companies to urgently address potential shortages or other constraints to the supply of COVID-19 medical equipment and to jointly address the potential for shortages and address potential supply chain issues.
- Authorising Rex (Regional Express) to coordinate flight schedules with Virgin and Qantas on ten regional flight routes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authorisation was granted to assist airlines who are significantly challenged due to escalating travel restrictions with a view to enabling them to maintain the important routes in the future. This authorisation is conditional on the airlines charging fares no higher than those in place as at 1 February 2020.
- Authorising the Australian Banking Association (‘ABA’) and banks to work together to implement relief packages for individuals and businesses affected by COVID-19, including options to defer principal and interest repayments for loans, offering deferred insurance premium payments, and refunds of unused premiums for any insurance policy that needs to be cancelled as a result of the pandemic, without charging administration or cancellation fees. The authorisations enable ABA and the banks to coordinate to ensure that customers can access services, including some counter services, in various key locations.
- Authorising supermarkets to coordinate with each other when working with manufacturers, suppliers and logistics suppliers with a view to ensuring reliable and fair access to groceries.
- Authorising shopping centre owners and managers to implement rent relief for small to medium tenants facing hardship. This will also apply to tenants that are franchisees and licensees which have a turnover of up to $50 million per annum.
- Authorising the Australian Energy Market Operator Limited (AEMO) to allow gas and electricity industry participants to work together with a view to ensuring the secure and reliable supply of energy and to mitigate the risk of outages, including by sharing resources where necessary to maintain and operate energy infrastructure efficiently.
- Authorising the Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) its members, and suppliers of crude oil and refined fuels, importers, suppliers of storage facilities and trucking or delivery services and wholesalers to co-operate to ensure that fuel supplies remain available during the pandemic. Importantly, the approval does not allow fuel companies to coordinate prices.
- Authorising members of the Australian Securitisation Forum (ASF) to work together to assist smaller lenders to maintain liquidity and issue loans to consumers and small businesses. This is especially important considering that many small businesses and individuals rely on small lenders. The authorisation should allow these lenders to continue supporting small businesses by offering affordable credit.
What the above demonstrates is that during this unprecedented time, nothing is off the cards provided it will not harm consumers or members of the public. The ACCC is eager to work with businesses to maximise the prospects of survival during the crisis. If you have an idea but are not sure of how it fits in with the regulators’ priorities during this period, contact Rebecca Halkett and the regulatory team at Kain Lawyers.
Other actions taken by the ACCC in response to the COVID-19 pandemic include:
- Establishing a COVID-19 Taskforce to communicate directly with businesses to educate and inform them about their obligations in relation to cancellations, refunds and suspensions of services as a result of the pandemic.
- Focusing on affordability issues in sectors such as energy, communications and petrol and putting measures in place to prevent excessive pricing.
- Minimising the regulatory burden of enforcement activities as far as possible with particular consideration for small businesses. For example, the ACCC will minimise the use of compulsory examinations and, where they are necessary, will conduct them by phone or video conference.
- Continued consideration for proposed mergers with the view that some applications/reviews may need to be extended in the circumstances.
- Reconsideration of exemptions in relation to infrastructure regulation if current obligations become impracticable. The ACCC will continue to monitor important sectors, including the performance of broadband services, the price of fuel, and the operation of energy markets. | https://www.kainlawyers.com.au/2020/04/23/community-problems-require-community-solutions/ |
YA Weekend: Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Series: Book 1 of System Divine
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Length: 592 pages
Author Information: Jessica Brody | Joanne Rendell
These days, more and more YA authors are turning to popular and beloved stories to create their own worlds or to put their own spin on familiar ideas. In fact, it’s become so ubiquitous that it’s no surprise that a significant portion of my YA shelf is made up of retellings. With fairy tales and classic lit being the most common sources of inspiration, I’m at the point where yet another Beauty and the Beast or Shakespearean retelling would hardly make me bat an eye, though every once in a while something will cross my path that still manages to spark curiosity and makes me sit up a bit straighter.
Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell was one of these books. When I first heard that it was modeled after Les Misérables, I was immediately intrigued. Leaving aside the fact it’s not every day you come across a Les Mis retelling, such an undertaking would also be incredibly ambitious and—as I would imagine—extremely difficult. But if the authors can pull it off? Well, then this could be a brilliant and awesome novel indeed.
The first installment of a sci-fi series called System Divine, named after the far-flung star system in which this story takes place, Sky Without Stars introduces readers to a futuristic society divided in a class system reminiscent of the three estates hierarchy used in pre-Revolutionary France. Back in the time when the First World fell, the planet of Laterre meant hope for all survivors of the Last Days. Hundreds of years later, however, it has become a place where the rulers and nobility of the First and Second Estates reign supreme, while the Third Estate—the poor common class—are left to starve in the streets.
We mainly follow three key protagonists who come from very different backgrounds, though their destinies will be forever entwined and changed by this story’s events. First, we have Chatine, a young thief whose only goal in life is to scrape together enough money to buy her way off Laterre and escape the cruel regime. Next, we have Marcellus, a promising young officer whose grandfather is also a powerful general of the Second Estate, or the class of enforcers who serve the planet’s rulers by keeping the masses of the Third Estate in line. And finally, we have Alouette, an acolyte of a secret order sworn to protect the written history of the planet, hidden in the last surviving library underground.
The three of them are brought together when, in desperate need of more funds, Chatine is forced to take on an assignment to spy on Marcellus, doing it under the guise of her male alter ego, Théo. Because his father was a notorious traitor imprisoned for his crimes years ago, Marcellus is believed by his grandfather to be ripe for recruitment by the resistance group Vangarde, prompting the need for his surveillance. Meanwhile, curious about life on the surface, Alouette sneaks out from her underground refuge for a quick peek, only to become embroiled in world of chaos and rebellion as news of a brazen attack against the First Estate ripples across the whole of Laterre.
For a YA novel, Sky Without Stars is a massive clunker of a book, as I would expect any retelling of a Victory Hugo classic would be. While I wouldn’t say each and every one of its nearly 600 pages were enthralling or hard to put down, for the most part I think the authors should be commended for doing a great job with the concept, especially given the restrictions they were working with and the fact that they injected a lot of their own ideas. This made for some truly fascinating world-building, the sci-fi setting with its advanced tech contrasting nicely with the historical events the story is based on—namely the events leading up to and surrounding the June Rebellion, the anti-monarchist uprising that inspired Les Misérables. Issues like the wealth disparity between classes and the overall poor living conditions of the Third Estate played well into the novel’s dystopian themes of injustice and revolution, and the world itself is strongly influenced by French culture and language.
Despite the length of the novel, I also managed to get through it rather quickly, thanks to the rock-solid writing and smooth pacing. I do think that most of the book’s readability can be attributed to the use of multiple POVs, which were some of most balanced I have ever seen in that I didn’t think any of the characters were over or underrepresented. When you’re dealing with a huge tome like this, and an author collaboration to boot, so many things could have gone wrong with regards to character development, yet I felt Chatine, Marcellus, and Alouette’s roles were all equally well written and explored. This resulted in surprisingly few lulls in the narrative, because I genuinely found them all interesting to read about.
Needless to say, fans of retellings will eat this one right up, but I also wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this novel to readers of epic fantasy or anyone who enjoys a rich and textured sense of vastness to go with their stories of layered adventure and intrigue. Considering the many ways this Les Misérables retelling could have strayed from its intended course or blown up in all our faces, Sky Without Stars actually turned out to a surprisingly well-rounded and entertaining read. I will be sure to pick up the next volume. | https://bibliosanctum.com/2019/04/21/ya-weekend-sky-without-stars-by-jessica-brody-and-joanne-rendell/ |
Fact Sheet: Free Radicals, Antioxidants And Medical Myths
But antioxidants can be beneficial. So how can you tell the difference between the facts and false health advice on this pervasive topic? This factsheet explains what free radicals are and the role played by antioxidants.
Atoms: building blocks of the world Everything in the world is made up of atoms. These are tiny particles made up of other particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. The last of these, electrons, are most important when discussing free radicals.
Protons and neutrons are found in the centre of an atom. They determine things like how much mass it has and what kind of atom it is – oxygen, for example, or gold. Electrons are found in the outer “shell” of an atom. They determine, among other things, how well it bonds to other atoms.
When atoms join together they form molecules. For example, a water molecule (represented by the molecular formula H2O) is made when two hydrogen atoms (H) and one oxygen atom (O) are joined.
Atoms also join to make complex molecules like the proteins that make up much of our bodies, the DNA that stores our genetic information and the chemicals we use to digest food.
Atoms are most stable when their outer electrons are in pairs. Because of this, atoms often bond together by “sharing” electrons. One atom with an electron that is unpaired can share it with another atom and form a stable bond.
Free radicals: damaging, but not always bad Free radicals are typically formed when an atom or molecule gains or loses an electron so that its electrons are not in stable pairs. They are created as a normal product of energy production in our cells, but can also be caused by environmental factors like tobacco smoke or radiation such as ultraviolet light from the sun.
The “stronger” free radical will then “steal” an electron from another molecule to re-pair its electrons. This process is called “oxidation”, although it doesn’t need to involve an oxygen atom.
This can damage the molecule the electron was taken from, changing its shape and making it behave differently. This molecule (which is oxidised) may steal electrons from other atoms or molecules to make up for the one it lost. This causes a “cycle of oxidation”, where molecule after molecule is oxidised and then goes on to oxidise another.
According to Dr Helmut Sies, a professor at Heinrich-Heine University in Germany and a senior scientist at Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, free radicals “are necessary for normal metabolism”. But they can cause damage when their levels increase.
For example, free radicals can damage the DNA that stores a person’s genetic information. This is thought to contribute to cancer as well as accelerate aging.
This damage is often referred to as oxidative stress. Healthy levels of oxidative stress are known as oxidative eustress.
Because free radicals aren’t always damaging, oxidative stress is often defined by “an imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants”. So, what are antioxidants, and can they prevent the damage caused by free radicals?
Antioxidants: helpful, but not magic The term “antioxidant” is used for a broad range of chemicals involved either in the process of repairing oxidative damage, or regulating oxidative stress.
They do this by “donating” electrons to free radicals (molecules with unpaired electrons) and neutralising them. This prevents them from stealing electrons from important molecules in the body. Through this process they can undo the damage done by oxidation, or stop a cycle of oxidation from continuing. Because of this, antioxidants are sometimes called “free radical scavengers”.
According to Harvard University’s school of public health, there are “hundreds, probably thousands, of different substances that can act as antioxidants”.
Some antioxidants, known as “endogenous” antioxidants, are produced by the body. But they are ineffective without exogenous antioxidants, which can’t be manufactured by the body and instead come from a person’s diet. A healthy diet requires nutrients with antioxidant properties.
Not all antioxidants work in the same way and they aren’t all interchangeable. Harvard writes: “Some substances that act as antioxidants in one situation may be pro-oxidants – electron grabbers – in a different situation.”
It is also possible to do more harm than good by consuming large amounts of something with antioxidant properties. Vitamins A and C can both have antioxidant properties, but may also be harmful when taken in large amounts. Beta carotene, a red-orange plant pigment, can increase cancer risk in large doses.
Experts, like those at the United States’ National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, typically recommend avoiding antioxidant supplements. This is because they can contain far greater amounts of antioxidants than recommended to stay healthy.
Instead, a balanced diet with several daily portions of fruits and vegetables should be enough to provide the antioxidants a person needs.
Common antioxidant myths While evidence for the benefits of antioxidants is limited, health claims about antioxidants don’t often acknowledge this. Some popular claims about antioxidant-rich diets seem almost miraculous, with benefits that include curing cancer or preventing aging.
Myth 1: Antioxidants can prevent cancer Free radicals and oxidative stress are thought to be one major cause of cancer. But this doesn’t mean that a diet rich in antioxidants can prevent cancer.
The United States National Cancer Institute explains that antioxidants have been shown to minimise the kinds of free radical damage associated with cancer. But studies of the benefits of antioxidant supplements or antioxidant-rich diets have not been promising.
Studies conducted on cells in a test tube (called in vitro studies) have indicated that there may be a link between certain antioxidants and a decreased risk of developing certain cancers. But large scale clinical trials on humans generally show no benefits.
There is also evidence to suggest that antioxidants can interfere with cancer treatments. Therapies like radiation therapy and chemotherapy often rely on oxidative stress to kill cancer cells, and antioxidant-rich diets may protect these cancer cells from harm.
A 2008 review of literature recommended against using antioxidant supplements in conjunction with cancer treatments “because of the possibility of tumour protection and reduced survival”. A 2017 review did not caution against their use, but found “a clear lack of consistent data supporting the use of antioxidants in cancer prevention and treatment”.
Myth 2: Antioxidants can slow or prevent aging While it’s thought that oxidative stress may be one of the factors that cause aging, this isn’t the only theory. And even if free radicals are to blame for aging, there is little evidence to show that antioxidants help to slow the process.
The oxidative damage theory of aging was first proposed in the 1950s and is based on two concepts. First, that damage due to oxidative stress (especially to DNA) builds up over time, causing degradation associated with aging. Second, that oxidative stress can cause conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease and arthritis, which may accelerate aging.
But after many years of study, it still isn’t clear how much of a role free radicals play in this process – if any. And there are several other theories of aging that don’t involve free radicals.
How to assess claims about antioxidants and free radicals Antioxidants and free radicals are complicated. As a result, they are regularly the topic of dodgy or suspicious health claims. How can you assess claims like these?
The first rule of thumb when considering any health claim is: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Antioxidants can have health benefits but claims that they can totally prevent specific diseases are unlikely to be true. Look for peer reviewed evidence, preferably from large-scale clinical trials in humans. Most trials on the benefits of antioxidants have been conducted in test tubes, on animals, or in “observational” studies (which can’t easily control for variables that might change the results). So the evidence for any effectiveness is limited. Consult your doctor if you are worried that your diet may not contain enough antioxidants, or you simply want advice on preventing certain health conditions. Someone who knows your unique diet, health and medical history is more likely to know whether vitamin supplements or a change in diet would benefit you. Lastly: think twice before sharing unverified health claims. Be especially careful of claims that include seemingly miraculous health benefits. If you don’t know that a piece of health advice is trustworthy or safe, it’s best not to share it with others.[ | |
Ghana’s debt makes development impossible: here are some solutions
Author
Disclosure statement
Adu Owusu Sarkodie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
By the year 2000, the government of Ghana had borrowed so much that the country was in debt distress. It then subscribed to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Consequently, much of the country’s external debt of over US$4 billion was written off by creditors. By the time the initiative ended in 2006, Ghana’s total public debt stock was US$780 million (25% of GDP). The debt stock has since risen by 7000% to $54 billion, which is 78% of GDP. The current debt to GDP ratio is 78%, while the average for developing countries is 60%. Economist, Adu Owusu Sarkodie, explains how this happened, why it’s a problem and what can be done.
How did Ghana get into this situation?
After the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative ended in 2006, the public debt stock has largely been driven by the continuous accumulation of budget deficits (48.6%), the currency deprecation (28.2%), and off-budget borrowings (23.2%). Between 2017 and 2019, Ghana’s debt stock grew astronomically for three main reasons, beyond the normal drivers.
First was the country’s energy sector debt. This is debt owed to the country’s power producers and suppliers. It has been accumulated largely by Ghana’s state-owned enterprises, that struggle to generate enough internal revenue to pay their loans. In 2021, for instance, the government has so far provided a $3 billion bailout.
Second was the financial sector clean-up exercise undertaken by the country’s central bank. Between 2017 and 2019, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licences of some banks, savings and loans, micro-financial institutions, finance houses, and investment institutions due to their insolvency and financial malpractices. The government had to raise another $3 billion in bonds to pay customers of the defunct banks and financial companies.
Thirdly, like many countries in the world, COVID-19 has had a serious impact on the Ghanaian economy due to lockdowns, border closures, restrictions in movement, and the fall in crude oil prices. The economic restrictions resulted in a fall in revenue of US$2 billion, while COVID-19 expenditures increased total government expenditure by US$1.7 billion, giving a total fiscal impact of almost US$4 billion in 2020.
How bad is it?
The current rigidity in the Ghanaian budget makes it impossible for the government to do anything without borrowing. Rigidity refers to those statutory payments in the budget over which the government has no control. Just two of the statutory payments (compensation of employees and debt service) consume the total revenue and grants. In 2020, debt service alone (paying interest plus amortisation) consumed 70% of revenue. That’s close to the level of 72% before the country subscribed to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.
Based on the estimated revenue and expenditure figures in the 2021 and 2022 budgets, the debt service burden is expected to worsen in 2021 at 82%, before improving at 45% in 2022.
For the government to be able to meet the remaining statutory expenditure and all other discretionary expenditures, it will have to borrow. If the government does not instil discipline and raise revenue domestically, or cut down some expenditure (or both) to create fiscal space, it will have to seek help in an International Monetary Fund programme.
Recently, some international credit rating agencies have [downgraded](https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/correction-fitch-downgrades-ghana-to-b-outlook-negative-21-01-2022#:~:text=Fitch%20assumes%20that%20Ghana%20will,just%20below%2020%25%20(USD5.) Ghana’s economy, citing the country’s inability to raise enough revenue to service its debt. The signal this sends to investors is that Ghana’s sovereign bond is not profitable and its default risk is too high.
The implication of this is that the government may not be able to raise money from the international capital market. The options are to either borrow domestically and crowd out the private sector, or borrow from other countries. If this option is exhausted, it will have to seek an International Monetary Fund programme.
What has been the impact on the economy?
The impact of the huge public debt and the slowed growth of revenue is that the country has to borrow to finance its spending every time. Until the government borrows it can do virtually nothing. This has slowed down the government’s ability to implement its programmes and policies to grow and transform the economy and create jobs.
Over a 16-year period (2006-2021), the country’s economic growth was largely driven by the extractive sector. This sector is capital intensive: it uses more machines than human beings. The effect is that, though there is some economic growth, the source of growth is not from sectors of the economy that can generate employment. This is why unemployment has increased from 5% to 13%.
Are there any solutions?
Ghana finds itself in difficult position. The only way out is to raise enough revenue to finance its development. Even if the government succeeded in borrowing, it would still have to raise revenue domestically to service the debt. Therefore, there is no substitute for domestic resource mobilisation. The projected budget deficit for 2022 is $6 billion. The government will have to raise revenue through taxes (without overburdening the taxpayers) and non-tax sources.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies researched the sources of revenue to the government in 2018 and made the following recommendations as the possible additional revenue to Ghana’s public finance annually:
Personal income tax of the workers in the informal sector – $47 million
Property tax – $157 million
Tax exemptions – $790 million
55% share of the extractive sector – $4 billion
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, there are about 7.7 million workers in the informal sector but it is difficult to measure their incomes. There is a difficulty in taxing incomes that are unknown. That is why there seems to be a good economic justification to tax them using the proposed e-levy. But the levy must be designed to achieve the objective of taxing the incomes of workers in the informal sector.
In addition to raising revenue, the government must also plug all loopholes, and ensure prudent management of public finance. The Auditor-General department and Public Accounts Committee of Parliament usually identify financial irregularities in their reports.
The recent Auditor-General’s report identified about $1.8 billion worth of irregularities in public finance. When these irregularities are checked, the government will gain the confidence and support of the citizens.
If the current growth in the public debt stock continues, then the country is likely to find itself in debt distress, which might lead to seeking an International Monetary Fund bailout. | |
Here is a short video where I take 3 phrases from Ferrando’s first aria: Un’aura Amorosa from Cosi Fan Tutte, break it down a little bit, and talk about a few musical things I’ve learned.
Remember in this moment you are having to create the atmosphere. There is no Introduction or Prelude that provides a dramatic tone. You come straight from the recitative, it is extremely exposed, you have one measure from the orchestra and off you go!!
So, two things you want to think about with this beginning phrase:
1. You are setting the structure, tempo, and dramatic tone of the aria out of the gate.
2. You want to make sure that you are setting a nice, easy, narrow vocal track with your very first onset. The tessitura of the aria is very difficult so you want to be in position from the beginning.
This is a lovely moment where you have orchestral, and textural changes, along with a new dramatic urgency. There can be a temptation to speed up because of the new orchestration, and while there might be a slight movement forward, it actually stays pretty steady. That being said, don’t be afraid to play with the rhythm and tempo here to find what is the most comfortable and most artistically expressive. One recommendation - Either stay steady, or speed up a bit, but I wouldn’t slow it down. Often times it has a tendency to lose some of the tension, and dramatic urgency, but that is my opinion. Play with it and see what you come up with.
Two things about the transition:
1. Be sensitive to the new dramatic urgency and color in this moment, and what that means for the expression.
2. Don’t be afraid to play with the rhythm and the tempo a little bit to find what allows you the greatest expression, and plays within the style.
This final phrase, like most, if not all Mozart arias, while very beautiful, is extremely difficult to execute. My suggestion, especially when first learning it, in the two phrases leading up to the first fermata(“un dolce ristoro”) - don’t make too much of them. Keep it simple, and move through them. The biggest temptation when singing these last two phrases is to lose the dramatic tension of the moment. This is a lovely moment, both musically and dramatically,so however long the pauses are(I wouldn’t make them too long, but don’t be afraid to experiment, especially when first working on it😃) make sure that you are carrying the dramatic thought through each pause, all the way to the end of the aria. And when you reach that last “Al cor porgera” move like crazy! Knock that phrase out, and get outta there!
1. In the two phrases before the first fermata, move through them. Keep it simple, and move ahead. It will also help keep weight out of the voice.
2. Make sure in the dramatic pauses that surround “un dolce ristoro” that you don’t drop the dramatic tension.
3. When you get to that final phrase - GO GO GO! | https://www.livingopera.org/blog/lessons-on-stage |
Communication Sciences Master of Arts The principal goal of the Master of Arts program is to develop clinical scientists who are skilled in the management of individuals with speech and language disorders. Upon successful completion of the Master of Arts degree, students will also meet the academic and clinical practicum requirements for certification by ASHA and licensure in the State of Ohio. Degree requirements include completion of 42 credit hours of course work and a clinical practicum in communication disorders.
The aim of the present study was to review the literature and to explore the psychological impact of dialysis on the quality of life of people with chronic renal failure.
Literature review based on studies and reviews derived from international Medline, PubMed, Cinahl, Scopus and Greek Iatrotek data bases concerning psychological problems of people with renal failure. The collection of data conducted from March to December Also, were used keywords such as haemodialysis, psychological factors, social status, economic status, renal failure, quality of life, as well as articles by the National Documentation Centre, which provided valid and documented data from global research and epidemiology.
According to the literature, Chronic Renal Failure is associated with long-term psychological effects on patients undergoing haemodialysis. A chronic illness, such as kidney failure, is a continuous process since these patients try to accept their new image and to adapt their lifestyle to dialysis treatment.
Patients with kidney disease undergoing regular dialysis face difficulties in maintaining their employment, their social life, their financial flexibility and their limitation of liquids and foods.
Complexity and chronic nature of the disease affect the quality of life of patients with CRF and their health and reduce their life expectancy. So, the role of the Nephrology Nurse is highly important for the implementation of effective nursing interventions and psychological support during their treatment.
Key words Dialysis, chronic renal failure, quality of life, psychological factors Introduction Chronic Renal Failure CRF is an irreversible and progressive kidney failure where body fails to maintain metabolic and electrolytic balance, resulting in uremia, metabolic acidosis, anemia, electrolyte imbalances and endocrine disorders.
At the same time, their physical health, their functional status, their personal relationships and their social and economic status are greatly affected. The most common stressors are financial difficulties, changes in social and marital relationships, [ 2 ] regular hospital admission, inability of holiday vacation, restriction of leisure time, relationships with nursing and medical staff, fear of disability or death, increased dependence on artificial kidney machine, uncertainness about the future and physical fatigue.
That is because the daily consumption of fluids should not exceed of ml per day due to the risk of causing pulmonary edema. An equally distressing factor is the requiring effort to follow the dietary guidelines, as the excessive intake of potassium and phosphorus is responsible for causing heart failure and possible itching or renal osteodystrophy respectively.
According to that study, Loss of employment is responsible for the appearance of intense anxiety and problems of sexual function while employment positively affects the psychological status and libido of spouses.
Physical or mental fatigue can be caused by sleep disorders or fatigue after dialysis. Specifically, these patients, before the enrollment in a program of CRF, are facing a health problem as most people with a chronic problem. After the beginning of dialysis, they exhibit considerable psychological personality disorders, such as alexithymia, neuroticism, introversion and psychotism.
Depression is associated with important aspects of the clinical course, including mortality, increased number of hospital admissions, reduced compliance with drugs and reduced quality of life.
The association between psychosocial factors and depression depends on gender, age and type of dialysis. Also, depression manifests mainly with sadness, anxiety, depressed mood, poor self-esteem, pessimism about the future, decreased libido, sleep disorders and limited appetite.Timothy P.
Melchert, in Foundations of Professional Psychology, The biopsychosocial approach to treatment planning rests on a very different approach. This approach uses a holistic perspective that focuses on the full range of psychological, biological, and sociocultural influences on development and functioning along with their interactions.
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological or spiritual interventions. There is virtually no reliable evidence that sexual orientation can be changed and medical bodies warn that conversion therapy practices are ineffective and potentially harmful.
Assessment and Treatment of Chronic Pain 2 Practical PAIN MANAGEMENT, March © PPM Communications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. Phases of Pain Treatment The treatment of pain generally proceeds through several dis-. The Department of Biomedical Engineering was established in at Case Western Reserve University, founded on the premise that engineering principles provide an important basis for innovative and unique solutions to a wide range of biomedical and clinical challenges.
Mar 29, · How to Write a Mental Health Treatment Plan Three Parts: Conducting a Mental Health Assessment Developing Goals Creating the Treatment Plan Community Q&A A mental health treatment plan is a document that details a client's current mental health problems and outlines the goals and strategies that will assist the client in 94%().
The CHRONICLE Study is a multi-center, non-interventional, prospective cohort study of adults with severe asthma who do not achieve control with high-dose inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy with additional controllers and/or require systemic corticosteroid or monoclonal antibody therapy. | https://tereqycezo.timberdesignmag.com/case-study-on-psychological-assessment-and-treatment-plan-33072ug.html |
Governance and civic education (GCE)
1 Town Hall style Meeting (THSM).
This is a mobile forum for interaction between members of the community/ civil society with local and elected officials (members of Parliament). It aims to bridge the gap and build trust between the civil society, local government, and members of the Parliament. It increases participation of the people in governance processes.
- Human Rights Education (HRE).
This workshop aims to educate citizens on their rights and how to resist violations and demand protection and justice. It equips individuals and members of the communities to be conscious of their rights and that of others. It also empowers individuals to participate in elections and all democratic processes, the workshop lasts for 7 days. | https://cepadwestnile.org/?page_id=943 |
Next week is when we were supposed to be holding our Sports Day. During next week, I would like all of you to complete a set of challenges - these can be done at home or in school (if you come to childcare or our Outdoor Learning hour). It would be amazing if you could then send me any videos and photos to share on the PE page and your results.
For details of the events please head over to the PE section of the website. This can be accessed via the link below. You will also find an at home score card below.
Wriggle and Crawl and the Scented Garden
For the Summer term, our topic is 'Wriggle and Crawl and the Scented Garden'. Take a look at some of the home learning activities that you can be having a go at, linked to our topic.
Engage Activities
Have a go at some of these engage activities, to hook you into the topic!
Community Walk
Take a walk around the local community, park or meadow to see what plants and flowers are growing there. Capture interesting images using cameras or tablets. Make a list of the plants and flowers seen, recording their findings in a simple table. Make maps and plans of the walk, recalling and sequencing what was seen, using the images as a reference. Include a key, identifying geographical features, such as the school, shops, post office, road, park and woodland.
Growing a pizza garden
Plant fast growing seeds and bulbs to grow a pizza garden. Include a range of ingredients used to make a pizza, including tomatoes, basil, onions, rocket, spinach, peppers and oregano. Listen to and follow simple instructions (verbal or written) throughout the planting task. Discuss what the seeds and bulbs need in order to grow and make a list of daily jobs that will need to be done to care for the plants.
Sowing sweet peas
Plant sweet pea seeds in eco-friendly plant pots made from newspaper and tape. Soak seeds for a few hours before planting to help them germinate. Carefully fill pots with compost, making a 3cm deep planting hole in each pot using fingers and dropping a seed into each. Care for the seeds, placing them in a sunny spot in the classroom and watering them daily.
Minibeast Hunt
Visit a local woodland, grassland, heathland, wetland or fen to observe and identify minibeasts in their natural habitat. Before the trip, talk to the children about what they might expect to see and encourage them to come up with questions about different minibeasts and the environments they live in.
Tree Shaking
Explore small trees and bushes in their local environment to discover what’s hiding in them. Work in groups to hold a white cotton sheet under a bush or small tree. Shake the tree or bush over the white sheet and work quickly to catch minibeasts with spoons, pooters and fingers. Use simple classification (identification) keys or pictures to identify species found and create a tally chart to record the different types and frequency. Back in the classroom, transfer their data to a simple data handling program, calculating the total number of each creature found in the sample area. Use the information to produce a computer generated or hand drawn pictogram or block graph.
Develop Lessons
These lessons are designed to develop the children's knowledge, skills and understanding of the topic area. This fortnight's focuses are Plants and Senses.
Activity 1 - New Discovery!
Imagine they have just discovered a completely new weird and wonderful plant or flower. Draw it and label it, talking through their ideas with a partner. Answer questions, such as: ‘What colour, shape or texture are its petals and leaves? Does it have a perfume? Is any part of it safe to eat? Where does it grow?’ Give the plant an exciting, appropriate name.
Try and use lots of interesting adjectives to describe the features of the plant.
Activity 2 - My fantasy plant
Write a non-chronological report about the new plant that they have discovered, ensuring they include the key features of the genre. Present their report to the class and explain their plant’s most interesting features. Answer press conference style questions from the other children.
Note: When writing their reports, children should use their labelled diagrams to help them decide what information to include. Encourage children to take the information, record it in sentences and think carefully about which pieces of information need to be grouped together. Children could write on a given template with provided subheadings. Some children will enjoy the challenge of coming up with their own subheadings. Once complete, compile the reports on the imagined plants to create an exciting handbook of fantasy plants.
Activity 3 - Using your senses - Smell
Explore a range of smells, both pleasant and unpleasant, using items from around the house. What can they smell? What might be inside? Sort smells into those they like and those they don’t like. Do the smells remind them of anything?
Smell has a strong link to memory and emotion. Explore what memories are evoked by the smells, encouraging children to record their memories in drawing and writing activities. Smells to include could be burned toast, vinegar, fresh bread, coffee, perfume, orange peel, freshly cut grass, manure, tree bark, sweets, soil, mint and an old smelly sock. Use your imagination. The possibilities are endless.
Activity 4 - The importance of senses
Match the five senses to images of body parts that we use for each sense. Imagine what it might be like to lose one or more of their senses by wearing a blindfold and trying to eat cereal, blocking their ears and trying to follow an instruction or holding their nose and eating an apple or onion. Talk about what it feels like to lose a sense.
Note: This could also be linked to the story of Helen Keller and the importance of smell to her. ‘Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived’ – Helen Keller.
Find out more about Helen Keller by clicking on the links below.
Activity 5 - Observational Drawings
Make detailed observational drawings of scented flowers, using hand lenses to look closely at colours, shapes and patterns. Choose from a range of drawing materials, such as chalks, felt pens, wax and pencil crayons and pastels, to record their ideas. Try smelly pens to add a sensory dimension to artwork.
Note: Tulips, roses and sweet peas are very colourful and fragrant, as well as having an interesting form for drawing work. Inspire the children with with the opportunity of looking at paintings by different artists. The work of artist Georgia O'Keeffe is an excellent starting point for flower work. Click on the link below to find out more.
Activity 6 - Helping out local environment
Help to tidy up the school’s garden or another community site. Wear gloves to pick up litter, pull out weeds and dig over borders and small patches of earth. Perhaps plant seeds and bulbs that will flower in the spring so that others may enjoy them.
Practical resources you may need:
- Sturdy gardening gloves
- Litter pickers
- Spades
- Trowels
- Seeds and bulbs
- Gardening bags
Activity 7 - Cacti Characteristics
Explore a range of cacti of different shapes and sizes. Group them according to their features and talk about why they have sorted them in a particular way. Find out their different features, characteristics and the conditions they need to grow well. Use a range of information sources, such as books, leaflets and the web and record findings in different ways.
Note: Cacti come in a multitude of shapes and sizes and are divided into two main groups, desert cacti and forest cacti, each having different habitats and needs. Show children desert areas of the world on a map or globe and highlight how far away they are from the UK.
Useful links:
Did you know? Cacti - BBC Gardening
Activity 8 - Rainforest Flora
Find out about plants and flowers that grow in a non-European location, such as the Brazilian rainforest. Use books, video and pictures to gather information about different types of plants and flowers, including how the climate affects how and where plants grow. Locate the rainforests on a world map, particularly in relation to the equator.
A typical 10km square area of rainforest contains around 1500 kinds of flowering plants and 750 tree species. Children can learn about the wide variety of foliage that grows there – from the tall canopy trees, shrubs and the young trees of the under layer to the plants and flowers that hug the forest floor, including ferns, herbs and seedlings that need less sunlight than their tall relatives.
Useful links:
Activity 9 - Bee Colony Webcam
Watch webcam footage of bees in a bee colony as they come and go from the hive and perform their duties. Look closely at the bees returning to the hive to see if some appear different to others. Pick out bees that have full pollen baskets on their legs and observe their different colours, which change depending on where they have foraged. See how bees communicate in and around the hive and watch footage of the waggle dance they perform to tell other worker bees the direction and distance of flowers that contain lots of pollen and nectar.
Did you know that pollen baskets, or corbicula, are located on the hind legs of honey bees and bumblebees? Bees vary in their ability to pack pollen into their baskets and can take between three and 18 minutes to complete a full load. They primarily use pollen as a food source for growing larvae.
Useful links:
NATURE - Silence of the Bees - Inside the Hive - Youtube
Activity 10 - Life Cycle of a Bee
Learn about the life cycle of a honey bee or bumblebee, including their egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages. Draw the bee’s life cycle as a diagram and label accordingly, adding short captions to explain each stage.
Useful links:
Activity 11 - Plant Alphabet
Make a plant alphabet frieze, take your time to draw and write the name of a plant (one for each letter of the alphabet), making the initial letter stand out clearly. Use non-fiction books and the web to research the plant names and images.
Activity 12 - Quiz time!
Write questions for a plant or gardening quiz. You could do this as a written quiz of you could even have a go at doing one on Kahoot and the class can have a go at it over Zoom!
Activity 13 - Pressing Flowers
Press a garden or wild flower between the pages of an old book and weigh down, leaving in a warm, dry place to dry out. Laminate pressed flowers when dry to create a bookmark or tag. Write a simple explanation or set of instructions on how they did it.
Note: Pressed flowers can be glued onto card and laminated. Create a hole using a hole punch, tying a ribbon through it to create simple mobiles, gift tags or bookmarks. Good flowers to press include pansies, daisies and roses.
Activity 14 - Floral Collages
Create floral collages using papers and fabrics. Represent colours and textures, explaining their intentions as they work.
Note: Inspire artwork by sharing a range of starting points such as Judith Leyster’s Tulip, Monet’s Blue Water Lilies, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Oriental Poppies, Manet’s Lilacs in a Vase, Andy Warhol’s Flowers, Hokusai’s Bullfinch on Weeping Cherry, Dürer’s Tuft of Cowslips, Jan Brueghel’s A Vase of Flowers, Henri Fantin-Latour’s Roses and Van Gogh’s Vase with Pink Roses. Encourage the children to talk about the artwork shown, considering how the pieces are similar, how are they different, what media has been used to create them, and which is their favourite and why?
Activity 15 - Making a Minibeast
Use your knowledge of camouflage and warning colours to design and make a 3-D model of a minibeast. Collect and use natural materials, such as leaves, twigs and bark, and a range of craft materials, including googly eyes, pipe cleaners and coloured pom-poms. Place your creature outside in their ‘natural habitat’ and take photos.
Useful Links:
Build your own super bug! My learning
Innovate Lessons
For the Innovate stage (where children recall and apply their knowledge independently). The Innovate lessons provides a scaffold for the children to record their thinking and present their learning as part of a project.
For the Innovate stage of our learning I would like you to have a go at making a gift with a gorgeous fragrance for someone very special.
You could make: | https://www.barnburghprimary.co.uk/classes/archive-class-pages/archive-2019-to-2020/year-2-2019-to-2020/home-learning-topic-2 |
contribution and no clear indication that information exists to support such analyses).
RECOMMENDATION: The community selection process must be more transparent and data-
driven.
2. Community boundaries – The Blueprint and CARB’s 2018 Community Recommendations
staff report suggest that final geographic boundaries for selected communities will be
defined by Community Steering Committees (CSCs). Deferring this decision to the CSCs
without further guidance is a recipe for greater confusion, conflict and delays in the AB 617
implementation process. Community boundaries should be clearly defined before any work
begins on a community emissions reduction program, and those boundaries should include
all sources that are likely to be subject to an emissions reduction program pursuant to
Health and Safety Code § 44391.2 (b)(1) through (b)(4). This approach would have the dual
benefit of ensuring that all sources potentially impacted by the emissions reduction
program have an opportunity to participate in program development and eliminating the
need to extend program requirements to sources “directly surrounding” the community. If
the community boundaries cannot be clearly defined at the front end of this process, then
the community is not sufficiently well-characterized to support an emissions reduction
program and should begin with a monitoring program to fill identified data gaps.
4
RECOMMENDATIONS: CARB should add language requiring designation of final community
boundaries before any work begins on a community emissions reduction program, and
remove all language proposing application of program requirements to sources “directly
surrounding” selected communities. CARB should also clarify that the air districts are
responsible for designating community boundaries, in consultation with the CSCs.
3. Community monitoring campaigns – The Blueprint and Appendices provide helpful
additional language emphasizing the importance of defining the duration of monitoring
programs and educating Community Steering Committee members and the public on “what
air monitoring will achieve, potential limitations, what tools will be utilized to collect, review
and interpret data, and how data will be used” (new language at E-7). The monitoring
procedures and criteria established in Appendix E should also extend to any grants issued
for community monitoring outside of formal AB 617 monitoring program communities to
ensure that all monitoring data is properly generated, validated, communicated to the
public and used in a manner consistent with its intended purpose and limitations.
RECOMMENDATION: CARB should incorporate Appendix E requirements as conditions for
any grants that may be used to support community monitoring.
4. Emissions reduction programs – We understand that the purpose of five-year deadlines for
achieving emissions reduction targets is to ensure that limited AB 617 resources can be
deployed in other communities that satisfy the statutory selection criteria. CARB should
explicitly state this intent so that all stakeholders have a common understanding of program
design limitations and duration.
RECOMMENDATION: The Blueprint documents should state that emissions reduction
programs must be designed for completion in five years, taking into account what is
technologically feasible, commercially available, achieved in practice, cost-effective and the
result of source attribution analysis to ensure the program targets the sources that
contribute to the cumulative exposure burden.
5. Source attribution – We appreciate the expanded discussion of tasks required for
community technical assessments including source attribution tasks in Appendix C (page C-
14) and we look forward to additional information on how source attribution
methodologies should be implemented in CARB’s online Resource Center. However, we
object to CARB’s position that some communities can proceed directly to emissions
reduction programs even where available data is not sufficient to support source attribution
analysis. The statute requires an assessment of the need for source-specific mitigation
measures to achieve emissions reductions commensurate with the source’s relative
contribution (Health and Safety Code § 44391.2(b)(3)). | https://fdocuments.in/document/ab-617-blueprint-california-air-resources-board-recommendation-carb-should-state.html |
So, you know I teach. You know I do yoga. And you probably figured out by now that I do actually make some art every now and again. In the last couple of years I’ve been able to create a collection of art that centers around maps.
I make multi-layered, mixed media paintings that use maps as a collage material in an unconventional way. I am interested in re-purposing maps to create imagined or abstracted places and bodies of water. Using a variety of media allows me to create interesting textures and layers with paper, paint, and thread. When working with my art materials I mimic water currents, and the actions of pulling and pushing. I let chance and surprise dictate how I will add each layer, but the artwork is a balance between exploration and extreme control. Two constant threads that run through my work are nature and movement.
So, I’m making a leap to create some sort of solo exhibition at Artomatic 2015! It’s a 6-week art festival, and everyone is invited! It’s a free event and you’ll see all kinds of art work, including installations and performances. So be on the look out for more information or pictures in the next few weeks. | https://wanderlustwithmsfitz.com/2015/10/07/art/ |
Self-Monitoring Strategies in Arithmetic Frank, A.R., & Brown, D., (1992, Winter). Self-Monitoring strategies in Arithmetic. Teaching Exceptional Children, 52-53.
Guidance for Industry Oversight of Clinical Investigations — A Risk-Based Approach to Monitoring Guidance for Industry Oversight of Clinical Investigators-A Risk-Based Approach to Monitoring
Monitoring and Evaluation Monitoring and Evaluation by Janet Shapiro (email: nellshap@hixnet. co.za) 1 OVERVIEW Brief description This toolkit deals with the "nuts and bolts" (the basics) of setting up and using a monitoring and evaluation system for a project or an organisation.
Grove, Grove Enterprises has become a world leader in radio monitoring equipment, accessories, and publications. If you decide you don't like a product, Grove Enterprises doesn't
186 Objectives Pollutants of concern for the environment must be monitored to obtain reliable information on the quality of ambient air and media.
8 Trial-Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners Appendices - trial-monitoring programme summaries of selected OSCE field operations 123 A. Fair Trial Development Project, OSCE Presence in Albania 124 B. Trial Monitoring Project in Azerbaijan, ODIHR and the OSCE Office in Baku 126 C ...
2 WebSphere Application Server V7: Monitoring the Runtime Overview IT environments are complex, involving many different servers working together to deliver the electronic functions of business.
Monitoring Well Design and Construction for Hydrogeologic Characterization - Guidance Manual for Ground Water Investigations
Version 2.0 i Water Quality Monitoring Guidebook Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds Water Quality Monitoring Guidebook Understanding the status and trends in native fish populations and the stream and landscape conditions that affect them are essential to the success of the Oregon Plan for ...
Gartner's research note, "Business Activity Monitoring: The Data Perspective, " defines the new concept of BAM and its capability in "prov iding real-time access to critical business performance indicators to improve the speed and effectiveness of business operations. | http://www.sputtr.com/monitoring |
CEOAFRICA Volunteers are group of people who have resolved to voluntarily become resource persons for this social media network. These people are therefore divided into Three (3) major parts as detailed below;
The main task of a volunteer working with CEOAFRICA as a contributor is the constant and prompt supply of content-materials on various interfaces of the social media network. These content-materials, upon submission, would serve as things to be uploaded electronically and in print inside the CEOAFRICA News, for the benefits of the followers of our site and the readers of the Bi-monthly publication of the media network. A contributor must be someone who has passion for writing educative articles, with the aim of reaching to the whole world with constructive prowess through readable materials.
Furthermore, if any of our contributors is a professional, then the person is advised to focus on the interface that relates with his/her profession. For instance, a Medical practitioner’s contribution would be more essential in the “Health and You” interface than any other area.
A contributor is therefore expected to be supplying CEOAFRICA with at least, one article per week. This would make us to keep the platform fresh with new content-materials being updated on a regular basis.
A volunteer on this category functions as the earpiece of the social media network. Their main function is to constantly furnish the site with current and correct news about happenings across the whole continent of Africa. A stringer on CEOAFRICA should be able to quickly get across to the site with documentation of incidents as they unfolds, and should be ready to make follow-up on continuous events, if necessary.
Part of what the volunteer working with CEOAFRICA as a stringer is expected to be supplying the site are pictures of events that are unfolding, live coverage of events, audio recording of the events etc.
Also, a stringer on CEOAFRICA is saddled with the responsibility of representing the media outfit at interviews which would be relevant to any of our interface. For instance, such an individual can conduct interview for an upcoming farmer about a particular crop or plant etc. If this should happen, the stringer should send the details of the interview, possibly the video content to CEOAFRICA for uploading.
A partner’s driver is someone solely responsible for helping CEOAFRICA to get individuals, groups, companies, industries, who will become partners in the area of adverts. It is the duty of a partner’s driver to project the image of the social media network to the prospective partner, thereby serving as the image-maker of CEOAFRICA in various places across the continent.
It is also the responsibility of this person to bring CEOAFRICA into the consciousness of the people, thus winning many followerships for the Social media network. If there is any message to be sent across to a prospective partner in the country of any of our volunteer, such would be done by the partner’s driver volunteer within that jurisdiction.
However, a partner’s driver volunteer is not allowed to carry out business transaction on behalf of CEOAFRICA social media network. He/she should help in getting prospective partners data, which would be worked upon by the CEOAFRICA crew in charge of adverts.
A volunteer on CEOAFRICA social media network must meet the following criteria:
All correspondence, information, content-material and profile upload can be forwarded to CEOAFRICA via [email protected].
In conclusion, volunteers on CEOAFRICA are expected to always project the positive image of the social media network through their write ups. These content-materials would be edited by our league of editors, before being uploaded online for the public to view, read and digest. Any article which could trigger violence, revolution, upheavals, chaos and anarchy shall be completely discarded by our editors, and will not be uploaded at all on our social media network.
CEOAFRICA is the first business social media network designed to identify and celebrate African entrepreneurship thus creating a medium for positive change in African economy. CEOAFRICA is a platform for Captains of Industries, Chief Executives of Corporate organisations, Executive Directors, Chairmen of conglomerates, Managing Directors, Heads of Governments, to form a common business frontier that will position African Continent as the world leading economy.
CEOAFRICA is borne out of the passion to see Africa emerge the world economic power come 2060. Africa is endowed with human, capital and mineral resources, and if well harnessed will situate Africa as the hope of the rest of the world.
Designed, Managed & Powered By Cletcom Services Ltd. | https://www.ceoafrica.com/volunteers.php |
Director of IT Infrastructure & Compliance
Job Locations
US-TX-Dallas
Posted Date
7 months ago(5/23/2018 9:42 AM)
Requisition ID
2018-25747
# of Openings
1
Category (Portal Searching)
Information Technology
Overview
Omni Hotels and Resorts creates genuine, authentic guest experiences at 60 distinctive luxury hotels and resorts in leading business gateways and leisure destinations across North America. Omni Hotels is known for its exemplary culture, authenticity to the markets in which we operate, innovation and exceptional service. Our commitment to career development has created tenure and loyalty that enables us to perpetuate our family atmosphere.
Job Description
This position is responsible for the implementation, operation and overall management of the IT infrastructure, systems and security and compliance practices in order to strengthen the productivity and profitability of Omni Hotels’ operations through reliable and stable technology solutions.
Responsibilities
Provide a balanced, high level of knowledge and support of both Network Administration and Server/Systems administration
Provide support to the Network Administrators in terms of implementation, documentation and testing the systems
Provide monitoring and reporting on accessibility of applications and technical infrastructure
Work closely with Systems Administrators, Developers, End User Support and Managers to ensure seamless secure integration of new applications into the network
Provide hands-on support as well as coaching and mentoring to the IT team members
Serve as liaison with leadership, legal, compliance and corporate risk management to analyze new requirements, standards and capabilities and to determine feasibility and timing of implementation of new programs and capabilities
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Objectives Neandertals and humans are closely related but differ noticeably in adult morphology. Previous work has been equivocal as to the contribution of postnatal growth and development to these differences. Due to disparate preservation, most analyses focus on specific anatomies, reconstructed fossils, or limited sample sizes. The objective of this research is to highlight the importance of postnatal growth in expressing Neandertal-human distinctions in the craniofacial skeleton, using a large and unreconstructed Neandertal sample. Materials/Methods A resampling approach is utilized to compare relative size change in 20 craniofacial dimensions between Neandertals (n = 42) and humans (n = 262). The large number of immature Neandertal samples within and between dental stages provides the necessary variation to test for growth differences. Nested resampling using human-human comparisons assesses the likelihood of observing human-Neandertal growth differences under the null hypothesis of similar ontogenetic variation. Results Humans and Neandertals undergo comparable levels of overall size change. However, we identify growth differences for a number of traits, helping explain some of the unique features of this fossil taxon. Nested resampling shows it is unlikely that a Neandertal-like maturation would be observed in a random ontogenetic sample of humans. Discussion Growth during adolescence appears to be fundamental in the expression of some Neandertal anatomies. Neandertal upper facial and nasal breadths appear to have expanded rapidly after puberty to account for differences between preadolescents and adults, and Neandertals and humans. Mandibular growth differences may relate to anterior tooth use to process foods and paramastication during Neandertal maturation. Am J Phys Anthropol 159:394-409, 2016. | https://research.nu.edu.kz/en/publications/postnatal-craniofacial-ontogeny-in-neandertals-and-modern-humans-3 |
Basic astronomical data
Mercury is an extreme planet in several respects. Because of its nearness to the Sun—its average orbital distance is 58 million km (36 million miles)—it has the shortest year (a revolution period of 88 days) and receives the most intense solar radiation of all the planets. With a radius of about 2,440 km (1,516 miles), Mercury is the smallest major planet, smaller even than Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, or Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. In addition, Mercury is unusually dense. Although its mean density is roughly that of Earth’s, it has less mass and so is less compressed by its own gravity; when corrected for self-compression, Mercury’s density is the highest of any planet. Nearly two-thirds of Mercury’s mass is contained in its largely iron core, which extends from the planet’s centre to a radius of about 2,100 km (1,300 miles), or about 85 percent of the way to its surface. The planet’s rocky outer shell—its surface crust and underlying mantle—is only some 300 km (200 miles) thick.
Observational challenges
As seen from Earth’s surface, Mercury hides in dusk and twilight, never getting more than about 28° in angular distance from the Sun. It takes about 116 days for successive elongations—i.e., for Mercury to return to the same point relative to the Sun—in the morning or evening sky. This is called Mercury’s synodic period. Its nearness to the horizon also means that Mercury is always seen through more of Earth’s turbulent atmosphere, which blurs the view. Even above the atmosphere, orbiting observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope are restricted by the high sensitivity of their instruments from pointing as close to the Sun as would be required for observing Mercury. Because Mercury’s orbit lies within Earth’s, it occasionally passes directly between Earth and the Sun. This event, in which the planet can be observed telescopically or by spacecraft instruments as a small black dot crossing the bright solar disk, is called a transit (see eclipse), and it occurs about a dozen times in a century. The next transit of Mercury will occur in 2019.
Mercury also presents difficulties to study by space probe. Because the planet is located deep in the Sun’s gravity field, a great deal of energy is needed to shape the trajectory of a spacecraft to get it from Earth’s orbit to Mercury’s in such a way that it can go into orbit around the planet or land on it. The first spacecraft to visit Mercury, Mariner 10, was in orbit around the Sun when it made three brief flybys of the planet in 1974–75. In developing subsequent missions to Mercury, such as the U.S. Messenger spacecraft launched in 2004, spaceflight engineers calculated complex routes, making use of gravity assists (see spaceflight: Planetary flights) from repeated flybys of Venus and Mercury over the course of several years. In the Messenger mission design, after conducting observations from moderate distances during planetary flybys in 2008 and 2009, the spacecraft entered into an elongated orbit around Mercury for close-up investigations in 2011. In addition, the extreme heat, not only from the Sun but also reradiated from Mercury itself, challenged spacecraft designers to keep instruments cool enough to operate.
Orbital and rotational effects
Mercury’s orbit is the most inclined of the planets, tilting about 7° from the ecliptic, the plane defined by the orbit of Earth around the Sun; it is also the most eccentric, or elongated planetary orbit. As a result of the elongated orbit, the Sun appears more than twice as bright in Mercury’s sky when the planet is closest to the Sun (at perihelion), at 46 million km (29 million miles), than when it is farthest from the Sun (at aphelion), at nearly 70 million km (43 million miles). The planet’s rotation period of 58.6 Earth days with respect to the stars—i.e., the length of its sidereal day—causes the Sun to drift slowly westward in Mercury’s sky. Because Mercury is also orbiting the Sun, its rotation and revolution periods combine such that the Sun takes three Mercurian sidereal days, or 176 Earth days, to make a full circuit—the length of its solar day.
As described by Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, Mercury travels around the Sun so swiftly near perihelion that the Sun appears to reverse course in Mercury’s sky, briefly moving eastward before resuming its westerly advance. The two locations on Mercury’s equator where this oscillation takes place at noon are called hot poles. As the overhead Sun lingers there, heating them preferentially, surface temperatures can exceed 700 kelvins (K; 800 °F, 430 °C). The two equatorial locations 90° from the hot poles, called warm poles, never get nearly as hot. From the perspective of the warm poles, the Sun is already low on the horizon and about to set when it grows the brightest and performs its brief course reversal. Near the north and south rotational poles of Mercury, ground temperatures are even colder, below 200 K (−100 °F, −70 °C), when lit by grazing sunlight. Surface temperatures drop to about 90 K (−300 °F, −180 °C) during Mercury’s long nights before sunrise.
Mercury’s temperature range is the most extreme of the solar system’s four inner, terrestrial planets, but the planet’s nightside would be even colder if Mercury kept one face perpetually toward the Sun and the other in perpetual darkness. Until Earth-based radar observations proved otherwise in the 1960s, astronomers had long believed that to be the case, which would follow if Mercury’s rotation were synchronous—that is, if its rotation period were the same as its 88-day revolution period. Telescopic observers, limited to viewing Mercury periodically under conditions dictated by Mercury’s angular distance from the Sun, had been misled into concluding that their seeing the same barely distinguishable features on Mercury’s surface on each viewing occasion indicated a synchronous rotation. The radar studies revealed that the planet’s 58.6-day rotation period is not only different from its orbital period but also exactly two-thirds of it.
Mercury’s orbital eccentricity and the strong solar tides—deformations raised in the body of the planet by the Sun’s gravitational attraction—apparently explain why the planet rotates three times for every two times that it orbits the Sun. Mercury presumably had spun faster when it was forming, but it was slowed by tidal forces. Instead of slowing to a state of synchronous rotation, as has happened to many planetary satellites, including Earth’s Moon, Mercury became trapped at the 58.6-day rotation rate. At this rate the Sun tugs repeatedly and especially strongly on the tidally induced bulges in Mercury’s crust at the hot poles. The chances of trapping the spin at the 58.6-day period were greatly enhanced by tidal friction between the solid mantle and molten core of the young planet.
Mercury in tests of relativity
Mercury’s orbital motion has played an important role in the development and testing of theories of the nature of gravity because it is perturbed by the gravitational pull of the Sun and the other planets. The effect appears as a gyration, or precession, of Mercury’s orbit around the Sun. This small motion, about 9.5′ (0.16°) of arc per century, has been known for two centuries, and, in fact, all but about 7 percent of it—corresponding to 43″ (0.012°) of arc—could be explained by the theory of gravity proposed by Isaac Newton. The discrepancy was too large to ignore, however, and explanations were offered, usually invoking as-yet-undiscovered planets within Mercury’s orbit. In 1915 Albert Einstein showed that the treatment of gravity in his general theory of relativity could explain the small discrepancy. Thus, the precession of Mercury’s orbit became an important observational verification of Einstein’s theory.
Mercury was subsequently employed in additional tests of relativity, which made use of the fact that radar signals that are reflected from its surface when it is on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth (at superior conjunction) must pass close to the Sun. The general theory of relativity predicts that such electromagnetic signals, moving in the warped space caused by the Sun’s immense gravity, will follow a slightly different path and take a slightly different time to traverse that space than if the Sun were absent. By comparing reflected radar signals with the specific predictions of the general theory, scientists achieved a second important confirmation of relativity. | https://www.britannica.com/place/Mercury-planet/Basic-astronomical-data |
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This publication summarizes discussions and recommendations produced during the Webinar organized by UN Women in Libya in celebration of the International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022.
Gender-inclusive peace processes: Strengthening women’s meaningful participation through constituency building
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This report on the proceedings of the global conference “Gender-inclusive peace processes: Strengthening women’s meaningful participation through constituency building” explores current challenges, best practices, and recommendations on how best to leverage the practice of constituency building to further gender-inclusive peace.
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This newsletter captures the latest updates on the implementation of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) in Lebanon. The newsletter includes the key highlights and achievements of the WPHF programme partners' towards enhancing women’s participation in the Beirut Port Explosion’s response and recovery process.
Increasing the Representation of Women Peace Mediators: Collaborative Leadership Models for Ensuring Equality
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The paper considers the under-representation of women in high-level mediation and peacemaking positions. Set in the context of successive normative commitments to increase the representation of women in high-level mediation, the paper considers why peace process mediation appears to be an outlier in the general trend towards gender parity in UN senior posts in particular.
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This report on the proceedings of the 2018 conference “Women’s meaningful participation in peace processes: Modalities and strategies across tracks”, explores innovations, trends, and challenges in the interplay between official, high-level processes and unofficial processes in which civil society plays a leadership role.
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This brief addresses the importance of women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation to an effective pandemic response and to peacemaking efforts, and how the women, peace and security agenda can provide a critical framework for inclusive decision-making and sustainable solutions. It also provides preliminary analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on women’s participation in ceasefires and peace processes and offers a series of recommendations, including on “building back better”.
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This year’s regular resources report analyses how UN Women mobilized its core contributions in 2019 to fulfil its normative, coordination, and operational activities mandate, in order to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide. Through the presentation of tangible results, this report presents case studies at the global, regional, and country levels to showcase the impact that regular resources have in the countries where UN Women is present.
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UN Women Achievements Report gives a comprehensive overview on the main programmes implemented by UN Women Egypt during 2018 in collaboration with its various partners across the four impact areas: Women’s Political Empowerment (WPE), Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) and Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality. It also features the main achievements of the programmes while highlighting the progress made under communications and partnerships.
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Humanitarian needs continue to grow with nearly 132 million people in need of assistance in 2018, due to conflict, persecution, and natural disasters. The average humanitarian crisis now lasts more than nine years, and periods of forced displacement more than seventeen. Women and girls who make up approximately half of this 132 million face daily discrimination and violence. The breakdown of protection mechanisms and destruction of essential services and economic structures in crises hits the already marginalized hardest.
The empowerment of women and girls with disabilities: Towards full and effective participation and gender equality
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This publication addresses the key areas of engagement for UN Women to strengthen its work on the empowerment of women and girls with disabilities. | https://arabstates.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications?Region=754859072ef244a89fc7e09a4451dad6&f%5B0%5D=subject_area_publications%3A1324&f%5B1%5D=subject_area_publications%3A1760&f%5B2%5D=subject_area_publications%3A1768&f%5B3%5D=subject_area_publications%3A1891 |
This report is a guide to all customer-facing financing products—products offered by a lender directly to a borrower—used to pay for energy efficiency. Intended for state and local governments that are deciding whether to start a new program, tune up and existing program, or create a Green Bank, it provides information on the full range of financing product options for target participants, the tradeoffs of various products, and potential advantages and disadvantages for different types of customers.
Resources
Showing results 1 - 8 of 8
There are more than 17 million multifamily households nationwide, yet they remain a significant and mostly untapped opportunity for energy efficiency gains. Many cities and states that have embraced energy retrofitting as a job creator and boon to both the environment and economy have yet to address potential savings in multifamily properties, primarily because of obstacles not faced by single family and commercial properties. This paper discusses two barriers -- a lack of information and financing -- that stand in the way of multifamily energy retrofits.
Reviews and summarize energy efficiency financing models and strategies. Models are analyzed according to funding sources, program structures, limits to scale, repayment vehicles, and project risks. Strategies consider applicable building sectors, models, levels of establishment, growth potential, advantages, and disadvantages.
Scaling Energy Efficiency in the Heart of the Residential Market: Increasing Middle America's Access to Capital for Energy Improvements
This U.S. Environmental Protection Agency resource is intended to help state and local governments design finance programs for their jurisdiction. It describes financing program options, key components of these programs, and factors to consider as they make decisions about getting started or updating their programs.
This report presents results, recommendations, and case studies of energy efficiency financing programs. | https://rpsc.energy.gov/resources?f%5B0%5D=organization_or_program%3A737&f%5B1%5D=organization_or_program%3A744&f%5B2%5D=organization_or_program%3A832&f%5B3%5D=organization_or_program%3A878&f%5B4%5D=program_component%3A5&f%5B5%5D=type%3A77&f%5B6%5D=type%3A80&%3Bamp%3Bf%5B1%5D=field_state_or_territory%3A742&%3Bamp%3Bf%5B2%5D=field_state_or_territory%3A746&%3Bf%5B1%5D=field_organization_or_program%3A3337 |
Amtrak connects South Station to major cities around the country. Amtrak Acela trains to New York City and Washington, DC depart several times each day. Regional trains travelling to points north of Boston depart from North Station. Customer Service: 1 800 872-7245. Metro-North's Way Ahead Plan, First Year Accomplishments Tarrytown Station Interior Renovations through End of First Quarter 2020 Grand Central Terminal East Side Escalators at GCT Market Entrance Closed for Replacement North End Access Elevator at 47th Street and Madison Ave. Out of Service to Accommodate East Side Access Construction thru 1st.
Northstar Commuter Rail - Sunday - SOUTHBOUND Sunday — from Big Lake to Target Field/downtown Minneapolis. Coon Rapids-Riverdale Station. Anoka Station. Ramsey Station. Elk River Station. Big Lake Station. These times are average and may apply only to the main portion of the route. The system is split into two parts, with lines north of Boston having a terminus at North Station and lines south of Boston having a terminus at South Station. Currently, there are several extensions of the Commuter Rail system under construction or in the planning stages.
Unlike the time-scale subway map, the rail diagram also adds a useful piece of information beyond travel times--service frequency. While on the subway you can show up at any station and expect not to wait too long for the next train, service at the commuter rail stations varies quite a bit. “Because it takes every train that goes in and out of North Station, it’s the single busiest bridge on the north side and, probably, in the entire commuter rail system,” said the MBTA’s.
31.03.2014 · Commuter Rail Map » Please note that the last outbound train on several lines may leave before the end of some Red Sox night games. Please plan accordingly and check complete schedule information. 1 The commuter rail lines allow you to connect to the Rapid Transit or bus network at North Station, South Station, Back Bay Station, or Ruggles. Following a robust public comment period, the MBTA has released new commuter rail schedules that will take effect on May 23. The changes are designed to improve performance and allow for greater schedule reliability. The changes will improve passengers’ experience through consistent arrival and departure times, and additional express service.
helps you decide where to buy a house around London. It tells you which stations are within your preferred commute time of the central London station nearest to your work. It also tells you information like the average house prices, crime rates, and. It also gives MBTA Commuter Rail two completely separate non-connected operations between north and south. There is a slow and complicated routing around Boston that is used by MBTA and Amtrak for equipment moves. The passengers amenities at North Station itself are quite small for a. At times, it can be dangerously crowded, and commuters have often missed trains because they could not get through the crowds waiting for the Fleet Center gates to open. Location: North Station MBTA Commuter Rail More Images: 1-50 51-76 Page Credits. Map by Michael Calcagno. Hundreds of North Station commuters and Red Sox revelers faced long lines stretching down Causeway Street Wednesday afternoon, as officials predicted record ridership on the commuter rail.
I've been to North Station many, many times over the years, both through the commuter rail and the T. It's pretty small and outdated compared to South Station, but it has TD Garden so there's that. Still has pretty decent amenities overall, even though it's not always the cleanest. Printable & PDF maps of NYC commuter rail, urban rail & suburban train with informations about the NJ Transit, Path, LIRR et MNR network map, the stations and the 29 lines & routes. 12.01.2019 · North Station MBTA Commuter Rail during weekday morning rush hour. Follow me on Instagram at BittyBoston.
Located on Fisher Street and Smith Parkway, the Westborough Commuter Rail Station is a stop for trains that run in both directions between Boston and Worcester. Parking is available on-site for 443 cars. Check the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority MBTA for train schedules, which vary between weekdays and weekends.. Here are how-to tips for first time riders. Northstar Park & Ride stations: Each station has ticket machines, a Go-To Card reader, enhanced maps and announcements so you’ll always know when the next train is coming. You can check out the various Park & Ride locations or find the station nearest you.
The trains take longer to leave stops and you'll miss your commuter rail train. Caroline Crean September 3, 2012. They need more times during the weekend, there's nothing between 5:50pm & 8:30pm. It would help out A LOT!. mbta north station greenline boston • mbta orange line at north station boston •. 5 reviews of North Billerica Commuter Rail Station "Huge parking lot- I got there at 7 AM and there were still tons of spaces left. Antiquated payment system- Credit and debit cards are not accepted. You have to remember your space number, walk.
Travel Time from Boston to North Station Commuter Rail by Road cannot be Calculated.Try for Flight Time. Distance Calculator Direction Finder Show Bigger Map Travel Planner Travel Time Calculator Flight Distance Calculator Flight Time Calculator How far is A from B Route Planner Trip Cost Calculator Latitude Longitude Finder. Get directions, reviews and information for North Billerica Commuter Rail Station in North Billerica, MA. BOSTON CBS — The MBTA is planning to install gates at three major commuter rail stations to collect more fares. Keolis customer service said the gates will be added at North Station, South. South Station, Boston MA. Riding Commuter Rail Trains. Neglected in favor of highway construction for many years, the Commuter Rail system is finally undergoing some improvements and modernization, though there are still many obsolete train cars, locomotives and other. Patty McEvoy spent five years riding the Middleborough commuter rail back and forth into. year on-time performance for the commuter rail is 87. arrive during rush hour at North Station.
Currently, riding commuter rail costs far more than nearby bus and subway lines. For instance, a Red Line trip from Braintree to South Station costs $2.25, and includes free bus transfers. A commuter rail trip between those same stations costs $6.75, which is three times. MBTA Commuter Rail, Boston, Massachusetts. 11,344 likes · 367 talking about this. The official MBTA Commuter Rail Facebook Page. For service alerts follow us on Twitter at @MBTA_CR. 30.10.2019 · NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A new train station is coming to North Brunswick, New Jersey. It’s expected to take pressure off the heavily crowded NJ TRANSIT station. 21.03.1986 · RAIL STRIKE TIES UP COMMUTERS NORTH OF. because of a labor dispute that has stopped commuter rail service north of Boston. Five lines running out of North Station. | http://maruti365.bet/commuter-rail-times-north-station |
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This invention relates to novel compounds having a 7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylic acid skeleton. More particularly, this invention relates to compounds represented by the following formula
wherein R represents a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, R represents a group of the formula
in which A represents a group of the formula
in which R represents a hydrogen atom or an alkoxycarbonyl group with up to 6 carbon atoms in the alkoxy moiety, R represents a phenyl, alkoxycarbonyl or alkanoyloxymethyl group with up to 6 carbon atoms in the alkoxy moiety and the alkanoyl moiety, R represents an alkyl group with up to 6 carbon atoms and R represents a phenyl, naphthyl, pyridyl, furyl or thienyl group; and R represents a hydrogen atom or a C aralkyl group which may be substituted by a halogen atom or a C alkoxy, phenoxy, C- haloalkyl, C alkanoyloxy, benzoyloxy, C- alkanoylamino, benzoylamino, carboxyl, C- alkoxycarbonyl, hydroxyl or nitro group, and the salts thereof; and to a process for production thereof.
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The compounds of formula (I) are novel compounds not described in the prior literature. Particularly, compounds of formula (I) in which R is -CHN0 or
have excellent antibacterial activity against various pathogenic microorganisms and have the ability to increase the antibacterial activity of known β-lactam antibiotics against β-lactamase-producing microorganisms. Hence, they can be used as an active ingredient of antibacterial agents or agents for increasing their antibacterial activity for the prevention, therapy and/or treatment of bacterial infections.
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Compounds of formula (I) in which R is ―CN→O have high reactivity, and can be used as intermediates for the synthesis of compounds of formula (I) in which R is
having excellent antibacterial activity and high utility.
The compounds of formula (I) have two or three asymmetric carbon atoms in total, i.e. the carbon atoms at the 5- and 6-positions of the carbapenum skeleton, and the carbon atom at the 1-position of the side chain at the 6-position in the case of R, being a hydroxyl group. Accordingly, the compounds of formula (I) can exist as the individual diastereomers or a mixture of two or more diastereomers. From the viewpoint of antibacterial activity, however, the carbon atoms at the 5- and 6-positions of the carbapenum skeleton desirably have 5R- and 6R- or 6S-configurations. Compounds of formula (I) in which R, is a hydroxyl group desirably have a three-dimensional structure represented by the following formula
The "alkyl group" and the alkyl moiety in the "alkoxycarbonyl group" and "alkanoyloxymethyl group", as used in the present specification, may be linear or branched. Those having not more than 6 carbon atoms, preferably not more than 4 carbon atoms, are suitable. Examples of the "alkyl group" are methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, pentyl and hexyl. Examples of the "alkoxycarbonyl group" include methoxycarbonyl, ethoxycarbonyl and isopropoxycarbonyl. Examples of the alkanoyloxymethyl group" include acetyloxymethyl, propionyloxymethyl and isovaleryloxymethyl.
The term "lower", as used in this application, means that a group or compound qualified by it has not more than 6 carbon atoms, preferably not more than 4 carbon atoms.
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The aryl moiety in the C aralkyl groups may be monocyclic as in phenyl or bicyclic as in naphthyl. The alkyl moiety in these aralkyl groups is preferably lower. Examples of the unsubstituted aralkyl groups include benzyl, p-tert-butylbenzyl, p-methylbenzyl, 2,4-dimethylbenzyl, 2,4,6-trimethylbenzyl, benzhydryl, 1,1-diphenylethyl, 1,1-diphenylpropyl, 1,1-diphenylbutyl, trityl and p-methyltrityl. Examples of the substituted aralkyl groups are p-chlorobenzyl, p-bromobenzyl, p-methoxybenzyl, p-tert-butoxybenzyl, 3,5- bis-tert-butoxy-4-hydroxybenzyl, m-phenoxybenzyl, p-trifluoromethylbenzyl, o- or p-pivaloyloxybenzyl, p-acetoxybenzyl, p-benzoyloxybenzyl, p-2-ethylhexanoylbenzyl, p-benzamidebenzyl, p-carboxybenzyl (including the case where the carboxy is in the form of its alkali metal salt), p-methoxycarbonylbenzyl, p-ethoxycarbonylbenzyl, p-butoxycarbonylbenzyl, p-hydroxybenzyl, o- or p-nitrobenzyl, p-chlorobenzhydryl, p-methoxybenzhydryl, p-acetoxybenzhydryl, p-nitrobenzhydryl, m- or p-chlorotrityl, p-bromotrityl, p-methoxytrityl, p-ethoxytrityl and p-nitrotolyl.
Typical examples of the compounds of formula (1) provided by this invention are shown in the following table in addition to those given in Examples
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Compounds of formula (I) in which R is a hydrogen atom can exist in the form of salts. Examples of the salts include alkali metal salts such as sodium, potassium and lithium salts; alkaline earth metal salts such as calcium and magnesium salts; salts with other metals such as aluminum salts; ammonium salts; salts with primary, secondary or tertiary amines such as monoethylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine, monoethanolamine and diethanolamine salts; and salts with other organic bases such as benzathine and procaine salts. Of these examples, pharmaceutically acceptable salts are preferred. Above all, the alkali metal salts such as sodium and potassium salts are preferred.
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A preferred group of the compounds of formula (I) provided by this invention is―CHNO as R. Above all, compounds of this group in which Ris a hydrogen atom or a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group are preferred.
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According to this invention, compounds of formula (I) in which R is -CHNO, i.e.
wherein R, represents a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group and R is as defined above, can be produced by reacting a compound of the formula
wherein Z represents a group of the formula -CHCHNHCOCH or a group of the formula
and R and R are as defined above, with nitromethane in the presence of a base.
The reaction of the compound of formula (II) with nitromethane can be carried out usually in the absence of solvent using a large excess of nitromethane. As required, it may be carried out in a polar solvent such as N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), tetrahydrofuran (THF), 1,4-dioxane, hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) and glyme. In the case of using the solvent, the proportion of nitromethane is desirably at least 1 mole, preferably 10 to 100 moles, per mole of the compound of formula (II).
The above reaction can be terminated in about 15 minutes to about 3 hours at a temperature of generally about -50°C to about 80°C, preferably about -30°C to room temperature.
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The reaction is carried out in the presence of a base. Examples of bases which can be used in this invention are organic bases such as tetramethylguanine, 2-dimethylamino-1pyrrone, 1,4, diazabicyclo-[2.2.2]octane, 1,5-diazabicyclo[3.4.0]nonene-5 (DBN), 1,5-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undecene-5 (DBU) and triethylamine. Of these bases, tetramethylguanidine, DBN and DBU are advantageously used. The amount of the base is not limited in particular. Its suitable amount is generally at least 0.5 mole, preferably 1 to 5 moles, per mole of the compound of formula (II).
Thus, the compound of formula (1-1) is formed in a good yield. This compound can be isolated from the reaction mixture by known methods, for example, by extraction with an organic solvent, or column chromatography using silica gel, Bio-beads (a product of Bio-Rad Laboratories) and Sephadex LH-20 (a product of Pharmacia Fine Chemicals AB). If desired, without isolating it, the reaction mixture can be directly subjected to a reaction to be described hereinafter.
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The starting compounds of formula (II) in which Z represents a group of the formula -CHCHNHCOCH are known compounds described, for example, in U.S. Patent No. 4,337,199.
Compounds of formula (II) in which Z represents a group of the formula
are novel. These novel compounds can be easily produced by ketalizing in a manner known per se the hydroxyl .groups at the a- and y-positions of the pantoyl group of the known antibiotics OA-6129A, OA-6129B1 or OA-6129B2 described, for example, in European Laid-Open Patent Application No. 48999A1, and then oxidizing the products as described in U.S. Patent No. 4,337,199.
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According to this invention, the compounds of formula 1-1) produced by the method described hereinabove can be dehydrated to compounds of formula (I) in which R is―CN→O, i.e. compounds of the following formula (1-2)
wherein R, and R, are as defined above.
Dehydration of the compounds of formula (1-1) can be carried out with a dehydrating agent in the aforesaid polar solvent. Examples of the dehydrating agent that can be used include acid chlorides such as methyl chloroformate, acetyl chloride, phosphorus oxychloride and thionyl chloride; and isocyanates such as phenyl isocyanate. The amount of the dehydrating agent is not particularly restricted. Preferably, it is used in an amount of at least 1 equivalent, preferably 1.2 to 2 equivalents, per mole of the compound of formula (1-1).
The reaction temperature may be generally about -50°C to room temperature, preferably about -20°C to about 0°C. At this temperature, the reaction can be terminated in about 15 minutes to about 3 hours.
The compounds of formula (1-1) can be obtained in a good yield. They can be isolated by the method exemplified above, or can be subjected to a subsequent reaction without isolation.
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By reacting the compounds of formula (1-2) further with compounds represented by the formulas
or
wherein R, R, R and R are as defined above, compounds of formula (I) in which R represents
.e. compounds of the following formula
wherein R, R, and A are as defined above, can be obtained.
The reaction of the compounds of formula (1-2) with the compounds of formula (III), (IV), (V) or (VI) usually proceeds almost quantitatively at a temperature of about -20°C to about 80°C, preferably about 0°C to room temperature, in the aforesaid aprotic polar solvent.
The amount of the compound of formula (III), (IV), (V) or (VI) is not particularly restricted, but advantageously, it is used in an amount of generally at least 1 mole, preferably 1.5 to 10.0 moles, per mole of the compound of formula (1-1).
The resulting compounds of formula (1-3) can be isolated from the reaction mixture by purifying in a manner known per se, for example, by diluting the reaction mixture with an organic solvent such as benzene, toluene, ethyl acetate and diethyl ether, washing the diluted reaction mixture with water or phosphate buffer, optionally concentrating it, and subjecting it to column chromatography using silica gel, alumina, Bio-beads, Sephadex LH-20 either singly or in combination.
The compounds to be reacted with the compounds of formula (1-2) in the above reaction may be any compound which belongs to so-called dipolarophiles. The compounds of formula (III), (IV), (V) or (VI) are typical of these compounds. These compounds are generally known, or even those which are novel can be synthesized by similar methods to those used to prepare the known compounds. Typical examples of the compounds of formula (III), (IV), (V) or (VI) which can be used in the above reaction are shown below.
Various esters such as acrylic esters, methacrylic esters, fumaric esters and cinnamic esters.
Various esters such as acetylenedicarboxylic acid esters, acetylenemonocarboxylic acid esters and esters of propargyl alcohol and phenylacetylene.
Schiff bases such as alkylidenealkylamines, benzylidenealkylamines, pyridylmethylidenealkylamines, furylmethylidenealkylamines and thienylmethylidenealkylamines.
Aromatic nitrile derivatives such as benzonitrile, naphthyl nitrile and pyridylnitrile.
3
3
3
The resulting compounds of formula (I) in which R is a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group can be converted to the corresponding compounds of formula (I) in which R is a hydrogen atom, for example, by treatment with horse blood or by hydrogenolysis. Compounds of formula (I) in which R is a hydrogen atom can be converted to salts of above-exemplified types by a customary method.
The compounds of formula (I) provided by this invention, particularly the compounds of formula (1-1) or (1-3), have excellent antibacterial activity, and their antibacterial activity can be determined by a known method of measuring antibacterial activity using an agar plate. The antibacterial activity of the esters of the above compounds can be assayed as such by adding 10% horse blood to an assay medium in the preparation of the agar plate.
The following Examples illustrate the present invention in greater detail.
Bzl: benzyl group
pNB: p-nitrobenzyl group
PS-5: 3-(2-acetamidoethyl)thio-6-ethyl-7-oxoazabicyclo-[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylic acid
OA-6129A: 6-ethyl-3-pantetheinyl-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]-hept-2-ene-2-carboxylic acid
2
OA-6129B: 5,6-trans-3-pantetheinyl-6-(1-hydroxyethyl)-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylic acid
In these Examples, the following abbreviations are used.
2
2
Twenty milligrams of p-nitrobenzyl ester of antibiotic OA-6129B obtained by the method of Example 5 of European Laid-Open Patent Application No. 4899A1 cited hereinabove was dissolved in a mixture of 5.0 ml of acetone, 2.0 ml of 2,2-dimethoxypropane and 100 mg of anhydrous sodium sulfate. With stirring at room temperature, 0.5 mg of p-toluenesulfonic acid was added. After reaction for 30 minutes, 6 µl of triethylamine was added to the reaction mixture, and the mixture was stirred for 5 minutes. The reaction mixture was evaporated under reduced pressure, and 30 ml of methylene chloride was added to the residue. The mixture was then washed with 20 ml of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 8.4), and the organic layer was dehydrated with anhydrous sodium sulfate and evaporated under reduced pressure. The residue was dissolved in a small amount of methylene chloride and adsorbed on a column of 2 g of silica gel filled with benzene/acetone (2/1). The column was successively developed with benzene/acetone mixtures at mixing ratios of 2/1, 1/1 and 1/2. Fractions which were eluted with benzene/acetone (1/1) and benzene/acetone (1/2) were collected and concentrated to give 6.6 mg of O-isopropylidene p-nitrobenzyl ester of antibiotic OA-6129B which showed an Rf value of 0.64 in silica gelatin-layer chromatography developed with benzene/acetone (1/4).
24
D
0
5
2
2
(1) Specific rotation: [α]: 55.0° (c=., CHCI).
CH
Cl
max
(2) UV spectrum λ22 nm (e): 319 (9700), 270 (11900).
CHCl
-
max
V3cm': 1778 (β-lactam), 1700 (ester), 1668 (amide).
(3) IR spectrum
The physico-chemical properties of this compound are as follows:-
2
110 mg of O-isopropylidene p-nitrobenzyl ester of antibiotic OA-6129B was dissolved in 7.7 ml of methylene chloride, and the solution was cooled to -30°C. A methylene chloride solution containing 42.9 mg of m-chloroperbenzoic acid was added dropwise, and they were reacted at the above temperature for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture was poured into 20 ml of methylene chloride, and washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate and then with phosphate buffer (pH 6.80). The organic layer was dehydrated over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was adsorbed on a column of 5 g of silica gel filled with benzene/acetone (2/1 The column was eluted with benzene/acetone mixtures at mixing ratios of 1/1, 1/3 and 1/10. Fractions which showed an ultraviolet absorption (wavelength 2537 A) at an Rf value of 0.24 in silica gel thin-layer chromatography developed with benzene/acetone (1/3), and concnetrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give 81.8 mg of the S-oxide having the following physico-chemical properties.
23.5
D
3
(1) Specification rotation: [α] 18.5° (c=1.0, CHCI).
CHCl3
max
1
7400
2
8
12100
(2) UV spectrum λ nm (s): 34 (), 6 ().
3
0.97 (3H, s,
1.04 (3H, s,
3
1.37 (3H, d, J=7.0Hz, CH―CH―),
143 (6H,
2
2
2.41 (2H, t, J=6.5Hz, CO―CH―CH―NH),
2
2
2
2
2.80-3.80 (11H, m, S―CH―CH―NH, CO-CH2-CH2-NH, C-4H, C―6H, C―CH―O), 4.03 (1 H, s, O-CH-CO),
4.00-4.50 (2H, m, C-5H, C-8H),
5.19 (1H, d, J=14.5Hz,
5.46 (1 H, d, J-14.5Hz,
6.17 (1 H, m, NH),
6.95 (1 H, m, NH),
7.67 (2H, m, Ar.H),
8.17 (2H, d, Ar.H).
(3) NMR spectrum [CDCI, 6 (ppm)]
m/z 687 (M+Na), 665 (M+1).
MS (FD):
CHCl
max
V3cm-': 1780 (β-lactam), 1725 (ester), 1555, 1520, 1350 (nitro).
(1) IR spectrum
CHCl
max
268
12100
(2) UV spectrum λ2 nm (ε): ().
3
3
2
1.07 (3H, t, J=7.0Hz, CH―CH),
3
2
1.65-2.00 (2H, m, CH―CH),
9
3.02 (2H, d like, J=.0Hz, C-4Hz),
3.22 (1H, m, C-6H),
4.02 (1 H, dt, J=3.0Hz, J=9.0Hz, C-5H),
0H
5.22 (1H, d, J=14.z, CHH-Ar),
15
5H
2
5.31 (1H, d, J=.z, CHH-N0),
5.49 (1H, d, J=14.0Hz, CHH-Ar),
2
5.78 (1H, d, J=15.5Hz, CHH-N0),
7.64 (2H, d, J=8.5Hz, Ar-H),
8.20 (2H, d, J=8.5Hz, Ar·H).
(3) NMR spectrum (CDCI, TMS) δ:
100 mg (0.22 mmole) of PS-5-p-nitrobenzyl S-oxide was dissolved in 10 ml of nitromethane, and the solution was cooled to -25°C. Then, 140 µl (1.1 mmoles) of tetramethylguanidine was added. They were reacted at the above temperature for 30 minutes, and then 132 µl (2.2 mmoles) of acetic acid was added. The reaction mixture was poured into 70 ml of ethyl acetate, and washed three times with water. The organic layer was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and filtered. The filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure to 2 ml. The concentrate was immediately charged onto a column of Bio-beads (1.2 cm x 90 cm), and the column was developed with benzene. Fractions which showed an ultraviolet absorption at an Rf of 0.42 in silica gel thin-layer chromatography developed with benzene/ethyl acetate (3/1) were collected, and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give 48 mg (yield 58%) of the title compound having the following physico-chemical properties:
This compound was also obtained by treating S-oxide of p-nitrobenzyl ester of OA-6129A under the aforesaid conditions.
The S-oxide of benzyl ester of PS-5 (5 mg) was dissolved in 2 ml of nitromethane, and at -25°C, 7 µl of tetramethylguanidine was added. They were reacted at the above temperature for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture was worked up in the same way as in Example 3. Fractions which showed an ultraviolet absorption at an Rf value of 0.78 in silica gel thin-layer chromatography developed with benzene/acetone (3/2) were collected, and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give 2.5 mg of the title compound.
CHCl
-1
max
v3 cm: 1785 (β-lactam), 1725 (ester), 1560, 1340 (nitro).
(1) IR spectrum
p-Nitrobenzyl 6-(1-hydroxyethyl)-3-nitromethyl-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylate:
2
CHCl
-1
max
V3 cm: 1780 (β-lactam), 1720 (ester), 1555, 1520, 1350 (nitro).
(1) IR spectrum
CHCl
max
268
13100
λ2 nm (s): ().
(2) UV spectrum
3
3
1.37 (3H, d, J=6.5Hz, CH-CH),
2
2.98 (2H, d, like, J=9.0Hz, C-4H),
3.30 (1 H,m, C-6H),
3
3.85-4.35 (2H, m, C-5H, CH―CH),
5.14 (1H, d, J=14.0Hz, CHH-Ar),
5.29 (1H, d, J=15.0Hz, CHH-N02),
5.40 (1H, d, J=14.0Hz, CHH-Ar),
1
2
5.66 (1H, d, J=5.0Hz, CHH-N0),
7.50 (2H, d, J=8.5Hz, Ar.H),
'
8.09 (2H, d, J=8.5Hz, ArH).
(3) NMR spectrum (CDCI, TMS) δ:
44.6 mg (0.07 mmole) of an S-oxide of p-nitrobenzyl ester of isopropylidene OA―6129B was dissolved in 4 ml of nitromethane, and 44 µl (0.36 mmole) of tetramethylguanidine was added at -25°C. They were reacted at this temperature for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture was poured into 5 ml of ethyl acetate containing 45 mg of oxalic acid, and washed three times with water. The organic layer was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure. The residue was dissolved in a small amount of methylene chloride, and charged onto a column of Sephadex LH-20 (1.2 cm x 90 cm). The column was developed with acetone, and fractions which showed an ultraviolet absorption at an Rf value of 0.59 in silica gel thin-layer chromatography developed with benzene/acetone (1/1) were collected and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give 15 mg (yield 54%) of the title compound having the following physico-chemical properties.
p-Nitrobenzyl 6-ethyl-3-oxycyano-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylate:-
CHCl
-1
max
V3 Cm: 2295 (nitrile), 1792 (β-lactam), 1730 (ester), 1525, 1355 (nitro).
(1) IR spectrum
CHCl
max
0
12000
λ2 nm (s): 324 (1060), 267 ().
(2) UV spectrum
3
3
2
1.02 (3H, t, J=7.5Hz, CH―CH),
3
2
1.87 (2H, m, CH―CH),
2.98 (1H, dd, J=10.0Hz, J=19.0Hz, C-4HH),
3.17 (1H, dd, J=10.0Hz, J=19.0Hz, C-4HH),
3.28 (1H, m, C-6H),
4.08 (1H, dt, J=3.0Hz, J=10Hz, C-5H),
0
0H
5.32 (1 H, d, J=1.z, CHH-Ar),
14
0H
5.51 (1H, d, J=.z, CHH-Ar),
7.63 (2H, d, J=9.0Hz, Ar.H),
8.24 (2H, d, J=9.0Hz, Ar.H).
(3) NMR spectrum (CDCI, TMS) δ:
41 mg (0.11 mmole) of p-nitrobenzyl 6-ethyl-3-nitromethyl-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylate obtained by the method of Example 3 was dissolved in 5 ml of DMF, and the solution was cooled to 0°C. Triethylamine (38 pl; 0.22 mmole) and methyl chloroformate (20 µl; 0.22 mmole) were added, and the reaction was carried out at the above temperature for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture was poured into ethyl acetate, and washed with water. The organic layer was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure. The residue was dissolved in a small amount of methylene chloride, and adsorbed onto a column of 5 g of silica gel. The column was eluted with benzene/acetone mixtures at mixing ratios of 20/1 and 10/1. Fractions which showed an ultraviolet absorption at an Rf value of 0.40 in silica gel thin-layer chromatography developed with benzene/acetone (10/1) were collected and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give 20 mg of the title compound having the following physico-chemical properties.
p-Nitrobenzyl 6-ethyl-3-[4,5-bis(methoxycarbonyl)-isoxazol-3-yl]-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylate:-
CHCl
-1
max
v3 cm: 1790 (β-lactam), 1740 (ester), 1525, 1355 (nitro).
(1) IR spectrum
THF
max
λ nm (ε): 268 (13400), 260 (12900), 253 (12000), 248 (11300).
(2) UV spectrum
3
2
3
1.07 (3H, t, J=7Hz, CHCH),
2
3
1.80 (2H, m, CHCH),
2
3.27 (3H, m, C-4H, C-6H),
3
3.73 (3H, s, OCH),
3
3.97 (3H, s, OCH),
4.10 (1H, dt, J=3, 9Hz, C-5H),
5.10 (1H, d, J=14Hz, CHHAr),
5.30 (1H, d, J=14Hz, CHHAr),
7.43 (2H, d, J=9Hz, ArH).
8.13 (2H, d, J=9Hz, ArH).
(3) NMR spectrum (CDCl) δ:
+
+-
499 (M), 4.29 (MEtCH=C=O).
(4) Mass (m/z):
50 mg (0.111 mmole) of PS-5.p-nitrobenzyl ester-S-oxide was dissolved in 9 ml of nitromethane, and at -30°C, 63.9 mg (0.55 mmole) of tetramethylguanidine was added. They were reacted at the above temperature for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture was diluted with 100 ml of ethyl acetate containing 100 mg of oxalic acid, washed with three 50 ml portions of a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride, and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The resulting oily product was dissolved in 10 ml of DMF. The solution was cooled with ice, and 42 mg (0.3 mmole) of triethylamine and 15.4 µl (0.2 mmole) of methyl chloroformate were added. They were reacted for 30 minutes. At the above temperature, 19.5 µl (0.159 mmole) of methyl acetylenedicarboxylate was added. The reaction temperature was raised to room temperature, and the reaction was carried out for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was diluted with 50 ml of benzene, and washed with three 20 ml portions of a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride. The benzene layer was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The residue was purified on a silica gel column using benzene/acetone (50/1 v/v) as a developing solvent to give 20 mg of the title compound having the following physico-chemical properties.
p-Nitrobenzyl 6-ethyl-3-(5-methoxycarbonylisoxazolin-3-yl)-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylate:-
CHCl
-1
max
v3cm: 1785 (β-lactam), 1740 (ester), 1525, 1350 (nitro).
(1) IR spectrum
THF
max
V nm (e): 325 (123000), 269 (12000), 262.5 (14200), 257.5 (13600), 251 (12200).
(2) UV spectrum
3
2
3
1.05 (3H, t, J=7Hz, CHCH),
2
3
1.85 (2H, m, CHCH),
2
2
3.00-3.80 (5H, m, C-4H, C-6H, C―4'H),
3
3.75 (3H, s, OCH),
3
3.93 (1 H, dt, J=, 9Hz, C-5H),
5.10 (1H, m, C-5'H),
5.20 (1H, d, J=14Hz, CHHAr),
14H
5.45 (1H, d, J=z, CHHAr),
7.60 (2H, d, J=9Hz, ArH),
8.20 (2H, d, J=9Hz, ArH).
(3) NMR spectrum (CDCI) δ:
+
(4) Mass (m/z): 443 (M), 374, 314.
The 3-nitromethyl derivative synthesized in the same way as in Example 3 using 50 mg of PS-5.p-nitrobenzyl ester-S-oxide was dissolved in 5 ml of DNF, and under ice cooling, 15.4 µl (0.2 mmole) of methyl chloroformate and 42 µl of triethylamine were added. They were reacted for 30 minutes. At the same temperature, 25.8 mg (0.3 mmole) of methyl acrylate was added, and the reaction was carried out at room temperature for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was diluted with 30 ml of benzene, washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride, and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The resulting oily product was purified on a silica gel column using benzene/acetone (25/1, v/v) as a developing solvent to give 25 mg of the title compound having the following physico-chemical properties.
p-Nitrobenzyl 6-ethyl-3-(4-methyl-5-phenylisoxadiazolin-3-yl)-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylate:-
CHCl
-1
max
V3cm: 1790 (β-lactam), 1735 (ester), 1525, 1350 (nitro).
(1) IR spectrum
THF
max
270
11000
264
10700
261
10000
255
8800
(2) UV spectrum v nm (s): (), (), (), ().
3
2
3
1.03 (3H, t, J=7Hz, CHCH),
2
3
1.80 (2H, m, CHCH),
3
2.50 (3H, s, N―CH),
2
3.16 (3H, m, C-4H, C-6H),
4.06 (1H, m, C-5H),
5.26 (1 H, d, J=14Hz, CHHAr),
1
5.43 (1H, d, J=4Hz, CHHAr),
5.83, 5.90 (1H, s, C-5'H),
7.33 (5H, m, ArH),
7.63 (2H, d, J=9Hz, ArH),
8.13 (2H, d, J=9Hz, ArH).
(3) NMR (CDCl) δ:
+
+
476 (M), 406 (M―EtCH=C=O).
(4) Mass (m/z):
The 3-nitromethyl derivative synthesized in the same way as in Example 3 using 50 mg of PS-5.p-nitrobenzyl ester.S-oxide was dissolved in 5 ml of DMF, and under ice cooling, 42 µl of triethylamine and 15.4 µl of methyl chloroformate were added. They were reacted for 30 minutes. At the same temperature, 47.6 mg (0.4 mmole) of benzylidenemethylamine was added, and the reaction was carried out at room temperature for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was diluted with 20 ml of benzene, washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride, and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The resulting oily product was purified on a column of silica gel (CC-7; Mallinchrodt Chemical Works) using benzene/acetone (50/1, v/v) as a developing solvent to give 18 mg of the title compound having the following physico-chemical properties.
Compounds of formula (III)
Compounds of formula (IV)
Compounds of formula (V)
Compounds of formula (VI)
Example 1
2
Introduction of the isopropylidene group into p-nitrobenzyl ester of antibiotic OA-6129B:-
Example 2
2
S-Oxidation of O-isopropylidene p-nitrobenzyl ester of-antibiotic OA―6129B:―
Example 3
p-Nitrobenzyl 6-ethyl-3-nitromethyl-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene-2-carboxylate:-
Example 4
Benzyl 6-ethyl-3-nitromethyl-7-oxo-1-azabicyclo[3.2.OJhept-2-ene-2-carboxylate:
Example 5
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
Example 9 | |
Before you can make your way to the Roman Agora, you need to first travel to Athens, Greece. As the capital of Greece, there are plenty of options for arriving here. You can certainly drive here from other parts of Greece or Europe. It is also possible to fly into the international airport. Since it is such a large airport flights come into here from all over the world. You can also take a ferry from elsewhere in Greece and then take a bus or taxi from the ferry port. The Roman Agora is located in the Monastiraki neighborhood of the city so you can access it by public transportation, taxi, or even on foot depending on where in Athens you are staying.
The Roman Agora is actually located on the Acropolis on the northern-most side. The Acropolis itself had already had buildings on it from other eras, including the Parthenon. While the Romans were in the city, they added their own agora, or marketplace. This was once a hub of activity for the Ancient Romans. Unlike the Greek Agora, the Ancient Romans actually used it as a market. It appears as if the Athenian Agora, which is also on the Acropolis, was used mostly as a political gathering.
Archaeological evidence has suggested that the Roman Agora was a market with actual shops. It is known to have had several entrances. One was on the western side – this was the main entrance. There is also a small entrance on the southernmost side. There was an open courtyard, and it appears as if the shops were on the eastern side. There was also a fountain.
Although you can easily visit the Roman Agora on its own, it also makes sense to include it while also spending time at the Acropolis as a whole. It is located close to the Monastiraki metro stop, so if you plan to visit the agora you have the option of taking public transportation from other parts of Athens and in the surrounding villages. This is also a common stop on tours that include the Acropolis. If you want to learn specifically about the Roman Agora, you should make sure that the guided tour that you choose does include it. Otherwise, you can head to the agora by yourself and take pictures and take it all in. The right tour, however, will bring the whole area to life.
While in Athens, you should take the time to visit the Roman Agora. | https://www.greekboston.com/travel/roman-agora-athens/ |
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This Element is an excerpt from Who Can You Trust With Your Money? Get the Help You Need Now and Avoid Dishonest Advisors (9780137033652), by Bonnie Kirchner. Available in print and digital formats.
Recognizing the red flags that can appear while you’re searching for a financial advisor.
Red flags can pop up at various stages during your journey in search of the perfect advisor. Pay attention to them: They’ll help you narrow down your list of potential candidates, and they might save you a lot of grief down the road. First, as you collect names of potential advisors to interview, do a FINRA broker check.
Table of contents
Product information
- Title: Spotting Red Flags: Financial Advisors to Avoid
- Author(s): | https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/spotting-red-flags/9780132178839/ |
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
The present disclosure relates to electronic circuits, and more particularly, to circuits and methods for detecting decreases in a supply voltage in an integrated circuit.
BACKGROUND
In a spatial multi-tenant application for a field programmable gate array (FPGA), the core programmable logic fabric of the FPGA consists of logic designs from different tenants that run simultaneously to boost utilization of the FPGA. Although each tenant has an isolated region in the FPGA, the on-die power supply voltage distribution networks in the FPGA are shared. This application raises a plethora of security concerns, including supply voltage attacks. To cause a supply voltage attack, one malicious tenant in an FPGA can create a substantial change in the power supply current through the programmable logic fabric that causes a decrease in the supply voltage that exceeds a threshold used for timing constraints. The circuit functionality in the other FPGA tenants are then compromised, for example, as a result of functional failures in neighboring tenants caused by timing violations.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1
illustrates a top down view of an exemplary integrated circuit containing sectors of logic circuits and voltage attack detection circuits, according to an embodiment.
Figure 2
Figure 1
illustrates further details of the voltage attack detection circuits and the central control circuit of , according to an exemplary embodiment.
Figure 3
Figure 1
illustrates examples of timestamps generated by the voltage attack detection circuits in the integrated circuit (IC) of in response to a supply voltage attack, according to an embodiment.
Figure 4
Figure 1
illustrates additional examples of timestamps generated by the voltage attack detection circuits in the integrated circuit (IC) of in response to a supply voltage attack, according to an embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In one type of supply voltage attack that has occurred in spatial multi-tenant applications for field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a single sector of logic circuits in an FPGA generates an electrical event that causes a large supply current draw from the supply voltage delivery network. The large supply current draw causes a substantial decrease in the supply voltage creating a supply voltage droop waveform that propagates from the single sector that is the source of the attack to other neighboring sectors of logic circuits in the FPGA. The supply voltage droop waveform may cause functional and timing failures in the logic circuits in the neighboring sectors. As the supply voltage droop waveform propagates from the sector that is the source of the attack to other sectors of logic circuits that are increasingly farther away from the source of the attack, the voltage level of the supply voltage droop attenuates.
In other types of supply voltage attacks that have occurred in spatial multi-tenant applications for FPGAs, multiple sectors of logic circuits in an FPGA generate an electrical event that causes a large supply current draw from the supply voltage delivery network. For example, aggressor sectors of logic circuits in one-half of an FPGA may generate an electrical event that causes a large supply current draw from the supply voltage delivery network. Because multiple sectors of logic circuits are involved in creating these large supply current events, the supply voltage may decrease more than if a single sector is creating the event.
A key difference between an aggressor in a single sector compared to an aggressor in half of the sectors in an FPGA is the voltage gradient profile of the supply voltage droop waveform caused by the large supply current draw from the aggressor. The voltage attenuation from the aggressor sectors to the neighboring (victim) sectors is much smaller (e.g., 1-2 millivolts) during a supply voltage attack that is initiated by half of the sectors of logic circuits in an FPGA. Therefore, using a digital sensor to create a voltage spatial map of the supply voltage droop waveform is much more challenging when the attack is initiated by half of the sectors in an FPGA. However, the minimum delay for the supply voltage droop waveform to propagate to the nearest neighboring sector may be large enough (e.g., greater than 10 nanoseconds) to identify the source of the attack.
According to some embodiments, voltage attack detection circuits in an integrated circuit (IC) identify the occurrence of a malicious supply voltage attack in the IC and the location of the source of the attack within the IC. Each of the voltage attack detection circuits may be located in a sector in the IC die. The voltage attack detection circuits can detect decreases in a supply voltage in the IC that may, for example, be inadvertent or caused by a malicious attack. The voltage attack detection circuits can also detect one or more sources within the IC that caused the decreases in the supply voltage. The voltage attack detection circuits are also referred to herein as voltage decrease detection circuits. Each of the voltage attack detection circuits may include a comparator, an output latch, a synchronized counter circuit, and a timestamp storage circuit. The comparator detects a decrease in the supply voltage below a threshold voltage. The threshold voltage is selected to be indicative of a supply voltage level that can cause timing violations in logic circuits in the sectors. The synchronized counter circuit is used as a time reference to record the time that a voltage attack occurs. When the comparator detects that the supply voltage has decreased below the threshold voltage indicating an attack has occurred, the comparator and the output latch stop the counter circuit from counting. The counter circuit stores the count value that indicates the occurrence time of the attack. The count value is then loaded from the counter circuit to the timestamp storage circuit and stored as a timestamp. The timestamp is then transmitted to a central control circuit. The central control circuit creates a spatial timestamp map for the IC to identify the location of the source of the attack based on timestamps accessed from voltage attack detection circuits throughout the IC.
Throughout the specification, and in the claims, the term "connected" means a direct electrical connection between the circuits that are connected, without any intermediary devices. The term "coupled" means either a direct electrical connection between circuits or an indirect connection between circuits through one or more passive or active intermediary devices. The term "circuit" may mean one or more passive and/or active electrical components that are arranged to cooperate with one another to provide a desired function.
In the following description, numerous details are discussed to provide a more thorough explanation of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG.) 1
Figure 2
Figure ( illustrates a top down view of an exemplary integrated circuit (IC) 100 containing sectors of logic circuits and voltage attack detection circuits, according to an embodiment. The integrated circuit (IC) 100 may be any type of IC die, such as a programmable logic IC (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), a microprocessor IC, a graphics processing unit (GPU) IC, etc. IC 100 includes 16 sectors that are arranged in 4 rows and 4 columns. The sectors may also be referred to as regions of the IC. 16 sectors are shown in IC 100 merely as an example that is not intended to be limiting. Integrated circuits containing embodiments of the present disclosure may contain any number of sectors, any number of logic circuits, and any number of voltage attack detection circuits. 15 of the sectors in IC 100 include 15 regions 102A-102O of logic circuits and 15 voltage attack detection (VAD) circuits 101A-101O. Each of these 15 sectors in IC 100 includes one voltage attack detection circuit 101 and one region 102 of logic circuits. The logic circuits in regions 102A-102O may include, for example, programable logic circuits, non-programmable logic circuits, memory circuits, digital signal processing circuits, or any combination thereof. IC 100 also includes an additional sector that includes a central control (CC) circuit 103 and a secure device manager (SDM) circuit 104. The SDM circuit 104 performs security functions. The voltage attack detection circuits 101 and the central control circuit 103 are disclosed in more detail with respect to .
Figure 2
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
illustrates further details of a voltage attack detection circuit 101 and the central control circuit 103 in IC 100, according to an exemplary embodiment. According to some embodiments, each of the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O in IC 100 may have the same circuitry that is shown in . The voltage attack detection circuit 101 shown in includes an analog hysteretic comparator circuit 201, an output latch circuit 202, a synchronous counter circuit 203, and a timestamp storage circuit 204. Timestamp storage circuit 204 may include, for example, timestamp registers.
A threshold voltage VMIN is provided to the non-inverting (+) input of the hysteretic comparator circuit 201. The threshold voltage VMIN is selected to be indicative of a supply voltage level that typically causes timing violations in logic circuits in regions 102A-102O. A supply voltage VCC is provided to the inverting input (-) of the hysteretic comparator circuit 201. Central control circuit 103 generates a periodic clock signal CLK that is provided to a clock (CK) input of the counter circuit 203. The clock signal CLK generated by the central control circuit 103 is provided to the clock (CK) inputs of the counter circuits 203 in all of the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O in IC 100.
The central control circuit 103 generates a synchronous reset signal RESET that is provided to the reset (R) input of the latch circuit 202 and to the reset (CNTR) input of the counter circuit 203. The RESET signal generated by the central control circuit 103 is provided to the reset (R) inputs of the latch circuits 202 in all of the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O in IC 100. The RESET signal generated by the central control circuit 103 is also provided to the reset (CNTR) inputs of the counter circuits 203 in all of the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O in IC 100.
FIG. 2
Initially, the central control circuit 103 asserts the synchronous RESET signal to reset all of the counter circuits 203 and all of the latch circuits 202 in IC 100. In response to the RESET signal being asserted, each of the latch circuits 202 in the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O de-asserts the output signal ATCK at its Q output. Each of the counter circuits 203 generates COUNT signals at its COUT outputs, as shown in . In response to the RESET signal being asserted, each of the counter circuits 203 in the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O resets the value of its COUNT signals (e.g., to zero). The central control circuit 103 then de-asserts the RESET signal. In response to the RESET signal being de-asserted, each of the counter circuits 203 in the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O is enabled synchronously to start counting by adjusting the value of its COUNT signals in response to clock signal CLK. For example, each of the counter circuits 203 may increase or decrease the value of the COUNT signals by one in each period of clock signal CLK. In an exemplary embodiment that is not intended to be limiting, the counter circuit 203 resets the value of the COUNT signals to zero in response to the RESET signal being asserted and then increases the value of the COUNT signals by 1 in each period of clock signal CLK, until a maximum and final value of the COUNT signals is reached.
The supply voltage VCC is provided through a power delivery network to the logic circuits in regions 102A-102O in IC 100. The power delivery network provides the supply voltage VCC, power, and supply current to the logic circuits in regions 102A-1020 during operation of IC 100. Supply voltage VCC is also provided to the D input of latch circuit 202 in each of the voltage attack detection circuits 101A-101O. In response to the supply voltage VCC decreasing below the threshold voltage VMIN during a malicious supply voltage attack, the comparator circuit 201 asserts its output signal VDRP to indicate that the attack has occurred. The output signal VDRP of comparator circuit 201 is provided to the clock (CK) input of the latch circuit 202. In response to signal VDRP being asserted, the latch circuit 202 asserts the latched output signal ATCK at its Q output. As an example, the latch circuit 202 may drive its latched output signal ATCK from a logic low state to a logic high state (e.g., from 0 to 1) in response to signal VDRP being asserted. The output signal ATCK being in an asserted state indicates that the voltage attack detection circuit 101 has detected a malicious supply voltage attack in the sector containing that voltage attack detection circuit 101.
The output signal ATCK at the Q output of latch circuit 202 is provided to the count disable (CNTD) input of the counter circuit 203. In response to the output signal ATCK at the Q output of latch circuit 202 being asserted, the counter circuit 203 is disabled from continuing to adjust the value of the COUNT signals at its COUT outputs. Thus, the counter circuit 203 maintains the value of the COUNT signals constant in response to sensing that signal ATCK has been asserted. The COUNT signals are provided from the COUT outputs of the counter circuit 203 to the CIN inputs of the timestamp storage circuit 204.
The output signal ATCK is also provided from the Q output of latch circuit 202 to an input of the central control circuit 103. In response to the ATCK signal being asserted, the central control circuit 103 asserts a load enable signal LDEN. The load enable signal LDEN is provided to the load enable input LD of the timestamp storage circuit 204. In response to the load enable signal LDEN being asserted, the timestamp storage circuit 204 stores the value of the COUNT signals. The value of the COUNT signals that is stored in the timestamp storage circuit 204 indicates the time that signal ATCK was asserted by the latch circuit 202, causing counter circuit 203 to maintain the value of the COUNT signals constant.
The value of the COUNT signals that is stored in the timestamp storage circuit 204 is then provided to central control circuit 103 in signals TMSP as a timestamp. The timestamp in signals TMSP indicates the time that signal ATCK was asserted by the latch circuit 202 to indicate the occurrence of a supply voltage attack. Each of the other voltage attack detection circuits 101 in the IC 100 also provides a timestamp in a set of signals TMSP to the central control circuit 103 after that voltage attack detection circuit 101 detects that the supply voltage VCC in its sector has decreased below the threshold voltage VMIN. Thus, the central control circuit 103 receives a timestamp from each of the voltage attack detection circuits 101 in the IC 100 that detects that the supply voltage VCC in its sector has decreased below the threshold voltage VMIN. The central control circuit 103 can then read the timestamps received from the voltage attack detection circuits 101 to create a spatial timestamp map of IC 100 to identify the location of the source of the supply voltage attack.
FIG. 1
As a specific example that is not intended to be limiting, if logic circuits in region 102F shown in generate a supply voltage attack, the voltage attack detection circuit 101F detects the attack first and sends a timestamp to central control circuit 103 to indicate the time that the attack was detected. The voltage attack detection circuits 101A, 101B, 101C, 101E, 101G, 101I, 101J, and 101K in the sectors closest to the sector containing the logic circuits in region 102F detect the attack later than voltage attack detection circuit 101F, because of propagation delay in the supply voltage droop waveform propagating through the power delivery network in IC 100. For example, if the voltage attack detection circuit 101F generates a timestamp value of T, then voltage attack detection circuits 101B, 101E, 101G, and 101J may each generate a timestamp value of T + 3, and the voltage attack detection (VAD) circuits 101A, 101C, 1011, and 101K may each generate a timestamp value of T + 4. In this example, T indicates the value of the COUNT signals when VAD circuit 101F detected the attack, T + 3 indicates 3 additional adjustments to the values of the COUNT signals after T in VAD circuits 101B, 101E, 101G, and 101J, and T + 4 indicates 4 additional adjustments to the values of the COUNT signals after T in VAD circuits 101A, 101C, 1011, and 101K.
Using the timestamps from each of the VAD circuits 101 that detected the supply voltage attack, the central control circuit 103 can identify the location (e.g., the sector) of the source of the supply voltage attack in IC 100. Only the VAD circuits 101 in IC 100 that sense the supply voltage VCC in their respective sectors decreasing below the threshold voltage VMIN generate timestamps that are provided to central control circuit 103. The timestamp indicated by signals TMSP in each of the VAD circuits 101 is only valid when the ATCK signal is asserted in that VAD circuit. Because the supply voltage droop waveform attenuates as it propagates through the power delivery network out from the source location of the supply voltage attack, VAD circuits 101 that are far away from the logic circuits generating the attack may not sense a supply voltage VCC that decreases below the threshold voltage VMIN. VAD circuits 101 that do not sense VCC decreasing below VMIN do not assert their ATCK signals, and as a result, these VAD circuits 101 do not generate timestamps that are provided to central control circuit 103. The central control circuit 103 concludes that these VAD circuits 101 are far away from the location of the source of the supply voltage attack.
Another factor that affects the operation of the voltage attack detection circuits 101 is the minimum number of bits in the COUNT signals generated by counter circuit 203. The value of the COUNT signals generated by the counter circuit 203 wraps around back to its initial value after the value of the COUNT signals reaches its final value. Therefore, in order for the central control circuit 103 to be able to identify the temporal ordering of the timestamps from the voltage attack detection circuits 101 in IC 100 using the spatial timestamp map, the minimum number N of bits in the COUNT signals is determined based on the maximum total propagation delay TPD of the supply voltage droop waveform across the IC, the period TCK of clock signal CLK, and the maximum delay DYM between two adjacent sectors in the IC, as shown in equation (1) below.
<mi>TCK</mi><mo>×</mo><msup><mn>2</mn><mi mathvariant="normal">N</mi></msup><mo>=</mo><mi>TPD</mi><mo>+</mo><mfenced separators=""><mi mathvariant="normal">K</mi><mo>×</mo><mi>DYM</mi></mfenced>
The minimum number N of bits in the COUNT signals generated by the counter circuit 203 is determined based on equation (1) below.
In equation (1), K ≥ 2, TCK is the period of clock signal CLK, and TPD is the maximum propagation delay for the supply voltage droop waveform to travel from the source of a supply voltage attack to the sector in the IC that is farthest away from the source of the supply voltage attack. Also, in equation (1), DYM is the maximum delay for the supply voltage droop waveform to propagate between two adjacent sectors in the IC.
DELAY
<msub><mi>MIN</mi><mi>DELAY</mi></msub><mo>></mo><mi mathvariant="normal">K</mi><mo>×</mo><mi>TCK</mi>
Yet another factor that affects the operation of the voltage attack detection circuits 101 is the minimum frequency of the clock signal CLK. The period TCK of the clock signal CLK that clocks the counter circuit 203 can be determined from equation (2) below. The frequency of clock signal CLK is 1/TCK. In equation (2), K ≥ 3, and MIN is the minimum delay for the supply voltage droop waveform to propagate between sectors in the IC.
Because signal ATCK is an asynchronous signal to the counter disable input CNTD, signal ATCK may slip one clock cycle due to meta-stability. Therefore, an additional 1 clock cycle of guard band (K ≥ 3) may be added for clock skew in clock signal CLK. As a specific example that is not intended to be limiting, if the minimum delay for the supply voltage droop waveform to propagate between adjacent sectors in the IC is 10 nanoseconds, K can be chosen to be equal to 3. In this example, the maximum period of the clock signal CLK is 3.3 nanoseconds, and the minimum frequency of the clock signal CLK is 300 megahertz.
Figure 3
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
illustrates examples of timestamps generated by voltage attack detection circuits 101 in integrated circuit (IC) 100 in response to a supply voltage attack, according to an embodiment. In the example of , the counter circuits 203 in the VAD circuits 101 increase their COUNT signals by 1 in each cycle of clock signal CLK. Also, in the example of , 6 voltage attack detection (VAD) circuits 101 generate 6 timestamps having values of 0, 4, 7, 10, 12, and 13. As shown in , the maximum total propagation delay of the supply voltage droop waveform across IC 100 is 13 cycles of clock signal CLK. Also, the maximum delay of the supply voltage droop waveform between adjacent sectors in IC 100 is 4 cycles of clock signal CLK in the example of . Therefore, the value selected for the maximum value of the COUNT signals generated by the counter circuit 203 is 13 + (2×4) = 21. The COUNT signals generated by the counter circuit 203 need at least 5 digital bits (N = 5) to generate a maximum binary value of 21.
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
In the example of , central control circuit 103 is able to determine that the VAD circuit 101 that generates the timestamp of 0 is the first VAD circuit 101 to detect the supply voltage attack in IC 100, because of the gap of 8 between timestamps 13 and 0 (i.e., 21 - 13 = 8) is the largest gap between the timestamps. Then, the central control circuit 103 determines the order in which the remaining VAD circuits 101 detected the supply voltage attack based on the sequential order of the remaining timestamps. In the example of , central control circuit 103 determines that the VAD circuits 101 that generated the timestamp values of 4, 7, 10, 12, and 13 were the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth VAD circuits, respectively, to detect the supply voltage attack.
Figure 4
FIG. 4
FIG. 4
FIG. 4
FIG. 4
illustrates additional examples of timestamps generated by voltage attack detection circuits 101 in integrated circuit (IC) 100 in response to a supply voltage attack, according to an embodiment. In the example of , the counter circuits 203 in the VAD circuits 101 increase their COUNT signals by 1 in each cycle of clock signal CLK. Also, in the example of , 6 voltage attack detection (VAD) circuits 101 generate 6 timestamps having values of 3, 5, 6, 14, 18, and 21. In , the maximum total propagation delay of the supply voltage droop waveform across IC 100 is 13 cycles of clock signal CLK. The maximum delay of the supply voltage droop waveform between adjacent sectors in IC 100 is 4 cycles of clock signal CLK in the example of . The value selected for the maximum value of the COUNT signals generated by the counter circuit 203 is 21, and the COUNT signals have 5 digital bits (N = 5).
FIG. 4
FIG. 4
In the example of , central control circuit 103 is able to determine that the VAD circuit 101 that generates the timestamp of 14 is the first VAD circuit 101 to detect the supply voltage attack in IC 100, because of the gap of 8 between timestamps 6 and 14 (i.e., 14 - 6 = 8) is the largest gap between the timestamps. Then, the central control circuit 103 determines the order in which the remaining VAD circuits 101 detected the supply voltage attack based on the sequential order of the remaining timestamps above 14, with a wraparound from 21 to 0. In the example of , central control circuit 103 determines that the VAD circuits 101 that generated the timestamps of 18, 21, 3, 5, and 6 were the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth VAD circuits 101, respectively, to detect the supply voltage attack.
The following examples pertain to further embodiments. Example 1 is an integrated circuit comprising: a first voltage decrease detection circuit comprising a first comparator circuit that compares a supply voltage in the integrated circuit to a threshold voltage to generate a first detection signal that indicates a decrease in the supply voltage, a first counter circuit that generates first count signals and that maintains a value of the first count signals constant in response to the first detection signal indicating the decrease, and a first timestamp storage circuit that stores the value of the first count signals as a first timestamp in response to the first detection signal indicating the decrease; and a control circuit that determines a location of a source of the decrease in the integrated circuit based on the first timestamp.
In Example 2, the integrated circuit of Example 1 may optionally further comprise: a second voltage decrease detection circuit comprising a second comparator circuit that compares the supply voltage to the threshold voltage to generate a second detection signal that indicates the decrease in the supply voltage, a second counter circuit that generates second count signals and that maintains a value of the second count signals constant in response to the second detection signal indicating the decrease, and a second timestamp storage circuit that stores the value of the second count signals as a second timestamp in response to the second detection signal indicating the decrease, wherein the control circuit determines the location of the source of the decrease in the integrated circuit based on the first and the second timestamps.
In Example 3, the integrated circuit of any one of Examples 1-2 may optionally further include wherein the decrease in the supply voltage below the threshold voltage indicates an attack.
In Example 4, the integrated circuit of Example 2 may optionally further include, wherein the control circuit determines which one of the first or the second voltage decrease detection circuits is nearest to the location of the source of the decrease based on a largest gap between values of the first and the second timestamps.
In Example 5, the integrated circuit of any one of Examples 1-4 may optionally further include, wherein the first voltage decrease detection circuit further comprises a latch circuit that outputs a latched signal to the first counter circuit in response to a value of the first detection signal that indicates the decrease, and wherein the first counter circuit maintains the value of the first count signals constant in response to the latched signal indicating the decrease.
In Example 6, the integrated circuit of Example 5 may optionally further include, wherein the control circuit asserts a load enable signal in response to the latched signal indicating the decrease, and wherein the first timestamp storage circuit stores the value of the first count signals as the first timestamp in response to the load enable signal being asserted.
In Example 7, the integrated circuit of any one of Examples 1-6 may optionally further include, wherein the first counter circuit resets the value of the first count signals in response to the control circuit asserting a reset signal, and wherein the first counter circuit adjusts the value of the first count signals in response to a clock signal.
In Example 8, the integrated circuit of any one of Examples 1-7 may optionally further include, wherein the first comparator circuit is a hysteretic comparator circuit.
Example 9 is a method for detecting a location of a source of a decrease in a supply voltage in an integrated circuit, the method comprising: comparing the supply voltage in the integrated circuit to a threshold voltage using a first comparator circuit in a first voltage decrease detection circuit to generate a first detection signal that indicates the decrease in the supply voltage; generating first count signals using a first counter circuit; maintaining a value of the first count signals constant in response to the first detection signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage; storing the value of the first count signals in a first timestamp storage circuit as a first timestamp in response to the first detection signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage; and determining the location of the source of the decrease in the supply voltage in the integrated circuit based on the first timestamp using a control circuit.
In Example 10, the method of Example 9 may optionally further comprise: comparing the supply voltage to the threshold voltage using a second comparator circuit in a second voltage decrease detection circuit to generate a second detection signal that indicates the decrease in the supply voltage; generating second count signals using a second counter circuit; maintaining a value of the second count signals constant in response to the second detection signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage; storing the value of the second count signals in a second timestamp storage circuit as a second timestamp in response to the second detection signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage; and determining the location of the source of the decrease in the supply voltage in the integrated circuit based on the first and the second timestamps using the control circuit.
In Example 11, the method of Example 10 may optionally further comprise: comparing the supply voltage to the threshold voltage using a third comparator circuit in a third voltage decrease detection circuit to generate a third detection signal that indicates the decrease in the supply voltage; generating third count signals using a third counter circuit; maintaining a value of the third count signals constant in response to the third detection signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage; storing the value of the third count signals in a third timestamp storage circuit as a third timestamp in response to the third detection signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage; and determining the location of the source of the decrease in the supply voltage in the integrated circuit based on the first, the second, and the third timestamps using the control circuit.
In Example 12, the method of Example 11 may optionally further comprise: determining which one of the first, the second, or the third voltage decrease detection circuits is nearest to the location of the source of the decrease in the supply voltage using the control circuit based on a largest gap between values of the first, the second, and the third timestamps.
In Example 13, the method of any one of Examples 9-12 may optionally further comprise: providing a latched signal from a latch circuit to the first counter circuit in response to a value of the first detection signal that indicates the decrease in the supply voltage, wherein maintaining the value of the first count signals constant further comprises maintaining the value of the first count signals constant using the first counter circuit in response to the latched signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage.
In Example 14, the method of Example 13 may optionally further comprise: asserting a load enable signal using the control circuit in response to the latched signal indicating the decrease in the supply voltage, wherein storing the value of the first count signals in the first timestamp storage circuit as the first timestamp further comprises storing the value of the first count signals in the first timestamp storage circuit as the first timestamp in response to the load enable signal being asserted.
Example 15 is an integrated circuit comprising: a first voltage decrease detection circuit comprising a first comparator circuit that compares a supply voltage in the integrated circuit to a threshold voltage to generate a first detection signal that indicates a decrease in the supply voltage, and a first timestamp storage circuit that stores a first timestamp in response to the first detection signal indicating the decrease; a second voltage decrease detection circuit comprising a second comparator circuit that compares the supply voltage to the threshold voltage to generate a second detection signal that indicates the decrease, and a second timestamp storage circuit that stores a second timestamp in response to the second detection signal indicating the decrease; and a control circuit that determines a location of a source of the decrease in the integrated circuit based on the first and the second timestamps.
In Example 16, the integrated circuit of Example 15 may optionally further comprise: a third voltage decrease detection circuit comprising a third comparator circuit that compares the supply voltage to the threshold voltage to generate a third detection signal that indicates the decrease, and a third timestamp storage circuit that stores a third timestamp in response to the third detection signal indicating the decrease, wherein the control circuit determines the location of the source of the decrease in the integrated circuit based on the first, the second, and the third timestamps.
In Example 17, the integrated circuit of Example 16 may optionally further include, wherein the control circuit determines which one of the first, the second, or the third voltage decrease detection circuits is nearest to the location of the source of the decrease based on a largest gap between values of the first, the second, and the third timestamps.
In Example 18, the integrated circuit of any one of Examples 15-17 may optionally further include, wherein the first voltage decrease detection circuit further comprises a first counter circuit that generates first count signals and that maintains a value of the first count signals constant in response to the first detection signal indicating the decrease, and wherein the first timestamp storage circuit stores the value of the first count signals as the first timestamp in response to the first detection signal indicating the decrease.
In Example 19, the integrated circuit of any one of Examples 15-18 may optionally further include, wherein the first detection signal indicates that the decrease in the supply voltage below the threshold voltage is caused by an attack.
In Example 20, the integrated circuit of Example 18 may optionally further include, wherein the first voltage decrease detection circuit further comprises a latch circuit that outputs a latched signal to the first counter circuit in response to a value of the first detection signal that indicates the decrease, and wherein the first counter circuit maintains the value of the first count signals constant in response to the latched signal indicating the decrease.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments has been presented for the purpose of illustration. The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limiting to the examples disclosed herein. The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this disclosure and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination. | |
When part of the regressors can act on both the response and some of the other explanatory variables, the already challenging problem of selecting variables in a p>n context becomes more difficult. This seminar presentation is motivated by a health study in mice which measures for two different diet groups of size ten each, a total of 185 microbial percentages as well as changes in nine phenotypes related to bodyweight regulation. Interest lies in understanding how diet and gut microflora diversity affect the phenotypes. The data has more variables than observations and diet is known to act directly on the phenotypes as well as on some or potentially all of the microbial percentages. I will present a recent methodology for variable selection in this context that links the concept of q-values from multiple testing to the weighted Lasso. I will then show that different informative measures of significance to q-values, such as partial correlation coefficients or Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p-values, give similarly promising performance as when using q-values. Joint work with Raymond J Carroll (Texas A&M); Tanya P Garcia (Texas A&M); Rosemary L Walzem (Texas A&M). | https://www.unsw.edu.au/science/our-schools/maths/engage-with-us/seminars/2013/informative-measures-significance-constructing-lasso-weights |
This article was medically reviewed by Dr. Troy Noonan, MD Psychiatry. Dr. Noonan received his M.D. from Finch University at the Chicago Medical School, Psychiatry Residency and fellowship at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Medicine. He is Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology.
Dopamine and Depression
What is the link between dopamine and depression? If you’re confused about this topic, you’re not alone. The internet is rampant with misconceptions, generalizations, and oversimplifications about the role dopamine plays in our mental health. This is especially true when it comes to the link between dopamine and depression, and between dopamine and bi-polar depression.
This article untangles this complicated topic, including what we know and don’t know about the role of dopamine in the brain. We’ll also talk about other chemicals that are believed to play a role in depression, and why some depression medications target dopamine and other chemicals.
Most importantly, we’ll discuss how modern doctors are treating depression without medication, and what you can do if antidepressants have stopped working for you. We’ll start with some facts about what dopamine is, what we know about it, and its influence on our mental health.
What is Dopamine and What Does it Do?
Dopamine is a type of chemical known as a neurotransmitter. You’ve probably also heard it called a hormone, which can be confusing if you don’t know the difference between the two.
Neurotransmitters and hormones are alike in that they both send signals from one place in your body to another place. Both can influence your thoughts, feelings, and cognition (learning, concentration, etc.). The most important difference between the two types of chemicals is that neurotransmitters move through your nervous system, while hormones are released into your bloodstream.
Because of this, the effects of neurotransmitters are short-lived and, in most cases, more local. Hormones, on the other hand, move through your bloodstream affecting multiple systems in your body, from mood, to muscle function, to digestion, and even other hormone releasing glands. Dopamine is often called your “feel-good” hormone, your “reward chemical,” or your “motivation hormone.” It plays a key role in creating that winning feeling you get when you achieve a goal or have a novel experience.
Research into the motivations behind gambling, pornography addictions, and even excessive use of video games and social media show that dopamine can also be released in anticipation of a novel or rewarding experience. Dopamine also plays a key role in various bodily functions, including movement, sleep, mood regulation, learning, memory, and attention.
Pop Culture Myths About Dopamine
In an attempt to explain everything from political views, to the impact of digital media on brains, the internet has been filled with several folk theories about dopamine. Most of them can be boiled down to the assumption that dopamine is “addictive” or that it can explain sweeping theories about people’s political or religious beliefs.
An article in Harvard Health cites one such example featured in a program called the “Dopamine Fast.” The creator of this program, a California psychiatrist Dr. Cameron Sepah, even admits that the program has little to do with dopamine or even with fasting.
As someone with a background in marketing, I understand why catchy titles matter. But I have to say that this is over the line from an ethical standpoint. The statement “not to be taken literally” suggests that the word “dopamine” can be used as a metaphor to describe non-chemical addictions.
Sepah based her method on the idea that reducing interruptions (text messages, notifications, beeps, rings, etc.) would keep our brain from developing a dependency on these potentially addictive stimulants.
The program also encourages “fasting” from negative (and potentially addicting) behaviors like emotional eating, excessive internet usage, gambling, porn, video games, shopping, recreational drugs, thrill and novelty seeking, and even masturbation. In fairness to Sepah, hers is just one of many “digital fasting” theories that you’ll find online, and some of them are stranger and much less scientific.
The fact that people are encouraging less exposure to interruptions is good. But I worry that dopamine could, over time, become a conceptional metaphor for the broader idea of non-chemical addiction. The idea that too much technology is bad for our higher thinking capacities is not new anyway. Neil Postman wrote about it in his book Amused to Death, as did Marshall Mcluhan in his book and lectures on The Medium is the Massage.
Ancient References to Non-Chemical Addiction
The idea of achieving higher mental states through the quieting of sensory stimulants even goes back to the ancient texts. You’ll find it in Book I (verses 1-16) and Book II (verses 1-25) of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Book III (Titled “Thought”) of the Buddhist Dhammapada. Ancient Mystics would retreat into caves to escape the stimulants of the outside world in hopes to explore the contents of their own minds, and beyond.
While the ancients didn’t talk about neurotransmitters the way we do today, their descriptions how to “fast” from the sensory stimulants, and the benefits of doing so, prove that they understood why it was important. Not to mention that they were probably better at it than we are today.
Bottom line, digital age folk theories about dopamine are based on an oversimplification of the role this chemical plays in our brains. Yes, your brain releases dopamine in anticipation and in response what it perceives as a “win” or a novel experience. But this is an extremely broad function which is necessary for our survival. The fact that it can be hijacked by people who create “addictive” products doesn’t change that.
I’ll explain why this is important when we talk about the link between dopamine and depression and other mental health challenges. More importantly, I’ll introduce you to a more scientific treatment (and medication free) method that’s getting impressive results in treating everything from clinical depression, to OCD, to PTSD, and even substance addiction.
What We Know About Dopamine and Depression
Dopamine deficiencies are associated with multiple physical and mental disorders, including symptoms of reactive depression and clinical depression. It can also contribute to more permanent and severe health conditions, including Parkinson’s disease:
Parkinson’s is a serious condition characterized by tremors and muscle spasms, and eventually loss of mobility. This happens as the result of dopamine producing neurons being destroyed, which are otherwise essential to the basal ganglia. The basal ganglia is a group of subcortical nuclei responsible primarily for motor control, motor learning, executive functions and behaviors, and emotions.
This also explains some of the other symptoms of dopamine deficiency, which include:
If this list of symptoms sounds like a description of clinical depression, that’s probably because depression and dopamine deficiency go together like puberty and pimples. However, scientists also believe that the following neurotransmitters play a role in clinical depression:
The most important imbalance to understand when it comes to depression is the combination of dopamine deficiency and serotonin deficiency. In layman’s terms, depression is characterized by a deficiency in your “motivation hormone” (dopamine) and your “happy hormone” (serotonin).
While this is an oversimplification in terms of what these two chemicals do, it captures the everyday essence of what it means to be depressed. This is why the most popular antidepression medications (listed below) act on one or all of the above three neurotransmitters:
Beyond Dopamine and Depression Symptoms
By itself, dopamine deficiency makes it hard to concentrate, follow instructions, or to stay focused on a task for long. If these symptoms sound familiar, it’s probably because they describe children and adults who have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
Some experts, believing that people with ADHD have decreased concentrations of dopamine, prescribe Methylphenidate (Ritalin), a drug that raises dopamine levels. As for dopamine and substance addiction, what we know is that many illegal drugs stimulate dopamine release.
This skyrockets the pleasure experienced from taking these drugs, making users more susceptible to addiction. The most common illicit drugs that boost dopamine levels include:
Other legal drugs that act on dopamine include alcohol, prescription painkillers, benzodiazepines, and even caffeine. Prolonged use of dopamine increasing drugs are responsible for the “withdrawal” symptoms that come from quitting these drugs. This happens because the brain becomes accustomed to these high levels of feel-good chemicals. When it suddenly stops getting these chemical rewards, the brain sends pain and sickness (nausea) causing signals to the central nervous system.
These withdrawal symptoms can resemble the flu, create body temperature fluctuations, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle and joint pain, tremors, paranoia, anxiety, and depression. The need to alleviate these symptoms is often what leads to more using, creating a downward spiral of addiction. On a milder scale, this might help us understand how non-chemical activities become addictive.
What Mr. Sitte is describing in this quote is called the “dopamine theory of addiction,” and has opened an important conversation about how to treat substance addictions.
However, the proposed link between dopamine and addiction has also created some irrational fears about treating dopamine deficiencies with medications. This is why it’s important to understand that dopamine itself is not the problem and that it should not be treated as a cultural metaphor for addiction.
As for treating depression, the research shows us that about 33% of the people who use antidepressants will continue to experience symptoms. Such depression is called “treatment-resistant depression” (TRD) or “refractory depression.” Treatment-resistant depression can persist for months or even years, and can lead to other serious mental health problems. Thankfully, there are options for treating depression without medication, and other problems associated with dopamine deficiencies, and even addiction.
Dopamine and Depression - Medication Free Treatment
One of the safest and most effective methods for treating depression without medication is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). TMS was approved by the FDA in 2008 for treating clinical depression and again in 2018 for treating OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
TMS is often confused with ECT, but the difference between the two is vast in depth and in scope, as explained in our TMS vs ECT article. TMS uses magnetic fields similar to those used in MRI machines to stimulate blood flow in the prefrontal cortex.
Controlled clinical studies show that 83% of Neurostar TMS patients see a positive response. They also show that TMS has a remarkably low relapse rate of only 11% across all patients. This is a lower relapse rate than any other depression treatment. Most importantly, Only 37% of TMS patients in these studies required additional TMS treatments. In those that did, 85% re-achieved clinical benefits. Most importantly, TMS has a minimal list of negative side-effects.
Aside from treating clinical depression, TMS appears to be a “promising candidate for treating addictive behaviors and other brain diseases.”* The pulsatile electromagnetic field generated by the TMS machine is capable of directly exciting/inhibiting neurons in the underlying cortices (Padberg and George, 2009).
TMS is also showing potential therapeutic value for treating brain pathologies such as bipolar syndrome, and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and even the drug addiction field. The therapeutic potential of TMS for treating drug addiction has been tested on nicotine-dependent subjects, cocaine addicts, and alcoholics (Conte et al., 2008; Mishra et al., 2010). As of now, the main disparities in these studies are the result of differences in pattern, sites, and methodology of stimulation.
*SOURCE: The Dopamine Hypothesis of Drug Addiction and Its Potential Therapeutic Value
Treatment cycles for TMS typically last six to eight weeks, with five 20-minute treatments per week. TMS treatment sessions are non-invasive outpatient procedures that require no medications or sedatives. Patients can drive themselves to and from a TMS session in the middle of a workday and resume their normal activities afterward.
If you or someone you know would like a medication free way to put clinical depression into remission, Mental Health Management Group is here to help. Mental Health Management Group offers treatment for mental wellness, emotional and behavioral conditions. They do this through psychiatric medical evaluation, treatment plans, FDA-approved medication management, and therapies with successful outcomes for adults, adolescents, children, and families. They have worked with thousands of patients suffering from depression and other mental illnesses.
To see if you or a family member qualify for TMS treatment, please fill out the patient referral form and one of our practitioners will call you. If you’re not ready to talk to someone, fill out one of our free mental health assessments to get started. If medication hasn’t worked for you, maybe there is a better way. Book an appointment with us today and find out.
This concludes our article on dopamine and depression. | https://mhmgroup.com/dopamine-and-depression-separating-fact-from-fiction/ |
In this respect, the ultimate aim is to enable learners to understand how to take responsibility for their own development. Teachers can do this by planning and preparing teaching and learning activities that take account of the needs and well-being of individual learners as well as groups of learners. Some key aspects of a role as a teacher may be: carrying out initial and/or diagnostic assessments; clear communication with your learners, other professionals and stakeholders; promoting appropriate behaviour and respect for others; identifying and meeting individual learners’ needs; being aware of the support mechanisms available; being organised; being reflective, which means learning from successes as well as mistakes. What are my responsibilities as a teacher? As a teacher, my primary responsibility is to ensure that learners are enrolled onto the correct course, in terms of meeting their needs, abilities and aspirations.
However some barriers may need to be overcome such as reluctance to change or urgency of tasks. 3. What role do managers play in facilitating and promoting learning? Managers play an important role in fostering workplace learning. They provide opportunities for learning; involve
As pupils may lose interest in lessons, it may cause problem for forthcoming activities you may break down activities that need doing and explain things rather than children losing interest from learning. Another example to control behaviour in your classroom is to set up an rewards system for children as this will encourage them to earn rewards and be recognised for their good deeds. Another skill that supports work with children is commitment and enabling yourself to work well in a team. To work with children, you must have a passion and be prepared to commit yourself to children and their work in order to help them learn and succeed. As working with children will not be easy in aspects of planning, teaching etc.
Unit 141 Professional practice in children’s care, learning and development. Outcome 4. Be able to engage others in reflective practice. 4.1 Analyse the use of models of reflective practice in own setting. Reflective practice is important to the development of lecturers as professionals as it enables us to learn from our experiences of teaching and make easier student learning.
Formative Assessment in tracking learner progress Formative assessment (assessment for learning) is engaged during a course or programme. This is the type of assessment used and it allows teachers to adjust targets and objectives to suit the student until they develop skills and become more confident. Formative assessment is usually informal (Formative informal) and can take place at any time during the teaching and learning process. Feedback from formative assessment will be beneficial to both student and teacher as it not only allows the student to recognize their success and look at areas for development but it allows the teacher to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching and look to improve on future sessions. Formative assessment is often seen as being motivational as it can be seen as a review rather than an assessment.
I intend to train and guide my students in every aspect, even in other subjects. I persuade my students to perform excellently in anything they do. When there are upcoming tests or quizzes, I make sure that I tutor them beforehand. I engage them to let me know if there is something that they do not understand, and I also want them to support each other. I hope that my students use the skills that they learn in my classroom so I can help them progress their skills more.
Also I need to create effective and stimulating opportunities for learning through high quality teaching that enables the development and progression of all learners. My role as a teacher is to plan my sessions by doing lesson plans, preparing teaching materials, assessing my learners, evaluating myself and my delivery, completing attendance records, and maintaining records of learner progress e.g. interviews, tutorials, assessments, etc. As a teacher I also need to exercise a duty of care for my learners, ensuring they are inducted to the company and course, carrying out one to one tutorials and reviews with learners, following professional values and ethics, acting and speaking appropriately and standardising practice with others. I will also need to attend meetings, mark work, attend promotional events and exhibitions and refer learners to other people or agencies when necessary.
Support towards the leaner plays an important role in counseling skills. E) CAREER EDUCATION In career education the school offers extended support to the learner helping them realize through education is how they can prepare for their future employment and workplace. Choosing a career is a young person’s most important decision. Career educational programmes help learners to get to know themselves and their physical and intellectual abilities to help prepare them in making a good and fitting career choice one day. Learners learn their own personalities and capabilities before they are guided on which career path to follow.
* Social Control- Teaching acceptance of rules and values. * The political role- Teaching people to be effective citizens. 2) How would functionalists explain the purpose of education? Functionalist such as Parson believes that the purpose of education is to perform a beneficial role in the society. One way to perform a beneficial role in the society is to learn the skills and knowledge from school that is necessary to work in a modern, technical, industrial society e.g.
Education comprehends the teaching and the learning of knowledge, information, legitimate strategies, and special authority. It concentrates on the development of skills, transactions, occupations and positions, along with moral, mental inventive development. Official education contains organized preparation, teaching and training by teachers. This contains the practice of teaching and then the development of an organization, or curriculum. Teachers need to be able to determine a subject well enough to conduct the principles that new students need to understand. | https://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/Your-Response-View-Purpose-Education-Prepare-28978.html |
Classical theory provides an explanation of the labor market along with the analysis of product market and money market. The classical system defines labor demand, labor supply, and production function to determine the process of employment determination.
Before understanding employment and output determination, major assumptions of classical theory should be looked into.
Assumptions of Classical Theory of Employment
The basic assumptions of the theory include:
- Supply creates its own demand. Sufficient market exists for all the produced goods and services.
- Perfect competition exists in the economy for both product market and factor resource market.
- Market force of demand and supply determine the level of prices in the economy. Individuals are price takers, not price makers.
- Rational self-interest motivates individuals within the market where producers want to maximize profit and consumers want to maximize utility.
- Market tends to self-adjust prices, wages and interest rates to maintain equilibrium in the economy.
Production Function and Supply of Aggregate Output
Aggregate output in an economy is explained with the help of production function. A production function simply shows the level of output that a firm can produce as a function of inputs to production in the form of labor and capital.
In macroeconomics, aggregate output is a function of labor employed by all firms with a given level of capital and technology. In the short run, some factors like capital goods and technology remain constant. Mathematically,
Where, Y= Real output/GDP; K= Capital input; L= Labor input technology. The bar above a variable denotes the quantity to be fixed.
The production function is graphically represented below:
In the graph, vertical axis measures output and horizontal axis shows variable input i.e. labor in this case. The production function is concave downwards which shows the law of diminishing returns. The law states that output increases as additions are made to the variable factor. The marginal product of variable factors decline with more and more of its use with other fixed factors. This can be expressed as
MPL is the additional output produced as a result of addition in the number of labors.
According to the law of diminishing returns, marginal product of the variable increases, reaches a maximum level and gradually decreases with the increase in the use of variable factor. Due to this, the marginal product curve of labor (MPL), derived from the slope of production function, slopes downward as more labor is added to the existing workforce. Thus,
Firm’s Decision
In the classical economic system, the main of the firms is to maximize profit. For this, they have to determine the level of output to be produced and the number of workers to be employed. The demand for labors and other factor resources are determined by the demand for the products in the market. It also depends on the extra unit of output that an additional worker can produce if added to the current workforce.
In order to maximize their profit, firms employ factors of production to the point where marginal product revenue is equal to the marginal factor cost. This means, producers would be willing to contribute until MCL = MR. Here, MCL is the wage paid to the additional labor; MR is the additional revenue generated after the addition of an extra labor.
So, it can be stated that the demand for a factor of production by a firm depends on its marginal product, and the demand curve for the factor is its downward sloping marginal product curve.
Mathematically, profit of a firm cab be expressed as
Profit = Total Revenue – Total Cost
π = TR – TC
Also, Total Revenue = P x Y
And, Total Cost = w x L + r x K
Where, w = wage paid for each unit of labor;
L = Total labor employed
r = Average rent paid for capital goods
K = Capital
Replacing TC by ‘w x L + r x K’ we get
π = P x Y – w x L – r x K
Since firms wish to maximize their profit employing labor in addition to the available capital and given technology, we replace output level Y by the production function to see how profit is dependent on factors of production.
The equations shows profit depends on the price of the product (P), wages (w) and rent (r), the factors K and L, and the level of produced commodities
However, in order to determine the number of labors to hire, firms consider the equality between marginal product revenue and marginal factor cost. Firms demand factors on the basis of marginal product contribution (revenue).
The objective of the firm is to maximize profit which is shown by the equation: π = P x Y – w x L – r x K. partially differentiating the equation π = P x f (L, K) – w x L – r x K with respect to L and set it equal to zero as capital is held constant. This is a necessary condition for optimization, therefore,
The partial derivative is set to zero because when a variable is at its maximum or minimum, no change occurs in its value. Market price P and capital stock are fixed in this case, so the focus is on L. Thus,
Δπ/ ΔL= P x Δf/ΔL – w = 0
Here, Δf/ΔL refers to the change in output per unit change in labor termed as ‘marginal product of labor’ that is, Δf/ΔL= MPL and the term P x Δf/ΔL is change in the value of output per unit change in labor termed as ‘marginal value product of labor i.e. MVPL. Explaining these we get, P x MPL – w = 0
From this, we get,
P x MPL
Or MPL = w/P
The two equations have two expressions, where
W= P x MPL shows firms in a competitive market, hire labor up to the point where nominal wage is equal to marginal product of labor (P x MPL = VMPL).
Alternately, the expression w/P = MPL states that in a perfectly competitive market, firms hire labor to the level where real wage is equal to marginal product of labor. These expressions determine the demand curve of labor in the classical system.
Labor Demand Curve
The two conditions required for determining the level of demand for profit-maximizing firms are
i.MPL = w/P
ii.P x MPL = w.
The first expression states that labor demand is a derived demand rather than a direct demand which changes according to its productivity. According to this expression, a profit maximizing firm in a perfectly competitive firm will hire labors to a point where real wage is equal to marginal product of labor. The productivity of labor depends on the production function as it is combined with other inputs of production. Since labor is the only varying factor in this situation, the production function gives the MPL; so, MPL becomes the demand curve for labor, Ld.
Mathematically,
Ld= g (w/P)
Labor demand has an inverse relation with real wage (w/P) because when the real wage is high, firms demand less labor and they would be willing to employ more labor when the real wage is low. On contrary, labors would be willing to supply more workers when the real wage is high because it is adjusted for the average price level of goods and services and it reflects the true purchasing power of the worker’s income.
Hence, workers supply more labor when the money wage rises relative to the price level. This is illustrated by the diagrams below
The Supply of Labor
The supply of labor in the market is determined by the factors such as money wage offered in the market, growth of labor in the economy, labor’s choice for work or leisure, and taxes on income imposed by government.
Classical economists assumed that the supply of labor is mostly influenced by the desire of the workers to work or have more leisure time. This further depends on an individual’s attempt to maximize satisfaction. Since satisfaction can be gained from both real income and leisure time, a trade-off exists between the two, where either consumption for goods and services must be reduced or the labor supply must be reduced.
In order to ease the effect of trade-off, classical economists justified the supply of labor as a positive function of real wage in terms of disutility of work. On the basis of this hypothesis, larger real reward can motivate labors to work more than prefer leisure time. Since work involves disutility, workers should be rewarded greater real income to induce them to put in more effort.
Increase in real reward means higher real wage, not just money wage. So, a positive relationship between real wage and supply of labor can be derived from it. Mathematically,
LS = h (w/P)
Graphically, the labor supply curve is upward sloping that shows a positive relationship between real wage rate and quantity of labor supplied.
In the figure, when the real wage increases from (W/P)1 to (W/P)2, the quantity supplied for labor also increases from L1 to L2. This states that a positive relationship exists between quantities supplied of labor and real wage. | https://www.businesstopia.net/economics/macro/employment-and-output-determination-under-classical-system |
In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. Anatomical term created by Gerard of Cremona. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents. In the adult human, the volume of the orbit is 30 millilitres (1.06 imp fl oz; 1.01 US fl oz), of which the eye occupies 6.5 ml (0.23 imp fl oz; 0.22 US fl oz). The orbital contents comprise the eye, the orbital and retrobulbar fascia, extraocular muscles, cranial nerves II, III, IV, V, and VI, blood vessels, fat, the lacrimal gland with its sac and nasolacrimal duct, the eyelids, medial and lateral palpebral ligaments, check ligaments, the suspensory ligament, septum, ciliary ganglion and short ciliary nerves.
|Orbit|
Diagram of eye with surrounding superior, oblique, medial and inferior rectus muscles; supraorbital foramen shown above the eye, and inferior orbital fissure inferolaterally.
|Details|
|Identifiers|
|Latin||Orbita|
|MeSH||D009915|
|TA||A02.1.00.067|
|FMA||53074|
|Anatomical terminology|
Structure
The orbits are conical or four-sided pyramidal cavities, which open into the midline of the face and point back into the head. Each consists of a base, an apex and four walls.
Openings
There are two important foramina, or windows, two important fissures, or grooves, and one canal surrounding the globe in the orbit. There is a supraorbital foramen, an infraorbital foramen, a superior orbital fissure, an inferior orbital fissure and the optic canal, each of which contains structures that are crucial to normal eye functioning. The supraorbital foramen contains the supraorbital nerve, the first division of the trigeminal nerve or V1 and lies just lateral to the frontal sinus. The infraorbital foramen contains the second division of the trigeminal nerve, the infraorbital nerve or V2, and sits on the anterior wall of the maxillary sinus. Both foramina are crucial as potential pathways for cancer and infections of the orbit to spread into the brain or other deep facial structures.
The optic canal contains the [] (cranial nerve II) and the ophthalmic artery, and sits at the junction of the sphenoid sinus with the ethmoid air cells, superomedial and posterior to structures at the orbital apex. It provides a pathway between the orbital contents and the middle cranial fossa. The superior orbital fissure lies just lateral and inferior to the optic canal, and is formed at the junction of the lesser and greater wing of the sphenoid bone. It is a major pathway for intracranial communication, containing cranial nerves III, IV, VI which control eye movement via the extraocular muscles, and the ophthalmic branches of cranial nerve V, or V1. The second division of the trigeminal nerve enters the skull base at the foramen rotundum, or V2. The inferior orbital fissure lies inferior and lateral to the ocular globe at the lateral wall of the maxillary sinus. It is not as important in function, though it does contain a few branches of the maxillary nerve and the infraorbital artery and vein. Other minor structures in the orbit include the anterior and posterior ethmoidal foramen and zygomatic orbital foramen.
Bony walls
The bony walls of the orbital canal in humans do not derive from a single bone, but a mosaic of seven embryologically distinct structures: the zygomatic bone laterally, the sphenoid bone, with its lesser wing forming the optic canal and its greater wing forming the lateral posterior portion of the bony orbital process, the maxillary bone inferiorly and medially which, along with the lacrimal and ethmoid bones, forms the medial wall of the orbital canal. The ethmoid air cells are extremely thin, and form a structure known as the lamina papyracea, the most delicate bony structure in the skull, and one of the most commonly fractured bones in orbital trauma. The lacrimal bone also contains the nasolacrimal duct. The superior bony margin of the orbital rim, otherwise known as the orbital process, is formed by the frontal bone.
The roof (superior wall) is formed primarily by the orbital plate frontal bone, and also the lesser wing of sphenoid near the apex of the orbit. The orbital surface presents medially by trochlear fovea and laterally by lacrimal fossa.
The floor (inferior wall) is formed by the orbital surface of maxilla, the orbital surface of zygomatic bone and the minute orbital process of palatine bone. Medially, near the orbital margin, is located the groove for nasolacrimal duct. Near the middle of the floor, located infraorbital groove, which leads to the infraorbital foramen. The floor is separated from the lateral wall by inferior orbital fissure, which connects the orbit to pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa.
The medial wall is formed primarily by the orbital plate of ethmoid, as well as contributions from the frontal process of maxilla, the lacrimal bone, and a small part of the body of the sphenoid. It is the thinnest wall of the orbit, evidenced by pneumatized ethmoidal cells.
The lateral wall is formed by the frontal process of zygomatic and more posteriorly by the orbital plate of the greater wing of sphenoid. The bones meet at the zygomaticosphenoid suture. The lateral wall is the thickest wall of the orbit, important because it is the most exposed surface, highly vulnerable to blunt force trauma.
Borders
The base, which opens in the face, has four borders. The following bones take part in their formation:
- Superior margin: frontal bone and sphenoid
- Inferior margin: maxillary bone, palatine and zygomatic
- Medial margin: ethmoid, lacrimal bone, sphenoid (body of) and maxilla
- Lateral margin: zygomatic and sphenoid (greater wing)
Function
The orbit holds and protects the eye.
Eye movement
The movement of the eye is controlled by six distinct extraocular muscles, a superior, an inferior, a medial and a lateral rectus, as well as a superior and an inferior oblique. The superior ophthalmic vein is a sigmoidal vessel along the superior margin of the orbital canal that drains deoxygenated blood from surrounding musculature. The ophthalmic artery is a crucial structure in the orbit, as it is often the only source of collateral blood to the brain in cases of large internal carotid infarcts, as it is a collateral pathway to the circle of Willis. In addition, there is the optic canal, which contains the optic nerve, or cranial nerve II, and is formed entirely by the lesser wing of the sphenoid, separated from the supraorbital fissure by the optic strut. Injury to any one of these structures by infection, trauma or neoplasm can cause temporary or permanent visual dysfunction, and even blindness if not promptly corrected. The orbits also protect the eye from mechanical injury.
Clinical significance
In the orbit, the surrounding fascia allows for smooth rotation and protects the orbital contents. If excessive tissue accumulates behind the ocular globe, the eye can protrude, or become exophthalmic.
Enlargement of the lacrimal gland, located superotemporally within the orbit, produces protrusion of the eye inferiorly and medially (away from the location of the lacrimal gland). Lacrimal gland may be enlarged from inflammation (e.g. sarcoid) or neoplasm (e.g. lymphoma or adenoid cystic carcinoma).
Tumors (e.g. glioma and meningioma of the optic nerve) within the cone formed by the horizontal rectus muscles produce axial protrusion (bulging forward) of the eye.
Graves disease may also cause axial protrusion of the eye, known as Graves' ophthalmopathy, due to buildup of extracellular matrix proteins and fibrosis in the rectus muscles. Development of Graves' ophthalmopathy may be independent of thyroid function.
Additional images
- Orbita
- Medial wall of left orbit
- Dissection showing origins of right ocular muscles, and nerves entering by the superior orbital fissure
- Lateral orbit nerves
- Orbital cavity
References
- Arráez-Aybar, Luis-A. "Toledo School of Translators and their influence on anatomical terminology". Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger. 198: 21–33. doi:10.1016/j.aanat.2014.12.003.
- "Orbit – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- Orbit at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
- Tasman, W.; Jaeger, E. A., eds. (2007). "Embryology and Anatomy of the Orbit and Lacrimal System". Duane's Ophthalmology. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-0-7817-6855-9.
- "eye, human."Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD 2009
- Mehta, M. P.; Perry, J. D. (2015). "Medial orbital wall landmarks in three different North American populations". Orbit. 34 (2): 72–8. doi:10.3109/01676830.2014.997394. PMID 25804299.
- Bertelli, E; Regoli, M (2014). "Branching of the foramen rotundum. A rare variation of the sphenoid". Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology. 119 (2): 148–53. PMID 25665284.
- Moore, Keith L. (2010). Clinically Oriented Anatomy (6th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-07817-7525-0.
- Ference, E. H.; Smith, S. S.; Conley, D; Chandra, R. K. (2015). "Surgical anatomy and variations of the infraorbital nerve". The Laryngoscope. 125 (6): 1296–300. doi:10.1002/lary.25089. PMID 25992806.
- Kumar, V.; Abbas, A. K.; Fausto, N. (2005). Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease (Seventh ed.). Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders. p. 1423.
- Hatton, M. P.; Rubin, P. A. (2002). "The pathophysiology of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy". Ophthalmol Clin North Am. 15 (1): 113–119. doi:10.1016/S0896-1549(01)00004-9. PMID 12064074.
External links
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orbit (anatomy).|
- oph/2 at eMedicine – "Arterial Supply, Orbit" | http://medbox.iiab.me/kiwix/wikipedia_en_medicine_2019-12/A/Orbit_(anatomy) |
About the book (from Wikipedia):
The Sound and the Fury is a novel written by the American author William Faulkner. It employs a number of narrative styles, including the technique known as stream of consciousness, pioneered by 20th-century European novelists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.
In 1998, the Modern Library ranked The Sound and the Fury sixth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
The Sound and the Fury is set in Jefferson, Mississippi. The novel centers on the Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the dissolution of their family and its reputation. Over the course of the 30 years or so related in the novel, the family falls into financial ruin, loses its religious faith and the respect of the town of Jefferson, and many of them die tragically. The novel is separated into four distinct sections. The first, April 7th, 1928, is written from the perspective of Benjamin “Benjy” Compson, a cognitively disabled 33-year-old man. The characteristics of his disease are not clear, but it is hinted that he suffers from mental retardation. Benjy’s section is characterized by a highly disjointed narrative style with frequent chronological leaps. The second section, June 2, 1910, focuses on Quentin Compson, Benjy’s older brother, and the events leading up to his suicide. In the third section, April 6, 1928, Faulkner writes from the point of view of Jason, Quentin’s cynical younger brother. In the fourth and final section, set a day after the first, on April 8, 1928, Faulkner introduces a third person omniscient point of view. The last section primarily focuses on Dilsey, one of the Compsons’ black servants. Jason is also a focus in the section, but Faulkner presents glimpses of the thoughts and deeds of everyone in the family. | https://www.gohd.com.sg/shop/the-sound-and-the-fury-william-faulkner-2/ |
Paranormal Pennsylvania is alive and well -- if that’s an appropriate phrase to use.
There are lots and lots of ghost stories about haunted houses, restaurants, inns and theaters across Pennsylvania. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most haunted spots from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg to Philadelphia -- and everywhere in between.
Are we missing one of your favorite spooky spots and tales? Let us know in the comments.
Aaron Burr House
80 W. Bridge St., New Hope
Legend has it that the ghost of Aaron Burr can be found in this bed and breakfast, which was formerly a friend's home where he sought refuge after killing political rival Alexander Hamilton in 1804. Ghost hunters have reported seeing an apparition on the second floor staircase and feeling their clothes tugged.
Accomac Inn
Off Route 30, Wrightsville.
"Paranormal activities are alive and well," according to Accomac Inn server Ally Ament back in 2015.
"When it's dark and quiet and usually between 8 p.m-10 p.m things happen," she said. "You get used to hearing footsteps and you think someone calls your name and there is no one there."
As the romantic tragedy ghost story goes, Johnny Coyle lived with his mom and dad at the Inn in the 1800s. The girl that he loved (possibly named Emily or Molly) did not return his affection. He ended up shooting the girl and received a verdict of death by hanging for the crime. He is buried on a hill next to the restaurant but apparently he sneaks over in ghostly form spooking servers with his pranks and mischievous behavior. The girl's presence has also been picked up by paranormal investigations.
- READ MORE: The Accomac Inn made our list of one of the fanciest restaurants in central Pa. Find out who else made the cut.
Alfred’s Victorian
38 N. Union St., Middletown.
Standing at the threshold of this ornate Victorian Manor (built in 1888), you'd expect Lurch from "The Addam's Family" to step out from behind a pocket door and lead you to a table. He doesn't, but a professional groomed waiter does seat you in a corner spot in the parlor surrounded by carved hardwood aesthetics and the ghostly spirit of Emma.
"You'll hear someone calling your name and then you realize you're the only one in the building. You definitely feel a presence," said owner Robin Pelligrini. "Emma" has shown up numerous times and even mysteriously appears in amebae form in a staff photo.
Allegheny County Jail
950 Second Ave., Pittsburgh
Inmate W. A. Culp killed himself in 1907 and proceeded to harass the remaining inmates on murderer's row. The warden was swayed by numerous complaints to move murderer's row to another section of the prison.
Kate Soffel, the warden's wife, aided her inmate lover and his brother in an escape. The Biddle brothers were killed in a shootout three days later, and Soffel lived out her days in prison. She is rumored to haunt the jail.
American Philosophical Society Library
105 S. 5th St., Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society in 1743, its members including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. A hundred years later, in 1844, his ghost was spotted by a cleaning lady in the society's library. He's also been spotted lounging on the society's steps. His statue at the front of the building has also been said to come to life and walk around the city, according to according to the book "Spirits of '76: Ghost Stories of the American Revolution."
Baleroy Mansion
Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.
While this estate in Chestnut Hill is supposedly haunted by many of its past owners, the most sinister of which is a woman named Amelia who often tricks people into sitting in a "death chair." According to the old owner, George Meade Easby, whoever sits in that chair dies shortly after. He claimed to have known two people, a housekeeper and a cousin, who succumbed to the curse. The house was even featured in the book "Haunted Houses U.S.A."
Note: Baleroy Mansion is a private residence and not open for tours.
Betsy Ross House
239 Arch St., Philadelphia.
"Ghost Hunters" stopped at this historical house, which is famous for being the home of Besty Ross – the maker of the American flag. Ross's ghost has been seen crying in the basement. There's also a more sinister spirit about, one that led to a staff member being so frightened they climbed out a window onto a flagpole.
Bube’s Brewery
102 N. Market St., Mount Joy. bubesbrewery.com; 717-653-2056.
Built in the 1860s, this stately Victorian Hotel and small brewery was home to Alois Bube who died in 1908. The preindustrial brewery (the only one of its kind in the United States) closed in 1917 and didn't resume its microbrewery production until 2001.
Members of the Bube family lived here until the 1960s, however, it's Alois Bube's granddaughter Pauline Bube Engle that never left.
"I can't deny Mr. Bube's grand-daughter stayed at the hotel. She was in her 20s when she became schizophrenic. She'd wander around the building doing mischievous things like jumping out and scaring people," said owner Sam Allen in 2015. "People have said they've seen her wearing a long, white turn of the century dress with her hair in a bun. One of our longtime servers saw an apparition in a light colored dress at the end of the hall in the art gallery."
Bube’s has embraced its haunted nature, offering murder mystery dinners and Halloween feasts.
- READ MORE: Witch trials in Pennsylvania: The tale of the only official trial over witchcraft in the Keystone State
Cashtown Inn
1325 Old Route 30, Cashtown
Cashtown Inn has welcomed travelers since 1815, but its Confederate guests are among the most notable. The inn has named its rooms after generals in the war, including A.P. Hill, Henry Heth and John Imboden. Innkeepers have photos of orbs and other abnormalities appearing in photographs. Ghost hunters and guests have also reported unexplained electrical activity, footsteps of a Confederate soldier's ghost and doors closing on their own.
Chatham University
1 Woodland Road, Pittsburgh
Dormitories at Chatham have a variety of ghost stories, but the Blue Lady of Woodland Hall may be the most well-known. The hall is rumored to be a former mental hospital where the blue-dressed woman was a patient. She has been seen floating above sleeping students on the fourth floor.
Christ Church Burial Ground
Arch St. between 4th and 5th streets, Philadelphia.
It's tradition to throw a penny onto Benjamin Franklin's grave at Christ Church Burial Ground – an homage to him being credited for the proverb "a penny saved is a penny earned." Franklin's ghost has been reported to be active on the grounds, and, in one case, threw pennies at a nurse in 1976. He also has been rumored to give ladies a pinch in the bum too, according to the book "Haunted Philadelphia: Famous Phantoms, Sinister Sites and Lingering Legends."
Connellsville Carnegie Free Library
299 S. Pittsburgh St., Connellsville
The library was built atop a graveyard. Buried bodies were moved to another cemetery when the library was built in 1899, but the rumor is some remains are beneath the library to this day.
Staff and guests report hearing footsteps and seeing items fall off shelves. The Pittsburgh Paranormal Society investigated in the library in 2012, capturing unexplained sights and sounds.
Dead Man’s Hollow
Liberty Way, McKeesport
The hollow's name is rumored to come from hanged man's body found in 1874.
Other deaths in the hollow resulted from two shootouts a few decades later. The ghost of Dead Man's Hollow is thought to be Ward McConkey, who was hanged for the murder of shop owner Robert McClure during one of those shootouts. McConkey maintained his innocence until his death.
Devil’s Den
Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg.
Devil's Den on the Gettysburg battlefield is incredibly haunted, with one particular Texan soldier ghost being seen as recently as 2010 according to Mark Nesbitt of Mark Nesbitt's Ghost of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours. More than 2,500 soldiers were killed in the fighting in and around Devil's Den.
Dobbin House
89 Steinwehr Ave., Gettysburg.
Ghosts that are said to haunt this historic restaurant include soldiers, slaves and even an old reverend. Rich in history, Dobbin House served as a way station for hiding runaway slaves, as well as a hospital for those soldiers wounded in the battle of Gettysburg -- so it’s not surprising that so many never left.
Eagle Hotel
32 High St., Waterford
There are stories about a frustrated maid, Matilda, who set fire to the hotel and now haunts the restaurant that has taken over the first floor. Workers have reported hearing sounds and feeling like they are being watched.
Early American Nationality Room
4200 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh
Martha Jane Poe McDaniel, cousin of Edgar Allan Poe, is rumored to haunt the room where many of her belongings reside.
Among the paranormal activity reported here is the smell of fresh bread near the fireplace (which sounds more delightful than scary) and a cradle rocking.
Eastern State Penitentiary
22nd St. and Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia. Easternstate.org
The old prison certainly looks haunted, with its castle-like exterior and dilapidated corridors and cells. There isn’t a specific ghost that’s believed to haunt Eastern State, but there have been numerous “experiences” reported, including a locksmith who saw a row of souls locked in the prison. It’s been visited by a slew of television shows including SyFy’s “Ghost Hunters” and Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures.”
Eastern State is a horror attraction during the Halloween season called Terror Behind the Walls. See what it looks like behind the scenes.
Fort Mifflin
1 Fort Mifflin Road, Philadelphia.
Fort Mifflin, which sits between the Delaware River and Philadelphia International Airport, was commissioned in 1771 and used until the 1960s. It is still an active fort for the Army Corps of Engineers, but it first saw combat in the fall of 1777 when it was captured by the British. It served as a Civil War prison and held munitions during World War I and World War II. It's considered one of the most haunted places in the United States.
Frankeburger Tavern
217 E. Main St., Mechanicsburg
One of the oldest buildings still standing in Mechanicsburg, the 1801 tavern has seen a lot through the years, including a murder. The story goes that a cattle drover decided to enjoy a drink or two at the tavern after selling his cattle for $300 cash. The drover began to brag and attracted the attention of at least one nefarious person; he was robbed and killed that night.
But his spirit lives on, at least according to the stories told to Steven Zimmerman, director of the Mechanicsburg Museum Association. The cattle drover's face is said to appear in the upstairs window of the tavern. Screams have been heard coming from the upper floor, terrifying those nearby.
The woman who lived in the tavern before it was taken over by the museum believes that the place is haunted, Zimmerman said. "She says when she was a girl growing up there, they would put things in one place at night and in the morning they would be someplace else," he said.
"She swears there is definitely a ghost in there." It's an assertion the Harrisburg Area Paranormal Society agrees with. When the group investigated the tavern, one of the members was touched by a spirit, and the sound of objects moving and banging was heard, even though no one else was there.
They also caught recordings of a voice saying "I did it."
Perhaps the ghost of the tavern is not the cattle drover after all, but his murderer.
Fulton Theatre
12 N. Prince St., Lancaster.
Marie Cahill was an actress who performed at the Fulton Theater and her spirit is believed to still linger there. Sometimes her portrait, which is housed in the backstage dressing room area, is covered in a black shroud prior to a performance. Sometimes that shroud mysteriously falls down.
Cahill is just one of several ghosts rumored to walk the aisles of the theater. Others include a man in a straw boater hat who hangs out in the balcony and a little girl who is dressed all in white.
Gettysburg College
300 N Washington St., Gettysburg.
Gettysburg College is loaded with ghost stories, according to Mark Nesbitt of Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours. Many of the stories of his book series, "Ghosts of Gettysburg," take place at the school - from soldier sightings to people stepping back in time.
One tale takes place in the Pennsylvania Hall (or the old dorm) on campus, which was built in 1837. It was used as a hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg. In present-day, two administrators were in an elevator in the hall. Instead of taking the administrators to the floor they wanted to go to, the elevator went to the basement. When the doors opened, they were no longer in modern-day Gettysburg... but in the Civil War.
They watched as Civil War doctors hacked off limbs of those injured. They didn't close the elevator doors and flee, however, until one of the doctors approached them. That's when they fled and sought a security guard. When they returned with the guard, the basement was empty.
Gettysburg Hotel
One Lincoln Square, Gettysburg
The Gettysburg Hotel, established in 1797, is in walking distance to the historic battlefield. Paranormal investigators believe Union soldier James Culbertson's ghost roams the hotel, along with a woman who dances in the ballroom.
Harrisburg State Hospital
N. Cameron St. and Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg.
On a hill just behind Cameron Street in Harrisburg lies the grounds of the 1851 Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital, the first public asylum in the state. The hospital, commonly referred to as the "City on the Hill," was active until it was shut down in 2006. By then it was simply the Harrisburg State Hospital. Today, several of its buildings lie abandoned, with others used by state agencies.
Reports have emerged of mysterious noises, shadowy figures and moving objects. Two areas in particular are said to be especially haunted: The morgue and the network of tunnels that lies underneath the hospital complex. When the Harrisburg Area Paranormal Society investigated the complex, they caught a photo of a shadowy figure.
When the old Discovery Channel show "Ghost Lab" investigated the hospital in May 2010, they came out with several electronic voice phenomena, including a voice that appeared to say the names "Peter" and "Annie." The crew also captured a voice saying the full name of a woman who had worked at the hospital. For those curious about investigating the hospital, be warned that permission is required to enter the grounds and explore the buildings.
Hell’s Hollow
496 Bestwick Road, Mercer
This nature trail is built on Native American hunting grounds supposedly haunted by an old resident. As the story goes, Harthegig's skeleton was found nine years after his mysterious disappearance. Some visitors say they have heard the man's groans and screams at what has been dubbed Spirit Falls.
In addition, a farmhouse in the hollow was built using stones from the waterfall. Visitors report seeing the ghost of Eliza Stranahan, who died in 1901, in one of the windows.
Hessian Powder Magazine
Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle
Built in 1777, allegedly on the backs of captured Hessian soldiers, the Hessian Powder Magazine is a stone building whose builders have never quite left - at least according to Mark Nesbitt, writer of "The Ghosts of Gettysburg" series, who says at least one soldier has been seen haunting the museum. Nesbitt isn't the only author who claims the museum is haunted.
Allen Campbell, author of "Ghosts at Carlisle Barracks Army War College," has had multiple haunting experiences. At night, long after the museum has been locked up, he said sounds of moans, groans and clanging can be heard emanating from the building.
There's one tale that does set hairs on end. The way Campbell tells it, a new resident at the barracks heard the sounds coming from the magazine late at night. The doors are normally locked, but when the resident investigated, the first door was unlocked - so he went in.
The second door was shut tight. Peering in through a window at the door, the resident fell down in shock at what he saw. It wasn't the 1990s museum he was looking into, but the late 1700s Hessian Powder Magazine, Hessians and all.
Hill View Manor
2801 Ellwood Road, New Castle
The former Lawrence County Home for the Aged, which also housed the mentally ill and poor, still has some of its old residents. Stories include dozens residents and staff who killed themselves on the premises.
This attraction is a frequent stop for ghost hunters. It's been featured on "Ghost Hunters," "Ghost Asylum," "Ghost Adventures" and other TV shows.
Historic Farnsworth House Inn
401 Baltimore St., Gettysburg
This inn built in the early 1800s housed Confederate soldiers and is named after Brig. Gen. Elon John Farnsworth, who was responsible for the deaths of 65 men during an ill-fated charge. Paranormal activity includes footsteps, shadows in the dining room and spirits yanking on clothes. Farnsworth also hosts ghost tours and hunts for visitors.
Historic Hotel Bethlehem
437 Main St., Bethlehem
This hotel is proud of its paranormal activity, going so far as to profile the "friendly ghosts" on its website. There's town guide Francis Thomas, landlord Mrs. Brong and May Yohe, a singer born at the site who returns to sing in the lobby. But guests looking to increase their chances of spotting something unusual should stay in the Room with a Boo on the ninth floor, where guests have reported seeing mysterious reflections, lamps flashing, wallpaper changing colors and orbs appearing.
Independence Hall
520 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.
Independence Hall is one of Benjamin Franklin's chosen haunts. He's been seen examining the Declaration of Independence in the room in which it was signed. Two rangers also spotted Franklin throughout the years – his apparition always accompanied by mist. In one case there was also a musty smell, according to the book "Spirits of '76: Ghost Stories of the American Revolution."
Inn at Jim Thorpe
24 Broadway, Jim Thorpe
The Inn at Jim Thorpe began as the New American Hotel in 1833 after a fire destroyed the hotel that previously stood on the property. Reports of supernatural activity include TVs turning off or on unexpectedly, orbs and shadows in photographs, and people waking up to chairs turned upside-down. More specifically, ghost hunters have reported the spirit of a nurse in room 310 and shadows in the lobby.
Iverson’s Pit
104 Doubleday Ave., Gettysburg.
The area around Doubleday Inn is rife with paranormal activity according to Mark Nesbitt of Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours. By the Doubleday Inn is an area known as Iverson's Pit, where a brigade of North Carolinians were slaughtered. The pit is the location of the mass grave for the soldiers and is a spot where ghosts are seen today.
Jean Bonnet Tavern
6048 Lincoln Highway, Bedford
This tavern has been a fixture of Bedford since 1762. While it has gained many stories of peculiar activity in that time, no single ghost has made itself known here.
Sightings include a man appearing and disappearing from the bar after the bartender had already locked up, and guests have reported feeling someone's touch when no one is near. The current owner also tells of a door that seems to open and close on its own.
Jennie Wade House
548 Baltimore St., Gettysburg.
The Jennie Wade House has been featured on "Ghost Lab" and "Ghost Adventures" and is available for ghost tours only from Ghostly Images. Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed in the Battle of Gettysburg, struck by a stray bullet in the back while she was baking bread. It is believed she still haunts the home, trying to finish one final loaf. Supposedly, you can still catch a whiff of the baking bread.
Larimer Mansion
50 Maus Drive, North Huntingdon
The owner of this bed and breakfast insists it is haunted, and she brought in paranormal investigators to prove the claim. Hauntings Research spent years documenting the activity at Larimer Mansion. They've reported seeing a painting change at least nine times, the spirits of women in period clothing, a Native American man and of Margaret Ann Larimer, who died giving birth.
Logan Inn
10 W. Ferry St., New Hope
This historic property was established as a tavern in 1722, and innkeepers say casualties of the Revolutionary War were stored in the basement until the bodies could be properly buried. One of the most common spirits at the Logan Inn is a soldier from the war. Other rumored guests include the ghost of Aaron Burr and the mother of a former inn owner.
National Aviary
700 Arch St., Pittsburgh
Adorable penguins and hundreds of other birds live on the former site of the Western State Penitentiary, sister to the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Stories tell of ghosts belonging to Confederate soldiers who were housed in the penitentiary during the Civil War.
Old Cumberland County Courthouse
S. Hanover and West streets, Carlisle.
Built in 1846, the courthouse sports a damaged column -- the remnants of an artillery attack from the Civil War.
A woman who works in the building told PennLive about her haunted experiences there. She had arrived at 5 a.m. for work, earlier than usual.
"I had my door open. I was the only one in the building – it was winter, and dark outside – when all of a sudden, all the doors in the hallway started opening and slamming," she told reporter Marijon Shearer.
The woman immediately fled to find a security guard. But when they returned there was no one in the building.
"Needless to say, I don't work in here alone anymore," she said.
Old Cumberland County Prison
East High St., Carlisle.
Built in 1854, this building resembles a castle. It was a prison until 1984, but rumor has it some inmates still linger there.
Marlin Hamilton, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning technician for the county, told PennLive of creepy experiences in the old prison -- including the one time he watched disembodied legs walk down a hallway.
"I saw boots and khaki pants. I didn't see anything above that," he told reporter Marijon Shearer. "When I went out, there was no one there. I would have heard the door if anyone left."
Oyster Mill Playhouse
1001 Oyster Mill Road, Camp Hill
Kathie Spacht was sitting in the end seat at the top row of Oyster Mill Playhouse when she felt something tap her head. She thought nothing of it, but later she felt a tap again — harder. A few minutes later, her head was tapped so hard she got up and moved. No one was around her. Down a few rows, Dave Rowland was laughing. He knew exactly what had happened. she had sat in a seat that was not her own.
It was a ghost’s.
The building that plays home to the playhouse was originally a farmhouse, and the ghosts of one of the couples who lived there has stayed around. They enjoy watching performances and have their own seats — the left and right end seats in the top row. When it is occupied during rehearsal or auditions, the ghosts will sometimes do their best to politely get the occupant to leave, thus the tapping.
Rowland and Spacht are active in the theater scene at Oyster Mill in addition to being members of the ghost hunters group PA Paranormal. According to them, the playhouse is haunted by five spirits: The farmhouse couple, a little girl who loves to play in the costume racks upstairs, an angry mill worker (who presumably died in a fire) and a mystery man.
The majority of the theater’s ghosts are curious and regularly poke in to check out the latest productions. For example, during a performance of “Lucky Stiff,” the theater’s sound booth door (a hulking metal contraption) began to open on its own. After, it opened a bit it and shut again. It was not the first time this had happened.
Spacht also saw the little girl in the upstairs of the theater and describes her as having a long blue dress and blonde hair with a bow in it. When the girl saw Spacht, she ran and vanished.
Pennhurst Asylum
250 Commonwealth Drive, Spring City
Pennhurst State School and Hospital, originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, opened in 1908 to house mentally and physically disabled patients. It was almost immediately overcrowded and many died because there were not enough staff to handle thousands of residents. The asylum was abandoned in 1987 with many toys, clothes and furniture left just as they were.
It offers overnight ghost tours and investigations for those looking to experience paranormal activity in person. Reported activity includes footsteps, whispers, being touched by spirits and one ghost who likes to lunge at men on the third floor.
- READ MORE: See inside the abandoned asylum
Pennsylvania Hospital
8th and Spruce streets, Philadelphia.
A statue of William Penn is said to come to life at Pennsylvania Hospital, taking evening strolls around the hospital grounds. That's not the only paranormal occurrence at the hospital – one of the oldest in the country. According to "The Big Book of Pennsylvania Ghost Stories," Penn would walk the grounds so often that nurses would regularly bring patients out to watch it.
Philadelphia Academy of Music
240 S. Broad St., Philadelphia.
The academy is steeped in history and has its fair share of historical moments including a few presidential visits courtesy of Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland and Richard Nixon. Today it hosts performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Ballet. Not all the academy’s guests, however, are inclined to leave.
Seat cushions have mysteriously become indented, even when no one is there and at least one person has said that they have been pinched.
Philadelphia Zoo
3400 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia.
Lions and gorillas aren’t the only creatures lurking in the Philadelphia Zoo.
There are ghosts too.
The zoo is supposedly built atop of an ancient Native American burial ground and has had multiple sightings of specters. It even earned a visit from the "Ghost Hunters" in 2010. The ghosts hang out in the zoo's administrative buildings mostly, including Solitude House (which has a network of tunnels), the Penrose Building, the Shelly Building and the Treehouse.
Physick House
321 S. 4th St., Philadelphia.
A woman in a long gown has been spotted multiple times at Physick House. She appears to be hunting for something (or someone) and has been seen in mirrors and peering into the house from the outside. Legend has it that is the wife of Philip Physick, Elizabeth, who —as the story goes – was addicted to opium and banned from the house. Others believe is is former resident Elsie Keith who was terrified of dust and took great measures to ensure the house was dust-free… measures that were undone when Physick House was donated to the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks. That's the theory, at any rate, from "Haunted Philadelphia: Famous Phantoms, Sinister Sites and Lingering Legends."
Pittsburgh Playhouse
222 Craft Ave., Pittsburgh
Numerous ghosts are said to haunt this South Oakland theater, so the stories vary depending on who you ask.
Visitors report seeing actor John Johns, who died of a heart attack in the playhouse in 1963. There's also The Lady in White, an actress who supposedly killed her husband and his mistress on her wedding day. Other ghost stories include the cries of Weeping Eleanor, the diseased visage of Gorgeous George and The Bouncing Red Meanie.
Powel House
244 S. 3rd St., Philadelphia.
The Marquis de Lafayette is rumored to haunt this Colonial-era home. The house was the home of Samuel Powel, mayor of Philadelphia both before and after the American Revolution. Powel was friends with Lafayette as well as George Washington.
Lafayette isn't the only ghost believed to haunt the place. Benedict Arnold and his wife, Peggy Shippen, has also been spotted according to the book "Spirits of '76: Ghost Stories of the American Revolution."
Rehmeyer’s Hollow
Stewartstown
"THREE KILL MAN AS WITCH" read the front-page headline of the Harrisburg Telegraph on Nov. 30, 1928.
It was a story that was frontpage of the Harrisburg Telegraph and The Patriot for weeks, having captivated the midstate. Powwow doctor Nelson Rehmeyer had been brutally murdered in his home in Stewartstown by three men who claimed Rehmeyer had put a hex on them. The murderers had set a fire around his body, hoping to burn the house down and all the evidence of their crime with it. But the fire never spread and days later the body was discovered. Confessions poured forth shortly after.
While those responsible were brought to justice, it is believed that the witch doctor's house and the area around it, known by many as Hex Hollow, are haunted.
As a note for ghost hunters: Rehmeyer's Hollow is private property and not open to the public.
Sachs Covered Bridge
Waterworks Road, Gettysburg
Sachs Covered Bridge is one of the most haunted spots in Gettysburg according to all of our sources (Gettysburg Ghost Tours, After Dark Investigations, Haunted Gettysburg Ghost Tours, Ghostly Images of Gettysburg and Mark Nesbitt’s Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours). This area, however, is not accessible after dark unless on a tour. Soldiers have been spotted there and there are numerous photos of mists and orbs taken there.
Senate library in the Pennsylvania State Capitol
157 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg.
The Senate Library in the Pennsylvania State Capitol is a quiet room covered in cabinets of centuries-old documents. Senate librarian Evelyn Andrews told reporter Jan Murphy that the library is not always silent.
And sometimes, there's no one else there... that the eye can see.
Every now and then Andrews said she hears a noise that resembles a book cabinet being opened. Perhaps, as Jan Murphy writes, "it is the ghost of Herman Miller, the longest-serving Senate librarian, checking to make sure all the volumes are in their rightful place?"
USS Olympia
211 S. Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia.
Commissioned in 1895, the USS Olympia Cruiser has seen its fair share of action, present at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 and serving in World War I before being decommissioned in 1922. It is the ship that brought the body of the Unknown Soldier from France to the United States. So the fact that it’s haunted is no surprise. Paranormal voices have been heard and apparitions seen on the ship.
Washington Square
210 W. Washington Square, Philadelphia
Did you know that Washington Square is built atop a graveyard? In the 1700s, the land where Washington Square lies was a potter’s field, home to the bodies of African Americans, suicide victims, prisoners of war and those who died of small pox. According to a letter from John Adams about the grounds, more than 2,000 soldiers were also buried there.
But the ghost who lurks in the square isn’t a person buried there. It’s a Quaker woman named Leah who is devoted to keeping the grounds safe… from bodysnatchers.
Back in the late 1700s doctors used to snatch bodies from the area to use for their lectures and experiments. During her life, Leah would appear in the graveyard at night to scare off any doctor attempting to take a body from a grave.
In fact, according to “Haunted Philadelphia: Famous Phantoms, Sinister Sites and Lingering Legends,” the reason Washington Square came into being was an effort to prevent more body snatching from occurring – rather than moving the bodies they instead put sidewalks and trees up. Leah is said to still haunt the grounds, keeping the bodies that are there, safe.
This article is compiled of stories from the following posts:
- From Hell’s Hollow to Zombie Land: 13 western Pa. places with haunting legends
- 13 haunted places in Philadelphia where ghosts can be found (supposedly) by Julia Hatmaker
- Haunted restaurants to dine at (and possibly see a ghost) by Mimi Brodeur
- 19 (supposedly) haunted hotels and an asylum where you can spend the night in Pa. by Lisa Wardle
- 15 haunted places in central Pa. where ghosts can be found (supposedly) by Julia Hatmaker
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Lib Dem AM Peter Black says urgent action is needed to improve many NHS premises
RECENT research by the Welsh Liberal Democrats has found that it would cost £468m to complete the backlog of hospital repairs held by every NHS trust in Wales.
The NHS in Wales Estate Condition and Performance Report 2007-08 is a damning indictment of the state of our hospitals and doctors surgeries in Wales.
Many parts of the NHS do not meet basic disability and fire safety requirements.
These are not voluntary standards or best practice. They are basic legal requirements that are necessary to ensure the health and safety of staff and patients.
It would cost £31m to bring the NHS estate in Wales up to the requirements it has to meet on disability and fire safety.
No other organisation would be allowed to get away with this. This is a matter of priorities. The Assembly is spending more than £300m on capital investment each year. Some of this should be directed to improving safety in NHS buildings.
There needs to be urgent action taken on the £227m of risk-adjusted backlog, which is the amount of the total repairs classified as being in need of the most urgent attention. This includes £75m of high-risk repairs.
When we debated this in the National Assembly, the Assembly Government accused us of being “alarmist” and “ill-informed”, while one AM suggested the debate was “pointless”. We are shocked at such complacency.
I am also concerned at recent statistics which show that the number of NHS patients dying from medical errors has increased by 50% in the past three years.
A Freedom of Information request reveals that the number of patients who died in the care of the NHS as a result of incidents that include medical errors, accidents involving patients and abuse by staff increased from 129 deaths in 2005-06 to 191 in 2007-08.
The figures also show that the number of incidents over the last three years involving patient safety has increased from 28,000 to 56,000.
Thirteen of these deaths in the last three years were classed as being caused by “infrastructure”.
I acknowledge that the Assembly Government is investing money in new hospitals to replace the existing estate. This is vital given that more than 20% of the stock pre-dates the existence of the NHS.
Clearly, though, there is much more to do and a need to re-evaluate spending priorities for the sake of the safety of patients and the hard-working and dedicated staff.
One of the obstacles to this process is the forthcoming NHS reorganisation.
A number of local health boards have put the building of new GP surgeries on hold until the new health boards have settled down and have an estates strategy in place.
This could cause an unacceptable delay. The same delay should not be allowed to impinge on other capital programmes, especially when health and safety is concerned.
We still have one of the best health services in the world, but it is creaking under the strain of misdirected under-investment. In some circumstances staff are being asked to work in intolerable conditions, while bottlenecks caused by inadequate facilities are adding to the risk for patients.
This is particularly evident in poor performance figures for the ambulance service – this is a service in need of investment and where delays in off-loading patients at A&E means that vehicles are not available to attend other emergencies.
Capital investment is allocated on the basis of individual business cases submitted by NHS trusts. This ensures that money is spent effectively but the impression is one of a piecemeal decision-making process without any overall strategic direction across Wales.
If we are to get our NHS estates up to scratch then that has to change. | https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/sick-buildings-risk-patients-nhs-2122631 |
The present invention relates to microfabricated fluidic systems and methods for regulating the flow of fluid to provide switches, logic gates, latches, pressure sources, analog devices, capacitors, unidirectional valves, pressure multipliers, and devices that perform mathematical functions.
Microfabricated fluidic chips may be used for biological assays. For example, microfabricated fluidic chips may be used to perform biological assays using external control lines that control the opening and closing of on-chip fluidic valves. The on-chip fluidic valves control the flow of fluids in biological assays. The valves are opened and closed using macroscopic pressure sources that are located off-chip, and which are connected through control lines to the chip. In complex assays, a large number of macroscopic control lines is cumbersome and undesirable. Previously known electrical actuating devices have not been able to provide sufficient force by themselves to open or close a fluidic valve.
It would therefore be desirable to provide pressure sources and control lines on-chip that control the opening and closing of on-chip valves so that macroscopic control lines exiting the chip are minimized or eliminated. Previously known on-chip systems have not been adequate to provide control of numerous on-chip valves. Each valve requires a pressure differential between the input and the output to control the valve. Numerous valves coupled together to perform complex functions would require very large pressure differentials to drive all of the cascaded valves. Pressure sources that generate such very high pressure differentials are difficult to manufacture on a microfabricated chip.
Furthermore, such cascaded valve systems do not allow for the introduction of feedback elements. A feedback element is one whereby a (downstream) output pressure, which is controlled by an upstream valve or is controlled by a valve which is controlled by the upstream valve (and so on), in turn controls the function of the upstream valve. The elimination of the possibility of feedback precludes the construction of entire classes of analog devices and digital logic devices (e.g., latches).
It would also be desirable to provide numerous microfabricated fluidic switches on-chip that open and close channels without the need for large pressure differentials.
It would also be desirable to provide devices that perform logic functions, signal latching, mathematical functions, and other complex functions on-chip.
It would also be desirable to provide microfabricated fluidic switches on-chip that incorporate the feed back of information from a downstream part of the circuit to an upstream part.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide pressure sources and control lines that control the opening and closing of valves on-chip so that macroscopic control lines exiting the chip are minimized or eliminated.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide numerous microfabricated fluidic switches on-chip that open and close channels without the need for large pressure differentials.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide devices that perform logic functions, signal latching, mathematical functions, and other complex functions on-chip.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide microfabricated fluidic switches on-chip that incorporate the feed back of information from a downstream part of the circuit to an upstream part.
The present invention sets forth systems and methods for designing and operating microfabricated fluidic (i.e., microfluidic) devices such as switches, logic gates and latches (e.g., flip-flops) that provide control signals which can be fabricated on microfluidic chips. The microfluidic switches, logic gates, and latches of the present invention may operate entirely on-chip without the need for off-chip pressure sources.
The present invention also provides on-chip pressure sources that can drive the microfluidic switches, logic gates and latches. The present invention also provides on-chip microfluidic unidirectional valves, capacitors, switching regulators, and pressure multipliers, that are formed with elastomer material that can also operate without off-chip pressure sources. The devices and methods of the present invention control and channel fluid movement on-chip to perform a variety of functions.
Microfabricated fluidic devices of the present invention may be configured to imitate the functionality of semiconductor circuits, such as ON/OFF switches, capacitors, logic gates, latches, switching regulators, and devices that perform mathematical functions. The microfabricated fluidic logic gates of the present invention include AND gates, OR gates, NOR gates, NAND gates, inverters, and numerous other Boolean and logic functions. The logic functions performed by the microfabricated fluidic devices may also be configured to perform mathematical functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Microfabricated fluidic (i.e., microfluidic) devices of the present invention may also perform analog functions such as amplification or regulation. For example, devices of the present invention include switching regulators, capacitors, pressure multipliers, and pressure sources. Other analog functions may also be performed using microfluidic devices of the present invention.
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English Leonardo Da Vinci and the Science Work Introduction Leonardo Da Vinci can be listed as one of the early paleontologists and evolutionary biologists. Leonardo Da Vinci possessed one of the best scientific minds of that period…
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This paper details a brief account of Leonardo Da Vinci’s life, his achievements and discoveries and an analysis of his life based on the parts of creativity. Brief Biography Leonardo was born on 15th April, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, out of wedlock and raised by his father, ser Piero, and his step mother. In the modern sense, Leonardo had no surname and was named “da Vinci” meaning “of Vinci”. However, his full names were “Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci” implying “Leonardo, son of ser Peiro, from Vinci”. Little literature is available about Leonardo’s early life. According to Vasari (23-32), Leonardo lived in Achiano, his mother’s home, for the first five years of his life and later moved to his father’s household in Vinci. His father had remarried numerous times. Fig. 1 Leonardo’s portrait Leonardo attained informal education on mathematics, geometry and Latin language. He joined Verrocchio’s workshop at the age of fourteen. He was exposed to chemistry, leather working, mechanics, carpentry, drawing, painting and metallurgy (Buchholz 35-40). He graduated at the age of twenty as a qualified master in the union of doctors of medicine and artists. At the age of 22, court records indicate that Leonardo Da Vinci was charged and exonerated of sodomy (Vasari 58). In 1482, Leonardo was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici to create a silver lyre in the shape of a horse’s head. ...
Within his life, his “great strength and generosity, outstanding physical beauty, and aspects of life” attracted the curiosity of many people (Vasari 67). Leonardo had numerous friends who are also renowned for their contributions in history and other fields. He kept his private life discrete and was involved in numerous intimate relationships with his pupils. Accomplishments Buchholz (76) regards Leonardo as a genius and a renaissance man. Additionally, he is described as a man whose immeasurable inquisitiveness was made equal only by his powers of invention. Arguably, his talents stretched further than his artistic works. Like most of the renaissance leaders, he did not observe any separation and distinction between art and science. Leonardo is primarily known as a painter (Moon 83). Two of his paintings, the Mona Lisa and The last Supper, are the most celebrated, reproduced and imitated paintings. Leonardo’s iconic drawing of the Vitruvian Man is renowned. He also made numerous notebooks where he made scientific drawings, and diagrams. However, since he did not publish his diagrams, nobody else knew about the whereabouts of the notebooks and, therefore, they were discovered long later after he had died (Capra 21). As an engineer, Leonardo’s thoughts and ideas were hugely in advance of his period. He hypothesized a tank, a helicopter, solar power, calculator, and the elementary theory of plate tectonics. However, a few of his designs were feasible during his period. Some of his inventions came into the world of manufacturing unannounced and unpredicted. As a scientist, he immensely enhanced the state of knowledge on areas such as optics, hydrodynamics and anatomy (Capra 107-13). Leonardo was captivated by birds. He observed them, drew them
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Restaurant Gripes Usually Have Nothing To Do With the Food
Dirty tables, ill-equipped restrooms and rude servers are among the top complaints of people when dining out. But what about bad food – where does that rank?
According to a recent national survey by Consumer Reports, diners are generally more annoyed by cleanliness issues in restaurants than they are by mediocre food. But diners’ No. 1 gripe is dirty utensils on the table, a complaint registered by 76 percent of survey respondents.
I think it’s understandable that diners don’t want food-encrusted forks on the table. It’s not very appetizing.
Here are a few survey highlights, along with the number of people who listed them as a complaint:
CR surveyed more than 1,000 Americans to find out their top restaurant gripes.
Not surprisingly, the results also show that you can’t please everyone. For instance, while 16 percent of diners said restaurants that provide too much nutritional information are a turnoff to eating, another 14 percent complained that there’s not enough nutritional information available.
I think my biggest complaint when eating out is a rude or inattentive server. Even if I have a bad meal, a good server can really save the dining experience if they’re friendly and pay attention to my needs.
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You surely expect that now we will go about explaining what a tangent is, how human sight works and how we calculate the distance to the horizon. But no. We all know perfectly well that the most distant objects that can be seen with the naked eye have to be in space.
Table of contents – Farthest Naked Eye Object
In that case, let’s go straight into space, far beyond the limits of our solar system.
Since we live in a galaxy that is about 100,000 light-years across, at first glance we might deduce that the farthest object that can be seen with the naked eye should be some star at the other end of the Milky Way. But we would be very wrong, because, as you may have noticed, in the night sky we “only” see a few thousand stars, not the hundreds of billions that our galaxy actually contains.
This is because light loses intensity with distance exponentially (quadratically, being more concrete), so that the light from most of the stars in the galaxy is too weak when it reaches Earth for our eyes to detect. In fact, almost all the stars that we see in the night sky with the naked eye are in a radius of about 1,500 light years around the Earth.
So, in order to answer the question we raised in the beginning, we should actually ask what is the most distant star visible with an unaided eye?
What is the farthest star visible with the naked eye?
Well, the answer to this question is not straightforward as one might think. There are some stars that are especially bright that we can see without the help of any instrument, even if they are at a greater distance. In this StackExchange thread they have been mulling over the matter and it is possible that the farthest star that can be seen with the naked eye is AH Scorpii. It is a red supergiant variable star with a diameter 1,411 times that of the sun and a luminosity 330,000 times greater. In principle, this star is located about 7,400 light years away, but it could be a little closer or further away because the measurement has a certain margin of error.
At a similar distance (7,500 light years) is Eta Carinae, a star that is not visible to the naked eye today, but which, in 1856, underwent an increase in brightness that made it the second brightest star in the sky during three days. Taking these figures into account, it seems that the most distant stars that we can see with the naked eye should be between 7,000 and 8,000 light years away.
But this figure matters little to us in the context of today’s question because there is an object that is far more distant than any star in the Milky Way and that can be seen with the naked eye: the Andromeda galaxy, at 2.4 million light years.
Now, you might say, “what are you talking about? I have not seen the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye in my life!”
True. You will need a very clear sky and you have to be away from the lights of the city to be able to see it. If one day you manage to get to such a place, we recommend that you download an application called Google Sky that will help you locate the Andromeda galaxy in the sky. And, if you find it, in principle you will be observing the farthest object that can be seen with the eye.
Can we observe a supernova in a distant galaxy with the naked eye?
Now, although with the information provided above we have covered the topic of this article, while researching we have found an interesting detail. It also complements the answer provided quite well.
It turns out that in 1885 a supernova that took place in the Andromeda galaxy was detected. In short, supernovae are the final explosions with which the most massive stars end their lives. In fact, these events are so energetic that the brightness of a single supernova can rival that of the rest of the stars in the galaxy to which it belongs combined.
And, although the supernova of 1885 could not be observed with the naked eye, this has led us to wonder whether a supernova has ever been so bright that it could be seen from Earth with the naked eye, despite the fact that the explosion took place in an incredibly distant galaxy?
It appears that, yes!
This question led me to the so-called gamma-ray bursts, which are the brightest electromagnetic events in the universe and usually consist of an intense and rapid gamma-ray “flash” followed by a residual glow at all wavelengths, including the visible one. These events can last from a few milliseconds to several tens of minutes and it is believed that their duration depends on the type of phenomenon that produces them. The longest bursts would be the result of the collapse of extremely massive stars in the form of hypernovas, while the shorter ones could be produced by the merger of neutron stars or black holes.
In any case, these events are so extremely bright that they are visible from even greater distances than supernovae. And indeed, it appears that the glow from a gamma-ray burst that occurred no more and no less than 7.5 billion light-years away could be observed with the naked eye from Earth for 30 seconds on March 19, 2008. Therefore, at a distance more than 3,000 times greater than that which separates us from the Andromeda galaxy, this outburst, given the epic name of GRB 080319B, is probably the most distant event that has been seen with the naked eye.
Given we were trying to answer the question of what is the most distant object that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye, this additional information is totally irrelevant. Also, these outbursts last a very short time, so we can’t go outside at night and watch them whenever we feel like it.
A gamma ray burst is not a structure that lasts in time, like a star or a galaxy. But it is also true that, as far as we know, the light emitted by the GRB 080319B outburst is the farthest visible radiation that a human retina has ever detected. Assuming someone was looking up at the sky in the right direction during the 30 seconds the event took place, sure.
Anyway, this is the reason why we had covered our backs by using the term “thing” in the title. It gives us enough ambiguity to end the post by saying that, although Andromeda is the most distant object that can be seen with the naked eye, there are very brief and distant celestial phenomena that can potentially be seen from Earth with the naked eye, although it cannot be predicted when they will take place. Does that conclusion sound reasonable to you?
RELATED POSTS: | https://curiosityguide.org/science/what-is-the-farthest-thing-that-can-be-seen-with-the-naked-eye/ |
Last week, in part two of our introduction to Kabbalah, we suggested that in Jewish mystical theology, "God does not exist -- God is existence itself." But then we ended by asking if this is true, if everything is God, why do things appear as they do? And what are we supposed to do about it? What is the best use of our time as human beings?
Kabbalah, the centuries-old system of Jewish mysticism and esotericism, offers three types of answers to these questions. The answers are not contradictory but are, at the very least, three different perspectives on how a unitary world appears as multiplicity, and what to do about it. These three types of answers are found in three distinct streams of Kabbalah: what scholars call theosophical Kabbalah, prophetic/ecstatic Kabbalah, and practical/magical Kabbalah. These categories are not hard and fast, but the distinctions are productive ones, so let's take a look.
1. Theosophical Kabbalah
The most well-known and influential stream of Kabbalah is theosophical Kabbalah -- or what Kabbalists themselves call "Kabbalah of the sefirot" (we'll get to that term in a moment.) "Theosophical" here refers not to the early-20th century occultist movement, but to the principle that it is possible to know the nature of God. Thus, classic theosophical texts of the Kabbalah, such as the Zohar, talk about the "shape" of the Godhead, how our actions influence and mirror the Divine, how the nature of the world reflects the Divine reality and so on. By gradually developing and deepening this esoteric knowledge, the spiritually adept come to see the manifest world as perhaps the skin of the Divine, beneath which are endlessly deep layers of symbol and myth.
Theosophical Kabbalah's central symbolic structure is that of the ten sefirot -- an untranslatable word, sometimes rendered as "emanations," the neo-Platonic term for the stages of development from unity to multiplicity. One helpful metaphor is to think of the sefirot as ten different panes of stained glass through which the Infinite Light -- the ohr ein sof -- shines. For many theosophical texts, the world exists and appears as it does because God manifests through these sefirot, which both contain God's Light and, to speak in metaphor, dimmed or colored it in increasing degrees. Indeed, by the time this "light" reaches the final sefirah, Malchut, it can appear to us that it is completely concealed.
Experientially, learning theosophical Kabbalah transforms our understanding of the world; everything, every word, every moment is like a symbol for a ripple in the Godhead. As the deep structure of reality is uncovered, through ever greater sensitivity to and immersion in the Kabbalah's symbolic structure, our consciousness expands. In every blade of grass is the entire universe. For theosophical Kabbalah, we might say the life well lived is that which is subtly attuned to these symbolic structures and enriched by that knowledge. We will explore the sefirot in detail, and take a look at some key theosophical texts in future installments.
2. Prophetic Kabbalah
The second stream of Kabbalah is the prophetic Kabbalah (kabbalah nevuit), sometimes called "ecstatic Kabbalah" because it contains spiritual practices that lead to ecstatic mystical states. Until the 20th century, no Kabbalists used this term, for them the point was not the ecstatic states themselves, but the prophecy that could be obtained through them. The prophetic Kabbalah, most importantly in the writings of Abraham Abulafia, contains meditation practices, symbolic associations and what we might today understand as stream-of-consciousness writing for attaining union with the Divine.
Notice the difference in approach between prophetic Kabbalah and theosophical Kabbalah. Prophetic Kabbalah is about cultivating mystical experiences to obtain hidden knowledge. Theosophical Kabbalah is about studying and learning esoteric secrets. As scholar Melila Helner-Eshed has recently shown, this "studying" is itself a mystical experience, but the distinction still holds. Prophetic Kabbalah also uses the conceptual structure of the sefirot, but focuses less on understanding complex mythical and symbolic structures and more on techniques for altering the mind in order to open it to God. Language plays an essential role in both systems: the Hebrew Alphabet is seen as the underlying structure of the universe, a sort of "periodic table" which contains all the elements of the cosmos. In theosophical Kabbalah, language is mined for its symbolic associations. In prophetic Kabbalah, those associations themselves become grist for generating mystical experience.
In Abulafia's Maimonidean terminology, the insights one receives when the mind is warmed up by ecstatic practice come from the Active Intellect, the wisdom of the Divine which shapes and maintains the universe, and they -- not the experience itself -- are why the practices are important. In the practices of prophetic Kabbalah, the individual soul is annihilated. Once its illusory self is seen to be nothing but illusion, the world is experienced as nothing but the Divine Light, and one has access to the radiance of this Light, which is the source of prophecy. More than theosophical Kabbalah, prophetic Kabbalah closely resembles the mystical practices of other religious traditions, with meditation practices and other means of cleansing the doors of perception so that they can accept the Infinite. For prophetic Kabbalah, the best use of our time is cultivating states of higher consciousness so that we can have knowledge of God.
3. Practical Kabbalah
Third and last of the Kabbalistic "answers" of why the world is the way it is, and what to do about it, is that of practical Kabbalah (kabbalah ma'asit), sometimes called magical Kabbalah or theurgical Kabbalah. On the basic level, this form of Kabbalah contains a bewildering array of mythical and magical teachings: demons, angels, golems, amulets, spells, you name it. But we can understand practical Kabbalah thematically by putting it in the context of our original question of unity and multiplicity -- how the Infinite One relates to the finite many.
We might say that theosophical Kabbalah is concerned primarily with the relationship of finite to infinite, prophetic Kabbalah with how to unite with the infinite, and practical Kabbalah about how to manipulate the finite. Prophetic Kabbalah is the "up there," practical the "down here," and theosophical the relationship between the two. Of course, this is a very crude reduction of a thousand years of religious cultivation, but after all, we are only on installment 3.
Practical Kabbalah includes various esoteric practices such as divination, doctrines such as the transmigration of souls -- a lively world of angels and demons -- and legends such as the Golem. Theosophical and ecstatic Kabbalists tend to denigrate magic to them; however, it is moving in the wrong direction. Still, some of the oldest Kabbalistic texts we have are magical formulas and incantations, and the most popular forms of Kabbalah today make heavy use of magic. In Israel, Kabbalistic healers offer remedies for everything from infertility to depression, and in America, the Kabbalah Centre makes magical use of the Zohar and various talismans.
Practical Kabbalah is enormously popular, and not surprisingly. Because of the three streams, it is the most concerned with influencing the life we are leading here on Earth: protecting us from harm and giving us the keys to worldly success. Whether these keys actually work, well, that's for you to decide. But remember, for keys to work, you've got to use them to open doors.
In a sense, these three "answers" are really three approaches to how we are to live. This "life advice" may take the form of quasi-magical techniques that may heal us, or ecstatic practices that may give us equanimity and liberate us from the endless cycle of desire and suffering, or theosophical intentions that transform our daily consciousness. In all cases, to truly study Kabbalah is to live it, to bring its wisdom into our every act, and to understand ourselves in light of its truths. Before moving on to the details of these three systems, next week we'll pause to explore how Kabbalah does this -- how it can work as a spiritual practice for those of us who are not medieval rabbis but contemporary folks like you and me. | https://www.huffpost.com/entry/an-introduction-to-kabbal_b_338393 |
Q:
Regression Subset Algorithm in R
I want to build a regression subset algorithm in R for a 'beta regression' model.
There is a package betareg in R which fits beta regressions, and what I am interested in is the model that maximises the 'log likelihood'.
Basically, this works by picking the best k factor regression model, for k = 1,2,...,p where p is the number of variables you have.
For example, if i have x_1, x_2, x_3 as my variables, and y as my response. I want to have something that does:
step 1: Find best 1 factor model
mod1 <- betareg(y~x_1, data = test)
mod1.sum <- summary(mod1)
mod2 <- betareg(y~x_2, data = test)
mod2.sum <- summary(mod2)
mod3 <- betareg(y~x_3, data = test)
mod3.sum <- summary(mod3)
now that i have fit all the models, I want to compare the log likelihood of each:
likelihoods <- c( mod1.sum$loglik, mod2.sum$loglik, mod3.sum$loglik)
which.max(likelihoods)
Step 2: find the best factor to add to the best 1 factor model, let's assume x_1 was the best in the previous step. Then in this step we compare the model with x_1 and x_2, to the model with x_1 and x_3 choosing the one with the biggest loglikelihood.
Step 3: taking the best two variables as a given, find the third variable contributing the largest increase to log likelihood.
Step 4: Return the best 1 factor model, best 2 factor model, ..., best p factor model, the factors included and their corresponding log likelihoods.
I am struggling to do this efficiently when p is large, say around 40
A:
In addition to my other answer that shows how to do best-subset selection for beta regression with kofnGA, I'm including an example how to do forward selection by hand.
We again start by loading the package and data:
library("betareg")
data("FoodExpenditure", package = "betareg")
I'm also setting up lists with the response plus all regressors (including 40 random ones. (Note that unlike in the other I'm keeping the intercept in x which is more convenient here.)
fe_data <- list(
y = with(FoodExpenditure, food/income),
x = model.matrix(~ income + persons, data = FoodExpenditure)
)
set.seed(123)
fe_data$x <- cbind(fe_data$x,
matrix(rnorm(40 * nrow(fe_data$x)), ncol = 40))
colnames(fe_data$x)[4:43] <- paste0("x", 1:40)
Then we set up again a function for the negative log-likelihood (but do not need to include the intercept manually because it is still in x).
nll <- function(v, data) -betareg.fit(x = data$x[, v, drop = FALSE],
y = data$y)$loglik
Then we store the index of all possible regressors vall and initialize our search with the intercept (v <- 1) and the corresponding negative log-likelihood (n).
vall <- 1:ncol(fe_data$x)
v <- 1
n <- nll(v, data = fe_data)
And then we iterate our forward search for 15 iterations (to avoid numerical instabilities on this small data set for higher numbers of variables). We always select that additional variable that decreases the negative log-likelihood most:
for(i in 1:15) {
vi <- vall[-v]
ni <- sapply(vi, function(vii) nll(v = c(v, vii), data = fe_data))
v <- c(v, vi[which.min(ni)])
n <- c(n, ni[which.min(ni)])
}
The sequence in which the variables are chosen is the following. Note that the real regressors are picked first, followed by the random noise regressors. (But try to set.seed(1) above which will include random regressors before the real ones...)
colnames(fe_data$x)[v]
## [1] "(Intercept)" "income" "persons" "x28" "x18"
## [6] "x29" "x22" "x11" "x5" "x8"
## [11] "x38" "x24" "x13" "x23" "x36"
## [16] "x16"
The corresponding decrease in the negative log-likelihood and associated BIC can be visualized as:
m <- seq_along(v)
plot(m, n, type = "b",
xlab = "Number of regressors", ylab = "Log-likelihood")
plot(m, n + log(nrow(fe_data$x)) * (m + 1), type = "b",
xlab = "Number of regressors", ylab = "BIC")
So this would indeed pick the model with the three real regressors as the best BIC model.
| |
When we think of resilience in police officers, our minds naturally go to concepts such as mindfulness, one’s ability to reappraise a traumatic experience into one of success, or the ability to bounce back after going through a challenging experience among other thoughts. Current trends perceive resilience through a biopsychosocial lens and yet how much has bio explored the trait of resilience? Is it genetic? Can resilience be learned or even acquired? And if so, what parts of the brain play a part in the successful, resilient processing of our experience as police officers?
One academic article I recently came across explores just that! The article, Structural Brain Correlates of Resilience to Traumatic Stress in Dutch Police Officers by van der Werff et al. (2017), discusses aspects of the brain related to the cognitive functioning of our positive emotional experience; basically, the ability to feel like a positive “contributor” in situations of trauma. The authors explain how gray matter, white matter and neural pathways/myelination within are involved with resilience, what they initially believed would be the results of their study, and what they actually found. Because what they found was quite different from what they expected!
By virtue of our profession, we are going to experience traumatic events. How we conceptualize these events, how we transform what we saw, process and then believe, becomes our experience. And this occurs whether we see them as traumatic at the time or not. I have experienced events that seemed quite low key and even routine that deeply affected me afterward. The psychopathology that may result from processing these traumatic events can take us away from the passion of our policing work on a short-term basis or long-term basis on disability. Many studies explore the vulnerable aspects we may have as police officers; however, the neuro-biological pieces are somewhat new.
This takes me back to my OAC year of biology with my favourite teacher Ms. Jorgensen, who was the only teacher that kept my attention in our first 8 AM class of the day. She explained that progression and cognitive/physical development in children was not a matter of how intelligent they were, but when those applicable neural pathways were myelinated. Myelinated?? What is that? Ms. Jorgensen explained that this is the fatty sheath that coats a nerve and supports the transmission of the message from one area to another area of the brain to accomplish the task.
So as an example, a skill we learn in defensive tactics and/or firearms is partially as a result of nerves being myelinated. Basically, the ability to line up our target between our sites and slowly pull the trigger while maintaining that steady aim as we shoot our firearm is present as a result of the myelination of that particular neural pathway. My thought is, if this type of skill is acquired and present in this way, I wonder if resilience may develop as a result of nerve myelination and practice as well?
The article in question explains the research that was conducted within the Dutch police service about traumatic incidents concerning the brain that result in resilience or positive emotion for some. The basic conclusion is that grey and white matter size, which were thought to be greater in those with greater resilience, were found to be the same size. However what was different was the myelination of the fibres in the white brain matter. This fatty sheath was found to be thicker on neural pathways in the white brain matter fibres of those who are able to reframe a traumatic experience with positive emotion in Dutch police officers. The thicker the myelination on these neural pathways, the greater the ability to reframe the experience into a positive one equating to greater resilience!
The next time you notice a colleague who appears to handle what most would experience as trauma genuinely well or that colleague who is not managing life well, remind yourself that it may be due to this myelination of neural pathways. This occurs on its own biological schedule no differently than puberty and is not reflective of the level of intelligence or even actual ability to learn and develop a particular skill set. Let’s keep this in mind and share this tidbit of interesting information as we support our colleagues on this mental health journey in policing.
About the Author
Michelle Vincent
Retired York Regional Police Officer, Mental Health Practitioner & Founder/Director of The Haven
Michelle is a recently retired York Regional Police Officer, mental health practitioner and the Founder/Director of The Haven, Ontario’s first non-profit, occupational-specific, inpatient treatment centre for first responders and uniform personnel. She has a consulting practice in the implementation of mental health and workplace reintegration programming for First Responders. Michelle is a mental health practitioner with a specialization in understanding the cultural dynamics of first responder members and their organizations. She is a PhD Candidate in Forensic Psychology with a specialization in crisis response and loves to blend her academic and policing experience in her writing.
Michelle can be seen speaking more about her non-profit, The Haven in the Globe and Mail and CTV News. As well, if you would like to learn more, check out The Haven’s website.
To contact Michelle, you can reach her at [email protected] or [email protected]
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Regulators yesterday rejected Cable Bahamas’ warning that the fine imposed on it for poor pay-TV service quality would “detract” from its $85m capital investment in network infrastructure upgrades.
The BISX-listed communications provider, responding to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) decision to levy a fine equal to 2.025 percent of its “monthly recurring” TV revenue for 2021, hinted darkly that its multi-million investment plans would be undermined by the regulator’s actions even though it has admitted the sum involved is not material.
Touting its good deeds, including a $45.1m investment in network upgrades during a time of declining revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, URCA said Cable Bahamas responded to its findings and decision by arguing that any sanctions would contravene the central thrust of the Government’s communications sector policy.
“While Cable Bahamas has committed $85m to network upgrades, Cable Bahamas explained that it had not paid dividends to shareholders for the past five years,” URCA said of the company’s response. “Therefore, a fine of this magnitude would significantly impact or detract from its ability to continue with its fibre-to-the-home capital investment to upgrade its existing network.
“Such a consequence would not advance one of the primary objectives of the electronic communications sector policy, which is to promote investment and innovation in electronic communications networks and services, Cable Bahamas argued.”
The BISX-listed communications provider, detailing its capital investments, said it had “installed fibre-to-the-home infrastructure to over 5,000 households. Sixty-five percent of these households are in Abaco and the HFC network was replaced with a fibre network after Hurricane Dorian”.
Pegging its fibre-to-the-home investment within the last three to four years at $5.1m, URCA added of Cable Bahamas: “During its fiscal year 2022, it invested $40m in the phase one deployment of fibre-to-the-home in Nassau. It has already commenced a planned $85m investment in fibre-to-the-home with the objective of improving the customer experience. Cable Bahamas added that there will be little to no return on investment for its fibre network investments.”
URCA, though, was not moved by Cable Bahamas’ arguments. “URCA notes Cable Bahamas’ investments in network upgrades and ongoing migration from its existing hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network to fibre-to-the-home. URCA considers that the 2.025 percent fine to be applied would not detract Cable Bahamas from investing in its network and/or using funds to eliminate the faults on its network,” the regulator hit back.
“Regarding Cable Bahamas mention of the electronic communications sector policy objective to promote investment and innovation in electronic communications networks and services, URCA reminds Cable Bahamas that it is also guided by the sector policy objective to further the interests of consumers.
“URCA endeavours to strike a reasonable balance between these objectives. URCA remains concerned that Cable Bahamas has failed to explain what customers who still experience service issues should do in the meantime while paying a monthly bill for unreliable service. Accounting for all of these factors, URCA considers a fine is still justified but as stated earlier, the amount of the basic fine has been reduced.”
Cable Bahamas had earlier blasted URCA’s probe, and associated findings, as “unfair, disproportionately punitive and repugnant to the principles of due process”. It argued that it was impossible for the company to respond to the concerns and accusations levied against it because the consumer complaints were never specified - their nature, when and who was affected, and for how long.
“In Cable Bahamas’ view, URCA failed to provide basic information about the complaints including the account numbers, phone numbers, times and places of the incidents. Cable Bahamas also claimed that URCA never disclosed any details of its investigation and/or supporting evidence to verify the veracity of the complaints,” URCA said in its determination.
“Cable Bahamas claimed it was only able to provide general explanations for the type of faults, the possible root causes, steps required to resolve the faults, and the timelines for doing so. Cable Bahamas was therefore confounded as to how URCA arrived at its conclusions given the lack of evidence that a proper and fulsome investigation took place.
“Again, referring to what it deemed as URCA’s failure to identify any particular customer, Cable Bahamas claimed it was denied a fair and reasonable opportunity to investigate any specific complaint, ascertain the root cause and make a proposal for resolution for/resolve that complaint pursuant to CBL’s own internal complaint process..... and the consumer protection regulations,” the regulator added.
“Overall, Cable Bahamas considered the process by which URCA arrived at its preliminary findings to be procedurally flawed and patently unfair to Cable Bahamas.” URCA rejected these arguments on the basis that, based on responses to Cable Bahamas’ TV repackaging, multiple consumers were experiencing the same issues repeatedly which made the company’s insistence that specific customer complaint details be provided “irrelevant”.
“Also, Cable Bahamas’ claim that it requires specific customer details contradicts its own August 31, 2021, response to the investigation where Cable BahamaS listed the actions its team was taking to address the signal quality issues with respect to the channel error messages and pixelated channels,” URCA added.
“Cable Bahamas did not ensure its staff was aware of the potential remedies available to resolve the complaints. Based on multiple calls to Cable Bahamas’ technical support, the staff contacted were not aware of the set-top box replacement initiative and/or how to resolve the channel error messages and pixelation.”
And URCA added: “In regard to Cable Bahamas’ claim that it has fully cooperated with URCA’s investigation, URCA disagrees with this assertion due to Cable Bahamas incomplete submissions. Cable Bahamas provided a ‘Report of Tickets’ workbook for only the month of August 2021 instead of the requested outage or disruption reports.
“The Report of Tickets workbook did not provide any data on the ‘error 200’ messages but included a spreadsheet on loading ‘error 301’ messages instead. It was unclear whether these error messages are the same as Cable Bahamas did not accompany the spreadsheet with descriptions or explanations. Cable Bahamas did not provide any documentation to demonstrate the actions being taken or that were taken to address the issues.
“The maintenance report spreadsheet included dates and times of maintenance exercises that occurred during 2021 with a brief one-line summary of what the maintenance entailed. However, there was no explanation on which issues the exercises addressed in relation to URCA’s investigation and what progress was made to resolving the issues.
“URCA can assume these exercises are in relation to pixelated channels due to the mentions of node splits and congestion relief but, again, Cable Bahamas did not provide any details or supporting evidence. These omissions are in addition to Cable Bahamas not providing detailed explanations to URCA’s queries.”
Commenting has been disabled for this item. | http://www.tribune242.com/news/2022/dec/06/regulators-throw-out-85m-cable-warning/ |
Matthew Gill
Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
Accounting is the language of business, increasingly standardized across the world through global banks and corporations: a technical tool used to reach the correct, unquestionable answer. ...
More
Accounting is the language of business, increasingly standardized across the world through global banks and corporations: a technical tool used to reach the correct, unquestionable answer. Nonetheless, as recent corporate scandals have shown, a whole range of financial professionals (accountants, auditors, bankers, finance directors) can collectively fail to question dubious actions. How is this possible? To understand such failures, this book explores how accountants construct the technical knowledge they deem relevant to decision-making. In doing so, it not only offers a new way to understand deviance and scandals, but also suggests a reappraisal of accounting knowledge which has important implications for everyday commercial life. The book's findings are based on interviews with chartered accountants working in the largest accountancy practices in London. The interviews reveal that although accounting decisions seem clear after they have been made, the process of making them is contested and opaque. Yet accountants nonetheless tend to describe their work as if it were straightforward and technical. This book delves beneath the surface to explore how accountants actually construct knowledge, and draws out the implications of that process with respect to issues such as professionalism, performance, transparency, and ethics. This thought-provoking book concludes that accountants' technical discourse undermines their ethical reasoning by obscuring the ways in which accounting decisions must be thought through in practice. Accountants with particular ethical perspectives more readily understand and construct particular types of knowledge, so the two issues of knowledge and of ethics are inseparable. Increasingly technical accounting rules can therefore be counterproductive. Instead, this book shows how reinvigorating the ethical discourse within the financial world could be a more effective means of averting future scandals.Less
Accountants' Truth : Knowledge and Ethics in the Financial World
Matthew Gill
Published in print: 2009-06-25
Accounting is the language of business, increasingly standardized across the world through global banks and corporations: a technical tool used to reach the correct, unquestionable answer. Nonetheless, as recent corporate scandals have shown, a whole range of financial professionals (accountants, auditors, bankers, finance directors) can collectively fail to question dubious actions. How is this possible? To understand such failures, this book explores how accountants construct the technical knowledge they deem relevant to decision-making. In doing so, it not only offers a new way to understand deviance and scandals, but also suggests a reappraisal of accounting knowledge which has important implications for everyday commercial life. The book's findings are based on interviews with chartered accountants working in the largest accountancy practices in London. The interviews reveal that although accounting decisions seem clear after they have been made, the process of making them is contested and opaque. Yet accountants nonetheless tend to describe their work as if it were straightforward and technical. This book delves beneath the surface to explore how accountants actually construct knowledge, and draws out the implications of that process with respect to issues such as professionalism, performance, transparency, and ethics. This thought-provoking book concludes that accountants' technical discourse undermines their ethical reasoning by obscuring the ways in which accounting decisions must be thought through in practice. Accountants with particular ethical perspectives more readily understand and construct particular types of knowledge, so the two issues of knowledge and of ethics are inseparable. Increasingly technical accounting rules can therefore be counterproductive. Instead, this book shows how reinvigorating the ethical discourse within the financial world could be a more effective means of averting future scandals.
Christopher S. Chapman, David J. Cooper, and Peter Miller (eds)
Business and Management, Organization Studies, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
Accounting has an ever-increasing significance in contemporary society. Indeed, some argue that its practices are fundamental to the development and functioning of modern capitalist societies. We can ...
More
Accounting has an ever-increasing significance in contemporary society. Indeed, some argue that its practices are fundamental to the development and functioning of modern capitalist societies. We can see accounting everywhere: in organizations where budgeting, investing, costing, and performance appraisal rely on accounting practices; in financial and other audits; in corporate scandals and financial reporting and regulation; in corporate governance, risk management, and accountability, and in the corresponding growth and influence of the accounting profession. Accounting, too, is an important part of the curriculum and research of business and management schools, the fastest growing sector in higher education. This growth is largely a phenomenon of the last fifty years or so. Prior to that, accounting was seen mainly as a mundane, technical, bookkeeping exercise (and some still share that naive view). The growth in accounting has demanded a corresponding engagement by scholars to examine and highlight the important behavioural, organizational, institutional, and social dimensions of accounting. Pioneering work by accounting researchers and social scientists more generally has persuasively demonstrated to a wider social science, professional, management, and policy audience how many aspects of life are indeed constituted, to an important extent, through the calculative practices of accounting. Anthony Hopwood, to whom this books is dedicated, has been a leading figure in this endeavour, which has effectively defined accounting as a distinctive field of research in the social sciences. The book brings together the work of leading international accounting academics and social scientists, and demonstrates the scope, vitality, and insights of contemporary scholarship in and on accounting and auditing.Less
Published in print: 2009-08-13
Accounting has an ever-increasing significance in contemporary society. Indeed, some argue that its practices are fundamental to the development and functioning of modern capitalist societies. We can see accounting everywhere: in organizations where budgeting, investing, costing, and performance appraisal rely on accounting practices; in financial and other audits; in corporate scandals and financial reporting and regulation; in corporate governance, risk management, and accountability, and in the corresponding growth and influence of the accounting profession. Accounting, too, is an important part of the curriculum and research of business and management schools, the fastest growing sector in higher education. This growth is largely a phenomenon of the last fifty years or so. Prior to that, accounting was seen mainly as a mundane, technical, bookkeeping exercise (and some still share that naive view). The growth in accounting has demanded a corresponding engagement by scholars to examine and highlight the important behavioural, organizational, institutional, and social dimensions of accounting. Pioneering work by accounting researchers and social scientists more generally has persuasively demonstrated to a wider social science, professional, management, and policy audience how many aspects of life are indeed constituted, to an important extent, through the calculative practices of accounting. Anthony Hopwood, to whom this books is dedicated, has been a leading figure in this endeavour, which has effectively defined accounting as a distinctive field of research in the social sciences. The book brings together the work of leading international accounting academics and social scientists, and demonstrates the scope, vitality, and insights of contemporary scholarship in and on accounting and auditing.
Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, Political Economy
This book addresses two important questions: first, why did financial innovation lead to the crisis in the banking sector that developed in 2007–8; and, second, why the political reform of finance ...
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This book addresses two important questions: first, why did financial innovation lead to the crisis in the banking sector that developed in 2007–8; and, second, why the political reform of finance has apparently proved so difficult across a variety of political jurisdictions? This ambitious book draws on a team of researchers from different disciplines to develop an innovation and distinctive argument in response to these two critical issues. In the first half of this book our question is about how crisis was generated. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 develop our answer, which is that innovation in and around the financial markets took the form of bricolage which did not consider the risks, uncertainty, and unintended consequences of volume-based business models and complex circuits. The direct implication is that finance needs to be simplified, rather than regulation made more sophisticated. In the second half of the book, our question is about why democratic political control both before and after the crisis has proved so difficult? Chapters 5, 6, and 7 develop our answer, which is that self-serving financial elites are not easily controlled by technocratic elites who are themselves recovering from knowledge failure, or by the rest of the governing classes concerned with political positioning for electoral advantage on issues which are technical, opaque, and illegible to the electorate at large. In Chapter 8, we discuss some of the implications of this analysis for how reform of both banking regulation and democracy is required.Less
After the Great Complacence : Financial Crisis and the Politics of Reform
Published in print: 2011-09-01
This book addresses two important questions: first, why did financial innovation lead to the crisis in the banking sector that developed in 2007–8; and, second, why the political reform of finance has apparently proved so difficult across a variety of political jurisdictions? This ambitious book draws on a team of researchers from different disciplines to develop an innovation and distinctive argument in response to these two critical issues. In the first half of this book our question is about how crisis was generated. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 develop our answer, which is that innovation in and around the financial markets took the form of bricolage which did not consider the risks, uncertainty, and unintended consequences of volume-based business models and complex circuits. The direct implication is that finance needs to be simplified, rather than regulation made more sophisticated. In the second half of the book, our question is about why democratic political control both before and after the crisis has proved so difficult? Chapters 5, 6, and 7 develop our answer, which is that self-serving financial elites are not easily controlled by technocratic elites who are themselves recovering from knowledge failure, or by the rest of the governing classes concerned with political positioning for electoral advantage on issues which are technical, opaque, and illegible to the electorate at large. In Chapter 8, we discuss some of the implications of this analysis for how reform of both banking regulation and democracy is required.
Kees Camfferman and Stephen A. Zeff
Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, International Business
This book provides a historical study of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) from 2001 to 2011. During this period, the IASB and its International Financial Reporting Standards ...
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This book provides a historical study of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) from 2001 to 2011. During this period, the IASB and its International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) acquired a central position in the practice and regulation of financial reporting around the world. As a unique instance of a private-sector body setting standards with legal force in many jurisdictions, the IASB’s rise to prominence has been accompanied by vivid political debates about its governance and accountability. Similarly, the IASB’s often innovative attempts to change the face of financial reporting have made it the centre of numerous controversies. The book traces the history of the IASB from its foundation as successor to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), and discusses its operation, changing membership and leadership, the development of its standards, and their reception in jurisdictions around the world. The book gives particular attention to the IASB’s relationships with the European Union, the United States, and Japan, as well as to the impact of the financial crisis on the IASB’s work.Less
Kees CamffermanStephen A. Zeff
Published in print: 2015-03-01
This book provides a historical study of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) from 2001 to 2011. During this period, the IASB and its International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) acquired a central position in the practice and regulation of financial reporting around the world. As a unique instance of a private-sector body setting standards with legal force in many jurisdictions, the IASB’s rise to prominence has been accompanied by vivid political debates about its governance and accountability. Similarly, the IASB’s often innovative attempts to change the face of financial reporting have made it the centre of numerous controversies. The book traces the history of the IASB from its foundation as successor to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), and discusses its operation, changing membership and leadership, the development of its standards, and their reception in jurisdictions around the world. The book gives particular attention to the IASB’s relationships with the European Union, the United States, and Japan, as well as to the impact of the financial crisis on the IASB’s work.
Mauro F. Guillén
Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, Organization Studies
Why are there so many crises in the world? Is it true that the global system is today riskier and more dangerous than in past decades? Do we have any tools at our disposal to bring these problems ...
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Why are there so many crises in the world? Is it true that the global system is today riskier and more dangerous than in past decades? Do we have any tools at our disposal to bring these problems under control, to reduce the global system’s proneness to instability? These are the tantalizing questions addressed in this book. Using a variety of demographic, economic, financial, social, and political indicators, the book demonstrates that the global system has indeed become an “architecture of collapse” subject to a variety of shocks. An analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China, and the European sovereign debt crisis illustrates how the complexity and tight coupling of system components creates a situation of precarious stability and periodic disruption. This state of affairs can only be improved by enhancing the shock-absorbing components of the system, especially the capacity of states and governments to act, and by containing the shock-diffusing mechanisms, especially those related to phenomena such as trade imbalances, portfolio investment, cross-border banking, population ageing, and income and wealth inequality.Less
The Architecture of Collapse : The Global System in the 21st Century
Mauro F. Guillén
Published in print: 2015-11-01
Why are there so many crises in the world? Is it true that the global system is today riskier and more dangerous than in past decades? Do we have any tools at our disposal to bring these problems under control, to reduce the global system’s proneness to instability? These are the tantalizing questions addressed in this book. Using a variety of demographic, economic, financial, social, and political indicators, the book demonstrates that the global system has indeed become an “architecture of collapse” subject to a variety of shocks. An analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China, and the European sovereign debt crisis illustrates how the complexity and tight coupling of system components creates a situation of precarious stability and periodic disruption. This state of affairs can only be improved by enhancing the shock-absorbing components of the system, especially the capacity of states and governments to act, and by containing the shock-diffusing mechanisms, especially those related to phenomena such as trade imbalances, portfolio investment, cross-border banking, population ageing, and income and wealth inequality.
Jens Beckert and Matías Dewey (eds)
Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, International Business
From illegal drugs, stolen artwork, and forged trademarks, to fraud on financial markets—the phenomenon of illegality in market exchanges is pervasive. Illegal markets have great economic ...
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From illegal drugs, stolen artwork, and forged trademarks, to fraud on financial markets—the phenomenon of illegality in market exchanges is pervasive. Illegal markets have great economic significance, have relevant social and political consequences, and shape economic and political structures. Despite the importance of illegality in the economy, the field of economic sociology unquestioningly accepts the premise that the institutional structures and exchanges taking place in markets are law-abiding in nature. This volume seeks to challenge this. Questions that stand at the center of the chapters are: What are the interfaces between legal and illegal markets? How do demand and supply in illegal markets interact? What role do criminal organizations play in illegal markets? What is the relationship between illegality and governments? Is illegality a phenomenon central to capitalism? Anchored in economic sociology, this book contributes to the analysis and understanding of market exchanges in conditions of illegality from a perspective that focuses on the social organization of markets. Offering both theoretical reflections and case studies, the chapters assembled in the volume address the consequences of the illegal production, distribution, and consumption of products for the architecture of markets. It also focuses on the underlying causes and the political and social concerns stemming from the infringement of the law. This book provides insights into the trades in diamonds and counterfeit clothing, rhino horn and human organs, alcohol and doping products, marihuana and smuggled goods, stolen antiquities and personal information, and illegal practices in finance and price setting.Less
The Architecture of Illegal Markets : Towards an Economic Sociology of Illegality in the Economy
Published in print: 2017-08-03
From illegal drugs, stolen artwork, and forged trademarks, to fraud on financial markets—the phenomenon of illegality in market exchanges is pervasive. Illegal markets have great economic significance, have relevant social and political consequences, and shape economic and political structures. Despite the importance of illegality in the economy, the field of economic sociology unquestioningly accepts the premise that the institutional structures and exchanges taking place in markets are law-abiding in nature. This volume seeks to challenge this. Questions that stand at the center of the chapters are: What are the interfaces between legal and illegal markets? How do demand and supply in illegal markets interact? What role do criminal organizations play in illegal markets? What is the relationship between illegality and governments? Is illegality a phenomenon central to capitalism? Anchored in economic sociology, this book contributes to the analysis and understanding of market exchanges in conditions of illegality from a perspective that focuses on the social organization of markets. Offering both theoretical reflections and case studies, the chapters assembled in the volume address the consequences of the illegal production, distribution, and consumption of products for the architecture of markets. It also focuses on the underlying causes and the political and social concerns stemming from the infringement of the law. This book provides insights into the trades in diamonds and counterfeit clothing, rhino horn and human organs, alcohol and doping products, marihuana and smuggled goods, stolen antiquities and personal information, and illegal practices in finance and price setting.
Michael Power
Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, Organization Studies
Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value ...
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Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value for money audits, environmental audits, quality audits, teaching audits, and many others. Why has this happened? What does it mean when a society invests so heavily in an industry of checking and when more and more individuals find themselves subject to formal scrutiny? This book argues that the rise of auditing has its roots in political demands for accountability and control. At the heart of a new administrative style, internal control systems have begun to play an important public role and individual and organizational performance has been increasingly formalized and made auditable. The author argues that the new demands and expectations of audits live uneasily with their operational capabilities. Not only is the manner in which they produce assurance and accountability open to question but also, by imposing their own values, audits often have unintended and dysfunctional consequences for the audited organization.Less
The Audit Society : Rituals of Verification
Michael Power
Published in print: 1999-08-19
Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value for money audits, environmental audits, quality audits, teaching audits, and many others. Why has this happened? What does it mean when a society invests so heavily in an industry of checking and when more and more individuals find themselves subject to formal scrutiny? This book argues that the rise of auditing has its roots in political demands for accountability and control. At the heart of a new administrative style, internal control systems have begun to play an important public role and individual and organizational performance has been increasingly formalized and made auditable. The author argues that the new demands and expectations of audits live uneasily with their operational capabilities. Not only is the manner in which they produce assurance and accountability open to question but also, by imposing their own values, audits often have unintended and dysfunctional consequences for the audited organization.
The financial crisis that began in 2007 in the United States swept the world, producing substantial bank failures and forcing unprecedented state aid for the crippled global financial system. ...
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The financial crisis that began in 2007 in the United States swept the world, producing substantial bank failures and forcing unprecedented state aid for the crippled global financial system. Providing an international perspective, this book draws critical lessons from the causes of the crisis and proposes important regulatory reforms, including sound guidelines for the ways in which distressed banks might be dealt with in the future. While some recent policy moves go in the right direction, others, the book argues, are not sufficient to prevent another crisis. The book shows the necessity of an adaptive prudential regulatory system that can better address financial innovation. Stressing the numerous and complex challenges faced by politicians, finance professionals, and regulators, and calling for reinforced international coordination (for example, in the treatment of distressed banks), the book puts forth a number of principles to deal with issues regarding the economic incentives of financial institutions, the impact of economic shocks, and the role of political constraints.Less
Balancing the Banks : Global Lessons from the Financial Crisis
Mathias DewatripontJean-Charles RochetJean Tirole
Published in print: 2010-05-09
The financial crisis that began in 2007 in the United States swept the world, producing substantial bank failures and forcing unprecedented state aid for the crippled global financial system. Providing an international perspective, this book draws critical lessons from the causes of the crisis and proposes important regulatory reforms, including sound guidelines for the ways in which distressed banks might be dealt with in the future. While some recent policy moves go in the right direction, others, the book argues, are not sufficient to prevent another crisis. The book shows the necessity of an adaptive prudential regulatory system that can better address financial innovation. Stressing the numerous and complex challenges faced by politicians, finance professionals, and regulators, and calling for reinforced international coordination (for example, in the treatment of distressed banks), the book puts forth a number of principles to deal with issues regarding the economic incentives of financial institutions, the impact of economic shocks, and the role of political constraints.
Politics matter for financial markets and financial markets matter for politics, and nowhere is this relationship more apparent than in emerging markets. This book investigates the links between ...
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Politics matter for financial markets and financial markets matter for politics, and nowhere is this relationship more apparent than in emerging markets. This book investigates the links between politics and finance in countries that have recently experienced both economic and democratic transitions. It focuses on elections, investigating whether there is a “democratic premium”—whether financial markets and investors tend to react positively to elections in emerging markets. Special attention is devoted to Latin America, where over the last three decades many countries became democracies, with regular elections, just as they also became open economies dependent on foreign capital and dominated bond markets. The analysis draws on a unique set of primary databases covering an entire decade: more than 5,000 bank and fund manager portfolio recommendations on emerging markets. The book examines the trajectory of Brazil, for example, through its presidential elections of 2002, 2006, and 2010 and finds a decoupling of financial and political cycles that occurred also in many other emerging economies. It charts this evolution through the behavior of brokers, analysts, fund managers, and bankers. Ironically, while some emerging markets have decoupled politics and finance, in the wake of the 2008–2012 financial crisis many developed economies (Europe and the United States) have experienced a recoupling between finance and politics.Less
Javier Santiso
Published in print: 2013-06-14
Politics matter for financial markets and financial markets matter for politics, and nowhere is this relationship more apparent than in emerging markets. This book investigates the links between politics and finance in countries that have recently experienced both economic and democratic transitions. It focuses on elections, investigating whether there is a “democratic premium”—whether financial markets and investors tend to react positively to elections in emerging markets. Special attention is devoted to Latin America, where over the last three decades many countries became democracies, with regular elections, just as they also became open economies dependent on foreign capital and dominated bond markets. The analysis draws on a unique set of primary databases covering an entire decade: more than 5,000 bank and fund manager portfolio recommendations on emerging markets. The book examines the trajectory of Brazil, for example, through its presidential elections of 2002, 2006, and 2010 and finds a decoupling of financial and political cycles that occurred also in many other emerging economies. It charts this evolution through the behavior of brokers, analysts, fund managers, and bankers. Ironically, while some emerging markets have decoupled politics and finance, in the wake of the 2008–2012 financial crisis many developed economies (Europe and the United States) have experienced a recoupling between finance and politics.
Ranald C. Michie
Business and Management, Business History, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
This is the first study of the entire British banking system from its origins in the late seventeenth century until the present. It analyses what made the British banking system the most resilient ...
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This is the first study of the entire British banking system from its origins in the late seventeenth century until the present. It analyses what made the British banking system the most resilient and trusted in the world and how it was able to maintain that for so long. It describes a process of continuous adaptation and innovation as the system responded to the challenges and opportunities that arose over three centuries, provides an explanation for the calamity that overtook the British banking system in 2007/8, and the insight required to restore it to the position it once occupied. To achieve that insight requires an understanding of the entire banking system, not a subset of banks. Banks are key components of a complex financial system continually interacting with each other, and constantly changing over time. This makes the conventional distinctions drawn between different types of banks inappropriate for any long-term analysis. These distinctions were neither absolute nor permanent but relative and temporary. Banks were also central to both the payments system and the money market without which no modern economy could function. Only with such an understanding is it possible to appreciate what the British banking system achieved and then maintained from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, why it was lost in such a short space of time, and what needs to be done to return it to the position it once occupied. Without such an understanding the mistakes of the recent past are destined to be repeated.Less
British Banking : Continuity and Change from 1694 to the Present
Ranald C. Michie
Published in print: 2016-11-10
This is the first study of the entire British banking system from its origins in the late seventeenth century until the present. It analyses what made the British banking system the most resilient and trusted in the world and how it was able to maintain that for so long. It describes a process of continuous adaptation and innovation as the system responded to the challenges and opportunities that arose over three centuries, provides an explanation for the calamity that overtook the British banking system in 2007/8, and the insight required to restore it to the position it once occupied. To achieve that insight requires an understanding of the entire banking system, not a subset of banks. Banks are key components of a complex financial system continually interacting with each other, and constantly changing over time. This makes the conventional distinctions drawn between different types of banks inappropriate for any long-term analysis. These distinctions were neither absolute nor permanent but relative and temporary. Banks were also central to both the payments system and the money market without which no modern economy could function. Only with such an understanding is it possible to appreciate what the British banking system achieved and then maintained from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, why it was lost in such a short space of time, and what needs to be done to return it to the position it once occupied. Without such an understanding the mistakes of the recent past are destined to be repeated.
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An executive brief is a summary of complex information. It is used to provide decision-makers with a quick overview of essential information, without overwhelming them with details. An effective executive brief is well-organized and written so the reader can easily understand the main points. When writing an executive brief, the goal is to provide a concise overview of the situation, not give the complete picture. Just stick to the most important information, and leave out unnecessary details. The following questions must be adequately answered in crafting an executive brief: What is the problem or opportunity? What are the possible solutions? What are the risks and benefits of each solution? What is the recommended course of action? When writing an executive brief, consider your audience carefully. Decision-makers are often busy people who do not have time to read lengthy documents. So, keep it snappy; don’t beat around the bush. You should also ensure that your executive brief is well-organized so the reader can easily find the information they are looking for. It should also not be overly technical, simplistic, or biased. Consider all of the possible solutions to the problem or opportunity. You should not recommend a particular course of action without first considering the risks and benefits of each option. Finally, proofread your document carefully to ensure that there are no errors. Going over the document again allows you to catch any mistakes that you may have made while writing. So have another set of eyes go over the executive brief again as this fresh perspective will help spot errors. After all, decision-makers rely on the accuracy of your information. If you're not sure how to make an executive summary from scratch, get some ideas from these executive brief examples from Venngage. They offer a wide range of customizable executive brief templates that you can edit to make an executive brief quickly and easily. All you need to do is sign up for a free account; just log in with your email. After you've logged in, browse through their library of professionally-designed executive brief templates. Once you've found an executive brief example you like, click on the "Use This Template" button. From there, you can replace the text and images with your content. Using the drag-and-drop editor, you can also customize the colors, fonts, and layout to match your brand's style guide. Venngage has a wide range of visuals (including charts, graphs, and maps) that you can use to make your executive brief more engaging. Before downloading, make sure to double-check your work. When you're finished, click on the "Download" button to save your executive brief as a PDF. You can also share it directly with your team or clients by email or link. You don't have to be an expert designer to create your executive brief. Sometimes you just need a little help getting started. With Venngage's executive brief examples, you can create a stunning, professional-looking document with ease. So why wait? Sign up with Venngage and get started today! | https://venngage.com/templates/reports/executive-brief-example-205c09ec-ba11-4da2-b2e6-c389e2ebb732 |
“Gating” Through Wellness Programs Under Proposed EEOC Regulation
This article examines a recently proposed regulation that limits certain rewards provided through wellness programs. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Proposed 29 C.F.R. 1630.14(d), issued under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), has been described as effectively eliminating the general practice of creating “gated levels” of a health plan. In examining those claims, this article omits wellness program restrictions imposed by the Affordable Care Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), other portions of the ADA, or other laws governing or affecting wellness programs, in general, even though an understanding of these restrictions is vital to creating an effective, compliant wellness program.
Employment Law, Employee Benefits, and the ADA
“Employment law” and “employee benefits” are areas of practice that often inter-relate, especially in the area of health benefits. The Family Medical Leave Act is a perfect example of this, in that whether an employee is entitled to the benefits of that law is generally considered an employment law issue, while an employer’s compliance necessitates refining its health plan documentation and procedures, which is generally considered an employee benefits issue. The ADA has largely focused on employment law concerns of discrimination in the workplace, but this regulation focuses on discrimination within an employer’s group health plan. If the EEOC raises concerns under the ADA or an employee brings a claim on the basis that he or she was unfairly discriminated against, one would hope that an employer would immediately involve its employment law attorney, and in order for that employment law attorney to understand, properly advise, and defend a claim brought under this portion of the ADA, there needs to be a basic understanding of the employee benefit concepts at issue.
Terminology
Since this portion of the ADA relates to employee benefits, it involves some concepts with terminology that might not be familiar. Following is a brief explanation of several of these concepts.
• Gated Levels or Gating — This term describes the practice of using a single health plan that provides different levels of coverage, generally through different ratios of co-insurance and deductibles. While “tiers” often refer to who is covered (such as just the employee or the employee and his or her spouse), “gated levels” refers to the extent of coverage (such as whether a covered procedure is reimbursed by insurance at 100 percent or 80 percent of the cost, with the participant paying the remainder). When a wellness program is used to determine the available levels of coverage, this practice is “gating.”
• Health Plan — This term describes an employer-sponsored employee benefit plan that provides healthcare. Common medical plans, dental plans, and vision plans are normally health plans. Dependent care assistance programs and policies that pay an insured a set amount upon an event (such as admission to a hospital or a cancer diagnosis) without regard to the medical procedures or costs incurred is generally not a medical plan.
• Health Risk Assessment — This term refers to the collection of data, often through questions concerning medical histories and the drawing of blood in order to assess and address potential medical risks.
• Participant — This term describes an employee who enrolls in a health plan or wellness program. In some employee benefit situations, this term includes individuals who are eligible, but choose not to participate in a program; however, that is not how this term is used here.
• Wellness Program — This term describes a program designed to encourage employees to make healthy lifestyle choices. In this article, the term is abbreviated as “program.” A program can be a “health plan” by providing medical care, such as screenings and vaccinations, but does not need to be. For example, a wellness program that rewards employees for exercising is not a health plan, but is a wellness program.
Scope of Regulation
EEOC Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1630.14(d), titled “Other acceptable examinations and inquiries,” states: “A covered entity may conduct voluntary medical examinations and activities, including voluntary medical histories, which are part of an employee health program available to employees at the work site.”1 The EEOC’s goal with this regulation is to ensure such examinations are truly voluntary. Subsection (d)(1) indicates that the regulation governs any wellness program that requires “disability-related inquiries” or “medical examinations,” and that such arrangements must be voluntary and have a reasonable chance to improve health. The Internal Revenue Service seems to give employers the benefit of the doubt on whether a program will promote health, by providing guidance allowing the permissibility of less scientific activities, such as aromatherapy. It is unclear whether the EEOC will be as lenient.
Subsection (d)(2) of the regulation clarifies that medical histories and health risk assessments will make programs subject to this regulation. Other aspects of a program may not be subject to this regulation. For example, requiring participation in an anti-smoking program is probably not subject to this regulation because it is probably not a medical examination, but a requirement that a participant certifies that he or she is a nonsmoker may be a part of someone’s medical history.
Voluntary
A primary purpose of the regulation is to explain when a program will comply with the requirement that programs be voluntary. A significant concern of the EEOC is the use of financial incentives to coerce employees to participate in a program.
Participation in a program will not be voluntary (and, thus, violate this regulation) if failure to participate in a program results in complete ineligibility under any of an employer’s group health plans or benefits packages,2 or if benefits were limited by more than a value equal to 30 percent of employee-only coverage.3 The practice of gatekeeping does not automatically require a denial of health plan eligibility; rather, it can restrict or affect deductibles, copays, and other aspects of an individual health plan. In that instance, the restrictions should be permitted if the financial impact does not exceed the 30 percent limit.4 Subsection (3) describes this limit and refers to the “total cost” of employee-only coverage, which generally means the “total premium,” regardless of whether that total premium is paid by the employer, the employee, or both. For commercially insured health plans, the insurer sets a premium rate and the employer determines the portion that will be born by the employer and the employee, so knowing the total premium is relatively simple. With self-insured health plans, the employer must be prepared to pay claims, and must determine what employees must pay in terms of premiums, but the concept of a “total premium” does not necessarily apply. If the self-insured plan has properly established its COBRA premium rate,5 that rate (less the administrative surcharge) should be used to determine the total cost of coverage.
Compliance and Cost-Sharing
This regulation’s restriction on financial incentives can be easily applied to program rewards that are paid in cash, provided through a premium reduction (or increase), or any other method in which the dollar value of the reward is known at the onset, as an employer simply compares the known dollar value of the incentive to 30 percent of the total cost of the employee-only premium. However, when the value of a reward depends on the medical treatments and services obtained during the year, the application of this rule is unclear. For example, if a health plan provides for employees to pay 30 percent of covered expenses while the health plan pays 70 percent of those expenses, and a program provides that successful completion will result in the health plan paying 80 percent of covered services, one cannot know the total dollar value of the benefit received from participation in the program until the expenses are incurred. A participant with no medical expenses will have received no benefit from the program while a participant who incurred significant expenses will have received significant benefits (or penalties) under the program. If the EEOC ultimately enforces the regulation to mean that a program offering rewards violates the ADA unless it precludes the mere possibility that the benefit could exceed the 30 percent threshold, then using a program for gating purposes will probably no longer be practical.
Similarly, the regulation focuses on wellness program requirements, rewards, and penalties applicable to employees,6 so its application to benefits that may be utilized by spouses and dependents (as is the case with rewards provided through deductibles, copays, and other cost-sharing mechanisms) is unclear. On October 30, 2015, the EEOC issued proposed amendments to 29 C.F.R. 1635.8 and. 11, affecting Wellness Programs under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which generally protects employees from discrimination on their genetic information.7 This proposed regulation focuses on wellness incentives offered for spousal information,8 proposing to add to the pre-existing regulation, a statement specifically allowing incentives for spousal genetic information, but limiting the incentive to 30 percent of the total premium of the coverage tier selected by the employee.9 Since the “ADA limit” relates to employee-only coverage, which is normally the least expensive coverage tier, and the “GINA limit” relates to the tier of coverage actually selected by the employee, the 30 percent “GINA limit” may be viewed as more generous than the 30 percent “ADA limit.” The focus on the total premium elected by the participant in assessing the GINA limit, combined with the focus on the employee-only premium and rewards for employee information when assessing the ADA limit indicates that benefits received by spouses and dependents are ignored under the ADA regulation.
The ability to ignore benefits relating to expenses incurred by anyone other than the employee will help a program avoid exceeding the 30 percent ADA limit, but only if an employer increases the complexity of its program. Currently, employers who gatekeep generally assign a level of coverage, triggering the application of a specific deductible and co-insurance amount. They do not actively investigate whether medical expenses born by the insured were due to treatments for the employee, the employee’s spouse, or dependents (although such information should be available from the insurer). An employer who hopes to defend its gatekeeping incentive by focusing on incentives received by the employee may need to assess how to access this information from the insurer.
Conformance
The proposed regulation does not provide for an effective date. At this time, employers can rely on the regulation to demonstrate compliance with the ADA, but conformance with the regulation is optional. If an employer wanted to conform safely to the regulation while administering a program that required medical treatments (like a physical) or medical histories, it might restructure it so that regardless of the level of coverage, the out-of-pocket expenses of a participant who chooses not to participate in the program will never exceed a program participant’s expenses by more than 30 percent of the total cost of employee-only coverage. Since the penalty or reward is valued in comparison to what would have been paid had the program requirements not been satisfied, a safe method would be to arrange for the benefit of each tier (or gate) to be capped at a value no greater than 30 percent of the value of employee-only coverage as compared to the prior tier, as that would ensure that program benefits do exceed the ADA threshold. Following are two examples, each assuming that the total cost for employee-only coverage is $8,000, making the maximum program benefit $2,400:
1) Participant in health plan incurs $6,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for a year. Had participant participated in the program, he or she would have incurred $3,000 of expenses because of the lower deductible. Since the difference is more than $2,400, the program might be viewed as violating the ADA proposed regulation in this instance by “penalizing” this participant in excess of the 30 percent threshold. It is unclear whether an employer could avoid a true “violation” by refunding $600 to the participant, or if the violation cannot be corrected once the participant incurs his or her $2,401 of expenses, or if the violation occurred at the outset when the employer established a program that allowed for the possible excess expenses to be incurred.
2) Participant in health plan incurs $4,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for a year. Had participant participated in the program, he or she would have incurred $3,000 of expenses. Since the difference is less than $2,400, the program does not appear to have violated the ADA proposed regulation, unless the mere fact that the participant could have incurred more than $2,400 of additional expenses is sufficient.
These examples might be further improved (but made more complicated) by focusing on employee expenses and ignoring spousal and dependent expenses, since the ADA regulation focuses on rewards and penalties provided or imposed on employees.
Because of the newness of these regulations and the lack of supplemental guidance, our comments on compliance should be viewed as suggestions that might show intended or “good faith” compliance with this proposed regulation, as opposed to guaranteed actual compliance.
Other Requirements
The above describes our main concerns with the proposed EEOC regulation and gatekeeping practices, but we point out that the regulation contains what should be considered “expected” prohibitions against punitive or retaliatory actions by an employer against an employee due to (non)participation in a program. In addition, employees must receive specific program information via a formal employee notice that is beyond the scope of this article, but is specifically addressed in the regulation.
Jurisdictional Issues
Whether the EEOC remained within its jurisdiction when issuing this regulation is not clear, but two aspects of this regulation make us question the propriety of this regulation. First, the purpose of the portion of the ADA that includes this regulation is to protect employees from discrimination due to their disability or their relationship to someone with a disability. It is not clear how a program that rewards participants who submit to tests, but does not adjust benefits on the results of those tests (“participation-only” requirements) could lead to prohibited discrimination if individual information is not provided to an employer. For example, a program that provides a reward for the completion of a health risk assessment will violate the proposed regulation if the reward exceeds the 30 percent threshold, but if the reward is solely based on completion of the health risk assessment, with no additional award being provided based on the results of the health risk assessment, how does that discriminate against a disability? Second, the ADA contains an exclusion for medical inquiries and examinations used to help an employer manage underwriting risks of a group health plan. In general, that allowance has been used to support the use of health risk assessments. A federal court interpreted this portion of the ADA when it specifically approved Broward County’s wellness program, consisting of a health risk assessment and a medical screening with a financial penalty imposed on those who enrolled in that county’s group health plan without participating in its wellness program.10 The 11th Circuit ruled that this wellness program was within the ADA safe harbor of allowable medical inquiries since it was part of the overall group health plan.11 In issuing its regulation, the EEOC specifically rejects the Seff v. Broward County, 691 F.3d 1221 (11th Cir. 2012), ruling.12 The authority of a federal agency to ignore a federal court would seem to be a potential way to attack this regulation that should be investigated further if the EEOC attempts to enforce this regulation against a program that would be permissible under Seff.
What is an Employment Lawyer to Do?
It is unlikely that the EEOC will investigate or bring claims against programs before the regulation is finalized, so there is time for employment lawyers to help employers consider their options. At the same time, the issuance of the separately proposed ADA and GINA regulations highlight the importance the EEOC places on this issue, so to simply ignore these regulations is unwise. Ultimately, a cautious, conscientious employment lawyer should consider taking the following actions: 1) Notify clients of potential new requirements and restrictions affecting programs; 2) advise clients with programs that offer financial incentives to have those incentives assess in light of recent guidance; 3) if an employer’s program would violate the EEOC’s proposed regulation, the employer has time to consider alternatives, including reducing incentives, restricting the portion of any incentive that relates to information governed by the ADA (or GINA), or restructuring a program to differentiate between expenses due to medical care for an employee and medical care due to an employee’s spouse or dependents.
If changes are necessary to comply with this proposed regulation, identifying the changes with which the employer would be comfortable should be the goal. These changes would not need to be implemented until the regulation is finalized, although early reforms may protect the employer against a claim from an employee or former employee.
Ultimately, the proposed regulation puts employers and their attorneys “on notice” that too high of a program incentive will be viewed as a violation of the ADA, and they should act accordingly.
1 Emphasis added.
2 Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1630.14(d)(2)(ii).
3 See Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1630.14(d)(2)(ii), (iii), (d)(3).
4 See Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1630.14(d)(3).
5 COBRA requires self-insured plans to determine the applicable COBRA premium actuarially or based on the prior year’s actual cost of coverage (assuming no significant coverage changes between the prior year and the current year). See I.R.C. §4980B(f)(4)(B); ERISA §604(2); PHSA §2204(2).
6 See Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1630.14(d)(2) (focusing on how employees are treated).
7 See 42 U.S.C. 2000ff, et seq.
8 This proposed GINA regulation prohibits incentives for genetic information, including medical histories, of an employee’s child. See Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1635.8(b)(2)(i)(A)(iii).
9 See Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1635.8(b)(2)(i)(A)(iii).
10 Seff v. Broward County, 691 F.3d 1221 (11th Cir. 2012).
11 Id. at 1223-4.
12 Prop. 29 C.F.R. 1630.14(d), n. 24.
Lowell J. Walters and Dennis Szafran are attorneys at GrayRobinson who help business owners and entities receive beneficial tax treatment for their retirement and welfare plans by working with plan administrators, the IRS, the Department of Labor, or other regulatory agencies to ensure employee benefit plans are drafted and operated in compliance with the Internal Revenue Code, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and state law. This includes correcting plans when an earlier error is discovered. Related experience includes advising and protecting employers and the tax status of employee benefit plans due to employee reclassifications and mergers and acquisitions, including those involving governmental entities and tax-exempt organizations.
This column is submitted on behalf of the Labor and Employment Law Section, Frank E. Brown, chair, and Robert Eschenfelder, editor. | https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/gating-through-wellness-programs-under-proposed-eeoc-regulation/ |
Health & Safety – Overview
While many companies merely comply with health and safety standards and regulations, R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. is actively committed to the goal of Zero Lost Time. To achieve this goal, our Safety Health and Logistics Program (SHaLP) provides simple yet robust policies, protocols, and guidelines. This program is administered by our Corporate Health and Safety Manager, a team of Regional Health and Safety Managers (RHSMs), and Site Safety Coordinators (SSCs). It is proudly accepted and embodied at all levels of the Corporation.
Our health and safety management practice is both behavior and people based, modeled after programs from industry leaders, including the DuPont S.T.O.P. program. Because R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. is a family-oriented business, we teach our employees that good health and proper safe practice start at home and carry through the work day, during which employees hold each other accountable, together, for everyone’s good health and proper safety. Employees are subject to a regimen of pre-employment screening including Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) review, background checks, and drug and alcohol testing. New employees are provided a mentor and complete a comprehensive syllabus of training.
Our Nautical Archaeology Division conducts its practice under the SHaLP. It also maintains department specific policies, protocols, and guidelines. Pursuant to guidelines and requirements set forth by the United States Coast Guard and with strong commitment to the standards established by a variety of agencies including the United States Navy, our Nautical Archaeology program undertakes its mission with good health and safe practice at the vanguard. | https://www.rcgoodwin.com/health-safety/health-and-safety-overview/ |
How to withstand extreme weather? Science is coming up with these solutions
Driving Tri-Cities snowstorm scenes
Check out these driving scenes during the latest snowstorm to blow into the Tri-Cities causing delays and cancellations for students, motorists and workers.
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Check out these driving scenes during the latest snowstorm to blow into the Tri-Cities causing delays and cancellations for students, motorists and workers.
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Spring may be just around the corner, but according to the National Weather Service this year’s February snowfall in the Tri-Cities was the most on record since 1916.
Meanwhile, Chicago is still shivering from the polar vortex that caused temperatures to plunge to minus 23 degrees, the lowest in more than three decades.
As we were bundling up and doing our best to keep the snow and cold at bay, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory continued their efforts to understand changes in the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events.
Their research also seeks to identify the potential impacts of extreme weather on our dams, buildings and roads — and to increase the resilience of future infrastructure.
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Public safety and national security
PNNL researchers take an interdisciplinary approach to these challenges.
Collectively, they apply their expertise in fundamental earth sciences, integrated modeling, risk assessment and engineering design practices to help protect public safety and national security.
For example, the team is exploring ways to better account for changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events — like our record snowfall — over the infrastructure’s expected lifespan.
While conventional designs are based on historical, average weather conditions, the new research offers a clearer picture of potential vulnerabilities over time and offers robust, actionable guidance to those designing or remodeling infrastructure.
The National Weather Service says this year’s February snowfall in the Tri-Cities was the most on record since 1916.
Bob Brawdy Tri-City Herald
Several years ago, PNNL researchers developed a climate vulnerability assessment framework the Department of Defense uses to help manage its infrastructure and prioritize retrofits and new construction.
Weather impacts on energy, water systems
Looking at regional climate models, researchers analyzed storm surges, fire risk and changes in sea level. They modeled the impacts of hurricanes, including related effects on the region’s energy and water systems.
As a result, scientists identified how anticipated changes in weather or climate could impact infrastructure, equipment and training exercises.
PNNL researchers are now taking this approach a step further. Their new scientific insights are being incorporated into the engineering codes used to predict water availability, forecast floods and design infrastructure.
In this project, researchers set out to improve the accuracy of mathematical functions called Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves. These IDF curves are used to develop design standards for infrastructure to withstand storms of a given intensity, duration and frequency of occurrence.
Extreme weather and climate change, with major snow and rain events, affect infrastructure and military decisions. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory works with government agencies on scientific solutions.
Noelle Haro-Gomez Tri-City Herald
Conventional IDF curves account only for actual rainfall — not excess runoff caused by unseasonably warm temperatures or heavy rains that melt snowpack more quickly or earlier than usual.
Capturing these rain-on-snow events is especially important in the Pacific Northwest, where excess runoff can overburden roads, bridges and culverts causing dangerous and costly landslides and flooding.
In 2007, extreme snowmelt events in Washington caused an estimated $900 million in economic damages and submerged a portion of Interstate 5 between Seattle and Portland for days.
With support from a joint program of the DoD, DOE and Environmental Protection Agency, PNNL scientists and engineers studied data from 376 snowpack telemetry stations across the western United States.
They combined this data with climate and hydrological models to improve IDF curves and enable engineering studies that could reduce the risk for infrastructure failure by 25 percent or more while also avoiding costly over-design.
Partnering scientists
While civil engineers and atmospheric scientists don’t typically work side by side elsewhere, it is commonplace at PNNL for those in the basic sciences and engineering disciplines to partner to address national challenges.
This is just one more example of the power of interdisciplinary teaming. We all can rest easier knowing that they are working hard to improve the resiliency of the infrastructure that underpins our economy and national security.
Steven Ashby is director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.
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PNNL experts in power engineering, computer science, data analytics, materials science and cybersecurity are modernizing the power grid, addressing the need for clean, reliable and affordable electricity. | |
by Discovering Your Happiness.In Calming The Mind, Daily Blog.4 Comments on Feeling Overwhelmed?
Is your to-do list eight pages long? Are you stressing yourself out thinking about the tasks you need to get done this week? I’m right there with you.
At this point in the year, we’re all busy and stressed out. We’re also tired of hearing ourselves say that we’re busy and stressed out. Seriously, it’s not all that cool to be busy anymore.
Feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list?
I know we all want to be productive and achieve our goals, but when we have so many things to do that it’s not humanly possible, we end up burning ourselves out.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’m going to guess that a lot of it is actually in your head *gasp*. For me, overwhelm creeps in when I’m thinking through everything I have to do from now until I’m 90 years old. That’s why I suggest writing everything down the moment you start to feel overwhelmed.
Getting everything out of your brilliant brain gives you clarity to see what’s important. Even if your to-do list is eight pages long, you’ll see that your list isn’t actually as urgent as it once seemed.
Grab a piece of paper, set a timer for five minutes, and write down everything that comes to mind. Everything. Dump it all onto the first piece of paper you can find. Your list could go from tiny, individual tasks that need to get done tomorrow until it reaches the realm of ‘projects that might be good ideas but would take 10 years to complete.’ Give yourself five minutes to get everything out of your head.
These shoulds make your to-do list (or potential to-do list) longer and more overwhelming, they get in the way of the things that are truly meaningful and worthy of your time and energy.
Go through the list you made above and ask if there’s anything you think you should be doing, as opposed to what want or need to be doing. Question whether the tasks or projects you have listed will make your life easier in the future. This is tricky for tasks or projects you don’t exactly enjoy doing, but you can still ask yourself whether they will make your life easier in the future. Once you’ve decided which tasks don’t seem important or meaningful right now, cross them off.
Now that you’ve gone through your to-do list and removed any shoulds, it’s time to start prioritizing your tasks. My rule of thumb? If it doesn’t need addressing within three weeks, I put it on a ‘future tasks’ list and forget about it until it’s needed (setting reminders helps with this).
Prioritizing your tasks lets you see what’s most pressing and what you don’t actually need to worry about until later.
Start re-writing your list so the most important things are at the top. By most important, I mean it’s due within the week or it’s a project that needs breaking into chunks. Then, write due dates next to everything. Even if it doesn’t have a due date, give it one.
At this point, you can start scheduling everything into your planner for the week. Scheduling your tasks into your planner is the best advice I can give to reduce to-do list overwhelm because it gives you a realistic sense of the time you have to accomplish tasks. Make sure you’re not cramming everything into one day by spacing tasks throughout the week. I’ve written a post about how I schedule my week here.
Yes!!! Thank you… I am feeling so much better, having taken some of your advice as I look at the coming weekend and week beyond!
Reblogged this on Self Help Blogger | Entrepreneur . | https://discoveringyourhappiness.com/2017/10/21/6758/ |
In the new action movie The Meg , Jason Statham battles an 18-meter-long megalodon, a beast of a shark that lived 20 million years ago. The film posits that a few members of the species are still alive, free to terrorize cargo ships, beachgoers, and even tiny dogs off the coast of China.
If you’re not expecting a lot of scientific accuracy from a movie like this, you won’t be disappointed. But, after a screening, Science sat down with Hans Sues, curator of vertebrate paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and an expert on all creatures prehistoric, to see whether the film got anything right. Sues has assisted in the discovery of several new species of dinosaurs and even has one named after him—the dome-skulled pachycephalosaur Hanssuesia sternbergi . He’s now supervising the building of a 15-meter megalodon model for a new space in the museum, which is undergoing renovations.
Q: Did you enjoy The Meg ?
A: Absolutely. Very entertaining. I’m a sci-fi nut, and a big fan of anything with Jason Statham in it. I would give it a nine out of 10.
Q: What kind of rating would you give it for scientific accuracy?
A: Probably a one out of 10. Maybe two out of 10 if I’m feeling generous.
Q: Let’s start with the central premise. Is there any way megalodons could have avoided extinction and lived hidden at the bottom of the ocean?
A: No way. That was be absolutely impossible and goes against everything we know about megalodons based on the fossil record. For starters, megalodons were found around the world, but only in warm coastal waters. They just aren’t adapted for deep ocean living. The water is too cold, food would be too scarce, and megalodons would need to modify their whole body shape to avoid being squashed by the enormous water pressure down there. Even if they were still around, it’s inconceivable that humans wouldn’t know about it. We’ve mapped the sea floor and have such advanced sensing technology. We would know if they were there.
Q: What about the movie’s conceit that there’s a whole warm ecosystem trapped under a cloud of hydrogen—the thermocline, as they call it?
A: I don’t think there’s any evidence that such a thing would exist. And plus, it would be lethal to anything that would go through it. Because a cloud of hydrogen sulfide, particularly in dissolved form, would be a terrible thing to go through. I think even a big shark like that couldn’t do that without harm to its physiology.
Q: What did The Meg get right?
A: They got the jaws and teeth right. A megalodon mouth is so big that you could swim into it without touching any of the teeth. It literally could swallow a small car without having to chomp down on it. And the teeth would be about 7 inches or 17 centimeters tall, and it would have several rows in its mouth at once, so as it lost or broke teeth, it could easily replace them.
Q: What about the rest of the shark’s body?
A: What they used in the movie was a scaled-up great white shark. That’s why its body had so much girth. The megalodons were a little bit sleeker. The latest research suggests that they’re most closely related to the living mako sharks, which are more streamlined, sleeker animals. And they exaggerated the megalodon’s size. It was a big animal, about 18 meters long, but the one they had looked to be 23 meters or more, and we have no evidence they ever got that large.
Q: What about the behavior? They had it ramming into ships and underwater subs, is that accurate?
A: That’s a plausible behavior. They might have bumped into prey to stun them or take a little test nibble. There’s a specimen of a small baleen whale that was probably hit by a meg, with unbelievable damage to the skull. There’s also a fossilized whale vertebra from the Chesapeake Bay with this weird compression fracture, which basically could only have happened if something took the whale and almost snapped its backbone.
Q: In the movie the meg could bite a ship in half, would that be possible?
A: Yes. Paleontologists have done some sort of biomechanical modeling based on teeth we’ve found, and they calculated the bite force would be about 40,000 pounds per square inch, which is by far the highest bite force ever calculated for any animal, living or extinct. Even the [ Tyrannosaurus rex ] bite would be puny by comparison.
Q: If humans and megs were around at the same time, would it try to eat us, like in the movie?
A: It probably wouldn’t go after one or two humans swimming. It would see them as too small to be a good meal. But a whole beach full of swimmers, it might just swim through and scoop up several humans without even chewing, as it does in the movie.
Q: One of the characters says the meg has no natural predators. Is that accurate?
A: Maybe not in the earliest days. But by the time that megalodon had reached its maximum distribution around 9 million years ago, there were a couple of really huge other ocean predators around. There was an extinct relative of today’s sperm whales called Livyatan , like the biblical monster. Livyatan had a skull of about 3 meters in length and teeth up to 30 centimeters. They’re actually the largest teeth of any animal extinct or living. We think that that animal was comparable in length and girth, and it would have given a megalodon a run for its money. And then later on you had other sharks and killer whales. A pod of killer whales could probably take down a megalodon because they’re extremely sophisticated hunters.
Q: Of the sharks we have now, are there any believed to be descended directly from the megalodon?
A: No. The closest relative to them are the mako sharks. And then more distantly the great white shark. For a long time, people thought that the great white was actually a miniaturized version of the megalodon, but that’s not generally held anymore.
Q: When movies like this portray sharks as monsters, do you think there’s any danger to real sharks?
A: Yes, I think that’s something you need to be careful with. I’m sure Jaws probably gave a lot of people second thoughts about going for a swim in the Atlantic. I think this movie might have a similar effect. Sharks are very lethal predators, to be sure, but they don’t go after individual humans. As shark biologists would tell you, humans are much more dangerous to sharks than vice versa.
Q: Do films like The Meg and Jurassic Park generate more interest in the work you do?
Q: If you were in the movie, how would you have reacted?
A: I probably would have wanted to have kept the shark alive for a little while, despite all of the unpleasantness the shark was creating. We all have our ideas on how these animals lived, and what they did, and what their color looked like. And to see something in real life would test all these hypotheses. It would certainly take your breath away, like Sam Neill’s character getting emotional when he first sees the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park . | https://akhbarelmi.ir/43650 |
Pax7 is a paired box transcription factor expressed during embryonic and postnatal muscle development and regeneration. In the present work I have investigated of the role of this myogenic transcription factor in the specification and maintenance of muscle satellite cells. Since postnatal growth and regeneration of mammalian skeletal muscles are largely attributed to muscle satellite cells, I wanted to uncover the role of Pax7 in these processes and to gain more insights in the function of Pax7 in complicated signalling network governing specification and differentiation of muscle cells in mammals. A wide range of modern biological methods were used in the present work: general molecular biological techniques (for example DNA and RNA isolation, molecular cloning, Southern and northern nucleic acids analysis, Real Time PCR), histochemical techniques (paraffin and cryotome tissue sectioning, histochemical and immunohistochemical staining of tissue sections and cell cultures), electron microscopy and mammalian cell culture techniques. The present analysis of satellite cells in Pax7(-/-) mice has unambiguously established that Pax7 is dispensable for the specification of the satellite cell lineage since we detected a large number of satellite cells in juvenile Pax7(-/-) mutant mice using five different methods (electron microscopy, Pax7-lacZ staining, CD34 staining, in vitro cultivation of satellite cells from isolated myofibers and clonal satellite cell analysis). Instead, we detected a continuous decrease of the number of satellite cells in Pax7(-/-) mutants, which strongly suggests a role of Pax7 in the renewal and propagation of satellite cells. In addition, we found an essentially normal degree of muscle formation in adult Pax7 mutant animals that cannot be explained without the contribution of the highly proliferative satellite cell population to the growth of immature muscles. Neither juvenile nor adult Pax7 (-/-) mice displayed a significant reduction of the number and size of myotubes indicating that the remaining number of satellite cells sufficed to allow normal postnatal muscle growth. Moreover, adult Pax7(-/-) mice still own a certain potential for skeletal muscle regeneration although the efficiency of regeneration is severely hampered. The compromised regenerative response of Pax7(-/-) mice came along with an expansion of the remaining Pax7-lacZ satellite cells and resulted in numerous regenerated muscle fibers although faulty regeneration was evident and a complete repair was never achieved. It is of major importance to understand the mechanisms and pathways that govern muscle repair processes to develop applied therapeutic and clinical tools that will ultimately lead to an improved treatment of muscle disorders. In the current study was the function of Pax7 as a major regulator of satellite cell renewal and propagation was re-defined. This knowledge will probably help us to manipulate the availability of muscle stem cells for therapeutic purposes in particular in aged and diseased skeletal muscles.
|URI:||https://opendata.uni-halle.de//handle/1981185920/10416|
http://dx.doi.org/10.25673/3631
|Open Access:||Open access publication|
|Appears in Collections:||Hochschulschriften bis zum 31.03.2009|
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. | https://opendata.uni-halle.de/handle/1981185920/10416 |
Romania holds one third of the total EU vineyards, but ranks only 6 as wine producer in the EU, and is exporting less than 5% from its local production.
Due to is good terroir, vast areas of underdeveloped vineyards and reasonable land prices, Roma-nia represents one of the most attractive EU countries for greenfield and brownfield investment in the wine and wine tourism industries and its wine has been defined by foreign investors as “hidden gem waiting to be discovered by many export markets”.
In terms of consumption, Romania’s wine imports have constantly been increasing but the focus is on lower quality, low price wines, and mostly white assortments. However, Millennials are more interested in premium wines and it is expected for this sector to grow in the upcoming peri-od. | https://www.legalmondo.com/product/distribution-wine-romania/ |
South Sudan has begun investigations into whether increasing number of infants born with deformities in crude-oil-producing regions is linked to oil pollution, the Petroleum Ministry said.
A senior official of the landlocked country in the East-Central Africa had earlier admitted that pollution in oil producing areas was causing deformities, miscarriages and deaths during delivery.
The ministry in its statement said it was examining the case of a child from Ruweng, a northern region that produces most of the nation’s oil, to establish the cause of deformity.
“The Petroleum Ministry is currently working toward finding solutions to whether the deformation, stillbirths and miscarriages are due to the oil pollution,” the statement added.
South Sudan has the third-biggest crude reserves in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
The government says it is focusing to increase oil production to stimulate economic development, but also creating a conducive environment for communities to live in harmony.
Authorities said they were willing to partner with international and local groups to suggest ways to keep pace with the development while minimizing social and environmental impact on people living in the region. | https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/general/south-sudan-probes-birth-defects-in-oil-regions/26439 |
When solving kinetic energy problems, you may be asked to find 3 variables. These variables are the kinetic energy, the mass, or the speed.
Suppose a car has 3000 Joules of kinetic energy. What will be its kinetic energy if the speed is doubled? What if the speed is tripled?
We already proved in kinetic energy lesson that whenever the speed is doubled, the kinetic energy is quadrupled or four times as big.
Therefore, the kinetic energy is going to be 12000 joules.
Let v be the speed of a moving object. Let speed = 3v after the speed is tripled.
The 9 that you see means that the kinetic energy is multiplied by 9.
Therefore, the kinetic energy is going to be 27000 joules.
Calculate the kinetic energy of a 10 kg object moving with a speed of 5 m/s. Calculate the kinetic energy again when the speed is doubled.
Now, calculate again whe the speed is doubled.
Suppose a rat and a rhino are running with the same kinetic energy. Which one do you think is going faster?
The only tricky and hard part is to use the kinetic energy formula to solve for v.
Since the kinetic energy is the same, 2 × K is the same for the rat and the rhino.
When the numerator of two fractions is the same, the bigger fraction is the one with the smaller denominator.
This result also means that v2 is bigger for the rat. Therefore, the rat will be faster with the same kinetic energy.
The kinetic energy of an object is 8 times bigger than the mass. Is it possible to get speed of the object?
Think carefully and try to solve this problem yourself.
If you still cannot do it, click here to see the solution. | https://www.introduction-to-physics.com/kinetic-energy-problems.html |
The utility model provides a waterproof vegetation lamp, including mounting panel, red light lamp, blue light lamp and photosensor, even red light lamp resettlement groove and the blue light lamp resettlement groove of being provided with on the mounting panel, red light lamp and blue light lamp set up respectively in red light lamp resettlement groove and blue light lamp resettlement groove, and red light lamp's quantity is (8 -12) with comparing of blue light lamp's quantity: 1, be provided with the conducting wire in red light lamp resettlement groove and blue light lamp resettlement groove, photosensor sets up on the mounting panel right side. The light source is adjustable, and can provide different light conditions in the different periods of growing of plant, provides suitable light environment, opening and closing through the photosensor automatic control vegetation lamp for the growth of plant. | |
While much of the public attention this year on healthcare budget negotiations in New York State was drawn to the pharmaceutical and managed care sectors, the Enacted Budget for 2018-19 also includes some very significant reforms in the long term care space. Continuing its ongoing efforts to rationalize what even the most ardent supporters of New York’s long term care system acknowledge to be an unnecessarily complicated structure, provisions in the Enacted Budget related to Licensed Home Care Service Agencies, Assisted Living Programs, Residential Health Care Facilities and Hospice reflect New York State’s continued efforts to combat fragmentation, inconsistent quality of services and waste across the continuum of care. This year, that has yielded policy outcomes that to the untrained eye can appear inconsistent, or even contradictory – but there is a method to the madness. The following is a list of some the key long term care reforms included in the 2018-19 Enacted Budget.
Beginning October 1, 2018, the Commissioner of Health may limit the number of LHCSAs with which a Managed Long Term Care Plan (MLTCP) may contract, according to a formula tied to (1) MLTCP region, (2) number of MLTCP enrollees, and (3) timing (the number changes on October 1, 2019). Exceptions are allowed if necessary to (a) maintain network adequacy, (b) maintain access to special needs services, (c) maintain access to culturally competent services, (d) avoid disruption in services, or (e) accede to an enrollee’s request to continue to receive services from a particular LHCSA employee or employees for no longer than three months.
For more about MLTCPs, look for our upcoming blog analysis of the overall Managed Care provisions in the 2018-19 Enacted Budget.
Effective April 1, 2018, there is a new statutory moratorium on the awarding of new LHCSA licenses until March 31, 2020. This will not apply to: (i) LHCSA applications submitted as part of an Assisted Living Program application; (ii) application for transfers of LHCSAs licensed for at least five years for the purposes of consolidating one or more LHCSAs; or (iii) applications that address a serious concern reflecting the same considerations that would justify an exception to the new MLTCP contract rule.
The Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) must now consider public need, financial feasibility and other factors in addition to character and competence when evaluating a LHCSA application (previously, LHCSAs were technically exempt from those considerations).
Existing LHCSAs must register with the Department of Health, and presumably meet those new CON requirements, by January 1, 2019, and any failing to register for two years may have their licenses revoked.
The question remains whether these regulations will produce the desired effect, i.e., a consolidation of the LHCSA marketplace, and whether that consolidation will occur through large providers formally acquiring smaller providers, or the gradual disappearance of smaller providers altogether as they struggle to maintain market share.
Under the new provision, the Commissioner is authorized to require LHCSAs to report on costs incurred by the LHCSA in rendering health care services to Medicaid beneficiaries. The commissioner must give the LHCSA 90 days’ notice of the need for the report, and an additional 30 days to correct any perceived inaccuracies. LHCSAs must certify the accuracy and completeness of the reports.
Each existing ALP provider may apply to DOH for approval of up to nine additional ALP beds. To be eligible, the existing ALP provider must: (a) be in good standing with the DOH; (b) be in compliance with applicable state and local requirements; (c) not require any major renovation or construction to accommodate the new beds; and (d) agree to dedicate new beds to serve only individuals receiving Medicaid.
The number of new ALP beds approved under this program will be based on the total number of previously awarded beds either withdrawn by applicants or which were previously denied. The commissioner is obligated to approve applications under this section on an expedited basis – specifically, within 90 days of the receipt of a satisfactory application.
ALP providers licensed on or before April 1, 2018 will be eligible to apply during a time period to begin no later than June 30, 2018 and ALP providers licensed on or after April 1, 2018 will be eligible to apply during a time period to begin no later than June 30, 2020.
The Commissioner of Health is authorized to create up to 500 new ALP beds in counties where there are one or fewer existing ALP Providers based on criteria to be determined by the Commissioner. The Commissioner is also authorized to solicit and award applications for an additional 500 ALP beds in counties where utilization of existing ALP beds exceeds 85%. To be eligible, the applicant must commit to: (a) dedicate the beds to serve only individuals receiving medical assistance; (b) develop and execute collaborative agreements with at least one of each of the following entities: an adult care facility; a residential health care facility; or a general hospital, within 24 months of applying to DOH; and (c) enter into an agreement with an existing managed care entity. ALP beds sought by, but not awarded to, providers in counties with one or fewer ALP providers may be issued to ALP providers in counties where utilization exceeds 85%.
After April 1, 2023, the Commissioner of Health is authorized to approve additional new beds on a case by case basis wherever a public need exists. In determining whether a public need exists, the Commissioner may consider, but is not limited to, regional occupancy rates for adult care facilities and ALP occupancy rates and the extent to which the project will serve individuals receiving Medicaid. Existing ALP Providers will be eligible for up to 9 additional beds under this provision.
The Commissioner is authorized to issue up to two hundred vouchers for Medicaid ineligible people living with Alzheimer’s or dementia covering up to 75% of the cost of ALP based on the average private pay rate in the respective region.
The Enacted Budget includes a provision directing the Commissioner to reduce Medicaid revenue to any RHCF in a given payment year by 2%, where that RHCF performed in the lowest two quintiles of facilities based on its nursing home quality initiative data in each of the two most recent payment years for which data is available, and was ranked in the lowest quintile in the most recent payment year. The Commissioner has the authority to waive this provision in the event the Commissioner deems the facility to be in “financial distress”.
As discussed in greater detail in our earlier post regarding the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program (SHCFTP), $45 million is dedicated to RHCFs to increase the quality of resident care or experience, or to improve their health information technology infrastructure, including telehealth, to strengthen the acute, post-acute and long-term care continuum, but not for general operating expenses.
The Enacted Budget also expands the definition of an “originating site” for purposes of telehealth to include RHCFs treating populations with special needs.
The Enacted Budget requires the Commissioner to establish a methodology as of July 1, 2018, subject to federal financial participation, that will ensure a 10% increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rates for hospice providers for services provided on or after April 1, 2018. Furthermore, the Enacted budget carves hospice providers out of the Opioid Drug provisions requiring a care plan for pain lasting more than three months (discussed here).
Hospice facilities shall be eligible for up to $60 million in funding dedicated to community-based providers through SHCFTP (discussed here). | https://www.nyhealthlawblog.com/2018/04/06/fewer-home-care-providers-but-more-assisted-living-programs-long-term-care-reforms-in-2018-19-new-york-state-budget/ |
---
abstract: 'We show that the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of a $d$-dimensional nonregular complete intersection over $\overline{\mathbf{F}_p}$, $p>2$ prime, is bounded by below by the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of $\sum _{i=0}^{d} x_i^2=0$, answering positively a conjecture of Watanabe and Yoshida in the case of complete intersections.'
address:
- 'Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30030 USA and The Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania'
- 'Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA'
author:
- Florian Enescu
- Kazuma Shimomoto
title: 'On the upper semi-continuity of the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity'
---
[^1]
Introduction
============
Let $(R,{{\mathfrak m}})$ be a local ring containing a field of positive characteristic $p>0$. If $I$ is an ideal in $R$, then $I^{[q]}=(i^q: i \in I)$, where $q=p^e$ is a power of the characteristic. Let $R^{\circ} = R \setminus \cup P$, where $P$ runs over the set of all minimal primes of $R$. An element $x$ is said to belong to the [*tight closure*]{} of the ideal $I$ if there exists $c \in R^{\circ}$ such that $cx^q \in I^{[q]}$ for all sufficiently large $q=p^e$. The tight closure of $I$ is denoted by $I^\ast$. By a ${\it parameter \ ideal}$ we mean an ideal generated by a full system of parameters in $R$. For an ${{\mathfrak m}}$-primary ideal $I$, one can consider the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity and the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity. A ring $R$ is called unmixed if ${\rm dim} (R/Q) = {\rm dim} (R)$, for all associated primes $Q$ of $R$.
Let $I$ be an ${{\mathfrak m}}$-primary ideal in a $d$-dimensional local ring $(R,{{\mathfrak m}})$. In what follows ${\operatorname{\lambda}}(-)$ denotes the length function.
[*The Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of $R$ at $I$*]{} is defined by ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (I)= {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(I,R): = \displaystyle\lim_{q \to \infty} \frac{{\operatorname{\lambda}}(R/I^{[q]})}{q^d}$. Monsky has shown that this limit exists and is positive. If $I ={{\mathfrak m}}$, then we call ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} ({{\mathfrak m}}, R)$ the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of $R$ and denote it by ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)$.
[*The Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity of $R$ at $I$*]{} is defined by ${\operatorname{e}}(I)= {\operatorname{e}}(I,R) := \displaystyle\lim_{n \to \infty} d! \frac{{\operatorname{\lambda}}(R/I^n)}{n^d}$. The limit exists and it is positive and similarly ${\operatorname{e}}({{\mathfrak m}}, R)$ is simply denoted ${\operatorname{e}}(R)$ and called the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity of $R$.
It is known that for parameter ideals $I$, one has ${\operatorname{e}}(I) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(I)$. The following sequence of inequalities is also known to hold: $${\rm max} \{ 1, \frac{1}{d!} {\operatorname{e}}(I) \} \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (I) \leq {\operatorname{e}}(I)$$ for every ${{\mathfrak m}}$-primary ideal $I$.
By a result of Watanabe and Yoshida [@WY1], an unmixed local ring $R$ of characteristic $p>0$ is regular if and only if the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity, $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)= 1.$$
A short proof of this was given by Huneke and Yao in [@HY].
In [@BE], Blickle and Enescu have started a first investigation of the number $$\epsilon_{HK}(d,p) = \inf\{{\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)-1 : \text{$R$ non--regular,
unmixed, $\dim R = d$, $char R = p$} \}.$$ by showing that $\epsilon_{HK}(d,p)$ is always *strictly* positive, i.e the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of a non-regular ring of fixed dimension and characteristic cannot be arbitrarily close to one. They have raised the natural question whether $\epsilon_{HK}(d,p)$ is attained. And if this is the case, what is the significance of such rings with minimal Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity?
In [@WY2], Watanabe and Yoshida have formulated the following conjecture
\[conjecture\] Let $d \geq 2$ and $p \neq 2$ prime. Put
$$R_{p,d}: = k[[X_0,...,X_d]]/(X_0^2+ \cdots + X_d^2).$$
Let ${\text{$(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ }}$ be a $d$-dimensional unmixed local ring and let $k = \overline {\mathbf{F_p}}$. Then the following statements hold:
$(1)$ If $R$ is not regular, then ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) \geq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_{p,d})$.
$(2)$ If ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_{p,d})$, then the ${{\mathfrak m}}$-adic completion of $R$ is isomorphic to $R_{p,d}$ as local rings.
The case $d=2$ has been solved affirmatively (see [@WY1; @BE]). The cases $d=3,4$ are more difficult and have been answered affirmatively by Watanabe and Yoshida, [@WY2]. The case $d=1$ is easy to interpret since ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (A) = {\operatorname{e}}(A)$.
In this paper we would like to prove part (1) of the Conjecture for complete intersections.
We would like to finish the introduction by mentioning two results that will be needed later.
\[kunz\]
Let ${\text{$(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ }}\to {\text{$(S,{{\mathfrak n}},k)$}}$ be a flat local homomorphism of Noetherian rings of characteristic $p$ such that $S/{{\mathfrak m}}S$ is regular.
$(1)$ If $x$ is part of a system of parameters on $R$ then ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R/xR)$.
$(2)$ ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(S)$.
We should note that Watanabe and Yoshida ([@WY1]) gave an alternate proof of (1) under the assumption that $x$ is nonzerodivisor on $R$.
An element $f \in A[[t]]$ over a local ring ${\text{$(A,{{\mathfrak m}})$}}$ is called a ${\it distinguished \ polynomial}$ if $f = a_o + a_1 t + \cdots + a_{n-1} t+ t^n$, for some integer $n$ and $a_i \in {{\mathfrak m}}, i \geq 0$.
In what follows we will need the following classical result:
\[Weierstrass Preparation Theorem, [@G]\] Let ${\text{$(A,{{\mathfrak m}})$}}$ be a complete local ring and let $B=A[[t]]$. If $f= \sum_{i=0}^{\infty} a_i t^i \in B$ and if there exists $n \in \mathbf{N}$ such that $a_i \in {{\mathfrak m}}$ for all $i < n$ and $a_n \notin {{\mathfrak m}}$, then $f = u f_o$ where $u$ is a unit in $B$ and $f_o$ is a distinguished polynomial of degree $n$. Also, $u$ and $f_o$ are uniquely determined by $f$.
We would like to thank Paul C. Roberts for valuable advice with regard to this paper. We are grateful to the referee for helpful comments that enhanced our exposition. In particular, Lemma \[claim\] was suggested by the referee. Also, Ian Aberbach and Cătălin Ciupercă have informed us that they have obtained Theorem \[main\] independently. While their methods do not use the dense upper-semicontinuity of the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity, they resemble ours in spirit.
Dense upper-semicontinuity of the Hilbert-Kunz Multiplicity
===========================================================
Let $R$ be an equidimensional ring of characteristic $p >0$ such that $R$ is finite over $R^p$, i.e. $R$ is $F$-finite. Kunz has shown that if $R$ is $F$-finite, then $R$ is excellent.
We would like to discuss here several aspects of the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity. E. Kunz has shown that the function $f_e : {\operatorname{Spec}}(R) \to \mathbf{Q}$ where $$f_e(P) = {\operatorname{\lambda}}(R_P/ P^{[p^e]}R_P) / p^{e {\operatorname{height}}(P)}$$ is upper-semi continuous on ${\operatorname{Spec}}(R)$ (Corollary 3.4 in [@K2]).
Let ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} : {\operatorname{Spec}}(R) \to \mathbf{R}$, defined by $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(P) : = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(PR_P, R_P).$$ We caution the reader that, although one can talk about the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of an ideal primary to the maximal ideal in a local ring, the notation just introduced will always refer to the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of a local ring, $R_P$, at its maximal ideal. Clearly, ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(P) = \lim_{e \to \infty} f_e(P)$.
Is ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}$ an upper-semi continuous function on ${\operatorname{Spec}}(R)$?
It is known that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(P) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(Q)$ if $P \subset Q$ are prime ideals in $R$ (Proposition 3.3 in [@K2]). However, this does not immediately imply that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}$ is upper-semi continuous.
Let $T$ be a topological space. A function $f : T \to \mathbf{R}$ is called dense upper semi-continuous if for every $x$ in $T$ one can find a dense subset $U$ of $T$ containing $x$ such that $f(y) \leq f(x)$ for every $y \in U$.
We would like to introduce some more definitions before stating our next result. In what follows, by a variety, we always mean an irreducible, reduced scheme defined over an algebraically closed field. For a linear system $\Gamma$ (complete or not) on a variety $X$ we can define a rational map $\phi_{\Gamma} : X \dasharrow \mathbf{P}^N$ by sending $x \in X$ to $[s_o (x): \cdots : s_N(x)]$, where $s_i$ form a $K$-basis of the system. $\Gamma$ is said to be composed of a pencil if the image of this map is one dimensional.
Let $X$ be a variety over $K$ and let $\Gamma$ be linear system which is not composed of a pencil such that its base locus has codimension at least $2$. Then the generic member of $\Gamma$ is irreducible.
Let $X$ be a n-dimensional variety over $K$. Then for every $x, y$ in $X$ there is an irreducible curve $C$ that passes through $x$ and $y$.
If $X$ is a curve then there is nothing to prove. Assume that $\dim X \geq 2$.
Consider the linear system $\Gamma$ consisting of all the hyperplane sections that pass through $x$ and $y$. Then by Bertini there is an irreducible member $X_1 \in \Gamma$ such that $x, y \in X_1$. Take the reduced structure of $X_1$ so that it is a variety, denoted by $(X_1)_{red}$. Again apply Bertini to $(X_1)_{red}$ to get irreducible $X_2$ chosen from the linear system consisting of all the hyperplanes passing through $x, y$ in $(X_1)_{red}$. Keeping this procedure, we obtain the chain of closed subvarieties, say $$X \supseteq (X_1)_{red} \supseteq \cdots \supseteq (X_{n-1})_{red}$$ such that $(X_{n-1})_{red}$ is one-dimensional, irreducible, and contains $x, y$.
Hence $(X_{n-1})_{red}$ is our desired curve.
Let $K$ be an uncountable algebraically closed field and $R$ a finitely generated $K$-algebra which is equi-dimensional. Let ${\operatorname{Sing}}(R) \subset {\operatorname{Max}}(R)$ be the singular locus. Then ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} : {\operatorname{Max}}(R) \to \mathbf{R}$ is dense upper semi-continuous on each component of ${\operatorname{Max}}(R)$. In particular, ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} : {\operatorname{Max}}(R) \to \mathbf{R}$ is dense upper semi-continuous on each irreducible component of ${\operatorname{Sing}}(R)$.
$R$ is an excellent ring and hence the regular locus of $R$ is open.
The case when $R$ is a domain goes as follows: the regular locus is non-empty (the zero ideal is in it) and, for each $Q$ as in the hypothesis, one can take $\Lambda = {\operatorname{Reg}}(R) \cup \{ Q \}$. This is a dense set and ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (P) = 1 \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (Q) $ for every $P \in \Lambda$.
Now if $R$ is not a domain (and in particular if the regular locus happens to be empty) we have to argue differently:
We know that for every $e$ there exists an open set $Q \in \Lambda _e$ such that $f_e (P) \leq f_e (Q)$ for every $P \in \Lambda_e$ (see Corollary 3.4 in [@K1]).
We will take $\Lambda: = \cap _e \Lambda_e$ and show that $\Lambda$ is dense.
In the following, since we work on one component of Max(R), we may assume that Max(R) is irreducible but may possibly be non-reduced.
We need to show that, for every $x \in {\operatorname{Max}}(R)$ and every open set $x \in U$, $ U \cap \Lambda \neq \emptyset$ holds. In other words, $U \cap _e \Lambda_e \neq \emptyset$. Then by Corollary applied to ${\operatorname{Max}}(R)_{red}$ there is an irreducible curve $C$ that passes through $x$ and $Q$ and set $\lambda_e = C \cap \Lambda_e$. Each $\lambda_e$ is open in $C$ and hence it is the complement of a finite set.
We have that $ (U \cap C)$ is an open set in $C$ containing $x$ and so $ (U \cap C) \cap \lambda_e \neq \emptyset$. Otherwise, $U \cap C$ is contained in the union of the complements of $\lambda_e$ which is a countable set. But $U \cap C$ is open in $C$ and hence it is definitely uncountable and therefore dense.
We have shown that $ (U \cap C) \cap \lambda_e \neq \emptyset$ which shows that $U \cap _e \Lambda_e \neq \emptyset$ must also be true. The second statement follows from the similar argument by applying Bertini to irreducible component of ${\operatorname{Sing}}(R)_{red}$.
Let $R_o =k[[x_1,...,x_n]]/(f)$ be an $n-1$-dimensional hypersurface ring and define an $n$-dimensional hypersurface ring $R= k[[x_1,...,x_n]][t]/(f+tg)$, where $g$ is a formal power series with $g \neq 0, g(0) =0, g \notin k \cdot f$. Obviously, $t$ is a nonzerodivisor on $R$.
In this section, we would like to study the behavior of the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of the fibers of the natural homomorphism $k[t] \to R= k[[x_1,...,x_n]][t]/(f+tg)$. We will assume that $k$ is an uncountable algebraically closed and so all the maximal ideals of $k[t]$ are of the form $(t-\alpha)$, with $\alpha \in k$. Let $t_{\alpha}= t-\alpha$. One can note that $R/(t_{\alpha})$ is a local ring isomorphic to $R_{\alpha} =k[[x_1,...,x_n]]/(f + \alpha g)$ which is a $n-1$-dimensional hypersurface. This makes $t_\alpha$ a nonzerodivisor on $R$, for every $\alpha \in k$. We would also like to note that every maximal ideal of $R$ is of the form ${{\mathfrak m}}_{\alpha} = (x_1,...,x_n,t-\alpha)$ with $\alpha \in k$.
\[sc-hyp\] Assume that we are in the situation described above.
One can find a dense subset $\Lambda \subset k$ such that, for every $\alpha \in \Lambda$, $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}( (R/t_{\alpha})_{{{\mathfrak m}}_{\alpha}})) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\frac{k[[x_1,...,x_d]]}{(f + \alpha g)}) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} ((R/tR)_{{{\mathfrak m}}_0})) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}( \frac{k[[x_1,..,x_d]]}{(f)}),$$
where ${{\mathfrak m}}_0 = (x_1,...,x_n,t)$.
As remarked earlier, $R/t_{\alpha}R$ is already local with maximal ideal ${{\mathfrak m}}_{\alpha}$.
If ${\text{$(A,{{\mathfrak m}})$}}$ is a local ring of dimension $d$, the ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (A) = \lim _{q \to \infty} {\operatorname{\lambda}}(A/ {{\mathfrak m}}^{[q]}) / q^d$. Since $R/t_{\alpha}R$ and $R/tR$ have the same dimension, to prove the inequality in the statement we need to prove the inequality between the corresponding lengths.
Let us observe that, for every $\alpha$, $R / ({{\mathfrak m}}_{\alpha} ^{[q]} + t_{\alpha})R = R/ (x_1,...,x_n)^{[q]} \otimes _{k[t]} k[t]/(t_{\alpha})$.
Moreover, let $A= R/ (x_1,...,x_n)^{[q]}$ and note that this is a finitely generated module over $k[t]$. So, if we localize at the multiplicative set $k[t] \setminus (t_\alpha)$ we get that $A_{(t_\alpha)}$ is a finitely generated module over $k[t]_{(t_\alpha)}$. Moreover, $A/(t_\alpha)$ is already local and we have that $A/(t_\alpha) \simeq (A/(t_\alpha)) _{(t_\alpha)}$.
Since $k$ is algebraically closed, ${\operatorname{\lambda}}(R / ({{\mathfrak m}}_{\alpha} ^{[q]} + t_{\alpha})R)$ equals the dimension of the $k$-vector space $R / ({{\mathfrak m}}_{\alpha} ^{[q]} + t_{\alpha})R = A/(t_\alpha)$. This, by NAK lemma, equals the minimal number of generators of $(R/ (x_1,...,x_n)^{[q]}) _{(t_{\alpha})} = A_{(t_\alpha)}$ over $k[t] _{(t_{\alpha})}$.
So, if we start with a set of minimal generators of $A _{(t)}$ over $k[t]_{(t)}$ we can find an open set $\Lambda_q$ in $k$, containing $0$, where we can extend these generators.
Let $\Lambda = \cap _{q} \Lambda_q$. Since $k$ is uncountable and the complements of $\Lambda_q$ are all finite we see that $\Lambda$ must be an uncountable set and hence dense in $k$ in the Zariski topology.
For all $\alpha \in \Lambda$ we have that, for all $q$,
$${\operatorname{\lambda}}(R / ({{\mathfrak m}}_{\alpha} ^{[q]} + t_{\alpha})R) \leq {\operatorname{\lambda}}(R / ({{\mathfrak m}}_{0} ^{[q]} + t_{0})R),$$
and this gives the inequality that we want.
We would like to close this section by discussing an example by Monsky that shows that one cannot hope to replace dense upper semi-continuity by upper semi-continuity in Theorem \[sc-hyp\].
First we would like to recall Monsky’s example ([@M]):
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $2$ and $R_\alpha=k[[x,y,z]]/(f+\alpha g)$, where $f = z^4+xyz^2+(x^3+y^3)z$, $g=x^2y^2$ and $0 \neq \alpha \in k$.
Then ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_\alpha) = 3+ 4^{-m_\alpha}$, where $m_\alpha$ is computed as follows. Write $\alpha = \beta ^2 + \beta$ with $\beta \in k$.
$(1)$ If $\alpha$ is algebraic over $\mathbf{Z}/2\mathbf{Z}$, then $m_\alpha$ is the degree of $\beta$ over $\mathbf{Z}/2\mathbf{Z}$.
$(2)$ If $\alpha$ is not algebraic over $\mathbf{Z}/2\mathbf{Z}$, then let $m_\alpha = \infty$.
We would like to consider the case when $k$ is the algebraic closure of $(\mathbf{Z}/2\mathbf{Z}) (w)$, where $w$ is an indeterminate. Let $R = k[[x,y,z,t]]/(f + tg)$. We see that $R_\alpha = R/ (t-\alpha)$, where $\alpha \in k$.
We would like to show that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}$ is not necessarily upper semi-continuous in fibers over $k[t]$. More precisely, we will find $\alpha_0 \in k$ such that there exist no open subset $U$ in $k$ containing $\alpha_0$ such that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_\alpha) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_{\alpha_0})$ for every $\alpha \in U$. If such $U$ exists, it would imply that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_\alpha) > {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_{\alpha_0})$ only for finitely many $\alpha$. However, if one takes $\alpha_0 = w$, we see that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_{\alpha_0}) = 3$, because $w$ is not algebraic over $\mathbf{Z}/2\mathbf{Z}$. However, there are infinitely many elements $\alpha$ in $k$ that are algebraic over $\mathbf{Z}/2\mathbf{Z}$ and hence ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_\alpha) > 3$ for all these $\alpha$.
In conclusion, this example shows that if one wants to study the upper semi-continuity of the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of the fibers of $k[t] \to R$, a weaker notion of upper-semicontinuity must be considered. One example is our notion that replaces open sets by dense sets.
In what follows we will show how this notion can be exploited to prove a conjecture of Watanabe and Yoshida on the minimal Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of non-regular rings.
Minimal Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity: the hypersurface case
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\[claim\] Let $k$ be a field such that $1/2 \in k$ and put $A=k[[x_1, ....,x_d]]$. Consider $B = A[[x_0]]$ and $F = x_0^2 + \cdots + x_d^2 +G$ with $G \in m_B^3$, where $m_B$ is the maximal ideal of $B$. Then there exist a unit $v_0$ in $B$, $a_0 \in (x_1,...,x_d)B$ and $G_1 \in (x_1,...,x_d)^3B$ such that
$$F = v_0(x_0+a_0)^2+x_1^2+ \cdots + x_d^2 +G_1$$
Write $$G = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty} c_i x_0^i,$$ such that $c_i \in A$ and $c_0 \in m_A^3$, $c_1 \in m_A^2$ and $c_2 \in m_A$.
Let $v_0 = (1+c_2) + \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} c_{i+2}x_0^i$ and note that this is a unit in $B$. Moreover, $$F = v_0x_0^2+c_1x_0+c_0+x_1^2+ \cdots+x_d^2.$$
Now, let $a_0 = 2^{-1}v_0^{-1}c_1$ and $G_1=c_0-v_0a_0^2$ and note that the conclusion of the Lemma follows.
\[hypersurface\] For any $d$-dimensional singular hypersurface $k[[x_0,...,x_d]]/(f)$ over an uncountable algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic different than $2$, we have that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(k[[x_0,...,x_d]]/(\sum_{i=0}^{d} x_i^2)) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R).$$
We can assume that $f = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty} f_i$ where each $f_i$ is a homogeneous polynomial of degree $i$ and $f_0=f_1 =0$.
Since the characteristic of $k$ is different than $2$, we can make a change of variables to have that $f_2 = \sum_{i=0}^{l} x_i^2$ for some $-1 \leq l \leq d$ where $l =-1$ means that $f_2 =0$.
Let us take $g_\alpha : = \alpha (x_{l+1}^2 + \cdots x_d ^2)$ with $\alpha \in k$. By Theorem \[sc-hyp\], the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of $f$ is greater or equal than that of $F_\alpha = f+ g_\alpha$ for a dense set of $\alpha$’s in $k$. We can rescale our indeterminates and assume that $F_\alpha = x_o^2+ \cdots + x_d^2 + G$, where the $G$ contains only terms of degree greater or equal to $3$.
Apply Lemma \[claim\] to $F_\alpha$ and write $F_{\alpha} = v_0(x_0+a_0)^2+x_1^2+\cdots+x_d^2+G_1$, with $G_1$ an element of $(x_1,...,x_d)^3.$ We can continue now with $x_1^2+\cdots+x_d^2+G_1$ and by applying Lemma \[claim\] recursively we see that eventually we can write $F_\alpha = \sum_{i=0}^{d} v_i x_i^2$, where $v_i$ are all units, after a suitable change of variables.
Since we are working over an algebraically closed field of characteristic different than $2$, we can find $w_i$ units in $k[[x_0,...,x_d]]$ such that $w_i^2 = v_i$ (see Lemma \[powers\]). This allows us to transform $F_\alpha$ isomorphically into $\sum_{i=0}^d x_i^2$.
In conclusion, we get that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(k[[x_0,...,x_d]]/(\sum_{i=0}^{d} x_i^2)) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R).$$
\[powers\] If $A$ is a ring such that $f = \sum u_i x^i$ is a formal power series in $A[[x]]$ and $u_o$ is a unit in $A$ that admits a square root in $A$ and $1/2 \in A$, we can find $g \in A[[x]]$ such that $g^2 =f$. In particular, if $f \in k[[x_0,...,x_d]]$ is a unit and $k$ is algebraically closed of characteristic different than $2$, then there exists $g \in k[[x_0,...,x_d]]$ such that $g^2 =f$.
The first statement amounts to solving a system of equations where the unknowns are the coefficients of $g$.
The second statement reduces to the first, by thinking of $f \in A[[x_d]]$ where $A=k[[x_0,...,x_{d-1}]]$. First, we apply induction on $d$: since $f$ is a unit, by induction we see that its constant term (when thinking of it as a power series in $x_d$ only) has a square root in $A=k[[x_0,...,x_{d-1}]]$. Applying the first statement now, we can find a power series $g \in A[[x_d]]=k[[x_0,...,x_d]]$ such that $g^2 =f$.
Using an argument similar to the one in the proof of Theorem \[hypersurface\], one can show the following:
Let $(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ be a d-dimensional singular hypersurface complete local ring of characteristic $p>0$ and $p \ne 2,3$. Then one of the following is true.
$(1)$ $R \cong k[[x_{0},...,x_{d}]]/(\sum_{i=0}^{d} x^{2}_{i})$, or
$(2)$ ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) \ge {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(k[[x_{0},...,x_{d}]]/(x^{2}_{0}+\cdots+x^{2}_{d-1}+x^{3}_{d})).$
Suppose that $R$ is defined by some $f \in k[[x_{0},...,x_{d}]]$.
Assume $(1)$ is not the case. Then as in the proof of Theorem3.1, we can make change of variables to have that $f_{2}=\sum_{i=0}^{l}x^{2}_{i}$ for the homogeneous decomposition $f=\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}f_{i}$ of $f$. Since $(i)$ is not the case, we have that $l<d$.
Let us take $g_{\alpha}:=\alpha (x^{2}_{l+1}+\cdots+x^{2}_{d-1}+x^{3}_{d})$ with $\alpha\in k$. Then $F_{\alpha}:=f+g_{\alpha}$ is of the form $x^{2}_{0}+\cdots+x^2_l+ \alpha x^{2}_{l+1}+\cdots+\alpha x^{3}_{d}+G$ for $\alpha \ne 0$, where $G$ contains only terms of degree greater than 2.
Now we can keep track of the proof in Theorem 3.1 without any change to have that $F_{\alpha}=v_{o}x^{2}_{0}+\cdots+v_{d-1}x^{2}_{d-1}+v_{d}x^{3}_{d}$, where $v_{i}$ are all units. Since we can assume that $k$ is an algebraically closed field, and the characteristic of $k$ is different than 2 and 3, we can apply Lemma 3.2 to solve the system of equations in $w_{i}$; $w^{2}_{0}=v_{0}$,...,$w^{2}_{d-1}=v_{d-1}$,and $w^{3}_{d}=v_{d}$ (This is where $p \ne 3$ is used.). Therefore $F_{\alpha}$ can be transformed isomorphically into $x^{2}_{0}+\cdots+x^{2}_{d-1}+x^{3}_{d}$.
By dense upper semi-continuity, we get that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) \ge {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(k[[x_{0},...,x_{d}]]/(x^{2}_{0}+\cdots+x^{2}_{d-1}+x^{3}_{d})).$$
Much has been learned about the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity in Noetherian rings by comparing it to the more classical notion of Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity. It is true that in many instances the behavior of these two multiplicities is similar to each other.
A natural way of approaching the conjecture of Watanabe and Yoshida is to show that for any equidimensional local ring $R$ there is a hypersurface $S$ of same dimension such that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (S) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)$. A well-known result on the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity says that for every ring $R$ of dimension $d$ one can naturally construct, through Noether normalization, a $d$-dimensional hypersurface $S$ such that ${\operatorname{e}}(R) = {\operatorname{e}}(S)$. In this section, we will show that, for such an $S$, ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(S)$ will turn out to be greater than ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)$ in many instances.
We would like to outline this construction in a specific example.
Let ${\text{$(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ }}$ be the ring obtained by killing the $2 \times 3$ -minors of a generic matrix, say $R = k[[x,y,z,u,v,w]]/(xv-uy,yw-vz,xw-uz)$. This ring is Cohen-Macaulay of dimension $4$ with $x, u-y, z-v,w$ a system of parameters. In fact, $R$ is $F$-regular.
Let $A= k[[x, u-y, z-v, w]] \subset R$ be a Noether normalization. For computational purposes, let $a= u-y, b = z-v$. With this change of variables $A= k[[x,a,b,w]] \subset R = k[[x,a,b,w,y,v]]/(y^2-xv+ay,yw-vb -v^2, xw-ab-yv-av-yb)$. Note that $Q(A) \subset Q(B)$ is a simple field extension generated by $y$. Indeed, $v = \frac{1}{x} (y^2 + ay)$.
Look now at $A[[y]] \to R$. The kernel of this map is a principal ideal generated by some $f$. Hence we have constructed a hypersurface ${\text{$(S,{{\mathfrak n}},k)$}}$ in $R$. It is known that ${\operatorname{e}}(S) = {\operatorname{e}}(R)$. We would like to compare the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicities of $R$ and $S$.
Since $R$ is finite over $S$, we have that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}({{\mathfrak n}}, S) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}({{\mathfrak n}}R, R)/ r$, where $r$ is the rank of $Q(R)$ over $Q(S)$ (by Theorem 2.7 in [@WY1]). But $Q(S) = Q(R)$ and so $r=1$. We can also note that ${{\mathfrak n}}R \subset {{\mathfrak m}}$, which implies that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} ({{\mathfrak n}}R, R) \geq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} ({{\mathfrak m}}, R) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)$. Moreover, $R$ is $F$-regular and so $ {{\mathfrak n}}R = ({{\mathfrak n}}R)^{*} \neq {{\mathfrak m}}$ which shows that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (S) > {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)$. ( As the referee points out, the reader can note that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) = 13/8$ by applying the results of Section 5 in [@WY3].)
Examples like this are likely to abound. We have only used that $R$ is $F$-regular and that the finite extension $S {\operatorname{\hookrightarrow}}R$ has rank $1$.
Complete intersections
======================
In this section, we give an affirmative answer to the Conjecture \[conjecture\] i) in the case of complete intersections. We do this by reducing the study of complete intersections to that of hypersurfaces, a case that was solved in the previous section.
We would like to state first prime avoidance result that will be used later in the section ( [@Ei], Exercise 3.19).
\[prime\] Suppose that $R$ is a ring containing a field $k$, and let $I_1,...,I_m$ be ideals. If $f_1,...,f_n \in R$ are such that $(f_1,...,f_n) \nsubseteq I_i$ for each $i$, then there exists a nonzero homogeneous polynomial $H(Z_1,...Z_n) \in k[Z_1,...,Z_n]$ such that $$\sum_{i=1}^{n}a_if_i \notin \bigcup_i I_{i}$$ for all $(a_1,...,a_n) \in k^n$ with $H(a_1,...,a_n) \ne 0$.
The Lemma will be used in the proof of the following
\[sc-ci\] Let $k$ be an uncountable algebraically closed field of characteristic $p >0$. Let $A = k[[X_1,...,X_n]]$ and $\tilde R : = A/(f_1...f_l)$ a complete intersection ring and $f,g \in A$ such that they form a regular sequence on $\tilde R$. Let $0 \neq h \in \tilde R$. Then there exist a dense subset $V \subset k $ such that $ah +f, g$ form a regular sequence on $\tilde R$ and $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (\tilde R/ (f,g) ) \geq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (\tilde R/ (a h+f, g),$$ for all $a \in V$.
Since $f,g$ form a regular sequence on $\tilde R$, we note that $(h,f) \not\subseteq P$ for every associated prime $P$ of $\tilde R/ (g)$. Hence, we can find a nonzero homogeneous polynomial $H(Z_1,Z_2)$ such that $$a h +f \notin P$$ for every $P$ associated prime of $\tilde R/ (g)$ and every $a$ in the open non-empty subset $U: = \{ a \in k: H(a,1) \neq 0 \}$. That is, $ah +f$ and $ g$ form a regular sequence on $\tilde R$. Let us consider the natural ring homomorphism $$k [t] \to \tilde R [t] / (th+f, g).$$ The fiber over each $a \in U$ is of dimension $n-l-2$. As in the proof of Theorem \[sc-hyp\] we can find a dense subset $V$ in $U$ such that
$${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (\tilde R / (f, g) \geq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (\tilde R/ (ah+f, g),$$ for all $a \in V$.
\[ci\] Let $(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ be a non-regular complete intersection whose residue field is an uncountable algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$. Then there exists a non-regular hypersurface $k[[X_1,...,X_{d+1}]]/(F)$ such that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(k[[X_1,...,X_{d+1}]]/(F)) \le {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R).$$
Let $R$ be a non-regular complete intersection of dimension d. Since we can complete $R$, $R$ is isomorphic to $$k[[X_1,...,X_{d+e}]]/(f_1,...,f_e),$$ where $(f_1,...,f_e)$ is a regular sequence.
($e=1$): In this case, since $R$ is already a hypersurface, so we are done.
($e>1$): We will give a proof based on induction on the length of a regular sequence. The idea of the proof is to work on the regular sequence. In each step, we try to obtain another regular sequence whose corresponding residue ring is of dimension d, non-regular, and has multiplicity smaller than equal to that of the residue ring corresponding to regular sequence obtained in the previous step.
First of all, we will apply the following procedures to the ring $R$.
(1): Suppose that some $f_i$ ($1 \le i \le e$) defines a regular hypersurface ring, then by Cohen’s structure theorem, there is an isomorphism $$k[[Y_1,...,Y_{d+e-1}]] \cong k[[X_1,...,X_{d+e}]]/(f_i),$$ where $k[[Y_1,...,Y_{d+e-1}]]$ is the power series ring. Then there is an isomorphism $$k[[Y_1,...,Y_{d+e-1}]]/(f'_1,...,f'_{i-1},f'_{i+1},...,f'_e) \cong k[[X_1,...,X_{d+e}]]/(f_1,...,f_e)),$$ where $f'_j$ is the inverse image of $f_j$. Note that $(f'_1,...,f'_{i-1},f'_{i+1},...,f'_e)$ is a regular ideal and its length is equal to $e-1$.
Following this procedure, we can shrink the length of the regular sequence as small as possible, therefore we can assume that none of $f_i$’s defines a regular hypersurface.
(2): After (1) is done, by making some linear change of $X_1,...,X_{d+e}$, we can assume that each $f_i$ contains a term, $c_iX_{1}^{t_i}$ with $0\ne c_i\in k$, and that the order of $f_i$ is equal to $t_i$ for each $i$. The coefficients of $X_1^{t_i}$ are of the form $c_i+m_i$ with $m_i$ in the maximal ideal of $k[[Y_2,...,Y_{d+e-1}]]$. Then by Weierstrass preparation theorem, each $f_i$ can be written uniquely in the form $$f_i=u_i(X_1^{t_i}+a_{s-1}X_1^{t_i-1}+\cdots+a_0),$$ where $u_i$ is a unit, and $a_i$ is in the maximal ideal of $k[[Y_2,...,Y_{d+e-1}]]$.
Since we consider ideals, so we can ignore the unit $u_i$, hence again, we may put $$f_i=(X_1^{t_i}+a_{s-1}X_1^{t_i-1}+\cdots+a_0), R:=k[[X_1,...,X_{d+e}]]/(f_1,...,f_{e}).$$ To apply the induction step, let us prove the following proposition.
\[udsc\] Let $\tilde R:=k[[X_1,...,X_n]]/(f_1,...,f_l)$ be a complete intersection and $f$, $g$ be elements of $A:=k[[X_1,...,X_n]]$ that form a regular sequence on $\tilde R$. Assume that both $A/(f)$ and $A/(g)$ are non-regular, and $f$, $g$ are distinguished polynomials with respect $X_1$, that is, they can be written as $f=(X_1^{t}+a_{t-1}X_1^{t-1}+\cdots+a_0)$, $g=(X_1^{s}+b_{s-1}X_1^{s-1}+\cdots+b_0)$, where $a_i$, $b_i$ are in the maximal ideal of $k[[X_2,..,X_n]]$.
Then, there exists a regular sequence $f', g'\in k[[X_1,...,X_n]]$ in $\tilde R$ such that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(f,g)) \ge {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(f',g')),$$ and such that following holds:
$f'$ $(or ~g')$ contains a linear term in $X_1$: that is, $f' = u' X_1 + v'$ with $u'$ unit in $\tilde{R}$ and $v' \in k[[X_2,..., X_n]]$
Moreover, one can arrange that $\tilde R/(f', g')$ is non-regular.
By Kunz, Proposition \[kunz\], we note that $e_{HK}(\tilde R/(f)), e_{HK}(\tilde R/(g)) \le e_{HK}(\tilde R/(f, g))$, hence $\tilde R/(f, g)$ is also non regular. In the same manner, if one of $f'$ and $g'$ defines a non-regular hypersurface, then $\tilde R/(f', g')$ is also non-regular.
The plan is to start with the ideal $(f,g)$ in $\tilde{R}$ and perform transformations on $f$ or $g$ to decrease the degree of $X_1$ in either $f$ or $g$ until we come to one of the cases described below.
The first step is natural and easy to describe: Without loss of generality, we may assume $t \ge s$. Then $F':=f-X_1^{t-s}g$ has $deg_{X_1}(F') < t$, where $deg_{X_1}$ denotes the degree with respect to $X_1$. So we have $(f,g)=(F',g)$ as ideals. Since every $a_i$ and $b_i$ is in the maximal ideal, the top coefficient of $F'$ is also in the maximal ideal. We see that $F', g$ is a regular sequence by the vanishing of Koszul homology. Let us put $t':=deg_{X_1}(F')$, $s':=deg_{X_1}(g)$, and $G':=g$. So starting with $f, g$, we obtained $F', G'$.
This first step fits under the general procedure that is described in the next:
We have two elements $F, G \in k[[X_1,...,X_n]]$ in $\tilde R$ such that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(f,g)) \ge {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(F,G)),$$ and, at least one of them, say $F$, has the leading term in $X_1$ of the form $u X_1^{s}$, with $u$ a unit in $\tilde{R}$.
We would like to show that one can construct $F', G'$ such that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(F,G)) \ge {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(F',G')),$$ and $deg_{X_1}(F)+deg_{X_1}(G) > deg_{X_1}(F')+deg_{X_1}(G')$, such that either $F'$ (or $G'$) has the leading term in $X_1$ of the form $u' X_1^{t'}$ (or $u' X_1^{s'}$) with $u'$ a unit.
The first step described above is a particular case of the general procedure if one takes $F:=f, G:=g$.
Let us explain now how to make $F', G'$ from the given $F, G$. Let $deg_{X_1}(F) =t $ and $deg_{X_1}(G) =s$ and as above $F = u X_1^t + \cdots$, with $u$ a unit in $\tilde{R}$ and $G = vX_1^s +\cdots$, with $v$ not necessarily a unit.
We have two cases to consider for the ideal $(F,G)$ as follows.
($\alpha$): If $t \le s$, we can take $$G':=G-vX_1^{s-t}{u}^{-1}F,~F':=F,$$ and put $t':=deg_{X_1}(F')$, and $s':=deg_{X_1}(G')$. Then we see that $deg_{X_1}(G)>deg_{X_1}(G')$ and that $(F',G')=(F,G)$. Again $F', G'$ is a regular sequence on $\tilde R$.
($\beta$): If $t \ge s$, then we can not use $G$ to eliminate the leading term in $X_1$ in $F$ since $v$ might not be a unit. Hence we will use Proposition \[sc-ci\] to replace $G$ by another power series $G_1$ such that $G_1$ has the leading term in $X_1$ of the form $v_1 X_1^s$ where $v_1$ is a unit in $\tilde{R}$.
Consider the sequence ${a}X_1^{s}+G$, $F$, where $a \in k$. Note that the top coefficient of $G_1: = {a}X_1^{s_1}+G$ is a unit in $A$ unless $a=0$.
We apply Proposition \[sc-ci\] for $A$, $\tilde R$ and the regular sequence $F, G$ on $\tilde R$: there is a dense subset $V \subseteq {\operatorname{Max}}(k[t]) \simeq k$ for which $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(F, G)) \ge {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(\tilde R/(aX_1^{s}+G, F))$$ holds for all $a \in V$, and $aX_1^{s}+G, F$ form a regular sequence.
Working with the new sequence $(F, G_1=a X_1^{t}+G)$ for some $a\ne 0$ and $a \in V$, we obtain a new regular sequence $F', G'$ such that
$$F': = F - u X_1^{t-s}v_1^{-1}G_1, \ G' :=G_1$$ where $v_1$ is the top coefficient of $G_1$. Also we remark that $(F', G')=(F, G_1)$ as ideals, and $deg_{X_1}(F)>deg_{X_1}(F').$
One can see in either case $F'$ (or $G'$) has the leading term in $X_1$ of the form $u' X_1^{t'}$ (or $u' X_1^{s'}$) with $u'$ a unit.
Moreover, the new pair $F',G'$ satisfies the property: $deg_{X_1}(F')+deg_{X_1}(G') < deg_{X_1}(F)+deg_{X_1}(G)$. We also note that whenever we apply Proposition \[sc-ci\], then the ideal $(F', G')$ is different than the ideal $(F, G)$.
Once we have $F', G'$, we continue by applying the procedure to $F', G'$ themselves. We would like to show that by doing this repeatedly we will eventually reach one of the forms stated in the conclusion of the Proposition.
Both $f,g$ belong to ${{\mathfrak m}}_A^2$. We notice that if $F, G$ belong to ${{\mathfrak m}}_A ^2$, then $F', G'$ will also belong to ${{\mathfrak m}}_A ^2$ unless $min(deg_{X_1}(F), deg_{X_1}(G))=1$. Once this situation occurs, we stop our procedure at once; if say $deg_{X_1}(F) =1$, then by changing the coefficient of $X_1$ with the help of Proposition \[sc-ci\] if necessary, we see that we end up in the case described.
If we never encounter the situation where $min(deg_{X_1}(F), deg_{X_1}(G))=1$, then we eventually end up with $f'$ (or $g'$) $\in k[[X_2,...,X_n]].$ But then using Proposition \[sc-ci\] add $uX_1$ to $f'$ or $g'$ and we end up in the situation described in the conclusion of our Proposition.
To end the proof, it is enough to say that at least one of $f'$ or $ g'$ is in ${{\mathfrak m}}_A^2$. Then this guarantees that $\tilde{R}/(f',g')$ is non-regular.
Now let us go back to the proof of the theorem. We apply the Proposition 4.4 for $A:=k[[X_1,...,X_{d+e}]]$, $l:=e-2$ to $f_1,...,f_{e}$ inductively.
Start with $f_1$ and $f_2$ and put $\tilde R:=k[[X_1,...,X_{d+e}]]/(f_3,...,f_{e})$. Then we can find such $F_1, F_2$ as stated in the Proposition. Once we come to the conclusion in the Proposition, then we can find the desired hypersurface by applying the induction step on the length of the regular sequence by eliminating $X_1$, so we are done.
We would like to close this section by proving the part (1) of Conjecture of Watanabe and Yoshida stated in the introduction for complete intersections
\[main\] Let $d \geq 2$, $ p \neq 2$ prime and $k$ a field of characteristic $p>0$. If $(R, {{\mathfrak m}}, k)$ is a complete intersection, not regular, then ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) \geq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_{d,p})$.
We can enlarge the residue field such that we have an uncountable algebraic closed field $K$.
By Theorems \[hypersurface\] and \[ci\] we see that over $K$, ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R \otimes_k K) \geq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_{d,p} \otimes_k K)$ which implies the result over $k$.
[Although we stated Propositions \[udsc\] and \[sc-ci\] for the case of complete intersection only, this assumption was in fact not needed in their corresponding proofs. We kept this as hypothesis for the convenience of the reader, since this section deals only with complete intersections.]{}
Remarks on the general case
===========================
In this section, we would like to show how using ideas related to the upper semi-continuity of the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity can provide insight into the general case of the Conjecture stated in Section 1. A local ring $S$ such that $\dim (S) - {\rm depth} (S) =1 $ is called $almost ~Cohen$-$Macaulay$.
Let ${\text{$(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ }}$ be an catenary unmixed non-regular ring of positive characteristic $p >0$. Then there exists a non-regular unmixed ring of same dimension ${\text{$(S,{{\mathfrak n}},k)$}}$ which is Cohen-Macaulay or almost Cohen-Macaulay such that $${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (S) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R).$$
Let $x_1, \cdots, x_n$ be a maximal regular sequence on $R$ and let $P$ be a minimal prime over $(x_1, \cdots, x_n)$. We have that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_P) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R)$ by Theorem 3.8 in [@K2] (this is where we need catenary). If $R_P$ is not regular we are done, since we can adjoin a finite number of indeterminates to $R_P$ to obtain a Cohen-Macaulay ring $S$ with ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (S) = {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_P) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R)$ (the first equality comes from Proposition \[kunz\]).
If $R_P$ is regular, then consider $P \subset Q$ such that ${\operatorname{height}}(Q/P)=1$. Localize at $Q$ and get ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_Q) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R)$. Since $x_1, \cdots, x_n$ is a maximal regular sequence we see that $R_Q$ is almost Cohen-Macaulay. As before, by adjoining a number of indeterminates over $R_Q$ we obtain an example of same dimension as $R$.
We would like to show that part (1) of the Conjecture can be reduced to the case of an isolated singularity:
Assume that ${\text{$(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ }}$ is excellent and unmixed. It is immediate that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R) \geq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(R_{red})$ and hence we can pass to $R_{red}$ and assume that $R$ is excellent and reduced.
By induction on the dimension of $R$ we can assume that for all non-regular unmixed rings $A$ of smaller dimension one can find a hypersurface $B$ of same dimension such that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (B) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(A)$.
Let ${\operatorname{Sing}}(R)$ be the singular locus of ${\text{$(R,{{\mathfrak m}},k)$ }}$. It is a non-empty closed set defined by an ideal $J$. If $J$ is ${{\mathfrak m}}$-primary, then there is nothing to prove. Otherwise, let $P_i$, $i=1, \cdots, n$, be the collection of all minimal primes of $J$. Let $P$ be one such minimal prime $P_i$ with height less than the dimension of $R$.
Then ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_{P}) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R)$. By induction, we can find a hypersurface $S$ such that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (S) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R_P)$. By adjoining a finite number of indeterminate to $R_P$ we obtain a hypersurface, relabeled $S$, of dimension equal to $\dim (R)$ and ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK}(S) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (R)$.
Our result Theorem \[hypersurface\] shows that among hypersurfaces $\sum_{i=0}^{d} x_i ^2$ is the one with minimal Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity.
We would like to close now with an observation related to the questions addressed in this paper: Let $A$ be a finitely generated $K$-algebra which is non-regular and locally unmixed. Is there a minimal value for the Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity of $A_P$ where $P$ is a non-regular prime?
Let $A$ be an excellent, nonregular and locally unmixed. Then ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} : {\operatorname{Spec}}(R) \to \mathbf{R}$ has minimum when restricted to the non-regular locus of ${\operatorname{Spec}}(R)$.
$A$ is excellent and hence its singular locus is defined by an ideal $J$. For any prime containing $J$ we can find a minimal prime $P$ of $J$, $P \subset Q$ such that ${\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (A_P) \leq {\operatorname{e}}_{HK} (A_Q)$.
Since there are only finitely many minimal primes over $J$ we are done.
[99]{}
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[^1]: 2000 [*Mathematics Subject Classification*]{}: 13D40, 13A35, 13H15.
| |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Department \De*part"ment\, n. [F. d['e]partement, fr. d['e]partir. See Depart, v. i.] 1. Act of departing; departure. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Sudden departments from one extreme to another. --Wotton. [1913 Webster] 2. A part, portion, or subdivision. [1913 Webster] 3. A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province. [1913 Webster] Superior to Pope in Pope's own peculiar department of literature. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster] 4. Subdivision of business or official duty; especially, one of the principal divisions of executive government; as, the treasury department; the war department; also, in a university, one of the divisions of instruction; as, the medical department; the department of physics. [1913 Webster] 5. A territorial division; a district; esp., in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes; as, the Department of the Loire. [1913 Webster] 6. A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac. [1913 Webster]From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) :
department n 1: a specialized division of a large organization; "you'll find it in the hardware department"; "she got a job in the historical section of the Treasury" [syn: department, section] 2: the territorial and administrative division of some countries (such as France) 3: a specialized sphere of knowledge; "baking is not my department"; "his work established a new department of literature"From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :
83 Moby Thesaurus words for "department": airspace, ambit, area, arena, bailiwick, beat, belt, border, borderland, branch, bureau, circle, circuit, commissariat, concern, confines, constablery, constablewick, constabulary, continental shelf, control, corridor, country, demesne, discipline, district, division, domain, dominion, environs, field, ground, heartland, hemisphere, hinterland, judicial circuit, jurisdiction, land, march, milieu, ministry, municipality, neighborhood, office, offshore rights, orb, orbit, pale, part, parts, place, precinct, precincts, premises, province, purlieus, quarter, realm, region, responsibility, round, salient, secretariat, section, segment, sheriffalty, sheriffwick, shrievalty, soil, space, sphere, subdiscipline, subdivision, terrain, territory, three-mile limit, twelve-mile limit, unit, vicinage, vicinity, walk, worry, zoneFrom Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :
DEPARTMENT. A portion of a country. In France, the country is divided into departments, which are somewhat similar to the counties in this country. The United States have been divided into military departments, including certain portions of the country. 1 Pet. 293. 2. By department is also meant the division of authority, as, the department of state, of the navy, &c. | http://dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=*&Query=Department |
The Cognitive ‘Glitch’ of Humans: Laurie Santos on What Makes the Human Mind So Special
Researchers have documented in a growing number of studies that animals possess cognitive abilities once thought to be exclusive to the inner workings of the human mind. Despite evidence that other species share many of our cognitive talents, APS Fellow Laurie R. Santos maintains that the human mind still holds its special and unique status.
“We are constantly engaging in things that might seem mundane but are the kinds of things that no other species on the planet does,” said Santos, citing a list of activities typically associated with humans, including teaching, reading and writing fiction, taking photographs, watching films, and engaging in the scientific enterprise.
“No other species is doing any of this,” said Santos, as she recited some activities and the high-level cognitive abilities they demand. “It’s really just us, and that raises a question: ‘How do we get to do all of these weird things,’” said Santos in remarks made to an audience attending the 2017 APS Annual Convention in Boston.
Santos is a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University, where she focuses on research exploring the evolutionary origins of the human mind. As part of this research, Santos conducts studies investigating the cognitive abilities of nonhuman primates and domesticated dogs.
One area of cognitive abilities that Santos targets in her research involves how humans and other animals think about other minds. Santos told audience members gathered for her presentation during the convention’s “Bring the Family” Address that thinking about other minds is achieved through a set of cognitive mechanisms or “glitches” that exist in humans and animals — with the exception of one that may be unique to humans.
Shared ‘Glitches’
Santos pointed to two phenomena as examples of how glitches aid in the transfer of information to others in processes that may occur either consciously or without our awareness.
One of the two phenomena, behavioral contagion, involves the spontaneous copying of behavior by others in close proximity to us. In such cases, the information being shared may relate to group norms governing expected behaviors.
“We are subtly copying the kinds of postures and behaviors of all the folks around us,” said Santos, who likened the automaticity of human copying behavior to that observed in schooling fish. Among humans, the copying may lead to the adoption of specific behaviors of those around us — such as smiling, laughing, or yawning. Santos noted how at sports events, for example, fans might take on similar outward behaviors in response to the fortunes, or misfortunes, of their team.
“We are copying automatically without realizing it,” Santos said. “This is behavioral contagion in that it gets us in behavioral sync with someone else.”
Santos cited studies showing how other animals, including chimpanzees and dogs, also yawn in response to similar behavior by those in close proximity to them. In addition, she referred to a study in which chimps appeared to laugh in an automatic response to others.
The cognitive mechanism implicated in behavioral copying may lead to a second phenomenon involving the transfer of information related to the emotional state of those around us. People may become bored after seeing others yawn during a long lecture or experience increased positive affect after the smiles of others motivate them to smile as well.
“This is classical glitchy emotional contagion,” said Santos. “By copying behaviors, we might be getting emotions for free.”
Santos attributes some of the emotional response to “neural resonance,” a process triggered when neural systems associated with the emotion in question becomes overworked. Santos indicated that humans share this process with other animals.
Mind-Meld: Mental Contagion
While the cognitive mechanisms or glitches associated with behavioral and emotional contagion exist in humans and other animals, a second mechanism is one that humans may claim as their own. This mechanism, according to Santos, facilitates the transfer or sharing of one’s beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and preferences. The work of this mechanism may spur “mind-meld,” a term Santos borrows from Star Trek to describe the unrestricted exchange of thought from one individual to another.
The cognitive mechanism connected to mind-meld, says Santos, can lead individuals to adopt the beliefs and attitudes of others or become confused about their own beliefs versus those of someone else.
Santos said the mechanisms associated with the wholesale transfer or sharing of beliefs and attitudes is understudied in the field of psychology. One example of the process, she said, is captured by “altercentric interference,” where we confuse others’ perspectives with our own. Similarly, “belief interference” describes a process whereby people become confused about their beliefs and those of others. Why might these processes occur?
At a neurological level, understanding another person’s thoughts or beliefs requires individuals to inhibit the processing of their own thoughts or beliefs, Santos said.
“Sometimes we mess up,” Santos said. “Sometime the act of keeping these [thoughts] separate doesn’t work … we just get the information confused.”
Citing findings from experiments she conducted involving monkeys and dogs, Santos said the process of mental contagion does not appear to exist in nonhumans. Santos indicated that this may be due to these animals not engaging in the simulation of others’ mental content, as occurs with humans.
References
Apperly, I. A., & Butterfill, S. A. (2009). Do humans have two systems to track beliefs and belief-like states? Psychological Review, 116, 953–970.
Kovács, A. M., Téglás, E., & Endress, A. D. (2010). The social sense: Susceptibility to others’ beliefs in human infants and adults. Science, 330, 1830–1834.
Martin, A., & Santos, L. R. (2014). The origins of belief representation: Monkeys fail to automatically represent others’ beliefs. Cognition, 130, 300–308. | https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-cognitive-glitches-of-humans-laurie-santos-on-what-makes-the-human-mind-so-special |
The era of electronics began during the 20th century with the invention of a transistor. Here we stand, seven decades later, surrounded by many thing electronics on which our pace of life depends.
When we think of an electronics and communication engineer, we immediately picture a person working in a chip manufacturing unit. But it is much more than that. In the past decade, technology has transformed our lives with many inventions.
Many people have also taken up this profession in various fields. Even the educational institutes provide in-depth knowledge on the related subjects with the necessary level of education starting with B tech electronics.
One of the greatest inventions of electronics and communication branch has been the affordable means of communication such as mobile phone, the telephone, radio communication, satellite communication and more. The trend in mobile technology is continuously emerging with 4G and 5G speed.
The branch of electronics and communication engineering have fuelled all the developments. The department holds a promising future with education starting at the undergraduate level with B tech electronics.
Recent growing trends in the field of electronics and communication engineering for a broad work prospect are.
1] Communication and Signalling Processing
It concerns transmission, analysis and storage of information signals.Traditionally electronics engineer worked on analysing and communicating speech, video, audio, and image signals.
With the technological advancements, the engineers now work on broader prospects apart from the above such as recovering and analysing genomic and physiological signals, environment and ecological signals, and more.
2] Analog and Radio frequency circuits
Without the radio and analogue technology, mobile phones would not exist, and neither does television or wi-fi. Lots of industries have been established over the years to meet consumer demands opening various job opportunities.
3] Optics and Photonics
From fibre optics to laser, the use of light has served the purpose of solving various engineering problems. The branch of photonics includes the field of display technology from liquid crystals to holograms. The department of optics widely includes medical, architectural, and entertainment field of work.
4] Networking
In the era of internet, the world has become one where people connect easily from every part of their respective countries. Many organisations are developing advancements in the networks such as 4G and 5G networks to give better access to information and communication, thus, creating work opportunities.
5] Nanotechnology
Products like fast transistors, efficient solar cells, microscopic sensors and tracking chips show the progression in Nanotechnology over the years. Many industries are adopting this technology to make their products small, efficient, and smart.
6] Computer Vision and Image Processing
Expansion in the technology of image procession and computer vision has made it possible for computers to excel in the field of medical, surveying, photogrammetry, and more.
These technologies have made it possible for computers to identify diseases and display images with the help of analysed data from magneto-resonance imaging process with other medical devices.
Computer visions experts know how to recognise faces, whereas image processing experts know how to blur and de-blur images and extract information or make an art of it.
7] Prepare Yourself For The Opportunities
In future, the scope of electronics and communication engineering seems to grow wide. The possibilities are open to all the skill holders of the field. You can start your career with an undergrad course B tech electronics where you can learn such skills, both practical and theoretical.
The best way to learn skills is by performing practical after thoroughly studying the theory. Many universities provide such curriculums where students are exposed to every aspect of theory and actual work. One such university in India, which has an excellent learning curriculum is UPES.
You can start your course studies with B tech electronics and can move to higher studies. The field of electronics has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in India.
If you interest in making a career in this field, you may start with B tech electronics from UPES where you can learn about design, analysis, and manufacturing of electronic devices and components and many other latest industrial technologies.
Every year many trends are developed in the electronics field. You can prepare yourself with education from UPES and let be guided to your bright future. | https://www.justwebworld.com/electronics-and-communication-engineering/ |
The first theory, known as the ‘Out of Africa’ model, is that Homo sapiens developed first in Africa and then spread around the world between 100 and 200,000 years ago, superseding all other hominid species. The implication of this argument is that all modern people are ultimately of African descent.
What is meant by the Out of Africa hypothesis for modern humans?
The “Out of Africa” hypothesis is an evolutionary theory of modern human origin that posits that modern humans arose in the late Pleistocene, about 100,000–200,000 years ago, in Africa. … The other groups of archaic humans essentially died out and became evolutionary dead ends.
What does the Out of Africa model of modern human origins state about modern humans?
What does the Out-of-Africa model of modern human origins state about modern humans? They spread from Africa and replaced all other populations with no gene flow.
What are the two main theories about the origin of modern humans?
Historically, two key models have been put forward to explain the evolution? of Homo sapiens. These are the ‘out of Africa’ model and the ‘multi-regional’ model. The ‘out of Africa’ model is currently the most widely accepted model. It proposes that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa before migrating across the world.
What is the genetic evidence that the origins of modern humans are in Africa?
The genetic evidence: adaptive genetic introgression. Both the fossil and genetic evidence support an initial origin of anatomically modern humans in Africa 200 000 years ago followed by dispersal across the Old World.
Why is the Out of Africa Theory important?
Scientists studying this theory determined that there was less genetic variation among the populations the farther the migration was from Africa. This was due to population drops the more humans spread out. This determination was a result of researching genetic diversity in 53 human populations across the world.
What are the three theories of the origins of modern humans?
The ‘Out of Africa’ (Replacement), ‘Multiregional Evolution’ (Continuity), and ‘Assimilation’ models are the three most widely used to interpret the origin of living human populations (Figure 2; Gibbons 2011).
Are humans still evolving?
Takeaway: Evolution means change in a population. That includes both easy-to-spot changes to adapt to an environment as well as more subtle, genetic changes. Humans are still evolving, and that is unlikely to change in the future.
What is the role of Africa in the evolution of modern humanity?
Africa’s role in the evolution of modern humanity was acting as the birthplace of humanity itself according to paleoanthropologist. Africa is the birthplace of modern man. Trade globalization. Raw resources were imported from Africa, which among other things led to the rise of global corporations.
Who invented human?
Despite the 1891 discovery by Eugène Dubois of what is now called Homo erectus at Trinil, Java, it was only in the 1920s when such fossils were discovered in Africa, that intermediate species began to accumulate. In 1925, Raymond Dart described Australopithecus africanus.
What is the difference between early human and modern human?
The key difference between early man and modern man is that the term early man refers to the prehistoric hominids who are the forefathers of the current figure of the human race while the modern man refers to a subspecies of Homo sapiens.
Do all humans have a common ancestor?
If you trace back the DNA in the maternally inherited mitochondria within our cells, all humans have a theoretical common ancestor. … As a result, all humans today can trace their mitochondrial DNA back to her. Within her DNA, and that of her peers, existed almost all the genetic variation we see in contemporary humans. | https://inkaba.org/about-africa/you-asked-what-does-the-out-of-africa-theory-say-about-the-origins-of-modern-humans.html |
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